Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for December 6, 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.
I have a round of healthcare appointments, a dance recital by the granddaughter, and time scheduled to play with her and her new puppy over the next few days, so posts may be limited. Bake cookies or something. ~Bob
Charities I support
Book Recommendation: Lords of the Levee: The Story of Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink. By Llyod Wendt, Herman Kogan and Bette Jore.
This book published in 1943 was reissued a few years ago. It's a fascinating political history of two early Chicago Chicago Way Cook County Chicago
Worth Reading
The Democrat machine protects a killer for eight years--it's The Chicago Way. May need to register for free to log on. ~Bob
Fed to hold lenders' feet to the fire on mortgages
Excerpt: Frustrated Federal Reserve policymakers on Monday sought an explanation from mortgage lenders as to why the benefits of lower interest rates were not filtering to home buyers as quickly as in the past even as investors benefited. ... The question has puzzled central bank policymakers who worry the situation is undercutting their efforts to stimulate the country's slow economic recovery from recession. (Government intervention in the economy not working as planned. Who could have seen that coming? ~Bob.)
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Lots of public officials and Washington , D.C. U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi Chicago Chicago
Union LA Port Strike: Raise Pay from $165,000 to $195,000—NOT a Typo. By Stephen Frank
Excerpt: Why isn’t this union demand at the top of the story of their closing the Los Angeles and Long Beach
Obamacare “Freebies” Cause Private Health Insurance to Go up 25%. By Stephen Frank
http://capoliticalnews.com/2012/12/03/obamacare-freebies-cause-private-health-insurance-to-go-up-25/
Excerpt: Thanks to Barack Obama and his take over of health care, private health care in California
Feinstein’s Indefinite Detention Amendment May Actually Expand Executive Power
Excerpt: On Saturday I had written an article about Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with regards to “indefinite detention” that was approved in the Senate last Thursday. In my haste, I failed to fully understand what the amendment was providing and thanks to Dan Johnson of People Against The NDAA (PANDA) I was made aware of just how bad it really is. Therefore, for those who might have been wondering, that is why I quickly pulled the article.
Excerpt: President Obama’s bid to control what your children learn in school is surely one of the most important and disturbing of his many transformative plans. Not only is Obama’s attempt to devise what is in effect a national K–12 school curriculum arguably unconstitutional and illegal, the fact that most Americans have no idea that the new “Common Core” (a.k.a. Obamacore) even exists may be the most troubling thing about it. (No comment as I know nothing about this topic. Will watch for more to see if verified. ~Bob.)
Justice Dept. recovers record $5 billion under False Claims Act
Excerpt: The Justice Department’s civil division recovered a record $5 billion in the past fiscal year from companies that defrauded taxpayers, with much of the abuse occurring in the health-care and mortgage industries. (Any company convicted of defrauding the taxpayers should be permanently barred from doing business with the government, at least until all top management is replaced. Or forever if owners are the guilty parties. ~Bob.)
AutoZone employee fired after thwarting robbery and saving manager’s life. By Greta Van Susteren
Excerpt: He returned to the store, scared the robber off with the gun and saved his manager’s life. But corporate brass apparently wasn’t pleased…McLean said the company fired him for violating their gun policy. (I won’t be in an AutoZone anytime soon. ~Bob.)
Quotes
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others. –Niccolo Machiavelli
The lion and the calf will lay down together, but the calf won't get much sleep. –Woody Allen
IAEA Incursion: Anti-Israel hackers invade IAEA networks once more. By Adam Kredo
Excerpt: An anti-Israel hacking collective has seized “highly sensitive” nuclear data and satellite imagery from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s top nuclear watchdog, according to the website Cryptome.
Amputations, beheadings and a crucifixion: Horrific stories from Yemen
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2242719/Al-Qaeda-committed-truly-shocking-human-rights-abuses-power-Yemens-Abyan-region-says-Amnesty-report.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2242719/Al-Qaeda-committed-truly-shocking-human-rights-abuses-power-Yemens-Abyan-region-says-Amnesty-report.html
Excerpt: Al Qaeda committed 'truly shocking' human rights abuses including crucifixions and the beheading of an alleged sorceror during its 16 months in control of a southern region of Yemen
Sources: US behind European protest measures
Excerpt: The United States Israel
Excerpt: Turkey will continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter US Turkey Europe is truly lost. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: A 22-year-old youth, accused of burning a copy of the Holy Quran, died in police custody at Warburton police station on Sunday, The Express Tribune has learnt. (The punishment for blasphemy is death under Shari’a Law. And claiming that God had a son is blasphmy to Muslims—remember that when they want to outlaw blasphemy. ~Bob.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Krugman makes two assertions over and over again in his columns: (1) that government health care is more efficient than private health care and (2) that the health care systems of other countries are more efficient than our own (presumably because other countries have more government involvement). In both cases, the underlying premise is that there is some fundamental difference between public and private health insurance. This is a belief widely held both on the left and the right of the political spectrum. It is a belief that is wrong. One source of the error is the mistaken idea that Medicare and Medicaid are actually run by the government. They aren’t. Medicare in the United States
Longtime Cape Cod Times reporter admits to fabricating sources since 1998. By Derek J. Anderson
Excerpt: The Cape Cod Times issued an apology to its readers Tuesday after reporting that a longtime reporter wrote dozens of stories that included sources that do not exist. (Four sentence story about 14 years of lies, or would this be classified “inaccurate reporting?” I wonder how many people were hurt by this reporter? --Al P.)
Anti-Morsi protester to Obama: ‘Your bitch is our dictator’ (Picture)
How’s that reset with the Muslim World working out? ~Bob
Jack Brooks, Former Texas Congressman (And Marine), Dies at 89
Excerpt: Jack Brooks, an irascible, cigar-chomping former Texas congressman who over 42 years defied fellow Southerners to support civil rights, investigated abuses by Presidents Nixon and Reagan and repeatedly attacked government waste, down to the cost of wrenches, died on Tuesday night in Beaumont , Tex. North China . He was discharged as a first lieutenant, and was a colonel in the Marine Corps reserve until 1972.
Kofi Annan urges Kenyans not to vote for indicted politicians
Wouldn’t be welcome in Chicago
How to Build an Army in Your Basement: From homemade rockets to car bombs, take a look at the weapons that Syria
Excerpt: Syrian rebels mill around an open lot under a blue sky; off camera, a group chants "God is great." The spoils of a recent raid are laid out before them -- a collection of T-55 tanks and the BMP series of infantry fighting vehicles.
Excerpt: City Council member JoAnn Watson said Tuesday the citizens support of Obama in last month's election was enough reason for the president to bailout the struggling the city. (Click the video player to listen) (The problem with becoming popular by filling out-stretched hands, is that the hands filled don’t go away, and more join them. ~Bob.)
Worth reading: Fiscal Cliff Notes: Part II. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: What is remarkable is how easy it is to show how completely false Obama's argument is. … What both the statistical tables in the "Economic Report of the President" and the graphs in Investor's Business Daily show is that (1) tax revenues went up-- not down-- after tax rates were cut during the Bush administration, and (2) the budget deficit declined, year after year, after the cut in tax rates that have been blamed by Obama for increasing the deficit.
Christmas for Obama Bundlers. By Michelle Malkin
Excerpt: It's time to pass out the goodies. While President Obama's lips champion the middle class, his administration's old hands are preparing to lavish rewards on the creme de la campaign creme: his wealthiest political donors. (It’s The Chicago way! ~Bob.)
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Moreover, since tomorrow's Americans don't vote, we can dump on them with impunity. That's a vision that describes the actual behavior of today's Americans. It would be seen as selfish, callous and ruthless only if it were actually articulated. (The public has voted to loot future generations, who will loath us in their misery. ~Bob.)
Workplace Freedom States Soared While Ohio and Michigan
Damn. Another weird coincidence. ~Bob. Excerpt: Job creation in Ohio
Excerpt: So is the real problem the declining intelligence and taste of the average 17-year-old male, or is it the declining intelligence and taste of Hollywood, or do the two — along with the declining intelligence and taste of the American education system — combine to form the complete Red Queen’s Race to the bottom? I’d blame the latter scenario, especially after contemplating what the average 17-year-old male likely dug when he went to the movies over the years:
The Budget Baseline Con: How Washington
Excerpt: Here's the reality: Those numbers have no real meaning because they are conjured in the wilderness of mirrors that is the federal budget process. Since 1974, Capitol Hill's "baseline" has automatically increased spending every year according to Congressional Budget Office projections, which means before anyone has submitted a budget or cast a single vote. Tax and spending changes are then measured off that inflated baseline, not in absolute terms.
Quotes from The Patriot Post
It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law ... that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts. --American journalist H. L. Mencken
Last year, our plucky heroine, the wholesome apple-cheeked American republic, was trapped in an express elevator hurtling out of control toward the debt ceiling. Would she crash into it? Or would she make some miraculous escape? Yes! At the very last minute of her white-knuckle thrill ride to her rendezvous with destiny, she was rescued by Congress' decision to set up ... a Super Committee! Those who can, do. Those who can't, form a committee. Those who really can't, form a Super Committee -- and then put John Kerry on it for good measure. --columnist Mark Steyn
A new report shows that, in Virginia
Progressives Support Welfare for the Rich. By Jacob Sullum
Excerpt: Since Republicans are pushing entitlement reform and Democrats like taking money from rich people, you might think they could agree on means-testing Medicare and Social Security as part of a deficit reduction deal. Yet many Democrats are surprisingly hostile to the idea of tailoring these programs to help people who actually need them.
Taxpayer-Backed ‘Green’ Energy Companies Announce Plans To Expand…In China Adams
Who says Obama isn’t creating jobs? ~Bob. Excerpt: Solar companies SunPower Corp., which received a conditional guarantee for a $1.2 billion loan from the feds in the spring of 2011, and First Solar Inc., which received a $4.5 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department the same year, announced on Monday their plans to expand — in China.
Are food stamps a perk for ‘paid government volunteers’? By Joel Gehrke
Excerpt: Two Senate Republicans identified a welfare loophole that allows ‘paid government volunteers’ in AmeriCorps to receive food stamps from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — for which they should not qualify, as a rule — in addition to a stipend from the government.
Dems: Federal health programs should cover DREAMers
Excerpt: Federal healthcare programs should cover the children of illegal immigrants, a group of House Democrats says. Democrats are asking the Obama administration to make healthcare available to children who are able to stay in the U.S. China
CAIR Targets Morsi/Brotherhood Critics
Excerpt: Although the document declares a right to freedom of speech, it also includes a prohibition on "insults" to "religious prophets." Another provision would require government authorization to operate a website. Wednesday's clashes targeted several hundred anti-Morsi protesters who had camped out near the presidential palace.
Tweet from Tom Price @RepTomPrice
MATH: The President’s plan to increase taxes on “wealthy” covers government spending for only EIGHT DAYS.
Tweet from Brad Dayspring @BDayspring
If Pres Obama wants shared sacrifice & a balanced approach, Clinton era spending levels should come with Clinton
Tweet from David Burge @iowahawkblog
Fence in Detroit and rename it DNC National Park
Citigroup Job Cuts: Bank Plans To Slash 11,000 Jobs In Aim To Save As Much As $1.1 Billion Per Year
Excerpt: Citigroup Inc, which has lagged behind its peers in recovering from the financial crisis, said it is cutting 11,000 jobs worldwide, about 4 percent of its staff, to save as much as $1.1 billion a year in expenses. (guess they won’t be going to Hawaii
Biggs and Richwine: The Underworked Public Employee: The cliché is true: Government workers do tend to take it easier than their private counterparts.
Excerpt: But supporters of more federal aid implicitly assume that the size of the public sector was optimal before the recession. On the contrary, overstaffing is a serious problem in government, and the best evidence is a simple empirical fact: Government employees don't work as much as private employees. (Show me your shocked face. ~Bob.)
After Practical Joke In Major Policy Poll, Politicos Take To Twitter To Poke Fun At Clueless Respondents
Excerpt: The only problem? There’s no such thing as a “Panetta-Burns” plan. The question was an artifice the pollsters were using to measure the likely amount of people that would give an opinion about an issue they had never heard about before. The answer, it seems, is one in four Americans voters. (No surprise. A few years ago, hundreds of people signed petitions to ban Dihydrogen Oxide (H20), because it killed hundreds every year and was now in our food and drinking water. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-dihydrogen-oxide.html ~Bob.)
Boehner recruits 2011 Obama for fiscal cliff talks. By Neil Monro
http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/05/boehner-recruits-2011-obama-for-fiscal-cliff-talks/#ixzz2ECfU9A8S
http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/05/boehner-recruits-2011-obama-for-fiscal-cliff-talks/#ixzz2ECfU9A8S
Excerpt: Boehner’s office highlighted Obama’s 2011 claim that $1.2 trillion could be extracted in extra revenues, even without extra tax-rates. (If you disagree with Obama on this, you’re a racist! ~Bob.)
To What Lengths Did Someone Go to Scapegoat George Zimmerman?
Excerpt: Seen in color, the “thug” who might be, becomes a wounded young man. (…) Instead of being a white ghoul emerging from shadows, he is a wounded man sitting in a car after a life-changing, possibly life-destroying, event has happened. (…) From that color photo, taken in color at high resolution by law enforcement officers moments after the altercation, someone manufactured the grainy black and white photo and made the decision to hand that version, but not the full color version, over to Zimmerman’s defense. (Though it provides few or no answers, this column asks many questions that every reader/viewer should be asking. It seems the MSM may not be the only one with an agenda to try to make the facts fit. “White Hispanic,” indeed! Ron P.)
Pentagon Peacocks. By G. Murphy Donovanhttp://www.americanthinker.com/2012/12/pentagon_peacocks.html#ixzz2ECbZWnc6
Excerpt: The Davis Petraeus saga is another urban legend; a myth about a great man felled by a single flaw or indiscretion. The truth is that Petraeus is a bit player in a larger, uglier drama, the political corruption the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and that exclusive four star glut that sits atop the military. And the rot didn't start with Petraeus. (A no-holds-barred review of the situation of high ranking officers who are more politically skilled than renowned for actual combat leadership. The writer is harsh in style but his analysis of what goes on in the upper ranks is factual. In a system where political skills are of paramount importance, it's not surprising at all that things start happening with poor results. The answer would have to involve the President and the key appointees who control the military, who are the only ones who can even try to change the political structure that dominates the military today. --Del
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