Monday, September 30, 2013

After my long weekend


I was off-line for three days and had well over 500 e-mails this morning, no time to open even half. Sorry. Posts will be spotty as I’m in a transition phase. ~Bob

The Progressive Legacy. By Robert A. Hall
In case you missed it, with the child/squirrel typo fixed, thanks to readers. Some comments from readers: “My good sir, the world would be a much better place with you as President.” –JJ. “If it means fewer progressives, maybe we should support more abortions?” –TH. “Friends and Relatives, While this article may appear long for an email, it is one of the most concise and best articles describing Liberal (Progressive) theory thinking and actions. If the first theoretical part is too remote for you, skip it and look at the "Detailed Legacy half way down the article." –ME. “This is so good. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to produce it. It must take such patience. I am admittedly not so well informed as you are, but as near as I can tell, in my humble opinion, you have captured the essential nature of the problem.” –R. “A most excellent read. I believe that Bob has captured the mind of the liberal progressive very well, too well perhaps. “ –WD.

Must Read: Obama Clings To Climate Change Science That Now Looks Very Wrong. By H. Sterling Burnett
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/092613-672687-obama-signs-more-climate-change-deals-while-rest-of-the-world-backs-off.htmExcerpt: Let's look at temperature. In 1990, the IPCC issued an estimate that a doubling of pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to a rise in the Earth's temperature of 9 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2001, the IPCC had to change that prediction to just over 6 degrees. In 2007, we saw that same number drop to approximately 5.4 degrees. Now, according to early reports, the IPCC's latest estimate is only 2.4 degrees. (This latter prediction, by the way, is in line with what a number of climate skeptics have been saying for years.) Even the IPCC admits that this is hardly the calamity predicted just a few years earlier.

Guest Post: Another Chamberlain Moment

Four Numbers Say Wind and Solar Can’t Save Climate. By Robert Bryce
Excerpt: As the discussion unfolds, I would urge everyone to keep four numbers in mind: 32, 1, 30 and 1/2. These are the numbers that explain why any transition away from our existing energy systems will be protracted and costly. Let’s take them in sequence.

Let’s Privatize the Welfare State. By John Goodman

Excerpt: Have you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has? Actually, some people do occasionally make gifts to federal entitlement programs. But gifts to the entire federal government were a paltry $241 million in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. By contrast, Americans donated almost $300 billion last year to private sector charities in addition to volunteer time valued at $158 billion.
The money we spend on food stamps (technically called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) almost all comes from coercive taxation, rather than charitable contributions. For example, the United Way of Dallas donated $50 million to 90 private charities last year. The food stamp program was not among them. Even the government’s charitable giving program for federal employees ($270 million to 20,000 non-profit groups) does not list the food stamp program as an option.

IG Report: IRS Failed to Track $67 Million for Obamacare

Excerpt: The Internal Revenue Service failed to track some $67 million in indirect costs of implementing the 2010 health-care overhaul, according to a new inspector general report.

Tony Blair’s Daughter Mugged by Armed Gunman in Gun-Free UK
Excerpt: If you listen to Piers Morgan, the UK is a utopia where guns were banned and as a result everyone spends all day hugging each other. The reality is that in the UK, as in Chicago or New York, the difficulty in obtaining a gun only means that the gunmen are all criminals.

Greenspan: Failure to Solve Deficit Problem Could Spark Financial Crisis"Unconstrained deficit spending" represents the United States' No. 1 domestic economic problem, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan writes in a new book, Politico reports.
Excerpt: Greenspan says Washington needs reform of its own to solve our deficit woes. "Our highest priority going forward is to fix our broken political system," he states. "Short of that, there is no viable long-term solution to our badly warped economy." (Note the sentence in bold which I altered for emphasis. I'm not the only guy who thinks our system is at the least badly damaged, or perhaps even broken. --Del)

Obama Has Al Qaeda On The Run: All Over Christians
Excerpt: “Today, al Qaeda is on the run.” President Barack Obama, Oct. 11, 2012(Was this before or after allowing the murders in Benghazi?~JB) But Mr. Obama’s delusion is not quaint or risible. It has emboldened this barbaric bunch of Islamic thugs to focus on innocent Christians throughout the Muslim world.But Mr. Obama’s delusion is not quaint or risible. It has emboldened this barbaric bunch of Islamic thugs to focus on innocent Christians throughout the Muslim world.

Obama's flawed thinking on full display at UN. By Cal Thomas

Excerpt: His claim that "The world is more stable than it was five years ago" is demonstrably false. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya, Congo, to name only a few, there are at least as many conflicts as in 2008 and far more now than when the United Nations was created. 
According to Themner, Lotta and Peter Wallensteen, in "Armed Conflict, 1946-2011," Journal of Peace Research, there were fewer than 20 armed conflicts in 1946. Today there are more than 30.

CAIR’s Islamophobia Meltdown. By Daniel Greenfield

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/cairs-islamophobia-meltdown/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2adc6171a3-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-2adc6171a3-156414477

Excerpt: While the CAIR report attempted to stigmatize terrorism research by reporting on the straightforward funding of organizations and individuals such as Robert Spencer; the Johnson report showed that CAIRdescribed by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in financing terrorism, had engaged in convoluted methods to conceal its financing sources while laundering money from abroad.

Qaeda tells Syria schoolgirls to wear Islamic clothes: NGO

Excerpt:In Tweihineh, "the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant... has forbidden girls in primary education and above from attending school unless they wear fully Islamic clothing including an abaya (gown), gloves and a veil," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Nigeria College Attacked: At Least 40 Killed

http://news.sky.com/story/1147882/nigeria-college-attacked-at-least-40-killed

Excerpt: At least 40 people have been killed after suspected Islamist gunmen fired on students as they slept at a college in northeast Nigeria.

US nuclear commander suspended over gambling, officials say http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/28/us-nuclear-commander-suspended-gambling
Excerpt: The No 2 officer at the military command in charge of all US nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the naval criminal investigation command for issues related to gambling, officials said on Saturday. The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at US strategic command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced. Air force general Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, navy vice admiral Tim Giardina, from his duties on September 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, navy captain Pamela Kunze.

Worse Is the New Normal: Mid-20th-century assumptions of generational progress no longer obtain
Excerpt:… George Orwell, after attending a meeting of impoverished but passive miners, remarked sadly that “there is no turbulence left in England.” The Democrats, and much of the Republican establishment, have made a bet that there is no turbulence left in America, and the citizenry will stand mute before Obamacare’s wrecking ball. Unless they’re willing to accept a worse life for their children and grandchildren, middle-class Americans need to prove them wrong.

U.S. TO TEACH MEXICANS TO GAME AMERICAN SYSTEM: Feds plan to spend $100,000 to help give away more money
Excerpt: It’s an expenditure of only $100,000 – mere pocket change in the vast labyrinth of federal spending – but the funds are for the creation of a manual to teach people how to get more money from the U.S. government. And the recipients aren’t even citizens of the United States. The U.S. Trade & Development Agency, an independent White House agency, is laying the foundation for the government of Mexico to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into modernizing its roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.

‘Netanyahu to tell Obama Iran has enough uranium for a bomb’
Excerpt: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he meets Barack Obama on Monday, will present the US president with an intelligence report asserting that Iran has amassed enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, according to Britain’s Sunday Times.

New U.S. mayor sets sights on 'black nation'
Excerpt: Voters in Jackson, Miss., a mid-sized city in the heart of the Deep South, have picked a Democrat as their mayor. What’s different about this individual is that he is a former leader of the Republic of New Afrika, a group dedicated to creating an independent black nation out of five southern states.

Ten states where Obamacare wipes out existing health care plans

Excerpt: But as Obamacare’s rollout approaches, we have learned this is not true. Here are the ten states where consumers may like their health care planes, but they won’t be able to keep them.

Israel Claims To Have Arrested Iranian Spy Carrying Photos Of US Embassy
Excerpt: On September 29 Israel's Shin Bet security service announced the arrest of an Iranian spy allegedly carrying photos of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. The alleged spy was arrested on September 11, carrying a Belgian passport. According to Business Insider, the alleged spy had been operating under the name Alex Mans, but his real name is Ali Mansouri.

Excerpt: A wide swath of American society just do not "get" the Tea Party. At first I just thought so many are ignorant. But I've come to believe it's because our national morality has declined so precipitously that they no longer understand anyone who would place principle over popularity or career success…or "being cool". So many moderates and most Democrats choose to demonize the Tea Party while knowing so little about it. They call them racists, while failing to see thousands of Hispanics and Blacks and Asians marching in those Tea Party rallies.

SEIU Members Strike After Obamacare-Caused Job Cut
Excerpt: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members in Chicago have gone on strike after a janitorial company cut some union jobs and hours because of Obamacare, a law the SEIU supported. Tyler French, the organizing director of SEIU Local 1 in Chicagosaid a janitorial company called "Professional Maintenance" cut the jobs and hours.

NSA employee spied on nine women without detection, internal file shows: Twelve cases of unauthorised surveillance documented in letter from NSA's inspector general to senator Chuck Grassley

It also reveals limited disciplinary action taken against NSA staff found to have abused the system. …Two civilian employees kept their jobs – and, it appears, their security clearance – and escaped with only a written warning after they were found to have conducted unauthorised interceptions. The abuses – technically breaches of the law – did not result in a single prosecution, even though more than half of the cases were referred to the Department of Justice. 

McCain hires Syria rebel advocate Elizabeth O’Bagy

Excerpt: Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain hired the Syria analyst in favor of U.S. intervention who was fired for fabricating her Ph.D., Foreign Policy reported. Elizabeth O’Bagy, formerly of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), will start Monday as a legislative assistant in Sen. McCain’s office. McCain told Foreign Policy that “Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year.” (Maybe she’s good at playing poker? Hard to believe you’d hire a Syrian rebel mole without education claimed….must have the robochip implanted at one of those steak and lobster dinners….Barb)

Hersh slams US media, says ‘not one word’ of White House bin Laden narrative is true

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/27/hersh-slams-us-media-claims-bin-laden-narrative-is-not-true/#ixzz2gCs3301U
Excerpt: In an interview with The Guardian (U.K.) published Friday, the left-leaning Seymour Hersh, best known for his Pulitzer-winning reporting that exposed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, unloaded on the American news media for its underwhelming coverage of the Obama White House. Hersh told The Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll that the ABC and NBC news bureaus ought to be shut down and 90 percent of the editors fired for sake of fixing journalism

Excerpt: Maybe they’ll start posting their next targets! Unreal that Obama can’t get these thugs in check and that they have so little fear that they’ll be this open.

ADOLPH HITLER: The Real Father of Universal Health Care

http://clashdaily.com/2013/09/adolph-hitler-real-father-universal-health-care/
Excerpt: Because resources are limited, the concept of Universal Healthcare requires the Government to make decisions on the distribution of healthcare that will determine the survivability of different groups in society. That is, the welfare of the collective and government priorities are placed above that of the rights of any individual.

Excerpt: An Ohio attorney who handled more than 800 court-appointed cases last year billed for workdays that included 29 hours, 23 hours, 21.5 hours, and 21 hours. In total, his billable hours averaged out into nine hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Docs Flee Jersey (Wouldn't You?) By J. Robert Smith
Excerpt: Via the Drudge Report, we learn that medical docs are fleeing Blue State Jersey faster than "Old Blue Eyes" skedaddled out of Hoboken. This from MY9NJ.com: According to Deborah Briggs, the President and CEO of the Council of Teaching Hospitals, New Jersey loses nearly 70% of the doctors it educates to other states. This is well below the national average of a 48% retention rate.

Peggy Noonan: World Wants the Old America Back
Excerpt: Noonan quotes a former senior U.S. diplomat as saying, "World leaders are very negative about Obama," and are "disappointed, feeling he's not really in charge . . . The Western Europeans don't pay that much attention to him anymore."

Moroccans Protest Against Muslim Brotherhood Government. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: But just like Egypt and Tunisia, Islamist rule isn’t proving to be too popular. "Up to 5,000 people protested in the Moroccan capital Sunday against the Islamist government and the high cost of living after price rises of staple goods, a journalist said."

This year's SAT scores are out, and they are grim. By Julia Ryan
Excerpt: Of the 1.66 million high school students in the class of 2013 who took the SAT, only 43 percent were academically prepared for college-level work, according to this year’s SAT Report on College & Career Readiness. For the fifth year in a row, fewer than half of SAT-takers received scores that qualified them as “college-ready.” (Progressive education. My combined SATS were 1,424, in 1968, but I took it after I’d been in the Corps for four, and skipped a lot in high school. ~Bob)

Walmart Shooter Targeted White Victims. By Tony Lee
Excerpt: Police eventually "seized computers and documents from Faust's home that showed he had a plan for the attack and wanted to shoot a large number of people."

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