Political Digest for April 3, 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.

Charities I support

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/09/charities-i-support.html

Obama 'confident' Supreme Court will uphold healthcare law
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/219547-obama-confident-supreme-court-will-uphold-healthcare-law

So if Congress passes a law by a majority, the SC can’t over turn it? A strong majority in southern legislatures supported segregation. Did that make it constitutional? ~Bob. Excerpt: President Obama said he is “confident” the Supreme Court will uphold his healthcare reform law. … The president said that for the court to strike down the individual mandate would be “unprecedented,” because the law was passed by “a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”

Solar Trust of America seeks bankruptcy protection after trouble getting federal loan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/solar-trust-of-america-seeks-bankruptcy-protection-after-trouble-getting-federal-loan/2012/04/02/gIQA5ol1qS_story.html

Excerpt: A California solar energy company that was unable to meet a deadline for an Energy Department loan guarantee last year has sought bankruptcy protection in Delaware. … Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Gov. Jerry Brown were on hand last June when Solar Trust broke ground on a 1,000-megawatt project in California. The project was touted as the world’s largest solar power plant and a keystone of the Obama administration’s efforts to promote solar energy. (“More tax dollars pissed away, do-dah, do-dah…” ~Bob.)

Self-immolations reflect rising Tibetan anger

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/self-immolations-reflect-rising-tibetan-anger/2012/04/01/gIQA2szapS_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Excerpt: In the tense and heavily militarized town, police first kicked him and beat him with clubs spiked with nails before dousing the flames, according to witness reports compiled by refugee groups here in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala. (Nice landlord we have. ~Bob.)

Government Spending and Private Activity By Valerie A. Ramey

http://www.nber.org/papers/w17787

Excerpt: Using a variety of identification methods and samples, I find that in most cases private spending falls significantly in response to an increase in government spending. These results imply that the average GDP multiplier lies below unity.

Like The U.S., Europe Wrestles With Health Care

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/28/149564583/like-the-u-s-europe-wrestles-with-health-care

Excerpt: Several European nations, where universal health care has been the norm for decades, have been waging their own intense debates as they also deal with aging populations and rising costs.

Is There a Republican Alternative to ObamaCare? By John Goodman

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/is-there-a-republican-alternative-to-obamacare/

Excerpt: John McCain’s health plan was more radical and even more progressive than Obama Care. I’ve never seen any serious health policy wonk deny that. Maybe Millenson doesn’t live in a battle ground state. If he did, he would know that the Obama campaign spent more money attacking the McCain health plan during the election than has ever been spent for or against a public policy idea in the history of the republic. In fact, it is probably no exaggeration to say that Obama successfully turned the election into a referendum on the McCain health plan!

Obamacare Supporters, Be Warned: This May Sting a Little by Michael F. Cannon

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelfcannon/2012/04/02/obamacare_supporters_be_warned_this_may_sting_a_little

Video.

Obama and the Eisenhower standard: When crafting foreign policy, the late president didn't 'give a damn how the election goes.' By Fouad Ajami

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577311472402133602.html?mod=djemITP_h 

Excerpt: On Nov. 6, 1956, Election Day, to be precise, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a brief message to British Prime Minister Anthony Eden: "We have given our whole thought to Hungary and the Middle East. I don't give a damn how the election goes." Eisenhower could afford that kind of attitude—he was a genuine American hero in World War II, and there was no chance of his losing his bid for a second term to the inconsequential Adlai Stevenson.

Satire: More offers we can’t refuse by Frank J. Fleming

 http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/more_offers_we_can_refuse_8bDrLjNfSiUOdRvHPrYUHN#ixzz1qsqzniy2

Excerpt: Now, some want the Supreme Court to say that’s unconstitutional, but that’s silly. The Constitution is good, so how can it stop something else that’s good? No, the real question is what other good things the government should make us buy.

Top 10 Deadliest Places to Live

http://survival.s3.amazonaws.com/10-Deadliest-Places-2012-S-A-Product.pdf

I’m surprised Chicago isn’t on the list. ~Bob.

Who Shrank The President? By Monty Pelerin

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/who_shrank_the_president.html

Excerpt: President Obama has had lots of bad weeks in his tenure. None has been as bad as last week. So, in one week, Mr. Obama got caught whispering promises to our enemy, incited a race war, raised serious questions about his understanding of the Constitution, and then got smacked down over his proposed budget that was so wildly reckless that even Democrats in Congress could not support it.

The Highest Taxes in the World

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/02/morning-bell-the-highest-taxes-in-the-world/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

As of yesterday, the U.S. corporate tax rate of 39.2 percent claimed the world's top spot, edging out Japan which recently lowered its rate from 39.5 percent to 36.8 percent.

There aren't many American-owned companies more iconic than Anheuser-Busch, the famous producer of Budweiser beer based in St. Louis, Missouri. That was true up until 2008, when the Brazilian-Belgian company InBev executed a hostile takeover of the historic brewer, leading to layoffs of more than 1,800 workers. Unfortunately, conditions in the United States are growing ripe for even more takeovers like these to occur, especially now that the nation's corporate tax rate is officially the highest in the world. As of yesterday, the U.S. corporate tax rate of 39.2 percent claimed the world's top spot, edging out Japan which recently lowered its rate from 39.5 percent to 36.8 percent.

Worth Reading: Swingin’ Kennedy: The liberties of more than 300 million people hinge on just one man. By Mark Steyn

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/294947/swingin-kennedy-mark-steyn?pg=1

Excerpt: Finding herself with a bit of time on her hands, Justice Ginsburg swung by Cairo last month to help out the lads from the Muslim Brotherhood building the new Egypt: “I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” she advised them. Instead, she recommended the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the European Convention on Human Rights. That’s why the fate of the republic will come down to a 5–4 vote. Because four-ninths of the constitutional court think the American constitutional order is as déclassé as a 2006 BlackBerry.

Whose Movie Is Propaganda? By L. Brent Bozell

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/l-brent-bozell/2012/03/30/whose-movie-is-propaganda/

Excerpt: Abortion is a feminist sacrament. The movie "October Baby" just debuted on 390 screens and registered in eighth place for the weekend, with an estimated $1.7 million gross. … Naturally, the critics just couldn't judge this movie by artistic standards. It had to be savaged because it is so politically incorrect.

Worth Reading: The Rules of Outrage — Or Why the Trayvon Martin Tragedy Divides the Country by Victor Davis Hanson

http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/from-the-trayvon-martin-tragedy-to-a-national-travesty/

Excerpt: Every year hundreds of Americans are shot and killed under controversial circumstances, where the evidence is incomplete and subject to dispute, often making impossible an immediate charge of murder or manslaughter, at least until further witnesses or information come forth. We, the public, rarely, if ever, hear of such tragedies. These certainly are not national news items. What, then, made the Trayvon Martin shooting so different?

AP Exclusive: Images show North Korea launch work

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gb6p1i0WCOmA8PlxvURVlYxWVVvA?docId=64ef4a110dee46b993b2321a394c8c0a

Excerpt: New satellite images of a North Korean rocket launch site show a mobile radar trailer and rows of what appear to be empty fuel and oxidizer tanks, evidence of ramped-up preparation for what Washington calls a cover for a long-range missile test. (…) A mobile radar trailer essential for any launch stands at the end of a new dirt road running from the entrance of the Tongchang-ri site; it has a dish antenna that's probably a radar tracking system, according to the institute's analysis. Radar tracking during a launch gives engineers crucial real-time information on the performance of the rocket's engines, guidance system and other details. (Once again: why don’t sanctions work against autocracies? Because the autocrat isn’t impacted in any serious way. The autocrat will simply starve a few more dissidents. Ron P.)

Suu Kyi declares Myanmar on cusp of new era

http://news.yahoo.com/myanmars-suu-kyi-hails-victory-people-050224298.html

Excerpt: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday hailed a "new era" for Myanmar and called for political unity after her party swept to victory in elections seen as a test of budding reforms. The Nobel laureate won her first-ever seat in parliament, state media confirmed. It said her party had secured 40 of the 44 seats it contested, according to partial official results. (By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea, There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me….--Kipling.)

A lethal game-changer for British politics? By Melanie Phillips.

http://www.melaniephillips.com/a-lethal-game-changer-for-british-politics

Excerpt: For with Galloway’s election, religious extremism has become for the first time a potential game-changer in British politics. The point being so resolutely ignored is that Galloway ran on an Islamist religious ticket. It wasn’t simply that he was pandering to Islamist foreign policy obsessions. He made explicit references to Islam throughout his campaign.

South Thailand Bombings Leave 14 Dead, 340 Injured
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/south-thailand-bombings-leave-14-dead-340-injured/508550

Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Suspected Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated attacks in years in Thailand’s restive south, killing 14 people and injuring 340 on Saturday with car bombs that targeted shoppers and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists.

The Myths of The 2008 Election

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/66414/the-myths-of-the-2008-election/

Excerpt: Admit The Horse is a fictionalized telling of the 2008 primary and general election. Not the myths developed and created by the political gods and marketed 24/7 by mass media. But the back story of ordinary citizens engaged in a historic election and participating in ways they never dreamed possible.

Forced marriage: Girl aged five among 400 minors helped

http://ahafoundation.visibli.com/share/7GXtWd

Excerpt: A five-year-old girl is thought to have become the UK's youngest victim of forced marriage. She was one of 400 children to receive assistance from the government's Forced Marriage Unit in the last year. (Remember that all cultures are equally valid, no matter how they treat women and children. Being judgmental is Islamophobic. ~Bob.)

Sexy Russian Spy Anna Chapman Arrested Because She Was Getting Too Close To Someone Inside "Obama's

Inner Circle

"?

http://minx.cc/?post=328059

Excerpt: That's what a former FBI counterintelligence officer reveals. The Independent (UK) highlights the six hundredth revelation that Iraqi informant "Curveball" lied. They bury the actual new news -- that the FBI felt it had to move quickly to arrest and deport Anna Chapman, for fear that someone close to Obama was about to snork her, and get caught in a "honey trap" (sex, followed by extortion for secrets/influence).

Al-Qaeda’s online forums go dark for extended period

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/al-qaedas-online-forums-go-dark-for-extended-period/2012/04/02/gIQAfd4xqS_story.html

Excerpt: Al-Qaeda’s main Web forums have been offline for the past 11 days in what experts say is the longest sustained outage of the sites since they began operating eight years ago. No one has publicly claimed responsibility for disabling the sites, but the breadth and the duration of the outages have prompted some experts to conclude the forums have been taken down in a cyberattack — launched perhaps by a government, government-backed organization or hacking group. (I owe someone a drink. ~Bob. Sometimes, “radio silence” can be a good thing. Ron P.)

Red Alert: Pentagon activates missile defenses for North Korean launch

http://freebeacon.com/red-alert/

Excerpt: The Pentagon recently activated its global missile shield in anticipation of North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile, according to defense officials. The measures include stepped-up electronic monitoring, deployment of missile interceptor ships, and activation of radar networks to areas near the Korean peninsula and western Pacific. Three interceptor ships near Japan and the Philippines, as well as U.S.-based interceptors, are ready to shoot down the North Korean missile if space-, land-, and sea-based sensors determine its flight path is targeted at the United States or U.S. allies, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Getting Venture Capital Back on Track By Scott Shane

http://www.american.com/archive/2012/march/getting-venture-capital-back-on-track

Excerpt: The industry’s shrinkage has hindered U.S. economic growth and employment. Venture capital-backed companies produce 21 percent of U.S. GDP and 11 percent of employment in the private sector, despite accounting for less than 0.2 percent of all businesses, according to estimates by IMS Global Insight. (Yes, but are they union jobs where the workers are forced to contribute to Democrats? ~Bob.)

More Jobs of the Future: Online Personal Assistants

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/04/02/more-jobs-of-the-future-online-personal-assistants/

Excerpt: As blue model jobs continue to fade away, we see, via Instapundit, that some entrepreneurs are already pitching ideas for the jobs of the future. Developer Ted Roden’s Fancy Hands is one of the more intriguing examples of a post-blue job we’ve seen so far. The core idea is simple. Ordinary people have an incredible number of mundane tasks to complete in a day; if they had assistants to help them with these tasks, they would have more time to devote to more rewarding work:

GSA chief resigns amid reports of excessive spending

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gsa-chief-resigns-amid-reports-of-excessive-spending/2012/04/02/gIQABLNNrS_story.html?wpisrc=al_comboNP_p

Excerpt: The resignations come as the agency’s inspector general prepares to release a scathing report on the training conference, held at a luxury hotel outside Las Vegas in October 2010. Organizers spent $835,000 on the event, which was attended by 300 employees. (Sure, it was excessive. Not as excessive as sending a 13-year-old and 12 friends on Spring Break in Mexico with 25 guards and two jets. But still, excessive. ~Bob.)

Congresswoman Who Couldn’t Remember White Murder Victim: ‘Always Some Bullsh*t’

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/03/31/Always-Some-Bull-Congresswoman-Who-Couldnt-Remember-White-Murder-Victim-Freaks-On-Reporter

ABC News exclusive: ABC News was wrong about George Zimmerman’s injuries

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/02/abc-news-exclusive-abc-news-was-wrong-about-george-zimmermans-injuries/

Excerpt: On the heels of the revelation that NBC News edited the tape of George Zimmerman’s 911 call to portray him as saying something he didn’t, here’s the latest from our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters in the media: … Now ABC News has reversed itself, and somehow it’s an “exclusive.” Not a correction. Not a retraction. An “exclusive.” Their big scoop is that their previous big scoop was wrong.

Arab, Uzbek fighters killed in latest drone strike: report

http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/04/arab_uzbek_fighters_killed_in.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LongWarJournalSiteWide+%28The+Long+War+Journal+%28Site-Wide%29%29

Excerpt: Gazavat Media, a jihadist propaganda website that caters to Turkish jihadists belonging to the Taifatul Mansura, or the Victorious Sect, released a statement saying that one Arab and four Uzbek fighters, along with a civilian, were killed in the March 30 drone strike in Miramshah in North Waziristan.

Democrats’ ‘Jew Cash Money Team’

http://freebeacon.com/democrats-jew-cash-money-team/

Excerpt: The Democratic Party’s newly appointed Jewish outreach liaison is pictured on Facebook in a series of provocative photos with her friends holding dollar bills and referring to themselves as “Jewbags” and the “Jew cash money team.” Dani Gilbert, has been a staffer in the office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.), was recently appointed as the Democratic National Committee’s Jewish outreach liaison, according to her Twitter feed.