Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 9, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for May 9, 2013

Robert A. Hall

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion--who needs newspapers or TV? 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.

Advice for my Granddaughter: For When I'm Gone

http://www.amazon.com/Advice-Granddaughter-When-Im-Gone/dp/147004238X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329662198&sr=8-2

https://www.createspace.com/3792897All royalties go to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (which gets a larger royalty if you order directly through Create Space.).

Worth Reading: The 2012 Election Is Over; the Benghazi Scandal Is Not. By Peter Wehner

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/05/06/the-2012-election-is-over-the-benghazi-scandal-is-not/

Excerpt: It provides fresh evidence that, in the words of Hayes, “senior Obama administration officials knowingly misled the country about what had happened in the days following the assaults [on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi on September 11, 2012].” (Emphasis added). We now know, for example, that the early talking points were accurate–and it was only after the State Department and the White House, among others, got done revising the talking points that the truth was transformed into a false account. … It now seems clear, based on the reporting by Steve Hayes and the accounts of those who were key actors during the attacks, that the accounts of the attacks by the Obama administration were not simply wrong; they were knowingly and willfully wrong. Which turns a mistake into a lie. (The chattering classers are amusing themselves with speculation that new revelations about the attack on the compound in Benghazi will bring down the president. Nonsense. As Hillary Clinton and John Kerry said, in effect, it's old news. Worse, no one really cares. So some bureaucrats half way around the world got killed. Isn't that a risk they take when they put on the uniform? Besides, they were Americans. If they didn't deserve it personally, they just paid a small part of the price for the age old sins of the American Empire. Besides, those who killed the ambassador ain't no threat to me. What's the big deal? The few of us with spare cash to invest are again getting rich on Wall Street, the entitlement checks keep coming, Barack says the world loves us and we now have an admitted gay basket ball player. What more could we ask for? --Tom H.)

Important: This Just In from South Carolina: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! By Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt

http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters

Excerpt: Hey, Democrats. You just spent a bundle and lost . . . to Mark Sanford. The argument that we can't learn anything about 2014 from an individual special House race is generally true. But Alex Roarty of National Journal -- a.k.a., that insider, non-conservative publication that National Review is often mixed up with -- repeats my point from yesterday: Democrats put a lot of money and effort into this race, against a Republican candidate they thought was uniquely beatable. (And in fact, he was. But "uniquely beatable" doesn't always mean you will beat him.) Now we see all of that Democratic spending gained nothing: $1.2 million in donations to Colbert Busch, more than $929,000 on independent expenditures against Sanford . . . FLUSH! And there is a lesson for 2014: Mark Sanford managed to overcome the electorate's wariness about him by emphasizing that a vote for his opponent was a vote for Nancy Pelosi and the Obama agenda. Red-state and red-district Democrats have always had a tough balancing act, emphasizing how they're not like those other Democrats; Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the end just wasn't a talented enough candidate to pull that off. (In short, she wasn't that talented a candidate at all. "The Solyndra of the South," as Nathan Wurtzel summarized.) Any remaining red-district Democrats really have to run hard from Pelosi from now until November 2014.

Ex-South Carolina governor Sanford beats Colbert Busch in special House election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ex-south-carolina-governor-sanford-beats-colbert-busch-in-special-house-election/2013/05/07/7ab18818-b747-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: But in the end, he cruised to an easy victory, winning 54 percent of the vote to Colbert Busch’s 45 percent.

Radicals warn we should fear government

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/05/radicals-warn-about-government.html

Cartoon.

Obama urges graduates not to fear government

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/05/05/obama-tells-graduates-reject-cynical-views-government/wmPVXNdcsZhRR4JQ2tBFOL/story.html

Excerpt: ‘‘Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems,’’ Obama told the crowd at the Ohio State commencement ceremony, which totaled almost 60,000 people. ‘‘They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices.’’(Reject them at your own peril. --JB)

New Ambassador to Libya’s Security Plan

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2013/05/security-plan.html

Cartoon.

Obama’s Benghazi Propagandist. By Matthew Vadum 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/matthew-vadum/obamas-benghazi-propagandist/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2b37157ecc-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-2b37157ecc-156414477

Excerpt: The Obama administration’s rapidly unraveling narrative about what happened at the U.S. consulate in Libya’s second-largest city may have been cooked up by creative writer Ben Rhodes, the president’s 30-something Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting.

Does Lack of Health Insurance Kill? By Linda Gorman

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/does-lack-of-health-insurance-kill/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-30187

Excerpt: The results from the Oregon Experiment, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 2, show that extending Medicaid to low-income adults did not improve basic clinical measures of health. Given that, it is a bit hard to see how being uninsured can cause 45,000 premature deaths every year — a figure rivaling the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. That’s the number physicians for a National Health Program say die prematurely in America due to a lack of health insurance. The Oregon study results probably did not surprise those who have been paying attention to the serious academic literature, however.

New Book: The End Is Near and It's Going to Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure By Kevin D. Williamson 

http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Near-Going-Awesome/dp/0062220683

I have not read, just read about this one. Different take from my book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. ~Bob. In The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome, Kevin Williamson, a National Review Online contributor, makes the bold argument that the United States government is disintegrating—and that it is a good thing! Williamson offers a radical re-envisioning of government, a powerful analysis of why it doesn’t work, and an exploration of the innovative solutions to various social problems that are spontaneously emerging as a result of the failure of politics and government. Critical and compelling, The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure lays out a thoughtful plan for a new system, one based on success stories from around the country, from those who home-school their children to others who have successfully created their own currency.

Krugman’s Still Wrong: He’s doing a victory lap, but shouldn’t be. By Michael Tanner

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347671/krugman%E2%80%99s-still-wrong

Excerpt: Paul Krugman has never been shy about proclaiming that he is right and everyone else is wrong — and not just wrong, but “knaves and fools.” Lately, however, one begins to worry that he might actually hurt himself, so vigorously has he been patting himself on the back for his opposition to “austerity” (defined as any cut in government spending, anytime, anywhere).

Worth Reading: ‘Diversity’: The Magic Word: The “compelling” need to promote diversity trumps all else — including rational thought. By Thomas Sowell

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347642/%E2%80%98diversity%E2%80%99-magic-word

Excerpt: To ask whether institutions that promote diversity 24/7 end up with better or worse relations between the races than institutions that pay no attention to it is only to get yourself regarded as a bad person. To cite hard evidence that places obsessed with diversity have worse race relations is to risk getting yourself labeled an incorrigible racist. Free thinking is not free.

Nigeria: 'Many dead in Boko Haram raid' in Borno state

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-22444417

Didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Fifty-five people have been killed in the north-east of Nigeria in co-ordinated attacks by the Boko Haram militant group, the Nigerian army says. It said 105 prisoners were freed in the pre-dawn raid in Bama, Borno state.

Hero Alert: Charles Ramsey Rescues Kidnapped Amanda Berry and He’s Hilarious!
http://clashdaily.com/2013/05/hero-alert-charles-ramsey-rescues-kidnapped-amanda-berry-and-hes-hilarious/

This guy is a trip. Good for him. ~Bob.

W outclasses Barack and Bill, without even trying

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/25/w-outclasses-barack-and-bill-without-even-trying/?page=all

Excerpt: Just before we said our goodbyes, I asked her if she’d miss covering President Obama. “Not at all. He’s an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow, obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one.” Her words, so succinct, have stuck with me ever since. By the way, she’s a hardcore Democrat.

Worth Reading: Honest Examination of Race. By Walter E. Williams

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/05/08/honest-examination-of-race-n1588213?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Excerpt: Experiencing a violent crime rate of 2,137 per 100,000 of the population, Detroit is the nation's most dangerous city. Rounding out Forbes magazine's 2012 list of the 10 most dangerous cities are St Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Baltimore; Stockton, Calif.; Cleveland; and Buffalo, N.Y. The most common characteristic of these predominantly black cities is that for decades, all of them have been run by Democratic and presumably liberal administrations. … Black education is a disaster, but who runs the violent, disruptive big-city schools, where education is all but impossible? For the most part, it's not white people. Go to a city such as Detroit and you'll find that blacks have been superintendents, principals and most of the teachers for years. Most black high-school students, in Detroit and other cities, can't read, write and compute as well as sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade white students, but is it because of racism? … Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.' (H’s also black, grew up in a project in Philadelphia. ~Bob.)

The Mass Exodus of Christians from the Muslim World. By Raymond Ibrahim 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/raymond-ibrahim/the-mass-exodus-of-christians-from-the-muslim-world/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2b37157ecc-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-2b37157ecc-156414477

Excerpt: A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway. Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other. We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world—much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian—came into being.

Bangladeshi Factory Owner Arrested

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2013/04/29/bangladesh-factory-owner-arrested---mohammed-sohel-rana

Excerpt: THE owner of the collapsed Bangladeshi factory that killed over 350 garment workers has been arrested. Mohammed Sohel Rana has been in hiding since the incident at the Rana Plaza, 12 miles north of Dhaka, on Wednesday. Yesterday, Bangladeshi police found Rana - who is also a politician - at the Indian border, where he was trying to reach the West Bengal state.

Huckabee: Benghazi Scandal Will Cost Obama His Presidency
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/huckabee-benghazi-obama-presidency/2013/05/07/id/503192?s=al&promo_code=1367B-1
Excerpt: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is now openly talking about impeachment, saying he does not believe Barack Obama will survive the remaining 3½ years of his presidency. “When a president lies to the American people and is part of a cover-up, he cannot continue to govern,” Huckabee said on his radio show Monday. ("Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Giving our enemies aid is an act of treason. Benghazi reeks of treason on more than one level and by more than just one person. Let the trials begin! --MM) 

Bangladesh: 140 Christian girls rescued from Islamic madrassas, sex slavery

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/bangladesh-140-christian-girls-rescued-from-islamic-madrassas-sex-slavery.html

Excerpt: The Qur'an allows for the owning of sex slaves: If you fear that you will not act justly towards the orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, four; but if you fear you will not be equitable, then only one, or what your right hands own; so it is likelier you will not be partial. (Qur'an 4:3)

Young Christian Girls Trafficked into Forced Labor and Sex Slavery. By Corey Bailey

http://www.persecution.org/2013/05/05/young-christian-girls-trafficked-into-forced-labor-and-sex-slavery/

Excerpt: More than 140 children have been rescued from Islamic training centers (madrassas) in the last nine months, with a majority of the children targeted because of their Christian faith. The females, accounting for nearly half of those rescued, report that they were used for forced labor and sex slavery.

Muslim screaming "Allahu akbar" stabs cop -- "motive undetermined"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/muslim-screaming-allahu-akbar-stabs-cop----motive-undetermined.html

Excerpt: Yep, it's a real head-scratcher.

Lauryn Hill Blames Slavery as She's Jailed for $500,000 Unpaid Tax Bill

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/465175/20130507/lauryn-hill-tax-trial.htm

Excerpt: During her trial, Hill claimed she is still forced to live under the pernicious economic hierarchy imposed by the slave trade. She told the court: "I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them. I had an economic system imposed on me." (Slavery, huh? I was blaming George Bush or Global Warming. ~Bob.)

This Is What Intolerance Smells Like. By Susan Stamper Brown

http://townhall.com/columnists/susanstamperbrown/2013/05/01/this-is-what-intolerance-smells-like-n1583594/page/full

Excerpt: President Obama's new "religious tolerance" consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law. By employing his consulting services, and as Commander-in-Chief, President Obama is effectively endorsing Weinstein's recently voiced and written views such as: "Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized [sic] and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation's armed forces."

Tweet from CG Casey Kim ‏@caseykim123h

The government is about to sell the remaining 18% stake we have in GM. At a 12 BILLION DOLLAR LOSS. Great "investment," feds.

Two Professors Rekindle Their Love of Book Burnin. By Jon Gabriel

http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/joncgabriel/two-professors-rekindle-their-love-of-book-burning

Excerpt: We learned over the weekend that school office bullies aren’t restricted to the K-12 world. Two California university professors seem to be creating their own list of books to ban, including any titles that dare question their disintegrating theory of apocalyptic climate change. San Jose State University posted a photo of their Climate Science profs about to burn Steve Goreham’s book, The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism. Department chair Alison Bridger, Ph.D., is shown holding a match while associate professor Craig Clements , Ph.D., dangles the book above the flame. 

Tweet from Ralph Steadman ‏@_Ralph993h

"Let them die so they don't disturb my campaign message that I stopped terrorism by killing osama"

Tweet from Liars Never Win ‏@liars_never_win9m

Dying for your Country is honorable. Dying for the President to be reelected is tragic.

Tweet from jimgeraghty ‏@jimgeraghty37m

The administration line will be that this is "old news" but the problem is that we keep hearing new information in this hearing.

Tweet from Greg Howard ‏@GregWHoward6m

Kudos to Rep Jordan for getting it on record from Hicks that witnesses were told not to cooperate w congress.

Tweet from Joe the Patriotic ‏@joethepatriotic13m

Hicks notes that he was demoted from Deputy Chief of Mission to Desk Officer. So that's how this admin treats whistleblowers...

GOP chairman denied Benghazi files

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/298499-mckeon-denied-dod-documents-on-benghazi#ixzz2SjLXSViR 

Excerpt: Pentagon officials have denied a request from a House Republican chairman for access to documents on last year’s terrorist attack in Benghazi. (The “most transparent administration in history” soldiers on. ~Bob.)

How Did Progressive Journalists Get Pigford So Wrong? A New York Times investigation into black farmers' lawsuit and associated settlements vindicates conservative journalists' concerns.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/how-did-progressive-journalists-get-pigford-so-wrong/275593/

Excerpt: Dan Foster, a young staffer at National Review, published a 2010 story about a class-action lawsuit against the federal government that resulted in "the waste of billions of dollars" and "systemic fraud implicating top federal officials." He wrote that the scandal touched President Obama himself, that countless payouts were made to people falsely claiming racial discrimination, and that more fraud was likely in successor lawsuits filed on behalf of women and Hispanics.

The Holy Qur’an on non-believers

http://www.twitpic.com/c38yvc?buffer_share=b1967&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer%253A%252BPeterTownsend7%252Bon%252Btwitter

So who has the phobia? ~Bob

Gun Fiction vs. Gun Facts: What Gun Control Supporters Don't Know

http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/05/07/gun-fiction-vs-gun-facts

Excerpt: But it wasn't just a disappointment in terms of sheer numbers. The protesters who did show up had an amazingly weak grasp of basic trends related to the number of mass shootings, the effectiveness of assault-weapon bans, and the use of firearms in violent crime.

Operation Smear Benghazi Whistleblowers. By Michelle Malkin

http://michellemalkin.com/2013/05/08/operation-smear-benghazi-whistleblowers/

Excerpt: It’s on. As the White House grapples with a growing backlash over its Libya lies and lapses, President Obama’s apologists are gearing up for battle. Put on your hip-waders. Grab those tar buckets. Get ready for Operation Smear Benghazi Whistleblowers.

At Tribunal, Historian Describes Vietnam’s Relationship to Khmer Rouge

http://www.voacambodia.com/content/at-tribunal-historian-describes-vietnam-relationship-to-khmer-rouge/1656397.html

Excerpt: “That the Vietnamese were largely responsible, principally responsible, for arming and training the [Khmer liberation] is undeniable,” Short said. This created a conundrum for the Khmer Rouge, he said.

Which Lives Matter to the Media. By Jonathan S. Tobin

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/05/07/which-lives-matter-to-the-media-gosnell-arias-me/

Excerpt: Last month, the American media had a brief moment of accountability when many in the press and broadcast networks acknowledged that they had largely ignored the case of Kermit Gosnell. The trial of the murderous Philadelphia abortionist flew below the radar for weeks.