Saturday, March 31, 2012

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:

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