The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
Info about my book. All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans. Please forward and post where possible.
Collapse book interview on the Rob Schilling Show
I' m scheduled to be interviewed about my book on Tuesday, 28th June from 1:15 pm EDT until 2:00 pm EDT (That' s 12:15 pm CDT to 1:00 pm CDT). Also on the show will be Chet Nagle, author of The Iran Covenant and a former Naval Aviator and former CIA Agent. The show originates from Charlottesville , Virginia , home of the University of Virginia ' comment line.' Mark your calendars.
Latest review on Amazon—there are now seven reviews, all 5-star
Marine Robert Hall has written an exceptionally fine book that should be read by every "thinking" American. Mr. Hall's concerns are legitimate and well documented. Not only does the author clearly present four areas of grave concern for America
Best older posts for new blog readers
CBO outlook on long-term debt worsens
People keep assuring me I’m an alarmist, and that a collapse can’t happen. And every day, worse news comes in. ~Bob. Excerpt: New figures released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office show debt rising to 190 percent of GDP by 2035. The annual long-term budget outlook forecasts a surge in public debt this year that will rise to 70 percent of GDP by the end of fiscal year 2011 compared to 62 percent by the end of 2010. The CBO offers two forecasts, both of which show the nation's finances deteriorating over the next quarter century.
Fed lowers outlook for economic growth
Excerpt: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday downgraded its outlook on the economy, lowering its prediction for annual growth to less than 3 percent of gross domestic product. The Fed now expects the economy will grow between 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent in 2011, down from the 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent estimate it held in April. The Fed also expects the unemployment rate will decline less quickly than earlier expectations. The Fed now expects the rate in 2011 to fall between 8.6 percent and 8.9 percent, up from the 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent range expressed in April. The unemployment rate currently stands at 9.1 percent.
Why 70% Tax Rates Won't Work: Memo to Robert Reich: The income tax brought in less revenue when the highest rate was 70% to 91% than it did when the highest rate was 28%.
Excerpt: The intelligentsia of the Democratic Party is growing increasingly enthusiastic about raising the highest federal income tax rates to 70% or more. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich took the lead in February, proposing on his blog "a 70 percent marginal tax rate on the rich." After all, he noted, "between the late 1940s and 1980 America
Exactly. ~Bob. Excerpt: After years of policies expanding the national government until it employed 1/3 of the workforce and expanding their social welfare net into a hammock for those who chose not to work the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded that Greece Greece United States China to bail-out Greece Greece
AP Exclusive: Medicaid for the middle class?
Good thing the state governments are all flush with cash. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed. The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department. After initially downplaying any concern, the Obama administration said late Tuesday it would look for a fix. Up to 3 million more people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly. That's because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility. It might be compared to allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps.
Who is Jon Huntsman?
Excerpt: He is, without question, the least defined candidate of any of the Republicans considered serious players in the fight for the GOP nod next year. But is he a new kind of Republican leader? Or a moderate masquerading as a conservative? The answer to those twin questions is the pivot on which Huntsman’s candidacy currently teeters. What’s beyond dispute is that almost no one has heard of Huntsman.
Jon Huntsman
Excerpt: Distinguishing himself from the pack is nothing new for Huntsman. Two years after flouting religious and familial allegiances to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president over fellow Mormon Mitt Romney (R) in the 2008 presidential primary, the reliably conservative Huntsman finds himself under fire from his own base for shifting rhetoric on same-sex unions.
Rep. Hastings faces ethics office probe
Worth Reading
Excerpt: [Note to self: Does health policy analysis attract people with peculiar personality disorders? Or do they just get crazy after they become immersed in the field?] That brings me to Massachusetts Massachusetts
No Increase in Floods as Planet Warms
Excerpt: Greek researchers with the National Technical University in Athens United States
Brown blasts NOAA over finances, fishery enforcement
Excerpt: "Many (fishermen) tell me that NOAA regards them as criminals instead of a legitimate and valued regulated industry," Brown told Commerce Department Inspector General Todd Zinser and fisheries administrator Eric Schwaab, who were sitting on the stage across from him. "While I again want to emphasize that our fishing regulations must be enforced, we must not forget that fishing is about catching fish, where 96 percent of violations are civil matters. The tone and the tenor of enforcement must reflect this. "Yet NOAA agents carry guns and 90 percent are criminal investigators. So we have a situation where armed criminal investigators are primarily enforcing non-criminal regulations — essentially issuing tickets," Brown said. He observed that it's very different elsewhere. "The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates an industry where an error can lead to a large-scale disaster, has zero criminal investigators. None. If they don't need them, I have to wonder why they are being used so prominently in the fishing industry."
"What does it take to get fired?" senator asks
Excerpt: The fisheries law enforcement culture in New England , which featured bounties and bonuses and millions in fines coming and going as if managed by "cookie jar" rules, is being reformed, the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service told a U.S. Senate subcommittee Monday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NMFS' parent agency, said it has put control of its funds under its CFO, made enforcement of laws more consistent with nationwide standards, and transferred the burden of proof of wrongdoing to enforcement officials. Faith in the progress proclaimed by NMFS administrator Eric Schwaab at Faneuil Hall, while widespread among the presiding senators and witnesses, was shaky and cut with skepticism. There is no evidence that anyone who participated in the ugliness, documented by the federal Commerce Department's inspector general and a special judicial master over the past 18 months, has been called to account. (The marching beancounters have lost a battle, but are doing their best to minimize the loss. Ron P.)
The Truth About Tax Cuts
Excerpt: All you are likely to hear about low tax rates from liberals and their echo chamber in the media is that they don't work—that they fail to gin up economic or job growth. Exhibit A for this preposterous proposition is the Bush tax cuts. The left wants you to accept it as conventional wisdom that the policy was a bust. Don't believe it. The tax cuts enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2003 were an important cause of an economic expansion that roared for some 50 months and created 8.1 million jobs. The opposite philosophy—a stimulus that has crowded out private investment, plus an enormous health bill and a nightmarish financial regulatory package that are killing job creation—has only delayed recovery and left us with 9.1% unemployment.
Excerpt: Racist black attacks are not only against whites but also against Asians. In San Francisco Oakland School District of Philadelphia
Barack Obama and Pentagon split on Afghanistan
Excerpt: Barack Obama is set to reject the advice of the Pentagon by announcing on Wednesday night the withdrawal of up to 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by November next year, in time for the US presidential election. The move comes despite warnings from his military commanders that recent security gains are fragile. They have been urging him to keep troop numbers high until 2013. (…) Obama's decision is aimed at placating an American public tired of a 10-year war that has cost 1,522 US
The Phony Afghan Drawdown
Excerpt: …[N]o one can possibly think that when we withdraw the problem will be over. It will simply become something we’ve chosen to stop thinking about. Once we do that, something else will happen, and we’ll just have another short-term reaction, affixing another panicked and wrong-headed band-aid in the same way we’ve been doing. But what’s happening in Afghanistan United States China
Obama Gets 30% of Americans Certain to Support Re-Election in Economy Poll
Excerpt: Americans are growing more dissatisfied with President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy, and only 30 percent said they are certain to re-elect him, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted June 17-20. Fewer than a quarter of respondents see signs of improvement in the economy, and two-thirds say they believe the country is on the wrong track overall. Hans Nichols reports on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg) Americans are growing more dissatisfied with President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy and say it will be hard to vote to re-elect him without seeing significant progress over the next year and a half. By a margin of 61 percent to 37 percent, a Bloomberg National Poll conducted June 17-20 shows Americans say they believe that Obama will have had his chance to make the economy “substantially better” by the end of 2012.
Editorial: Who OK'd 'Guns To Gangs' Program, And Why? http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/576079/201106211851/How-High-Does-ATF-Blame-Go-.htm
Excerpt: After getting caught doing the unbelievable — arming Mexico's cartels — word is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms boss is out, and the gun-controller the White House wanted all along is in. How far up does this go? Acting ATF director Kenneth Melson is apparently ready to take the fall for what may be the most morally repulsive scandal to befall the Obama administration so far. Our neighbor Mexico
Republicans Return to Reality
Excerpt; First impressions from a presidential debate are always about how things look, how people come across. Tim Pawlenty doesn't really assert, he natters. Rick Santorum is earnest, Michelle Bachmann serious. Mitt Romney knows how he looks in every camera shot from every angle: He is a master of the cutaway shot, when the camera isn't on him. He keeps his posture and maintains a kindly smile, as if he's pleased the other candidates are sharing their nice little thoughts. But the GOP debate in New Hampshire
Quotes from The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." --Patrick Henry
"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it." --American writer H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
FBI Knocks Websites Offline
Excerpt: The FBI took a series of websites offline on Tuesday in a raid on servers owned by DigitalOne, according to the company, the New York Times reported. Among the sites knocked offline were those belonging to the Curbed Network, a New York
Did a Jerusalem
Excerpt: The BBC, Agence France Presse, and Time magazine all erroneously reported that a rabbinical court in Jerusalem
Sanctioning Jewish Deaths
Excerpt: Alan Riding’s new book, “And the show went on”, brilliantly dissects the behavior of French intellectuals under the Nazi occupation: Names that became famous icons such as Gide, Claudel, Romains, Picasso, Malraux and Piaf. But above all, Jean-Paul Sartre, the incarnation of cultural engagement, the humanist guru who turned down a Nobel Prize for literature and founded left-leaning newspaper Liberation. During the German occupation of Paris
Kerry Exposed on Syria
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/22/kerry-exposed-on-syria/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=31740802cb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGNExcerpt: Professor Fuad Ajami for his assertions in an earlier WSJ essay.[2] Ajami summarized four decades of the Assad regime’s tyranny, oppression and mass murder of its own people, and criticized America’s failed policy toward Syria: a policy consisting of nothing more than a “waiting for Godot” stance, while quietly urging young Bashar to mend his ways as he, his father’s true son, slaughters his own people and sends terrorists into Iraq to murder Americans. David Brooks aptly describes these actions as depraved,[3] yet Obama has been “keen to engage” Syria, and Senator Kerry has argued that Bashar Assad was “at heart a reformer” eager to align with the West.[4]
Motive for digger's murder 'may never be known'
Well, could it be Islam? Nah…~Bob Excerpt: Defence Minister Stephen Smith says the motive for the murder of an Australian soldier by a member of the Afghan National Army may never be known. After a three week manhunt, Coalition forces shot dead Shafied Ullah, who was responsible for killing Australian Lance Corporal Andrew Jones at Combat Outpost Mashal in the Chora Valley.
Salafist threat growing, interior ministers say
Excerpt: German state interior ministers are warning of a rise in radical Salafist Islam that poses a risk of home-grown terrorism, with one politician calling for changes to residency laws so “hate preachers” can be more easily deported. Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rhein of the conservative Christian Democratic Union told daily Die Welt that Salafism was a “centre and pivot for those who want to participate in so-called holy war.” “Salafism can in this way lay the path to Islamist terrorism,” he said, adding that the law needed to be changed so that “hate preachers” can be more easily thrown out of the country. … “Salafism is seen both in Germany and on the international level as the dynamic Islamist movement at the moment,” a Verfassungsschutz expert, who was not named, told the FTD. Salafism is a strict adherence to the Koran and the earliest principles of Islam from between the 8th and 10th centuries. They aim to reorder society, the state and the law according to Salafist values regarded as God-given. (So “strict adherence to the Koran” leads to hate and violence? Telling truths like this gets people charged with hate crimes! ~Bob.)
Terror suspect extradited from Austria
A German Man? Bruno? Hans? No, that venerable German name, Yusuf. Probably a radical Baptist. ~Bob. Excerpt: A German man arrested on suspicion of recruiting for a terror group mounting attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan was extradited from Austria Monday, federal prosecutors said. The German federal prosecutor's office said in a statement that the suspect identified only as Yusuf O. was arrested in Austria on May 31 on a German warrant.
Clinton Unzipped: One of the Worst Presidents Ever
Excerpt: Conventional wisdom has it that Bill Clinton was a flawed man, but a good president. Let's blast that claptrap to smithereens with a Fast and Furious AK-47, because Bill Clinton was an unadorned calamity for our national security, and, in all probability, remains one to this day. In the last week, we learned some piquant facts about Clinton's associates: First, his wife's most intimate aide, Huma Abedin, has a Saudi mother and brother who are both prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Glamour girl Abedin accesses our most sensitive national secrets through her longtime, joined-at-the-hip relationship with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This jihadist penetration into our government's innermost sanctums is A-OK with Bill Clinton, who risibly presided over Abedin's wedding to proud pervert Anthony Weiner. And then there's Clinton's former chief of staff, CIA chief Leon Panetta, who we now discover may be hiding a colorful past of Communist entanglements. Naturally, Panetta's odd choice of friends proved no impediment to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense; the Senate just unanimously approved him. This Unholy Trinity in the news -- Weiner, Abedin, and Panetta -- brings back memories of the many splendored treacheries of the Clinton years. It seems just yesterday that Bill and Hill were guzzling down illegal campaign contributions from China and handing them advanced military technology in exchange for cash. And who can forget the Clintons' most heinous betrayal of all, which was...what, exactly? We'll probably never know because Sandy Berger took care of that. Remember him?
CAIR Loses IRS Status
Excerpt: Donations to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) no longer are tax deductible after the organization was among 275,000 tax-exempt organizations purged earlier this month by the Internal Revenue Service. The groups failed to file required annual reports, known as form 990s, detailing their revenues and expenses, for three consecutive years. CAIR had been a non-profit on its own, but in 2007, the IRS approved a separate tax-exempt CAIR Foundation. The foundation never filed any subsequent reports. Both the foundation and CAIR national are on the purge list. CAIR has 30 state chapters throughout the country, many of which have their own non-profit designations which remain active. While the IRS believes most of the organizations stripped of status have shut down, those still operating can apply for reinstatement. Meanwhile, CAIR's web site continues to solicit donations by touting them as tax deductible two weeks after the IRS issued the list and notifications were sent to all 275,000 purged groups.
A Washington Power Breaker
Excerpt: Over three decades, law professor Randy E. Barnett’s libertarian scholarship on the Constitution’s original meaning and the proper balance between federal and state power brought him respect within academia but little notice beyond. That began to change in 2009, as the Georgetown University scholar made the case that Congress exceeded its power to regulate interstate commerce by including a requirement in the health care overhaul that everyone have insurance. Most constitutional scholars initially ridiculed Barnett’s argument against the individual mandate — that Congress cannot regulate or punish the “inactivity” of not buying something. Few mock it anymore, now that two courts have adopted the same reasoning in ruling against the individual mandate’s constitutionality. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hear an appeal to one of those rulings this week in Atlanta.
Sheriff Dever: Arizona Fire Started by Illegal Aliens or Smugglers
Excerpt: Dever: "When the fire started, Montezuma Nat'l Monument was closed. The forest around it was closed....So whoever started the fire was there illegally." Dever: It started right near the border fence, and the only ones "traveling through that area at that time were smugglers or illegal aliens". (So who do you believe, America? A lawman of 35 years? Or La Raza, who said McCain was "immigrant and Latino bashing"? –Dave.)
The Week That Was: 2011-06-18 (June 18, 2011)
Excerpt: Gray states two specific failings of the IPCC and its models which the AMS has embraced. One is that the upper troposphere water vapor feedback loop is grossly wrong. The models fail to handle the rainfall process correctly and project greater warming than justifiable. [This is illustrated in the missing fingerprint in weather balloon and satellite observations of the atmosphere centered over the tropics at about 10 km as shown in NIPCC 2008.] (…) The displeasure Gray expresses is similar to the displeasure numerous members of other physical societies have expressed towards the leadership of their organizations, which have issued political statements regarding AGW without fully consulting the views of the membership. We are witnessing a decline in scientific rigor and discipline in scientific debates. The damage being done to the societies is significant as is damage to the American science as a whole. Please see Article # 1. (The excerpt is from the lead-in summary. Ron P.)
Jim Rogers: Obama Should Resign Before Inflation Sparks Unrest
Excerpt: Investment guru Jim Rogers says President Barack Obama should resign — and warns that inflation will only continue to soar, putting the United States at risk of the same civil unrest that has struck Greece. Rogers says that what Obama “should do is take an ax — no, not an ax — take a chain saw to spending in the U.S.” Rogers tells Bloomberg Business Week that “we have got to balance the budget. We have got to pay off the debt, somehow, someday.”
Obama’s Illiberal Foreign Policy: In Obama’s progressive calculus, disdain for the United States is a mark of authenticity.http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270192/obama-s-illiberal-foreign-policy-victor-davis-hanson
Excerpt:
Libya and America’s Commitment Problem
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270162/libya-and-america-s-commitment-problem-jonah-goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270162/libya-and-america-s-commitment-problem-jonah-goldberg
Excerpt:
NASA Scientist Accused of Using Celeb Status Among Environmental Groups to Enrich Himself
I’m shocked, shocked to find this kind of thing going on among the Greenies. ~Bob. Excerpt: The NASA scientist who once claimed the Bush administration tried to "silence" his global warming claims is now accused of receiving more than $1.2 million from the very environmental organizations whose agenda he advocated. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C., a group claims NASA is withholding documents that show James Hansen failed to comply with ethics rules and financial disclosures regarding substantial compensation he earned outside his $180,000 taxpayer-paid position as director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "Hansen's office appears to be somewhat of a rogue operation. It's clearly a taxpayer-funded global warming advocacy organization," said Chris Horner, a co-founder of The American Tradition Institute, which filed the lawsuit.
Are You Ready For a World Governed by Islamic Law?
Excerpt: Are you ready for a world dominated by Islamic law? On July 9, the international political group Hizb ut-Tahrir will meet for the “UK Khilafah Conference” in London. During the gathering, meetings will focus upon ways in which a caliphate can be instituted. As The Blaze explained back in February, a caliphate is an Islamic state that draws its authority from, and is based upon, Sharia law. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which stands for the “Party of Liberation” in English, is an international political organization that seeks one, unified Muslim state that is dominated by Muslim law. This particular group stands firmly planted against the United States, accusing the Super Power of colonization, among other offenses. (The Ottoman Caliphate dismembered by the allies after WWI was a political empire with a veneer of religious justification under Islam. There will never be another Caliphate any more than there will ever be one united Christian church ruling all Christian lands. This is because there are as many forms of Islam as of Christianity, each one firmly convinced it is the true religion of Allah and the Prophet. Like Christians 500 years ago, they are ready to slaughter any infidels and apostates from the “true” faith. We got over it, they did not, so far. The danger is the dream. Given the millions of true believers ready to “slay and be slain” for Allah they may indeed bring down the US and impose Shari’a on parts of our country or on parts of Europe. What is certain is that in the next hundred years they will murder tens of thousands of infidels and probably even more Muslims chasing the dream. ~Bob.)
Poll Shows More Americans Say They Are Worse Off Than 2 Years Ago
Bunch of whiners. They’re all better off than they will be in two years. ~Bob. Excerpt: As congressional budgeters warn of a debt crisis in the coming years, a new poll shows that 44 percent of Americans say they believe they are worse off under President Obama than in early 2009, when the economy was still technically in recession. A Bloomberg National Poll shows that while the recession officially ended in June 2009, only 34 percent think they're better off than at the start of the president's Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. Fewer than a quarter of the people polled see signs the economy is improving.
Spaniards in Diapers Protest Government Cuts: The Infantilization of Big Government in a Single Image
Signs of the Times
http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/4131/26/Excerpt: To be honest, I quite liked Obama’s “moat with alligators” crack. And, as it happens, the United States is building a moat on the border. The northern border, that is. I’m not just referring to the literal trench the government has been digging along the 49th parallel, above which hover unmanned Predator drones keeping Americans safe from the Waziristan of the north. I’m talking about a kind of psychological moat. In the border towns of Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec, where the frontier runs through the middle of the Haskell Public Library and the Predator doubtless hovers over the Nonfiction A–M shelf, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has put barriers across residential streets and introduced a new “zero tolerance” policy. Zero tolerance of what? Illegal immigration? Terrorism? Not at all. Be their guest. Instead, both Derby Liners and Stansteaders, with generations of cross-border marriage and commercial ties, now find that just going about their daily business is a national-security threat. Last year, the Derby Line pharmacist Buzzy Roy strolled a few yards up Church Street to buy a pizza on a Saturday night, as he has done on many an evening his entire life. When he returned, U.S. authorities charged him with illegally entering Canada, tossed him in the slammer, and fined him $500 — which he’s refusing to pay. “Local Man Jailed for Crossing Street,” as a Vermont paper reported it.
The Democrats' Recall Bomb
Excerpt: Current such efforts are not limited to Wisconsin. In New Mexico, a campaign to recall Russell Pearce, the worst enemy of illegal immigration in this country, has been kicked off with some success. Pearce is the man who stood up to both the illegals and their enablers on this side of the border -- not forgetting the ones in the White House. He is close to being the indispensable man on this issue. And that's the point: recalls can be used to target key figures who are otherwise invulnerable, from Michele Bachmann to Chris Christie.
Ad shows Chinese soldiers marching on Capitol
Excerpt: A Nevada congressional candidate is accusing President Obama of helping China relaunch its empire, with a TV ad featuring images of Chinese soldiers marching on Washington. Republican Mark Amodei released the campaign ad after he was named the Republican nominee Saturday for a special election to fill a House vacancy. The spot shows an Asian TV reporter speaking English with a heavy accent recounting a fictional history where the United States took on so much debt that it became dependent on China. It shows a Chinese army marching with guns in front of Congress.
Education Liberal Columbia Professor Keeps Job Despite Pleading Guilty to Incest Charge
Excerpt: Last December Columbia University Professor David Epstein was in the headlines. Not for his blog posts at the Huffington Post on issues ranging from torture to Sarah Palin, but rather for his arrest and charge of having participated in a three year sexual relationship with his 24-year-old daughter. The Columbia Spectator’s Jackie Carrero and Mikey Zhong have reported that despite pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for attempted incest on May 10, Mr. Epstein will remain a Professor at the $40,000+ yearly tuition Ivy League university. Mr. Epstein taught at Columbia University along with his wife, a political science professor, and the two were featured in a 2008 Spectator article on professors who “bring love to work.” Manhattan District Attorney’s office criminal complaint in December read that “professor David Epstein’s incest was committed between July 2006 and June 2009 at University Apartment Housing building on 120th Street,” and the New York Daily News reported that the relationship featured “twisted text messages.”
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