Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for October 31, 2012
Robert A. Hall
The Press Watchdogs
Cartoon
Acting Presidential
Cartoon from a paper that used to cover me. ~Bob.
Worth Sharing: The American Decline
Worth Sharing: Two Paths
Worth Reading
Excerpt: The Obama administration is accused of failing to protect the U.S. consulate in Benghazi , Libya
The buzz in the U.S. diplomatic community for weeks has been the Obama administration’s plans for a deal with Iran
Worth Sharing: American Crossroads: "Debate"
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Confidence men know that their victim — "the mark" as he has been called — is eventually going to realize that he has been cheated. …So part of the confidence racket is creating a period of uncertainty, during which the victim is not yet sure of what is happening. This delaying process has been called "cooling out the mark." …We are currently seeing another "cooling out" process, growing out of the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on September 11th this year.
Exodus: Inner city Blacks Fleeing Obama, Democrats
Wishful thinking, I fear. ~Bob. Excerpt: After his meteoric ascent to the top of the American political arena in the country’s history, we are now in the midst of witnessing one of the most stunning collapses of any man ever to hold the office of President of the United States
Worth Reading
Note that Barack Obama is running not on his liberal record, but as a challenger against incumbent Mitt Romney who has done all sorts of terrible things like causing the 2008 meltdown and outsourcing jobs to China
Why the Gender Gap Won't Matter in this Election: The gender gap doesn't matter: it never has. By Linda Hirshman
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/28/why-the-gender-gap-won-t-matter-in-this-election.html
Excerpt: Although Founding Father John Adams’s uppity wife, Abigail, told him he’d better include women in the new nation, they did not “foment a rebellion,” as she warned they would. It took them almost 150 years to get the vote, and for 60 years after that, they voted mostly the way their men did. In 1980—cue the trumpets—women voted more for the Democratic candidate than men did.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/28/why-the-gender-gap-won-t-matter-in-this-election.html
Excerpt: Although Founding Father John Adams’s uppity wife, Abigail, told him he’d better include women in the new nation, they did not “foment a rebellion,” as she warned they would. It took them almost 150 years to get the vote, and for 60 years after that, they voted mostly the way their men did. In 1980—cue the trumpets—women voted more for the Democratic candidate than men did.
VIDEO: Former SEIU Worker: I was "required" to do political work. By David Martosko
Excerpt: In a case that could have wide-ranging implications for the political future of the Service Employees International Union, a former SEIU organizer told a right-to-work group and a best-selling author recently that the union forced him and other workers to volunteer their time for Democratic political campaigns. On a video segment provided exclusively to The Daily Caller, the organizer says he and other SEIU staff “had to do some political work. We were required as staff to do that.”
Michelle Obama’s Vacations During The Last Four Years
Excerpt: Michelle’s way of helping the less fortunate: Using tax payer dollars to fund her vacations.
Media Cover Up: Aside from FOX, Sunday Shows Fail to Raise Benghazi
Excerpt: The mainstream media's silence on the Benghazi
Excerpt: The Benghazi debacle has three parts: how we neglected security while al-Qaeda was building a presence in Libya
Obama Campaign Strategy: Vandalize Cars of Romney Supportershttp://politicaloutcast.com/2012/10/obama-campaign-strategy-vandalize-cars-of-romney-supporters/
Excerpt: Two owners’ cars were hit by the vandals who keyed “OBAMA” into a couple cars and slashed the car seats. The cars were targeted because there were “Romney/Ryan” signs in the owners’ front yards. Ironically, one of the victims Ken Slown is an Obama supporter whose family was staying with his Romney-supporting in-laws. I don’t think he’s feeling the love from his fellow Obama supporters. (Nothing new. Our car with a Bush sticker was keyed inMadison , WI
Excerpt: Two owners’ cars were hit by the vandals who keyed “OBAMA” into a couple cars and slashed the car seats. The cars were targeted because there were “Romney/Ryan” signs in the owners’ front yards. Ironically, one of the victims Ken Slown is an Obama supporter whose family was staying with his Romney-supporting in-laws. I don’t think he’s feeling the love from his fellow Obama supporters. (Nothing new. Our car with a Bush sticker was keyed in
Al Qaeda leader Rashid Rauf killed in drone strike, family says
Excerpt: A senior al Qaeda operative who had been plotting terror attacks in Europe and had escaped Pakistani custody in December 2007 was killed in a drone strike, according to family members who are planning to sue the British government.
Many Students Lack Basic Academic Skills to Succeed in College
Excerpt: More and more students are graduating high school and entering college unprepared. The reason is that many high school students lack basic academic skills to succeed in college course. In response to this, many two-year and four-year colleges have begun screening students to see if they need remedial courses, say researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Half of all undergraduates will take one or more remedial courses. Remedial coursework is one of the largest interventions to help underprepared college students, costing $7 billion annually. The vast majority of institutions use brief, standardized tests before registration to determine who needs remediation. (We spend more on education than ever before and get worse results. Thank a teachers’ union near you. ~Bob.)
Glenn Reynolds: Americans of all political persuasions are now comfortable criticizing the president
Excerpt: Last week, I speculated that we may be seeing a "preference cascade," as people who previously supported Obama now feel safe about publicly changing their minds. It seems that we're seeing more of that this week as word of the Benghazi
2013 State Business Tax Climate Index. By Scott Drenkard, Joseph Henchman
Excerpt: In reality, tax-induced economic distortions are a fact of life, so a more realistic goal is to maximize the occasions when businesses and individuals are guided by business principles and minimize those cases where economic decisions are influenced, micromanaged, or even dictated by a tax system. The more riddled a tax system is with politically motivated preferences, the less likely it is that business decisions will be made in response to market forces.
The Real Stimulus: Low-Cost Natural Gas
Excerpt: The United States U.S. United States
Important: The looming shortfall in public pension costs. By Robert Novy-Marx and Josh Rauh
Excerpt: How much will the underfunded pension benefits of government employees cost taxpayers? The answer is usually given in trillions of dollars, and the implications of such figures are difficult for most people to comprehend. These calculations also generally reflect only legacy liabilities — what would be owed if pensions were frozen today. Yet with each passing day, the problem grows as states fail to set aside sufficient funds to cover the benefits public employees are earning. (The public pension crisis is just one of many factors I cite in my book, “The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.” If we elect Mitt Romney next Tuesday, we have a very slim hope of staving off fiscal collapse, followed by social and political collapse. If we reelect Barack Obama, we have no hope at all, and I really believe the Republic is finished. ~Bob.)
Book Review: The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks. Review by Neil Sheehan
When I first came into the Marine Corps, there were still senior officers/Generals from WWII. These were tough guys, at least in the USMC. I got to know General Westmoreland after retirement and when he was fighting Alzheimer’s. He still could remember some things about Vietnam Vietnam Iraq by failing to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement so we could leave a small contingent of forces in Iraq to continue to train the Iraqi Army, and serve as a counter balance to Iran Afghanistan by saying “Afghanistan Vietnam Afghanistan Libya
10 Catalysts for World War Three
In case you don’t have enough to worry about. ~Bob.
Excerpt: Vietnam
Bolivian journalist Fernando Vidal set alight on air
Excerpt: A Bolivian radio journalist has been attacked while he was conducting a radio show in the southern city of Yacuiba
Why Iran Wants to Attack the United States: The Islamic Republic's terror plots may look bumbling today, but what about tomorrow? By Matthew Levitt
Excerpt: An Iranian-American used car salesman pleaded guilty this month to conspiring with Iranian agents to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States
Excerpt: With much of the coast bracing for damage and prolonged power outages from the storm called Sandy, election officials and providers of voting equipment, including Omaha-based Electronic Systems & Software, spent Monday hashing out contingency plans, backup contingency plans and backup-backup contingency plans in case polling places remain without power on Nov. 6. (I can hear Obama's excuses already...no power to vote for me...However, it sounds like this company has lots of contingency plans in the event of long term power outages on the east coast. --Laura)
Lies, damned lies, and green statistics - in Germany
http://www.thegwpf.org/lies-damn-lies-and-green-statistics/
http://www.thegwpf.org/lies-damn-lies-and-green-statistics/
Excerpt: Almost all predictions about the expansion and cost of German wind turbines and solar panels have turned out to be wrong – at least by a factor of two, sometimes by a factor of five.
The Final Days. By Burt Prelutsky
http://www.burtprelutsky.com/2012/10/the-final-days.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+burtprelutsky%2FSQlQ+%28BurtPrelutsky.com%29
http://www.burtprelutsky.com/2012/10/the-final-days.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+burtprelutsky%2FSQlQ+%28BurtPrelutsky.com%29
Excerpt: I watched all of the GOP debates, I watched the Biden-Ryan debate and I even sat through all three of the presidential debates, and I don’t think it’s fair that I only get one vote that can be canceled out by the vote of one of those louts who got a free cell phone, thanks to Obama, or one of the guttersnipes who befouled our streets as a member of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In spite of that, I am feeling pretty confident about the upcoming election.
Worth Reading Racine , WI
Once upon a time a man named Martin Koszta was kidnapped in Smyrna , Greece Hungary 's independence from Austria , then fled to the still-young United States Smyrna St. Louis was in port at Smyrna US Benghazi
This guy doesn't pull any punches. I've seen several other videos by this guy... he's good in all of them. –Steve.
Excerpt: The initial explosion at the Con Ed Plant, E14th and FDR in New York City
Released under Creative Commons License. Please credit: TrillianMedia. (Thankfully I understand it’s coal powered. ~Bob.)
Released under Creative Commons License. Please credit: TrillianMedia. (Thankfully I understand it’s coal powered. ~Bob.)
Worth Sharing: Thrill Is Gone? Matthews Turns On Obama; 'I Hear Stories That You Would Not Believe'
Excerpt: Data points continue to accumulate about the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi , Libya Benghazi Middle East , national defense and counterterrorism. Lopez served for 25 years as an operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Watch What You Say About FEMA
Excerpt: FEMA exists solely to support states and cities that need help preparing for and recovering from storms, floods, or tornados. It does not take on that coordinating role in states unless they are invited by a governor who has declared a state of emergency. In effect, FEMA now functions as a big checkbook. It provides money to states and cities that need resources to evacuate people, set up shelters, or sandbag. (Another "Slanting the News 101" example. Really?!? Isn’t it funny how the media changes its tune when the President is from the favored party? There have been no changes to the mission or laws governing FEMA since Katrina hit New Orleans
Excerpt: Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren were scheduled to face off for the fourth time Tuesday night. But Monday afternoon, Brown's campaign sent out a statement saying he would not participate in the debate. Warren 's campaign later sent a statement saying Warren
Excerpt: I have a feeling that Middle America is going to respond in waves on November 6th...and send millions of liberals to the therapist couch. America has always been a "center right" nation politically, and they're getting damn tired of the arrogant "tyranny of the minority"; the liberal brown shirts who try to destroy Chik Fil A because the owner supports the traditional family, who tell you Gays will determine what America's values will be, who tell you what and when to eat and how much to drink, and how much to fork out to support liberal interest groups.
Muslim Cleric Condemns Christianity for Teaching Gender Equality
The War on Women. ~Bob. Excerpt: A recent talk show on the Egyptian station Al Hafiz partially explains why it is that Islam’s clerics are staunchly against discussing Christian or biblical teachings in Egyptian schoolrooms—even as the teaching of the Quran is mandatory, for both Muslim and Christian students. Discussing Christianity’s teachings concerning women, one of the guests, a sheikh dressed in traditional cleric garb, said they “truly stab the rulings of Islam.” To exemplify, he read from a text that said “the Christian religion does not differentiate between women and men, but it confirms their perfect equality: it gives them an equal share in inheritance, it bans divorce, and it bans polygamy.”
Huffington Post, Gawker brought down by Superstorm Sandy
Excerpt: In addition to cutting power to millions and causing massive flooding in New York City
Obama's EPA Plans for 2013
Excerpt: The November elections will determine the direction of US
The Week That Was: 2012-10-27 (October 27, 2012)
Excerpt: APS: In 2007 the American Physical Society (APS) issued an absolutist statement on Climate Change that greatly disturbed a number of its senior fellows. (…) Roger Cohen, a Fellow of the Society has posted on the web site of Anthony Watts his expression of dissatisfaction with the APS. (…) The exchange is an excellent read on what is wrong when a few in a science society take an absolutist position concerning a subject that requires open investigation and debate. (The excerpt is taken from Ken Haapala’s summary at the beginning. There are many articles worth reading this week, especially including the numbered articles reprinted in full at the end of the listing. --Ron P.)
Obama’s Sequester Proposal Slashes Funds For FEMA, Disaster Relief. By Joel B. Pollak
Excerpt: As Hurricane Sandy approaches the northeast United States, the left is attempting to politicize the storm, attacking Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), for wanting to shift more responsibility for disaster relief from the federal government to the states. They ignore the fact that President Barack Obama's proposal for the upcoming budget sequester would cut nearly $900 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including disaster relief, food and shelter, and flood management at both the federal and state levels….As Bob Woodward notes in his definitive account of the debt ceiling negotiations, such a bargain was within reach in July 2011, before President Obama destroyed it.
MILITARY INSIDER: “Do The Math…Left On Own To Die Out There”
Excerpt: A longtime Military Insider gives a brief and searing response regarding whether or not U.S.military could have successfully been deployed in time to save Americans under attack by terrorists on September 11th at the American consulate in Benghazi
Pro-Obama ad: We will burn this motherf—- down and c-ck punch Romney
Hard to believe this could be true, and not an anti-Obama forgery, which I suspect. ~Bob. Excerpt: Whoever thought this was a good idea should be fired immediately. The liberal group Moveon.org teamed up with liberal filmmaker Michael Moore and created a new anti-Romney ad that features elderly voters threatening to c***punch Romney and “burn this motherf***er down” if Romney wins in November.
The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews
Excerpt: LAST week, Twitter shut down a popular account for posting anti-Semitic messages in France Paris , the discovery of a network of radical Islamists who had thrown a hand grenade into a kosher restaurant, and the killing of a teacher and young pupils at a Jewish school in Toulouse France
In U.S.
Excerpt: Romney currently leads Obama 52% to 45% among voters who say they have already cast their ballots. However, that is comparable to Romney's 51% to 46% lead among all likely voters in Gallup
Obama only at 47% in … Oregon
Earlier, Mark Halperin told the Morning Joe audience that Team Obama has shifted to defense along a rather long blue line, including Pennsylvania , Michigan , and Minnesota Oregon
Trick or Treat: Oregon
http://losangelescitycollege.blogspot.com/2012/10/trick-or-teat-even-more-mittmentum.html
http://losangelescitycollege.blogspot.com/2012/10/trick-or-teat-even-more-mittmentum.html
Ground Breaking Paper Refutes the Greenhouse Gas Theory
Excerpt: International team of researchers confirms peer-reviewed new paper refutes the greenhouse gas theory, the cornerstone of science that claims human emissions of carbon dioxide dangerously warms the Earth.
Report: Fast and Furious a product of DOJ ‘deliberate strategy’ laid out by Eric Holder, other senior Obama officials. By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: The latest congressional report on Operation Fast and Furious found that the gunwalking-program-turned-scandal was the result of a “deliberate strategy created at the highest levels of the Justice Department aimed at identifying the leaders of a major gun trafficking ring.”
NPR: 8-point swing puts Romney in front
Excerpt: A new National Public Radio poll, which had President Obama leading Mitt Romney 51 percent to 44 percent four weeks ago, now has Mitt Romney on top, 48 percent to 47 percent, with the Republican benefiting from his debate performances.
Tweet from @iowahawkblog
Your daily reminder: all political polls are still garbage. #9percentresponserate
GOP Rout In Pennsylvania
Excerpt: This morning President Obama’s campaign indicated they are going on the air in Pennsylvania
Excerpt: This may be the best/simplest explanation of the Obama administration’s abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization religious-liberty eroding HHS mandate yet:
Majority Blame National Debt On High Spending, Not Low Taxes
But will they vote that way? ~Bob.
Fatah FB page posts pic of mother placing suicide belt on her child
Excerpt: The Facebook page for Fatah in Lebanon Palestine
Tweet from Drew @MetricButtload
Share with Ohio voters: In Ohio
Excerpt: With the Presidential election one week away, it’s worth reviewing how Obamacare will impact the residents of key swing states. In Ohio
Romney gains continue as he closes on Obama in new Rove Electoral Map
http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/103012-631295-rove-electoral-map-shows-romney-momentum-continues.htm#ixzz2AoA83HYQ
http://news.investors.com/politics-andrew-malcolm/103012-631295-rove-electoral-map-shows-romney-momentum-continues.htm#ixzz2AoA83HYQ
Internet FAIL: The truth about that Tea Party sorority girl you saw on Facebook
Excerpt: Her name is Kim Stafford. And far from being from Alabama , she grew up in Boston Massachusetts
Thank You Barack Obama… 1/3 of Adult US Males Are Out of Work. By Jim Hoft
Excerpt: Thanks to the failed Keynesian economics of Barack Obama, one-third of adult men are out of work. And, he has the nerve to ask for 4 more years? Really?
Examiner Editorial: Benghazi
Excerpt: Immediately after Sept. 11, when Mitt Romney weighed in prematurely on the simultaneous Egyptian embassy riots, the nation's political reporters managed to turn it into a seven-day "gaffe" story. Maybe those same newshounds could pursue a real story now -- why, after seven weeks, is the most transparent president in American history still dodging questions about what happened in Benghazi
They got it right: America
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=288722
Excerpt: In other words, no matter what the United States does it will not be interpreted – especially by the [Islamic] masses – based on the US government’s statements or intentions but through the filter of a very different culture and worldview that has a good deal of hostility in it and is prone to xenophobia and conspiracy theories. By the same token, to be hated theUnited States
Excerpt: In other words, no matter what the United States does it will not be interpreted – especially by the [Islamic] masses – based on the US government’s statements or intentions but through the filter of a very different culture and worldview that has a good deal of hostility in it and is prone to xenophobia and conspiracy theories. By the same token, to be hated the
What Could Happen In The First 12 Hours of A US Dollar Collapse
Excerpt: This is the scenario nobody thinks is possible, but, really at the end of the day, it’s not like the US
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Recently I wrote "Why The Real Unemployment Rate Is 16.9%"which sparked quite a few e-mails revolving around the issue of the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures unemployment. In that article we discussed the differences between the U-3 and the U-6 rates and showed what unemployment would look like if you included those that had been out of work longer than 52 weeks. In reality the problem is far worse - as I stated previously:
Wasserman Schultz Involved in Police Altercation Outside Voting Precinct. By Javier Manjarres
Excerpt: A group of sign-waving campaign ralliers comprised of both Democrat and Republican supporters outside an Aventura, Florida polling location witnessed Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schulz involved in a heated altercation with an Aventura policeman after she apparently took issue with his request to not engage in campaign activities in the street which were holding up oncoming traffic. (A little oversold, maybe. ~Bob.)
Worth Sharing: Crushed By Your Policies
Tweet from Lauren Zelt Tate @LaurenZeltTate: @BarackObama has kept his promise to "bankrupt" coal plants and Pennsylvania coal paid the price.
One week to go, and there is no good news for Obama. By Ed Rogers
Excerpt: It's one week before election day, and the Obama campaign is having to use heavy artillery to defend what should be safe and secure territory. Former President Bill Clinton, who is more appealing on the stump than is President Obama, is in Minnesota. Minnesota should be deep blue, and the state shouldn't even be mentioned one week before the election.
Russia Caucasus: Imam shot dead in Derbent, Dagestan
Excerpt: Attackers have shot dead an imam and two of his male relations, as they drove to a mosque in the Russian North Caucasus region of Dagestan. … The cleric was named as Kalimulla Ibragimov, 49, who is said to have delivered sermons calling for peace.
Downstate Newspapers Diss Obama, Endorse Mitt
Excerpt: But while Obama has his hometown newspaper in his pocket, it’s a different story Downstate. In another indication that Illinois politics has become polarized between the Chicago area and the hinterlands, most newspapers outside the city seem to be backing Mitt Romney -- including two, the Daily Herald and the Quad City Times, which endorsed Obama in 2008.
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