Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for February 14, 2013
Happy Valentine’s Day. Put a little more love in the world—it needs it. ~Bob
Comment on my book CYA
I am reading CYA, and find it delightful. -BW
C.Y.A. Protecting Yourself in the Modern Jungle
If you order directly from CreateSpace, the PFF receives a larger royalty:
https://www.createspace.com/4133396http://www.amazon.com/C-Y-Protecting-Yourself-Modern-Jungle/dp/1481989103/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358787454&sr=1-8&keywords=C.Y.A+.+Robert+A+Hall
First published in 2010, this book has been reissued through CreateSpace/Amazon at a lower price, with all royalties going to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. A humor/self-help book, this is advice with an attitude.
Comment on my book Advice for my Granddaughter from a retired Marine (and great officer)
I mentioned your book on advice to a granddaughter … She had already read it and said it was the best book she’d ever read on the subject. She loved it! As I have a growing number of granddaughters and great-granddaughters, I figured I’d better read it myself. So I ordered a copy today. Then I’ll order copies for younger granddaughters (and their mothers) who I think will get something out of it. If it’s as good as everyone says, this may be your greatest legacy. Semper Fi, John
Advice for my Granddaughter: For When I'm Gone
https://www.createspace.com/3792897All royalties go to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (which gets a larger royalty if you order directly through Create Space.).
Why people need guns: Miami
Excerpt: Police say two heavily armed men fatally shot a homeowner as he tried to protect his daughter during a home invasion. The incident happened late Tuesday night in Miami
Republicans: Obama State of the Union dims hopes for deficit deal http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/282763-republicans-state-of-the-union-dims-hopes-for-deficit-deal
Excerpt: Republican lawmakers say a deal to reduce the deficit and replace $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to take effect on March 1 is even less likely after President Obama's State of the Union address.
Tweet from Alex CastellanosVerified account@alexcast
listening to POTUS's awesome list of new stuff for govt to do, I almost wish DC hadn't spent all the money.
Excerpt: Much of the State of the Union was going up and down in the Bing audience live ratings that allowed viewers to vote every five seconds during the speech. But I noticed a very interesting trend among all parties and both genders when President Obama started talking about gun control.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/340566/van-jones-marco-rubio-dangerous-democrats-andrew-johnson
Excerpt: “Marco Rubio is to the heart what Paul Ryan is to the head. Paul Ryan is dangerous because of the strength of his intellect. This is a smart guy, Marco Rubio, but when he connects, that last 90 seconds, Marco Rubio, he is dangerous for Democrats.”
Obama’s Most Dishonest State
Excerpt: Obama’s ridiculous 6600-word marathon is also not a lengthy speech; it is the party’s program. The professional flatterers and fawners in the media have long since given up describing the teleprompter-in-chief as a talented speaker. These days Obama gives speeches that not only sound like they were read from a teleprompter, but also written by a teleprompter.
Woman Votes Multiple Times in Election 2012 but Denies Voter Fraud!
Can’t be true. My progressive brother assures me that vote fraud doesn’t happen, just a way for racist Republicans to suppress minority votes. That’s the new leftist party line for the last couple of years. ~Bob.
Double-Voting for Obama. By Matthew Vadum
Excerpt: Double-voting is distressingly common.
For example, in September Wendy Rosen dropped out as the Democratic candidate in the first congressional district in Maryland Florida and Maryland
In 2011 a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted local NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers was sentenced to a five-year prison term.
Robbery Victims Shooting Attackers Called ‘Alarming Trend’
Excerpt: There’s an alarming trend in Detroit
Video recommendation
You MUST see this video of Ben Shapiro (Breitbart) on how to counter leftist bullies. In it he touches on the "women's right to their own bodies" dogma:
Takes about an hour, but you will appreciate it immensely. Cordially, Larry Greenberg
Sin Taxes: A Questionable Source of Revenue
Excerpt: In reality, most sin taxes are an extension of policymakers' belief that they can make better consumption choices than individuals can make for themselves. By attaching a monetary fee to certain behaviors that are deemed risky or undesirable, selective sin taxes are aimed at inducing people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Sin taxes also disproportionately affect low-income individuals who are more likely to use many of the consumer goods, like alcohol and tobacco, than are higher-income individuals. Low-income individuals are less likely to have consumption alternatives and are thus less likely to respond to changes in price. (They nail the poor to make the left feel good about themselves, so Democrats love them. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: This same principle also applies to the practice of medicine. Paying doctors or hospitals based on outcomes would be fine as long as the outcomes can be reliably measured and we know how much each entity contributes. Until that is possible, we run the risk that we will inadvertently punish the good practitioners and reward the bad ones. (Pay for performance wouldn’t be a problem if we actually knew how to measure outcomes and each person’s contribution to it.)
Research Investments Are Frequently Fruitless
Excerpt: For all the meritorious research the government funds, federal research and development expenditures are riddled with wasteful projects. The rationale for government funding of research holds that only the government can make such sizeable investments and that the results yield intellectual property available to all, says Henry I. Miller, the Robert Wesson fellow in scientific philosophy and public policy at the Hoover Institution. … Miller cites Senator Tom Coburn's report that identifies trivial research projects like how to ride a bike, when dogs became man's best friend, whether parents choose trendy baby names and why the same teams always seem to dominate the NCAA basketball playoffs, all of which receive federal funding. … NIFA pales in comparison to "the master of waste, fraud and abuse" -- the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which controls an annual research budget of more than $800 million. Miller notes that a large portion of EPA research funds are spent on public relations and diverted to nonprofit organizations without any oversight.
Tibetan protester sets himself on fire in Nepal
Excerpt: A Tibetan protester doused himself with gasoline, set himself ablaze and chanted anti-China slogans as he ran down a street in Nepal's capital Wednesday, the latest in a string of self-immolations protesting China's rule over Tibet.
The dramatic protest marked the 101st time since 2009 that a Tibetan monk, nun or layperson has set themselves on fire, according to officials from the Tibetan exile government, based in India
Hagel omitted two speeches on Middle East from Senate disclosure forms
Excerpt: In the supporting documents he turned over to Senate investigators as part of his confirmation process, Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel did not disclose at least two recent speeches on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Fox News has confirmed.
Fugitive ex-LAPD cop, Christopher Dorner, believed to be dead after final standoff
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/13/police-say-no-body-has-yet-been-found-after-cabin-stronghold-fugitive-ex-cop/#ixzz2KnKBg6tX
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/13/police-say-no-body-has-yet-been-found-after-cabin-stronghold-fugitive-ex-cop/#ixzz2KnKBg6tX
Excerpt: As police scoured mountain peaks for days, using everything from bloodhounds to high-tech helicopters, the revenge-seeking ex-cop they wanted was hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across the street from their command post. … The search ended abruptly Tuesday when a man believed to be Dorner bolted from hiding, stole two cars, barricaded himself in a vacant cabin and mounted a last stand in a furious shootout in which he killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another before the building erupted in flames.
Crazy to Everyone But the New York Times
Excerpt: A homicidal maniac blames racism in the Los Angeles Police Department for his killing rampage against cops and civilians and the New York Times responds, “You know, he just may have a point.” On Monday, as fired LAPD cop Christopher Dorner eluded capture for the sixth day after killing a Riverside Police Department officer, the daughter of his departmental defense attorney, and her fiancé, the Times wrapped up three days of observations about racism in the LAPD in response to Dorner’s charge, in a lunatic manifesto, that the department was endemically biased and brutal. 9well he praised gun control, attacked the NRA and praised a lot of leftists in his manifesto, so naturally the NYT doesn’t think this murderer was all bad. If the Newtown
CNN Panel: Dorner's Alleged Murder Spree 'Exciting,' Like 'Denzel Washington Movie'
If you aren’t the unarmed people being murdered, it’s fun like a movie. ~Bob
Tweet from RB @RBPundit
I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that you spelled Crisp Dorner wrong. You spelled it "Chris."
Details emerge in LAPD's mistaken shooting of newspaper carriers
This is a sad example of cops operating in panic mode. First, not remotely the right description of the vehicle and occupants and they open fire anyway, and second, the bullet holes all over the neighborhood that say some of them were spraying bullets in a wide arc. Good heavens, a pickup truck from fairly close range is an easy target to hit, how in hell do you wind up with bullet holes in house doors and windows of the neighborhood? The answer is only that some officers were just yanking triggers fast and hard and not paying attention to their sight picture at all. This is the kind of thing that makes anyone nervous about how smart and controlled their police are. –Del. Del.
No surprises. Why I skip these things, GOP or Dem. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Barack Obama delivered a longwinded and leftwing State of the Union in which he advocated in favor of increased taxes, widespread “reforms” to the nation’s gun laws, minimum wage increases, and immigration policy.
Worth Reading
Excerpt: If more than three-quarters of teenagers earn more than the minimum wage, then any hardworking adult certainly can, and it must be a false narrative that full-time workers “are stuck” in minimum wage jobs and trying to raise a family, but mired in a life of poverty. (The reason Obama wants to increase the minimum wage is that it will reduce low paying jobs, thus put more minorities out of work, thus denying them the change to build work skills, a work ethic and a record of having worked. Thus they will never have the chance to get out of poverty, and will be depended on the government forever. Thus they will have to vote for the party of big government for a living. He hopes the Ponzi scheme will collapse after he’s gone. Maybe. ~Bob)
Obama’s Minimum Wage Fallacy: Golden Intentions Does Not Mean Golden Results. By Andrew Kirell
Excerpt: A preponderance of economic studies have found that minimum wage hikes tend to destroy jobs for many low-skilled, low-wage workers. Of course, some do benefit from the mandate — especially those employed by people who can absorb increased labor costs. The fact that some do, indeed, benefit from minimum wage hikes (while many others either lose jobs or remain unemployed) is important to remember when understanding the history of the policy. Throughout its near-century-long history, the minimum wage has long been used to benefit some at the expense of many.
Williams With Sowell - Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly
Frontline -- "Cliffhanger"
WTTW just broadcast a “Frontline” show that you might find interesting. “Frontline” often annoys me, as it would many of your readers, but its most recent episode, “Cliffhanger,” about Federal government budget negotiations over the last couple of years would not confirm some expectations that it would make President Obama look good. On the contrary, it shows John Boehner relentlessly trying to pursue a budget agreement while the White House wavers and tries, unsuccessfully, to work an advantage by playing one group of Republicans against another. It makes Obama look indecisive and opportunistic while Boehner looks like a man of principle. You can watch it on your computer at the link above. --GS.
The Super Bowl Farmers. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: It was not just Harvey’s mid-20th century voice that intrigued millions, but his unapologetic praise of the farmer’s work ethic, religiosity, and family values that he implied were at the core of American greatness, and were shared by all sorts of other American originals: the truck driver, the steel worker, or waitress whom we now all praise and yet prep our children not to be. We suspect that our kids would be better off at forty for spending a summer on a tractor at fifteen, but we just can’t seem to risk the loss of a season’s computer camp or eco-camp in the bargain.
Excerpt: The only way to understand why employment is dead in the water is to stand in the shoes of a potential employer or entrepreneur. Remarkably, this perspective is unknown to economists and progressive politicians because they have never been an employer (and no, hiring a grad student to grade papers or an illegal nanny to watch your kids does not make you an employer.)
Older, but worth reading: Hipsters on food stamps: They're young, they're broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that? By Jennifer Bleyer
Excerpt: Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore Baltimore
Another take, also worth reading: Hipsters On Food Stamps, Part 1
Excerpt: I'm not trying to start trouble, but let's choose something I'm familiar with, i.e. women: why would a smart high school junior, 4.0 and AP Everything, think that going to Hampshire College for English Literature was a good idea? Why would her parents allow this madness, other than the fact that they were divorcing? What did she think would happen given that she knew in advance there were no jobs for English majors?
Barbarians at the Digital Gate: Its cyberattacks show the world the nature of the Chinese regime.
Excerpt: On a visit to our offices last year, a U.S.
Mr. Obama, Global Warming, & Science
Mr. Obama said a lot in his State of the Union address about Global Warming as a totally established scientific fact. Unfortunately, there are quite few scientists who strongly oppose that conclusion, and they can and do raise very credible rebuttals to such statements. Below is a website where a long series of detailed rebuttals can be found.
(You may have to assemble all the stuff above into one line in your browser to have it work) It is true at this point that there's more emotionalism than ever behind the near-panic attitude of those who believe in Global Warming. And too many of their comments about those who don't agree (called "deniers" of course, rather than dissenting scientists) slide into ad hominem arguments. I don't like it when scientists succumb to emotion in their discussions, which just allows nonscientists to really get carried away with their own feelings. I've tried hard to look at both sides of this, I am after all a trained and long practicing scientist. In the end it appears clear that there is more than sufficient data to support the idea that if there is an overall warming trend, it is of a much lower magnitude than the more passionate warming believers think it is. Clearly if the original predictions about the warming, made over five years ago, in some cases even further, were valid, we'd be seeing more effects now than have become evident. The other thing that is sure is that if in fact human production of CO2 were behind a warming effect, it is impossible now for us to even slow it, much less reverse it. We have no way of removing gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere, so even if we stopped producing more, the warming would continue. And with China and India moving their societies into steadily more energy use, the generation of CO2 will continue and atmospheric concentration will increase, no matter what the USA and Europe do. If I really believed in warming, I'd be buying real estate a half mile inland from the NC coast, so my grandchildren would have beachfront property. What is also sure is that imposing carbon taxes on industries is not good for the economy, and trading carbon credits becomes an instant racket allowing some people to rip off large sums of money. I should make it clear here that I consider the EPA declaring CO2 to be a poison gas to be a totally unjustifiable political act rather than science, which is having negative effects already on our economy, which will only grow worse with time. If and when the data clearly support the idea that we have significant warming, and there is some kind of scientific data demonstrating without doubt that human generation of CO2 is the cause, then and only then should we and everyone else start to consider how to lessen CO2 generation (nuclear power is the only real answer) and how to plan for the increase in warming. –Del
Who Failed Chicago
Excerpt: Obama, his wife, his campaign strategists, his closest cronies and his biggest bundlers all hail from Chicago Chicago
Excerpt: If I knew everyone understood that the Western power elites want to eliminate Judeo-Christian culture (for ex, by importing hordes of Muslims knowing they will not assimilate), I wouldn't bombard you with reports like this one. But when you look at the WHOLE picture painted by these separate piecemeal reports, it is abundantly clear that there is less and less room for Jews and Christians in our own Western world and that this is by design, absolutely not a coincidence. The main reason for this disaster is ourselves: we have been taught to sympathize with everyone but ourselves. That is the path to suicide. Yet we absorb these toxic PC lessons as though they were a health-restoring elixir. --Don Hank
Sex Week at University of Chicago
http://moonbattery.com/?p=25605
Excerpt: Obama’s ham-fisted nationalization of the student loan industry indicates that the federal government will take an ever larger role in financing the preposterously bloated expense of college. This should prevent institutions of higher learning from having to cut back on essential scholarship like Sex Week: The prestigiousUniversity of Chicago
http://moonbattery.com/?p=25605
Excerpt: Obama’s ham-fisted nationalization of the student loan industry indicates that the federal government will take an ever larger role in financing the preposterously bloated expense of college. This should prevent institutions of higher learning from having to cut back on essential scholarship like Sex Week: The prestigious
Obama: 57 Vacation Days Since Vowing He 'Will Not Rest Until Anyone' Can Find A GOOD Job; Unemployment still stands at 7.9 percent, actually higher than when he took office in 2009. By Dan Gainor
You have to remember, he’s a “community organizer.” He considers being on government assistance the same as having a job. ~Bob.
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