Political Digest for July 23, 2011

Best older posts for new blog readers

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

Worth Reading: The Global Fairness Madness: The more we have, the more we begrudge others who have more.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272093/global-fairness-madness-victor-davis-hanson

Excerpt: Whether in the fights over the U.S. debt limit or the rioting in Athens, the common global theme is not poverty in absolute terms, but more often fairness — as in having about the same amount of things as others do. Here in America, the months-long impasse over the national-debt ceiling continues. President Bush borrowed nearly $5 trillion in eight years. But President Obama easily trumped even that staggering figure with his plan to borrow over $6 trillion in his first four years in office. The architects of his economic policy — Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers — have all resigned, and are now either back in tenured academia, making lots of money in the much-criticized revolving door, or writing op-eds about why the president’s plan isn’t working — or all three. … Here in the United States, the 5 percent of the population that pays nearly 60 percent of all the income taxes collected is excoriated as selfish and greedy for not being willing to pay even more. The 50 percent of the population that pays no income tax at all feels that it deserves even more from those who make more. (There is a Russian joke about two famers, Boris and Ivan who are friends. There are pretty much of the same status, but Ivan is a bit more prosperous, as he owns a cow and a goat, while Boris only owns a cow. One day a genie appears to Boris and offers to grant him one wish, anything he desires. Boris thinks a bit, then says, “Kill Ivan’s goat.” That is the kind of class warfare Democrats gin up votes on. 30% of our “poor” own two or more cars. Many have AC, color TVs and other luxuries unheard of in the middle class in 1960. They have to pump up envy of others to keep them voting Democrat. ~Bob.)

Bomb Tears Through Norwegian Capital As Gunman Targets Youth Camp

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/22/explosion-damages-buildings-in-norwegian-capital/

This is the kind of attack I describe in Collapse, that I fear we can expect here. Wonder who did it? Better round us Methodist grandmothers to start the investigation. ~Bob. Excerpt: Norwegian police -- reportedly including anti-terror units -- were responding Friday to a shooting at a youth camp run by the ruling Labor Party, where authorities confirmed that several people were killed. The shooting came just hours after a powerful car-bomb tore through government buildings in Oslo, including the prime minister's office, leaving seven people dead and 15 injured. An eyewitness tells Norway's NRK broadcaster he saw more than 20 bodies at camp shooting.

A World Food Crisis?
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=3115

Excerpt: Forecasting world famines has become a favorite pastime for some: from the Reverend Thomas Malthus 200 years ago and more recently Paul Ehrlich to the Club of Rome and the Paddock brothers in the 1970s—and of course, to Lester Brown, about once every decade. The latest catastrophic forecast comes to us from climate alarmists who focus on a world food crisis, supposedly as a consequence of global warming (GW). While there may well arise problems about world food, it is more than likely that a global warming—if it does take place—will increase food production rather than lower it. So rest easy: another crisis averted. The main cause cited for a decrease is loss of soil moisture; but it should be obvious that any increase in global temperature will also increase evaporation from the oceans and therefore the total amount of global precipitation. GW is a perfect recipe for creating more fresh water, which according to the alarmists is badly needed. Of course, we cannot be sure where this precipitation will come down—but neither can the alarmists. Sadly, our climate models are inadequate to handle regional problems—and particularly bad when it comes to predicting precipitation. Another reason for increased food production stems from the warmer temperatures themselves. Again, according to climate models, an increase in average global temperature points toward only a slight increase in the tropical zone—with the major increases in higher latitudes, where climates tend to be more severe. (That of course is a common problem when one deals with ‘averages.’) So it may turn out that Canada and Siberia will see increases in crop production because of longer growing seasons, warmer growing temperatures, and fewer frosts—but there will be little change at lower latitudes. The final reason for improvements in agriculture stems of course from the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide—irrespective of its putative effects on climate. Carbon dioxide will continue to increase because of the burning of fossil fuels to create energy. The rate of future increase is not known with any degree of certainty; it depends on population growth, changes in economic activity, technology, and other factors.

Obama's Debt-Ceiling Scare Tactics

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20905&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Last week President Obama made an alarming statement to the nation's senior citizens. He told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley he couldn't guarantee that $20 billion in Social Security checks will go out on Aug. 3, the day after the government would go into default if it doesn't raise the debt ceiling. "[T]here may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said. This statement completely overlooks the existence of the Social Security Trust Fund says Thomas Saving, director of the Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M University, former public trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds and senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis. That doesn't mean that we don't have a problem. Failure to raise the debt limit by the end of this month will result in the government having to live within its means. That means the current level of expenditures would need to fall by about 25% immediately, or an amount that came to $60 billion in May alone. But let us imagine the unimaginable: No agreement is reached, and the federal government must cut a quarter of its expenditures.  Since such a move is highly unlikely, the cuts must come from domestic government programs. An across-the-board cut of 25% in all government programs would do the trick but would wreak havoc on Medicaid and Medicare. Alternatively, restoring appropriations to 2001 levels would also suffice. But what about Social Security? Here are the facts: Social Security revenues come from a 12.4% payroll tax, capped at $106,800, which is split evenly between employers and employees. In 1983, reforms were adopted that changed the system's tax-rate schedules and imposed an income tax on the Social Security benefits of higher-income individuals. As a result, every year from 1984 through 2009 Social Security revenues exceeded payments to beneficiaries. Congress spent these surpluses, and the U.S. Treasury issued the Social Security Trust Fund special bonds, which can be redeemed whenever the Social Security system has a current account deficit. In 2010, the Social Security system ran its first current account deficit since 1983, and for the first time since the reforms the deficit was covered by redeeming Trust Fund bonds. By law the Treasury is bound to redeem any bonds presented to it by the Social Security Administration. And when the Treasury does, total government debt subject to the debt limit falls by the amount of the redemption-thus freeing up the Treasury's ability to issue new bonds equal in amount to the redeemed Trust Fund bonds. Therefore, meeting Social Security obligations in August, September and all future months in this fashion would add nothing to the gross government debt subject to the debt limit. Not, at least, until the $2.4 trillion Trust Fund is exhausted in 2038.

Property Rights and Environmental Quality: A Cross-Country Study

http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj31n2/cj31n2-8.pdf

Excerpt: Public policy often regards pollution and other measures of poor environmental quality as public bads that result from market failure and require government intervention through regulatory policies environmental quality should instead be regarded from a property rights perspective, in which institutions of clearly defined and enforced property rights create incentives that lead to reduced levels of pollution and an overall improvement in environmental quality. Using cross-country data, I examine the relationship between property rights and environmental quality. This article shows that where property rights can be well defined and enforced, as with property rights pertaining to land and water, increases in the security of property rights lead to improvements in deforestation decreases and access to safe water and sanitation facilities improves. When property rights cannot be well defined, such as property rights over the air, increases in the overall security of property rights may erode environmental quality. For example, I find that more secure property rights are positively related to several indicators of air pollution. The findings that more secure property rights are positively correlated with air pollution and negatively correlated with land and water pollution are not necessarily surprising given the nature of property rights over these resources.

France's 'green vote' kills shale gas - and targets nuclear power as well

http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagina.php?id=3154

Excerpt: France became the first country in Europe to explicitly outlaw hydraulic fracturing. The move is symptomatic of a wider change in French public opinion, which is increasingly critical of technologies such as genetically manipulated organisms (GMO's), nanotechnology, and even nuclear power. The 'green vote' has become a firm reality in France, reports our correspondent Yves Saint de Jacob from Paris. With Senatorial elections this year and Presidential and General Elections next year, the energy sector will feel the impact. (…) France has practically no “conventional” domestic oil or gas reserves. About sixty or so small oil and gas deposits in the Paris region and in Aquitaine, near Bordeaux, account for only one to two per cent of France’s consumption of hydrocarbons. However, the country does appear to have large “unconventional” gas reserves. According to a parliamentary report, shale gas reserves in France are among the largest in Europe, along with Poland’s. If only 10% were extracted, it would provide for more than 10 years of French gas consumption, the report says. (How dare those evil, greedy capitalists try to sell patriotic Frenchmen less expensive gas? Of course the French should continue to depend solely on (Russian) Gazprom! Ron P. Nice to know economic stupidity isn’t limited to American voters. ~Bob.)

North and South Korea hold "constructive" talks

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/us-korea-north-idUSTRE76L10520110722?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BOKXWyB8cdETF7

Excerpt: South and North Korea held high-level talks for the first time in two years in Indonesia on Friday, and said they would work to resume the stalled six-party dialogue for nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula. The surprise meeting between their nuclear envoys, which was described as cordial and lasted about two hours, was the first such contact between the two Koreas since the last round of the six-way nuclear disarmament talks in 2008.

A common sense solution to frivolous ADA lawsuits

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/lawsuits-308431-ada-california.html

Excerpt: There comes a time when all good men and women must stand up to the legal bullies – those who exploit the laws they write to fill their coffers and wallets at he expense of small business owners and your jobs. When the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) was signed into law more than 20 years ago, the intent was to provide complete access for the disabled in public places. Sadly, opportunists have abused the law by filing tens of thousands of ADA lawsuits meant not to improve access for the disabled, but to extract money from small business owners. Now, U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) is proposing a common sense bill, HR 881 (The ADA Notification Act of 2011), which would eliminate thousands of predatory ADA lawsuits, and actually improve public access for disabled individuals. Currently, the ADA does not require any notice before a lawsuit can be filed. Enforcement of the ADA is through civil litigation. Many ADA lawsuits have been filed for issues of relatively minor noncompliance; such a sign being the wrong color or having the wrong wording. Due to California's lawsuit-friendly legal climate, 42 percent of ADA lawsuits filed in the United States are filed in California, causing many small businesses to close and wiping out jobs.

Debt-limit talks: As Obama, Boehner rush to strike deal, Democrats are left fuming

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-gop-leaders-said-to-discuss-new-debt-plan/2011/07/21/gIQAT81BSI_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Fuming Democrats! Great name for a Rock Group. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner rushed Thursday to strike agreement on a far-reaching plan to reduce the national debt but faced a revolt from Democrats furious that the accord appeared to include no immediate provision to raise taxes. With 12 days left until the Treasury begins to run short of cash, Obama and Boehner (R-Ohio) were still pursuing the most ambitious plan to restrain the national debt in at least 20 years. Talks focused on sharp cuts in agency spending and politically painful changes to cherished health and retirement programs aimed at saving roughly $3 trillion over the next decade.

European leaders agree to new Greek rescue plan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/european-leaders-open-summit-on-greek-debt-crisis/2011/07/21/gIQAGmGrRI_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Yea! The can is kicked again…a little way. ~Bob. Excerpt: European leaders moved Friday to stanch the region’s lingering financial crisis, agreeing to $145 billion in new loans to Greece and measures to prop up weak banks and other national governments. A separate initiative allows private bondholders to help but raises the prospect that Greece will be considered in default on some of its debt. The measures approved in Brussels mark a major financial consolidation of the 17 nations that use the euro — effectively pledging the creditworthiness of stronger countries such as Germany and France, and the resources of their taxpayers, to prop up failing banks or ailing governments throughout the euro zone.

U.S. Government Ends Chrysler Investment With $1.3 Billion Loss

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/21/us-government-ends-chrysler-investment/#ixzz1SmiKNu7K

Excerpt: The U.S government has sold its shares in Chrysler LLC at a likely loss of $1.3 billion in taxpayer money, the Treasury Department said Thursday, announcing the end of a controversial investment that resurrected the troubled auto company. Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which has run the company since it emerged from bankruptcy protection in June 2009, purchased the U.S. government's remaining 98,000 shares in the auto company for $560 million. 9we all have to pay our fair share to buy Obama union votes. ~Bob.)

VA denies censorship at Houston National Cemetery

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7658895.html

Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has denied allegations of religious censorship at Houston National Cemetery — accusations that have sparked calls for investigations from members of Congress — according to a new document filed in federal court. The document is the government's first detailed response to a lawsuit that accuses VA officials and cemetery director Arleen Ocasio of closing the cemetery chapel, banning volunteer groups from saying the words "God" or "Jesus" at burial services, and forbidding the groups from religious recitations or prayers during the services unless families submitted the texts to her for approval.

Palin Tracker: After Email Release, Still Undefeated

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/palintracker-after-email-release-still-undefeated/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: Considering it encompassed the release of 25,000 Palin emails, it’s definitely been a more quiet month — except for the media’s obsession with how Bristol lost her virginity and all that portends for the country. (I sometimes think I’m the only person in Massachusetts who likes Sarah Palin, she’s been Borked so completely, very few of us know anything real about her. She is mostly seen as a caricature that opponents project faults onto. While I’d vote for her against Obama, I can’t believe she’s electable. Oddly, she seems more acceptable to men than women. Several women have told me flatly “she’s too pretty.” I don’t believe women are that jealous of someone else’s looks, so there must be more to it that I’m not seeing. If “crowds” of people, mostly opponents, can dig through more than 20 THOUSAND of her emails for a month and find nothing scandalous, Palin may stand alone in American Politics—I’m sure I’d never pass such a test, which is why I won’t run for dogcatcher—and it won’t help her one damned bit. I hope she makes a whole lot of money from books, movies, and TV. Only a madman or an idiot would run for national office these days. Sarah may be more valuable as a spokesman and lightning rod to keep the media off guard. Ron P.)

The Freedom-Loving Rebels Become Reactionary Oppressors

http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/07/21/the-freedom-loving-rebels-become-reactionary-oppressors/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: One of the best ways to understand our current mess in intellectual life is through what I call the three option situation. In the past, something has been unfair (position one). What should be done according to democracy and Enlightenment values is to correct it by fairness (position two). But instead the dominant ideology wants to make it unfair in the opposite direction (position three). Thus, the situation remains arguably just as bad instead of being made better. The dominant idea of justice is merely to switch victims rather than try to make nobody a victim. (Fairness for one cannot be created by unfairness to another. Ron P. yes. And it creates a response. Affirmative Action creates a response that is often racist. But those who live by organizing victims need racism so they can have victims to keep them in power. ~Bob.)

Voters Skeptical About Spending Cuts In Debt Ceiling Debate

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2011/voters_skeptical_about_spending_cuts_in_debt_ceiling_debate

Excerpt: Even if the president and Congress can agree on a plan to raise the debt ceiling that raises taxes on the wealthy and cuts spending, less than half of America’s voters believe the spending cuts would actually happen. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 45% say it’s at least somewhat likely that government would actually cut spending if the president and Congress agreed to a plan that includes tax hikes on the wealthy and spending decreases. Slightly more voters (49%) don’t see spending cuts as a likely outcome. These findings include 13% who say spending cuts are Very Likely and 18% who say they are Not At All Likely to happen.

Unhappy Anniversaries, President Obama

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/07/22/morning-bell-unhappy-anniversaries-president-obama/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: The Obama Administration has seen its fair share of milestones this month. Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, Obamacare is just over one year old, it has been more than 800 days since the Democrat-controlled Senate passed a budget, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors on Thursday--the first new federal agency in nearly a decade. You'll notice that no one is celebrating any of them. Perhaps it's because those milestones have led to an even more ignominious one that the White House achieved in June. As of last month, 30 percent of the 14.1 million unemployed Americans have been out of work for more than a year. The average length of unemployment is now 39.7 weeks, the longest since the Department of Labor began tracking it.

Home Depot Co-Founder Blasts Obama

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/home-depot-co-founder-blasts-obama-even-brain-dead-economists-get-it/

Excerpt: First it was Steve Wynn, head of the famed Wynn resort empire, speaking out against Obama. Now its Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot. In an interview with Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), Marcus blasted Obama and his policies, saying “even brain-dead economists understand that when you raise taxes, you cost jobs.”

It Should All Be Free

http://townhall.com/columnists/monacharen/2011/07/22/it_should_all_be_free/page/full/

Excerpt: Free medicine! That's what Obamacare has brought you -- or should bring you, at least according to CNN. The story's opening sentence set the tone: "Contraceptives, sterilization and reproductive education should be covered by health insurance plans with no cost to patients under the health reform law, a new report recommends." In a tone that can only be called cheerleading, CNN tells its audience that the Institute of Medicine has made these recommendations to the secretary of Health and Human Services. (It’s not fasir that good looking young people should have lots more sex than us old, fat ugly people. Join “The Campaign For Sexual Justice.” Send your contributions to me. ~Bob.)

The Jews in the Basement

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/the_jews_in_the_basement.htmlExcerpt: The coming week marks five years since the murder of Pamela Waechter. Who? If the name doesn't ring a bell, here's a brief reminder: She was shot in the head by Naveed Afzal Haq, as she tried to crawl down a flight of stairs and escape, after Haq shot her in the chest. Still not jogging your memory?  How about this: Waechter was the 58-year-old director of the annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Seattle. Sometime around 4 PM, on July 28, 2006, Naveed Afzal Haq grabbed a 14-year-old girl and thrust a gun in her back. He used her to gain entry to the Federation, and then rampaged through the building, shooting six women -- Layla Bush, Christina Rexroad, Cheryl Stumbo, Dayna Klein (who was five months pregnant), Carol Goldman, and, fatally, Pamela Waechter. Tammy Kaiser jumped from a second-story window to escape, and was hospitalized with injuries. What was Haq's motive? Well, here's an interesting clue: As he stormed through the halls, shooting and killing, he shouted, "I'm a Muslim-American! I'm angry at Israel!" Quite a dramatic story, no? And yet it's not a story anybody wants to tell. Grab the average leftist on the street -- or, certainly, on campus -- and ask him about Rachel Corrie, the anti-Israel activist accidentally run over by an Israeli bulldozer. I bet he knows Corrie's story by heart; after all, our cultural grandees never stop pushing it as a "teaching moment" about Israeli brutality. Likewise, gay activists turned the murder of Matthew Shepard into a universal "teaching moment" about America's homophobia and crimes against gays, and the urgent need for sensitivity training in schools. But American Jews have found no "teaching moment" in the murder of Pamela Waechter…

Obama Crisis Management System

http://www.middleamericanradical.com/obama_crisis_management_tshirt.php

too funny, but too close to true. Lots of great tee shirts at this site. ~Bob.

President Obama Fined For Not Paying Congestion Charge In London

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/president-obama-fined_n_904401.html?ref=email_share

Well no wonder we need a tax increase. ~Bob.

Breaking: Karzai blocking probe of missing U.S. $billions in Afghanistan

http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/breaking-karzai-blocking-probe-of-missing-u-s-billions-afghanistan

Gee, wonder where it went? Karzai would have to be dumb as a rock not to have a nice Villa ready in a decent climate, with lots of funds squirreled away someplace safe, to retreat to as we withdraw. No question the Taliban will have him shot, at best. Make it a double feature with stoning a teen rape victim for Allah. ~Bob.

Beijing develops pulse weapons-- Blasts thwart all electronic​s

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/21/beijing-develops-radiation-weapons/

Excerpt: China's military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday. Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China's so-called "assassin's mace" arsenal - weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces. EMP weapons mimic the gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast that knocks out all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas. The phenomenon was discovered in 1962 after an aboveground nuclear test in the Pacific disabled electronics in Hawaii. The declassified intelligence report, obtained by the private National Security Archive, provides details on China's EMP weapons and plans for their use. Annual Pentagon reports on China's military in the past made only passing references to the arms. "For use against Taiwan, China could detonate at a much lower altitude (30 to 40 kilometers) ... to confine the EMP effects to Taiwan and its immediate vicinity and minimize damage to electronics on the mainland," the report said.

The blame game is the whole point

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_blame_game_is_the_whole_point_hTCKmLs08Neyrv9sMkS2yK#ixzz1SpjPIF2O

Excerpt: Confused by the manic, frantic activity going on inside the Beltway as the days dwindle down to Aug. 2 -- the supposed drop-dead date for an increase in America's $14.3 trillion national-debt limit? Don't be. Last-minute, hair-on-fire, blame-game politics is what this is really all about. President Obama's cavalier spending has included the failed $800 billion stimulus program and the looming fiscal catastrophe of ObamaCare. His laughable February budget would have added more deficit spending, and he has yet to put a debt-reduction plan on the table. Instead, he's issued a series of contradictory ultimatums about what sort of debt-limit bill he'd accept -- all the while savaging the Republicans with appeals to envy and resentment. Meanwhile, lawmakers are careening around the halls of Congress like circus clowns in bumper cars, tossing plan after plan against the Capitol walls and hoping something will stick. … Not to worry: On Aug. 3, the day after America supposedly goes broke, the president flies to Chicago for a couple of 50th-birthday fund-raisers -- at up to $38,500 a pop. Then it's off to Martha's Vineyard, where the first family will spend a week or so on yet another vacation, at the 28-acre Blue Heron Farm, which comes complete with its own basketball court, pool and boathouse. For at least one American family, times have never been so good. Too bad the rest of us can't say the same

Ignoring a menace

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/ignoring_menace_l1IvLbM5GhVtAgPMR2mG2J#ixzz1SpiCWYMy

Excerpt: The more menacing North Korea becomes, the smaller its blip appears on our policy radar. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the foreign ministers at the Association of Southeastern Asian Nations' annual summit in Bali, Indonesia, this weekend will barely touch on the problem. To be fair, Washington's not the only one to back-burner North Korea. Japan is still recovering from an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear crisis --and suffers from a chronic leadership deficit. When South Korea talks to us, it's mostly interested in a (much too delayed) free-trade treaty. But the Obama administration, whose foreign policy seems guided by headlines more often than by America's true interests, needs to pay more attention to the North even if its immediate neighbors aren't.

The obvious response to this would be to outlaw the American flag

http://www.redstate.com/bs/2011/07/21/the-obvious-response-to-this-would-be-to-outlaw-the-american-flag/

Excerpt: Or at least that would be the response I would expect from the Left. Yesterday the journal Psychological Science published a paper (abstract here, original here*) that demonstrates: the mere sight of the American flag can subtly shift their political views… towards Republicanism. It’s an effect that holds in both Democrats and Republicans, it affects actual votes, and it lasts for at least 8 months. This is a fascinating finding in and of itself, but even more so considering the other recent study that showed that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day. So apparently, patriotism is a Republican thing. (Go ahead now, lefties, get all frothed up). (yet another great reason to fly the flag. ~Bob.)

If you see something silly, say something: Homeland Security video portrays all "terrorists" as white, middle class males

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/07/if-you-see-something-silly-say-something-homeland-security-training-video-portrays-all-terrorists-as.html

Excerpt: Don't they know stereotyping causes alienation, and alienation and poor self-esteem lead to radicalization? Now these poor men are going to have to deal with those additional radicalized Misunderstanders of Middle America and worry about backlash because of their portrayal in this video! And this is going to damage our standing with middle-class white guys abroad in nations that are our Friends and Allies, and create even more terrorists. Of course, the intention seems obvious. But by bending over so far backward to show they aren't singling out any other group, they appear to have created a study in absurdity.

North Korea and Iran increase collaboration on nuclear missile, report claims

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8653171/North-Korea-and-Iran-increase-collaboration-on-nuclear-missile-report-claims.html

Excerpt: According to a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), North Korea's weapons programmes are now benefiting from technology from Iran. Pyongyang also possesses technology that would enable Iran's uranium enrichment programme to increase its output. However concrete evidence that North Korea has supplied the Iranians with its superior equipment has not been uncovered by IISS.  The disclosure marks a disturbing escalation in the race for nuclear weapons technology by the two states which are seen to present the biggest threat to global security. (I’d stick my head in the sand, but it’s too crowded. ~Bob.)

British man and woman suspected of planning Taliban attack on UK troops arrested in Afghanistan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017136/British-man-woman-suspected-planning-Taliban-attack-UK-troops-arrested.html

Excerpt: UK forces have arrested a British man and woman in Afghanistan fearing they may have been planning an deadly attack on British troops in the country. The Pakistan-born pair were held at a hotel in the western city of Herat in a joint raid with Afghan intelligence service the National Directorate of Security.

Sharia, polygamy and wife-beating in Australia

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/07/sharia-polygamy-and-wife-beating-in-australia.html

Excerpt: Homemade Sharia courts are mushrooming all over the West. They are a direct attack on our rule, and everybody who is running and using them should be put in front of a judge and charged with sedition. Unfortunately, the police do far too little to find such people.

Israel won't apologize for Turkish flotilla deaths

http://news.yahoo.com/israel-wont-apologize-turkish-flotilla-deaths-115743342.html

Excerpt: Israel will not apologize for killing nine Turkish activists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla last year, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Thursday, but he added that not all in government agree with this stance. … While the sea blockade remains enforced, the Israeli official said weapons from Libya are making their way into Gaza through Egypt's Sinai desert. (from who in Libya? The Brave Freedom Fighters Obama & the press are supporting? ~Bob.)

New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/07/raymond-ibrahim-new-saudi-fatwa-defends-pedophilia-as-marriage.html

Expect this to be greeted by outraged silence from western feminists. ~Bob. Excerpt: Muslim “child-marriage” — euphemism for pedophilia — is making headlines again, at least in Arabic media: Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, just issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.” Appearing in Saudi papers on July 13, the fatwa complains that “Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists is on the increase, posing dire consequences to society, including their interference with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry.” Fawzan insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam’s role model, married Aisha when she was 6 years old, “consummating” the marriage — or, in modern parlance, raping her — when she was 9. The point of the Saudi fatwa, however, is not that girls as young as 9 can have sex, based on Muhammad’s example, but rather that there is no age limit whatsoever; the only question open to consideration is whether the girl is physically capable of handling her husband/rapist.

Fatal shootings of police officers are on the rise

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-20-police-shooting-deaths-gunfire-ambushes-budget-cuts_n.htm

Excerpt: Police officer deaths, including those fatally shot in the line of duty, are on pace to rise for the second straight year, despite a sustained decline in violent crime across the country. Officer deaths continue to rise as violent crimes simmer nationwide. Overall officer deaths are up 14% so far in 2011, while deadly shootings have increased by 33%, according to a midyear report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks law enforcement fatalities. (Signs of a collapse? ~Bob.)

The Half-Trillion Plan: The House should dare the president to veto this eminently reasonable proposal.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272463/half-trillion-plan-charles-krauthammer

Excerpt:

The debt ceiling looms. Confusion reigns. Schemes abound. We are deep in a hole with, as of now, only three ways out: the McConnell plan, the G6 plan, and the Half-Trillion plan. The McConnell essentially punts the issue till after Election Day 2012. A good last resort if nothing else works. The G6, proposed by the bipartisan Gang of Six senators, reduces ten-year debt by roughly $4 trillion. It has some advantages, even larger flaws. The Half-Trillion raises the debt ceiling by that amount in return for an equal amount of spending cuts. At the current obscene rate of deficit spending — about $100 billion a month — it yields about five months respite before the debt ceiling is reached again.

Obama, Holder Busted in Gunwalker Cover-up

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45021

Excerpt: Kenneth Melson was supposed to be the fall guy, the sacrificial lamb, the guy thrown under the bus to protect President Obama. Melson was "expected" to resign. He refused. Instead, Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has turned whistle-blower and all hell is about to explode over the operation dubbed by Obama's Justice Department "Fast and Furious" but now known as the Gunwalker scandal. It looks like the Obama regime financed (partly with "stimulus" funds) an $80 million program to allow straw buyers to purchase hundreds of weapons from federally licensed gun shops in Southwest states, over the objection of the shop owners, and then allowed these weapons to "walk" across the Mexican border into the waiting arms of the murderous Mexican drug cartels.

While Threatening to Go to 3 Days of Delivery a Week, Postal Union Up in Arms Over Pensions

http://conservativebyte.com/2011/07/while-threatening-to-go-to-3-days-of-delivery-a-week-postal-union-up-in-arms-over-pensions/

Excerpt: The Postmaster General is warning that a postal budget crisis could cause mail delivery to be consolidated to just three days a week. Meanwhile, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is trying to convince lawmakers—and taxpayers—to keep all its union jobs. The APWU’s new radio ad airing in Washington, D.C., says the pounds of mail handled by workers don’t cost you “a single cent.” “The United States Postal Service doesn’t run on your tax dollars. It’s funded solely by stamps and postage,” the 30-second ad says. That’s technically true (unless you count the legally enforced monopoly on first-class mail as a subsidy). Unless some real reforms are made in how the USPS operates, however, that will change. The USPS owes $5.5 billion—due September 30—to future retirees’ health benefits, which the Postmaster General says it can’t pay. Its continuous hemorrhaging of money is creating the looming specter of a postal bailout.

Let's blame the Jews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIesXORjBps

This guy is Britain is good. ~Bob.