Latest Political News

A little sore today from my pulmonary rehab. first real exercise in months, though my DIs would not have been impressed. May be offline over the weekend, not sure. ~Bob

The Debt-Limit Debate 2013: Addressing Key Myths. By Veronique de Rugy and Jason J. Fichtner

http://mercatus.org/publication/debt-limit-debate-2013-addressing-key-myths

Excerpt: Myth #1: Standard and Poor’s (S&P) US credit rating downgrade in August 2011 was caused by Washington’s brinkmanship over increasing the debt limit. Congress must therefore avoid attaching spending-cut demands to the current debt-limit increase if they want to avoid jeopardizing the nation’s fragile economy. Reality: Washington’s failure to deal with unsustainable federal spending mostly related to entitlement programs and debt caused the 2011 S&P downgrade and is spurring warnings of another downgrade by the credit rating agencies.

Why Some Veterinarians Have a Bone To Pick With Obamacare. By Phil Galewitz

http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/10/why-veterinarians-have-a-bone-to-pick-with-obamacare/?referrer=search

Excerpt: Dr. Douglas Aspros says the federal health law is increasing his costs to buy medical equipment, which he has no choice but to pass onto his patients — most whom are uninsured. None of Aspros’ patients, though, will benefit from the law’s expansion of coverage. Aspros, you see, treats dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, parrots and other small animals at his veterinary center in Pound Ridge, N.Y.

Younger Americans Fare Poorly on Skills against International Peers

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23696&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: U.S. baby boomers held their own against workers' skills in other industrial nations but younger people fell behind their peers, according to a new study, painting a gloomy picture of the nation's competitiveness and education system, says the Wall Street Journal. The study, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), tested 166,000 people ages 16 to 65 and found that Americans ranked 16 out of 23 industrialized countries in literacy and 21 out of 23 in numeracy.

Budget slugfest hits medical device tax

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/07/device-taxes/2924629/

Excerpt: The government shutdown may force a reprise of one of the hardest-fought battles over the new health care law's details, as medical-device companies and their backers press for repeal of a 2.3% tax on everything from artificial hips to defibrillators.

Quotes

Every crisis offers you extra desired power. --William Moulton Marston

The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind. --John Stuart Mill

Sickening! JPAC admits to phony ceremonies honoring ‘returning’ remains

http://www.stripes.com/jpac-admits-to-phony-ceremonies-honoring-returning-remains-1.246322

Excerpt: The Pentagon acknowledged Wednesday that no honored dead were in fact arriving, and that the planes used in the ceremonies often couldn’t even fly, and were towed into position. The story was first reported on nbcnews.com. The ceremonies at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii are held up as a sign of the nation’s commitment to its fallen warriors. (Think about what the troops involved think about the leadership pushing such a decision!!! Honor, character and leadership appear to be waning in all our services lately—especially at the upper levels. --Greg. Just when you thought you heard it all: The Big Lie. --Mike)

October 13, 2013: America's Showdown Veterans March on DC and Truckers Roll

http://www.rightsidenews.com/2013101033318/editorial/rsn-pick-of-the-day/october-13-2013-america-s-showdown-veterans-march-on-dc-and-truckers-roll.html

Excerpt: On October 13, 2013, American veterans and other patriots are going to launch a major protest. President Obama has been using the government shutdown as an excuse to commit a string of almost unbelievable public outrages against Americans everywhere. These include the following unbelievable eye-poppers: (Hope this isn't all talk. ~Bob)

Monsanto protesters toss money off balcony in Senate office

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/protesters-drop-bag-of-cash-in-senate-building-194956851.html

Excerpt: Just when you thought Washington couldn't get any stranger, protesters dropped a bag of money off the balcony inside the Hart Senate Building. Make it rain, everybody! (Due to my commitment to Free Speech, I've invited them to protest at my house. ~Bob. So, the crime was what...littering? - LLW)

Kuwaiti Islamic scholar: "First of all, as a Muslim, I believe that the Jews are evil"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/kuwaiti-islamic-scholar-first-of-all-as-a-muslim-i-believe-that-the-jews-are-evil.html

Pilot Memo Warns of Terrorist Dry Run on DC to Orlando Flight

http://www.wltx.com/news/national/article/252335/2/Pilot-Memo-Warns-of-Terrorist-Dry-Run-on-US-Flight

Excerpt: It was a flight bound for Florida, and some airline pilots believe it also may have been a dry-run for terrorists. The WTSP News Investigators have obtained an internal memo that details a frightening incident that brings back memories of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (If they attack now, the Media will blame Republicans for closing down the war memorials. ~Bob)

Must Read: UK: Muslims hold Slovakian woman as slave, repeatedly rape and assault her

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/10/uk-muslims-hold-slovakian-woman-as-slave-repeatedly-rape-and-assault-her.html

Excerpt: These rape and sex slavery gangs are bad, but even worse would be to let into the country anyone who would talk honestly about how such actions are justified within Islam, which would explain why there are so many such gangs. Better to pretend that there is no problem at all. The Qur'an allows for the owning of sex slaves:

Syrian rebels accused of massacring civilians

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/syrian-rebels-accused-massacring-civilians-201310118942829540.html

Excerpt: Armed group committed war crime in August by killing at least 190 Alawite villagers in Latakia, Human Rights Watch says. (The moderates Obama is using our tax dollars to arm. ~Bob)

CPJ examines press freedom under Obama

http://cpj.org/2013/09/cpj-examines-press-freedom-under-obama.php

Excerpt: "Journalists working in the United States have told us that their work has become more difficult as aggressive leak investigations and prosecution have chilled certain kinds of reporting," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "Given his experience as both an academic and media professional, Len Downie is the right person to look at these complex issues with clarity and purpose." (This is the first time in 19 years that CPJ has been led to investigate media suppression in the US and it is the very first time they have covered specifically a US administration! Now we are being compared to Burma, China, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, and Tanzania. Now some people who refused to see the gross interference with our Constitutional liberties may have their eyes opened about our Nobel prize winning White House resident.
Let's spread this around. --Don Hank)

Don't Buy The Media Spin: The Shutdown Is Killing Obamacare

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/10/10/Dont-listen-to-the-media-shutdown-is-killing-obamacare?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+October+11%2C+2013&utm_campaign=20131011_m117525098_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+October+11%2C+2013&utm_term=More

Excerpt: White House Can't Spin the Sticker Shock - If anything brings down ObamaCare, it will be sticker shock. For four years, Obama, Democrats, and the media have been lying to the American people about the cost of ObamaCare. On top of adding $2.6 trillion to our deficit, individuals are facing shockingly high premiums and premium increases. This, after being lied to again and again about cheaper premiums. I'm not sure how the White House and its media would spin their way out of this, but heaven knows if they had the time and resources, they would find a way. After all, this is the same media that turned Obama's Libya debacle into a campaign problem for Mitt Romney.

Europe, China agree currency deal

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/10/news/economy/ecb-china-currency/

Excerpt: Europe and China have agreed a currency swap deal to boost trade and investment between the regions. Under the terms of the deal between the European Central Bank and the People's Bank of China, the swap facility could total as much as 350 billion yuan and €45 billion. (Quote: "It's a way of promoting European and Chinese trade, but not doing it with the U.S. dollar," said Brooks. "It's a bit like cutting out the middleman, all of a sudden there's potentially no U.S. dollar risk." Risk, eh? This is a first step. With Bernanke gone, no one knows where the dollar is headed, but it looks like China and the EU aren't taking any chances with it. Are you beginning to see why some economists were protesting the Fed's QEs (rampant printing of dollars)? The disinformation specialists have convinced many Americans that it is the Republicans interfering with the raising of the debt ceiling that is causing the problem. They got it backwards, of course. An administration that whimsically raises the debt ceiling at the drop of a hat, to pay 100 million people not to work (that is an unreported unemployment rate of over 40%!) is the problem in spades and eventually, that will leak out to even the brain dead masses.

Too late of course. (This disinformation technique is a Soviet one and was dubbed "Weakness and facade" or "Potemkin Village" by KGB defector Golitsyn. After the dollar collapse, the media and their partners in government will pretend no one could possibly have known and will claim no one knows why it happened. "Theories" will be floated, but those who have correctly identified the government and Fed involvement will be discredited). --Don Hank)

National Park Service Allows Golfers To Tee Up During Shutdown. By Amy Holmes

http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2013/10/10/national-park-service-allows-golfers-to-tee-up-during-shutdown/

Excerpt: Following up on a tip sent in by a vigilant Blaze reader, I made a quick call to San Francisco’s Presidio Golf Club, this morning. I can confirm that the public golf course, clubhouse and café are cheerfully open for business — all sit on the same national park land as the privately owned and operated, and currently shuttered, Cliff House restaurant.

Iraq says executes 42 'terrorists', including woman

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/10/us-iraq-executions-idUSBRE99914C20131010

Excerpt: Iraq executed 42 people, including a woman, for mass killings and other "terrorism" offences over the past week, the justice ministry and the United Nations said on Thursday after a surge in sectarian violence. (Bet hey'd hve rather been at Gitmo, reading Forty Shades of Gray. ~Bob)

Good Article: The Re-Education of Jim Collins, By Bo Burlingham

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201310/bo-bulinghamo-burl/jim-collins-re-learns-leadership-at-west-point.html

Excerpt: Life at West Point is highly regimented and filled with pressure. So why, Jim Collins wondered, were the cadets he met so much happier than students at civilian schools? That struck Collins as interesting. West Point is a highly competitive place. Every cadet wants to do the IOCT faster than his or her peers. Every cadet also is extremely busy. Yet these cadets were taking time away from their studies and other duties to help their friends get through the course.

John Boehner's offer puts President Obama on the spot
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/john-boehner-offer-obama-debt-ceiling-98154.html

Excerpt: By adopting the House GOP plan to raise the debt ceiling, Obama would avoid a potentially crippling blow to the economy and, in the White House’s view, finally break Republicans of their habit of seeking concessions each time the debt ceiling needs to be raised. But the downsides are significant. The federal government might not immediately reopen, there’s no guarantee Republicans would stop using the debt limit as leverage in the future and Obama could find himself in the same position once the temporary extension expires.

The Leftist Enablers of Hezbollah and Hamas. By Joseph Klein 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/joseph-klein/the-leftist-enablers-of-hezbollah-and-hamas-2/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=724703def4-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-724703def4-156414477

Excerpt: “Understanding Hamas/Hezbollah as social movements that are progressive, that are on the left, that are part of a global left, is extremely important,“ proclaimed leftist Columbia University visiting professor Judith Butler, who is also an executive member of the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace in the United States and The Jenin Theatre in Palestine. Then, in a disclaimer so typical of the leftist apologists for terrorist organizations cloaked as “resistance fighters,” Professor Butler assured us that she does not favor violence.

Today in History: West Saved from Islam at Battle of Tours

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/raymond-ibrahim/today-in-history-western-civilization-saved-from-islam-at-battle-of-tours/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=724703def4-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-724703def4-156414477

Excerpt: Precisely 100 years after the death of Islam’s prophet Muhammad in 632, his Arab followers, after having conquered thousands of miles of lands from Arabia to Spain, found themselves in Gaul, modern day France, facing a hitherto little known people, the Christian Franks.

The Battle of the Redskins. By Daniel Greenfield 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/the-battle-of-the-redskins/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=724703def4-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-724703def4-156414477

Excerpt: The affinity that black D.C. residents have for the Redskins, a team that white D.C. liberals feel they should despise, has long been a sore spot. Every story about the Redskins begins with the team’s segregationist past even though it has as much to do with the current issue as Harry Truman saying, “I think one man is just as good as another so long as he’s not an N Word.”

Good Article: 1-800-T-O-T-A-L-F-A-I-L: One Man's Obamawreck Nightmare. By Michelle Malkin

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2013/10/11/1800totalfail-one-mans-obamawreck-nightmare-n1721254/page/full

Excerpt: Back on planet Earth, Americans nationwide are still struggling with the $634 million online health care exchange nightmare. One reader asked me to share his story. Like me and 22 million other citizens in the private individual market for health insurance, he recently received his You Can't Keep It cancellation notice. Here's what happened when he went online to find alternatives.

Obamacare Means Your Credit Score Could Hurt Your Healthcare

http://eaglerising.com/2202/will-credit-score-impact-healthcare-coverage/

Excerpt: Mass confusion in Florida as the state’s leading “Navigator” spreads a scare message about credit scores. The Navigators have been put in place to help guide regular Americans with no idea about Obamacare, and the many aspects of the new healthcare legislation. ... One of the leading Navigators in the state of Florida recently went on with a local Orlando, FL news station and told Floridians that their credit score will impact their health insurance.

A Very Small Place in Hell

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-very-small-place-in-hell/88442/

Excerpt The death of Vo Nguyen Giap, coming as America supposedly is executing a “pivot” toward Asia, is a moment to sort the truth and the myth about Vietnam. The myth — that Giap was, as the Washington Post put it, the “military commander and national folk hero who organized the army that defeated the French and then the Americans” — is no doubt going to be embroidered in one newspaper after another in the coming days, as the general goes to a very small place in Hell, to make a play on the title of Bernard Fall’s classic account of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, “Hell in a Very Small Place.” (Hey, somebody else got it right. I am very pleasantly surprised. --Del)

MSNBC Host Left Speechless By GOP Congressman’s Epic Obamacare Admission

http://conservativevideos.com/2013/10/msnbc-host-left-speechless-gop-congressmans-epic-obamacare-admission/

Excerpt: Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) took MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell to task Tuesday for her stubborn defense of President Obama’s unwillingness to negotiate on Obamacare to end the government shutdown. When Mitchell claimed that a delay of the individual mandate was a “nonnegotiable demand”, Rep. Duffy demanded to know why the administration would delay the mandate for big businesses and not for individuals, and why only Jon Stewart had asked why the two should be treated differently.

99% of Obamacare applications hit a wall

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101087965/

Excerpt: It's a batting average that won't land the federal marketplace for Obamacare into the Healthcare Hall of Fame. As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data. (People are asking, how, after spending over $600M on the website, this could be such a disaster. It's a government program and a government ebsite. How could it not be a disaster? ~Bob)

DEA Warns Federal Shutdown Will Lead to Resurgence of Illegal Lemonade Stands
http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/2013/10/dea-warns-federal-shutdown-will-lead-resurgence-illegal-lemonade-stands/

Excerpt: In the wake of the shut down of the Federal Government, DEA officials warn the public of the impending resurgence of illegal lemonade stands. Reports of children as young as five years old selling lemonade on street corners all across the country have been pouring in ever since the shut down of the federal government. Officials warn that, if gone unchecked, these stands will engulf every street corner in every suburb across the country. Using children as underage laborers, these stands make hundreds of dollars every year in non taxable income. (Satire. Too funny. ~Bob)

Obama Approval Rating Plummets!

http://eaglerising.com/2206/obama-approval-rating-plummets/

Excerpt: What is aggravating about the AP report is that there is a much more obvious headline that should have come out in this report. About halfway through the article, the AP finally gets to what I think has to be the most important number in the entire article. (Yes, even more important than who’s to blame for the shutdown.) “Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.”

How do you negotiate with a President who cannot be trusted?
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/ernest-istook-knowing-inside/2013/oct/10/how-do-you-negotiate-president-who-cannot-be-trust/#ixzz2hQuOtrYY

Excerpt: WASHINGTON, October 10, 2013 — President Obama’s dishonesty is a huge barrier to resolving the stalemate in Washington. How do you work with someone who weaves circles of deception around the truth, adding layer after layer after layer, much like Russian nesting dolls?

Obama Balks at Boehner’s Debt Ceiling Offer
http://conservativebyte.com/2013/10/obama-balks-boehners-debt-ceiling-offer/

Excerpt: After House Republicans gave a little breathing room on the debt ceiling, offering a “clean” six-week increase with nothing in return, President Barack Obama rejected their plan

Obama is Going Down in Flames and Republicans Are in Compromise Mode
http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/10/obama-going-flames-republicans-compromise-mode/
Excerpt: In a mean-spirited fit of selfish anger, Barack Obama has shut down our nation’s war memorials. And he has declared open war on our honored veterans!

National Park Service: Wolves in Service Dog Harness. By Rosslyn Smith

 http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/national_park_service_wolves_in_service_dog_harness.html#ixzz2hS2BPqVf

Excerpt: When people look back on the past week, I suspect the key images they remember will be the various shots of barricades, traffic cones and police tape around national monuments and across the entrances to national parks, national scenic parkways and even preventing access to private property. Of all the events this was both the most visual and the most unexpected. A government agency they had always thought as benevolent, the National Park Service (NPS), unexpectedly turned into something that seemed alien and even frightening. (How enormously disappointing the Park Rangers have been. --Del)

Support the Vets March on Washington. By Russ Vaughn

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/10/support_the_vets_march_on_washington.html

Excerpt: Nothing seems to have angered the public quite so much as the Obama administration's needless closure of our national war monuments and the forcible denial of access to those sites to the warriors whom they were erected to honor. In an absolutely shameful move, the administration has selected for particular abuse those who have given the most to preserve the democratic survival of this nation. The outrage this churlishness has provoked is so widespread and deep that even Democrats should realize it as petty spitefulness coming from a petulant president and counterproductive to their cause. Sadly, none has thus far had the courage to speak up in support of our veterans. (And everyone who can join them, should do so. I'm too sick for the trip to DC, which upsets me no end, but I'll be with them in spirit, 110%. I hope a whole lot of Americans show up for this basic revolt of citizens against deliberately painful and unnecessary denials of public monuments and facilities to citizens. It's worse than ridiculous, and needs to be shown to be horribly offensive to us all. --Del)

Coptic Leaders Condemn Obama Adviser's Anti-Coptic Tweets. By John Rossomando

http://www.investigativeproject.org/4184/coptic-leaders-condemn-obama-adviser-anti-coptic

Excerpt: Major Coptic leaders are condemning Mohamed Elibiary, an Obama administration Homeland Security adviser, for suggesting that Copts who raise awareness of anti-Christian violence in Egypt promote "Islamophobic" bigotry.