Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Many good items today


A Truly Great Phony. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: His mispronunciation of a common military term was especially revealing to someone who was once in the Marine Corps, not Marine "corpse."

A Poignant Anniversary. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: At the core of Dr. King's speech was his dream of a world in which people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by "the content of their character." Judging individuals by their individual character is at the opposite pole from judging how groups are statistically represented among employees, college students or political figures.

Does the; "The World will be Better Without Him…" Argument Still Work as We Approach the Hour of Inevitable Intervention in Syria? By John Bernard
Excerpt: Incredible! Even as United States Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Coastguardsmen continue to be sacrificed in Afghanistan for a failed understanding of that culture, we are speeding toward the likelihood of doing the same in Syria. Yes; the Administration has repeated the mantra; 'no boots on the ground' until I can hardly sleep without hearing it, but, that was also what was supposed to give us peace of mind as we intervened in Libya. (The public is strongly against military intervention in Syria. But the public is strongly against Obamacare, and strongly for the Keystone Pipeline and Voter ID laws, so what the people want does not matter a whit to the elites. ~Bob.)

Good Analysis: Obama's Bluff. By George Friedman
Excerpt: Still, the United States has learned to be concerned not just with unfriendly regimes, but also with what could follow such regimes. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have driven home the principle that deposing one regime means living with an imperfect successor. In those cases, changing the regime wound up rapidly entangling the United States in civil wars, the outcomes of which have not been worth the price. In the case of Syria, the insurgents are Sunni Muslims whose best-organized factions have ties to al Qaeda.

Excerpt: As the U.S. considers a response to what it calls a chemical weapon attack by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime that killed hundreds of civilians, reliable Middle Eastern sources say they have evidence the culprits actually were the rebel forces trying to take over the government. (Speculation. The facts are hard to pin down, as no one can be trusted on this. Everyone sees what he wants to see. ~Bob. Let me make this as plain as possible. The Western 'leadership' (with the possible exception of Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany) wants to take down the Christian-friendly Assad regime. Russian President Putin wants the West to stay out of the conflict and supports Assad, opposing the killing of Christians and other minorities by the Al Qaeda linked 'rebels' the West supports. Now I have some friends who say I am being duped into joining the 'wrong side' because I refuse to go along with the West in their pogrom against Christianity and tend to lean toward Putin's viewpoint. Their reason? Putin is supposedly still a communist and his motives are not pure. Some have even told me Putin secretly supports homosexuality in his heart of hearts even while banning gay activism. Sound plausible? Well, their reasoning is that communism is pro-homosexual, invariably so. There is no spectrum of variants in their ideology. They are all monolithic and all think exactly alike. And of course, Putin is still communist. He must be. No politician ever changes his mind to accommodate new facts and new conditions, right? (When I was in Russia I found the Soviets to be incredibly puritanical and the men were quite machista in their behavior. Naturally, the regime opposed homosexuality. That is culture, my friends, and has nothing to do with communist ideology. Putin is a Russian first and foremost. That is his culture). But beyond that, let's see: If my daughter is shouting help out beyond the breakers and someone jumps in to save her, I need to interrogate that would be rescuer first to make sure his motives are pure and that he does not have communist sympathies. Right? But no story is ever told because stories don't end. There's more to this one too. In the case of Israel, it is true that Assad has been anti-Israel and if I were an Israeli, I would be concerned. The problem is, all sides must be taken into account and we are only considering one side. Putin, though taking a pro-Christian stance, is not openly anti-Israel and has made a trip to that country a while back to talk things over--something an anti-Semite probably wouldn't do. Considering all sides is more complicated, but taking sides and attacking Syria will certainly be even more complicated in the long run. It could cost us what is left of our prestige. --Don Hank)

Evidence: Syrian Rebels used Chemical Weapons (not Assad). By Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack
Again, I don’t trust any reports on this from either side. If this turned out to be true, and came out after we bombed Syria…~Bob. Excerpt: Recent news of a chemical weapons attack in Syria smacks of desperation. The question comes down to who is most desperate right now, the Assad regime or the Muslim Brotherhood rebels? Consider that since June, Assad’s forces have been winning. According to a CBS News report from last month, victories for the rebels had become “increasingly rare” and that the Muslim Brotherhood-backed opposition fighters were sustaining “some of their heaviest losses” near Damascus.

Syria crisis: warplanes spotted in Cyprus as tensions rise in Damascus
Excerpt: Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria. (Obama in 2007: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." ~Bob)

Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis has been a disaster – a few airstrikes won’t change that. By Nile Gardiner 
Excerpt: The White House’s strategy has been one of abject confusion, with no clear leadership from the president. Barack Obama’s approach has been one of “leading from behind,” a phrase first coined by one of his own advisers. He has been content to farm out US foreign policy to a feckless United Nations, and has kowtowed to a ruthless Moscow, which views Syria as a client state, a useful bulwark against American influence in the Middle East, and a thorn in the side of the world’s superpower.

UK: Supporters of intervention in Syria have not yet made a convincing case. By Daniel Hannan
Excerpt: The trouble is that, while I'm on balance against a British intervention, I can see decent arguments on the other side. Let me summarise, as I understand it, the case for deploying force. First, it’s important to be clear about what the interventionists want.

Syrian hospitals treated thousands for poison gas symptoms, says charity
Excerpt: Syrian state television said on Saturday that government soldiers had found chemical agents in rebel tunnels in the Damascus suburb of Jobar. (Conspiracy theories are flying, including that the US framed Assad. Like we are that competent. Take all as “unproven.” ~Bob.)

“I will bring just one Sarin…Sarin gas,” says FSA jihadist rebel
Excerpt: In this video, two Syrian (Muslim Brotherhood/al-Qaeda linked) rebels can be heard coordinating a Sarin gas attack on a nearby building. 

Quote from Morning Jolt, By Jim Geraghty
Josh Trevino: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see a liberal Democratic administration ramp up to war against a Ba'athist dictator with WMD."

Excerpt: “Asma al-Assad empties a box of fondue mix into a saucepan for lunch. The household is run on wildly democratic principles.” … Wintour went on to hold several high-profile fundraisers for President Obama, and then was briefly considered to be a potential U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom or France. 

Obama blasted unilateral action during 1st campaign, unilaterally acts in Libya, now moving to in Syria.

Tweet from RB ‏@RBPundit
It's funny. Syria hasn't invaded other countries like Iraq did. But the Left will be totally cool with Obama bombing them w/o Congress' ok.

Asking Obama to go to congress to authorize the use of force is racist.

"Daddy, what was everyone doing when Obama started an unconstitutional war in Syria?" "Well, there was a serious twerking incident, son..."

How did we go from establishing democracy in Iraq to aligning ourselves with the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda-infested Syrian rebels?

Tweet from Meta World Data ‏@Pqlyur1
The AP writes a story titled "World Looks Different Than Obama Expected" as though he just showed up yesterday.

For Obama, World Looks Far Different Than Expected
Excerpt: Nearly five years into his presidency, Barack Obama confronts a world far different from what he envisioned when he first took office. U.S. influence is declining in the Middle East as violence and instability rock Arab countries. An ambitious attempt to reset U.S. relations with Russia faltered and failed. Even in Obama-friendly Europe, there's deep skepticism about Washington's government surveillance programs.

Don’t Fund Obamacare
Sign the petition here. (Yes, they ask you for money—what political site doesn’t—but not required.) ~Bob

Excerpt: Welfare pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states, creating little incentive for Americans to take entry-level work and likely increasing their long-term dependency on government help, according to a new study by the libertarian think tank Cato Institute. The finds come 17 years after the Clinton administration, with bipartisan support from Congress, passed landmark welfare reform legislation that was supposed to move Americans away from entitlements and into the workforce.

High Deductible Plans Creating Health Care Slowdown. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: A new study released yesterday by the Kaiser foundation found that in 2013 health care premiums went up 4 percent for families and 5 percent for individuals. That’s down from the 10 percent increases we saw in the early aughts. Obamacare supporters have been quick to grab it as a political football, arguing that this data proves that premiums aren’t spiking in anticipation of the ACA. But partisans on both sides agree that a big driver of the relative decrease is the rise of high-deductible health care plans.

Afghan Taliban kill 12 'government' workers
Excerpt: The Afghan Taliban executed 12 Afghan workers in two provinces after accusing them of working for the government, officials said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of brutal attacks on civilians this year.

Teens May Have Murdered Wwii Vet Because He Tried To Defend Himself
Excerpt: Delbert Belton, the 88-year-old World War II veteran who was savagely beaten to death last Wednesday by two teenagers, may have been murdered because he tried to defend himself and fight back while he was being robbed. (If Obama had a son, would he look like the killers? ~Bob.)

An American Satyricon: Our elites would be right at home in Petronius’s world of debauchery and bored melodrama. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Sometime in the mid-first century a.d., an otherwise little known consular official, Gaius Petronius, wrote a brilliant satirical novel about the gross and pretentious new Roman-imperial elite. TheSatyricon is an often-cruel parody about how the Roman agrarian republic of old had degenerated into a wealth-obsessed, empty society of wannabe new elites, flush with money, and both obsessed with and bored with sex. Most of the Satyricon is lost. But in its longest surviving chapter — “Dinner with Trimalchio” — Petronius might as well have been describing our own 21st-century nomenklatura.

Excerpt: President Barack Obama, astutely aware that people like kids and don’t like smokers, wants to fund his universal preschool programs through increased tobacco taxes. The only problem? People don’t smoke enough to keep the program running.

Dog fighting crackdown nets 12 arrests in 4 states
Excerpt: An investigation into organized dog fighting and gambling in the Southeast resulted in 12 arrests and the seizure of 367 pits bulls in one of the nation's largest crackdowns on the bloody exhibitions. (I don't have the words to express how much I hate people who do this. – LLW. I used to own a pit bull, “Chesty.”. Wouldn’t hurt a fly—a girlfriend’s six-pound Yorkie backed him up. I stopped rooting for the Eagles when they hired Vick. ~Bob.)

Controversial Cross Targeted by Explosive Device

Excerpt: Someone ignited an improvised explosive device next to a war memorial cross that a prominent atheist group wanted removed from a public park in Coos Bay, Ore., an attorney for the city told Fox News. An official statement on the city’s website called it an act of “criminal mischief” and stated that an ”unknown person(s) vandalized the memorial with an improvised explosive device.” “We unfortunately are now to the point where explosive devices are being placed next to crosses,” said Hiram Sasser, director of litigation at the Liberty Institute.

Excerpt: Since America is now populated by millions of liberal Kool-Aid drinkers there is a very good chance that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States. The Democratic party has already raised tens of millions of dollars to make sure that happens. Also, to Hillary's advantage, both CNN and NBC are preparing adoring documentaries so the liberal mainstream media are doing their part to elect their next in line liberal icon. I kind of knew that was going to be the case when I read that they would cover Hillary from 1998 to the present. Of course that would insure none of the early Hillary "dirt" is exposed to American voters. 

Excerpt: An Iraq veteran says he feels "belittled" after he and his certified service dog were refused a return visit to aMassachusetts diner. James Glasser told NECN.com he's an Iraq veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder that helped by his dog, Jack. Glasser said Monday he's looking for some understanding from the diner owner after "defending his right to own that restaurant."

A retired Georgia combat veteran has lost his fight to fly his American flag and U.S. Marine Corps colors outside his home in an Atlanta-area retirement community. MyFoxAtlanta.com reports that the board of directors at Marine Capt. Jim Lowe's community in Griffin voted against changing a rule on outside decorations that threatened his patriotic display. Sun City-Peachtree's codes state that each home in the retirement community can only have one flag, but Lowe fought the rule, arguing that the traditional Marine Corps battle color is not a flag.

The News in Zingers. By Argus Hamilton
Excerpt: President Obama embarks on a two-day bus tour of upstate New York and northeast Pennsylvania to promote ways of lowering the costs of college. The president really connects well with college students. They're both in their fifth year and hopelessly in debt.

Good Analysis: Hugging the Brotherhood to Death. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: When the dust settles in Cairo, at least long enough to make out anything through the smoke and flames, it may turn out that the Muslim Brotherhood has suffered its worst blow at the hands of none other than Barack Hussein Obama.

Farmers' Almanac: Nasty winter on tap for much of US, Super Bowl could become 'Storm Bowl'
Excerpt: The Farmers' Almanac is using words like "piercing cold," ''bitterly cold" and "biting cold" to describe the upcoming winter. … It also predicts a colder-than-normal winter for two-thirds of the country and heavy snowfall in the Midwest, Great Lakes and New England

Excerpt: The National Archives is readying an exhibit of Iraqi Jewish artifacts due to open on October 11. Appallingly, theU.S. government has agreed to then return the Iraqi Jewish archives — including holy books — to Iraq, which systematically expelled its Jewish community, by June of 2014. How did the Jewish Iraqi community — which dates to 721 B.C.E. when the Assyrians conquered Samaria and eventually deported the population to centralMesopotamia, and which was one of the two main sources of Mishnaic and Talmudic learning — lose, find, and lose again its patrimony?

Excerpt: While thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial this past weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, an American flag was waved with President Obama’s image in place of the 50 stars. Photos of the “Obama flag” were included in the galleries of numerous prominent web sites such as Politico and USA Today….“Reminiscent of Sadaam Hussein, Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini…..” (This desecration and has been stopped in past, removed from Democratic HQ in FL as I recall…but they keep trying to bring it back….Barb)

VA Workers Bag Millions In Bonuses Despite Record Disability Backlog
Excerpt: The Department of Veterans Affairs doled out millions of dollars in bonuses to workers for "excellent" performance despite the fact that the number of veterans waiting for disability compensation has increased 2000% under President Barack Obama. A review conducted by News21 found that in 2012 nearly three out of four appealed veteran claims were incorrectly processed. Office of Personnel Management records reveal that many of the worst performing and backlogged offices scored the highest bonuses, reports the Washington Post: … The Oakland, Calif., office, which shut its doors to retrain underperforming employees, awarded nine out of every 10 workers a total of about $33,000--almost enough to pay the standard year's benefit to a veteran who is 100 percent disabled.

Excerpt: When the Florida Department of Children and Families claimed earlier this month to have saved taxpayers $1.7 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, what they really meant was they stopped subsidizing people who didn't qualify for the program.

Racism starts young: Kids bully toddler and make her cry 
Excerpt: A group of kids and a pre-teen bully a three year old girl and make her cry at least twice on camera. The cameraman (a 12 year old boy) brags on Facebook and titled his video "When white people piss black people off."

The heroines of (non-progressive) Women's Suffrage
Excerpt: Most people have no clue that this right for American women was painted in blood and this struggle represents one of the most egregious and most brutal treatment of American citizens in our history. Talk about a re-writing of history! In 1917 approximately 168 women, most from the National Women's Party, were arrested, imprisoned and brutalized under orders of their own government and their President Woodrow Wilson

Jersey City high school candidate for student gov't sent racist texts to himself, school official says
Another racism hoax, like Oberlin College. ~Bob

Excerpt: Look, I’m going to be blunt here: Johnnie Walker Blue is the most overrated whiskey on the market. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine scotch. I enjoy it. It’s smooth! But it’s only a slight upgrade over Johnnie Walker Black in terms of taste and it’s four times more expensive. You might as well eat twenty dollar bills; the effect is the same and you’ll get some much-needed roughage. (Yup. ~Bob.)

Just had to show ID at the Post Office to pickup mail. I feel suppressed & discriminated against. Not sure how I will get through the day.

Golden Rice, Green Idiocy. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: On August 8th, 400 protesters ripped out seedlings of a new genetically modified plant called golden rice at a testing ground in the Philippines. Genes from bacteria and corn have been added to the rice to make it a source of vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness and weakens the immune system, contributing to 2 million deaths every year. (Golden rice is being developed by a non-profit organization, not Monsanto.) As the Philippine government prepares to rule on whether or not to allow farmers to grow the wonder-crop, the anti-GMO movement is digging itself in for a fight. 

Convicted Insider Trading Obama Donor Enjoys a ‘Manservant’ in Prison: “He’s reigning like a king”

Lobbyists Sneak Onto Public Pension Rolls. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: ABC News reports that lobbyists in over 20 different states—some of whom are already making six-figure salaries on their own—have managed to work their way onto public pension systems, much to the chagrin of many rank-and-file pensioners.

Billie Jean King win in 'Battle of the Sexes' was fixed to pay Bobby Riggs' mob debts.
Excerpt: Mr Shaw told ESPN he overheard Frank Ragano, a renowned mob attorney, discussing the match-fixing plan with the crime bosses Santo Trafficante Jr and Carlos Marcello one night at his golf club. "Ragano was emphatic," he told ESPN. "Riggs had assured him that the fix would be in - he would beat Margaret Court and then he would go 'in the tank' against King". Mr Shaw said the mobsters made clear Riggs wanted his substantial gambling debts with them paid off in return for throwing the game, which would allow them to confidently place a lucrative bet.

U.S. Gov't Funding $313M in Mortgages—For Palestinians on West Bank
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-govt-funding-313m-mortgages-palestinians-west-bank
Sequester? What sequester? ~Bob

Islamic Studies Prof: Egypt Army Should Annihilate Christians: The professor, a speaker for American Islamist organizations, says Christians are to blame for Egypt's violence and church burnings.
Huh. And here I thought it was the Joos! ~Bob.

17-Year-Old Who Could Look Like Obama 35 Years Ago Charged With Raping 93-Year-Old Woman

2,400 year old wisdom on the NSA, Edward Snowden, and gun control
Excerpt: Nearly 2,400 years ago, Aristotle wrote one of the defining works of political philosophy in a book entitled Politics. It’s still incredibly relevant today, particularly what he writes about tyranny.

Time for the BBC to ban the 'D' word? By James Delingpole
Excerpt: "A “denier” tests alarming predictions against actual observations. In short, a “denier” exhibits the symptoms of a genuine seeker after scientific truth. I wish the same could be said of “consensus” writers – or that they showed the same restraint and courtesy towards different opinions shown by sceptics such as Watts Up With That."

Kentucky School Children to Michelle Obama: "Your food tastes like vomit." By Eric Owens
Excerpt: Their primary concern at the board meeting was a bevy of complaints that local children are starving at lunch — and for the remainder of the school day — because the food on offer in the cafeteria is crappy and there isn’t nearly enough of it. “Kids can’t learn when they’re hungry!” parents shouted to the board, according to the Enterprise.

Juan Williams slams Sharpton, Jackson for 'corruption' of civil rights movement. By Jeff Poor
Excerpt: That’s the tradition of Dr. King — stand up and act against bad schools that are condemning these kids to useless lives because they never have an opportunity to climb that ladder of upward mobility. And the civil rights challenge of this generation is education, and Dr. King would never allow anybody to buy his silence, to buy him off, to sell out the kids and that’s what’s happening right now.”

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