Political Digest for June 30, 2011

Resources

For those who want further information about the topics covered in this blog, I recommend the following sites. I will add to this as I find additional good sources.

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/03/resources-for-opinion-leaders-who.html

Schilling Show Interview in Abu Dhabi

From a blog reader: “Poolside at the Fairmont in Abu Dhabi, where it's a cool 104, but hot enough to melt the butter into that yellow liquid perfect for dipping lobster. A half a click across the water is GHQ, and beyond that the Sheikh Zayed mosque. … And was able to listen to your podcast from yesterday right here.”

2012 Election Poster

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/06/election-poster.html

Important: Greek parliament approves crucial financial measures

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/greek-parliament-to-vote-on-crucial-financial-measures/2011/06/29/AGjZHRqH_story.html?hpid=z1&wpisrc=al_national

Huzzah! The can is kicked down the road, saving Euro-socialism … and our economy … for several months. BTW, your money is in some of those loans. And we will see these type “entitlement riots” here in a few years, as we are forced to implement austerity programs. (Good pictures of Greek cops on fire.) ~Bob. Excerpt: The Greek parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial package of tax hikes and spending cuts, clearing the way for $17 billion in international emergency loans needed to stave off a possible default. The largely party-line vote gives Prime Minister George Papandreou a critical victory in the midst of crisis talks with other European leaders and the International Monetary Fund. The approval comes despite a two-day nationwide strike and continued violent demonstrations. Police and protesters clashed in Athens for a second day Wednesday as the nation’s lawmakers debated the legislation needed to secure the international emergency loans that will help keep the country solvent.

European Union: Everywhere you look, a crisis

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/16/opinion/la-oe-gartonash-european-crisis-20110616

Excerpt: Like an overladen container lorry laboring up a steep hill, the European Union is close to stalling. Greece is the most urgent part of this crisis. Between the fury on the streets of Athens and the continued disunity of decision-makers in Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, the crunch could come any day. But it's not just Greece. In Ireland, Portugal and Spain too, the anger is boiling over, as people feel that the young, the poor and the unemployed are being forced to pay for the selfish improvidence of their politicians — and of the French and German bankers, who loaned profusely where they should not have loaned at all.

Is Democracy Viable? By Thomas Sowell

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/06/29/is_democracy_viable/page/full/

Excerpt: Nuclear weapons in the hands of the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism might seem to be something that would sober up even the most giddy members of the chattering class. But that chilling prospect cannot seem to compete for attention with cheap behavior by an immature Congressman, infatuated with himself. A society that cannot or will not focus on matters of life and death is a society whose survival as a free nation is at least questionable.

Why Michele Bachmann is no Sarah Palin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/why-michele-bachmann-is-no-sarah-palin/2011/06/28/AGG5ADpH_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Excerpt: Sarah Palin is in Iowa today. Michele Bachmann announced her candidacy there on Monday. For reporters, that’s a coincidence(?) impossible to resist; scads of stories are being produced comparing the two women. The comparisons between Palin and Bachmann are, at one level, apt. Both are women (duh) who align most closely with social conservatives. Both are outspoken defenders of their chosen causes whose rhetoric occasionally gets them into hot water. But, that’s where the similarities end. And, over the past few months, Bachmann has proven that she is different in important ways from Palin — differences that make her the more viable of the two when it comes to the 2012 presidential race. (Doesn’t matter—the media will Palinize her, now that she’s doping well in the polls. ~Bob.)

Splashy Sarah Palin Movie Premiere Shuts Out Hollywood; Turns Away Journalists

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/splashy-sarah-palin-movie-premiere-206081

Bad mistake. This could turn the media against Palin. If it does, they'll paw through her trash and e-mails looking for dirt, maybe move in next to her. They'll try everything to make her look bad. She shouldn't piss them off. ~Bob. Excerpt: Reporters from around the country that have descended upon tiny Pella, Iowa for the premiere of the Sarah Palin documentary The Undefeated on Tuesday night are in for a rude awakening: So scarce are the tickets that there’s no room in the theater for journalists. The town, in fact, has been filling up rapidly since Palin confirmed she’d attend the premiere with her husband, Todd. Police notified residents that the streets around the venue, the 111-year-old Pella Opera House, would be shut down beginning 13 hours prior to show time. On Monday, organizers were still divvying up tickets to the massively oversubscribed event, and reporters – some who travelled more than 1,000 miles -- were given the word that they didn’t make the cut. Organizers were scrambling Monday, though, trying to arrange a separate screening for journalists, but there were no guarantees given.

U.S., NATO Forces Join Gunbattles With Attackers in Afghanistan Hotel Raid

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/28/afghan-hotel-reportedly-under-attack-by-suicide-bombers/

Excerpt: The popular Inter-Continental hotel in Kabul came under attack by suicide bombers and gunmen Tuesday, a U.S. official told Fox News. U.S. forces were called in to assist in gunbattles with assailants in the hotel, while NATO said its helicopters killed three of the attackers. Afghanistan news agency TOLOnews is reporting at least 10 people have been killed in the attacks, but that number has yet to be independently confirmed. Afghan officials said there were four suicide bombers and four gunmen involved in the raid, who all appeared to have been killed. Multiple explosions were heard in the initial attacks. Later, two bodies were seen at the hotel's entrance.

Cheering for Mass Murder

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/cheering-for-mass-murder.htm

Good pictures. ~Bob. Excerpt: There is heavy security around Kabul. A “ring of steel”, as they call it, which is under Afghan authority. I’ve been driving around Kabul for several weeks and have never seen a foreign guard, and seldom see US or other forces on the roads.  I’ve been walking around town, shopping in shops and eating in restaurants. All day yesterday and today I was out in the city with no weapon and no troops.  I wear western clothes and sunglasses and seldom get an extra look while driving around in various sorts of taxis and private cars. Expats are out past midnight at the few local restaurants that sell alcohol. This is not Baghdad. Fighting there was nearly constant and often sustained. If this were Baghdad, I’d have been dead the first day. Any ideas that Kabul is falling are remarkably wrong. There are, however, some dangers and occasional suicide attacks that are nakedly designed to get press.

Poll: Marines Most Prestigious Branch

http://www.military.com/news/article/poll-marines-most-prestigious-branch.html?ESRC=marine.nl

Excerpt: As far as prestige goes, Americans named the Marines as the most prestigious branch of the armed forces in each of four surveys conducted from 2001 to 2011. Thirty-six percent named the Marines as most prestigious in 2001 while 46 percent did so in the latest poll. (Did they really have to take a poll to find this out? --MasterGuns Another reason the other services lobby to eliminate the Corps. We put more combat power on the ground at lower cost. ~Bob.)

N.J. Assembly passes bill calling on public unions to pay more for health care

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20110624_N_J__Assembly_passes_bill_calling_on_public_unions_to_pay_more_for_health_care.html?viewAll=y&c=y

Excerpt: Boos and screams from union workers broke out in the Statehouse Thursday night after the New Jersey Assembly approved a bill, 46-32, to have government employees pay more for their health and pension benefits. The session, scheduled for 1 p.m., started 5½ hours late and the vote was not taken until 9. The legislation passed with about a third of the Democratic majority joining the GOP minority after hours of passionate debate in an internal caucus meeting failed to persuade Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex) to postpone the vote. The bill, described by unions and many Democrats as an unprecedented theft of collective-bargaining rights, is the greatest legislative achievement in Republican Gov. Christie's term so far, and it will serve as the backdrop for the looming budget showdown. (Covering this a tad late, but an important effort to try to stave off collapse in one of the fiscal disaster states. ~Bob.)

How Obama Bungled The War In Libya

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/27/john-bolton-on-how-obama-s-blunders-in-libya-could-keep-gaddafi-in-power.html?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BOChfnB8cHC-Zm

Excerpt: With the prospects for Congressional action now remote, what we need is leadership from our president, but Obama has little credibility. Critics have savaged him for his military intervention—from his basic rationale and laughable interpretation of the War Powers Act, to the constraints he imposed on our military and his refusal to directly target Gaddafi. These criticisms are essentially correct. (From (previously) reliably liberal Daily Beast. Either Daily Beast is moving toward the center or they’re really, seriously, unhappy with Obama. -- Ron P. I thought he bungled by starting it. Chapman in the Chicago Tribune destroyed the "killing civilians" cover. We have zero national interest there--maybe that's the point. ~Bob.)

Iran Hosts Counter-Terrorism Conference in Bid to Restore National Image

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3013/iran-hosts-counter-terrorism-conference-in-bid-to

This will be followed by Bill Clinton hosting a fidelity conference. ~Bob. Excerpt: In an apparent effort to repair its regional and international standing, Iran hosted its second counter-terrorism conference in two months this weekend in Tehran, according to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). The goals of the two-day "World without Terrorism" conference, as outlined by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening ceremony, were to define terrorism and identify its main causes. Echoing statements made in Iran's May 14-15 conference, Khamenei told attendees that there exist "satanic world powers which use terrorism in their policies and in their planning to achieve their illegitimate goals." In particular, he said, the "Zionist regime" had from its inception been a perpetrator of global terrorism. He also accused the U.S., the U.K., and other Western governments of having "a black record of terrorist behaviors."

HHS cancels 'mystery shopper' proposal

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/other/168905-hhs-cancels-qmystery-shopperq-proposal

Excerpt: The Obama administration late Tuesday announced that it was abandoning a proposal to have "mystery shoppers" try to make doctor's appointments after Republicans and some doctors called it "spying." The proposal was aimed at studying Medicare and Medicaid patients' access to primary care. The proposal has gotten a deluge of criticism since the New York Times reported on it Sunday.

Pawlenty speech lays out aggressive foreign policy vision

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pawlenty-speech-lays-out-aggressive-foreign-policy-vision/2011/06/28/AGbXswpH_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty attempted to separate himself from his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls Tuesday in a speech that laid out an active and aggressive foreign policy vision. Pawlenty, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, criticized some in his party who have tended toward a more isolationist stance, particularly when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. “America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment and withdrawal,” he said. “It does not need a second one.” Although Pawlenty named no names, the targets of his comments were clear: former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah.

Baucus announces grand bargain to clear three pending trade deals

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1005-trade/168849-baucus-announces-grand-bargain-on-trade-deals

Excerpt: Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) announced a deal Tuesday that should clear the path for congressional approval of three pending trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Baucus said he had secured an agreement with the White House and Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the

House Ways

and Means Committee, to renew the expanded version of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The program, which funds job-training programs and healthcare benefits for workers hurt by trade, will be extended until the end of 2013.

Ethics watchdog calls for FBI to investigate Rep. Richardson

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/168833-watchdog-calls-for-fbi-to-investigate-rep-richardson

Excerpt: A leading watchdog group is touting new evidence of alleged ethics violations by Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) and calling for a criminal investigation.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is accusing Richardson of habitually threatening her congressional staff with their jobs if they didn’t work on her campaign, and has asked the FBI to investigate. “Rep. Richardson presented staffers with an odious choice: work on her campaign, or lose their jobs,” Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said in a statement. “Astonishingly, in just three short terms, Rep. Richardson has been the subject of at least two ethics investigations. Now a criminal investigation should be added to the list.” CREW says it also has evidence that Richardson’s staffers were asked to make political contributions and run personal errands on behalf of the three-term lawmaker — a breach of federal laws barring congressional office funds from being used for unofficial purposes.

For Obama, silver linings in dark clouds

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/obama-rerun/168889-for-obama-silver-linings-in-dark-clouds-of-summer

Excerpt: President Obama is having a horrible start to his summer. The commander in chief is under siege from Congress on his Libya military intervention, he took flak from both sides over his decision to pull 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan and his approval numbers are mediocre at best, even after the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. To make matters worse, debt-limit talks led by Vice President Biden froze up last week, leaving Obama with about a month to convince Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and stop what economist Mark Zandi on Tuesday said could be another recession. But for the ever-optimistic Obama team, there is a silver lining in the dark clouds that have haunted the White House so far this summer. No matter how it seems this summer, with possible GOP candidates for president emerging each week, the presidential election is not until next November. Obama still has a year to turn things around.

Bank of America to pay $8.5 billion settlement over mortgages

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/bank-of-america-to-pay-85-billion-settlement-over-mortgages/2011/06/29/AGPPnTqH_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

And I worry if I’m 4500 over budget in a line item for the organization I manage. ~Bob. Excerpt: Bank of America and its Countrywide unit will pay $8.5 billion to settle claims that the lenders sold poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market collapsed. The deal, announced Wednesday, comes after a group of 22 investors demanded that the Charlotte, N.C. bank repurchase $47 billion in mortgages that its Countrywide unit sold to them in the form of bonds.

Myths about Transportation Spending Dispelled

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20820&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

In other words, we taxed you for highways, but used the money to buy votes from people who like bike paths, light rail, etc. ~Bob. Excerpt: The United States spends about $160 billion annually on highways, with about one-fourth of that total coming from the federal government. Federal highway spending is funded mainly through gas and other fuel taxes that are paid into the Highway Trust Fund. In recent years, however, the amount of money Congress has spent out of the general fund has exceeded the dedicated trust funds set aside for highway spending, says Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. De Rugy sets straight some myths about transportation spending. Myth One: Highways and roads pay for themselves thanks to gasoline taxes and other charges to motorists. In 1957 about 67 percent of highway funds came from user fees. Forty years later the revenue from user fees had shrunk to just 50 percent of total highway funds. Indeed, user fee revenue as a share of total highway-related funds is now at its lowest point since the Interstate Highway System was created. Myth Two: Proceeds from the federal gas tax are used to build and maintain the interstate highway system. Today, at least 25 percent of federal gas tax funds are diverted to non-highway uses including maintaining sidewalks, funding bike paths and creating scenic trails. Fuel tax revenues are now insufficient to maintain the current level of highway spending. Myth Three: Increased spending on public transit will boost ridership. Therefore we need to transfer highway dollars to transit programs and increase state and local taxes to fund transit agencies. Although transit funding in 1995 was eight times more than it was in 1978 (17.4 billion and 2.2 billion respectively), the total increase in ridership was only about 2 percent. Total ridership in 1978 (7.8 billion trips) was actually more than ridership in 1995 (7.7 billion trips) -- the only difference was in the amount of funding. Between 1989 and 1996 ridership fell by 11 percent; again, this was while funding increased by 42 percent.

Long, but worth reading: Does inequality matter?

http://www.adamsmith.org/files/Does_Inequality_Matter_ASI.pdf

Executive Summary: This study argues that, for those of us who care about the welfare of the poorest and the most vulnerable, income inequality is not a useful measure. Measures of income inequality tell us nothing about the living conditions of the poor, their health and their access to economic opportunity. Income inequality can easily increase in societies in which everyone, including the very poorest individuals, is becoming better off. Conversely, a reduction in inequality can be associated with deterioration in the living conditions of the less well-off members of the society. While country-based measures of income inequality rose in the developed world in the 1980s, it is not clear that inequality in the developed world since then has constantly been on the rise. UK’s Gini coefficient has been declining since 1998. Furthermore, it is not clear that consumption inequality and inequality in life satisfaction has increased since the 1970s. Hence, much more caution is needed when interpreting the recent data on inequality, and certainly some of the more radical claims about the widening gap between the rich and poor appear unwarranted in light of more nuanced evidence. The received wisdom about the effects of inequality on social outcomes appears to be largely flawed. Arguments proposed by publications such as The Spirit Level on the negative impact of inequality on health outcomes, homicides, drug use or teenage pregnancies are unconvincing and based on very problematic evidence. Furthermore, as we explain, there is no convincing link that would enable us to associate high levels of income inequality with the financial crisis of 2008. By those standards, that crisis should have occurred at a different time and also in different countries. Sometimes, rising income inequality can be symptomatic of underlying institutional problems. The growth of executive remuneration in the financial industry, for instance, cannot be dissociated from a cosy relationship which has long existed between policymakers and bankers. The implicit guarantees to the banking sector have led to excessive risk taking and leverage, translating into high bonuses in good economic times and bailouts in bad economic times. Focusing on income inequality rather than drivers of poverty, obstacles to economic opportunity and systematic injustice obfuscates what works and what doesn’t in the realm of economic policy, and ultimately harms the poor and the vulnerable.

Oil Oozes Through Your Life

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/sunday-review/26clifford.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Excerpt: Since petroleum replaced whale oil as a main fuel source more than a century ago, chemical companies and refineries have found a startling range of uses for it, from asphalt to vanilla flavoring in ice cream to pills from the drugstore. It has oozed into everyday life, so reducing dependency is a more complicated proposition than some might think.

Your Mileage May Vary

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576410013762121694.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Luckily, Obama and his family will travel in protected limos for the rest of their lives, so the higher death rate in smaller, lighter cars won’t impact (pun intended) the elites. Sorry if you are not one of them and your loved ones get killed, but on the plus side, that reduces your carbon footprint. ~Bob. Excerpt: The Obama administration may require auto makers to roughly double the average fuel economy of their car and light truck fleets from current levels to 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025. White House officials outlined the plan to auto industry officials last week, said two people familiar with the matter, setting off a fight among auto makers, environmentalists and others. Car makers say the proposal would effectively require most new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be battery-powered by 2025 and raise prices by thousands of dollars. Makers of electric vehicle technology say declining costs for lithium batteries will allow the auto industry to make big gains in fuel efficiency without stoking sticker shock. Environmental groups, meanwhile, said they were generally pleased with the Obama proposal; they had sought a 62-miles-per-gallon standard.

Female Special Operators Now in Combat

http://www.military.com/news/article/female-special-operators-now-in-combat.html?ESRC=eb.nl

Excerpt: Army Special Operations Command has deployed its first teams of female Soldiers assigned to commando units in Afghanistan, and military officials are assessing their initial performance in theater as "off the charts." In a controversial move early this year, the Army created a new avenue for women to serve with front-line combat units in some of the most specialized and covert missions. The so-called "Cultural Support Teams" are attached to Special Forces and Ranger units to interface with the female population to gain vital intelligence and provide social outreach. "When I send an [SF team] in to follow up on a Taliban hit … wouldn't it be nice to have access to about 50 percent of that target population -- the women?" said Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, commander of the Army Special Warfare Center and School, which runs the CST program.

Senator Wants US-Israeli Op Against Flotilla

http://www.military.com/news/article/senator-wants-us-israeli-op-against-flotilla.html?ESRC=eb.nl

Excerpt: A U.S. senator wants U.S. special operations forces to help Israel halt a Gaza-bound international aid flotilla that includes a vessel carrying a number of American veterans, one of whom is a Sailor who served aboard the USS Liberty, the ship that Israel infamously attacked in 1967. In a report drafted following a visit to Israel in early June, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., says the United States should "make available all necessary special operations and naval support to the Israeli Navy to effectively disable flotilla vessels before they can pose a threat to Israeli coastal security or put Israeli lives at risk." The U.S.-flagged ship, called "The Audacity of Hope" -- the name of President Obama's 2006 book -- is currently docked in Greece and is supposed to set sail by the end of this week along with ships from Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and other countries. More than 30 Americans are booked for passage on the Audacity of Hope.

Why Should I Pick Up The Tab?

http://iwf.org/inkwell/show/25079.html

Since WWII, every dollar in tax increases has resulted in something like $1.34 in new spending. We cannot tax our way out of the results of political vote-buying. ~Bob. Excerpt: I would like to thank House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senator Jon Kyl for walking out of the bipartisan talks on debt reduction-not that I don't want the debt reduced or that I think that more drama is needed on the Hill. Cantor and Kyle deserve the thanks of those of us who don't want the budget balanced on our backs. Democrats would solve the problem of Congress' financial profligacy the way they always do: by sending us the bill. Frankly, my tax bill is about all I can handle. Democrats say it's only "thewealthiestAmericans" (that is one word in Barack Obama's Washington) who would pay for their sins. But I know better. Why can't Democrats spend less? South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint made a great point last night on Fox. DeMint said that Democrats can't cut because spending on these programs because spending on these programs is the essence of the Democratic Party. Spending is what it does. It was a clarifying insight.

Is the Pledge of Allegiance ‘Divisive?’ Some Politicians in Oregon Think So

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/is-the-pledge-of-allegiance-divisive-some-politicians-in-oregon-think-so/

Excerpt: How could something that includes the words ‘pledge of allegiance to the flag of the UNITED States’ be considered divisive? Believe it or not, the mayor and city council of Eugene, Oregon just voted on this very issue. (It should also be noted that the city of Eugene, Oregon is a member of ICLEI, part of the UN’s Agenda 21 Program.) Long before NBC Sports edited the Pledge of Allegiance, the city of Eugene, Oregon was busy debating if their City Council should recite it before each bi-monthly meeting. At the June 7th meeting of the council, a proposal was floated by Councilor Mike Clark, suggesting that every bi-monthly meeting start with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. The Columbian reports that Mayor Kitty Piercy (a lead sponsor of Code Pink’s latest Anti-War Resolution) and others did not agree with this idea, suggesting that reciting the pledge might be “divisive.”

Lennon was a closet Republican: Assistant

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/28/lennon-was-a-closet-republican-assistant

Shocking! If he’s enjoyed sex with turtles, or abusing kittens, they could accept that. But being a Republican? Never! ~Bob. Excerpt: John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death - according to the tragic Beatles star's last personal assistant. Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 to Lennon's death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self. In new documentary Beatles Stories, Seaman tells filmmaker Seth Swirsky Lennon wasn't the peace-loving militant fans thought he was while he was his assistant. He says, "John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.

Five Ways Obama Is Circumventing the Legislative Branch

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/29/morning-bell-five-ways-obama-is-circumventing-the-legislative-branch/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: For all of candidate Barack Obama’s campaign rhetoric promising to respect Congress’s authority to draft the nation’s laws, President Obama has demonstrated a persistent pattern of circumventing the legislative branch via administrative fiat whenever his agenda stalls. And though one of the Obama campaign’s legal advisers cautioned against a President who would "take the law into his own hands and shred it when it's convenient," he has done just that time and time again. The Obama Administration generally employs one of two strategies to legislate without—and often in spite of—congressional action: (1) administrative decree establishing a new federal rule, or (2) a refusal to enforce existing federal law. In five separate policy areas, the President and the federal agencies under his command have spurned congressional authority to achieve Obama’s objectives.

Gannett Cyberattack Targets U.S. Soldiers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/gannett-cyberattack-us-soldiers-hack-data-breach_n_886693.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk1%7C74099

Excerpt: Hackers broke into a Gannett Co database containing personal information about subscribers to publications read by U.S. government officials, military leaders and rank-and-file soldiers, the media company said on Tuesday. (…) Personal data on government officials and members of the military is highly coveted among cyber criminals because it can be used to launch targeted attacks against computer systems that hold classified information.

Bureaucratic Overreach Is Not Kids' Stuff

http://townhall.com/columnists/robertknight/2011/06/28/bureaucratic_overreach_is_not_kids_stuff/page/full/

Excerpt: [A]long came a woman from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who asked to inspect the operation, to which the Dollarhites say they readily agreed. The inspector found not only that they lacked a federal permit for selling more than $500 worth of rabbits in a year, but that the tidy, 30-inch by 36-inch cages were – wait for it – a quarter of an inch too small. The FDA came back in January, 2010, and issued a warning. The case dragged on. On advice of an attorney, the couple went out of the bunny business, unloading their equipment on Craigslist. But the FDA sent them a certified letter in April 2011, assessing a fine of $90,643, which, if not paid, could result in civil fines of up to $10,000 for each violation (for about 390 bunnies sold), which adds up to $3.9 million. The FDA helpfully advised the couple to pay the $90,643 fine online with a credit card by May 23. (The problem isn’t “bad agents.” I expect every one of them is doing what they think is best for us all. The problem is we’ve allowed so much authority to be delegated to agencies that we no longer control them; instead, the agencies largely control us. We need to disarm the beancounters. Ron P.  Bureaucrats are not allowed to use judgment and common sense, just enforce the rules regardless of the disasters it creates. And we have too many of them. ~Bob.)

Senate Panel Authorizes Libya Operations, With Conditions

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/senate-panel-authorizes-libya-operations-with-conditions-20110628

Excerpt: [T]he panel rejected an effort to cut off funding for Predator drone strikes and other combat-related activities – essentially giving Obama what he needs to continue U.S. military support of the NATO-led mission to defeat the forces of strongman Muammar el-Qaddafi. (…) But the panel approved by voice vote a legally binding amendment that prohibits funding to deploy U.S. troops on the ground in Libya, including for participation in stabilization and peacekeeping operations. The amendment also prohibits U.S. funding for contractors to conduct operations in Libya.  In a slap on the Obama administration, the panel also approved by voice vote an amendment that states that U.S. operations in Libya constitute hostilities under the 1973 War Powers Resolution and, therefore, require congressional authorization. (There's no reason to expect the full Senate vote to be radically different. Ron P.)

Quotes from The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/

"Right now America is nothing more than Greece with better PR. And note I said right now, because at the rate we're going, we're well on our way to making that country look like amateurs by comparison." --columnist Arnold Ahlert

"The salient feature of America in the Age of Obama is a failed government class institutionally committed to living beyond its means, and a citizenry too many of whom are content to string along." --columnist Mark Steyn

The Immigration Policy of Absurdistan: Legal is Illegal; Illegal is Legal

http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/06/28/the-immigration-policy-of-absurdistan-legal-is-illegal-illegal-is-legal/

Excerpt: Imagine for a moment that a pack of strangers – ranging from hooligans to plain homeless – illegally entered your home and started raiding the pantry, stealing your possessions, stuffing up the toilets, and sleeping on your bed. When you call the police to come down and remove them, you are told they cannot assist you because they lack the power to profile the unwanted guests from other members of the household. As desperation sets in, you join with your neighbors to chase them out. Much to your chagrin, lawyers for the intruders impel the courts to issue a ‘cease and desist order,’ obstructing efforts to deny the intruders anything, including the twinkies in the pantry. Moreover, teams of advocates for these brazen burglars begin to record the contact information of those locals who desire to stop the illegal entries. Sound absurd and perverse? Does it remind you of Sodom and Gomorrah? Welcome to the reality of our immigration system.

Union Sues State to Stop Teacher Evaluation​s

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304314404576414311285032494.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: New York's largest teachers union is suing the state Board of Regents over the state's new system for evaluating public-school teachers, a move that could derail plans by the city and hundreds of other school districts to start basing reviews on how well students perform on standardized tests. In court papers filed in state Supreme Court late Monday, New York State United Teachers claimed that education officials violated the law when they gave school districts the option of assigning significantly more weight to state assessments in their annual reviews of teachers. Under the law, teachers could lose their jobs if their students continually fail to improve their scores on state standardized tests.

Religion of Rape

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/29/muslim-rape-feminist-silence-1/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=585f489b1b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Warning—horrific picture. ~Bob. Excerpt: Jamie Glazov's article below, Muslim Rape, Feminist Silence, is reprinted from our Nov. 1, 2006 issue. The subject is Western feminist silence about the Muslim rape of kafirs (non-Muslims) and the Islamic theology that sanctions it. Frontpage's editors thought it would be relevant to rerun in light of the recent startling Oslo police report confirming that every single solved case of assault-rape in the country in 2010 was carried out by a Muslim immigrant. Meanwhile, the Western Left remains completely silent.

Police Report: All Assault Rapists in Oslo Follow Muhammad

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145161

Excerpt: Defenders of Islam call it a "religion of peace" but many Norwegian women are learning that Islam is the religion of rape. According to an amazing police report released there this month, every single solved case of assault-rape in the country in 2010 was carried out by a Muslim immigrant. The report was cited by an official Norwegian television station, which interviewed a victim who said that her rapist explained to her that his religion permits him to rape her. According to the police report there was a total of 186 of known rape cases in 2010. These fall into various categories, the largest one of which is assault-rape, carried out by sheer physical force, of which there were 86 cases. In 83 of these cases the perpetrator could be identified by the victim. In all 83, the attacker was described as having "non-western appearance," a laundered euphemism for Muslim immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, or Asia.

Houston Veterans Claim Censorship of Prayers, Including Ban on 'God' and 'Jesus'

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/29/houston-veterans-claim-censorship-prayers-ban-on-god-and-jesus/

Excerpt: Veterans in Houston say the Department of Veterans Affairs is consistently censoring their prayers by banning them from saying the words "God" and "Jesus" during funeral services at Houston National Cemetery.

China Credit Bubble Will Be Pop Heard 'Round the World

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/06/29/china_credit_bubble_will_be_pop_heard_round_the_world

Excerpt: Lost in the worry over Greek debt defaults, China Daily reports on a default story of more significance. Please consider Local governments run up huge debts, risk defaulting Local governments had an overall debt of 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion) by the end of 2010, said China's top auditor on Monday in a report to the National People's Congress. He warned that some were at risk of defaulting on payments. It was the first time the world's second-largest economy publicly announced the size of its local governments' debts. The scale amounts to more than one-quarter of its GDP in 2010, which stood at 39.8 trillion yuan.

Senior Leader of Al Qaeda Group Captured While Dressed as Woman

http://world.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=26264&external=983568.proteus.fma

Gee, wonder why France wants to ban burkas? ~Bob. Excerpt: A senior leader of an Al Qaeda-linked terror group has been captured in northern Afghanistan dressed up like a woman -- the latest in a recent series of cases involving male militants disguised as females, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday. A joint Afghan and coalition force apprehended a senior figure from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and two of his associates during a nighttime operation Monday in Kunduz city, NATO said.

A Culture War Against Conservative Women

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/06/a-culture-war-against-conservative-women/

Excerpt: Injecting conservative values into the cultural mainstream is a battle, especially for women’s issues in popular, female-geared media like magazines. Liberal ideology has attracted the female presidential vote—and the female magazine—for years. For most of these crusaders and publications, “women’s issues” comes down to one issue: abortion.

As freshman Representative Ann Marie Buerkle (R–NY) told the Conservative Women’s Network last Thursday, for liberal women, “It’s not about women’s rights; it’s about maintaining and pushing abortion rights.”

Election Poster

This was e-mailed to me, without credit. too good not to post.

Political Digest June 29, 2011

Collapse Interview on the Rob Shilling Show

http://www.wina.com/The-Schilling-Show/3063561

For those who asked and couldn’t get it on their computers, you can go to the link above, and scroll down. It has the shows in order.

Best older posts for new blog readers

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-older-posts-for-new-readers.html

Afghan Hotel Reportedly Under Attack by Suicide Bombers

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/28/afghan-hotel-reportedly-under-attack-by-suicide-bombers/

Barack, the Taliban Peace Negotiators are here. Shall I serve them tea? ~Bob. Excerpt: At least four suicide bombers have entered the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul, according to the Wall Street Journal. There was no immediate word on casualties, and streets leading to the Intercontinental hotel are blocked.

So Ann, why do you always carry a gun?

http://barnhardt.biz/

This was posted on June 27, may have to scroll down to find it and the video. ~Bob. Excerpt: The focus and issue here is not the quality of the violence itself. The truly frightening thing about this is the mentality. These people are fighting and brawling with each other randomly, just for the sake of doing it. They don't know each other. There is no gang delineation here - there are no "colors" lined up against each other. These people are beating the crap out of each other simply as a means to entertain themselves. This is FUN for them. It is violence for violence's sake. After discussing psychopathy and the inability to feel any empathy for other human beings, and viewing of other people as nothing more than animated objects, you can see why this is so dangerous. These people demonstrate an animalistic consciousness. History has shown that tyrants, Marxist and otherwise, use and encourage this animalistic culture, channeling mass psychopathy into a directed enforcement arm. And yeah, I used the term "animalistic" without hesitation. You want to call me a racist? Go right ahead. But remember that we saw this same animalistic behavior last week in Vancouver. We also saw it in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. We also see it in China and North Korea. It has also been seen in Japan and Southeast Asia. We also see it today among the narco-gangs in Mexico, Central and South America. Oh, and don't forget how we see this animalistic behavior throughout the entire muslim world. So, if I'm a racist, my question would be, WHICH RACE? Because I'm pretty sure that I just covered all of them. If and when this animalistic behavior breaks out anywhere near me, and people start being beaten in the streets where I live, I'm not going to walk away. I'm not going to run for cover. I am going to stand and fight for my neighbors and for my culture. They're going to have to come through me and my sidearm. And I'll have both hands free because I won't have to keep pulling up my pants. How about you? Are you going to run, or are you going to stand?

Excerpt: International Judges Order Arrest of Muammar al-Qaddafi

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/27/international-judges-order-arrest-muammar-qaddafi/#ixzz1QVYp21a0

Cool. How about the guy in Syria, the guy in the Sudan, the guys in Pakistan, the guys in Ethiopia, the guys in China who ordered the slaughter of the Tibetans, the guys…oh, never mind. ~Bob. Excerpt: International judges ordered the arrest Monday of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi for murdering civilians, as NATO warplanes pounded his Tripoli compound and world leaders stepped up calls for him to end his four-decade rule. The International Criminal Court said Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi are wanted for orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Qaddafi from power, and for trying to cover up the alleged crimes.

Mexifornia​, Quite Literally

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270539/mexifornia-quite-literally-victor-davis-hanson

Excerpt: “I love this country, it has given me everything that I have, and I’m proud to be part of it,” said Victor Sanchez, a 37-year-old Monrovia resident wearing a Mexico jersey. “But yet, I didn’t have a choice to come here, I was born in Mexico, and that is where my heart will always be.” That’s a quote from an LA Times story on the booing of the U.S. soccer team by an overwhelmingly Latino audience during a U.S.–Mexico match at the Rose Bowl. Examine the odd logic: Mr. Sanchez is booing the country that gave him “everything” while cheering the country that apparently gave him very little. “I didn’t have a choice to come here,” he says; one immediately thinks, “But you most certainly do have a choice to return to the nation where your ‘heart will always be.’” Can Mr. Sanchez not even offer symbolic thanks to the country that blessed him, perhaps a clap or two at the Rose Bowl when the United States is mentioned? And if the immigration service arrived at the Rose Bowl to bus spectators without legality back to Mexico, where his “heart will always be,” would he boo or cheer? He reminds me of a former student who, during the anti–Prop 187 marches years ago, was marching with a group waving Mexican flags — that is, the flag of the country he did not wish to return to, as a Mexican national — but desecrating the flag of the United States, the country that he most certainly wished to remain in. That schizophrenia is what confuses so many about illegal immigration — the simultaneous furor over even the suggestion of compliance with federal immigration law and the occasional symbolic expressions of dislike for the United States in public fora, whether booing at the Rose Bowl at mention of America, or walking out of a California high school en masse at the sight of an American-flag T-shirt on Cinco de Mayo.

Report: Feds downplayed ICE case dismissals

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/7627737.html#ixzz1QVeFJDBx

Excerpt: Homeland Security officials misled the public and Congress last year in an effort to downplay a wave of immigration case dismissals in Houston and other cities amid accusations that they had created a "back-door amnesty," newly released records show.

TSA Obergropinfuhrer of the Day

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270533/tsa-obergropinfuhrer-day-mark-steyn

Excerpt: At a small airport the other day, I saw a passenger with a popular attitudinal T-shirt slogan patiently submitting to an enhanced gropedown from the TSA. It was a poignant image of the republic at twilight: a man in a “Don’t Tread On Me” T-shirt being trod all over. I wonder why more Americans aren’t outraged by this: Her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia. Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search. There is a term for regimes that submit law-abiding wheelchair-bound dying nonagenarians to public humiliations without probable cause and it isn’t “republic of limited government.” Given everybody’s touchiness over Kathryn’s North Korean comparisons, I’ll say only this: George III wouldn’t have done this to you. … In a decade of existence, it has never stopped a single terrorist, but it can successfully cow a dying woman born during the Wilson Administration into removing her diaper.

Blago Conviction

From a blog reader: “It's Blago's misfortune that I was not on the jury. I would have let him go in a heartbeat and no amount of peer pressure would have changed my mind. He was just doing what they all do. It’s Illinois politics as usual (note here that our fearless leader was hatched from the same nasty nest). Blago is just a clueless doofus with bad hair. So, he is sent to prison and all the really dangerous politicians are left behind to work their mischief? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.” (Indeed. But even nailing a clueless pawn like Blago, while the other fish get away (some of them much larger fish), serves as a salutary warning that we chumbalones don’t really think it’s acceptable, even if common. Makes them work harder to steal so that they don’t wind up next to him. As Voltaire has Candide say about the execution of Admiral Byng, "In this country, it is good to kill, from time to time, an admiral to encourage the others." ~Bob.)

Blagojevich Brought to Justice

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/28/justice-in-chicago/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=88a9b6c334-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: The governor’s defense — that he was only doing what all other politicians do in the course of their duties — fell flat with the jury. What he referred to as “horse trading” turned out to be far more than simple political back-scratching. Secret recordings made by Fitzgerald’s office prove that time and again, Blagojevich discussed either large campaign contributions or a lucrative job offer for himself in exchange for appointing a favored politician to the Senate seat.

The Robber Barons

http://www.personalliberty.com/asset-and-wealth-protection/wealth/the-robber-barons/

Excerpt: Does anyone see a pattern here? Isn’t it time for Bernanke and company to admit they haven’t a clue? Trillions of dollars of spending money created out of thin air in the form of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), bailouts, loans to banksters — both foreign and domestic — and stimulus haven’t changed the economic situation. Throwing more fiat money at the problem has made it worse. Who knew? Lots of people, but none of them subscribe to the same Keynesian philosophy that Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the economic advisers to the Presidents — Barack Obama and those before him — subscribe to.

Adele vs. Taxes

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270471/adele-vs-taxes-charles-c-johnson

Excerpt: If Adele finds her taxes too high, she can always come to America, where taxes, at least for celebrities, have long seemed optional. The IRS most recently hit rapper DMX with a tax lien in May. Actor Wesley Snipes didn’t even file from 1999 to 2004, and as a result is currently serving a three-year prison sentence. Another rapper, Lil Wayne, owes taxes from 2004, 2005, and 2007. And singer and actress Dionne Warwick, according to the LA Times, owes $2.2 million in back taxes.

Is ‘evidence’ of crimes erased before our eyes?

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/06/is-evidence-of-crimes-erased-before-our-eyes/

Excerpt: The legal complaint by a U.S.-based Islamic lobby group asking a federal judge to expunge all copies of a best-selling exposé that documents the group’s terrorist ties is an attempt to eliminate evidence that could lead to criminal prosecution, according to a lawyer defending a co-author of the book. Daniel Horowitz, who represents “Muslim Mafia” co-author P. David Gaubatz and his son, Chris, believes the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, knows that the material is incriminating and wants it destroyed. “So far, the Obama administration has refused to prosecute CAIR,” Horowitz said, “despite undeniable evidence that following 9/11 they sought donations for 9/11 victims and passed the money to the Hamas-based Holy Land Foundation.”

Supreme Court Rejects Abu Ghraib Lawsuit Over Detainees' Abuse Claim

shttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/27/supreme-court-abu-ghraib_n_885092.html

Excerpt: The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from former detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq who wanted to sue defense contractors over claims of abuse. The justices turned aside the appeal Monday from Iraqis who said they or their relatives were abused by interrogators employed by two firms, CACI International Inc. and Titan Corp. A divided federal appeals court had dismissed the lawsuits. (Since the lawyer-dominated Democratic party regards them as criminals rather than enemy combatants, no doubt they consider this an injustice. By Islamophobes. Ron P.)

The Failure of Al Gore: Part Deux

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/06/27/the-failure-of-al-gore-part-deux/

Excerpt: That Al Gore’s definitive statement on the crisis of the climate change movement appeared in the back pages of Rolling Stone magazine rather than in a more prominent and prestigious location is one sign of the decline in his reputation. At the peak of the climate movement, such an essay might have appeared in Foreign Affairs or any of the world’s leading newspapers. If he had chosen Rolling Stone to reach a hipper crowd, the article would likely have run as the cover story and ignited a global debate. As it was, the reaction to the most definitive statement yet on the biggest crisis in the history of the climate movement by its most prominent public spokesman (now that his Nobel yoke mate Rajendra Pachauri has been hooted off the world stage as a hot tempered poseur) was, from the former vice president’s viewpoint, deeply disappointing. The piece’s arguments, its logic, its impassioned cri de coeur sank like so many stones, like so many trees falling in a forest when no one was there to hear. It is a measure of how far Gore has fallen that almost all the scanty attention the piece received focused on Gore’s criticism of what he sees as President Obama’s failure to lead on climate change. Gore, like the global green movement he champions, has fallen by the wayside. (May we gloat? – Tom H. Yes, after we stop weeping over the lost jobs and wasted dollars, time and effort. ~Bob.)

House Democrats feel jilted by the president in budget, debt talks

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/168713-house-democrats-feel-jilted-by-the-president

Excerpt: House Democrats feel like jilted lovers. They’re looking down

Pennsylvania Avenue

for some sign of affection from President Obama in the White House. But all they feel they’re getting in return is the back of his hand.

Pawlenty to target Obama, GOP in foreign policy address

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/168721-pawlenty-to-target-obama-gop-in-foreign-policy-address

Excerpt: GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday will take on President Obama -- and his rivals within his own party -- on foreign affairs as he seeks to carve out his own niche within the Republican field. During his address at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, he will look to position himself as a hawkish candidate and draw a sharp contrast with Obama on international engagement. He'll also warn other Republican presidential candidates not to turn inward from the U.S.'s international engagements as skepticism over the Afghan war, especially its cost, has increased among GOP ranks on Capitol Hill. "What is wrong, is for the Republican Party to shrink from the challenges of American leadership in the world. History repeatedly warns us that in the long run, weakness in foreign policy costs us and our children much more than we’ll save in a budget line item," he will say. "America already has one political party devoted to decline, retrenchment, and withdrawal; it does not need a second one."

Same Worker, Higher Wage: A Study of Workers Who Switch from Private to Federal Employment

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/06/Same-Worker-Higher-Wage-A-Study-of-Workers-Who-Switch-from-Private-to-Federal-Employment

Abstract: Numerous studies, including two separate analyses by The Heritage Foundation, have concluded that federal workers do receive a substantial wage premium. Most of these studies have used the cross-sectional human capital method, which compares federal workers to private workers who have the same skills. The cross-sectional method is not perfect, however, and supplemental analyses can be useful in confirming its results. Rather than comparing workers at a single point in time, this report follows individual workers as they switch between the federal and private sectors. It finds that workers who change jobs receive a substantially larger raise when they switch into federal employment rather than into another private job. This result corroborates the findings of the cross-sectional studies, providing further evidence that federal workers enjoy a wage premium.

States balance budgets with cuts, not taxes

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=581343

Excerpt: As 2011 began, the budget situation in state capitals looked more dire than just about anybody could remember. States were entering their fourth consecutive year of a fiscal crisis, with $82 billion worth of budget gaps to close. At the same time, budget aid from the federal stimulus program was drying up. It’s turned out to be a little less horrible than expected. That’s largely because more than half of the states saw more tax revenues come in than they had anticipated, a small but significant dividend from a gradually improving economy. California discovered an additional $6 billion in tax revenues that it hadn’t counted on. In New Jersey, the windfall was more than $900 million; in Michigan it was $429 million. The extra cash helped ease the sense of emergency. But it wasn’t enough to save most states from the budget reckoning they anticipated.

Angela's message to the energy sector

http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagina.php?id_mailing=187&toegang=31fefc0e570cb3860f2a6d4b38c6490d&id=3089

Excerpt: By deciding to close down all of Germany’s nuclear power stations, Merkel and her Ministers made it clear that to them, public opinion is all that counts. Angel[a] and her team demonstrated that, when the chips are down, they don’t care one whit what business leaders want. Nor what the long-term economic costs are of their decisions. The thing that matters to them above all is the next elections. Surely the German government is not the only one to hold this attitude. I am convinced nowadays governments in other democratic countries feel exactly the same way, for reasons I will return to in a moment. This is certainly the case in my own country, the Netherlands, where recently the current right-wing government suddenly decided to scrap a long-standing project to store CO2 underground, to the consternation of the energy industry. The reason? Local voters had expressed their opposition and there were important local elections coming up. I have no doubt that readers in other countries can come up with examples from their own experience. What this means, then, is that in democratic western societies public opinion has become the all-important factor in political decision-making. (Yes, indeed. See Yucca Mountain or entitlement reform in the US. ~Bob.)

Break it up and shake it up

http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagina.php?id=3085

Excerpt: The biggest winner of the Fukushima disaster is Russian gas. As everyone knows, the disaster was followed by the final German decision to shut down its nuclear plants and then by Italy’s referendum decision not to go ahead with any new nuclear plants either. To believe that Germany can fill the resulting generation gap with renewable energies is illusory. It is already massively subsidising solar and wind power at a cost of many tens of billions of euros. In addition, these renewable energies require backup capacity (as well as massive investments in the grid infrastructure to be accommodated into the system.) Relying more on coal is not acceptable if EU carbon emission targets are to be met. One is left with gas, which is the least CO2-emitting of all hydrocarbons. (This is a good article, not the usual fluff you see in a “Sunday Supplement.” The dreams (nightmares?) that produced the current Euro finance problems (PIIGS) have also impacted other economic sectors, notably, energy. Reality is about to bitch-slap the dreamers who hope to eat their cake and still have it, too. --Ron P. Actually, they hope to eat other folk’s cake and have them keep baking more and more, endlessly. The rest of us are going to get slapped with them. They will then blame the disaster they have created on George Bush or Global Warming. ~Bob.

Say Goodbye to Los Angeles

http://buchanan.org/blog/say-goodbye-to-los-angeles-4788

Excerpt: U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard credited several Mexican players with the win, but he was disgusted at how the officials conducted the ceremony awarding the Gold Cup title to Mexico. They "should be ashamed of themselves," said Howard. "It was a disgrace that the entire post-match ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your (expletive) that if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn't be all in English." Indeed, were U.S. fans in a Mexican town to boo, jeer and chant obscenities at a Mexican team before, during and after a match, and blow horns during the Mexican national anthem, they would be lucky to get out of the stadium alive. What does this event, in which Plaschke estimates 80,000 fans in the Rose Bowl could not control their contempt for the U.S. team and for the U.S. national anthem, tell us? We have within our country 12-20 million illegal aliens, with Mexico the primary source, and millions of others who may be U.S. citizens but are not truly Americans. As one fan told Plaschke, "I was born in Mexico, and that is where my heart will always be." (Once they remake California into a crime and poverty corruptocacy like Mexico, where will their children flee to? The other states, of course, until our culture, economy and freedoms are destroyed. ~bob.)

Iran Threatens Turkey, Reveals Missile Silos

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/iran-threatens-turkey-reveals-missile-silos/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: …on Monday June 27, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps began a 10-day major missile war game, code named Great Prophet 6. During the war game, the domestically manufactured short-range, medium-range, and long-range missiles, consisting of the Qiam, Shahab, and Sejil missiles, will be test-fired. The latest military achievements by the IRGC will be unveiled — which includes underground missile silos that were revealed for the first time on Monday. Iranian state TV footage showed deep underground missile silos, including images of missiles being fired from one silo after a large metal roof opened to facilitate the launch. They claim that the Iranian missiles stored in them are now ready to hit targets should there be any threat or aggression by the enemy.

The UN’s Terrible Record on Human Rights

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/28/morning-bell-the-uns-terrible-record-on-human-rights/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: A few blocks from the White House, what the State Department defines as a modern form of slavery is taking place every night in the form of sex trafficking. A CNN series — called The Freedom Project – recently highlighted the trafficking network, a multi-million dollar business thriving on women and children, most of whom are immigrants. “If President Obama had walked out his front door at two or three in the morning, he would go two blocks away, and he would see traffickers forcing girls and women out into the streets, every night, right here in the United States,” said Tina Frundt, a former sex slave who founded Courtney’s House, a non-profit organization that helps girls who have been victims of human or sex trafficking. And while the United States leads the way on genuinely working to eliminate these kinds of networks, many other countries stand silent or complicit. Many corrupt governments that retain good standing in the United Nations do little to combat human trafficking, a violation of natural rights against humanity. Part of the failure to curb the trafficking problem is a failure to understand the difference between human rights and natural rights, which are endowed by God.

Obama Pushes $600 Billion in New Taxes in Debt Talks

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/obama-debt-talks-600/2011/06/27/id/401645

Excerpt: President Barack Obama threw the talks on the debt ceiling crisis into turmoil on Monday afternoon by proposing a $600 billion tax hike before even meeting with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Just as Democrats and Republicans seemed to be inching toward an agreement that would stave off the prospect of a default on the nation’s debts, Obama introduced a measure that is sure to have the GOP howling in opposition.

My Own Private 1984: Why Is Saying the Muslim Brotherhood Is Radical a Controversial Claim?

http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/06/26/my-own-private-1984/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: So to quote a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood based on a reliable (and available) translation as saying that the Brotherhood wants an Islamist state and wants to wipe out Israel is considered to be not credible on the basis of a statement by one American who, to my knowledge, has never done any research on the Brotherhood. Yet there are scores of such Brotherhood statements, including those from both the leader and deputy leader of the Brotherhood as well as many recognized leaders and in Brotherhood publications.

Brotherhood Assurances Not Backed by Track Record

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3012/brotherhood-assurances-not-backed-by-track-record

Excerpt: Following a major split in the Muslim Brotherhood over elections, reports are emerging that the Brotherhood is much closer to its affiliate political party than it previously admitted. Recent moves are yet another sign that the Muslim Brotherhood has not committed to participating in Egypt's democratic elections in a transparent and straight-forward way. Last week, the Brotherhood's authoritarian tendencies drove one group of Brotherhood youth to split with the movement and campaign on its own. "Muslim Brotherhood youths once again defied the leaders of the Islamic group by revealing their intention of establishing a new political party, El-Tayar El-Masri (Egyptian Current), ignoring a strict rule that stipulates the Freedom and Justice Party [FJP] is the only party MB members are allowed to join," reported al-Ahram English.

Arab spring could become an Islamist winter

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Op020711Arab.asp

Excerpt: In the past three months, the international media has heaped abuse on President Basher al-Assad’s government with a lack of objectivity that has not been witnessed since the buildup to the Iraq War. With few, if any, correspondents in Syria, and almost none in the disturbed areas, the international media has, in the words of al Jazeera, “trawled social networking websites” and used their estimates of casualties and amateur videos with the barest of caveats about the reliability of their sources. They have ignored Syrian assertions that the uprising is not spontaneous but carefully engineered by Salafi Islamist elements spearheaded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood living in exile. And lastly, it has treated Assad’s efforts to meet the demands of genuine civil society activists for political liberalisation as window dressing by a government desperate to buy time in the hope that the movement will run out of steam. As happened before the Iraq War, the media has again donned the mantle of a crusader for democracy. The Assad regime has been in power for 42 years, so it must therefore be brutal, oppressive and unpopular and therefore has to go. Its messianism is pushing the West towards a mistake that could be even more costly than the Iraq invasion. The evidence that the Syrian uprising is not spontaneous but engineered has been staring us in the face from the beginning.

Report: Obama Films Campaign Ad In White House, Possibly Violating FEC Laws?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/06/27/dinner_with_obama_now_includes_joe_biden.html

Excerpt: NRO's Jim Geraghty raises the question of whether Barack Obama filmed a video for his reelection campaign in the White House, which may possibly be a violation of federal election laws. (UPDATE: RCP's Alexis Simendinger reports that the White House disputes any inference of wrongdoing. A presidential spokesman said that the video does not constitute fundraising under the law, that portions of the White House can legally be used for that purpose anyway, and that previous presidents have done so. Simendinger's complete story is here.) In the video, President Obama promotes a "Dinner With Barack" raffle. To participate in the contest you need to donate at least $5 to the president's re-election campaign and your name will be raffled off to enjoy a dinner with the President, airfare and accommodations included. In a new web video, Obama announced Vice President Joe Biden will also be attending the dinner. (huh. Since when is Obama subject to law? ~Bob.)

Are Young People in Their 20's Too Stupid to Realize They're Being Ripped Off?

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Are-Young-People-in-Their-20-s-Too-Stupid-to-Realize-They-re-Being-Ripped-Off

Excerpt: Why aren't young people in their 20's and early 30's more furious? Why aren't they marching in the streets for Paul Ryan's budget? … And yet: no protests in the streets. No marches. No student sit-ins. No youth agitation at all, really, except for a couple of College Republicans in blue blazers. What? Are they stupid? After all of that college tuition? Are young people in their 20's just dumb?

What a Real Victory in 2012 Would Look Like

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/a_victory_worth_winning.html

Excerpt: We now have it from a conservative political observer whose judgment has proven sound over the years, Emmet Tyrrell, of The American Spectator, "I believe Barack Obama will be retired to private life (after 2012)." Assuming for the purposes of this essay that Mr. Tyrrell is correct, how ought the opposition comport itself from now until November, 2012 so as to wring the maximum benefit from the impending electoral victory? Or, to put it more elegantly, how can we produce the maximum bounce from this dead cat? We hear plenty from the overexposed and overrated Republican consultants about who can win and what combination they need to put together to do it; that is not my interest here. Let's instead consider what a real victory should entail. That goes well beyond Candidate X or Y, slips they might have made back when the world was different, or even the size of their potential majority in the House or Senate.

The Latest From Obama’s Labor Dept: “You Might Be Union Busting If…”

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/06/27/the-latest-from-obamas-labor-dept-you-might-be-union-busting-if/

Excerpt: Last week, the union extremists controlling the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board conducted a coordinated attack on America’s job creators. The first punch, a 160-page rule-making proposal by the Department of Labor was issued on Monday for public comments. However, it was quickly drowned out by the second punch: Tuesday’s NLRB rule-making proposal to modify election procedures, which are intended to fast track union elections giving unions greater ability to unionize employees. It is important to note that both rule-making proposals are intended to work together and, like an axe in an executioner’s hand, they are intended to make an employer’s resistance to unionization futile.

Federal Judge Overturns Lejeune Base Commander

http://grendelreport.posterous.com/fed-judge-over-turns-lejeune-base-commander

Excerpt: Jesse Nieto is one of those many unsung patriotic Americans. He served 25 years in the Marine Corps, including two combat tours in Vietnam. His youngest son, Marc, and 16 of Marc’s shipmates were killed on October 12, 2000, by Islamic terrorists who bombed the USS Cole. Nieto has worked as a civilian employee at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina since 1994.Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard delivered good news to Mr. Nieto. He ruled that Camp Lejeune officials violated his free speech rights when they ordered him to remove decals attacking Muslim terrorists from his vehicle. Judge Howard enjoined Marine officials from further enforcing the ban against Nieto.

An ObamaCare Legal Precedent?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304314404576411612870957044.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: The Supreme Court's most important ruling this year may have been its unanimous decision in Bond v. United States, which held that individual citizens can challenge federal statutes when they encroach on authority the Constitution reserves to the states. The decision, authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, has far-reaching implications—especially for the government's efforts to defend ObamaCare. The facts of the case were curious, to say the least. Defendant Carol Bond, having discovered that her close friend was pregnant by her husband, sprinkled caustic substances on a mailbox, car-door handle and door knobs. The substances worked: The hated paramour suffered minor burns.

Worth reading: The Divided States of Europe

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110627-divided-states-europe?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20110628&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore

Excerpt: Europe continues to be engulfed by economic crisis. The global focus returns to Athens on June 28 as Greek parliamentarians debate austerity measures imposed on them by eurozone partners. If the Greeks vote down these measures, Athens will not receive its second bailout, which could create an even worse crisis in Europe and the world. It is important to understand that the crisis is not fundamentally about Greece or even about the indebtedness of the entire currency bloc. After all, Greece represents only 2.5 percent of the eurozone’s gross domestic product (GDP), and the bloc’s fiscal numbers are not that bad when looked at in the aggregate. Its overall deficit and debt figures are in a better shape than those of the United States — the U.S. budget deficit stood at 10.6 percent of GDP in 2010, compared to 6.4 percent for the European Union — yet the focus continues to be on Europe.

Worth reading: Austerity Is for ‘Little People’

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/28/austerity-is-for-little-people/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=88a9b6c334-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

You may think this doesn’t affect you. You’d be wrong. ~Bob Excerpt: As economic uncertainty continues to take its toll on people in Europe, I am reminded of a quote attributed to Leona Helmsley during her 1989 tax evasion trial. According to housekeeper Elizabeth Baum’s testimony, she had the following exchange with Helmsley shortly after being hired in September 1983: ”You must pay a lot of taxes,” said Baum. Helmsley’s ostensible reply? “We don’t pay taxes,” she answered. “Only the little people pay taxes.” What does Helmsley’s quote have to do with the current economic conditions? It parallels the view of economic, financial and political elites whose economic policies are currently playing themselves out in Europe and America. To wit: Austerity is for “little people.” When one views the latest Greek bailout through this prism, it makes far more sense. The European Union, the transnational entity which orchestrates the parameters by which industrious Germans and French will bailout out profligate Greeks, has no particular concern for the people of the individual countries involved in this drama. In fact, the people subject to the conditions of the bailouts — on both ends of the equation — want no part of the deal. On one end, Greek unions are calling for a 48-hour general strike on June 28 and 29, to protest further austerity policies that must be enacted if the government, facing what amounts to a “take it or else” ultimatum from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, aka the “troika,” is to stave off insolvency. And on the other end, while the French citizenry is taking the bailout in stride, the Germans are furious. On both ends, the citizens of the individual countries involved have virtually no say in the matter. … Another part involves funding by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose largest shareholder at 17 percent is the United States — meaning that American taxpayers will also be on the hook for Greek profligacy, to the tune of billions of dollars.

Important: War Is in the Air

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/28/war-is-in-the-air/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=88a9b6c334-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: When one surveys the world situation, one cannot react with anything but intense disquiet and apprehension. The premonition of imminent catastrophe cannot be shunted aside as unthinkable or as the capricious imaginings of the congenitally unstable. War is in the air, as it was in 1914 and 1939, before the actual outbreak of hostilities. And the flashpoints are instantly discernible, namely, the Middle East and the South Asian theater. The sequel appears to be pretty much inevitable. In a certain sense, assigning blame for the coming eruption is a useless enterprise. Al-Qaeda and the Iranian Shi’ite regime are only acting in character; they are the carnivores of the current political world and cannot be expected to begin acting like herbivores. They have openly declared their intentions many times over and have given every indication of being willing to use nuclear weapons once they control or develop them.

Stephanopoulos Tries Savaging Bachmann

http://nation.foxnews.com/michele-bachmann/2011/06/28/stephanopoulos-says-media-will-investigate-bachmanns-23-foster-children

Now that she looks like a serious candidate, the media Obama water-carriers are going to Palinize her. ~Bob. Excerpt: ABC News' George Stephanopoulos said the media plans on investigating all 23 of Michele Bachmann's foster children, tries to get her to say she'd eliminate the minimum wage, tries to stir up trouble between her and Palin, and debates her about the founding fathers and slavery.

Is the Taliban using young girls in suicide bombings?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/taliban_girls.php3

Maybe Barack can make that one of the Taliban Treaty points. No children suicide bombers under the age of ten! Please? ~Bob. Excerpt: Such lack of ground control highlights a pitfall in the Afghan peace process. Even if the United States manages to cut a deal with the Taliban leadership, it's not certain low-level commanders would fall in line.

Omaha prof gets scare in Egypt

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110628/NEWS01/706289925/-1#omaha-prof-get-scare-in-egypt

The people of Egypt, Israel and the US are going to come out of the media-celebrated “Arab Spring” much worse off. Not a hard prediction to make, to anyone paying attention. ~Bob. As he looked into the eyes of the six Egyptian thugs who'd surrounded him in a Cairo square and accused him of being an American spy, the thought occurred to Omahan John Calvert that this whole democracy-building thing wasn't going to be easy. Actually, that thought was more like his conclusion after two weeks of travel in Egypt this month, a trip the Creighton University historian said he'd been longing to make since February, when Egyptian demonstrators forced 30-year ruler Hosni Mubarak to give up power. That event galvanized the Arab Spring uprisings around the Middle East. Calvert, author of a new book on the philosophical underpinnings of radical Islamic groups such as al-Qaida, was eager to see Egypt again and taste the heady tang of young democratic hope. The thugs seemed eager to have him taste something else. “I looked in their eyes. They meant to do me harm. … There was no reasoning with them,” said Calvert, who speaks Arabic.

July 4th by Thomas Sowell

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/06/28/july_4th

Excerpt: Some clever people today ask whether the United States has really been "exceptional." You couldn't be more exceptional in the 18th century than to create your fundamental document -- the Constitution of the United States -- by opening with the momentous words, "We the people..." Those three words were a slap in the face to those who thought themselves entitled to rule, and who regarded the people as if they were simply human livestock, destined to be herded and shepherded by their betters. Indeed, to this very day, elites who think that way -- and that includes many among the intelligentsia, as well as political messiahs -- find the Constitution of the United States a real pain because it stands in the way of their imposing their will and their presumptions on the rest of us. More than a hundred years ago, so-called "Progressives" began a campaign to undermine the Constitution's strict limitations on government, which stood in the way of self-anointed political crusaders imposing their grand schemes on all the rest of us. That effort to discredit the Constitution continues to this day, and the arguments haven't really changed much in a hundred years.

A Word of Caution for Rick Perry

http://townhall.com/columnists/douglasmackinnon/2011/06/28/a_word_of_caution_for_rick_perry

Excerpt: For tens of millions of Americans who see our Republic coming off the rails as unemployment rises, public employee unions cripple the financial well-being of a growing list of cities, counties, and states, the housing market continues to tank, corrupt teachers’ unions putting themselves well before public school children, our health-care system being hijacked by liberal zealots, our sovereign borders becoming more porous, and Islamic terrorist groups outside and inside our borders plotting their next horrific attack, it’s become harder and harder for them to understand why the minute handful of Republicans who could possibly make a positive difference have decided to take a powder on the fight of our lives. Very hard.

Harold Koh, Top Obama Lawyer, Defends Libya Operation Over Congress' War Powers Objections

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/harold-koh-libya-obama-congress_n_886077.html

Excerpt: The New York Times has reported that Obama ignored the advice of Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers who argued that the U.S. bombing runs over Libya, under NATO command, met the definition of "hostilities" set out in the 1973 law and necessitated congressional authorization. The Times reported that Obama instead latched onto legal advice from inside the White House and the State Department that the bombing missions fell short of "hostilities" and that they could continue without the green light from Congress. (The imperial presidency of Barack I. ~Bob.)

Ignorance, Stupidity or Manipulation

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/article/ignorance-stupidity-or-manipulation

Excerpt: My questions for those who condemn the three-fifths compromise are: Would blacks have been better off if slaves had been counted as a whole person? Should the North not have compromised at all and a union not have come into being? Would Rangel and Sharpton have agreed with Southerners at the Constitutional Convention, who argued slaves should "stand on an equality with whites" in determining congressional representation and Electoral College votes? Abolitionist Frederick Douglass understood the compromise, saying that the three-fifths clause was "a downright disability laid upon the slaveholding states" that deprived them of "two-fifths of their natural basis of representation."

SIOA exclusive: Hamas-linked CAIR "Know Your Rights" workshop in Brooklyn tells Muslims not to cooperate with police

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/sioa-exclusive-hamas-linked-cair-know-your-rights-workshop-in-brooklyn-tells-muslims-not-to-cooperat.html

Excerpt: The New York chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) presented a "'Know Your Rights' workshop" featuring Islamic supremacist lawyer Lamis Deek last Thursday in Brooklyn. Along with Hamas-linked CAIR, Brooklyn's Community Board 5 and Officer Marcus Johnson of the 75th Precinct were involved in the event -- and a SIOA operative was there. Our operative reports that Deek told the assembled Muslims not to offer the full, open and honest cooperation with police that Islamic supremacist groups in the U.S. always claim to give, but instead to repeat "Am I free to leave?" as the answer to every question and request. (They sure do keep their leftist apologists busy ginning up excuses for them. ~Bob.)

Suicide bomber in wheelchair kills two in Iraq

http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/26/iraq-suicide-attack-kills-two-wounds-17.html

Change of pace from using little girls. ~Bob. Excerpt: “A suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest at the entrance to a police station, killing two civilians and wounding 17 people, including nine policemen in Tarmiyah,” a town north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. A defence ministry official confirmed the report. “The suicide bomber came up to the entrance in a wheelchair,” said Colonel Tawfiq Ahmed al-Jenabi, chief of the town’s police, who added he did not know if the attacker was genuinely handicapped.

New York Times' ridiculous lie: "Immigrant crime not visible in statistics"http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/new-york-times-ridiculous-lie-immigrant-crime-not-visible-in-statistics.html

Excerpt: Denmark has decided to reinstitute national border control. With the euro losing credibility on the world market and the present Danish attack on the freedom of movement within the European Union, the two legs that the EU is standing on are both on their knees. The EU has put Germany in charge of threatening and bullying Denmark to drop its plans. The media is also doing its part to keep the Danes from protecting themselves from illegal immigrants, multiculturalism, weapons, drugs and organised crime. The International Herald Tribune and the New York Times lie through their teeth when they claim that official statistics do not support the claim that immigrants are a cause of rising crime rates: "Many of her supporters (Pia Kjærsgaard, leader of Danish Peoples Party who introduced the idea of reinstalling border control) are like Rene Schultz, a 42-year-old furniture mover from Ishoj who is wistful for simpler times and blames immigrants for a rise in crime, though official statistics do not support this claim." This is ridiculous, and so easy to disprove that it is hardly worth the work to do so. Here is a bit of the overwhelming amount of evidence: (The NYT is not a “news outlet.” It is a propaganda arm of the transnational progressive movement dedicated to the destruction of the west. And they are winning. ~Bob.)

Medicare Trigger

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270647/medicare-trigger-sen-john-cornyn

Last week, nearly all Senate Republicans signed a letter to President Obama asking him to present a plan to Congress to reform Medicare. Conservatives should understand why we did this, and why all of us need to keep the pressure on the White House to respond. The Medicare Trustees have made the situation clear. Medicare’s trust fund will be insolvent in 2024. Medicare’s unfunded liabilities are more than $24 trillion and growing, which means there’s a $24 trillion gap between Medicare’s future benefit costs and the future taxes and premiums it already expects to collect. The president has submitted no plan to save Medicare as we know it, and his lack of leadership is bad enough. But by not submitting a plan, the president is also violating the law.

The Authentic Palestine Freedom Flotilla

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9834/pub_detail.asp

No! I do not mean the motley crew of terrorist enablers, terrorists and assorted curs and knaves that is taking to the briny to defame Israel and bring “humanitarian” aid to the denizen of Gaza. Never mind those immoral misfits who forgot how the residents of Gaza trashed and looted and destroyed the farms, greenhouses, state of the art farming tools and implements, organic fertilizers and even seeds in the lush gardens of Gush Katif which provided 70% of Israel’s produce and $120,000,000 in exports of foods and flowers. I speak of a real Palestine freedom flotilla….that fleet of ancient and ramshackle ships and the valiant volunteer crews that transported the wretched survivors of the Holocaust to Palestine in defiance of the perverse British blockade between 1946 and 1948.

Michele Bachmann: Washington Is 'Corrupt Paradigm,' and I'll Change It

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/michele-bachmann-cbs-fox/2011/06/26/id/401506?s=al&promo_code=C823-1

Excerpt: House Tea Party Caucus leader Michele Bachmann is surging in the GOP presidential polls and now is virtually tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Iowa, the crucial early-voting state. Despite joining the primary race in earnest only two weeks ago, when she shone in a debate, Bachmann trailed Romney only narrowly, by 1 percent, this weekend in a Des Moines Register poll. And then on Monday, Bachmann stole the spotlight again as she announced her candidacy officially from her home state of Iowa. Bachmann’s speech announcing she is officially tossing her hat in the right aired just after 10 a.m.

Senator Johnson Speaks on the Senate Floor 6/28/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwm9G0Ut6lQ&feature=youtu.be