Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Latest Political News


Celebrate October 10th

The anniversary of the Battle of Tours in 732 AD, when Charles Martel (686-741), forever known as The Hammer, and his 30,000 Christian soldiers crushed an invading horde of 200,000 Moslem Jihadis in what is now central France. As Gibbon noted, had the Moslems won that day, all of Europe would have been Islamized and Western Civilization would have been extinguished. –Jack Wheeler. (Muslims, who attacked Christian lands repeatedly, including Spain, Egypt and what is now Turkey, complain endlessly about the response—the Crusades. Martel is supposedly a distant ancestor of mine. Probably of you too. ~Bob))

U.S. plans to curb military aid to Egypt


Excerpt: The Obama administration will announce curbs on a significant part of nonessential military aid to Egypt within a few days, U.S. officials said Tuesday, marking a shift in America’s relations with one of its key Arab allies. (They should have known better than to throw out his Christian-killing Muslim Brotherhood friends. ~Bob)

Why Divorce Attorneys Will Love Obamacare


Excerpt: A typical 40-year old couple with two kids could save $7,230 a year by divorcing if one partner earns, say, $70,000 and the other $23,000. Sixty year-olds earning $62,041 each a year would save $11,028 annually if they broke up. (Since married people tended to vote for Romney and singles for Obama, this is a feature, not a bug. ~Bob)

Shutdown Fever: Is the House in Play Now? By Stuart Rothenberg


Excerpt: On Sunday, a Huffington Post headline screamed what most Democrats were hoping: “GOP In Grave Danger Of Losing House In 2014, PPP Polls Show.” Of course, anything coming from Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling and MoveOn.org Political Action, which paid for the surveys, must be taken with at least a grain of salt. PPP isn’t your typical polling firm. Its surveys often are intended to boost Democratic recruiting, fundraising or prospects. In this case, the “polls” were almost certainly commissioned to create a narrative about the political repercussions of the shutdown and the nature of the midterms.

Obama Speechwriter Misinforms College Students About Obamacare. By Katherine Rodriguez


Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s former speechwriter channeled Obama’s rhetorical tactics recently when he told a roomful of college students that people who know the least about the Affordable Care Act oppose it the most. ... Fifty-five percent of Americans who say they are most likely to disapprove of the law are also the ones who know the most about it, according to Gallup. The poll also said that one-in-three young Americans from age 18-34 are least familiar with but most optimistic about the law.

More media won’t solve political ignorance. By Jack Shafer


Excerpt: “The sheer depth of most individual voters’ ignorance may be shocking to readers not familiar with the research,” Somin writes on his first page. Many Americans don’t know how the government works, they don’t know much about who runs the government, and they’re clueless about how government programs work. For instance, a 2006 Zogby poll reported that only 42 percent of respondees could name the three branches of government. (I'll bet a lot of the politically "tuned in" Americans think the "tuned out" Americans' overall judgment -- well beyond the political sphere -- is eroding, as well. We've seen our fellow countrymen buying houses they can't afford. We've seen them go deeply into debt to get a college education, and then major in a field with extremely limited earning and career prospects. We've seen young men (and not just young men) create a child and then refuse to take care of those children. We don't take care of our health. We don't save for the future. We drink, gamble, take drugs, sleep around. -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt)

Many remain locked out of federal health-care Web site


Excerpt: Major insurers, state health-care officials and Democratic allies repeatedly warned the Obama administration in recent months that the new federal health-insurance exchange had significant problems, according to people familiar with the conversations. Despite those warnings and intense criticism from Republicans, the White House proceeded with an Oct. 1 launch.



Excerpt: Remember what is happening in health care. We pit bureaucratic payers against bureaucratic providers. At least that’s the way we used to describe it. Now it’s software against software. On the physician side alone, there are 7,500 tasks Medicare pays doctors to perform and the number is expanding to many thousand more. So providers buy computer programs to help them maximize against the payment formulas. Then the payers buy programs to help defend against the provider programs. Then we get another iteration, with better programs and better defenses, etc. How could this not be complicated? But has anyone noticed how uncomplicated health care markets are where there are no third party payers or where they play a subordinate role? Walk-in clinics have posted prices that are easy for even a fifth grader to understand, while at a typical physician’s office no one seems to know what anything costs.

South Korea Says North Restarted Nuclear Reactor


Excerpt: South Korea’s main intelligence agency confirmed on Tuesday that North Korea has restarted a Soviet-era nuclear reactor that has been used to obtain plutonium for bombs, according to South Korean legislators.

‘We Didn’t Sell This Health Care Law, You Did!’: Cavuto Takes on Obama Over Fox News Criticism


Excerpt: Mr. President, we at Fox News are not the problem. I hate to break it to you, sir. You are. Your words are. Your promises are. We didn't sell this healthcare law. Sir, you did. Remember this? President Barack Obama: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.

Couple kicked out of national park almost Die


Excerpt: A couple from Arkansas was forced from their camping spot in Big Bend National Park by a park ranger. They were told there was a state park nearby and he gave them what turned out to be a very poor map of the park and the couple got lost and nearly died before they found a spring.

From a reader

Obama in my parlance stands for Organized Bastard(s) And Marxist Agitator(s). --DH

A general who won a war by losing all the battles: Giap could never defeat American arms, but he panicked Congress into betrayal. By Robert F. Turner


Excerpt: The Oct. 4 death of former North Vietnamese general and Defense Minister Vo Nguyen Giap has led many commentators to describe him as “the general who beat the United States in the Vietnam War.” It is a popular perception, but it is false — at least in a military sense.



Excerpt: This past week I was reading an investigative report from Jake Pearson of the Associated Press. He ran a series of reports on the incarceration costs of housing a prisoner in liberal la la land, New York City. It seems that taxpayers of New York are shelling out over $167,000 dollars per year to make sure their thugs are living in the style to which they've become accustomed. Pearson further points out that the annual costs to educate a student at the Ivy League schools run about $170,000 per year, almost the identical costs to house a NYC inmate.

Obamacare's Next Round By Jonah Goldberg


Excerpt: For all the acrimony in Washington over Obamacare, there's an intriguing consensus around one issue: the ratchet effect. Neither side uses the term, but both the right and left treat it as an article of faith. The term was coined by the libertarian economist Robert Higgs. In his book "Crisis and Leviathan," Higgs describes how the state takes on massive new powers during a crisis, usually wars. When the crisis subsides, the state relinquishes some of those powers, but it never gives them all back. This is how the state grows over time.

Obama’s Competent Incompetence. By Daniel Greenfield 


Excerpt: And then when it came time to debut Obama’s signature achievement (if you don’t count wrecking the Middle East) the implementation was every bit as disastrous as if the project had been outsourced to someone’s cousin who had once taken a web design course in 1996. The ObamaCare websites didn’t go down because of high demand. They went down because of bad design. 

Media Fail: Obama Approval Plummets To 37%. By John Nolte


Excerpt: In today's edition of polls the media will collectively ignore, a new AP-GFK polls finds that Barack Obama's job approval rating has plummeted to 37%. The President's disapproval rating is up to 53%. There is no good news in this poll for anyone, but if past is prologue, this is the number the media will pretend does not exist as they attempt to manufacture a reality where only the GOP is in trouble over the shutdown.

A Science Test


Here is a quiz on how much science adults know. Only 7% of the adult population get all 13 questions correct. See how you do. (13 for 13. ~Bob)

Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to 'detect' gay people and stop them from entering the country


Excerpt: A medical test being developed by Kuwait will be used to 'detect' homosexuals and prevent them from entering the country – or any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), according to a Kuwaiti government official.

"Iran-US talks, opportunity to prove power of Islam"


Excerpt: Sheikh Mahir Hamoud, orator of Al Quds Mosque in Sidon referred to the domestic crisis of the US and said,” A country that tried to dominate the whole world is at the danger of collapse though its damages will not suffice to an economic one but will lead to a cultural collapse of the country soon.” (He may well be right. The cultural collapse has been underway since Woodstock. The fiscal one is bearing down on us. ~Bob.)

Tommy Robinson, Kevin Carroll, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer breaking with EDL


Excerpt: Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll are announcing their departure from the English Defence League. This move has come after many months of deliberation and many years of constant efforts by Robinson and Carroll to prevent the EDL from being infiltrated and co-opted by racists, anti-Semites, fascists, neo-Nazis, and far-right elements.

Kenya identifies mall attackers, including American


Excerpt: A spokesman for the Kenya Defense Forces has identified four terrorists who took part in the deadly Nairobi mall attack last month. They are: Khattab al-Kene, an American Somali; Abu Baara al-Sudani, from Sudan; Omar Nabhan, from Kenya; and a man identified only as Umayr.

Amputee Dancers


You can't overcome your challenges? ~Bob

Just 17% of Government Actually Shut Down


Just the parts that piss people off. ~Bob

62% Think U.S. Likely To Default on Debt


Excerpt: Americans are more fearful of another economic meltdown these days, and belief that the U.S. government will default on its debt has jumped from six months ago. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of American adults now think it is at least somewhat likely that the United States soon will face another financial industry meltdown similar to the 2008 crisis, with 35% who say it is Very Likely. (With $17T in debt on the books and perhaps another $200T in unfunded liabilities that don't show, not being contracted, the question is not if, but when. ~bob)

Let's Have a Government Sale. By Daniel Greenfield


Excerpt: Our government is so big that the nearly 3 million government employees should be their own state. The population of government employees is already larger than the populations of Rhode Island, Wyoming, Delaware, Alaska, Montana, North and South Dakota, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, Idaho, West Virginia, Nebraska and New Mexico. It's so big that if government employees formed their own state, it would be the 36th largest state in the union.

Truckers Ride for the Constitution to Shutdown D.C. By Onan Coca


Excerpt: This weekend, October 11 – 13, Truckers Ride for the Constitution plan on driving into Washington, D.C. and shutting down the beltway (the I-495 loop which encircles D.C.) with their big rigs. Their Facebook page, really says it all… The American people are sick and tired of the corruption that is destroying America! We therefore declare a GENERAL STRIKE on the weekend of October 11-13, 2013! Truck drivers will not haul freight! Americans can strike in solidarity with truck drivers!

Illinois Governor Issues Administrative Order Banning Employers Asking Job Applicants About Felonies


Asking about felonies discriminates against the Democrats' base. ~Bob

SHUTDOWN: "No Catholic Service Until Further Notice" By Christine Rouselle


Excerpt: I reported on Saturday that military contract priests were forbidden from celebrating Mass due to the government shutdown, even if they wanted to volunteer and do it for free. Catholics are religiously obligated to attend Mass on Sunday. The Catholics at the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, however, were unable to meet this obligation as the government decided to cancel Mass. (They should say it's a mass for illegal immigrants. Obama would open it right up. ~Bob)

CHART: Dysfunctional government surpasses economy as top U.S. problem. By Frank Newport


Excerpt: Americans are now more likely to name dysfunctional government as the most important problem facing the country than to name any other specific problem. Thirty-three percent of Americans cite dissatisfaction with government and elected representatives as the nation's top issue, the highest such percentage in Gallup's trend dating back to 1939. Dysfunctional government now eclipses the economy (19%), unemployment (12%), the deficit (12%), and healthcare (12%) as the nation's top problem.

Obama's Hometown Gov Dumps Part-Time Employees Into Obamacare. By Daniel Greenfield


Excerpt: If you’re a local government and you don’t want to cover health care for your part timers, there’s always the signature legislative achievement of Barack Obama to toss them into. "Part-time government employees working for Cook County, Illinois — President Obama’s home county — may soon lose their employer-funded health insurance and instead have to move onto Obamacare’s healthcare exchanges."

OCCUPY AMERICA! Park Visitors Storm the Barrycades. By Michelle Malkin


Excerpt: Across the country, ordinary Americans are rising up in revolt against the old Washington tactic of closing public parks and memorials during selective government "shutdowns" to score political points. Tax-paying tourists are tossing off the orange traffic cones and "Barrycades." Enough is enough.

Let's hear it for the Yellowstone Park Rangers who bullied and terrified senior citizens. By Rick Moran


Excerpt: "They looked like Hulk Hogans, armed. They told us you can't go outside," she said. "Some of the Asians who were on the tour said, 'Oh my God, are we under arrest?' They felt like they were criminals."

Paul Ryan Assures Conservatives He is Not Backing Down on Obamacare. By Conn Carroll


Excerpt: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal titled, "Here's How We Can End This Stalemate," mapping out a reasonable sounding path to solving Washington's current fiscal impasse. "We have an opportunity here to pay down the national debt and jump-start the economy," Ryan writes, "if we start talking, and talking specifics, now." But while Ryan's op-ed does mention the need to cut spending, reform entitlements, and simplify the tax code, at no point does it mention Obamacare.

Canada's 'Gay Batman and Robin' Freed From Egyptian Prison. By Kathy Shaidle


Excerpt: A "Palestinian" doctor and a Canadian "filmmaker" travel to ultra-violent Cairo, then whine when they're locked up. Taxpayers will foot the whole bill, of course

Almost half a billion for public broadcasting, but nothing for families of fallen troops. By Thomas Lifson


Excerpt: That means PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio and Sesame Street got a taxpayer subsidy during the shutdown, but not would-be cancer patients at the NIH.

The Impoverishment of American Conversation. By Jeremy Egerer


Excerpt: The idea that man is entitled to pride in his political, religious, and social opinions, that he may somehow behave in the way he behaves, but that he may not speak of it, or, if he does speak of it, should always be respected for it, implies that we believe speaking to be more offensive thandoing. For a man will always behave a certain way whether he speaks about it or not; by his silence, he never implies inaction. And as the democratic tendencies of any situation increase, so does his enforcement of his opinion; if ideas are impersonal (that is to say, not exclusive to a single person), they are most impersonal in a democratic society, and thus should be spoken openly.

Parasitocracy. By Daren Jonescu


Excerpt: Excerpt: Tyranny, being as endemic to the human condition as other similar privations of the human good such as ignorance, vice, or sickness, is as old as mankind. What may be new, however, is the uniquely intractable form of tyranny that is currently metastasizing throughout the world, namely the rule of an authoritarian plurality of societal parasites. Our next thousand years of darkness, if such be our fate, will begin under the governance of a "parasitocracy." ... What is essential is the parasite's presumption that the productivity of others -- their toil, time, and achievement -- ought to be at his or her disposal.

Dem. Congressman Bemoans Shutdown’s Effects: We Don’t Have Any Towels In The House Gym!


The horror! This has gone too far. ~Bob

Shutdown Simulacrum: Just because it's a phony crisis doesn't mean it can't be made even phonier. By Mark Steyn


Excerpt: “Mandatory spending” (Social Security, Medicare, et al.) is authorized in perpetuity — or, at any rate, until total societal collapse. If you throw in the interest payments on the debt, that means two-thirds of the federal budget is beyond the control of Congress’s so-called federal budget process. That’s why you’re reading government “shutdown” stories about the PandaCam at the Washington Zoo and the First Lady’s ghost-Tweeters being furloughed.

Kenyan Parliament Re-Thinking Somali Immigration After Bloody Mall Carnage. By Daniel Greenfield


Excerpt: It’s something that we should be thinking seriously about as well. We’ve already had a major Somali attempted terror attack here. That one was intercepted and prevented, but we can only get lucky so many times before we have our own Westgate.

ACLU, Freedom from Religion Foundation Loot School After Expunging Jesus.


Excerpt: These days exercising the natural right to religious freedom as protected by the Constitution by resisting the liberal campaign to erase all traces of Christianity doesn’t come cheap: An Ohio school district has agreed to keep a portrait of Jesus Christ off school property and pay a $95,000 fine in the face of legal pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Grover Norquist discredits himself attacking Ted Cruz. By Daniel Greenfield


Excerpt: Grover Norquist, the Ikhwan’s man in the Republican Party, has to maintain his brand as a conservative, even if that brand makes no sense at all.Norquist is for amnesty, against fighting terrorists and against Ted Cruz. And he’s for a laughable effort to cut a deal with Obama. This time around he’s demanding that Ted Cruz “apologize” to House Republicans for not having a viable strategy.

Allen West: "Captured terrorist should be heading to GITMO." By Kevin Derby


Excerpt: Former U.S. Rep. Allen West weighed in on Monday on the capture of Abu Anas al Libi, the al-Qaida leader captured by American military forces in recent days for his role in planning terrorist attacks in Africa. West expressed strong disapproval of plans to try al Libi as a criminal and insisted he should be held as a prisoner of war at Guantanamo Bay.

Allen West endorses 4 Conservative Republican candidates. By Kevin Derby


Excerpt: Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, who has opened the door to a political comeback in 2016, offered a round of endorsements to Republicans across the country on Wednesday. The Allen West Guardian Fund PAC endorsed U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who is running against U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., in 2014. West also backed Republican congressional candidates Mia Love, who is angling for a rematch against U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Don Bogino who is looking to challenge U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md.

Hagel accepts private offer to pay families of KIA; says he's 'offended, outraged' at Congress. By Bridget Johnson


Excerpt: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel accepted a private foundation’s offer to help cover the death gratuity payments for families of fallen soldiers while deflecting all blame from his department or the administration for stopping the payments in the first place.

Mitt Romney looks more presidential than the president, urging Obama to end his 'campaigning and posturing.' By Nile Gardiner 


Excerpt: A remarkably humble man despite his considerable personal wealth, Romney is the first to admit that he made a number of mistakes during his campaign, and said some things he later regretted. But in his interview with Hannity he looked presidential and self-assured, projecting the kind of leadership that is sorely lacking in the White House today.

The British government's shameful press regulation plans remind me of my childhood -- in Idi Amin's Uganda. By Douglas Carswell


Excerpt: At the precise moment that the internet democratises communication and opens political campaigning up to everyone, along comes a new law that will try to subject all political activism to a system of state compliance. While the boundaries between formal and informal political players are being blurred, incredulously a minister justified this Bill by telling me that politics is properly the preserve of the established political parties. This is not going to work.

Identified: Memorial Militia lawn-mowing volunteer cuts Lincoln Memorial grass for Million Vets March at weekend. By David Martosko


Excerpt: Chris Cox, the one-man landscaping crew, calls himself the Memorial Militia. He told a Washington, D.C. radio station that he wanted to spruce up the grass before the weekend, because a 'Million Vet March' event is expected to bring scores of retired servicemen and women to the nation's capital.

Million Vet March on Memorials: National Mall, Washington D.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m Eastern.


Excerpt: Dissatisfaction with Obama’s regime has been picking up steam, and seems ready to come to a boil as soon as this SundayThe Million Vet March on the Memorials will be held Sunday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m. Eastern at the World War II memorial on the National Mall, the location where rangers under orders from the White House tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent vets from visiting in recent days. The announcement said the group Special Operations Speaks is organizing the rally because the Obama administration “is using the government shutdown as an excuse to keep our veterans from acknowledging the debt owed to them and their predecessors.”

Harry Reid Considering Using "Nuclear Option" to Pass Clean Debt Hike Limit.


Excerpt: Wouldn't surprise me. Via Politico: Senate Democratic leaders are actively considering invoking the “nuclear option” to gut the filibuster if Republican senators block a year-long increase of the debt limit, according to several sources familiar with the matter. The highly controversial move would allow Senate Democrats to pass a debt limit hike through 2014 with just 51 Democratic votes, rather than the 60 that would ordinarily be required to overcome a filibuster.

Gross: U.S. Taxpayers Shelled Out $614,320,919 To Build Obamacare Website.


Excerpt: Along with being the worst built website in history, Healthcare.gov also appears to be the most expensive, and we get stuck with the bill. How lovely.

Hollywood Actor James Woods: 'I'll probably never work in that town again." By Jim Treacher


Excerpt: Over the years, James Woods has given various hints that he’s not a liberal. But it wasn’t until he joined Twitter that he leaped right out of the conservative closet. He’s sick of what the Obama administration and its lackeys are doing to this beautiful country, and he’s not afraid to say so.

Old Blues Eyes Is Back! Mia Farrow & 8 of Her Children Speak Out About Their Lives, Frank Sinatra and the Scandals.


Excerpt: Farrow discusses her relationship with Frank Sinatra, telling Orth that Sinatra was the great love of her life, and says, “We never really split up.” When asked point-blank if her biological son with Woody Allen, Ronan Farrow, may actually be the son of Frank Sinatra, Farrow answers, “Possibly.” [Scroll down to the bottom of article for photograph of Ronan Farrow.]

VIDEO: Harvard Physicist, Running for Congress, Criticizes "Global Warming Hysteria." Charles C. Johnson


Excerpt: Stopa isn’t alone in criticizing the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change's science. A top MIT climate scientist called the latest IPCC report “hilarious.”

Wolf Blitzer: "Maybe the GOP's right that Democrats should delay Obamacare for a year."


Excerpt: If you say something like this on MSNBC, a gong sounds and a trapdoor opens beneath your feet. The clip picks up with Blitzer but what the other guy said immediately before this is worth noting too:

Quote

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, what should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid us and our posterity to bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plow, sow and reap to glut the avarice of men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude more than the animating contest of freedom-go from us in peace. We ask not your counsel or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." --Samuel Adams

Media: Michelle Bachmann Can Be a Slut As Long As Hillary Is a Saint

Excerpt: On the anti-Hillary buttons was written: “KFC Hillary special: two fat thighs, two small breasts, one left wing…” The SNL skit had Miley Cyrus act as Michelle Bachmann, twerking and behaving inappropriately. Basically, Miley played Bachmann as supremely slutty. Both the buttons and the SNL skit could be considered offensive to women, but guess which one over which the Huffington Post blew a gasket. If you guessed Bachmann, you must live underground. It was Hillary. (How's this for "hate" ? Typical Hufpo and liberal hate. One was just a button at a localized function, the other a nationwide broadcast. Despicable! --JB) 

No comments:

Post a Comment