Robert A. Hall
Time for a short post today befor I start on meetings. ~Bob
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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
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New comment on
"I'm Tired."
I am a 30-year-old gay man. I want to thank you for this
post. While there is plenty there with which I disagree, I am certainly on your
side on the vast majority of your post. Thank you! I am unable to start my own
business. The taxes and regulations are too invasive. I can't find a full time
job, there simply are none. I can't afford to go back to school, because my
educational debt is already so high. You can see where this is going, and it
all goes back to liberal policies. Signed, A tired 30-Year-Old.
Excerpt: The war liberated 24 million Iraqis. Iraq is anything but perfect today, but its
people are free—free from tyranny, free from being required to pledge their
“souls and blood…for Saddam,” free from the vast torture chamber Saddam turned Iraq into, free
from his omnipresent terrors. As Odierno recently reflected,
“It’s hard to describe to somebody what an awful dictator Saddam Hussein was
unless you were there in Iraq .”
Iraqis held their first post-Saddam election in 2005, when 75 percent of
eligible voters walked, marched, limped and ran to the polls to prove they
belong in the democratic family.
Excerpt: When a 23-year-old woman was raped and tortured to
death in Delhi ,
the case captured the attention of the world. Two months later, a 17-year-old
girl was raped and tortured to death near Cape
Town in an eerily similar case, but hardly anyone
noticed. In both cases, the women were gang raped, mutilated and cut open. But
the rape and murder of women has become horrifyingly common in South Africa .
Dominican police: 3
women paid to make false claims about Menendez
Excerpt: Three Dominican women were paid to lie about having
sex for money with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and a close friend, Dominican
police said Monday, citing statements from the women and other evidence.
Bombs kill 50 on Iraq invasion
anniversary
Excerpt: Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda have
vowed to step up attacks on Shi'ite targets since the start of the year in an
attempt to provoke sectarian confrontation and undermine Shi'ite Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki's government. (Members of "The Religion of Peace"
slaughtering each other for Allah. Nothing new here. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Cyprus 's
government proposed on Tuesday to spare small savers from a divisive levy on
bank deposits but said it expects parliament to reject the measure, needed to
secure an international bailout and avoid default and a banking collapse. Unless
parliament accepts the levy on deposits, EU countries say they will withhold a
bailout, plunging one of the smallest European states
closer to financial oblivion with potentially severe consequences for the rest
of the troubled euro zone. (I suspect there will be a run
on Cypriot banks as soon as they reopen now, regardless. And it wouldn't
surprise me if there were not a run on banks in other troubled Eurozone
economies, as folks figure that, yes, it could happen here. And, yes, it could
happen in the US .
~Bob.)
Cyprus lawmakers
reject bill to tap bank deposits to fund bailout
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/19/cypriot-financial-officials-working-on-bailout-details-after-plan-to-seize/#ixzz2O0wEByXH
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/19/cypriot-financial-officials-working-on-bailout-details-after-plan-to-seize/#ixzz2O0wEByXH
Excerpt: Cypriot lawmakers have rejected a critical draft
bill that would have seized part of people's bank deposits in order to qualify
for a vital international bailout. (Do you get the idea that Obama is looking
at this and saying, "why didn't I think of that?" Or maybe he has...
~Bob.)
The Cyprus
Cash Grab - Coming to America ?
By Neal Boortz
Excerpt: You were shocked - SHOCKED, you say - at the very
idea that the government of Cyprus
would order banks to seize 10% of every bank account and hand the money over
the government? Well … excuse me for being rude, but maybe if you had been
spending a better part of the last 20 years paying attention to the atrocities
that happen with nauseating regularity in Washington, instead of going into an
annual swoon over March Madness and/or the Oscars, or blindly tuning in to
Entertainment Tonight every evening rather than an actual newscast, you might
have seen this money grab coming.
Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton is said to have
replied, “because that’s where the money is.” Obviously,
Willie Sutton did not live in contemporary Cyprus , whose banking system,
as Walter Russell Mead observes, is “easily the shadiest” in the
eurozone. “Russian oligarchs use the island’s banks as a combination
piggy bank and money laundry,” he notes — it’s a good rule of thumb that
Russians + money = corruption — and then there is the problem of stupendous
mismanagement: “Largely because the Cypriot bankers invested lots of their
clients’ cash in Greek bonds, the financial system is underwater.”
Big Brother Looking
At Your Bank Account: Intel agencies being given access to vast database of
financial transactions
Excerpt: More and more federal
agencies are being given a look into your private financial affairs, according
to economy, economist, columnist, radio host and international conference
speaker Jerry Robinson on his “Follow the
Money Weekly” program. He explains that Big Brother in Washington is
planning new moves to intrude on financial privacy, with database details of
financial transactions being provided to additional federal intelligence
agencies…. And while the federal government continues to push its doctored
financial statistics claiming that the “official” CPI rate is 1.6 percent, more
honest analysis shows that the U.S. inflation rate is much
higher in reality. (Which coincides with rising prices of gas, food. Per
article, actual rate of inflation around 9%. Cyprus here next? --Barb)
Excerpt: “Isn’t it a strange thing that in every period of
social unrest men have the notion that they can pass
a law and suspend the operation of economic law?” — Calvin Coolidge,
as quoted in Amity Shlaes’ new biography. If you ever wanted to
destroy America
from within, Dr. Ben Carson has assembled a handy four-point plan...
Comment: Infowars is not far from the truth. I opened the
link at Handelsblatt and read the German-language article. At variance with the
Infowars report title, Jörg Krämer, Chief Economist of Commerzbank (not a
government official) says a one-time 15% tax on rich Italians would
bring the Italian debt, now at 173% of GDP, down to below 100% of GDP. At
variance with the Infowars report, He did NOT call for raiding the accounts of
the rich à la Cypress .
However, if the Germans had their way, that would probably happen.
Anyway, this is close enough. Cypress ,
under pressure from Germany ,
has opened the flood gates to wealth redistribution in all of Europe .
Did you notice the pattern of retribution against enemies? In Cyprus , some
commentators suggest the Russian accounts (20% of the deposits) were the
target. Russia has long been
at loggerheads with the EU over issues such as Middle East
intervention, gay marriage, etc. A recent (still unconfirmed) report has it
that Medvedev compared the EU with the Soviet Union (my UK friends
often refer to it as the EUSSR). As for Italy ,
Merkel (like most of the German political class) is vehemently opposed to
billionaire Berlusconi, part of the new Berlusconi-Grillo blocking majority in
the Senate, and she would love to see his billions taxed to help pay down the
debt Italy owes to the EU and
hence, mostly to Germany .
Meanwhile, an unintended consequence of the German-led Cyprus bank
account raid is that it may also have inadvertently caused a hew and cry
for a euro exit, and maybe eventually (please God, let it be!) an exit from the
EU. --Don Hank
Hacker Begins
Distributing Confidential Memos Sent To Hillary Clinton On Libya , Benghazi
Attack
Excerpt: Armed with confidential memos to Hillary Clinton
that were stolen from the e-mail account of a former White House aide, a hacker
has distributed some of the documents to a wide array of congressional aides,
political figures, and journalists worldwide. In a series of weekend e-mail
blasts, the hacker known as “Guccifer” disseminated four recent memos to Clinton from Sidney
Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of the former Secretary of State.
Tweets from Kevin Eder @keder
"At the risk of repeating myself, I know of not one
person who didn't vote GOP in 2012 because they were insufficiently
conservative . . . But if you DO know someone who stayed home in 2012 because
they thought the GOP is insufficiently conservative, tell them I hope they like
the results."
Ban Gun Free Zones
Excerpt: What is one thing mass shootings have in common?
They happen in gun free zones. One of the most well-known gun free zones are
post offices, and because violence there is so common, we even have the term
“going postal” for outbreaks of violence. However, many would-be mass killers
have been stopped because there was an armed citizen. Examples
include the ’97 Pearl High
School shooting (assistant principle had a .45, no shot
necessary), the ’07 New Life
Church shooting (Security Guard, shot gunman, saved many
lives), and the recent Portland Mall
shooting (Armed Citizen, no shot necessary).
Escape From Spending
Hell. By Daniel Henninger
Excerpt: So it looks like we've all been sentenced to
spending at least two more years in budget hell with Barack
Obama. Under the rules of budget hell set the past four years by the prince
of Pennsylvania Avenue ,
you're not allowed to do anything real about federal spending. You can only
fight over federal spending. Forever.
How the Taxman
Cleared the Dance Floor. By Eric Felten
Excerpt: Thanks to a
'cabaret tax,' millions of Americans said goodbye to Swing Music. A lot fewer
said hello to bebop. These are strange days, when we are told both that tax
incentives can transform technologies yet higher taxes will not drag down the
economy. So which is it? Do taxes change behavior or not? Of course they do,
but often in ways that policy hands never anticipate, let alone intend.
Consider, for example, how federal taxes hobbled Swing music and gave birth to
bebop.
http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/03/obama-praises-tuition-assistance-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29
Excerpt: At least a dozen states have voted to give illegal immigrants reduced rate, in-state tuition rates for illegal aliens who reside in their respective states. However, out of state American kids, American citizens, continue to be charged double the rate if they choose to come to these states to attend college. Obama praised this policy, citing the need to bring illegal invaders "out of the darkness", and welcoming them by offering a vast array of generous tax-payer funded benefits. To the American kids Obama says "go to hell"; you can afford to pay $20,000 more per year than the illegal kid.
Excerpt: At least a dozen states have voted to give illegal immigrants reduced rate, in-state tuition rates for illegal aliens who reside in their respective states. However, out of state American kids, American citizens, continue to be charged double the rate if they choose to come to these states to attend college. Obama praised this policy, citing the need to bring illegal invaders "out of the darkness", and welcoming them by offering a vast array of generous tax-payer funded benefits. To the American kids Obama says "go to hell"; you can afford to pay $20,000 more per year than the illegal kid.
Excerpt: Today, President Obama issues a challenge to
Republican Senators: in nominating Tom Perez as Labor secretary, he implies
that Senate Republicans don’t have either the guts or organizational skill to
stop what would become perhaps the most radical left-wing cabinet member in
history. Whether the president is right about GOP senators remains to be
seen.
Al-Jazeera Plans
British, French News Channels: The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network
announced Monday that it is preparing to launch a news channel in Britain .
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television
network announced Monday that it is preparing to launch a news channel in Britain .
"We are currently working to launch a
news channel from the United
Kingdom ," said the network's Director General Sheikh
Ahmed bin Jassim Al-Thani in Doha , adding it
will be called Al-Jazeera UK . Al-Thani also said that studies
were at an "advanced stage" to launch a French-language channel aimed
at "building bridges with other cultures and peoples,” according
to AFP. (Globalization continues. They already have US sewn up, thanks to
Gore. --Barb.)
Excerpt: The United States Justice Department broadened an
investigation into allegations that employees at The Wall Street
Journal's China news
bureau bribed Chinese officials with gifts in return for information, the
newspaper reported Sunday. The Justice Department reportedly approached News
Corp.'s outside counsel in early 2012 and said it had received information from
a person it described as a whistleblower, who claimed one or more Journal
employees had provided gifts to Chinese government officials
in exchange for information. However, News Corp. has told the Justice
Department that company officials suspected the informant was an agent of the Chinese
government, seeking to disrupt the paper's work and possibly retaliate against
the Journal for its reporting on China 's leadership, the report
said. (Shades of the USSR
propaganda days. Of course, with DOI, they swallowed it. I would suspect latter,
true, rather than former. --Barb. This will teach the WSJ not to criticize The
One. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Arabs in Bethlehem had
a “warm welcome” for American officials who on Monday came to
prepare for President Barack H. Obama's visit to the city Friday, by
throwing shoes and garbage at the vehicles in an entourage from the
U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem .
…Sources in the city told Israel Radio that Arab protesters tore down
posters with Obama's image, throwing them to the ground and spitting and
stepping on them. The protesters threw shoes at other posters that
were hung too high for them to easily tear down.
Did Senator Drop
Benghazi Bombshell? Could explain why murdered ambassador was in attacked
facility
http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/did-senator-drop-benghazi-bombshell/#o2Z7U4CLTdAi0Iyd.99 Read
more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/did-senator-drop-benghazi-bombshell/#o2Z7U4CLTdAi0Iyd.99
Excerpt: Graham replied, “Because that’s where the action
was regarding the rising Islamic extremists who were trying to get their hands
on weapons that are flowing freely in Libya .” The senator stated, “We
were desperately trying to control the anti-aircraft missiles, the man pads
that were all over Libya ,
that are now all over the Mideast .” WND
has filed numerous reports quoting Middle East security officials who described
the mission in Benghazi as a meeting
place to coordinate aid for the rebel-led insurgencies in the Middle East , including the transfer of weapons to rebels.
Sessions presses USDA
for more info on non-citizen food stamp use, participation rates
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/17/sessions-presses-usda-for-more-info-on-non-citizen-food-stamp-use-participation-rates/#ixzz2NyBpzoeJ
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/17/sessions-presses-usda-for-more-info-on-non-citizen-food-stamp-use-participation-rates/#ixzz2NyBpzoeJ
Excerpt: After an effort to defund the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s food stamp outreach partnership with the Mexican government went down in committee Thursday, Alabama Republican Sen.
Jeff Sessions continued to press the agency for more information about
non-citizen participation in the food stamp program. In a Friday letter to Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack obtained by The Daily Caller, Sessions — who has been
exchanging letters with Vilsack about USDA’s partnership with Mexico since
last summer — requested additional information about the
people the USDA has been enrolling in nutrition assistance programs and the
agency’s program goals.
Lax Security and a Laptop of Secrets: Chinese Contractor for NASA Nabbed:
Only thanks to a whistleblower to Rep. Frank Wolf, "This information could
have significant military applications for the Chinese People's Liberation
Army."
Excerpt: A Chinese national affiliated with an “entity of
concern” and tied to potential security leaks at NASA was seized by the FBI
while trying to leave the country, said a Virginia congressman who has been
pressing the space agency about breaches at several NASA centers. In the
process, the troubling case has highlighted just how sensitive information may
be compromised by government agencies hiring or contracting with some highly
skilled foreign nationals.
Excerpt: U.S. military
bases are traditionally outfitted with some of the comforts of home — including
comfort food. The naval base at Guantanamo
Bay , Cuba ,
for example, has McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, Subway, an Irish pub with
notorious fried pickles, and multiple bars. Now, the food police are closing in
at the Department of Defense, with similar language that preceded school menu
crackdowns.
Quote
The constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the
government off the backs of people. --William O. Douglas
60 killed in Kano bus park
bombing. By Abdul Salam Muhammad
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/60-killed-in-kano-bus-park-bombing/
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/60-killed-in-kano-bus-park-bombing/
Excerpt: Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: About 60 people
were feared dead, yesterday evening, in Kano when a suicide bomber attacked a
bus park located at Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian quarters.
Female genital
mutilation on the rise in the United States-report
Excerpt: The ancient, brutal
practice of female genital
mutilation (FGM), once considered primarily a problem of the
developing world, is a growing threat to girls and women in the United States ,
according to a new report.
The United States has longstanding laws against the practice of FGM on U.S.
soil and in January, passed a federal law against sending young women outside
the country for so-called "vacation cutting". However, girls living
in America
increasingly are at risk of the procedure both at home and abroad, according to
research by Sanctuary for
Families. (That this coincides with an increase in the US Muslim
population and pressure to recognize Shari'a Law is, of course, one of those
inexplicable coincidences. ~bob.)
Excerpt: Actually the perpetrators were Islamic jihadists
who not only misunderstood the peaceful teachings of the Book of Peace, but
actually cut them out to make room for their bomb. Yet somehow I doubt that
there will be even a single riot over this horrific desecration of the holiest
of books.
Excerpt: If jihadi groups fighting to topple Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Assad succeed, "[i]t's us afterwards," warned Israeli
Defense Force (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. General Benny Gantz during a conference
last week. "We could be the next challenge for the same
organizations." The Golan Heights, the border between Syria and Israel ,
has become increasingly unstable as the Assad regime loses its grip on power
and radical Islamist and al-Qaida-inspired elements of the Free Syrian Army –
reportedly backed directly or indirectly by the likes of Qatar and Saudi Arabia – move into the void.
Letter to the Editor
published in Savanna: Major media too cozy with nation’s powerful
These are quotes from President Obama: “I promise 100 percent transparency in my administration.” “I will allow five days of public comment before I sign any bills.” “I will remove earmarks for pork projects before I sign any bill.” “I will end income tax for seniors making less than $50,000 a year.” “I’ll put the health care negotiations on C-SPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!” “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration.” Some would say the president is a liar because he has failed to live up to these claims, but that is not my reason for presenting them here. My concern is with the failure of the mainstream media to hold him accountable in any way. Those who are given access to the White House and other political arenas because they are representing us should be asking the questions we want answers to, but instead are simply refusing to do their jobs. They revel in their protected and favored status under the First Amendment, yet apparently are comfortable being exploited for political gain at the expense of truth and openness in government. An impartial observer must conclude that many members of the media are so fearful of losing their favored status with government officials that they will not demand straight answers to important questions. We who do not have access are being poorly served by those who have the opportunity and the charge to confront dishonest and deceptive politicians. It’s no wonder that a growing percentage of our young people get their “news” from comedians. --Con Massey
These are quotes from President Obama: “I promise 100 percent transparency in my administration.” “I will allow five days of public comment before I sign any bills.” “I will remove earmarks for pork projects before I sign any bill.” “I will end income tax for seniors making less than $50,000 a year.” “I’ll put the health care negotiations on C-SPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!” “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration.” Some would say the president is a liar because he has failed to live up to these claims, but that is not my reason for presenting them here. My concern is with the failure of the mainstream media to hold him accountable in any way. Those who are given access to the White House and other political arenas because they are representing us should be asking the questions we want answers to, but instead are simply refusing to do their jobs. They revel in their protected and favored status under the First Amendment, yet apparently are comfortable being exploited for political gain at the expense of truth and openness in government. An impartial observer must conclude that many members of the media are so fearful of losing their favored status with government officials that they will not demand straight answers to important questions. We who do not have access are being poorly served by those who have the opportunity and the charge to confront dishonest and deceptive politicians. It’s no wonder that a growing percentage of our young people get their “news” from comedians. --Con Massey
Excerpt: Which is why with the legacy conflicts in the
region dormant, and the only news of any relevance being the European
intervention in Cyprus against Russian oligarch interests, it is surprising we
learn today that the Russian Navy will dispatch a permanent fleet of five or six combat ships to the
Mediterranean Sea, with frigates and cruisers making up the core of the fleet.
(Note that Durden does not supply a link to the part of the story regarding Cyprus .
However, we know that Russia
has these ships in the Mediterranean . --Don
Hank)
Assault weapons ban
dropped from Senate gun control bill
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/19/reid-cuts-assault-weapons-ban-from-senate-gun-control-bill-amid-waning-support/#ixzz2O0vqzObJ
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/19/reid-cuts-assault-weapons-ban-from-senate-gun-control-bill-amid-waning-support/#ixzz2O0vqzObJ
Well, maybe I won't have to file the bayonet lug off my M1.
Made it look dangerous, you know. ~Bob.
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