Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for December 12, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for December 12, 2012

Robert A. Hall

I'm willing to bet anyone $100 that the world doesn't end on December 21, as the Mayans supposedly say. ~Bob

Bob's (Healthy) Holiday Apple Nut Spice Cake

http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2012/12/bobs-apple-nut-spice-cake-for-holidays.html

Christmas Poems and Short Story by Robert A. Hall

http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-poems-and-short-story.html

My annual post. ~Bob.

Worth Reading: To Cull a Not-So-Dirty Dozen. By Andy Weddington

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2012/12/to-cull-random-not-so-dirty-dozen.html

Excerpt: After a half dozen votes, throughout the day, the jury was split - same folks each vote 6 / 6. With pretty colors, charting scenarios on a whiteboard with fact and inferences and discussion did not change minds. Judge guidance, and law, was if doubt as to any element of law then obligated, required, to find not guilty. And so it was. And so it was when lesser included offenses considered. Was an innocent person found not guilty or a guilty person found not guilty? Neither.

Worth Reading: Christmas Books. By Thomas Sowell 

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/15831

Excerpt: A book that fits in with the holiday spirit is "No, They Can't!" by TV show host John Stossel. It is written with a light touch, but gets across some pretty heavy stuff about economics. The title is a take-off on Obama's old slogan, "Yes, we can!" It is the first book I have read that asks a question about electric cars that should have been asked long ago: How much pollution do they cause?

Syrian boy decapitates army officer in Homs

http://www.speroforum.com/a/RXTXDFTKIW18/73349-Syrian-boy-decapitates-army-officer-in-Homs

WARNING: The above video is extremely graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised. (Comment posted by Jim Geraghty in Morning Jolt: "The clip that was posted by rebel websites appears to a show a boy around the age of 12-to-15 years old decapitating a man with a large sword on behalf of some rebel group. The victim was allegedly a commander of Syria forces who helped lead one of several assaults that devastated the city of Homs. The video is extremely graphic, so watch at your own risk, but keep in mind that there have been a number of fake videos circulated by both sides throughout this entire conflict. A famous one, of a prisoner being beheaded by a chain saw, was actually a video shot by Mexican drug gangs several years ago and re-dubbed with Arabic voices." From: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/12/are-syrias-rebels-violent-assad/59811/)

The Muslim Brotherhood's Militias in Action: A Firsthand Account

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/8819/the-muslim-brotherhoods-militias-in-action_a-first

Excerpt: The recent clashes at the Itihadiyya presidential palace leave little room for confusion. 

Egypt's Torturer-in-Chief Headed to Washington: Obama fulfills promise to host Morsi even after Muslim Brotherhood savagery is exposed. By Arnold Ahlert

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/15839

Excerpt: Yet like every would-be dictator, Morsi has his methods of dealing with such resistance. According to anti-Morsi activists, such methods include paying gangs of thugs to sexually assault women protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Square against Morsi's decrees that would grant him unprecedented powers. (Progressives have declared the MB to be moderate, democratic reformers. So what they actually do doesn’t matter at all. ~Bob.)

The resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq ... in Iraq, and Syria, and Jordan, and Libya and ... By Bill Ardolino
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/12/the_resurgence_of_al_qaeda_in.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz2EhXltA5G

Excerpt: Consequences of the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq continue. Joby Warrick reports on the resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) after its 2007-2008 decimation by Awakening forces and the US military, and highlights the organization's recent role in planning a major terrorist attack in Jordan:

Tragic death of the Afghan girl who just wanted to change her country: Student shot dead as she helped in fight against polio
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244133/Afghan-girl-Anisa-worked-polio-volunteer-shot-dead-suspected-Taliban-attack.html

Didn't get the "Islam is a religion of peace" memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: A student and polio volunteer has been shot dead by armed men in a rural Afghan village. The brutal killing has raised questions about women's safety in the region, with reports suggesting that females are too scared to attend school or work following the murder.

Nelson Mandela 'proven' to be a member of the Communist Party after decades of denial

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nelson-mandela/9731522/Nelson-Mandela-proven-to-be-a-member-of-the-Communist-Party-after-decades-of-denial.html

Excerpt: A new book claims that, 50 years after he was first accused of being a Communist, Nelson Mandela was a Communist party member after all.

Study: The U.S. government has way too many overlapping programs. By Dylan Matthews

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/10/study-the-government-has-way-too-many-overlapping-programs/

Excerpt: It’s no secret that the federal government can be a complicated mess. For every given problem, there are often several, if not dozens, of programs intended to tackle it. There isn’t just one health care program — there are Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP the Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies, the employer insurance deduction, etc. There isn’t just one higher education subsidy — there are the American Opportunity credit, Pell grants, Perkins loans, Stafford loans, etc. And that’s not even every federal program that serves those two sectors.

Sara Ege Guilty of Murdering Son Yaseen for Not Learning Koran

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/411835/20121205/mother-sara-ege-guilty-killing-son-koran.htm

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: A woman who killed her seven-year-old son after he failed to memorise extracts from the Koran has been found guilty of murder.

UK Muslim Community Closes Ranks, Covers Up Beating Death Of Three-Year-Old Girl

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2012/12/uk-muslim-community-closes-ranks-covers-up-beating-death-of-three-year-old-girl.html

Excerpt: Fresh on the heels of the beating death of a seven-year-old boy for not learning the quran comes this. "Since her death, detectives have faced a wall of silence from some people while others have given wildly different accounts of how she was hurt, but they are appealing again to the local community."

10 years in temple bomb plot

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/years_in_temple_bomb_plot_gSHgyyhUalo7QneT2jHs5I

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: He dreamed of blowing up 10 synagogues — simultaneously, on the same remote detonator — and grinned like a child when he bought what he thought was a live grenade. Yesterday, Islamic bomb plotter Ahmed Ferhani pleaded guilty to 10 hate and terror counts — giving Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. the first state-level terror conviction in New York history.

Tweet from BLACK REPUBLICAN Ξ ‏@blackrepublican

"Government is good at 1 thing: It knows how to break legs, hand you a crutch, and say, 'see, if it weren't for me, u wouldn't walk.'" ~Harry Browne

Tweet from Ciara Matthews ‏@turnsc

Remember when Bush tax cuts passed, #dems said they only helped the rich? Now, dems say Bush cuts need renewed to help the middle class.

Obama Moves "Red Line" On Syria's Chemical Weapons
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/121012-636561-obama-moves-syria-chemical-weapons-red-line.htm

Excerpt: The chemical weapons that Syria is preparing to use may have come from a stockpile that Iraq used against its own people and which the Russians helped transport to Syria before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Syria's chemical weapons are on the move, their precursor chemicals having been mixed, a crossing of a line drawn by President Obama Aug. 20 when he said "a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized." (Possible they are from Iraq, but just speculation at this point. Of course, if the government finds out they were, we won't be told. ~Bob.)

Child marriage happens in the UK too, warn British MPs

http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/a-childhood-lost-uk-parliamentarians-launch-new-report-on-child-marriage/

Excerpt: The UK government’s Forced Marriage Unit estimates that between 5,000 and 8,000 people are at risk of being forced into marriage every year in England. In the past year, 29% of the calls received by the Unit’s helpline concerned minors. The youngest just five years old.

Tom Price won’t challenge Boehner

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/272101-tom-price-wont-challenge-boehner

Excerpt: A senior House Republican said Monday he is not mounting a challenge to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), momentarily keeping a lid on simmering tensions between conservatives and the party leadership. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a conservative stalwart who recently lost his bid for a leadership post, shot down a report that floated him as a lawmaker who could seek to oust Boehner if the Speaker cuts a fiscal-cliff deal with President Obama that breaks with conservative principles.

Important: Preparing for ‘fiscal cliff,’ investors move assets to avoid higher taxes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/preparing-for-fiscal-cliff-investors-move-assets-to-avoid-higher-taxes/2012/12/10/748893a4-4088-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html?hpid=z1

Excerpt: As lawmakers struggle to agree on a plan to avert the series of tax increases looming next year, many investors are taking preemptive action to get out of harm’s way. Americans are moving to sell investment homes, off-load stocks, expand charitable donations and establish tax-sheltering gifts before the end of the year. Financial advisers and accountants say people are trying to avoid the higher taxes that will take effect in 2013 if Washington does not avert the “fiscal cliff.” (When taxes go up, people with money try to avoid them? Who knew? Has anyone told Obama? ~Bob.)

Benefits at What Age?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22659&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Should we raise the age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare? Life expectancy has increased seven years since 1970. So, should the eligibility age be raised seven years as well? One problem. Over the past 20 years, life expectancy at age 65 has risen five years for men with above average income but only one year for men with below average income.

Deposit Insurance Is Not Free

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22660&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Government-provided deposit insurance has been touted as a costless solution to the problem of bank runs. … However, deposit insurance is a costly solution in which the government has to expend real resources, say Luther and Hogan. Total expenses for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Deposit Insurance Fund have averaged $2.67 billion each year. In total, that is almost $208.33 billion since 1934.

Worth Reading: Deval-ued Wind Power: Green-energy delusions inflict a heavy cost on a Massachusetts town. By Kevin D. Williamson

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/334599/deval-ued-wind-power-kevin-d-williamson

Excerpt: Patrick’s green dreams are way up in the air; on the ground, things look starkly different. Last September in the tiny town of Princeton, Mass., the general manager of the local utility authority sent out an extraordinary little memo that is one part standard bureaucratic posterior-covering and one part cry for help, noting that a modest wind-energy project already has lost nearly $2 million — a whopping number for a community of only 3,413. (Lovely little town that was in my Senate District. ~Bob.)

75 Percent of Obama's Proposed Tax Hikes to Go Toward New Spending. By Daniel Halper

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/75-percent-obamas-proposed-tax-hikes-go-toward-new-spending_666067.html

Excerpt: Seventy-five percent of the new revenue pulled in by President Barack Obama's "fiscal cliff" plan would go toward new spending, not toward deficit reduction, the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee contends. Here's a chart, detailing how money from the new tax hikes would be distributed:

Obama Silent As Mexico Jails Former Marine On Trumped-Up Gun Charge

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/09/Former-U-S-Marine-Chained-To-Bed-In-Mexican-Jail-On-Trumped-Up-Gun-Charge

Excerpt: A former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has been chained to a bed in a Mexican prison since August. Jon Hammar faces up to 12 years in a Mexican jail on what may be a trumped-up charge of possessing an illegal shotgun. Customs officials had already cleared the shotgun before he entered Mexico. (Bad, of course, but not a real atrocity. That would be requiring Mexicans in Arizona to show ID to police. I heard this guy’s mother on TV—charges sound pretty bogus to me. ~Bob.)

Unions Losing in Their Last Stronghold

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/12/11/morning-bell-unions-losing-in-their-last-stronghold/?roi=echo3-13978072579-10568166-e7e16d20af794eb38e7a40335f39062d&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: This is the week that Michigan’s workers will finally be freed from forced unionization. After decades of United Auto Workers control over the struggling American auto industry, the Michigan legislature’s passing of a right-to-work law is historic. Governor Rick Snyder (R) is expected to sign the law as early as tomorrow. Regardless of news reports, the people of Michigan are behind this. A recent poll showed that 51 percent of Michigan voters support right-to-work. 

Michigan legislature approves 'right-to-work' law in 58-51 vote

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/272231-michigan-legislature-approves-right-to-work-law

Excerpt: The Michigan state legislature approved legislation Tuesday removing the requirement that non-union members pay union dues. The passage of the right-to-work legislation in a 58-51 vote sends the bill to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who has said he will sign it.

The Psychotic Times We Live In. By Jim Geraghty in Morning Jolt

We live in a world where you can sing/rap this . . .

Kill those f***ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those f***ing Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law, and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully 

. . . and eight years later, you can shake the hand of the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the "f***ing Yankees" you urged the killing of, to say nothing of all of those daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law, and fathers.

'We Knew Exactly Who We Had to Go Get.' By Michael Ledeen

http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2012/12/10/we-knew-exactly-who-we-had-to-go-get/

Excerpt: “We knew exactly who we had to go get.” Instead of an American political manager, put those words in the mouth of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, or Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, and you get to the heart of a very big question. The same sort of detailed, granular information used by political campaigns can be used against Iranian and Syrian people by their oppressors. To go get them.

It’s Not Science, It’s CNN: Any dope could fix a cable news network. Except guys like Jeff Zucker. By David Steinberg

http://pjmedia.com/blog/its-not-science-its-cnn/

Excerpt: Remember when AOL finally recognized their lunatic business model and content choices were no longer viable, and the whole brand was just dangling by a thread, so they put Arianna Huffington in charge, and that’s when things, like, reaaally spun down the toilet? Incompetently run organizations, from the Knicks to the United States, generally become that way by making a common judgment error: the employers assume that only a few people reside on Earth at any one time who could properly fill a certain high-profile position. 

Obama responds to turmoil in Egypt by giving Muslim Brotherhood government $213 million in taxpayer-funded F-16s

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/12/obama-responds-to-turmoil-in-egypt-by-giving-them-213-million-in-taxpayer-funded-f-16s.html

Excerpt: These sure will come in handy when Egypt goes to war with Israel. And note the U.S. justifications for this at the end of the article: "The U.S.-Egypt defense relationship has served as the cornerstone of our broader strategic partnership for over thirty years." No recognition whatsoever that the situation in Egypt has radically changed, and is going to change further.

The things you discover only after Obama is re-elected [Reader Post]: Over at Huffington Post Robert Greenwald discovers that Obama has been killing children with drones

http://floppingaces.net/2012/12/08/the-things-you-discover-only-after-obama-is-re-elected-reader-post/

Excerpt: During my recent trip to Pakistan as part of our upcoming documentary film, Drones Exposed, I was struck most by the stories told to me by children who had experienced a U.S. drone strike firsthand. The impact of America’s drone war in the likes of Pakistan and Yemen will linger on, especially for the loved ones of the 178 children killed in those countries by U.S. drone strikes….

Former NAACP Chapter President: No Reason For Blacks To Vote For Obama Except Race. By Noel Sheppard

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/12/06/former-texas-naacp-president-no-reason-blacks-vote-obama-except-race#ixzz2EjD62SLJ

Excerpt: C.L. Bryant, a former NAACP Texas president and current Baptist minister, told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Thursday there's really no reason for black people to have voted for the re-election of Barack Obama other than the color of his skin.

Pelosi’s Archbishop Leads in Calling Catholics to Pray, Fast, Abstain for Cause of Saving Liberty. By Terence P. Jeffrey 

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-s-archbishop-leads-calling-catholics-pray-fast-abstain-cause-saving-liberty

Excerpt: In a statement featuring newly installed Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone--who leads the San Francisco Archdiocese where House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi lives--the U.S. Catholic bishops announced on Thursday that they are calling on Catholics to pray the rosary every day and to fast and to abstain from eating meat on Fridays as part of a pastoral campaign aimed at preserving religious liberty, the right to life and the institution of marriage in the United States of America.

How Muslims Celebrated Islamophobia Awareness Month

http://pjmedia.com/blog/how-muslims-celebrated-islamophobia-awareness-month/

In Norway, a Muslim politician, Khalid Haji Ahmed, wrote on Facebook: “Damn Jew whores, wish Hitler could come back and shower you some more.” “Islamophobic prejudice is worryingly prevalent in the mainstream; on display in political life, in the the [sic] media and in the attitudes of the police and the courts.”

An Open Letter to Jamie Foxx Explaining Why Black Pride Is Just As Evil As White Pride: "I kill all the white people in the movie." No more politics. It's time to start talking in moral and practical terms.

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/12/10/an-open-letter-to-jamie-foxx-explaining-why-black-pride-is-just-as-evil-as-white-pride/

Excerpt: But I’m going to tell you right now, speaking of blackness, my President, President Obama is back up in the White House four more years. …But he going to be extra black this next four years. …. But the next four years he’s even changing his name from to President Barack Dikembe Mutombo Tupac Mandela Hussein Obama X. How black is that? (Anybody still wondering what the 2nd term has in store for the hated US? –Barb.)

States postpone dreams of international control of the Internet
http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/10/china-russia-and-arab-states-temporarily-postpone-dreams-of-international-control-of-the-internet/#ixzz2Ej19VGMx

Excerpt: The coalition supporting a controversial Chinese, Russian and Arab proposal for international regulation of Internet companies withdrew their support for the proposal Monday, following the negative outcry over the weekend after its Friday introduction. The proposal — formerly backed by a coalition of countries that included Russia, the United Arab Emirates, China, Saudi Arabia and Algeria — was one of over 1,300 submitted for consideration for the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai this week.

U.S. appeals court strikes down state's concealed-carry ban

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-us-appeals-court-strikes-down-states-concealedcarry-ban-20121211,0,7034171.story

Excerpt: The state of Illinois would have to allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons under a federal appeals court ruling issued today, but the judges also gave lawmakers 180 days to put their own version of the law in place.