Political Digest for July 24, 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.
I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information present, which is the responsibility of the author. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.
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Excerpt: President Obama took on entrepreneurs the other day, boldly claiming the self-made man is an illusion to an audience in Roanoke , Virginia
I can’t imagine why he did it. Was it gratuitously insulting? Of course. Did it sound like a school yard taunt? No doubt. Was it un-presidential? Absolutely. Was it a gaffe? I’m not sure. He seemed to be speaking from the heart. I am sure about this: The president’s remarks reflect bad logic, bad philosophy and most important (for me) bad economics.
72% Believe Small Business Owners Primarily Responsible for Their Own Success
Excerpt: Most Americans believe entrepreneurs who start businesses do more to create jobs and economic growth than big businesses or government. They also believe overwhelmingly that small business owners work harder than other Americans and are primarily responsible for the success or failure of their businesses.
The Hill Poll: Majority (sic) of voters blame president for bad economy
Note to the Hill. 34% is not a “majority. ~Bob. Excerpt: Two-thirds of likely voters say the weak economy is Washington
Excerpt: What happened in Colorado
In swing states, economic picture a little brighter for Obama. By Chris Cillizza
Excerpt: Nationally, the economic picture is decidedly dismal — a sullen state of affairs that has led many political observers to conclude that President Obama is an underdog in his bid for a second term. But in the 12 (or so) swing states — where Democrats and Republicans will spend the lion’s share of their time and money in the 100 or so days between now and Nov. 6 — the economic picture is considerably sunnier.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/post/penn-state-punishment-by-ncaa-expected-to-be-unprecedented/2012/07/23/gJQAuhe73W_blog.html?wpisrc=al_national
Excerpt: The NCAA has announced a $60 million fine againstPenn State
Excerpt: The NCAA has announced a $60 million fine against
Afghan boy reunites with Marine who saved him
Excerpt: On Sunday, an Afghan boy was reunited with the U.S. New Hampshire to North Carolina Afghanistan
Quote from The Patriot Post
"There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." --American author and poet Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Obama to Bush in 2003: 'Fix Up the Economy,' $300 Billion Deficit 'Recklessness'
Excerpt: Give Barack Obama points for consistency: he has always blamed Bush for the economy, even when it was humming along. In April 2003, Obama, then a state senator, attacked George Bush’s “attack on working families.” He called on Bush to “fix up the economy first” before he did anything else, like tax cuts.
Rand Paul Introduces "Read the Bills Act" in the Senate
Excerpt: Yes, that’s right, all of these bills are now introduced in the Senate . . .“The One Subject at a Time Act” (OSTA) “The Write the Laws Act” (WTLA) And “The Read the Bills Act” (RTBA) (Good luck. ~Bob.)
States Should Wait Before Accepting Obamacare
Excerpt: The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance, but it also struck down part of the law. That part—forcing states to expand their Medicaid programs—offers governors some much-needed relief. Expanding Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, was one of President Obama’s main ways to increase the number of insured people through Obamacare. This was no magic solution for the uninsured, especially since Medicaid is in need of reform, not expansion.
Occupy San Diego
Excerpt: Mass murderer James Holmes DOES in fact have an arrest record, having been hauled off by San Diego
Anyone want to know the definition of “AUDACITY”? HERE IT IS Obama’s Campaign Bus
You become numb. ~Bob. Excerpt: He FLIES into an airport somewhere in the Midwest, hops into one of two brand new Canadian built $1.1 Million buses, paid for by you and me, for a “bus/fly tour” ‘around the Midwest’, and after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport where another $1.1 Million brand new black bus is waiting for him… and, then, repeats all that until his Midwest “bus/fly tour” is done? Oh yes… and THEN, he leaves on a 10 day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard … to REST UP from this campaign bus/fly tour!
Killer ad from Team Romney
Excerpt: Twice in the last week, the White House has deflected questions on whether climate change is to blame for natural disasters like the Colorado Springs wildfires and the Midwest drought.
Excerpt: In a coordinated display intended to show they remain a viable force, Iraqi insurgents launched at least 37 separate attacks throughout the country on Monday morning, setting off car bombs, storming a military base, attacking policemen in their homes and ambushing checkpoints, Iraqi authorities said. At least 99 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in the single bloodiest day this year, according to local Iraqi officials in the many areas where attacks took place. The attacks, coming in the early days of Ramadan,… (See, the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” thing doesn’t apply during the Islamic Holy Month. ~Bob.)
Aurora Slaughter and the Enthralled Tribes of America
Excerpt: How overly-enthralled we are becoming to our ideological tribes? Enough, perhaps, to wonder if our too-passionate engagement with ideas is poisoning our communal well, and robbing us of our humanity. At a moment when we should be united as a people responding to evil in our midst — and a mass murder is not a “tragedy”, it is evil on legs — it’s disheartening to realize that while the dead were not yet cold, the injured were still dying or being treated, the people who are charged with the public trust of telling the nation its stories, (and to do it factually, without passion or prejudice) were so quick to abandon that charge with a smiling possibility that political hay could be made.
Administration Approves Controversial Export License Allowing Sensitive Space Technology Transfer To China
Excerpt: The Obama administration recently notified Congress that it has agreed to license exports of sensitive U.S. space technology to China from a U.S.
Here's Some Wealth I'd "Re-Distribute"
Excerpt: Some of our most liberal politicians are also some of the wealthiest Americans. I would ask the liberals and Wall Street Occupiers this: If the very champions of your ideology, redistributing the wealth, are also some of the most wealthy, why are you not demanding they put their money where their mouths are? Why do they insist on bleeding the working taxpayer who, depending where they live, are not getting wealthy on $200,000!
Obama for Sale
Excerpt: Summer is traditionally a weak shopping season, but lately the bargains just keep on coming. First there was an offer to have dinner with Obama and now a chance to have him there in your family photo. You can bid on an opportunity to wish Obama a happy birthday in person with the present that he likes best… money.
Dealing With Writers Block. By Burt Prelutsky
Excerpt: With the election just a few months off and Obama’s departure in January just around the corner, I have already begun to wonder what I’ll be writing about in 2013. But down deep, I know I probably won’t have a problem. So long as we have liberals in Congress and holding nearly all the political offices here in California
Excerpt: Well, yes, this sort of thing does happen in Pakistan Pakistan
Excerpt: Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. A manual of Islamic law certified as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy by Al-Azhar University
Excerpt: As of now we know little about what conditions drove, or proved useful to, the Aurora Colorado Norway , Uganda , Russia , and Latin America .
13 dead after truck carrying at least 23 crashes in Texas
Excerpt: A pickup truck overloaded with passengers veered off a highway and crashed into trees in rural South Texas , killing at least 13 people and leaving 10 injured, authorities said. Gerald Bryant, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the 23 passengers, were crammed inside the truck's cab and bed, including at least two young children whom he saw among the dead after the Sunday evening crash. … "It's unknown whether or not (the victims) were illegal, but it's possible," Bryant told the AP. (ABC will report that many Tea Party members own truck. Progressives will demand that trucks be banned to “end the carnage.” Nothing will be done about illegal immigration, because enforcing the law offends Democrat voters. ~Bob.)
Ten Things We Learn And Should Have Learned From Maraniss’ Obama Book. By Charles C. Johnson
Excerpt: Sometime the media makes a mistake and accidentally reveals too much. Take a gander at these truths we learn--and some we didn't--from David Maraniss's book, Barack Obama: The Story.
‘Never Let A Good Crisis’: Dems Push Gun Control. By Ben Shapiro
Excerpt: Whenever a major crime takes place, liberals cannot help but politicize it. …Now, in the aftermath of James Holmes’ horrifying massacre of moviegoers in Aurora , Colorado
Witness: Someone Let Gunman Inside Colorado
Excerpt: A man who was at the Colorado
Democrats Shun Nancy Pelosi's Plea for Cash. By. Alex Isenstadt
Excerpt: One by one, the pictures of House members adorning the lobby of Democratic Party headquarters have come down, turning neat rows of framed photos into a disjointed mess — “splattered,” as one aide described it. The half-dozen or so lawmakers whose mugs have vanished in recent weeks weren’t indicted in court or slapped with an ethics violation. But their transgression is still deadly serious in the eyes of top party leaders: ignoring pleas to kick in cash for Democrats’ increasingly uphill slog to take back the House.
VIDEO: ICE-T: America 's Gun-Rights Ambassador to England
Excerpt: "You know, the right to bear arms is because that’s the last line of defense against tyranny. Not to hunt. It’s to protect yourself from the police,” he said.
Obama's Bain Bust: New Gallup
Excerpt: Which means Obama flushed $100 million down the drain on attacks ads targeting Romney’s Bain record.
Legislation Would Bar Obama From Giving Our Secrets to Russia
Excerpt: We have come to a pretty pass when this becomes necessary: 'The House approved language on Thursday that would prevent the Obama administration from sharing classified information about U.S. missile defense technology with Russia
Marco Rubio Endorses Scott Brown. By Daniel Doherty
Excerpt: On Monday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio blasted out an email to supporters on behalf of the Reclaim America Pac endorsing Scott Brown and explaining, in no uncertain terms, the myriad reasons why Bay State
Romney Expects to Raise $10 Million in Two-Day California Haul. By Alexander Burns
Excerpt: POLITICO's Ginger Gibson says that between Romney's events in San Francisco yesterday and Irvine and Los Angeles today, the former Massachusetts governor will collect an eight-figure sum.
POLL: Romney preferred 2-1 over Obama to handle economy. By Susan Page
Excerpt: By more than 2-1, 63%-29%, those surveyed say Romney's background in business, including his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital, would cause him to make good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation's economic problems over the next four years.
My Brother Ron: A Personal and Social History of the Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill. By Clayton E. Cramer
Excerpt from Amazon Editiorial Book Description (Hat Tip: Instapundit): My Brother Ron examines the multiple strands that came together to create the perfect storm that was deinstitutionalization: a well-meaning concern about the poor conditions of many state mental hospitals; a giddy optimism by the psychiatric profession in the ability of new drugs to cure the mentally ill; a rigid ideological approach to due process that ignored that the beneficiaries would end up starving to death or dying of exposure. (Local mental health groups lobbied for it, assuming the money would be turned over to them for programs… ~Bob.)
Energy-efficient CFL bulbs cause skin damage say researchers. By Caroline May
Excerpt: “Our study revealed that the response of healthy skin cells to UV emitted from CFL bulbs is consistent with damage from ultraviolet radiation,” said lead researcher Miriam Rafailovich, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Stony Brook University, in New York, in a statement. (Can we sue Al Gore? ~Bob.)
Italians Only, Please!. By Baron Bodissey
Excerpt: More news from the “Brussels backlog”: a story that came out a couple of weeks ago in Alerta Digital. Many thanks to Hermes for the translation: A delegate from the Italian Northern League in Milan proposes to keep subway coaches only for Italians due to the bad behavior of immigrants.
Sweden: Open Arms for Illegal Immigrants. By Baron Bodissey
Excerpt: Here’s another news brief from the backlog that accumulated while I was in Brussels. It’s from our Swedish correspondent PMP, and concerns a recent decision by the Swedish government to extend “free” health care to all illegal immigrants. As with similar decisions by the American government concerning “undocumented” migrants from Latin America, the ruling renders the distinction between legal and illegal immigration all but meaningless.
Europe is Threatening the World. By Bill Emmott
Excerpt: During my time as direttore of The Economist, I remember publishing a front cover, I think in September 2002, describing the world economy as “in the doldrums”, by which I meant it was like a sailing ship that was not moving because there was no wind. This was based on IMF forecasts of growth in 2002 and 2003 even slower than the ones it has just made. So what happened? The world between 2002 and 2007 in fact had the fastest five years of economic growth it had enjoyed in more than 40 years.
Spanish Parliament Seeks Power to Crack Down on Street Protesters
Excerpt: The motion would introduce a new crime to the penal code - that of "urban violence" committed during demonstrations and meetings - as well as possible "preventative" imprisonment for menacing behavior such as possession of dangerous materials, possession of tools that could be used for illegal acts, and concealment of identity by donning ski masks, head scarves and the like.
Man's Counterterrorism Course Riles Florida Muslims. By Cristela Guerra
Excerpt: Kharoba, 46, works out of an unassuming single-family home in south Cape Coral, with trimmed hedges and landscaped grass. Teaching cops to get inside the mind of a terrorist has become his full-time job. He tends not to abide political correctness, not when talking about an enemy he says he knows.
Two Classes, Divided by "I Do." By Jason deParle
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/two-classes-in-america-divided-by-i-do.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
Excerpt: Ms. Faulkner is married and living on two paychecks, while Ms. Schairer is raising her children by herself. That gives the Faulkner family a profound advantage in income and nurturing time, and makes their children statistically more likely to finish college, find good jobs and form stable marriages.
The politicization of evil. By B. Daniel Blatt
Excerpt: There was, however, Paul Mirengoff laments, a time 'when no one attempted to tie mass murder by random sickos to politics. For example, I don’t remember anyone wondering about the politics of Richard Speck, the killer of Chicago student nurses, or Charles Whitman, the University of Texas shooter.' Perhaps, until recently, people appreciated that there are some things of which we simply cannot make sense.
So This Never Happens Again. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and New Hampshire, all full of guns, have far lower murder rates than gun control states like New York, California and Illinois. According to Bloomberg, "If we had fewer guns, we would have a lot fewer murders." But guns are not proportional to murders.
When Did Feminism Become so Embarrassing? Heather Wilhelm
Excerpt: As a woman, [Marissa] Mayer is a rarity in the world of Silicon Valley power players, but she’s not too hung up on the whole feminism thing. The term itself, she pointed out in a PBS-AOL interview, is tainted with “negative,” “militant,” “chip-on-the-shoulder” connotations. “I was always very gender blind,” she told a recent audience. “I think if I had felt more self-conscious about being the only woman along the way, it would have actually stifled me a lot more.” (About the time the feminists went to bat for Bill Clinton. deciding that, after all, women did lie about rape. From then on, just another unprincipled interest group. ~Bob.)
The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. By Daron Acemoglu
Excerpt: The gaps in prosperity that surround us in the modern age are much wider than those that motivated Adam Smith to write The Wealth of Nations in 1776, which of course is where the modern discipline of economics began. Whereas back then the gap between the richest and poorest nations was 4- or 5- fold, today it is over 40-fold. Why is it, then, that certain nations are distinguished from others in terms of wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
5 Ways to Get America Working Again. By David Harsanyi
Excerpt: Step one? Please, stop. It would probably strike the average politician as absurd to argue that the best way to fix the economy is to stop trying to “fix it.”
The 50 Most Popular Conservative Websites. By John Hawkins
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