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.

https://www.createspace.com/3838589
http://www.amazon.com/Share-Cup-Poetry-Love-Life/dp/1475119178/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333210147&sr=1-5

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17570005

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

http://townhall.com/columnists/richgalen/2012/03/30/scotus_momentus/page/full/

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

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/03/31/you_are_invited_to_occupy_the_jobkilling_wealthrobbing_epa_mafia/page/full/

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577311800821270184.html?mod=djemITP_h

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

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/conservative_con_6UU0J7RzhYC0ZyHg6gTO5J#ixzz1qhQTdjWC

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

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/deaths_that_don_count_CSPFOtyve3lUeoA87JWJeJ#ixzz1qhPMUFgC

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

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/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

http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/news-from-nra-ila/2012/nra-will-appeal-decision-denying-right-to-carry-outside-the-home.aspx

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

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/keith-olbermann-is-currently-not-working-at-current-tv/#ixzz1qdnPgN3R

Excerpt: Starting tonight, he’s being replaced by…OMG, this is too good…Eliot Spitzer.

Current TV Dismisses Keith Olbermann By Brian Stelter

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/current-tv-dismisses-keith-olbermann/

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

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16199713

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.

Moderate Muslims Prevented From Honouring Mohammed Merah By Flics!

http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2012/03/moderate-muslims-prevented-from.html

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

The Left Misreads Popularity Of Limbaugh, Tea Party

http://news.investors.com/article/606319/201203301853/limbaugh-survives-white-house-mauling.htm

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

http://www.therightscoop.com/mark-levin-if-i-had-another-son-i-think-hed-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

http://postandcourier.com/article/20120330/PC16/120339910/1165

If this happened to a Democrat minority, the media would banner headline “RACISM” for weeks. ~Bob.

Jasser's Appointment Riles Islamists

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3513/jasser-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.

Obama Gives Temporary Protected Status to All Syrian Illegal Aliens in US By Debbie Schlussel

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/48495/wtf-obama-gives-temporary-protected-status-to-all-syrian-illegal-aliens-in-us/

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

http://www.katu.com/news/national/7-California-boys-arrested-in-attack-on-teen-145286335.html

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

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CN_CANADA_NO_MORE_PENNY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-31-05-31-03

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.)

Obama: Government 'made this country great'

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-government-made-country-great/457046

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

http://www.coachisright.com/justice-kagan-breaks-federal-law-in-order-to-rule-obamacare-constitutional/

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

http://latinosreadytovote.com/?p=1659

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

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577309231747497906.html?mod=djemITP_h  

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

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/30/2723976/several-shot-outside-funeral-home.html

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

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/03/aqap_kills_17_yemeni.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

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

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/03/us_drone_strikes_kil.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

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

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Trayvon-Martin-Zimmerman-OReilly/2012/03/30/id/434406?s=al&promo_code=E905-1

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.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/

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.