Political Digest for May 8, 2012
Robert A. Hall
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.
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Stupid, stupid, stupid: Secret U.S. program releases insurgents held in Afghanistan in exchange for pledges of peace
Excerpt: The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. North Vietnam
French, Greek voters say no to austerity
Excerpt: Voters in France and Greece redrew Europe ’s political map Sunday in a powerful backlash against the German-led cure for the region’s debt crisis: painful austerity. (Well, printing and spending money they didn’t have worked well for the Weimar Republic
Bastille Falls; World Stock Markets Next? By Walter Russell Mead.
Excerpt: Hollande now has a delicate few weeks. French legislative elections are scheduled in June, and Hollande must steer between twin dangers. On the one hand, if it turns out that all his talk about reform and growth was just so much election verbiage and once he’s in office he plans to continue French policy more or less as before, then disillusioned voters could turn on him next month. On the other hand, if he pushes against Germany and the financial markets too forcefully, a crisis of confidence in France and in Europe could develop in the markets.
Excerpt: Hollande, who ran on pledges to raise income taxes, took a little less than 52 percent to Sarkozy's little more than 48 percent in the runoff election. Hollande has promised to raise income tax rates from 41 percent to 75 percent.
Bonjour, Londres. By Rob Long
Excerpt: Nicholas Sarkozy, the compact little bundle of French presidential energy, was defeated today. His successor is Francois Hollande, a Socialist. The great thing about France
Markets braced for shift away from austerity as Francois Hollande wins French election
Excerpt: Mr Hollande's 'farewell to austerity' programme, which combines taxing the rich, raising public spending and lowering the retirement age, has raised the expectations of the French electorate about the end of the 'Merkozy' era.
Behold the Savage Austerity. By Matt Mitchell
http://neighborhoodeffects.mercatus.org/2012/05/07/behold-the-savage-austerity/#.T6gV6AkQ9AE.twitter
Excerpt: If you are a journalist or a commentator and you have ever uttered or written the word “austerity,” I hope you spend some time with this chart:
Al-Qaida militants kill 20 soldiers, capture 25 in surprise attack on army base in south Yemen
Excerpt: Al-Qaida militants staged a surprise attack Monday on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a U.S. drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen
Worth Reading
Excerpt: In the last month, actual employment fell by 169,000, but the unemployment rate dropped by .1%. (…) How did Obama do this magic trick of moving unemployment from a high of 10 percent to 8.1 percent without adding, you know, jobs? Well according to Shedlock, economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley say that those on Social Security Disability (SSDI) checks have risen by about 2.2 million. (I wonder if I could claim disability for an addiction to food? Or, even better, that I require carbon-dioxide to breathe properly, and therefore, I’m being harmed by the EPA’s attempt to limit it? After all, aren’t we all just poor victims of something, somebody, somehow? Ron P. With pulmonary fibrosis, I’m told I auto-qualify for disability. Don’t know, as I prefer to work as long as I can. Somebody has to. ~Bob.)
A Better Life for Julia
A Better Life for Julia
Excerpt: Her name is "Julia," and if you haven't seen her, she's a colorful cartoon character invented by the Obama campaign to help spread the message of how women will "benefit" under the president's policies. What it shows instead, though, is the president's vision of America
Julia's Circle of Life: The continuing adventures of Barack Obama's favorite eyeless, mouthless government dependent
Great satire from Iowa Hawk. ~Bob
The Party of Julia By Ross Douthat
Excerpt: “Forward,” the Obama campaign will be declaiming to Americans, which feels like a none-too-subtle admission that a look backward at the Obama economic record might be bad news for the president’s re-election prospects. But maybe the White House doesn’t need a slogan. After all, it has a person instead: a composite character who’s been the talk of Washington
The 2013 Fiscal Cliff Could Crush Stocks: Do the math on dividend taxes. Yields lower, stock prices lower—maybe by 30%. By Donald L. Luskin
Excerpt: Why doesn't the stock market, that most sensitive of economic barometers, seem to care that the U.S.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: For anyone familiar with the American university and its gospel of multicultural diversity, the revelation that Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren exploited her 1/32 Cherokee ancestry to pass as a minority is a dog-bites-man story. For decades now universities have depended on the superficially non-white “other” to fulfill and tout their “commitment to diversity” and their doctrine of “multiculturalism.” Meanwhile, the only diversity that counts, the diversity of minds and points of view, is ignored.
Tweet zing at Elizabeth Warren (D-OWS) from @DanaPerino
@greggutfeld has been scouring his family tree and has just discovered he's 1/64 Klingon. He's filling out all sorts of forms tonight.
American female defense lawyer covers up in traditional Islamic dress at 9/11 Guantanamo
Excerpt: A female defense attorney, who is not Muslim, wore the traditional Islamic hijab to the military court staging the trial of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of the September 11 attacks yesterday. Cheryl Bormann, 52, who represents Walid bin Attash, said that her client had demanded she wear the clothing and insisted that other women at the hearing also wear 'appropriate' clothes out of respect for his religion. (So not only do the terrorists get to make a mockery of our justice system, the attorney wants to get in on the act as well. For full effect, maybe she should visit the gravesite of one of the victims, hike her hijab up, and piss on the grave. Her actions are most certainly a slap in the face to all survivors of 9/11. Wonder if the fact that she is from Chicago
Why Colleges Don't Teach the Federalist Papers: At America
Excerpt: It would be difficult to overstate the significance of The Federalist for understanding the principles of American government and the challenges that liberal democracies confront early in the second decade of the 21st century. Yet despite the lip service they pay to liberal education, our leading universities can't be bothered to require students to study The Federalist—or, worse, they oppose such requirements on moral, political or pedagogical grounds. Small wonder it took so long for progressives to realize that arguments about the constitutionality of ObamaCare are indeed serious.
Excerpt: What if you could get a free phone with a calling plan whose cost was paid by the federal government? What if you could have eight free cell phones? You can, and people do, Rep. Tim Griffin told The Daily Caller. The annual bill runs over $1 billion, and he’s trying to stop it.
An absurd attack on free speech
Excerpt: Controversies can be wonderfully clarified when people follow the logic of illogical premises to perverse conclusions. For example, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), joined by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, 26 other Democrats and one Republican, proposes a constitutional amendment to radically contract First Amendment protections. His purpose is to vastly expand government’s power — i.e., the power of incumbent legislators — to write laws regulating, rationing or even proscribing speech in elections for the Legislature and the rest of the government.
Corruption is a two-way street. By Dr Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: The smart money inside the Beltway says that a high unemployment rate spells doom at the polls for a president. But history says that people who get government handouts tend to vote for whoever is doing the handing out. The Obama administration — through “stimulus,” “shovel-ready projects” and “green jobs” — has created a handout state that breaks records.
The Perfect Storm of Liberalism by Jeffrey Lord
Excerpt: The Perfect Storm of Liberalism has arrived. A professional collapse inside the several departments and agencies of the United States
Marco Rubio: Dividing Cubans from Hispanics 'offensive'
Excerpt: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who’s been grabbing national headlines as a new generation Republican and potential running mate for Mitt Romney, is pushing back against suggestions that he would be of minimal value on the presidential ticket because as a conservative Cuban-American, he might not appeal to a broader Hispanic population. Such a notion, he said, is “offensive.”
Justice for the victims of Maj. Hasan? By Lee DeCovnick
Excerpt: One thousand and fourteen days. One hundred and forty-five weeks. That how long the thirteen families who lost their sons, husbands and fathers will have waited until the court-martial of Maj. Nidal Hasan begins in late August. And that date could be extended once again, perhaps until after the election in November. (This is ridiculous. The evidence of what happened is perfectly clear and complete. Realistically speaking, the trial should have been held within 6 months. This level of delay is inexcusable. Why the judges have been allowing this crap to go on is a big puzzle, but higher powers should have lit a fire below them a long time ago. –Del. Justice continues to be politicized to avoid offending certain groups. ~Bob.)
‘He’s Gone Above and Beyond’: Man Claiming To Be a Navy SEAL Exposed as a Fraud After Seemingly Fooling CNN
Excerpt: Claiming to be “one of the most skilled snipers of his era,” Brian Leonard Creekmur has everything you would expect of a retired Navy SEAL. Memorabilia and old uniforms decorate his home, and he even possesses what seem to be the photos and military discharge papers to prove his claim. Creekmur even managed to fool CNN‘s Soledad O’Brien, it seems, after he tweeted about the all death he witnessed in combat and she re-tweeted to her 140,000+ followers.
Class warfare can destroy our society. By T.R. Fehrenbac
Meteorologist: Gore going insane with 'bullsh--'
Excerpt: “Bullsh–” speech is evidence the former U.S.
Brave recovery of mutilated Bangladesh
The real “wart on Women” it isn’t PC for the left to mention. ~Bob. Excerpt: When doctors in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka , told Hawa Akther Jui that she would be able to write again with her mutilated right hand, her joy knew no bounds. Ms Akther, 21, had lost all hopes of writing again after her fingers were cut off, allegedly by her husband because she started attending a college without his permission.
ObamaCare Left Out of New Obama Ad About First Term Accomplishments. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: Team Obama is out with a new swing state ad touting President Obama's accomplishments during his first term. The problem? The ad fails to mention ObamaCare, President Obama's landmark legislation. (Can’t say they can’t read the polls. ~Bob.)
'I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart': 'Demolition man' standing trial over Bali bombings says sorry to victims - nine years after attack which killed 202 people
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140819/Im-sorry-heart-Demolition-man-standing-trial-Bali-bombings-says-sorry-victims--years-attack-killed-202-people.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2140819/Im-sorry-heart-Demolition-man-standing-trial-Bali-bombings-says-sorry-victims--years-attack-killed-202-people.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline
Excerpt: 'From my point of view, it was total failure,' the suspect told the court, adding he saw 'no connection' between the original mission, fighting against the oppression of fellow Muslims, and the target, partying tourists. 'Yes, most of the victims were white, but there were no Israelis,' he said. 'Some were even Indonesian. That's a failure.' (Not sorry for murder. Sorry he killed the wrong people. ~Bob.)
Thousands of pills filled with powdered human baby flesh discovered by customs officials in South Korea
Excerpt: Thousands of pills filled with powdered human flesh have been discovered by customs officials in South Korea China
Afghan child-bride's in-laws sentenced for torture
Excerpt: The plight of 15-year-old Sahar Gul captivated the nation and set off a storm of international condemnation when it came to light in late December. Officials said her husband's family kept her in a basement for six months after her arranged marriage, ripping out her fingernails, breaking her fingers and torturing her with hot irons in an attempt to force her into prostitution.
Obama Executive Order Parcels Out More of Our Sovereignty
Excerpt: Buried in the doublespeak is the heart of the executive order, which is that the White House’s appointed policy panel is to consider changing any U.S.
Using Big Labor Cash For A Big Charlotte Convention
Excerpt: If you were wondering why the Senate’s vote on the Congressional Review Act (CRA) went the way of Big Labor the other day, all you need to do is follow the money. It’s a trail that leads to Charlotte , North Carolina
Excerpt: It’s about the stupidity. What a hue and cry in Britain
Excerpt: A new USA Today/Gallup poll of a dozen swing states shows President Obama clinging to a statistically insignificant 47 percent to 45 percent lead over Mitt Romney. Though there are some potentially troubling signs for the challenger -- Obama is viewed as much more likable and Democratic leaning voters are expressing more enthusiasm -- generally, there's a lot of good news for Romney at this stage in the race. To start, swing state voters already give Romney the edge when it comes to the economy:
Worth Reading: All Fall Down. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: The trivial Elizabeth Warren “high cheekbones” fraud nonetheless offered a draw-back-the-curtain look into the gears and levers of our national race industry. The real story is not that the multimillionaire liberal (and one-percenter) Warren fabricated a Cherokee identity for over a decade (to the delight of her quota-thirsty universities), but rather the notion that if a pink blond at Harvard can get away with faking a career-enhancing minority identity, then anyone, anywhere, can—or rather often has.
Sarkozy’s Loss Is Bad News For Obama
Excerpt: Sarkozy lost because the Something-For-Nothing Bunch got nothing. That he didn’t turn around generations of bad government in just 5 years. And that unemployment remained high, even though the French are amongst the world’s least hard-working people on the planet.
The Whole Truth
Doctors’ ad against Obamacare and the IPAB.
Civil War: WI Dems Cancel Unity Party
Excerpt: I don’t know why the rally was canceled, but there has been widespread, unsubstantiated speculation that the front runner in the primary, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, decided at the last minute not to attend. The rumor being spread is that Tom Barrett does not want to be seen in the company of union leaders and union members for fear of having images of his participation in the rally being used against him by the Walker campaign. Others are speculating that the whole thing is a last-minute dirty trick perpetrated by supporters of Kathleen Falk.
President Obama Hopes This Man Is Wrong
Excerpt: Edward Luce writes for the Financial Times, and he doesn’t like what sees when he looks at the US economy. The current recovery, writes Luce, is anemic and likely to stay that way; worse, for many households, the pain is increasing.
Obama Administration Security Official: We Don't Need to Subpoena Reporters Anymore Because We Already Know Who They're Talking To. By Peter Suderman
Excerpt: You can still find a bold bullet point on Change.gov—a set of promises direct from "the office of the President-elect"—that insists Obama will "protect whistleblowers" within the government.
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