Saturday, March 31, 2012

Political Digest for April 1, 2012

The Old Jarhead Blog. Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

Happy Progressives Day!

New Book: Share the Cup: Poetry of Love and Life by Robert A. Hall $8.99.
All author royalties are donated to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. (The PFF gets a larger royalty when you order direct from CreateSpace.) Cover blurb: Share the Cup is a collection of traditional, structured poetry, including many in the sonnet form, written over a period of almost 50 years. A companion book, Old Jarhead Poems: The Heart of a Marine was published in 2011 and was awarded the 2012 Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s Robert A. Gannon writing award for poetry. Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran, a former five-term member of the Massachusetts State Senate and, since 1982 a successful non-profit executive. He has been widely published on political and management topics, plus a sprinkling of short fiction and poetry. This is his seventh book. In 2006, he was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, an eventually-terminal lung disease that kills as many people each year as breast cancer, which now requires him to use oxygen. However, at the time of publication, he was still working full time.

Collapse response
Thank you for sending the PDF of your book. It was very sobering and direct. I can only hope to try to read some of the book references in the back of the book. I will try to forward it on to friends and family to get them prepared for the coming collapse and the reasons for it. I believe it is only a matter when not if. May God bless you for your service to this country, your writing of this book and what you are doing with the profits. I hope to get to Amazon to write a review. Many thanks again. Sincerely, --Stephen

China arrests over coup rumours
Excerpt: Chinese police have arrested six people and shut 16 websites after rumours were spread that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing, officials say.The web posts were picked up last week by media outlets around the world, amid uncertainty caused by the ouster of top political leader Bo Xilai.

SCOTUS Momentus
Excerpt: Years ago I made the point that if you walk through the Capitol building right across the street, you will often see signs outside hearing rooms that say, "Quiet, Please." In the Supreme Court (at least back in the day) there was a sign just outside the Chamber which read, "Silence." That, I mentioned at the time, is all you need to know about how people who have to stand for re-election act toward the public and how people who are appointed for life act.

You are Invited to Occupy the Job-Killing, Wealth-Robbing EPA Mafia
Excerpt: Underpinning the confidence game is deceptive science that manufactures evidence of climate change/global warming by pointing out people's natural curiosity about natural weather events. A New York Times story that ran in the Environment section on March 28, 2012 is a textbook example of all that is wrong with the supposed “scientific” method liberals are employing to bolster climate change arguments. It’s not so much that they argue for bad science, but that they argue for no science by postulating only theories that fall within their preconceived notions that every weather event can be tied to global climate change. And if it can’t, by God, it will be when we get through! (This sounds like it could be fun. Alas, it’s too long a commute for me. But, if they hold an event in Boston…. Ron P.)

Cardinal Dolan thought he heard Barack Obama pledge respect for the Catholic Church's rights of conscience. Then came the contraception coverage mandate. By James Taranto
Excerpt: The president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops is careful to show due respect for the president of the United States. "I was deeply honored that he would call me and discuss these things with me," says the newly elevated Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York. But when Archbishop Dolan tells me his account of their discussions of the ObamaCare birth-control mandate, Barack Obama sounds imperious and deceitful to me.

A ‘Conservative’ con by Jonah Goldberg
Excerpt: The court, she explained, is presented with “a choice between a wrecking operation . . . or a salvage job. And the more conservative approach would be salvage rather than throwing out everything.” “Conservative” is a funny word. It can mean cautious in temperament — a man who wears belts and suspenders.

Worth Reading: Deaths that don’t count?--- Outrages without protests by Rich Lowry
Excerpt: Delric Miller IV died in a hail of bullets a month ago. When someone fired 37 AK-47 rounds into his Detroit home at 4:30 a.m., he was mortally wounded while dozing on the couch. He was 9 months old. No one made the multicolored teething ring he got for Christmas or his toy hammer into national symbols of random violence.

'Emergency​' gun restrictions struck down
Excerpt: A federal judge has struck down a North Carolina provision that authorizes a ban on firearms and ammunition outside homes during “a declared emergency,” determining that violates the Second Amendment. Word on the decision comes from Second Amendment Foundation, which has been taking on local and state restrictions ever since the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Americans, under the Constitution, have the right to keep and bear arms.

NRA Will Appeal Decision Denying Right-to-Carry Outside the Home
Excerpt: Late today, a federal district court in Illinois wrongly ruled that the Second Amendment does not protect a right to carry firearms for self-protection outside the home. The NRA funded this challenge to Illinois’ ban on citizens’ ability to carry firearms legally outside their homes and businesses for self-defense, and will also be supporting an immediate appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals—and to the Supreme Court if necessary. (Illinois in the news. Hope NRA wins this appeal; otherwise, other states could be targets by extremist judges! --GBH.)

Keith Olbermann is currently not working at Current TV
Excerpt: Starting tonight, he’s being replaced by…OMG, this is too good…Eliot Spitzer.

Current TV Dismisses Keith Olbermann By Brian Stelter
Excerpt: For nearly a year now, Al Gore and Joel Hyatt have been building their liberal cable news channel, Current TV, with the mercurial television anchorman Keith Olbermann at its center. This week, the center collapsed. Current said on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mr. Olbermann — one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers — just a year into his five-year, $50 million contract.

Exclusive: Secret Iran 'Terror' Squad Unmasked
Excerpt: Intelligence agencies are searching for members of a secret Iranian network of assassins under orders to attack Jewish, Israeli and Western targets in Turkey. According to intelligence sources, the organisation behind the attack is known as Unit 400, a secret part of the al Quds Brigade, which falls under the direct command of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader.

Muslims create Islamophobia when they try to honor a child killer. Where is the outrage? ~Bob.

The Left Misreads Popularity Of Limbaugh, Tea Party
Excerpt: The White House sicced its meanest attack dogs, Media Matters and MSNBC, on Rush Limbaugh. But they couldn't knock him off the air. Their advertising boycott has failed.

Mark Levin: If I had another son, I think he’d look like Brian Terry
Excerpt: Mark Levin wants to know what the standard is going forward for the president in commenting on crimes involving death. He wonders because he doesn’t believe that the parents of Brian Terry, the border patrol agent who was shot in the back by weapons this administration sold to the enemy, have received a phone call from the president.

IRS: No investigation into Haley or temple
If this happened to a Democrat minority, the media would banner headline “RACISM” for weeks. ~Bob.

Jasser's Appointment Riles Islamists
Excerpt: He has different views than most of the national Muslim advocacy groups featured in the media, and for that, Islamist groups have worked to keep Zuhdi Jasser from gaining traction in the national debate over religion and extremism. He has been smeared as an Uncle Tom, a clown and even a "sock puppet" for anti-Muslim forces. So when it was announced Monday that Jasser had been appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Islamists frothed with hyperbolic excess.

Excerpt: Barack Obama and Janet Napolitano just gave thousands of Syrian Muslims–all of them either sympathizers with Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood–permission to stay in the United States forever. Yup, even illegal alien Syrian Muslims. He granted all of them TPS–Temporary Protected Status, so they cannot be deported or even arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for being here illegally.

7 California boys arrested in attack on teen
Excerpt: Seven black teens have been arrested on suspicion that they committed a hate crime when they attacked a 15-year-old Hispanic boy while he was walking home from school in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. The March 14 beating in Palmdale was captured on video and posted on YouTube, but has since been removed from the site. The seven boys, ages 13 to 16, were arrested Wednesday for investigation of assault and committing a hate crime, Lt. Don Ford said.

In Canada, the penny's about to drop into history
Excerpt: They clutter your dresser and cost too much to make. They're a nuisance and have outlived their purpose. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was talking about the Canadian penny and why the Royal Canadian Mint will end its production this fall as part of his austerity budget. "The penny is a currency without any currency in Canada, and it costs us 1.5 cents to produce a penny," Flaherty told reporters. (I predict this will be bad news, though it may take a little while to show up. Notice the merchant quoted in the article was talking about rounding cash register totals, not individual item prices. Even if merchants don’t soon round prices to the nearest—which will always means “higher,” as they can’t afford to lose money—5 cents, the amounts consumers pay at the register MUST go up. Why? Sales and Value Added Taxes. Governments are NOT going to give up the taxes they already count on, and as soon as those one-cent “inconveniences” are scarce, most of those taxes will “evolve” very quickly into amounts divisible by 5. And, just as with the merchants, a 6.25% tax won’t go down to 5%, it’ll go UP to 10%. People would never stand for that, you say? From the early 70s until a few years ago, Massachusetts had a “5%” sales tax. But, the way it was applied was this: 0 to 9 cents paid no tax, 10 to 29 cents paid 1 cent, 30 to 49 cents paid 2 cents, 50 to 69 cents paid 3 cents, 70 to 89 cents paid 4 cents, and 90 cents through $1 paid the whole 5 cents. Notice that the sales tax on a dime’s worth of goods or services is 10%. And, that’s in deep blue Massachusetts, home of the original Tea Party, the land of “No taxation without representation!” It may be that the cent—like the half-cent, before it—has outlived its usefulness. If so, we’re going to have to watch our governments like we’d watch a known thief or they’ll steal us blind. Again. And, incidentally, the reason cents aren’t worth much is inflation, which is caused by printing currency with nothing to back it up (this is sometimes referred to as “Quantitative Easing.”). Ron P. Personally, I think we should do away with the penny and go to dollar coins. We didn't need 1/10th cent coins or ten cent bills in the 1950s, when the penny bought as much as a dime today, and the dollar bought as much as $10 today. ~Bob.)

Demonstrating once again his fundamental, profound, willful ignorance of America, history, freedom and the rise of tyranny in big government states like Nazi Germany and the USSR. This cannot be fixed, it must be replaced if freedom is to survive. ~Bob.

Justice Kagan breaks federal law in order to force ObamaCare on American people
Excerpt: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan will be in clear violation of federal law by virtue of her decision to hear the Affordable Care Act case coming before the Supreme Court today. Upon joining the other justices to hear oral arguments she will fracture the federal statute which DEMANDS that judges recuse themselves from participation in a case “where he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as council, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy.” (1) (Like the War Powers Act. Only applies to Republicans. ~Bob.)

How California​'s Colleges Indoctrinate Students by Peter Berkowitz
Excerpt: The politicization of higher education by activist professors and compliant university administrators deprives students of the opportunity to acquire knowledge and refine their minds. It also erodes the nation’s civic cohesion and its ability to preserve the institutions that undergird democracy in America. So argues “A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California,” a new report by the California Association of Scholars, a division of the National Association of Scholars (NAS).

How Stockton, California Went Broke in Plain Sight ....The new era of local government: Taxpayers can expect to pay more but get less. By Steven Malanga
Excerpt: The city's fiscal history "has eerie similarities to a Ponzi scheme," says Bob Deis, the city manager Stockton hired in 2010. Over the years, the city promised employees huge—and unfunded—salaries and benefits, so when trouble struck officials began cutting back on services such as police and fire protection, plus libraries and parks. (Just Illinois in miniature. Coming everywhere, as the bill for vote-buying comes due. ~Bob.)

14 shot, 2 dead in shooting outside funeral home near North Miami - North Miami / NMB - MiamiHerald.com
Black on black gang violence. Where are Messers Jackson & Sharpton on this story? --DH. Excerpt: Gunmen fired a barrage of bullets at a crowd of mourners who were gathered Friday night at a North Miami-area funeral home, injuring 12 people and killing two, according to Miami-Dade police... The funeral was for Morvin Andre, 21, of North Miami, killed in a March 18 shooting, according to witnesses.

AQAP kills 17 Yemeni troops in southern Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters overran a military checkpoint in southern Yemen, killing 17 soldiers during an intense battle that also resulted in the deaths of 13 AQAP fighters.

US drone strikes kill 5 AQAP fighters, 1 civilian in southern Yemen
Excerpt: Unmanned US strike aircraft killed five Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a pair of strikes in a province in southern Yemen known to serve as a haven for the terror group.

O'Reilly: NBC, Media Inciting Racial Violence
Excerpt: It was pathetic watching the prime-time cable programs whip up the Trayvon Martin case to dangerous levels," O'Reilly said in his Talking Points Memo. "The media exploiting the terrible death of 17-year-old Trayvon by convicting the man who shot him, George Zimmerman, of wrongdoing on television."

The State Department​’s Jerusalem syndrome--​The US does not recognize ANY Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Excerpt: I went to the US Consulate this week to take care of certain family business. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. I think it is ironic that two days after my extremely unpleasant experience at the consulate, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refused to say what the capital of Israel is. It was ironic because anyone who visits the consulate knows that the US’s position on Jerusalem is in perfect alignment with that of Israel’s worst enemies.

Political Digest for March 31, 2012

The Old Jarhead Blog: Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

Free PDF Copy of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.

Excerpt: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney Friday, saying he believed the former Massachusetts governor was the best candidate to face off against President Obama in the fall and hold the nation’s highest office. "I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, the principles, the courage, and the integrity to do what it takes to get America back on track. So I believe he's the right person for the job," Ryan said on Fox News.

Merchants of Despair
Pulls no punches. Worth watching. ~Bob. Excerpt: Who is responsible for the current economic malaise? If you ask Bill Whittle, it's Obama's pals like David Axelrod, Harry Reid and Tim Geithner, some of the many Merchants of Despair. These merchants are costing taxpayers trillions and creating deep national divides based on class and race. Will the despair continue for another four years?

Writer Naomi Wolf urges boycott of Katy Perry video, calls it military propaganda
Excerpt: Katy Perry transforms herself into a U.S. Marine in her latest power-pop single, "Part of Me," which addresses female empowerment and pays particular tribute to service women. However, at least one media type doesn't support Perry's Marines shout-out. Prominent feminist Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth" and one of many who were arrested amid the Occupy Wall Street protests last year, is urging Americans to boycott the singer, labeling her video "a total piece of propaganda for the Marines."

W. Seattle teen beaten bloody in possible hate crime
Excerpt: A 16-year-old boy from West Seattle says he was held hostage and beaten for hours, all because of the color of his skin. Shane McClellan says two men kicked and whipped him at gunpoint - and told him they singled him out because he is white. Tim McClellan, Shane's father, says he barely recognized his son after the brutal assault. 9Media holding breath waiting for strong statement from President Obama. ~Bob.)

On health care, is the GOP ready for victory?
Excerpt: First, a party that has built its health-care message on the phrase “repeal and replace” would immediately find itself under pressure to reach consensus on how to reform the health-care system. Second, Republicans, who benefited from a sizable enthusiasm gap in 2010, could face a Democratic opposition deeply angered and newly motivated by its setback in the high court.

South Carolina teen’s brutal soccer attack earns assault charge
Excerpt: The player who is now the subject of local law enforcement is Lewisville (S.C.) High senior Annette McCullough, who brutally attacked an unnamed Chester (S.C.) High opponent during a Monday match. While there is no video showcasing prior incidents between the two players, McCullough reacted viciously to a small trip that sent her tumbling to the ground.

Roseanne Barr Joins Twitter Vigilante Crew
Excerpt: The comedian Roseanne Barr last night tweeted the home address of George Zimmerman’s parents to her 110,000-plus Twitter followers, only to delete the posting after “not fully understanding that it was private not public.”

Twitter Has Yet to Yank @KillZimmerman Twitter Handle; Where's the Media Outrage? By Ken Shepherd
 Excerpt: But now in light of the ongoing coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting, there's a different infamous set of crosshairs, this one over a picture of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida man who claims to have killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense last month. That image is the avatar for a Twitter profile established on March 24 with the handle @KillZimmerman. Despite conservative bloggers and Twitter users' complaints, as of press time the Twitter handle is still live. What's more, the liberal media have thus far been strangely silent on the matter.

Why Were Liberals So Surprised By the Supreme Court?
Excerpt: This week has really reminded me of Election Day 2004. Liberals, then, were just plain convinced John Kerry was going to be elected president, so much so Bob Shrum actually called Kerry, “Mr. President.” The left had convinced itself Bush was unpopular, Kerry had closed the deal, and everything was swinging his way in the final week. So, when the early, unweighted exit polls came up Tuesday afternoon, they were exuberant.

Lynnae Williams: The CIA Spy Who Tweets
Excerpt: Williams’s main grievance with the agency revolves around her termination. Williams says that as a trainee in the agency’s national clandestine service, she was sent to Dominion Hospital, a public mental-health facility in northern Virginia. (…) All told, by Williams’s account, she spent one night at Dominion Hospital in 2009 and then another five days in the hospital's outpatient program. (Pardon me. It took a while to pick myself up off the floor from laughing. She was actually inconvenienced for a WHOLE overnight? Off-hand, it sounds like a bad hiring decision was made and corrected. And, according to the story, as much as the ACLU hates our military and defense organizations, they won’t lift a finger to help her, the poor baby. And, a note to Daily Beast, Tom Clancy aside, analysts aren’t “spies;” “officers” are spies. Ron P.)

Headlines Control the Narrative. Guess Who Controls the Headlines?
Excerpt: Last Thursday, Rush Limbaugh, addressing one of the Associated Press’s latest offenses against journalism, suggested that we “regard every AP story, particularly this year, as nothing more than a propaganda piece for the reelection of Barack Obama.” Good idea — and of course, that goes for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Bloomberg News, and virtually the entire establishment and entertainment press. Many if not most of their reports betray an ever more obvious preference for four more years of Obama. (This is a very important issue. This is also the reason for TOJ’s continuing series of “Slant the News 101” stories. Most people pay no attention at all to political news EXCEPT THE HEADLINES until the election is only a few weeks away. And, even the junkies can’t know every detail of every story. If folks’ve been buried in news that consistently makes one candidate seem “better,” who do you expect them to vote for? Ron P.)

The Secret Chord
Excerpt: The immense power of kuryente consists in that it operates in the world of myth. It does not belong in the universe of fact. Hence what happened when, who liked what, what reasons there were for which: these are irrelevant. Kuryente addresses what some might call a “deeper truth,” and it is therefore proof from falsification. You cannot falsify the re-telling of a myth. (Actually, there is a fair translation of kuryente: disinformation. Ron P.)

Excerpt: Limbaugh said on his radio program, “normally I don’t talk about [my ratings] in specifics because in the ethics of the broadcast business you don’t do it.” Before proceeding to share a glimpse of his ratings, he added, “It’s enough to say: Most listened to radio talk show in the country ever, and it’s unlikely to ever be topped.” Overall, Limbaugh said, his show’s ratings are higher on all 600 stations that carry it, and up as high as 60 percent at one station. (His ratings are up? Must be a fluke. ~Bob.)

Spike Lee Pays Off Elderly Couple; City of Sanford, FL A "Tinderbox"
Excerpt: Spike Lee has reached an agreement with the Florida couple forced to flee their home... “The McClains’ claim is fully resolved,” Matt Morgan, their attorney, said in an email. “Mr. Lee personally called them to give a very heartfelt apology. Further, he agreed to compensate them for their loss and the disruption to their lives. (Someone tell him I have Zimmerman in my basement. I could use a payoff for his stupidity. ~Bob.

Voters Tire of Green Agenda
Excerpt: No surprises here: A new Gallup poll reports that Americans are still broadly skeptical of the Green agenda, currently putting economic growth ahead of the environment by 49 percent to 41 percent. And moderates are increasingly joining conservatives in the opinion that economic growth should be a priority even if it incurs some environmental damage. Gallup polls show that trends have been going against the greens for years now, which makes the recent claims of a “tipping point” toward a green consensus seem especially dubious.

Israeli military cancels traditional Passover break
Excerpt: The Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz announced on Wednesday that all units must be on full alert during the traditional Passover holidays, though officials dismissed the idea that the decision is linked to planned military operations, Xinhua reported.

Bolton accuses administration of leaking story on Israeli planning along Iran border
Excerpt: Former U.S. diplomat John Bolton alleged Thursday that the Obama administration leaked a story about covert Israeli activity in order to foil potential plans by the country to attack Iran's nuclear program.

FBI Taught Agents to “Bend or Suspend the Law”
Excerpt: The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has taught its agents in the past that they can “bend or suspend the law” as they are involved in the wiretapping of suspects. The agency has since said they really didn’t mean it.

Young and Restless
Excerpt: When you look back at Barack Obama’s 7-point victory over John McCain in 2008, think of a four-legged stool. Obama needed each leg to support his candidacy. One leg was independent voters (29 percent of the vote); they chose Obama over McCain by 8 percentage points, 52 percent to 44 percent. The second leg was young voters, ages 18-29 (18 percent of vote); they broke for Obama by 34 percentage points, 66 percent to 32 percent. The third leg was Latinos (9 percent); they favored Obama by 36 points, 67 percent to 31 percent. And, finally, African-Americans (18 percent) backed Obama by 91 percentage points, 95 percent to 4 percent. (…) Let’s focus for now on just one leg of the stool, the young voters. Visit any college campus today, and you are likely to sense a lack of passion and energy for Obama.

Obama Caught in a Quandary Between Economic Growth and High Gasoline Prices
Excerpt: President Obama came remarkably close to saying high gasoline prices can be a good thing during remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday morning, just before the Senate was to vote on a bill to repeal tax subsidies for Big Oil. (…) What the president did not say, but seemed to imply, is that rising fuel prices often go hand-in-hand with a growing economy, as demand for energy increases. The result is a political conundrum for the White House: It desperately wants to declare the economy is on the upswing, but it also wants to avoid the wrath of voters angry that gasoline prices are hovering just under $4 a gallon. (If the only factor effecting prices was the economy, perhaps Obama and his trained journalists could pull off this claim. In fact, demand for oil is only now picking up after the mild winter most of the US east coast enjoyed. While domestic supply is up—no thanks to Obama, who has done everything he could to stymie new production—world supply is down because of political considerations, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. Until the USA adopts (really, re-adopts) policies that encourage the exploration and exploitation of our natural resources, especially oil and gas, prices will stay high unless those political considerations go away. That seems unlikely to me. A true “all of the above” strategy has to include petroleum and demon coal, and the EPA’s just-announced regulations for new coal-fired power plants pretty much precludes any possibility of that. Of course, the 5,000,000 or so people who are no longer looking for work, and therefore aren’t counted as being unemployed, may have a different opinion of the economy, too. Ron P.)

Jesse: Trayvon Proves 'Blacks Are Under Attack' by Larry Elder
Excerpt: True, black men, especially young ones, stand a much greater chance of being murdered than white males. But almost all murders involve a victim and a killer of the same race. Yes, instances of black-white murder -- as, for example, when James Byrd, a black man of Jasper, Texas, was dragged to his death by three white men -- do exist. But nationally, according to the Department of Justice, 53 percent of known homicide suspects in 2010 were identified as black -- although blacks comprise only 13 percent of the population.

Liberal, Just Another Word For Stupid by Burt Prelutsky
Excerpt: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked myself how it is that so many of my fellow Americans can actually go out and vote for people as ignorant as Patty Murray, Barbara Boxer and Hank Johnson. Rep. Johnson, in case he’s slipped your mind, is the Democrat representing Georgia’s 4th congressional district, whose claim to fame is that during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, he asked Admiral Robert Willard if he shared the congressman’s concern that adding 8,000 servicemen and their families to the 175,000 civilians on the island could cause Guam to tip over and capsize.

French Police Seize 17 in Raids Following Killings in Toulouse
Gee, 17 more “lone wolves.” ~Bob. Excerpt: Eight days after the police shot dead the self-confessed killer of four Jews and three French paratroopers in southwestern France, elite units on Friday raided localities in several parts of the country and detained 17 people described as Islamic militants.

Afghan Militia Member Drugs and Kills Colleagues
“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” ~Bob. Excerpt: A member of an Afghan militia promoted by the American military to protect rural villages drugged his colleagues and killed at least nine of them as they slept on Friday, the third deadly episode involving the irregular guard force in March.

Why liberals need conservatives, and vice versa By Tom Chivers
Excerpt: Liberals, especially the "very liberal", were by far the worst at guessing what people would say, and especially bad at guessing what conservatives would say about issues of care or fairness. For example, most thought that conservatives would disagree with statements like "One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenceless animal" or "Justice is the most important requirement for a society".

Do You Know Any Woman Who Doesn't Use Birth Control? Dan Rather Asks... Rachel Maddow
Excerpt: RATHER: I still can't believe that here, in the second decade of the 21st century, in a presidential campaign, that we're talking about contraception. Do you know any woman, of any race, creed, color or religion, who doesn't use some form of birth control? … The openly gay Maddow tactfully let Rather's question pass unanswered.

The Death of Mrs. G by Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Although we all know that death is inevitable, we are still seldom fully prepared for the death of someone who has been important in our lives. So it was with the recent death of Dr. Marie D. Gadsden, at the age of 92.

So Many Americans Are Being Killed By Their Afghan Allies The US Is Assigning 'Guardian Angels'
Excerpt: Troops have been ordered to step up watching each others' backs while they work alongside Afghan security forces, signaling a new departure in the U.S.-Afghan military relationship. Top commander General John Allen is implementing new security precautions to guard U.S. service members from insider threats, following fresh attacks on troops by their own allies. (Despite stories of betrayal, I was often alone with my Vietnamese friends in the RVN Popular Forces, in Khe Sanh ville in 1967. Maybe I wasn’t worth killing? It seems to me that while the combat isn’t often of the intensity the grunts had to face in Nam, the treachery is much worse. ~Bob.)

I Paid a Bribe
A site exposing corruption in India. Badly needed in Illinois. ~Bob.

Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed By Scott Rasmussen
Excerpt: Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama's health care law. … But even if the law survives the Supreme Court and the next election, the clock will be ticking. Recent estimates suggest that the law would cause 11 million people to lose their employer-provided insurance and be forced onto a government-backed insurance plan.

ObamaCare meets ObamaEnergy
Good cartoon. ~Bob.

Tweet from @stephenfhayes
Ryan says when he walked Romney through what has to happen in 2013 to avoid debt crisis, Romney said: "We'll do it in the first 100 days."

The Soviet Hunger Games
Excerpt: A very real hunger game took place during most of the past century in the Soviet Union. From 1917 to 1991, the Soviet Union was controlled from Moscow, which subjugated the 14 nations surrounding Russia. The Soviet dream of a worker-led utopian paradise led to families ripped apart by the secret police in the night, gulags filled with thousands of prisoners convicted for whispering their dissent, and 20 million murdered.

Worth Reading: Not-So-Smooth Operator: Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest. By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.

Re-Engineering Humans: An Old Solution to Climate Change by Ed Driscoll
Excerpt: It’s no coincidence that global warming took off as an issue just as the Soviet Union fell; it’s top-down centralized government’s last best hope of controlling the masses. And like other forms of totalitarian worldviews, it doubles as a religion as well, as Czech President Vaclav Klaus noted late last year:…

Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare By Neil Munro - The Daily Caller http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/another-17-trillion-surprise-found-in-obamacare/#ixzz1qcGQyD00
Excerpt: Senate Republican staffers continue to look though the 2010 health care reform law to see what’s in it, and their latest discovery is a massive $17 trillion funding gap.“ The more we learn about the bill, the more we learn it is even more unaffordable than was suspected,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republican’s budget chief in the Senate.

From The Patriot Post: Who's Watching the Watchers?
Gannett Wisconsin Media became part of its own story last week when its Appleton, Wisconsin, Post-Crescent reported the names of 29 circuit court judges that had signed petitions to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker over his public-sector union reforms. After publicly tooting its own horn for such splendid journalism, Gannett was forced to follow up with a public notice admitting that 25 of its own Wisconsin reporters, including nine at the Post-Crescent, also had signed recall petitions. Oops!
While Gannett notes that this violated the company's Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms, the reporter-petitioners argue that they were not engaging in political activity and therefore retained their "journalistic neutrality." Obviously, signing a petition in support of a recall election is a political activity, but the hypocrisy continues. In its statement, Gannett patted itself on the back for its transparency in notifying its readers, and then added that it decided not to make public the names of its activist journalists. "First and foremost," the paper said, "we decided to inform our readers and be as open as possible. We have decided not to name the employees." Once again, the "shield law" shields the media from responsibility -- and the public from the truth.

MasterCard, Visa confirm credit card data theft described as 'massive'
Excerpt: Law enforcement officials are investigating what appears to be a massive theft of U.S. consumers' credit card data, MasterCard and Visa confirmed Friday. The computer security expert who first reported the theft said it might involve as many as 10 million MasterCard and Visa accounts, making it one of the largest known credit card heists.

The Unseen Message of The Hunger Games By William Ward
Excerpt: Though the liberal media and leftist Hollywood are wrapping themselves in The Hunger Games, the book series' pro-individualism, anti-socialist/communist/totalitarianism message has thus far eluded them -- but the legions of children reading the books are getting the message.

Hoodie-Wearing Gunmen Kill 1, Wound 5 in Bobby Rush's Chicago District
Excerpt: Former Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) made quite a fuss when he donned a "hoodie" during a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives until he was escorted out. At the time, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "applauded his courage" for doing so. Meanwhile, back home in Rush's district, two men wearing hooded sweatshirts, or "hoodies," were the shooters in an incident that left one dead and five injured. (While race-baiters like Rush and Jackson are scoring points in Florida, the slaughter of black folks by black thugs goes on almost unremarked in our cities. ~Bob.)

Why Does The Department Of Homeland Security Need 450 MILLION Hollow Point Bullets?
Excerpt: Somebody out there has decided that the Department of Homeland Security needs a whole lot of ammunition. Recently it was announced that ATK was awarded a contract to provide up to 450 MILLION hollow point bullets to the Department of Homeland Security over the next five years. Is it just me, or does that sound incredibly excessive? What in the world is the DHS going to do with 450 million rounds? (I have not yet seen this verified anywhere. Just because it’s on the net, doesn’t make it true. I’m sure those 20-something women who say they saw my picture on Facebook and want to meet me don’t really mean it. If they are really young women, which is doubtful. ~Bob.)

Media Silent as Left Attacks Kids of WI Lt. Gov.
Leave Obama’s kid alone when in Mexico on taxpayer’s dime. GOP kids? Not so much. ~Bob. Excerpt: Listen here to John "Sly" Sylvester, a left-wing radio host who operates out of Madison, WI, at radio station WTDY. Sylvester accuses Kleefisch of performing sexual acts on numerous men, mocks her cancer, and attacks her children.

Poll: Romney still close to Obama, Santorum 5 points back
Excerpt: Among other findings: Romney leads the Republican field for the nomination, he leads Santorum in a two-man race if Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul drop out and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would bring more to a Romney ticket than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American — even among Latino voters. … A Romney-Bush ticket beats Obama-Biden among Latinos by 57-39, a 18-point margin. By contrast, the Democrats beat a Romney-Rubio ticket among Latinos by 50-46 percent.

Valerie Jarrett Rocks the House at
J Street
Excerpt: After telling the crowd that she is one-eighth Jewish, she launched into a full-throated push of the Obama campaign’s 2012 themes: fair shot, fair share, GM, playing by the same set of rules, job growth, all-of-the-above energy strategy.

Nice Court You Have There, It Would Be A Shame If Something Happened To It
Excerpt: The Talking Points Memo headline reads: “Dems Warn Of ‘Grave Damage’ To SCOTUS If ‘Obamacare’ Is Struck Down”. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), a former attorney general of Connecticut, pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court would damage itself if it did something so ridiculous as find Obamacare unconstitutional:

Friday, March 30, 2012

Political Digest for March 30, 2012

The Old Jarhead Blog: Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

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.

Trayvon Martin: Couple who fled home after Spike Lee tweet hires Morgan firm
The couple's address was tweeted by a man who believed he had uncovered the address of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month. The problem is, the address does not belong to Zimmerman, but to the McClains, who have a son named William George Zimmerman who lived there in 1995 and still lives in Central Florida.

George Zimmerman Video Outrage: Where Are Injuries From Travyon Fight?
Excerpt: If the police video of George Zimmerman being taken into questioning shows what it appears to show, if Zimmerman really was devoid of the injuries that had been so feverishly and eagerly recounted by his defenders, then we have on our hands an absolutely catastrophic failure on the part of the media, and one of the most dramatic, devastating examples in recent memory of the Internet’s power to decide “the facts” long before anyone has a clue what they are. (Slanting the News 101: Reading the article, it’s clear the authors think Martin was “guilty of no more than being a teenager.” While they do manage to present the few facts that are known, even as they urge “skepticism,” they do their best to show they don’t really believe Zimmerman could possibly have been justified. The way “news” is presented has a lot to do with the way we react to it. And, yes, Daily Beast does know that. In this case, they’ve satisfied their obligation to “report the news” while still doing their best to influence how we perceive it. Ron P.)

The more up-to-date pictures are interesting. ~Bob.

Excerpt: In the last 48+ hours, despite The Law finding no fault, ill-intent or wrong doing by George Zimmerman, the Black Panthers have openly put out a $10,000 bounty on him, and Spike Lee issued a ‘soft’ hit by Tweeting, then Re-Tweeting George Zimmerman’s home address. And because Lee accidentally Tweeted the wrong address, an elderly couple now flees for their lives.

Black on Black Crime Statistics
Excerpt: While African Americans comprise 13.5% of the U.S. Population, 43% of all murder victims in 2007 were African American, 93.1% of whom were killed were African Americans. … we find that whites committed 48.0% of all murders and blacks committed 51.2% of all murders. However, whites outnumber blacks in the population. In fact, non-Hispanic whites are about 69% of the population and blacks are about 13%. These statistics alone, shows that blacks are 13% of the population, but commit 51.2% of the murders, indicate that blacks commit a seriously disproportionate number of murders. (Note to Rep. Bobby Rush [D-Black Panthers]. There might be a reason for people to “profile” young black men. As with Muslims’ Allahmurders, mostly of fellow Muslims, profiling will stop when the profiled folk’s murder rate comes down! ~Bob.)

Disgusting!… ABC Outs 13 Year-Old Witness to Trayvon Martin Killing
Excerpt: In addition, an eyewitness, 13-year-old Austin Brown, told police he saw a man fitting Zimmerman’s description lying on the grass moaning and crying for help just seconds before he heard the gunshot that killed Martin. The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose, and after medical attention it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning. (I see their point. If the New Black Panthers murder the 13-year-old, it’ll make a great story for ABC. Depending on his race. ~Bob.)

The Bankrupt Race Card By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Trayvon Martin case is a wholly familiar one to residents of any major urban city. If you live in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles, then it’s only a matter of time until an incident between a law enforcement officer, or more rarely a civilian defending himself, and a member of a minority group flares up into a citywide grievance theater complete with angry reverends on the steps of City Hall, women with stony faces holding up banners calling for justice and a media-driven debate about police tactics and racism. This sort of thing happens with depressing regularity in cities where even the most liberal residents have to choose between police overreach and being murdered.

More Attacks on Jews in France
Excerpt: Even as French Jews are still in shock and mourning after the murder of Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse, fear stalks the community. As the BBC has noted, the beating of another student at a Jewish school by anti-Semitic assailants is only the most notable example: … Yet while France’s Jewish population is bracing itself for further hostility, the New York Times (among other Western media outlets) continues to worry more about the possible repercussions of the attack on Muslims:

Good Conservative Humor Site
Liberal Pick-up lines

Profiling Cartoon
Painful but true. ~Bob

Supreme Court’s health-care ruling could deal dramatic blow to Obama presidency
Excerpt: The Supreme Court’s skeptical consideration of President Obama’s landmark health-care legislation this week has forced his supporters to contemplate the unthinkable: that the justices could throw out the law and destroy the most far-reaching accomplishment of the Obama presidency. … But supporters argue that on a substantive level, the results would be devastating.

Marco Rubio endorses Mitt Romney
Excerpt: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday, becoming the latest big-name Republican to throw his support behind the likely Republican nominee. Rubio, considered by many to be the favorite for the GOP’s vice presidential nomination, declined to endorse before the Florida primary earlier this year. But he said Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News Channel that it’s time to coalesce around Romney.

0-414 vote: House clobbers budget proposal based on Obama's 2013 plan
Excerpt: The House on Wednesday night unanimously rejected an alternative budget proposal based on President Obama's 2013 budget plan, dispatching it in a 0-414 rout. The vote came just hours after the White House cast the pending vote as a political "gimmick," an apparent attempt to downplay what many expected to be an ugly-looking vote for the White House.

Dems in panic mode after Obama's 'flexibility' moment
Excerpt: But the frantic Democratic reaction to his comments, and an intense effort to turn a presidential gaffe into a partisan food-fight, belies the official White House dismissal of the incident. ... Democrats and Obama's campaign team took the opportunity to, in a classic political reflex, to attack rather than defend, releasing a barrage of tweets and eight emailed press releases [attacking GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney]. (Think this oversells a tad to the right, but with most of the media spinning left, helps the balance. ~Bob.)

Is this finally proof we're NOT causing global warming? The whole of the Earth heated up in medieval times without human CO2 emissions, says new study
Excerpt: Current theories of the causes and impact of global warming have been thrown into question by a new study which shows that during medieval times the whole of the planet heated up. It then cooled down naturally and there was even a 'mini ice age'. A team of scientists led by geochemist Zunli Lu from Syracuse University in New York state, has found that contrary to the ‘consensus’, the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ approximately 500 to 1,000 years ago wasn’t just confined to Europe.

U.S. corporate tax rate: No. 1 in the world
Excerpt: On Sunday, the United States gets a distinction no nation wants -- the world's highest corporate tax rate. Japan, which currently has the highest rate in the world -- a 39.8% rate on business income between national and local taxes -- cuts its rate to 36.8% as of April 1. The U.S. rate stands at 39.2% when both federal and state rates are included. (Don’t bother your Congress Critters with this stuff. They’re too busy trying to figure out why international companies are moving jobs overseas. ~Bob.)

California lawmakers to don hoodies to protest Trayvon Martin case
Excerpt: California lawmakers plan to wear hoodies Thursday to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager who was shot to death last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer. Members of the Black, Latino and Asian Pacific Islander caucuses will don hooded jackets and hold a morning news conference in the Capitol to show solidarity with Martin's family, who have said their son was a victim of racial profiling. (Any solidarity with the 13-year-old white kid set on fire by two black teens? Or with the family of Christopher Cervini, a white teen shot by a black man who was acquitted in similar circumstances? ~Bob.)

A supreme shock for ‘La-La’ libs by John Podhoretz
Excerpt: This came as a startling shock to the liberals who write about the court. Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker and CNN confidently asserted on Charlie Rose at the beginning of the week that the court would rule 7-2, maybe even 8-1 in favor of ObamaCare. The previous week, he called the anti-ObamaCare arguments “really weak.”

'Dozens killed' in clashes in Libyan town of Sabha
 Excerpt: At least 70 people have reportedly been killed in fighting between militias around the Libyan town of Sabha. (They are “killing their own people,” but pose no threat to us. Under the “Obama Doctrine,” aren’t we supposed to declare a “no fly” zone and bomb the snot out of them? ~Bob.)

Spanish workers hold general strike over labour reforms
Excerpt: Scuffles broke out between protesters and police as workers from Spain's largest unions picketed at the capital's bus depot early on Thursday. A total of 58 people were detained and nine were injured, the interior ministry said. (Thuggery won’t be tolerated. Spain is not Wisconsin, you know! ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: The Second Oil Revolution by Victor Davis Hanson
Interesting speculation from Hanson. Ron P. Excerpt: Likewise, Western petrodollars seem to find a way into the coffers of terrorists bent on killing Americans and their allies. But at a time of shrinking defense budgets, an oil-rich America might not need to protect Middle Eastern oil fields and lanes. U.S. foreign policy for once really could be predicated on the principle of supporting those nations that embrace constitutional government and human rights, without worry that offended dictators, theocrats and kings would turn off the spigots.

Gutteling -- Politicians gone wild
Excerpt: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Unfortunately, these noble words are from the Declaration of Independence, not our Constitution. From these principles Americans claim a unique and revolutionary legacy: that every person possess their own sovereignty just by being born, and that these rights don't come from any government or person. … The ratchet only goes one way: only towards less personal sovereignty and rights, and more government power and control. (My granddaughter is on the third book of The Hunger Games trilogy. I told her the lesson is a government powerful to do everything you want, is powerful enough to do everything it wants. ~Bob.)

Killer Acknowledges 1994 Attack Targeted Jews
Excerpt: A cab driver's killing of a 16-year-old Yeshiva student in 1994 "was one of the early cases of terrorism in New York City," the victim's mother said this week, but it has never been determined who else might have been involved. Rashid Baz is serving a 141-year prison sentence for shooting into a van carrying Yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge. The case initially was cast as an act of road rage, but the New York Post reported Monday that Baz told investigators in 2007 that he deliberated targeted the van. "I only shot them because they were Jewish," he said.

After Bo’s ouster, a mysterious death adds to China’s churning rumor mill By Keith B. Richburg and Andrew Higgins
Excerpt: Until a week ago, few Chinese had ever heard of Neil Heywood, and fewer still raised any questions when the 41-year-old British business consultant was found dead in his hotel room. Today, he is so famous — and such a sensitive topic — that China’s Internet censors have banned searches of Heywood’s Chinese name, Hai Wu De. Such is the insatiable appetite of tens of millions of Chinese for news — no matter how tangential or speculative — about the country’s biggest political drama in two decades that “Heywood” has joined “tanks,” “military coup” and a host of other search terms now proscribed by the ruling Communist Party as it struggles to calm a national spasm of jitters.

And now, something cool
The Sand Flea jumping car for the military. ~Bob.

His Worst Mistake: Obama Surrenders to Vladimir. Aiding the rebirth of the USSR. By Kim Zigfeld
Excerpt: Barack Obama went to South Korea and met with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Huddled tête-à-tête with Medvedev, when he thought nobody was listening he told Medvedev the he would be able to sell out U.S. security interests and allies in Europe on the missile defense issue once he had his reelection in the bag. The purpose: he’d like the Russians to shut up and stop criticizing him because he needs his Russian “reset” to appear valid until then.

Excerpt: A couple of key observations emerge. First, the author points out how both conservatives and liberals adhere to values that are formed around a moral code, but conservatives follow some additional core values that liberals do not. Kristof phrases it as: “Americans speak about values in six languages, from care to sanctity. Conservatives speak all six, but liberals are fluent in only three. And some (me included) mostly use just one, care for victims.” Kristof summarizes the values:…for liberals, morality is largely a matter of three values: caring for the weak, fairness and liberty. Conservatives share those concerns (although they think of fairness and liberty differently) and add three others: loyalty, respect for authority and sanctity

Caught on camera: SEIU activists discuss $20 payment for Obamacare protest By Grae Stafford - The Daily Caller
Excerpt: Video footage obtained by The Daily Caller appears to show a group of women dressed in purple Service Employees International Union-branded clothing, discussing how much they were paid to attend a March 27 protest outside the Supreme Court. The video first appeared online Wednesday. The SEIU-affiliated women were leaving a protest in support of President Obama’s health care overhaul law.

Bosnian Muslim neo-Nazi group vilifies Jews
Excerpt: As Leftists in the West continue to vilify counter-jihadists as "fascists" and "neo-Nazis," it's useful to remember that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, lived in Berlin during World War II, made broadcasts for the Nazis, and raised up a Muslim SS division in Bosnia, home of this new movement. Real Nazis have always had an affinity for Islamic jihadists and supremacists, and vice versa.

Can Dems Win by Losing?
Excerpt: They don’t want the mandate to be said to be constitutional. I mean, they’ll take it but that’s not what their objective is. Their objective is the abolition of private sector health insurance as an industry and the creation of a single-payer health care system with them charge. They want there to be nowhere else for anybody to go for health insurance but to them, and in so doing they can regulate every aspect of our lives.

Justices Signal Distaste for Cutting Up Health Reform Law
Excerpt: Justices Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer seemed to have made up their minds that if the mandate is cut, then other provisions that depend on the mandate must go, too. “This seems like a situation where Congress would prefer half a loaf,” Kagan said. “Why should we say it’s a choice between a wrecking operation, which is what you are proposing, or a salvage job?” Ginsburg asked Clement. “The more conservative choice would seem to be the salvage job.” (It looks to me as if the Court’s liberals are making this an “all or nothing” situation. That could be an error. But it could also keep a vote that likes the idea of universal healthcare but not the exact wording of the law to make it so (he/she may feel better a bad law than no law—which is what they are offering). Ron P.)

Barack Obama: I Have A “Moral Obligation” To Neuter America
Excerpt: Barack Obama actually plans to do it. He actually plans to neuter America by unilaterally dismantling most of the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal. In fact, Barack Obama says that the United States has a “moral obligation” to disarm as we lead the way to “a world without nuclear weapons”. Sadly, a “world without nuclear weapons” is a fantasy that will not be possible any time soon.

TSA Manager Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring
Excerpt: A manager at the Transportation Security Administration has lost his job after being arrested on prostitution-related charges. According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of "very similar" activities back in 2009. Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. (I wondered why they charged me for a pat down last time I flew. ~Bob.)

Message from Israeli people to Iranian people
Wouldn't it be marvelous if the Iranians took this as a spark to overthrow their oppressors? Cordially, Larry Greenberg

Mitt Romney or not, GOP is coming for ‘Obamacare’
Excerpt: With the general election now in sight, Republican strategists and party officials have begun crafting a strategy that puts health care front-and-center in the campaign against President Barack Obama, even if Mitt Romney is at the top of their ticket. GOP strategists are almost unanimous in their desire to keep campaigning on the issue that helped Republicans take control of the House in 2010. But the anti-“Obamacare,” anti-big-government war cry of the midterm campaign requires some freshening in 2012.

Romney’s slog to the nomination: Not what you might think
Excerpt: Across all the contests so far, Romney has won 38 percent of the vote to 29 percent for Santorum and 16 percent each for Gingrich and Ron Paul. In fact, Romney’s winning percentage is identical to that of John McCain’s — the eventual 2008 GOP nominee — at this point in the 2008 GOP primaries. And for McCain, that tally includes 15 contests after Romney dropped out after Super Tuesday and two after Mike Huckabee exited the race.

Prominent Pakistani acid victim commits suicide
Excerpt: Pakistani acid attack victim Fakhra Younus had endured more than three dozen surgeries over more than a decade to repair her severely damaged face and body when she finally decided life was no longer worth living. The 33-year-old former dancing girl — who was allegedly attacked by her then-husband, an ex-lawmaker and son of a political powerhouse — jumped from the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where she had been living and receiving treatment.

“Occupier” burns down historic Town Hall in Colorado, ignites himself on fire in the process
Well, you recall all the building torched by the “dangerous” Tea Party, right? Me neither. ~Bob. Excerpt: Kyle Lawrence, a Colorado Springs Occupier, remains in a Denver Hospital burn unit with second-degree burns that he received when he caught on fire during the arson that leveled the Historic Green Mountain Falls Town Hall.

The Jewish strike
Excerpt: The intent of this Friday’s impending “Global March to Jerusalem”, like the goal of the IHH flotilla and last year’s “Nakba” protests is none other than provocation.
 By surreptitiously camouflaging their ulterior purpose, by basterdizing Gandhi and MLK’s non-violent means of social protest, they in turn hide behind a mask of social justice. Their true aim is no different than it has always been – a one state solution called Palestine.

Shall We Be Citizens or Subjects? By Ken Blackwell
Excerpt: Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: “We the People.” “We the people tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us.

Excerpt: This story concerns the case of a brutal assault on a mother of two in December 2011, for which eight Afghans are now facing charges. The assault took place in the Mariannelund Asylum Centre and was extended over a seven-hour ordeal. According to the men, the victim was “a bad woman, and a whore.” The woman went into shock while the rapes were still underway, and has since been in a heavily traumatised state. She is now subject to nightmares and panic attacks, and lives in a psychiatric clinic. She is bound to a wheelchair due to damages to her abdomen, and suffers from faecal incontinence. (Well, the real tragedy would be if she becomes Islamophobic. ~Bob.)

Media Largely Ignore ObamaCare's War on Physician-Owned Hospitals By Ken Shepherd
Excerpt: With the two-year anniversary of the law's signing and this week's marathon set of hearings before the Supreme Court about ObamaCare, it's a good time to examine just another area where the media have failed to report on a little-reported liberty-infringing aspect of the health care overhaul. No, I'm not talking about not the individual mandate. I'm talking about a provision that forbids the formation of new physician-owned hospitals (POHs) and severely restricts the expansion of existing ones.

Nottingham Imam jailed for sex attack on two boys
Excerpt: The mother of the two boys has been "vilified" by the Muslim community for reporting the assaults, Nottingham Crown Court heard. She has been subjected to "a number of unpleasant incidents" including an episode at her home and damage to her car, Sarah Knight, prosecuting, said.

Conservatives: Waging the Dumbest Civil War Ever
Excerpt: I’m having a very hard time defending my own party’s maturity when the moment a candidate comes out in favor of another candidate, it becomes suddenly okay to act like the first candidate came over to your house and murdered your dog. Now personally, I’m not a Romney fan (Dear Romney fans, this is not clearance for you to argue the case for your boy), but Rubio’s endorsement of said politician does not make him public enemy number one. In case a lot of you have forgotten, there’s a liberal progressive agenda being accomplished outside the walls of our political strongholds.

Brockton man’s soldier son died saving life of Afghan child
Excerpt: A Brockton man will bury his son Monday after the Army sergeant was killed in Afghanistan while saving the life of a young girl. Sgt.. Dennis P. Weichel Jr., 29, was killed March 22 in Laghman Province when he was struck by an armored fighting vehicle. … He grabbed a girl who was trying retrieve an item from underneath a U.S. Army mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle and swung her to safety, but was hit by the 16-ton vehicle himself. (A hero. Or as the Afghans call him, an infidel dog. ~Bob.)

Racial Beatdown in South Carolina
Excerpt: Police in Seneca, South Carolina have arrested six men for beating another man at an Applebee’s on March 17. According to the police, the alleged perpetrators may have attacked the victim based on racial motivations. 9was the victim wearing a hoodie? ~Bob.)

What Does the English Defence League Stand For?
Excerpt: [We] stand for taking opposition to Islamic extremism seriously: we want a public debate, we don’t want fair-minded criticisms of Islam ignored, and we want combating Islamic extremism to be a priority for the government. But anyone new to the English Defence League will no doubt want to get a better idea of what we actually believe needs to change. That is why we’ve launched a new section on the website entitled ‘Common Questions‘ (under About Us).