Ender's Game
Two thumbs down. I read the great book decades ago, so despite the
terrible hatchet job Hollywood
did on Robert A. Heinlein's classic Star
Wars, we went to see the movie. Most of it is pretty good, not far from
what I recall of the story line, nice special effects. But after Earth wins,
they graft on a politically correct ending that doesn't match parts of the
story line, that I don't recall from the book. Despite having killed 10M
humans, the bugs now just want to get along, humans are evil for wiping them
out, the old story. And Earth is over-populated, despite western civilization
today being in a demographic death spiral. I don't recommend. ~Bob.
Worth Reading
From a blog
contributor
The collection tonight is just packed with good articles. Nice
work, if depressing, to see so much absolutely wrong with the country. I'm
still hoping for a real turnaround, a middle class revolt, a Tea Party tsunami
next November, and things finally starting down the right path. --Del
Questions, doubts
about plan to allow all in federal employees health insurance program
Excerpt: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the
Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
thinks FEHBP should be open to all Americans — all
317 million of them. He has introduced legislation to do just that. “The Equal
Healthcare Access Act offers Americans access to the same health insurance
plans long enjoyed by Members of Congress and their families,” he said.
Loyal Obama
Supporters, Canceled by Obamacare
Excerpt: So what is Hammack going to do? If his income were
to fall below four times the federal poverty level, or about $62,000 for a
family of two, he would qualify for subsidies that could lower his premium cost
to as low as zero. If he makes even one dollar more, he gets nothing. That’s
what he’s leaning toward — lowering his salary or shifting more money toward a
retirement account and applying for a subsidy. “We’re not changing our views
because of this situation, but it hurt to hear Obama saying, just the other
day, that if our plan has been dropped it’s because it wasn’t any good, and our
costs would go up only slightly,” he said. (Here is a real beauty of an
article. Commentary below from a millennial young man, but one whose eyes are
wide open. --Del :
Love this article – it is the apotheosis of the irrationality of liberals and
liberal policy. This San Francisco
couple is getting completely screwed in the butt by their own liberal beliefs
and Obamacare. Not only that, look at what they’re considering at the end of
the article, which I bolded in the last paragraph [excerpted above] – how scary
is that? Those are the perverted incentives of government intervention.
Amazing… "Life is tough. It's Tougher if you're stupid." --John
Wayne, Sands of Iwo
Jima . ~Bob.)
Song Mocking
Obamacare + Special Duck Dynasty Appearance = Best Country Music Awards Open
Ever?
Excerpt: That’s when Underwood suggested trying to sign up
for Obamacare. “I started signing up last Thursday and I’m almost done,” she
said with a fake smile. “Let’s go to the website and get you signed up.” That
elicited laughs from the crowd as the pair went and grabbed a computer.
U.S Landed Man on
Moon, Can't Launch Website. By Stella Paul
Excerpt: Now, not only must we suffer through the chaotic
disruption of our entire medical system, but the launch also besmirched the
stellar reputation of American technology. Oops! Make
that Canadian technology. Canadian? It turns out the perpetrator of
the website fiasco is CGI Federal, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Montreal-based CGI Group. To execute its signature achievement, the Obama
administration selected CGI, also known as “Conseillers en Gestion et
Informatique,” for a hugely lucrative no-bid contract
Obama’s Weapon of Mass Deception Has
Senate Dem Fingerprints All Over It. By Deroy Murdock
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/363083/obamas-weapon-mass-deception-has-senate-dem-fingerprints-all-over-it-deroy-murdock
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/363083/obamas-weapon-mass-deception-has-senate-dem-fingerprints-all-over-it-deroy-murdock
Excerpt: Saturday’s Wall Street Journal unveiled the smoking howitzer in the Obamacare “keep
your plan” caper. In addition to proving that the White House and Obama
willfully and constantly lied about Americans’ ability to keep their health
insurance, the Journal also found Senate Democrats’ fingerprints all
over Obama’s weapon of mass deception.
Colleen McCain Nelson, Peter Nicholas, and Carol E. Lee
interviewed more than a dozen Obama advisers who helped to prepare Obamacare,
pitch it to the American people, and pound it through Congress. Even these
committed Obamites — including several in the White House — worried that
Obama’s now-pulverized promise went too far.
Congress's health
plan
Satire
Excerpt: Yolanda Vestal, single
mom and Texan in an effort to vent her frustration posted a letter to her Facebook page in which she called Barack
Obama out on his prize legislation, Obamacare and the fact that he’s so out of
touch with the suffering of Americans under his reign. Clearly, Vestal’s letter
hit has a note with tens of thousands of Americans because it has gone viral. See
Vestal’s letter below:
Excerpt: Faced with the wave of bad news, Obama said last
week that only “cut-rate plans” have been canceled.
The New York Times editorial board claims those plans were “not worth keeping.”
But that's simply not true for Natalie Willis, who owns
her own business in Los Angeles, or Hadley Heath, a health
care policy expert in Washington, DC, or even Representative Cory Gardner (R-CO),
who opted out of a federal plan to share the fate of his rural constituents.
Why President Obama
isn’t hitting the insurance companies
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/barack-obama-health-insurance-companies-obamacare-affordable-care-act-health-care-99514.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/barack-obama-health-insurance-companies-obamacare-affordable-care-act-health-care-99514.html
Excerpt: President Barack Obama spent years casting
insurance companies as the most evil of actors in the health care system. But
with insurance cancellation notices hitting millions of consumers, Obama has
launched none of the broadsides that became standard during the legislative
fight over health care reform. (Good luck with that, with the companies facing
a fiscal death spiral. ~Bob)
Obama health lie
freaks Dems. By Jonah Goldberg
Excerpt: This was, by any common-sense measure, a lie. It
was a lie because President Obama understood that one of the central aims of
the Affordable Care Act was to squeeze out the individual insurance market (and
the small business market), forcing those Americans on to the HealthCare.gov
exchanges. You can't force people out of one insurance product and into another
while simultaneously letting them keep their plan. That'd be like a car
salesman promising a great price on a new vehicle if you trade in your old one,
while still promising you can keep your old car.
Excerpt: Delaware ,
Vice President Joe Biden's home state, just spent $1 million per person to enroll four people in
Obamacare.
In Wake of Narrow
Cuccinelli Loss, Democrats Panic. By Walter Russell Mead
Excerpt: Democratic alarm over the fortunes of the
Affordable Care Act is becoming more and more visible every day. The last sign
of panic is that Hill Democrats have acquiesced to the conservative narrative
about Tuesday’s Virginia
governor’s race. In the fight between GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli and
Democratic victor Terry McAuliffe, nearly everyone expected Cuccinelli to
lose big, given his socially conservative stances and lack of money and
establishment support. Instead, the race turned out to be incredibly
close: thanks to a last-minute, eight-point swing, he only lost by two points.
Obama to Force
Military Families Away From Tricare ...By Tripling Their Fees.
Excerpt: President Barack Obama has said on multiple
occasions that he stands by the troops, and lauds their selflessness in
fighting the Iraq war and
the conflict in Afghanistan .
During a time when our bravest in uniform have been in a state of war for more
than a decade, one would think that our fearless leaders should reward their
efforts by making life a bit easier at home. (Here's another one that I could
not have made up in my wildest speculations. This one really takes my breath
away, and I cannot imagine the impact on the military families. Unf***ingbelieveable.
If I were his best buddy and wanted him to succeed, I would have taken him
aside and said "Barack, old buddy, you REALLY don't want to do this one. You
will alienate and enrage all the military, and all their friends and relatives.
This will come back to haunt the whole Democrat Party in November 2014."
But he has no friends and counselors with any real sense, any vision of the
people, any idea of who were have been and who most of us want to go back to
being. But hey, sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. November '14, November
'14, November '14. --Del )
How Differences in
the Cost of Living Affect Low-Income Families
Excerpt: Because the cost of living varies widely across the
United States ,
the federal poverty threshold is not a meaningful definition of minimum living
standards. How much a family can buy with those benefits depends on where they
live. Living in New York City costs more than
2.25 times the national average; hence, an income of $23,550 would only buy
$10,439 worth of goods in New York
City . If a family moved from New
York City to Fort Worth ,
Texas New York
to Fort Worth ,
a family could increase their adjusted income, or purchasing power, by $15,326.
Good Article: Confronting America
Excerpt: Among the survey respondents who claimed a
familiarity with fracking, only 38 percent said they supported it, a decline from 45 percent just a few months ago. The
survey points to a broader public misunderstanding of energy issues.
While many who responded said they favored natural gas because it produced
fewer carbon emissions than other fossil fuels, they didn’t seem to acknowledge
that reaping those benefits requires widespread use of fracking. Nine out of 10
respondents also said the government should promote renewable energy, although
its not clear how many recognize that such technology is, at best, a
supplemental source of energy rather than an alternative one.
Mr. Pitts:
First of all, let me acknowledge that I am a regular reader
of your column who regularly disagrees with you on almost every level. Today,
you unburdened yourself from the huge chip you carry on your shoulder (Every
problem is rooted in White racism), and we agree on something! I bet your knees
and hips enjoy the rest they are getting. For years, you have castigated the
NRA at every opportunity, caricaturing Wayne LaPierre, and casting your own
prejudices on us toothless rednecks that like guns. Maybe now, after you admit
looking over your shoulder about researching bomb-making on the internet, you
can acknowledge that maybe we were right. Just because we’re paranoid doesn’t
mean They aren’t after us. Step back for a minute and take a dispassionate look
at the way governments, at every level, approach private gun ownership. Can you
now understand why the NRA and other groups have been fighting registration
schemes, licensing schemes, confiscation schemes, and a disapproving Fourth
Estate to defend our rights? They are YOUR rights, too, whether you choose to
exercise them or not. Now that your Government, in which you have so much faith
to redress society’s ills, is looking over YOUR shoulder, does it give you
pause? Do you imagine that the First Amendment is held in higher regard than
the Second by your government? Why don’t you ring up Janet Reno, since she is
likely a neighbor of yours, and talk it over with her. Since both her parents
were in the newspaper business in Miami ,
maybe you see her often enough already. --Steve Arnett Link to editorial:
Unholy Trinity:
Islam, the Left, & the Willfully Ignorant
Excerpt: Those of us who are paying attention, are watching
the once magnificence and majesty of Europe
being gradually swallowed up into the quicksand of an ideology that came
from much darker places than the nighttime desert sands. A tyranny that intends
to finish the rest of the West in its global sweep. It’s a treacherous triad
that has three well-known elements.
Government Union : The LAX Shooting Was Conservatives’ Fault
http://lastresistance.com/3580/government-union-lax-shooting-conservatives-fault/
http://lastresistance.com/3580/government-union-lax-shooting-conservatives-fault/
Excerpt: Never let a crisis go to waste. That’s the mantra
of power-hungry politicians (is that redundant?). It
was only a matter of time before the powers that be started calling for TSA
agents to be armed and to have arrest authority. That way, if you make “inappropriate comments”
or jokes about their security theater, they can hold you at
gunpoint while other TSA agents subdue you and place you in handcuffs. And
predictably, they’ve blamed the incident on conservatives and their
“anti-government” rhetoric.
Excerpt: Senior Airman Brian Kolfage was perhaps the most
severly injured airman (US Air Force) ever to survive a war….After being
gravely injured by a rocket attack in 2004, SrA Kolfage lost both legs and his
right hand, and suffered terrible injuries to his other hand and his torso….And
last week, Brian received a bill from the Department of Veterans Affairs demanding
payment of $4,825.
Allen West: Congress
Must Probe Military Firings
Excerpt: Former Florida Congressman Allen West is calling
for congressional oversight hearings into what he describes as an “alarming
trend” of dismissals and firings of high-ranking military officers by the Obama
administration, firings that in a number of cases appear to be political. While
he wouldn’t assign a particular reason for the high rate of dismissals – and he
declined to label them a “purge” – West in an exclusive WND interview said
oversight hearings need to be convened to determine why so many officers are
being removed
'Purge Surge': Obama Fires
Another Commander
Excerpt: After multiple top generals described to WND what
they regard as a full-scale “purge” of the U.S. military by the Obama
administration, the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan was summarily
relieved of duty and his civilian deputy reassigned, pending a “misconduct”
investigation. Nine generals and flag officers have been relieved of duty under
Obama just this year – widely viewed as an extraordinary number – and several
sources put the total number of senior officers purged during the five years of
the Obama administration as close to 200.
Excerpt: The ‘bigger picture,’” John told WND, “is that the
U.S. Armed Forces have been under relentless attack by the occupant of the Oval
Office for five years.” A Naval Academy graduate, John had three tours of duty
in Vietnam ,
served as an al-Qaida expert for the FBI, and was a commanding officer with
SEALs embedded on special operations. He was awarded the Navy Marine Corps
Commendation Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals and 22 medals and unit
citations for combat operations in Vietnam , Philippines ,
Desert Storm and on anti-terrorist operations.
There is a precedent
for firing politically unreliable gofficers
Excerpt: For Hitler, the moment had arrived to clean house,
to replace the crusty old generals with younger men eager to serve their Führer
and follow orders, regardless of the consequences. The two highest ranking
officers in Germany
at this time were holdovers from the days of President Hindenburg; Field
Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces,
and General Werner von Fritsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. These
stiff-lipped men with their rigid codes of honor were about to be toppled by
that most vile of all things from their point of view, personal scandals
involving sex. Blomberg was the first to fall.
Another Chelyabinsk
Much bigger threat than Global Warming. ~Bob
Sleeping Stranger
Subway Picture On Q Train Defines Empathy And Is A Lesson In Being Good
Swiss forensic report
on Arafat's death
Excerpt: The 108-page report by Swiss scientists who say
their data supports the theory that Arafat was poisoned with polonium. (The
tragedy is that it took them so many years to get him. ~Bob)
Radio Silence:
Pentagon and State Department Silent On Threatening Reports Outlining China Contingencies For Nuclear Attacks On U.S.
Excerpt: The
Obama administration declined to comment on Sunday to
provocative state-run Chinese media reports outlining Beijing ’s
nuclear war plans, including land-based and submarine-launched missile strikes
on U.S.
Missiles flow into
Syria, risk falling into hands of al Qaeda
Excerpt: One of terrorism’s most feared weapons, the
shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile, has begun to
flow into war-ravaged Syria in
numbers that alarm the West because they may fall into the hands of al
Qaeda, according to national security analysts. (Coming soon to an
airport near you. ~Bob)
SEAL Patch Spat Correction. From The
Patriot Post
Monday, we reported on a Navy directive prohibiting SEALs from
using The First Navy Jack with the words "Don't Tread On Me." That
information came to us from former SEAL Team 10 veteran Carl Higbie. Soon after
publishing, we were contacted by one of our Patriot readers with information to
the contrary. Indeed, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Sarah Flaherty told Navy
Times, "As of September 2013, all Naval Special Warfare personnel are
authorized to wear the U.S.
flag and the 'Don't Tread on me' uniform patches. In the past, NSW did not
authorize wearing either patch unless one was deployed or in a work-up cycle.
However, NSW recently sought special permission from the Chief of Naval
Operations staff to wear the patches within the continental United States ."
While someone downstream from the CNO may have issued a directive to the
contrary, the current directive as noted by Lt. Cmdr. Flaherty trumps any
other.
Two Decade Freeze on
Warming. From The Patriot Post
New research from Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia
Institute of Technology and Dr. Marcia Wyatt indicates that the current 17-year
hiatus on global warming may continue for another 20 years. Curry and Wyatt say
that the UN IPCC and other climate alarmists are underestimating natural
phenomena in determining climate, and that a 300-year observable climatic
"stadium wave" better accounts for rising and falling temperatures.
According to the UK Daily Mail, "The research comes amid mounting evidence
that the computer models on which the IPCC based the gloomy forecasts of a
rapidly warming planet in its latest report, published in September, are diverging
widely from reality." That's putting it mildly.
Looking for a
different sort of president. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Can we also take a breather from the Ivy
League? When Obama finishes his term, we will have had 28 consecutive years of
presidents with either an undergraduate or graduate degree
from Harvard or Yale. We should have learned from chronic
deficits, massive debt and Obamacare that the Ivy League's best and
brightest are not always either. Truman's higher education came from the school
of hard knocks. Ike graduated from West Point and
helped win World War II.
The News in Zingers.
By Argus Hamilton
Excerpt: The U.S.
offered to help referee a dispute between Hong Kong and the Philippines
over an old hostage drama. Negotiations would be tricky between Hong Kong and
the United States .
It's a self-ruling former British colony but is owned by China , and so is Hong Kong .
Nuclear
Arsenal: US To Turn Old Bombs Into All-Purpose Weapons
Excerpt: Last week, representatives of the US military,
the Pentagon and the Department of Energy announced new details about the B-61
program in a hearing in the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on
Strategic Forces. The new variant of the nuclear bomb, called the B61-12, is
now expected to replace the older types 3, 4, 7 and 10 as well as the
bunker-busting B-61-11 and B-83 strategic nuclear bombs. The latter has an
explosive power of up to 1.2 megatons of TNT, making it more than 90 times more
powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima .
Scary Tweet from Josh LedermanVerified
account@joshledermanAP
I missed this line from Obama last night at DSCC fundraiser:
"We are remaking the courts."
Expert Tells Congress
Unborn Babies Can Feel Pain Starting at 8 Weeks
Excerpt: During a hearing on a bill that would ban late-term abortions nationwide,
an expert on human embryonic development informed members of the committee that
unborn babies have the capacity to feel pain as early as 8 weeks.
China Deploys New
Bomber with Long-Range Land Attack Missile: Congressional report also reveals
China’s armed drone copied from US Reaper UAV
Excerpt: China ’s
military recently deployed an upgraded strategic bomber that will carry the
military’s new long-range land attack cruise missile, capable of attacking Hawaii and Guam ,
according to a draft congressional report.
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