Friday, August 9, 2013

Your weekend reading

A few offerings for the weekend. I’ll be off line as usual lately. A friend on the Pulmonary Fibrosis support group listserv just asked to be taken off the political mailing list, as she is entering hospice and can no longer can do e-mail. Prayers for Joyce. And so it goes. ~Bob

US withdraws diplomats from Lahore consulate in Pakistan
Remember back in the campaign when Obama said the war on terror was over and al Qaeda was on the run? Good times! ~Bob

Excerpt: Charitable hospitals that treat uninsured Americans will be subjected to new levels of scrutiny of their nonprofit status and could face sizable new fines under Obamacare.

Zanzibar offers reward for acid attack
Gee, I wonder who did it? Baptists? Buddhists? ~Bob.

Senator Brian Schatz (D, Hawaii): did you have carnal relations with that sheep? By Moe Lane 
Not really. Blown out of proportion. Of course, if he was a Republican, be headlines in all the media for weeks. No Muslim jokes, please. The president is trying to reset our relations with them again—as soon as we dare reopen our embassies. ~Bob

VIDEO: Pro-lifers rally in front of ABC News to condemn abortion censorship. Caroline May
Excerpt: A prominent theme throughout the rally was the comparison of the media’s coverage of Wendy Davis and the Gosnell trial. Pro-life activist Jill Stanek noted that the pink sneakers Davis wore during her 13-hour filibuster of a Texas abortion-restricting bill received three times the media coverage as the baby feet discovered in the Gosnell’s office.

Obama to speak at Lincoln Memorial marking 50th anniverary of King speech. By Rick Moran
Excerpt: Someone should remind the president that he is president of all Americans and that Dr. King belongs to all of us - not one race or interest group. Mr. Obama's plan just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I certainly hope he's not planning on going to Gettysburg in November for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's speech.

Charlie Rangel Racial Demagogue
Excerpt: It happens so often that we have grown accustomed to it. Which is sad, when you think about it. What am I talking about? Democrats and liberals playing the race card. In the past it was mostly held by the professional race provocateurs like Al Sharpton and Jesses Jackson, but more recently Democrat politicians have begun using it with regularity. Since MSNBC embraced its inner leftist, it has begun playing racially divisive games with impunity.

British Warships Set Sail for Gibraltar. By Matt Chorley
Excerpt: This week Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar's chief minister, asked Britain to send Royal Navy warships to the area in a bid to stop Spanish boat police making unauthorised incursions into the Rock's territorial waters. He told the Times: 'One of the issues that has been relevant has been that Spain has been making incursions with Guardia Civil launches into Gibraltar waters. 'With more naval assets it would be easier to show that these are British waters.'

Allen West Rips Obama Administration's Handling of Fort Hood Shootings. By Kevin Derby
Excerpt: Former Congressman Allen West, who has opened the door to a political comeback in 2016, weighed in this week on the start of the trial of the Fort Hood shooter. "Finally, after almost four years, the trial of Army Major Nidal Hasan began, but should I refer to this despicable Islamic jihadist as an Army major?” West demanded on Facebook. “He has, after all, renounced his American citizenship and oath as an Army officer.

'Society is going to hell in a handcart and the English language is decaying.' By Tom Chivers
Excerpt: Have we really become more selfish, and can we tell it from studying our word use? According to news reports of a study by Patricia Greenfield (no relation, I assume), we have, and we can. Apparently, using the publicly available and utterly brilliant Google Ngrams tool, Prof Greenfield examined more than 1.5 million books and found that the use of words such as "obliged" and "give" has dropped in frequency in English-language books, while words such as "get", "child", "unique", "individual" and "self" have become more common.

UK: Britain's old friends in the Gulf are luring us east of Suez once more. By Con Coughlin
Excerpt: Britain and America’s support for the removal of long-established dictatorships in Egypt and Libya only served to create a dangerous political vacuum in North Africa that is being actively exploited by Islamist groups hostile to the West. And it is the dawning realisation that a similar fate could befall the kingdoms of the Gulf that has persuaded Britain to adopt a more nuanced approach. (Kipling” “Ship me somewhere east of Suez, where the best is like the worst, where there ain’t no ten commandants, and a man can raise a thirst.” ~Bob.)

Lower standards: Pentagon hints at changes to allow more women in ground combat
Excerpt: Public statements from the Pentagon since it removed the ban on direct ground combat jobs for women signal that the armed services plan to change their physical standards to ensure integration of the sexes, analysts say. (OK, I've been waiting for this, the erosion of committment to keep all the standards in training the same, and let women compete with the men on that basis only. Now we're seeing the weasel words about fixing the training differently for women, and having to prove at some really high level that any particular job in the military means the standards cannot be changed to give women a better chance of surviving the testing. Just wait, this is going to slide downhill and at least some of the services will wind up either giving women a special break or changing the test downwards for everyone. Maybe the Marine Corps will hold out on this, I sure as hell hope so. –Del. We need a special medal for troops killed because of political correctness. None of the folks advocating this would let their son or daughter near a recruiting station. ~Bob)

Terror Alerts Everywhere, Obama Goes on Vacation Again /Critics bash Obama's plans for vacay
Excerpt: President Obama and his family are heading to Martha's Vineyard on Saturday for a week of rest and relaxation, but not before facing the ritual partisan grumblings that presidential vacations are extravagant and waste taxpayer money.

@RBPundit I'm convinced that MSNBC has discovered that their best demographic is conservative bloggers that tune in for great material.

Top 20 schools with the most conservative student bodies in the U.S.

Green Dreams: Glare From Airport Solar Panels Interfering With Air Traffic Controllers
Excerpt: A $3.5-million solar panel installation at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire -- paid for with a federal grant -- is under wraps as engineers debate how to deal with the glare that has bothered air traffic controllers, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported on Thursday.

New Report Confirms Keystone Pipeline Won’t Increase Emissions
It’s not about jobs or energy or the costs to poor people. It’s about keeping the Green Unicorn Farts donor base happy. ~Bob.

Islamist gunmen kill church pastor’s niece, 10, in Egypt church attack

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