Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 15, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 15, 2013

Robert A. Hall

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.

Been slammed this weekend. Wife's birthday and granddaughter's dance competition. Caught up as best I can. The mailing list is getting over whelming. ~Bob.

30 things you may not know about Bob Hall

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/04/30-things-you-may-not-know-about-bob.html

Happy Birthday to old guy....

Guest Post: Observations on Paul Krugman’s Column: “Medicaid and Freedom.” By Samuel L. Skogstad

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/04/guest-post-observations-on-paul.html

Guest Post: Protecting the Vulnerable

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/04/guest-post-protecting-vulnerable.html

Guards, prisoners clash at Guantanamo

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/operations/293737-guards-prisoners-clash-at-guantanamo-bay

Excerpt: Prison guards at Guantanamo Bay clashed with detained terrorist suspects on Saturday, U.S. military officials said, leading to shots being fired.

Dems fear Obama’s Social Security cut will haunt them in 2014 races

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/293703-dems-fear-obamas-social-security-cut-will-haunt-them-in-2014

Excerpt: A growing number of House Democrats are concerned that President Obama's proposal to cut Social Security benefits will haunt the party at the polls in 2014. Although Democrats have long-championed the retirement program, they say Obama's plan to reduce payments for future beneficiaries through a chained consumer price index (CPI) has weakened their stance and opened the door for Republicans to vilify the president.

Students Asked to ‘Argue That Jews Are Evil’ and Prove Nazi Loyalty in Assignment Linked to Common Core

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/12/students-asked-to-argue-that-jews-are-evil-and-prove-nazi-loyalty-in-assignment-linked-to-common-core/

Excerpt: Students in some Albany High School English classes were asked to participate in the unthinkable this week as part of a persuasive writing assignment. The objective? Prove why Jews are evil and convince the teacher of their loyalty to the Third Reich in five paragraphs or less. 

A Scientist Reproves the Alarmist Flock

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/04/a-scientist-reproves-the-alarmist-flock.php

Excerpt: This letter to the editor of a newspaper in Washington State was written by Dr. David Deming in response to an attack on Don Easterbrook by a group of professors at Western Washington University. I thought it was too good not to share; in part, because it isn’t just about global warming alarmism, it is about science. Via Watts Up With That? Note that there are numerous links in the original post: (A contrast that is really important for people to understand, and which basically explains a lot about what goes on today in the Climate Change debate. We all tend to think that everyone with advanced degrees in Science will always apply the principles and practices of Science when examining something going on in the world. However, it turns out that the PhD in Science does not guarantee the recipient is immune to personal biases and strong emotions affecting how some matters are researched and adopted according to a particular view. In a word, scientists can be and often are biased in how they perceive some kind of event in the world. And global climate is one of those very important topics of the world the understanding of which has been very much affected by biases and perceptions rather than facts and logic. --Del)

Strassel: Terry McAuliffe's Solyndra: Running for governor of Virginia, the Democrat's main business credential is fast turning into a crony-capitalist embarrassment. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323741004578416821313987276.html

Excerpt: Turn over any green-energy rock, and wiggling underneath will be the usual creepy mix of political favoritism and taxpayer-funded handouts. Add to this the Clintons, Mississippi and a murky visa program, and you've got a particularly ripe political embarrassment for Terry McAuliffe. ( Taxpayer money going out in big chunks, for a super marketed idea that pays off.... NOT. Well, actually, to be picky, it does pay off. Just not for the taxpayers. But some others sure get to suck a serious chunk of change out of the project before it goes belly up. It's a shame and a scandal that somehow certain sharp operators jump on what sound like really good ideas but turn out to be giant losers. You would hope that somewhere in the system there would be people who'd be taking a careful, critical look at ventures before ponying up many millions to them. --Del)

Wounded Marine Vet Sued By City for Flying Military Flags at His Restaurant (Video at LINK)

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/04/wounded-marine-vet-sued-by-city-for-flying-military-flags-at-his-restaurant-video/

Excerpt: Orlando restaurant owner Eddie Colosimo, a wounded Marine Corps veteran, was told this week he could no longer fly military flags in front of his business establishment. The flags are offensive.

Yoani Sánchez Uncaged--The Cuban dissident dismantles Castrocare.

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/04/12/yoani-snchez-uncaged/

Excerpt: But it wasn’t the packed schedule and nonstop traveling — or even the heckling she received from pro-Castro demonstrators at several events — that she found most taxing. Rather, she said, it was the need to constantly dispel myths about Cuba, including about its supposedly first-rate healthcare system. “It tires me to explain to people who celebrate the great Cuban healthcare system how, if we want to visit one of our relatives in the hospital, we have to bring a bag of food under one arm and clean sheets under the other arm to care for the patient because these things are not available in the hospital,” Sánchez said via a translator.

Convicted rapist organizes gun control demonstration at Dayton gun show;
Media fails to note his sex offender status
 http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8763
Excerpt: After reading the article, a Buckeye Firearms Association supporter decided to contact McCorry, the apparent protest organizer, to inform him about the inaccuracies in his statements about firearms (it isn't illegal for private individuals to sell a gun at the show without a background check, people aren't selling M16s or fully-automatic AK-47s at Hara Arena, modern sporting rifles are used for hunting, gun shows are rarely used by criminals as a source for guns, rifles [of any type] are used in murders far less than fists or baseball bats, etc.). The supporter quickly found more than he bargained for. A simple Google search for Jerome McCorry reveals that the man trying to tell the public what weapons they should be allowed to own is a convicted felon.

Obama To ICE; "Let My People Go"

http://justcommonsense-lostinamerica.blogspot.com/2013/04/obama-to-ice-let-my-people-go.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMoXTa+%28Lost+in+America%29

Excerpt: Barack Obama, often championed by liberals as a new modern day savior, has now been anointed with another moniker. To illegal Mexican invaders he is the new Moses. If there were any doubts that "Moses Obama's Amnesty/Open Borders policy is encouraging further invasion, that was cleared up this week. When captured here by the Border Patrol border crossers imply pronounce that Obama shall free them! Don't take my word for it. Here's a quote from a Brooks County, Texas illegal immigrant captured yesterday: "It seems even illegal immigrants seeking to cross over the U.S.-Mexico border are following the current immigration debate. Linda Vickers, who owns a ranch in Brooks County, Texas, told WOAI that she witnessed one man being arrested on her ranch and that he told the border agent Obama would let him go. "The Border Patrol agent was loading one man up, and he told the officer in Spanish, 'Obama's gonna let me go'," Vickers said. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents report that some immigrants will even ask, "Where do I go for my amnesty?" while they are surrendering."

Kermit Gosnell Trial: Philadelphia Abortion Clinic 'Beheaded Live Babies'

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/454360/20130407/philadelphia-abortion-clinic-trial-details-babies-beheaded.htm

Excerpt: Massof, who awaits his own sentencing hearing after he pled guilty to the murder of two babies, claimed the clinic also cut out the spinal cord of nearly 100 living infants. …… Masoff further alleged the ultrasound machine in the hospital was manipulated to make the fetuses look smaller and younger. … However, Massof also declaimed his innocence, on the grounds he believed his employer's intention was only to help women who were often extremely poor. (Per article, “Prosecutors say Gosnell earned more than a million dollars (£1.5m) every year and he charged $3,000 (£1950) for an abortion.” --Barb)

Durbin, Obama linked to defunct Chicago nonprofit under investigation
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/12/durbin-obama-linked-to-chicago-nonprofit-under-investigation/#ixzz2QMhp5Wcl

Excerpt: The controversial non-profit is reportedly under investigation for misappropriating potential millions of dollars in taxpayer money by the Illinois Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Bureau. A Bureau representative declined to comment to The Daily Caller, citing a policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations. The Save-A-Life Foundation, which received nearly $9 million in federal and Illinois state funding to teach schoolchildren CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, dissolved in 2009 but is still under investigation amid claims that it misrepresented the number of children it provided services to and of “money unaccounted for.” (Read carefully when someone says "linked." May be only one person who spread a rumor. May be true. ~bob.)

Not Yet Time to Declare Victory over Climate Anti-Capitalists. By Peter Wilson

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2013/04/not_yet_time_to_declare_victory_over_climate_anti-capitalists.html 

Excerpt: Some climate change skeptics have begun to express optimism recently, based in part on a mildly skeptical article in the normally true-believer Economist magazine. On AT, for example, Jonathon Moseley argued in "The Coming Global Warming Voter Backlash" that the planet hasn't been warming since 1998, and global warming zealots can prevaricate for only so long before voters rise up and throw the bums out. (The warmists are still going strong, and the courts are supporting them. This is not good. --Del)

Teacher 'told fourth-graders to write notes saying they were prepared to give up their constitutional rights to be safer'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2308699/Teacher-told-fourth-graders-write-notes-saying-prepared-constitutional-rights-safer.html

Excerpt: A Florida father was disturbed to find a note in his ten-year-old son's backpack that read: 'I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.' Aaron Harvey, of Duval County, says his child was told to write the sentence by the teacher during a civics lesson at Cedar Hills Elementary School. (OK, this is another one of those things where you really, really wonder what the teacher thinks he/she is doing with an assignment like this. Fourth-graders are old enough to be given some instruction on our history and what constitutional rights mean, but to be told to write a sentence like this seems like not exactly what the kids should be hearing. --Del.(More proof of need to privatize education and or/home school. MM))

Taking the “Pulse” of Missile Defense

http://townhall.com/columnists/edfeulner/2013/04/13/taking-the-pulse-of-missile-defense-n1566548/page/full/

Excerpt: And what’s the most effective way to get a nuclear weapon to a position where it can be detonated to create an EMP? Where it can cause maximum damage to the U.S. electrical grid and other elements of our infrastructure? A ballistic missile. What are rogue nations such as North Korea trying to acquire? Ballistic missiles. (Since the EMP effect was first discovered in the 50s and verified as real in the 60s, virtually every possible attack scenario envisioned has included it as one of the opening moves by any aggressor who was capable of lofting a bomb high enough to impact a significant area. From the aggressor’s point of view, it has many strategic advantages. It kills no one directly, so every anti-war faction would feel justified in demanding no retaliation. It renders no territory unfit for human use (especially by invading forces).While destroying electrics and electronics would hurt or cripple an advanced society’s military technology, it might have little impact on a less-developed military force. Since the explosion would take place so far above the earth’s surface, it might be difficult to determine who set it off, and could not only be deniable but even passed off as an unfortunate accident, if the true source is discovered. The devastation might well require “foreign aid, succor and assistance” justifying large numbers of foreign military to come “help us." Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And, this doesn’t even figure in any sort of direct bomb damage or attack on the ground. Currently, our only real defense against this happening is our naval forces being scattered across the oceans', right, we’re reducing those naval forces, and keeping them closer to home these days, aren’t we? Sleep well, friend. Try not to have bad dreams about North Korea or Iran—or both (they’re just little pipsqueak countries who feel a need to protect themselves, right? They couldn’t possibly hurt us).Ron P.)

The result of ‘walking while gay’ in certain Muslim neighborhoods of Paris

http://www.barenakedislam.com/2013/04/13/the-result-of-walking-while-gay-in-certain-muslim-neighborhoods-of-paris/

Excerpt: Ooops! Guess he didn’t realize he had wandered into a Muslim ‘NO-GO’ zone. There are areas in France which no longer belong to the French State and are euphemistically named ‘Zones Urbaines Sensibles’ (Sensitive Urban Zones) by the French government.

Cleric defends medieval punishments and decrees opposing Khamenei is 'evil'

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/13329-cleric-defends-medieval-punishments-and-decrees-opposing-khamenei-is-evil.html

Excerpt: "Those who have studied in our religious schools believe that ...punishment verdicts cannot be carried out in the modern era. This kind of belief is blasphemy and the beliefs of these people is evil."

Amazon tax an Illinois disaster

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-04-04/news/ct-oped-0404-amazon-20130404_1_amazon-tax-tax-fairness-illinois-department

Excerpt: As it turned out, the tax did spur economic growth — in other states. After the law was enacted, businesses fled. Overstock.com and Amazon.com ended their relationships with Illinois-based marketing affiliates. Chicago-based CouponCabin moved to Indiana. And FatWallet.com, which had been headquartered near Rockford for three years, skipped the border to Wisconsin. ... Each of these companies took with them people, jobs and money.

Closer to the Brink

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2013/04/closer-to-brink.html

Excerpt: Which brings us back to a component that has been largely missing in this crisis--American leadership...Yesterday, the Japanese announced plans to shoot down any North Korean missile that poses a threat to their territory. We can assume the statement was coordinated with the U.S., but there was clear frustration in Tokyo. So far, Washington has made little more than the standard promises about defending its partners, raising new fears that the United States is an unreliable ally. (As always, well reasoned and to the point. I notice some in the media covering this issue are seeming relieved that Kerry is now backing away from the Pentagon’s assessment that it is possible the NKs can mount a nuclear warhead on a missile. I wonder if those relieved reporters have ever given any serious thought to what sort of “delivery vehicle” was actually needed. I wouldn’t be too surprised if a small one could be delivered by horseback or bicycle. But, guarding our borders just isn’t important....Ron P.)

Jihad is Cool: Jihadist Magazines Recruit Young Terrorists

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3969/jihad-is-cool-jihadist-magazines-recruit-young

Excerpt: Jihad recruitment has evolved into using a mainstream format, it is now cool. Print and online magazines provide practical detailed instruction on how to commit terrorist acts. The latest offering, Lone Mujahid Pocketbook, Spring 2013, is published courtesy of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire magazine, and is available on multiple websites.