Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 30, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 30, 2013

Robert A. Hall

My health and approaching retirement

I have just announced to my Board that I will retire as Executive Director on November 30, 2013, unless a lung transplant or another sharp decline in my health forces me out earlier. Not unexpectedly, the lung transplant re-evaluation at the VA in Madison last week showed a sharp decline in my health over the last three months. Given that pulmonary fibrosis is a disease that can go on at the same level for months or years before taking a drop, and that my lung function improved in 2012 due to my weight loss, I was hopeful that I'd be able to meet my goal of working until I was 70. Unfortunately with PF, it's like an airplane flying ever lower--eventually you fly into the ground. My pulmonary function test and blood oxygen test both had lower numbers than December. Worst was my six-minute walk. In December, I walked 1,600 feet, on 3 LPM of oxygen, and my oxygen saturation (O2 sats) level dropped to only 87% at the lowest point. As you doubtless know, below 90% is considered risky for the heart and other organs. (No jokes about Marines not having hearts!) Last week, I only walked 1,200 feet, on 6 LPM of O2 and my sats dropped to 77%. The only positive was that at rest, without O2, my sats still stay at 91%, just barely in the safe range, though this is down from about 94% in December. This will keep my lung allocation score low, making it unlikely I will have a transplant soon, though light household activity such as making the bed or doing laundry leaves me breathless, even with O2 running. My cough has grown much worse, both the dry "PF cough" as my lungs attempt to cough up the dead areas, and especially the productive cough, as it has gotten harder for them to clear the mucus from PF and my allergies. This results in long coughing spells, drops my sats into the 80s, leaves me breathless and often with back and/or chest pain. It also interferes with my verbal communication skills. I do not know what this will mean for this blog. I will be joining the ranks of the poor and unemployed, and it takes time but brings in no revenue. I was off line for two days and had 800 e-mails when I returned, which is becoming increasingly difficult to manage as my health declines. We shall see. ~Bob.

John Quincy Adams Quote

When John Quincy Adams was eighty years of age a friend said to him: "Well, how is John Quincy Adams?" "Thank you," he said, "John Quincy Adams is quite well. But the house where he lives is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it, and it is becoming quite uninhabitable. I shall have to move out soon. But John Quincy Adams is quite well, thank you." (Bob Hall is quite well, thank you. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Happy Birthday to a Great President. By Mark W. Hendrickson 

http://patriotpost.us/commentary/17880

Excerpt: Monroe played a key role in Washington's famous 1776 Christmas night sortie across the Delaware River. The teenaged Monroe was the co-leader, with one of Washington's cousins, of an advance party of 50 that had crossed the river ahead of the rest of Washington's troops, and then captured the two strategically placed cannons that defended the Hessian military camp outside of Trenton. Though seriously wounded by a musket shot, Monroe stood his ground, repelling repeated Hessian attempts to recapture the big guns, thereby saving many American lives (including, possibly, Washington's), and thereby making that indispensable, resounding victory possible.

Antiabortion group releases videos of clinic workers discussing live births

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/antiabortion-group-releases-videos-of-clinic-workers-discussing-live-births/2013/04/28/36678eb0-adf5-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Obama’s position. ~Bob. Excerpt: An antiabortion group that mounted a six-month undercover investigation has released videos this week that raise questions about what might happen to a baby as a result of an unsuccessful abortion. One video features a D.C. doctor, Cesare Santangelo, who said that in the unlikely event that an abortion resulted in a live birth, “we would not help it.” Santangelo was answering repeated questions from an undercover operative about what would happen, hypothetically, if she gave birth after an unsuccessful abortion.

Liberal Chick Gets College Students to Sign Pressure Cooker Ban!
http://clashdaily.com/2013/04/liberal-chick-gets-college-students-to-sign-pressure-cooker-ban/

West Haven police charge local man in theft of cash register from convenience store

http://nhregister.com/articles/2013/04/29/news/doc517d20a0e6b45514953358.txt

Excerpt: Police have arrested Michael L. Peterson at 288 Front Ave. for allegedly brandishing a hand saw and threatening a clerk before stealing the cash register Sunday at Sam's Food Mart, 667 Campbell Ave., according to a press release from police. (I bet it was one of those assault hand saws and must be banned. They're "weapons of mass construction." --George)

China's Militant Nationalism. By Gordon G. Chang

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3687/china-militant-nationalism

Excerpt: As we kept providing incentives for unacceptable behavior, Beijing predictably became less cooperative and more assertive. Worse, the less and less the Chinese felt the desire to engage us, the more and more we felt the need to engage them. If we do not change our policies, our indulgence may end up creating the very thing we have desperately sought to avoid: an incurably aggressive Chinese state.

Worth Reading: The Premature Mirandizing of a Terrorist. By Daniel Greenfield

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/the-premature-mirandizing-of-a-terrorist

Excerpt: It was late at night when she began walking home from the bus stop, but crime rates in Phoenix, Arizona were only beginning the upward rise that would take hold in the seventies. In 1963, the year that Lois Ann Jameson was walking home, there had been 222 rapes. Ten years later, that number would stand at 637. Today there are over 2,000 rapes a year in Phoenix; ten times as many. But one of those rapes would be hers. And it would lead to a new standard of protection for murderers and rapists.

Time to Derail the Saudi "Visa Express." By Clare M. Lopez
http://lopez.pundicity.com/13224/saudi-visa-express

Excerpt: One of the more striking—and worrisome—aspects of the April 2013 Boston Marathon terror attack and the cross-border al-Qa'eda/Iran plot to bomb a passenger railway that runs between New York City and Toronto, Canada is the realization that all four suspects so far identified in the two plots had entered legally into the United States and Canada, respectively. Crossing legally into Western countries targeted for terror attacks, entering immigrant and refugee streams without drawing attention from security services, and blending into existing multicultural communities while establishing personas indistinguishable from those of tens of thousands of other new arrivals, appears to be a tried and true modus operandi for Islamic jihadis. It definitely worked for the fifteen of nineteen 9/11 hijackers who were Saudis.

Report: Obama Spent Twice As Much Time On Vacation/Golf As Economy

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/28/REPORT-Obama-Spent-Twice-As-Much-Time-On-Vacation-Golf-As-On-Economy?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+April+29%2C+2013&utm_campaign=20130429_m115901285_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+April+29%2C+2013&utm_term=More

Excerpt: According to a new report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Institute (GAI), President Barack Obama has spent over twice as many hours on vacation and golf (976 hours) as he has in economic meetings of any kind (474.4 hours).

Desegregation, before Brown: Barry Goldwater and the forgotten campaign in Phoenix. By Kevin D. Williamson

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346861/desegregation-brown

Excerpt: Here, Barry Goldwater enters the story. Goldwater was a department-store proprietor and a member of the Phoenix city council. He was a very conservative Republican, something that was not at all at odds with his membership in the NAACP, which was, in the 1950s, an organization in which Republicans and conservatives still were very much welcome. 

5 car bombs kill 26 in Shiite areas across Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/5-car-bombs-kill-26-shiite-areas-across-091440443.html

Excerpt: Five car bombs exploded Monday in predominantly Shiite cities and districts in central and southern Iraq, killing 26 civilians and wounding dozens, officials said. (I wonder f Iraq won’t return to the Saddam era when his son would call a school principal and order him to send over a pretty young Shiite school girl to be raped. You know, what liberals call the “good old days” before bush stopped this. ~Bob.)

New Twinkie Maker Shuns Union Labor

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324474004578443062380660262.html

Excerpt: Chief Executive C. Dean Metropoulos said the company will pump $60 million in capital investments into the plants between now and September and aims to hire at least 1,500 workers. But they won't be represented by unions, including the one whose nationwide strike sparked the 86-year-old company's decision to shut down in November.

Exempting Congress From ObamaCare: The Members try to protect themselves from 'Medicaid plus.'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323335404578445042307824784.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: The Politico website broke the story Thursday morning that Congressional leaders were in hush-hush talks to exempt themselves and their staff from the wonders of ObamaCare. The story succeeded in blowing up the talks, but there's a bigger story here about Congressional intentions that is worth telling.