Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for October 1, 2012

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. 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 presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Information on my books

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

Book Recommendation: Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 By

Charles Murray

http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Apart-State-America-1960-2010/dp/0307453421/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349042135&sr=1-1&keywords=coming+apart

Excerpt: Despite the subtitle, this is a book about class, not race. The author is looking at a lot of data that suggested the upper class that runs the country, which he calls the Narrow Elite and the Broad Elite, is increasingly wealthy, increasingly takes in both liberals and conservatives with high IQs and is increasingly isolated from the experience of the rest of America. He focuses on whites because that Narrow Elite is overwhelmingly white. He also focuses on the white lower class, so the comparison will not be between a white upper class and a minority lower class. He looks at a lot of data suggesting the white lower class is being destroyed by several trends: decreasing industriousness and ability to hold jobs among males, decreasing participation in civic organizations or churches, decreasing marriage rates, decreasing rates of trust and neighborliness, and sharply escalating non-marital birth rates, all trends that suggest the destruction of both happiness for these folks and what he calls the "American Project." Interestingly, after detailing the rolling disaster that is over-taking the white lower class, he presents data that suggest the minority lower class is not much different, contrary to what many might expect. This reinforces my long-held belief that race doesn't matter, culture matters a great deal. I do not think this is a "liberal" or a "Conservative" book. He says he is neither, but is a libertarian, rare among social scientists. He carefully points out in what I think is a balanced way how liberals or conservatives might draw differing interpretations from the data than he does. Most frightening for me is that the short book I published a year ago, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic, does not include America coming apart along class lines--his title thesis--among the top four problems facing our country. Add this log to the staggering camel's back. ~Bob

Worth Reading: The Obamagas rip-off. By Chet Nagle, Former CIA Agent

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/28/the-obamagas-rip-off/

Excerpt: The Wall Street Journal notes that when President Obama took office in 2009, gas was $1.84 per gallon. The latest Lundberg Survey shows gas in Chicago at $4.25. But that’s small potatoes. Wait until you learn what the U.S. Navy pays for Obamagas.

Even loyal Democrats in the Teamsters Union would raise hell if the Obama administration started a biofuel program that bumped a gallon of gas to $10. But not the U.S. Navy. (Nagle is the author of the excellent political thrillers, The Iran Covenant and The Woolsorter's Plague. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Oh What a Late Summer Night's Dream - 'O' Concedes. By Andy Weddington

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2012/08/oh-what-late-summer-nights-dream-o.html

Excerpt: And then it took another 17 years, the life cycle of a locust, for acoloneloftruth - a good ol white southern red-blooded, no non-sense American patriot, to have a dream early morning August 19th, 2012 that was surreal and funny. It was a gift, from our Heavenly Father. So, awakened by laughter, I sprang from bed quite early this morning to write about that dream--recalling and interpreting as Freud might have done while Lennox softly cooed 'Sweet Dreams' in the background. Hallelujah! Dr. King. Of all charges, acoloneloftruth cannot be accused of being famous. Notorious, perhaps. The colonel is familiar with all the above characters, especially the ladies and their terrific music.

Movie Recommendation: Won't Back Down

http://www.fandango.com/wontbackdown_147786/movieoverview?cmp=pfx_wontbackdown|c_sem+primary|a_title+terms|wont%20back%20down|b|14379124283

Bonnie and I saw this wonderful movie Saturday. It's the story of a few courageous parents and teachers trying to turn around a failing inner-city school in Pittsburgh, in the face of relentless opposition from the teachers union, administration and school board. See the next link. ~Bob

Why Is Hollywood Turning On The Teachers’ Unions?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/why-is-hollywood-turning-on-the-teachers-unions/

Excerpt: Such people would probably be extremely shocked to learn that behind the scenes, these two loyal clients of the Left are now preparing for an intra-ideological battle of epic proportions. And the opening shot will be fired tomorrow, in the form of the new film “Won’t Back Down,” a scrappy little picture inspired by true events that portrays teachers’ union leaders as being almost as morally depraved as workhouse owners in a Charles Dickens novel.

Won’t Back Down’s Teaching Moment 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/328741/iwon-t-back-downi-s-teaching-moment-interview

Blog comment on "I'm Tired"

Dear Old Jarhead, I'm not in my 60s. I'm only 30, but already I'm tired of the way things are going. I'm tired of people who have these nice homes, 2 cars, and a boat telling me that they're poor. They don't know what poor is. I've lived in my car and showered in truck stops or people's water hoses. I still didn't think of myself as poor! I'm a single mother who ended up that way as the result of a rape, but I still went to school and graduated and have a job to try as hard as I can to raise my daughter. No, we don't get a lot of extras, but by the grace of God, we make it. And I DARE our government to try to take God away from me. I know that's what Mr. Obama would like to do, but this is one lady who will not take that lying down. The only thing that seems to be left of my Grandparent's USA is the fact that I can still worship God. Our work ethic is gone. Our pride in ourselves and what we've made/done is gone. Our courage to stand up for ourselves and our children is gone! It's about high time that my generation let the older generation rest and stand up and say we're not going to take this crap any more. --Staci

Non-Partisan sites to sort political campaign rhetoric from both parties

http://www.factcheck.org/

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/

Here are two sites that really help sort through all the campaign BS from both parties. If you truly want to have a better understanding of what's behind the TV ads. I've looked at both, and both are evenhanded in debunking both GOP and Democrat campaign ads. Some of the information is really interesting, like the article that really breaks down the 47% and shows who's in there, who's not, and some ideas on what voting trends there might be in the group. I really wish we had someone campaigning whose ads were all solidly factual, and who provides detailed plans for the policies they will institute if elected. What a radical idea! --Del (I find there are few real "non-partisans." ~Bob.)

AGAIN: American Troops Killed by "Allies" in Afghanistan
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-30-05-14-29
Excerpt: A firefight broke out between U.S. forces and their Afghan army allies in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Americans and three Afghan soldiers and pushing the number of U.S. troops killed in the long-running war 2,000.

Dallas Morning News endorses Romney

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20120928-we-recommend-mitt-romney-for-president.ece

I had to look outside...and sure enough...pigs were flying. The mostly liberal Dallas Morning News has endorsed Romney saying that Obama had enough time to make a difference and he didn't do it. --Mike G.

DEA Boss: Mexican Drug Cartels Are So Deeply Embedded in Chicago, We Have to Operate Like We‘re ’On the Border’ 

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/dea-boss-mexican-drug-cartels-are-so-deeply-embedded-in-chicago-we-have-to-operate-like-were-on-the-border/

Excerpt: Because of Chicago’s location in the heart of the United States, its large Mexican population and its abundance of street gang activity, drug cartels have designated the city as one of its main hubs of operation in America, Riley told TheBlaze in an exclusive interview. Inevitably, the increasing presence of cartels has also contributed to the Windy City’s skyrocketing violent crime rates, the DEA boss revealed.

Record Antarctica Ice Contradicts Global Warming Trend

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Antartica-ice-global-warming/2012/09/30/id/458115?s=al&promo_code=1035A-1

Excerpt: As climatologists worry about the effects of global warming, Antarctica has quietly set a new record for the greatest sea ice extent ever measured at either pole, according to various sources.

Kakistocracy... A Word You Should Know

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-finkelstein/kakistocracy-a-word-you-s_b_132417.html

Excerpt: "Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens (from the Greek kakistos "worst.")

America Really is Exceptional. By Megan McArdle
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/26/america-really-is-exceptional.html
Excerpt: It's that America really is exceptional: not so much for our love of freedom or embrace of risk, but from our sheer size. We are the biggest rich country, and the richest big country, and our per-capita GDP is higher than all but a handful of other places in the world. Almost definitionally, the US is where a lot of innovation is going to take place, because at the current technology frontier, innovation takes a lot of money and people, and we have more of both than almost anyone else.

VIDEO: Absolutely Uncertain

http://moonbattery.com/?p=18387

Excerpt: Any Jew or supporter of Israel who would even consider voting to reelect Obama needs to hear from Irina, a liberal Jewish New Yorker who woke up and smelled the coffee: 'I don't know how many people realize this, but today, as we speak, Israelis are lining up for gas masks and cleaning out their bomb shelters.'

Why Capital Gains Taxes Remain at 15%

http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-capital-gains-taxes-remain-at-15.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29

Excerpt: One may argue about whether President Obama is trying to start class warfare with his condemnation of the current Capital Gains tax rates. Republicans charge him with class warfare while Obama says the rates need to be raised to 30 percent for "billionaires and millionaires". When one hears Obama's cry for economic justice it certainly sounds reasonable doesn't it. However, if one looks at what Obama has actually been willing to put on paper, one finds that he is for raising the capital gains tax for anyone who makes over $200,000 dollars. Here's the problem with that proposal. Many married professional couples make $200,000 dollars per year, but that doesn't make them millionaires! Many of Obama's "millionaires" are paying $12,000 a year for health care, hold a $300,000 dollars mortgage and have debts that keep them constantly on the treadmill of earnings just to churn out enough to support a middle class household.

Canada: "Then I stab her, stab her neck. She said, 'No Mom!' I said, 'It's for your good. Let me finish.'" Attempted honor murder in Montreal.

Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide.

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, the most respected authority in Sunni Islam, says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Saliko1.1-2). In other words, someone who kills his child incurs no legal penalty under Islamic law.

If Obama Had Never Been President (Video)

http://www.conservativevideos.com/2012/09/if-obama-had-never-been-president/
Excerpt: UnreElectable.com answers “what if” the question of Obama’s Presidency and hw the US would look today if the results had been different.

Gay Patriot: Grennell: Immediate hearings needed on Libya Coverup. Daniel B. Blatt
http://www.gaypatriot.net/2012/09/29/grenell-immediate-hearings-needed-on-libya-coverup/
Excerpt: Before the election, we need to get to the bottom of this, to know what kind of foreign policy/national security operation the president has been running. The framers identified providing for the common defense as one of the purposes for establishing the federal government.

Obama blocks Chinese wind farm in Oregon. By Michael Bastasch

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/29/obama-blocks-chinese-wind-farm-in-oregon/#ixzz27svBW91d

Excerpt: The company, Ralls Corporation, is owned by executives from the China-based construction machinery firm Sany Group. Ralls Corp. was investing in wind farm projects that were all in the vicinity of restricted air space of a military facility in Oregon, reports Reuters. …The BBC reports that the military uses the base in Oregon to test unmanned drones and equipment for electronic warfare, with aircraft flying as low as 200 feet and as fast as 300 miles per hour. (Nothing like leading from behind after the fact. Chinese should never have been permitted to buy a company in vicinity of US base. Duh. --Barb.)

The Queen: Why Couldn't we Just Arrest [Hook-handed Terrorist] Abu Hamsa? By James Delingpole
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100182499/the-queen-why-couldnt-we-arrest-abu-hamza/
Excerpt: Like many razor-sharp 86-year-olds, the Queen must spend an awful lot of time wondering what the hell became of the Britain she knew in her youth, and of all those commonsense values and that basic decency which saw us through trials like the Second World War. Unlike the rest of her generation, she is constitutionally prevented from saying this aloud. But just occasionally her private views slip out. And when they do, my how you wish she was actually running the country herself rather than leaving it to idiots like her useless fifth cousin Dave.

Hamas is Outraged Barcelona Soccer Club Gave Tickets to Gilad Shalit, claim they are trying to cover up Zionist crimes.
http://weaselzippers.us/2012/09/29/hamas-outraged-barcelona-soccer-club-gave-tickets-to-gilad-schalit-claim-they-are-trying-to-cover-up-zionist-crimes/
Excerpt: Spanish football giants Barcelona face a possible boycott from Palestinian fans angered that Israeli sportswriter Gilad Shalit, a former Hamas hostage, will be attending a big match against Real Madrid next month. A Hamas radio station called on Palestinians to stop supporting the club, which is popular with youth people in the Gaza Strip. Gaza youngsters expressed their outrage on social media, calling for their team not to let the former Israeli soldier come to the game.

From victim to accused: Tunisian raped by police indicted for ‘indecency’

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=54589

Shari'a Law in action. ~Bob. Excerpt: Civil society groups express outrage after young woman was accused of indecency by two policemen jailed for raping her.

MSNBC Caught Doctoring Clip From Romney/Ryan Rally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lyEOLtUhCM&feature=share

Show me your shocked face. ~Bob

The Constitution Reader Online 

www.ConstitutionReader.com 

Excerpt: The Constitution Reader is a free, interactive, searchable, and customizable website centered around The U.S. Constitution: A Reader. It contains the same material taught in the College’s core course on the Constitution.

Sixteen Reasons Why Islam Is Not the Religion of Peace. By James Arlandson

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/sixteen_reasons_why_islam_is_not_the_religion_of_peace.html

Excerpt: Islam is not the religion of peace. The following sixteen reasons, all sourced from the original sacred documents (the Quran and Traditions), classical law, and history, tell us why. Each item in the list has one or more back-up articles. Readers should click on them to find out that the points come right out of original Islam and are not invented out of thin air.

Nissan Buys Back Leaf Electric Cars Under Arizona Lemon Law

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1079475_nissan-buys-back-leaf-electric-cars-under-arizona-lemon-law

Excerpt: “I had to get rid of it,” Yarosh told CBS5. “When I turned my car in, I was only able to get 42 miles on a single charge,” he explained, pointing out that his work commute was 45 miles. After just 15 months of ownership, three of the capacity bars on his Leaf’s dashboard had disappeared, representing a 27.5 percent loss in battery capacity. (Ouch... After getting $1.5 billion from U.S. tax payers, Nissan electric cars are lemons. --Chris)

It's Over. By William L. Gensert
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/its_over.html
Bull... If anything, the closer we get to Election Day, the more apparent it is that Obama is not only losing, but losing big. The Obama campaign, and by "campaign" I mean members of the media and polling organizations, is trying to convince prospective Romney voters to believe that all is lost -- in which case, they hope, we will stay home. But just because they say so, that doesn't make it true. (Encouraging thoughts...Del)

Video: Preview of Univision’s “bombshell” report on Fast & Furious. By Ed Morrissey

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/09/29/video-univisions-bombshell-report-on-fast-furious/

Excerpt: The Obama administration clearly hoped that the Department of Justice’s Inspector General report on Operation Fast and Furious would be the last word on the scandal. which has been tied to hundreds of deaths in Mexico and the murders of two American law-enforcement officials. However, a new report from Univision to be broadcast tomorrow, previewed here by ABC News, may put the issue back on the front pages. One source called Univision’s findings the “holy grail” that Congressional investigators have been seeking: (More and more information keeps surfacing about the effects of our government sending those guns across the border. Which of course the MSM aren't paying any attention to, after all, it's election time and that eclipses everything else. But this about a seriously insane idea that has brought death to two US agents and now it seems dozens of Mexicans. This deserves tremendous coverage, like Watergate, but it's just not getting it. Could media bias have anything to do with it? Just a thought. --Del)

The Hope And The Change - Official Movie Trailer

http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/video/video/show?id=2734278%3AVideo%3A409617&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video

The surprising personal journeys of 40 Democrats and Independents from across America who supported Obama in 2008.