Old Jarhead Blog Removed?
Twice in the last two weeks, both times on Saturdays, when readers logged on to my blog at http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/, they got a "blog removed" message with no explanation. Both times I logged on to Blogspot and posted a query and the blog returned in a few hours. They say they have a system for auto removing Spam blogs, but mine has zero advertising, except my books, I kill Spam posts, and it has been up since 2008. I don't know if it is a blogspot glitch, like the way they sometimes change scheduled posts to drafts, or an attack. It is costing me readers--weekly page views dropped in that time from over 4k to about 3k. If you get that message, please try again later.
And summer dwindles down. Sigh.
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.
Best older posts for new blog readers
Response on Dennis Miller Interview
Good morning, Bob. I was able to listen to your interview with Dennis Miller and called the show right after you were on. I let him know I was gracious enough to let you stay in my bunker at Khe Sanh. I was hoping he would allow calls while you were on, but... anyway, I enjoyed the interview. –Larry.
Want a copy of the Dennis Miller interview?
They sent me an MP3 recording of the show. If you want it, post a comment with your e-address. ~Bob.
If readers have local talk shows that might interview me by phone about Collapse, please give them my contact info. Thanks ~Bob.
An Unusual Economy? By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Many in the media are saying how unusual it is for our economy to be so sluggish for so long, after we have officially emerged from a recession. In a sense, they are right. But, in another sense, they are profoundly wrong. The American economy usually rebounds a lot faster than it is doing today. After a recession passes, consumers usually increase their spending. And when businesses see demand picking up, they usually start hiring workers to produce the additional output required to meet that demand. Some very sharp downturns in the American economy, such as in the early 1920s, were followed quickly by bouncing back to normal levels or beyond. The government did nothing -- and it worked. In that sense, this is an unusual recovery in how long it is taking and in how slowly the economy is growing -- while the government is doing virtually everything imaginable. Government intervention may look good to the media but its actual track record -- both today and in the 1930s -- is far worse than the track record of letting the economy recover on its own.
A number of states have recently passed voter-ID legislation — among them, Texas , Alabama , Kansas , South Carolina , Tennessee , Wisconsin , and Rhode Island
Excerpt: A well-respected California
Will Congressman Eliot Ness Please Stand Up?
Excerpt: Of all the things this administration has done, the best option for having Obama removed through impeachment and conviction is Operation Fast and Furious. It is a scandal that has been percolating just beneath the surface for months now and it involves the ATF allowing weapons to ‘walk’ into Mexico
LAPD chief: Wilmington
Excerpt: The Thursday night attack on a police officer in the Wilmington L.A.
June Decision Turns Skid Row Sidewalks Into a Health Hazard
Excerpt: On June 23, U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez issued a ruling in a case involving a lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of homeless individuals. Two months later, the impact of his decision is clear: Skid Row sidewalks have been legally converted into scenes we'd imagine in some third world country, not blocks from our own City Hall. LAPD and Department of Public Works crews are now prohibited from removing abandoned items from Skid Row sidewalks. Attorneys for eight plaintiffs successfully argued that items such as medicines, clothing and personal papers were confiscated and destroyed after the individuals left them unattended for mere minutes while showering at a mission or using a public bathroom. It's difficult to imagine police actually having so little to do as to lie in wait to take items left for a few moments on a sidewalk, but the ruling has been made. It's the consequence of that ruling that neither the attorneys nor Gutierrez have to live with. We do. Right now, portions of sidewalks along
Sixth Street
,
San Julian Street
and elsewhere in Skid Row are impassable due to filthy mattresses, moldy food and items covered in urine, feces, flies and even maggots. The vulnerable physically and mentally ill, many of whom are unable to care for themselves, much less the possessions they hoard as means of protection or trade, have interpreted the ruling to mean the use of the public sidewalks for the personal storage of these items is now lawful. (Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst, Are full of passionate intensity. … And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem
It's widely asserted that Los Angeles
Excerpt: In the ever-divisive debate over the proper role of local police in enforcing federal immigration law, there is a recurrent theme, especially as it involves Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles Los Angeles
Obama Sending Hundreds of Millions To Rebuild Foreign Mosques!!
Excerpt: Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli Libya before the fall of (Moamer) Kadhafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi Iran Iran "congratulated the Muslim people of Libya " after rebels overran the capital Tripoli
Rep. Elton Gallegly’s letter to Obama
On illegal immigration.
Doctor shortage threatens U.S. and Ohio
Excerpt: Dr. Atul Grover, chief advocacy officer of the medical colleges association, pointed to several reasons for the current and anticipated problem: There has been a cap on slots in medical schools and residency training programs for the last 34 years as the U.S. Ohio
Labor Dept. Signs 'Partnerships' with Foreign Gov’s to Protect Illegals in U.S.
Excerpt: U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today signed "partnership" agreements with ambassadors from a group of Latin American nations aiming to protect what she described as the labor rights of both legal and illegal migrants working in the United States Washington D.C. , Solis said the agreements are aimed at educating migrant workers, regardless of how they got here, about their rights under U.S.
Disaster aid account faces shortfall as costs of hurricane devastation rise
This is Bush’s fault for allow Katrina to hit New Orleans Pakistan , aid Hamas to rocket Israel Missouri and Alabama
Meanwhile, the troops in Afghanistan
From Morning Jolt by Jim Garaghty
Worth subscribing to this free e-newsletter. ~Bob. Excerpt: But if Barack Obama had the wind in his face for the first 20 or so years of his life, he had the wind at his back the moment he entered politics. He and his guys ensured he would win his first state-senate race by challenging signatures and getting all his rivals tossed off the ballot. His quixotic, failed bid to unseat a longtime U.S. House member did no serious damage to his career, and he faced no serious primary challenge afterward, despite a state-senate record that was nothing all that special. He represented a part of the state where the Republican party existed only in theory. When he decided to run for Senate, the Chicago Tribune dug into the divorce records of his top Democratic rival and then his top Republican rival -- a sudden burst of groundbreaking investigative journalism that never extended to, say, Obama's college transcripts. Jack Ryan's implosion was so spectacular that Obama roared to victory against tomato can Alan Keyes, meaning he entered the U.S. Senate without so much as a genuine attack ad run against him. Then he faced the challenge of appealing to Democratic hopes and dreams more than Hillary Clinton did -- and then running against John McCain as the economy imploded. Moreover, despite his meteoric rise, Obama seemed to be awfully lacking in the categories of hard-won legislative accomplishments, ingenious compromises, crafty deal-making, anything resembling executive leadership, or suffering the consequences of telling his allies things they didn't want to hear.
Is Rick Perry dumb?
He must be a solid candidate—the liberal smears machine is in full cry. I’m not sold on Perry; I have problems with some of his positions. But until Barack Obama can fly a C-130, create jobs at the rate Texas
Worth Reading
Excerpt: But on the individual cases, Perry vs. Obama, there is a better case to be made that Obama has benefited from luck, from others’ guilt, from social promotion, and from his instinct to conceal what he really thinks, than Rick Perry has. Perry learned to fly military aircraft, has built an impressive undefeated election record in bona fide contests, and led Texas Chicago Eureka College
Who’s the Dummy?
Excerpt: Joe Biden may look like Jeff Dunham’s ventriloquist dummy, Walter, but I think even Walter makes a lot more sense. Honest to God, I have no idea how Joe Biden got to be Vice President. I remember when he ran for President in 1988 but backed out soon after a report surfaced that he, uh, how should I say, borrowed some words from others without giving them credit. It was a different world back then. Fast forward twenty years and it’s still a mystery how Barack Obama selected him as his running mate when, early on in the 2008 Presidential race, Biden said about Obama, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Mugshot: Obama's Uncle Omar in jail
Court upholds 'citizen's right' to film cops
Arresting someone for filming the police is a constitutional violation, the Massachusetts Massachusetts Boston Illinois
Excerpt: The war in Libya Libya
‘I’ve Got…Islamophobia!’
Excerpt: I stared stoically forward. “I hear air raid sirens, and I think…they’re shooting at me. Rockets.” I added, “I hear…booms.” Finally he spoke, slow, patient, and kind: “Who is shooting at you?” I sunk my face in my hands again; raked it with my fingers. “Who? Well…Muslims.” Again his slow, gentle voice: “From where are they shooting?” I removed my hands from my face, gazed forward like a grade-school kid who’s been asked a tough question in front of the whole class. “From Gaza
Krugman Fails Climate Science 101
Excerpt: Krugman’s central thesis is that theory that mankind is causing catastrophic climate change has to be true, because “97 to 98 per cent of scientists” agree that it’s true. You’ll see the “97 to 98 per cent” number appearing quite often now. It’s become a key talking point of the alarmist crowd, as they struggle to regain relevance in a world that has a harder and harder time taking them seriously. But where does that amazing number come from? It arises from a 2009 survey that two University of Illinois
What Drives Gas Prices: Cartels, Speculators, or Supply and Demand?
Excerpt: Once again, high gasoline prices are in the news. As of this writing, the national average gasoline price per gallon is hovering around $3.50.[1] The public is unhappy with these high gas prices, and politicians are scrambling to find ways to reduce the pain--or, failing that, to publicly shoot the messenger by investigating, penalizing, or punitively taxing oil companies. This Outlook explores the true causes of oil price fluctuation and explains how policymakers can help lower gasoline prices. Key points in this Outlook: High gas prices are inducing consumers to tighten their belts and politicians to call for taxes on oil companies. About 85 percent of oil price hikes are due to supply and demand, and the remaining 15 percent is likely attributable to environment-conscious regulations. To help lower gas prices and promote domestic employment and trade benefits in the future, policymakers should facilitate drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and lift boutique-fuel requirements.
Low Standards for Education Majors
Excerpt: American schools of education have often been spotlighted as the weak link between K-12 schooling and college preparedness. In his recent paper, "Grade Inflation for Education Majors and Low Standards for Teachers: When Everyone Makes the Grade," University of Missouri economics professor Cory Koedel shows that education school courses typically have very low grading standards. In many courses, A grades are heavily predominant; in some, every student gets an A, says George Leef, director of research for the John William Pope Center Japan , a country that regularly outpaces the United States America School of Ed
Housing Market Outrage
We bought our condo in 2009 for $160k. They were selling for $250k in 2007. Now selling for $130k. We have to pay extra to stay above water. When government interferes in the market, this is the result. ~Bob. Excerpt: There is little question that the root of our current economic problems is the housing market crash. The severity of the problem is daunting: at the end of 2010, 23.1 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage were “underwater,” meaning that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth. That “negative equity” totals $750 billion. Moreover, the housing market is largely frozen, due in large part to the fact that banks attempting to foreclose on delinquent homeowners cannot produce titles for said properties. They were “bundled” to sell on Wall Street, and the “paper trail” determining who actually owns the deed to a given property has been obliterated. This reality produces an extremely troubling question: how much moral hazard are Americans willing to accept to get the housing market functioning again? With to respect that market, moral hazard has been an all-encompassing affliction. Lending institutions were more than happy to grant mortgages to borrowers manifestly ill-equipped to pay them back. Borrowers were more than happy to sign on the dotted line and take the money, even as they ignored the implicit contractual obligations. Government was happy to pressure lending institutions to make sub-prime loans to unqualified applicants, often with ridiculous terms attached, such as no money down.
Public Pension Promises: How Big Are They and What Are They Worth?
Another part of the looming fiscal collapse. ~Bob. Excerpt: We calculate the present value of state employee pension liabilities using discount rates that reflect the risk of the payments from a taxpayer perspective. If benefits have the same default and recovery characteristics as state general obligation debt, the national total of promised liabilities based on current salary and service is $3.20 trillion. If pensions have higher priority than state debt, the value of liabilities is much larger. Using zero-coupon Treasury yields, which are default-free but contain other priced risks, promised liabilities are $4.43 trillion. Liabilities are even larger under broader concepts that account for salary growth and future service.
Excerpt: But there is a very simple reason that this is viewed as more of a campaign effort. Boasting bulletproof windows, five inch thick doors, and its own oxygen supply, the President has made the rounds for these speeches in a multi-million dollar bus, dubbed “The Beast” by its critics. There’s been no shortage of opinions from people and pundits on this bus and how having the President tour around the midwest in a caravan of cars and seated on a tour bus sends the message that he is on the campaign trail and using taxpayer dollars to do it. It appears however, that this might not be the case. According to some sources he hasn’t really been riding these buses much at all. They say, he’s been flying them. Apparently President Obama only rode the buses for a couple of miles at a time, spending the rest of the time flying from community to community in Air Force One. What’s more, the buses were flown from stop to stop as well. It’s normal practice for the President’s entire motorcade to be loaded up on cargo planes and flown from destination to destination. The buses were just a new part of that motorcade. But why wouldn’t the presidential limousine have sufficed? Or one of the other armored vehicles that routinely travel with the President? Apparently because the President wanted the imagery of a bus. And buses are what he got
Muslim extremists against movie that promotes tolerance and dialogue
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Muslim-extremists-against-movie-that-promotes-tolerance-and-dialogue-22487.html
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Muslim-extremists-against-movie-that-promotes-tolerance-and-dialogue-22487.html
Tolerance is un-Islamic? Are these people Islamophobic? ~Bob. Excerpt: The Islamic Defender Front (FPI), an extremist Muslim organisation, is promoting a protest campaign against SCTV, a Jakarta-based private TV station, for scheduling “?”, a movie deemed offensive to Muslims that was directed by a young talented filmmaker, Hanung Bramantyo. Even though, the movie tells a story about tolerance and respect between Indonesia’s various religious groups, the FPI and other Islamist groups say it “pollutes the morality” of Indonesian Muslims. Jakarta FPI leader Habib Salim Alatas warned the SCTV management that thousands of Muslims would join to demonstrate in front of the TV station should it broadcast the movie Monday night.
Senior Official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad: If We Come to Power, We will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquests to Instate Shari'a Worldwide: 'The Christian is Free to Worship His God in His Church, but if the Christians Make Problems for the Muslims, I Will Exterminate Them'
Excerpt: On August 13, 2011, the Egyptian daily Roz Al-Yousef published an interview[1] with Sheikh 'Adel Shehato, a senior official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), who, on March 23, 2011, was freed from prison in the wake of the Egyptian revolution. He was imprisoned in 1991 upon returning from a three-year sojourn in Afghanistan
Gaza-Based Salafi Group Launched Rockets at Israel
Excerpt: A radical Salafi Islamist group affiliated with the international Al Qaeda terrorist organization has taken responsibility for launching Sunday morning's Grad rocket attack at southern Israel Gaza in the past several years, with thousands of Hamas members switching sides to join the more radical Islamic factions, all of which are linked to Al Qaeda and many of which operate in Judea and Samaria as well.
International Space Station May Be Evacuated By Late November, NASA Says
Excerpt: Astronauts may need to temporarily abandon the International Space Station this fall if last week's Russian launch accident prevents new crews from flying, a NASA official said Monday. If Russia's essential Soyuz rockets remain grounded beyond mid-November, there will be no way to launch any more astronauts before the current residents are supposed to leave, said NASA's space station program manager, Mike Suffredini. A space station supply ship was destroyed last week following liftoff from Kazakhstan
Interesting: China
Excerpt: For any Westerner observer struggling to understand Chinese military developments -- and let's be serious, that's most of us -- Andrew Erickson is an indispensable resource. A professor at the Naval War College Beijing
National Park Service to Marines: Don't Shine That Brass
Excerpt: The National Park Service has renewed its war against active duty troops who have the brass to polish the brass plate at the base of the flagpole at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I first reported on the anti-brass shining stance of the National Park Service after Memorial Day 2009. I followed up with another post two days later, which said the Vietnam Memorial Fund planned to refinish the base, which sports the emblems of all four services plus the Coast Guard, with a coating approved by the Park Service. The new finish was installed in 2009, but the Park Service still has a dim view of any shine-on efforts, based on the experience of Marine Sgt. Andrew Piskator this past weekend. Piskator, who has served one tour in Iraq and is now stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia
Why Mitt Romney needs Sarah Palin
Excerpt: While much of the political world is past the “will she or won’t she” debate about Palin and the 2012 race, there’s one candidate who should be rooting hard for the 2008 vice presidential nominee to run. And his name is Mitt Romney. Up until the last few weeks, the former Massachusetts
George Will: Obama Blames Everyone But James Madison for Economic Problems
So-called black “leaders” have handicapped blacks by teaching them that anything bad in their lives is someone else’s fault. ~Bob.
'Exterminate Christians, close pyramids, Sphinx': Rising leader in Egypt
Excerpt: A rising leader in the radical Islamic movement in Egypt that has become a major political player since the demise of Hosni Mubarak's regime says Christian churches may need to be blown up and Christians exterminated to allow the advance of Islamic law, or Shariah. The comments come from Sheik 'Adel Shehato, a senior leader with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. The sheik was jailed in 1991 because of his positions but was released earlier this year in the revolution that removed Mubarak from power. (Don’t know how serious a “rising leader” this guy is, but the Arab Spring may not work out as the Pollyanna types in the media think. ~Bob.)
ATF head removed by DoJ after 'fast and furious' controversy
Tallyho! The scapegoat has been spotted. Release the hounds. ~Bob. Excerpt: The head of the ATF has been removed after months of speculation about his role in a botched gun tracking operation that may have contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Kenneth Melson was being replaced. Melson is being transferred to the Office of Legal Policy, where he will be a senior advisor. U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Todd Jones will take over as acting ATF director, according to the Department of Justice.
Fast and Furious
Gets more curious. ~Bob. Excerpt: In Phoenix Phoenix , three out of the four whistleblowers involved in the case have been reassigned to new positions outside Arizona Florida , one to South Carolina
Excerpt: A study in this month’s New England Journal of Medicine provides the most comprehensive analysis of the risk of liability claims by medical specialty in more than two decades, and reinforces the need to put an immediate end to medical lawsuit abuse. The study reports that in any given year, an average of 7.4 percent of doctors are faced with medical liability lawsuits, but nearly 80 percent of those claims result in no payment at all by the defendant. The likelihood of being faced with a medical liability lawsuit did not necessarily correlate to payment by a physician – further proof that the system is broken and does not serve the needs of patients. Neurosurgeons were the most likely to be targeted by personal injury lawyers, with over 19 percent of all neurosurgeons facing a medical liability lawsuit each year. However, they were less likely to be found negligent, and ranked 4th behind other surgical specialties in payments made to claimants.
Doctor Gone Missing? Check Texas
Second story down. ~Bob. Excerpt: If you live in New York and suddenly your doctor is nowhere to be found, you may want to send a search party down to Texas Texas passed comprehensive medical liability reform, 1,271 physicians from New York
A Plea to Generation Vexed: Overcome the Desperation of Non-Deprivation
Excerpt: The Los Angeles Times has coined a new term for the generation presently aged 18 to 29: “Generation Vexed.” The term captures all the economic anxiety, the future-related frustrations, the delicate disgust with disappointed expectations of those who grew up accustomed to comfort, but came of age in the midst of a financial crisis. The label soberly cloaks what was formerly the “Self-Esteem Generation,” that group of supremely self-satisfied youngsters who were taught to regard themselves highly, regardless of whether they had done anything to deserve high regard; who classified themselves always and irrelevantly as “winners”; who assumed any completed assignment at all was worthy of an “A.”
US White House’s 9/11 Anniversary Guidelines Ask Officials to ‘Minimize References to Al Qaeda’
Excerpt: The leftist/Islamic machine is in full throttle now with the White House is strong arming officials to omit who and why we were attacked. The White House has issued guidelines detailing what the White House has deemed the important themes that must be discussed, as well as the tone the 9/11 observances should take. …the document states that officials should “minimize references to Al Qaeda.” Within the text, Osama bin Laden’s death is the reason given for this request. In what could be interpreted as somewhat of a political call to arms, the guidelines tell officials to place emphasis on the fact that “Al Qaeda and its adherents have become increasingly irrelevant.” If this is not surrender, what is?
Greek Bailout Talks Face Hurdles
You may not live in Europe , but when the EU spins apart, your IRA is likely to suffer collateral damage. ~Bob. Excerpt: Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Tuesday a dispute over Finland's demand for collateral to participate in Greece's €109 billion ($158.17 billion) bailout won't be resolved before a finance ministers' meeting next month. Meanwhile, Germany
Excerpt: Why should Finland provide any more money to Greece Greece Europe (and elsewhere.) Yet this sort of deception is well-recognized in the corporate space as actionable conduct - so why isn't it at this level? Ultimately the problem is that currency unions don't work well without some sort of enforcement mechanism, and that enforcement mechanism is problematic when you have nations with disparate economic fortunes. The premise that opening the door to trade benefits everyone and thus currency union is a good thing because it obviates exchange-rate differences and potential tariff problems is a chimera - some nations will inevitably be bled of capital if there are differences in productivity, social spending and economic health between the members. Bereft of the adjustment that normally takes places when one has floating currencies in the presence of these capital flows the incentive to cheat becomes strong, as the alternative is an admission that what you did originally wasn't workable.
Old Blighted
Excerpt: I quote a little bit of Anthony Burgess in my book. Burgess isn’t as famous a name in the futuristic-dystopia biz as Orwell or Huxley, but he was remarkably prophetic and in a rather lightly worn way. His most famous novel is A Clockwork Orange, thanks to the Stanley Kubrick movie. At one point in the book, the precocious psychopathic teen narrator offers his dad some (stolen) money so his parents can enjoy a drink down the pub. “Thanks, son,” says his father. “But we don’t go out much now. We daren’t go out much now, the streets being what they are. Young hooligans and so on. Still, thanks.” Burgess published his book in 1962, an era when working-class Britons lived in cramped row houses on dingy streets that were nevertheless some of the most tranquil on the planet. Their residents kept pigeons and tended vegetable allotments. The idea that the old and not so old would not go out, “the streets being what they are,” “young hooligans and so on,” was not just the stuff of fiction but of utterly transformative fantastic fiction. But it happened in little more than a generation. The men on our TV screens rampaging through the streets were born three decades after Burgess’s novel, yet he had their measure. There is no great “cause,” despite the best efforts of leftie commentators to kit them out with one. They are the children of dependency, the product of what Sir William Beveridge, the father of the British welfare state, called a world without want. And certainly these ski-masked bandits do not want. … My book’s thesis is stated upfront: It starts with the money, but it never stops there—in part because it’s never really about the money. What’s worse than debauching your finances? Debauching your human capital. As London
WikiLeaks Leaves Names of Diplomatic Sources in Cables
Excerpt: In a shift of tactics that has alarmed American officials, the antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks has published on the Web nearly 134,000 leaked diplomatic cables in recent days, more than six times the total disclosed publicly since the posting of the leaked State Department documents began last November. A sampling of the documents showed that the newly published cables included the names of some people who had spoken confidentially to American diplomats and whose identities were marked in the cables with the warning “strictly protect.” State Department officials and human rights activists have been concerned that such diplomatic sources, including activists, journalists and academics in authoritarian countries, could face reprisals, including dismissal from their jobs, prosecution or violence. (And, NYT thinks “not printing the names” after telling where on the web to find them leaves NYT with clean hands. I think if a few dozen revealees got together, they could hire lawyers as a class and end up owning NYT. Assuming they don’t just burn it down first. WikiLeaks needs to be dealt with harshly by some alphabet agency. Ron P.)
America’s Secret Libya War
Excerpt: Officially, President Obama handed the lead role of ousting Muammar Gaddafi to the European members of NATO. For this he was criticized by Washington U.S. military played an indispensable role in the Libya Brussels , the U.S. was intimately involved in all decisions about how the Libyan rebels should be supported as they rolled up control of cities and oil refineries and marched toward the capital, Tripoli Libya campaign was a unique international effort: 15 European nations working with the U.S. U.S. and Canada U.S. U.S.
Four Lions Trailer-UK Television to Screen Controversial “Comedy” on Suicide Bombers for Anniversary of 9-11
Excerpt: A controversial film about Muslim suicide bombers is to be screened as part of a season of programmes to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 on Channel 4. It will show Four Lions by comedian Chris Morris days before memorials take place for the terrorist outrages in New York
The Underreporting of Crime is Epidemic
The underreporting of crime in our country has become an epidemic that threatens our Republic with increased violence and urban anarchy. The lack of accurate data about crime in our communities results in more risk to citizens and law enforcement personnel. If towns and cities don’t report crime data accurately, state and federal statistics won’t be accurate and planning and resource allocation cannot be effectively deployed to combat the criminals in our society. It is a bottom-up process. The F.B.I. Uniform Crime Reports are only as accurate as the information they receive, or don’t receive, from local jurisdictions. Underreporting of crime has always existed. Typically 25-30 percent of crimes are not reported to police at all. (I don't know if this has crept into the Calif. Highway Patrol repertoire, but cities and counties were participating in this since the early 90's. CHP officers referred to this as "Kissing it off", i.e., not taking the time, expending the effort65 to write a report, and convincing the crime victim that a report would not solve anything. I knew of an officer who was FIRED for not taking a Hit & Run report, even though there was not enough to locate the offender or prosecute. –DH)
A Vineyard Too Far: People who rail against “fat cats” shouldn’t vacation with them.
Excerpt: The president’s latest Martha’s Vineyard vacation was a public-relations disaster, wholly unnecessary, and in part responsible for Obama’s most recent slide in the polls. Part of the problem was purely coincidental and no one’s fault: Who could have expected that while the president of the United States was resting on an exclusive private beach on a tony island on a calm August day, millions of Eastern Seaboarders around him would be engaged in a media-driven frenzy of emergency preparation and evacuation? Yet most of the negative perception was the president’s own doing. For nearly three years, there has been something strange about the First Family’s ritzy getaway tastes. The annual Martha’s Vineyard rentals were bookended by First Family junkets to Vail, Costa del Sol, and Hawaii. The choice of venues spawned at least three problems for the president that have nothing to do with the First Family’s right, and indeed duty, to enjoy a little well-earned vacation time — or with the fact that other presidents have vacationed in nice places. First, Obama’s fiery rhetoric (“fat-cat bankers,” “corporate jets,” “millionaires and billionaires,” “redistributive change,” “at a certain point you’ve made enough money,” etc.) has demonized the better off. … Again, in our upside-down world of race, a Clarence Thomas or a Condoleezza Rice, who grew up amid the authentic African-American struggle against Jim Crow, could never quite be as legitimately “black” as was Barack Obama (preppie, half-white/half-Kenyan), simply because liberal identity politics offers instant superficial authentication in a way real life cannot.
Father slit throats of three daughters in 'honour killing' after they were raped by Gaddafi's troops
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2031710/Libya-Father-slit-throats-girls-raped-Gaddafis-men.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2031710/Libya-Father-slit-throats-girls-raped-Gaddafis-men.html
Cutting your child’s throat isn’t just a good idea—it’s the Shari’a Law! Who is the bigger monster here, the rapist or the father? ~Bob. Excerpt: A Libyan father killed his three daughters after they were raped by Gaddafi's troops to lift the shame on his family, a human rights group said today. The girls, aged 15, 17 and 18 were allegedly assaulted by soldiers at a school in the town of Tomina , near the war-shattered city of Misrata
Posts
Will you be making your book available on Kindle?
ReplyDeletewww.smashwords.com has e-book versions. ~Bob
ReplyDelete