Political Digest for March 8, 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.

Information on my six books

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html

Yikes! Response to my “I Apologize Too” article.

Excellent and very truthful. Muslims insult Islam every day, but do not see it... I am forwarding to Al Jazeera & O'Reilly... – MW, Udon Thani, Thailand (It was apparently forwarded to “MW”. Donations of ammo now being accepted. O’Reilly won’t be interested, as Fox is partly Saudi-owned, but Al Jazeera may….~Bob.)

Energy Solutions

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2012/03/energy-solutions.html

Cartoon

Super Tuesday

So Romney wins six, Santorum three and Gingrich one on Super Tuesday. And on we go. Meanwhile, all you folks who voted for you-know-who are RINOs and should be thrown out of the party and forced to campaign for Obama! Okay, I don’t believe that—listening to their election night “victory” speeches, I could vote for any of the three in November. But for the blistering attacks I get sent on all three, a good many of my fellow conservatives seem to prefer Obama to any of the GOP candidates except the one they are wedded to.

Romney wins Ohio, five other states, but no knockout punch

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-wins-ohio-four-other-states-but-no-knockout-punch/2012/03/07/gIQAt4rXwR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum each won Republican presidential primaries in multiple states on Tuesday night, with Romney narrowly edging his rival in the key battleground of Ohio on a Super Tuesday that highlighted stubborn divisions in their party.

Estimated Republican Delegate Scorecard

http://www.cbsnews.com/primary-election-results-2012/scorecard.shtml?party=R

Romney 361, Santorum 112, Gingrich 80, Paul 24.

2012 Republican Popular Vote

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/republican_vote_count.html

Romney 3.1M, Santorum 1.9M, Gingrich 1.8M, Paul 900k. Anyone who voted for any of these guys and didn’t write in Ronald Reagan is a RINO! ~Bob.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich suffers primary defeat in Ohio

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kucinich-faces-uphill-battle-for-redistricted-seat/2012/03/05/gIQA6MFrvR_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: With about 90 percent of the vote in, Kaptur led 60 to 36 percent.

From his stint as Cleveland’s “Boy Mayor” in the late 1970s, including two debt defaults and the forced sale of the city’s electric plant, to his unsuccessful effort to impeach Vice President Richard B. Cheney in 2007, Kucinich has repeatedly thrust himself into the national spotlight. (A sad loss—we won’t have Dennis to laugh at anymore, as he joins Ralph Nader in the dust bin of history. ~Bob.)

Upset in Ohio: Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) loses primary to Brad Wenstrup

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/upset-in-ohio-rep-jean-schmidt-r-loses-primary-to-brad-wenstrup/2012/03/06/gIQA9b80vR_blog.html

Excerpt: In the first upset of 2012, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) lost a primary to Army Reserves Major Brad Wenstrup, a political newbie. … He challenged Schmidt from the right, targeting her votes for raising the debt ceiling. (Being against raising the debt ceiling is “from the right”? I remember when Sen. Barack Obama was against raising the ceiling, calling it a “failure of leadership”! ~Bob.)

Solar storm headed toward Earth may disrupt power

http://news.yahoo.com/solar-storm-headed-toward-earth-may-disrupt-power-162508973.html

Obama blames Bush. ~Bob. Excerpt: The largest solar flare in five years is racing toward Earth, threatening to unleash a torrent of charged particles that could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights. The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth around 7 a.m. EST Thursday, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the flare is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.

Iran and Obama by Thomas Sowell

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/03/07/iran_and_obama/page/full/

Excerpt: What are we to make of President Barack Obama's latest pronouncements about Iran's movement toward nuclear bombs? His tough talk might have had some influence on Iran a couple of years ago, when he was instead being kinder and gentler with the world's leading terrorist-sponsoring nation. Now his tough talk may only influence this year's election -- which may be enough for Obama. (…) If you were an Israeli, how willing would you be to risk your national survival on Obama's promise to stand by your country?

How Much Should Health Insurance Cost? By John Goodman

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/how-much-should-health-insurance-cost/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-24424

Excerpt: Why buy health insurance for relatively inexpensive, routine medical expenditures? This is a question Austin Frakt asked at his blog the other day. To be charitable, he missed the obvious answer. If you buy insurance for items you could easily afford to pay for out of pocket, you will almost certainly be throwing money away. Check out the premiums for standard insurance products in the area where you live. I can almost guarantee that first dollar coverage will never make any financial sense. Basically, there are two ways to insure for medical expenses: third-party insurance and self-insurance. When we pay health insurance premiums, we are purchasing third-party insurance. The alternative is to buy less coverage from an insurance company and put money into an account which you own and control and from which you can pay for medical expenses directly. How much of your health care dollars should you devote to third-party insurance and how much to self-insurance? That depends on market prices.

The Inconsistencies Of The Obama Corporate Tax Plan

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/pdf/ir_3.pdf

Excerpt: The plan has good ideas at its core and its problems can and should be fixed. Some of the ill-advised proposals, like expanded manufacturing deductions and tax credits for in-sourcing jobs, would cost revenue. Oth­ers, like new efforts to tax the foreign operations of U.S. firms, would raise it. As such, it may even be possible to eliminate the undesirable features of this corporate tax reform plan without significantly affecting the amount of revenue to be collected. What needs to be fixed: (Obama does not want his tax plan to pass as is, because he knows it would drag the stock market down and push unemployment up, hurting his re-election. He wants it defeated, so he can run against Republicans protecting the rich. ~Bob.)

What Made the Financial Crisis Systemic?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21678&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: The current narrative regarding the 2008 systemic financial system collapse is that numerous seemingly unrelated events occurred in unregulated or underregulated markets, requiring widespread bailouts of actors across the financial spectrum, from mortgage borrowers to investors in money market funds, say Patric Hendershott, a chair in real estate economics and finance at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Kevin Villani, a former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Freddie Mac. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, created by the U.S. Congress to investigate the causes of the crisis, promotes this politically convenient narrative, and the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act operationalizes it by completing the progressive extension of federal protection and regulation of banking and finance that began in the 1930s so that it now covers virtually all financial activities, including hedge funds and proprietary trading. The Dodd-Frank Act further charges the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council, made up of politicians, bureaucrats and university professors, with preventing a subsequent systemic crisis. Markets can become unbalanced, but they generally correct themselves before crises become systemic. Because of the accumulation of past political reactions to previous crises, this did not occur with the most recent crisis.

Press Conference Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/03/07/morning-bell-press-conference-leaves-many-questions-unanswered/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: Yesterday, President Barack Obama ended his months-long press conference drought and faced the White House press corps. Unfortunately for the American people, questions on some of the biggest issues facing the country remain unanswered. The 100-ton elephant in the room that wasn't discussed? The economy. Though the President would like to revel in the country's recent spate of moderate economic growth, all is not well in America. More than 8 percent of Americans remain unemployed -- nearly 13 million in total. What's more, only 63.7 percent of adult Americans are active in the labor force -- the lowest amount since 1983.

Power generation: Will Germany win its post-nuclear bet?

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/environment/power-generation-will-germany-win-its-post-nuclear-bet

Excerpt: There will be at least 10 years of energy shortfall resulting from the shut-down of reactors. For that, Germany plans to rely upon – gulp – coal and gas at home and nuclear from neighbouring countries. Electricity prices are set to rise €35-€40 per household a year for the foreseeable future. There is no free lunch when it comes to energy consumption.

The "Doc Fix" Dilemma Calls for Immediate Medicare Reforms By Nina Owcharenko

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/02/the-doc-fix-dilemma-calls-for-immediate-medicare-reforms

Excerpt: The Administration and some in Congress further complicated the SGR problem during the debate over Obamacare. Proponents of the law could claim that their bill would be paid for and reduce the deficit only by assuming that the scheduled cuts would be put into place—while passing yet another delay just weeks after the health care bill became law. … Worse yet, Obamacare bases many of its Medicare “reforms” on the same flawed model. It assumes over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, many of which depend on imposing further cuts to other Medicare health care providers, such as hospitals. The chief actuary has already noted that these Medicare payment changes in Obamacare are unsustainable.[1] The creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is centered on the price-control model.

A Remarkable Man Has Stepped Into the Clearing; Captain Carroll LeFon USN (Ret.) 1960-2012

http://blog.usni.org/2012/03/07/a-remarkable-man-has-stepped-into-the-clearing-captain-carroll-lefon-usn-ret-1960-2012/

Excerpt: His post was a daily read for me, and several times a week I would push my chair back from the desk and think (and sometimes say) “Damn! I wish I’d said that!” or “I wish I could write like that!” Lex wrote eloquently of the human condition, both in and out of uniform, and had an appreciation for others who did, as well. We had in common a love of Kipling and the classics of martial poetry and other such works, and I would always smile to read them quoted at some appropriate juncture or situation. His remarkable Rhythms, a superb narrative of a day in the life aboard a CVN, is suitable for publishing. (I didn't follow his blog because I didn't know about it. I wish I had. His writings and approach to life is fascinating. I am in the process of reading Rhythms. From what I have read so far I recommend it to everyone. Fair winds and following seas Captain LeFon. Someone else has the con now. MasterGuns)

Spain Is the New Greece By Arnold Ahlert

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/arnold-ahlert/2012/03/07/spain-is-the-new-greece/

Excerpt: The socialist-inspired traveling circus more commonly known as the EU debt crisis is moving from Greece to Spain. Last Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that a deepening recession in that country would make it impossible to meet the EU-mandated deficit reduction target of 4.4 percent of GDP for FY2012. He proposed a target of 5.8 percent instead.

Spanish imam under investigation after calling on Muslims to ‘discipline’ misbehaving wives

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/06/199023.html

Excerpt: A Spanish imam near Barcelona is under investigation after allegedly calling on the faithful to “discipline” errant wives using physical and psychological violence, police said on Tuesday. (Just following the Qur’an. ~Bob.)

Racial incident mars high school game

http://www.ksat.com/news/defenders/Racial-incident-mars-high-school-game/-/478436/9225754/-/145ddl2/-/index.html

Excerpt: But it was just after the trophy presentation when the coach was not proud of the chant coming from Alamo Heights fans. "USA, USA, USA," they chanted. San Antonio Independent School District officials took the chant as a racial insult to a school with all minority players from a school with mostly white ones.

US bunker-busters, aerial refueling for Israel alongside diplomacy for Iran

http://www.debka.com/article/21799/

Excerpt: American sources disclosed Tuesday March 6, that President Barack Obama had decided to let Israel have weapons systems suitable for long-range military operations and strikes against fortified underground targets. They include four KC-35 aerial refueling aircraft, doubling the number already in the Israeli Air Force's inventory, and GBU-31 Direct Attack Munition-JDAM bombs of the type which serve US bombers especially those based on aircraft carriers. (It just appears Obama wants to separate himself from the eventual attack on Iran’s nuclear facility, but at the same time likely providing bunker busting bombs/refueling aircraft for this attack. This reflects a weak President who will not stand up for Israel publically. Providing these weapon systems to Israel will not be sufficient to take out the numerous boats, submarines, ships and aircraft that can create havoc throughout the Middle East, and interrupt oil transit via the Straits of Hormuz. Only the U.S. military has that capability. Bottom line, the U.S. will be forced to get involved. I have a great concern for our troops in Afghanistan when Israel attacks Iran. No easy way to get them out of there along with weapon systems. They will be in greater harms way. –GBH)

Was Boy in K.C. Fire Attack a Victim of His School's Racist Teaching?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/was_boy_in_kc_fire_attack_a_victim_of_his_schools_racist_teaching.html

Excerpt: The boy raised his hand, eager to answer the question. "What would you know about it?" exclaimed the teacher dismissively. "You're not our race." This was not dialogue from a Hollywood movie. According to a woman named Melissa Coon, it was what a teacher at East High School in Kansas City told her 13-year-old son, Allen, when he attempted to answer a question during Black History Month. Coon identifies that teacher as Mrs. Karla Dorsey, who is black; Allen is white. As has already been reported, Allen was a victim of a vicious racial attack last week in which two older black teens doused him with gasoline and set him alight, saying, "This is what you deserve. You get what you deserve, white boy."

Exposer in Stolen Valor case fired: 10-year Marine heard boasts as corporate host

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/6/exposer-in-stolen-valor-case-fired/?page=all#pagebreak

Excerpt: “I am a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.” Nearly five years later, Mr. Alvarez, who never served in the military, stands among dozens who have been convicted under the federal Stolen Valor Act, a misdemeanor crime that carries a sentence of up to one year of imprisonment for lying about receiving military honors. After Mr. Alvarez’s appeal, his widely publicized case recently went before the U.S. Supreme Court. … But after exposing Mr. Alvarez’s medal claim as a hoax — later reporting to the FBI what she viewed as a crime in progress — Ms. Campbell said she wasn’t thanked by her employer. Instead, she said, she was fired.

A shiv to the military ----ObamaCare for troops, vets? By Arthur Herman

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/shiv_to_the_military_jhEfdG9l65npI8zwcKzYtL#ixzz1oQpzHZpd

Excerpt: So men and women who faced death at Fallujah or Kandahar or Desert Storm are now to face death panels at home? That’s the upshot of the administration’s plans for military health care. A proposal unveiled at the Pentagon last week would herd our veterans and military personnel and their families into the imminent bureaucratic nightmare of ObamaCare.

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Where misunderstanding serves others as an advantage, one is helpless to make oneself understood. –Lionel Trilling

Obama’s Missile Defense Madness

http://pjmedia.com/blog/obamas-missile-defense-madness/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently acknowledged, Iran could develop a missile that could hit parts of the United States over the next couple of years. What he didn’t say, at least not publicly, is its existing missiles — topped with chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads — could already hit parts of the United States if Iran could find n country unfriendly to the U.S. in the Western hemisphere willing to host it. The Defense Department has been aware of this threat for some time. (…) “Clear” and “present.” There is no better way to explain that the threat is real. (Imagine the following conversation (there's no record of it, but it had to have occurred): “Father, the priests demand we return all our arrows to the temple. They’ve found that putting feathers on them makes them fly farther and truer.” “Wonderful. Do so, my son.” “But, father, the priests won’t have any of the new, improved arrows ready for us for two months.” “The priests know best, my son. Return them at once.” “But, father, the enemy is on the other side of that hill and they’re headed this way.” “I gave you an order, son. Carry it out.” Of course, we’ve never heard of these people for the obvious reason. There is, and always will be, a tension between “the good” and “the perfect,” and thus, there will always be disagreements about how to allocate scarce resources. There will even be legitimate arguments on both sides. Experience, however, dictates that while “merely good” is better than nothing, “the perfect” may never arrive. Or worse, arrive too late, when it can strengthen only the victorious enemy. Ron P.)

You Have to Hear This Mich. $1M Lottery Winner Defend Why She’s Still on Food Stamps

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hidden-cameras-show-mich-million-dollar-lottery-winner-still-using-food-stamps/

Excerpt: Last fall, 24-year-old Amanda Clayton struck it big when she won $1 million playing the Michigan lottery. That’s life-changing. And in many ways, it was: she bought a new house and car. But in at least one way, it wasn’t: hidden cameras found she’s still using food stamps to pay for her meals. (The entitlement mentality of Obama’s America. ~Bob.)

Netanyahu vs Obama – Who Would You Trust To Lead A Nation?

http://theulstermanreport.com/2012/03/03/netanyahu-vs-obama-who-would-you-trust-to-lead-a-nation/

Excerpt: Received this photo today and found it to be the perfect contradiction of two men in their youth – one the future Prime Minister of Israel, the other the future President of the United States.

Barack Obama – President Baby Killer

http://theulstermanreport.com/2012/03/05/barack-obama-president-baby-killer/

Excerpt: These types of procedures are often called “partial birth” abortions – indicating the infant is in fact born, only to have its life terminated by the doctor. The abortion industry does not easily divulge just how many of these late term procedures are performed each year, but a 1997 study suggests the figure to be several thousand per year in the United States. Here is a brief medical description of the two types of late term abortion procedures:

Mitt’s the Nominee. Get Used to It. Time for Republicans to stop shooting themselves in the foot. By Belladonna Rogers

http://pjmedia.com/blog/mitts-the-nominee-get-used-to-it/

Excerpt: It’s been each man for himself for months. But early this morning, the fat lady sang. Do the math. Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee. Get used to it. By continuing as long as it has, the process has become a grotesque public spectacle of internecine warfare, while the Democrats, alas, have their sole, unchallenged candidate ready to roll, each day collecting increasingly astonishing sums from the politically ignorant who fail to grasp what an unconstitutional political system they’re supporting by trying to prolong the Era of Obama.

Fatal D.C. stabbing makes a case for handguns By Courtland Milloy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fatal-dc-stabbing-makes-a-case-for-handguns/2012/03/06/gIQAP0IZvR_story.html

In the Washington Post! ~Bob. Excerpt: Robert Leroy Wright, 37, was walking his dog Sunday morning in Southeast Washington when police say he was confronted by a knife-wielding neighbor about “allowing the dog near his yard.” A dispute ensued, and the neighbor, Ellsworth Colbert, 56, stabbed Wright to death, according to D.C. police. Whether or not this story proves to be as insane as it sounds, the incident as reported does provide a textbook case for legalizing handguns in the District, as well as buttress a ruling Monday by a federal judge that declared significant parts of Maryland’s gun-control law unconstitutional.

Past Plots Help Explain New Concerns Over Jewish Targets

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3475/past-plots-help-explain-new-concerns-over-jewish

Excerpt: Amine El-Khalifi knew he wanted to commit a terrorist act, federal agents, say, but he kept changing his mind about targets. According to an affidavit released after his arrest Feb. 17, Khalifi believed "that the 'war on terrorism' was a 'war on Muslims," and said that the group needed to be ready for war." Before deciding to attempt a suicide bombing inside the U.S. Capitol, the Moroccan immigrant discussed targeting a series of government offices and places frequented by military officials.

Rep. Pingree won't run for Maine Senate seat

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/214705-pingree-wont-run-for-snowe-seat

Excerpt: Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) has decided against launching a bid for retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe's seat in Maine. Maine Democrats considered Pingree their strongest candidate for Snowe's seat after Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) opted against running. But what would have otherwise been a relatively easy path to the Senate for Pingree became more complicated on Monday when former Maine Gov. Angus King — an independent — jumped into the race.

Netanyahu Vs. the Shadow of Annihilation

http://pjmedia.com/ronradosh/2012/03/06/i-will-never-let-my-people-live-in-the-shadow-of-annihilation/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: There were a few surprises at Monday night’s AIPAC meeting. Throughout the previous two days, AIPAC spokesmen regularly championed the bi-partisan nature of Congress’s resolve to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but by the end of the evening the differences in their approach and resolve were apparent, and so were the sympathies of the more than 13,000 attendees. (Ultimately, every state is responsible for its own safety. Regardless of what their friends and neighbors think. Ron P.)

Government Spends $11 Million to Clothe Two People

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/327305.php

Excerpt: The Department of Human Services granted $11 million dollars to Detroit to provide business attire to job seekers. Two people were helped. (But they probably look better than what I pick up at Goodwill and consignment shops. ~Bob.)

Gov Quinn States Illinois is 'On the Brink of Collapse': Illinois' fiscal crisis is similar in scope and severity to Greece's, yet not a peep is heard about the debt crisis facing US states in the MSM.
http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2012/03/gov-quinn-states-illinois-is-on-brink.html#more

Excerpt: Illinois’ financial problems are forcing it to choose between its pensions and its teeth. Governor Pat Quinn says the state needs to face its “rendezvous with reality” and tackle its dysfunctional budget habits. Top of the list, Mr Quinn says, is to slash spending on Medicaid, a federal programme that provides healthcare to poor Americans. (Think I mentioned this in Collapse. ~Bob.)

Transgender hormone treatments, abortion access for detained illegals irks congressman By Caroline May

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/01/transgender-hormone-treatments-abortion-access-for-detained-illegals-irks-congressman/#ixzz1oSg2MaUu

Excerpt: Hormone treatments for transgendered detainees, abortion services and extensive outlets for complaints — these are just a few of the reasons Texas Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith is not pleased with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recently released Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS).

Sex trafficking trial unusual in scope: As many as 23 will face jury simultaneously

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120228/NEWS03/302280014/Sex-trafficking-trial-unusual-in-scope

Excerpt: Twenty-nine people, mostly Somalis from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, were charged in November 2010 with running a prostitution ring that sold Somali girls as young as 12 years of age in cities including Nashville. … The judge also has granted the defendants’ request to take breaks consistent with Muslim prayer times. (Sexual slavery, “That which your right hand possesses,” is of course consistent with the Qur’an. ~Bob.)

Obama mulls giving Moscow data on missile defense

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL2E8E6EL920120307?irpc=932

Excerpt: The Obama administration disclosed on Tuesday that it is considering sharing some classified U.S. data as part of an effort to allay Russian concerns about a controversial antimissile shield.