I'm posting this now, though I have over 100 e-mails I have
not had time to read, and may ever get to--sorry. I have surgery through a
bronchoscopy Monday to debride the "slough" (dead cells) that has
built up on the juncture of my new lung and old body, which is restricting my
air intake and causing coughing, though my O2 sats remain good. Hopefully that
will fix it and things will settle down. ~Bob
Comment from a client
of Tiger Tooth Mountain Resume Service
Bob, Thanks for reviewing my cover letter and giving me some
of interview questions. I sent the check. I will email you next couple of days
to check on it. Also I want to let you know I was really happy and appreciated
your help. I want you to know that if I have any questions I will contact you.
--T.Y.
Conflicts of interest
common in Legislature -- Robert A. Hall
Letter to the Editor of the State Journal.
NYT/CBS Poll: Six Percent Say Obamacare is Working, Should
Remain Intact. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Katie wrote up one
major element of the new New York Times/CBS News poll -- namely that
nearly six in ten Americans are disappointed in Barack Obama's presidency --
but there are additional pieces
of data worth teasing out and underscoring as well: (1) The
president's approval rating has once again slumped to 41 percent overall, with a
majority disapproving of his performance.
Excerpt: Russian troops moved into Crimea Friday, U.S. officials told Fox News, prompting Ukraine to accuse Russia of an "armed
invasion." At the White House, President Obama said the U.S. government is "deeply concerned"
by reports of Russian "military movements" and warned any violation
of Ukraine 's
sovereignty would be "deeply destabilizing." (Boy, Russia is
risking getting a sharply-worded note from Obama and Kerry! ~Bob)
Putin’s Ukraine Gambit: Meanwhile, Obama
fails to understand that American inaction creates a vacuum. By Charles Krauthammer
Excerpt: Henry Kissinger once pointed out that since Peter
the Great, Russia had been
expanding at the rate of one Belgium
per year. All undone, of course, by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which
Russian president Vladimir
Putin called “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century.” Putin’s
mission is restoration.
Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage: The
history of Obama’s foreign-policy posturing bodes ill for the future of Ukraine
Excerpt: President Obama issued yet another one of those
sorts of warnings to stop the violence to Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych
just before protesters drove Yanukovych out of office. “There will be
consequences if people step over the line,” Obama threatened.
Excerpt: Reuel Marc Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies is likewise gloomy: “We will likely have civil war in Afghanistan
within a year or so. It’s reasonable to guess that Ayman az-Zawahiri could even
reappear in Jallalabad, which is where bin Ladin landed in ’96. This could
become excruciatingly surreal and dangerous. Possibly even a greater defeat for
the United States than
Obama’s flight from Iraq and
the red-line fiasco in Syria .”
The danger here is that Afghanistan’s central government crumbles, the most
dogged Taliban fighters gain the upper hand and back will come the jihadis
(although many have found a home in Syria thanks to that Obama
foreign policy debacle).
Sickening update on this story: Dozens Killed in
Attack on Nigerian
School
Excerpt: Islamic militants set fire to a locked dormitory at
a school in northern Nigeria ,
then shot and slit the throats of students who tried to escape through windows
during a pre-dawn attack Tuesday. At least 58 students were killed, including many who were
burned alive. (Now, don't get judgmental; remember your Progressive
Principles. All cultures are equally valid, and murders by Islamic Militants
following the Qur'an's injunction, "I will cast terror into the hearts of
those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip
of them" [Quran
(8:12)] have nothing to do with Islam, which is a Religion of Peace. ~Bob)
Which Policies Bring
Economic Growth?
Excerpt: A review of economic literature confirms that small
government policies strengthen economic growth, says John Hood, president of
the John Locke Foundation.
The John Locke Foundation assembled a summary of 528
economic policy articles published from 1992 to 2013. The studies presented strong
evidence that limited, not big, government is best for economic progress. 112
of the academic studies focused on state and local taxes.
The Truth about the
One Percent
Excerpt: Concern over "income inequality" has
swept the nation, but the crusade against the top 1 percent is based on dubious
assertions. ... These figures indicate that the vast majority of the top 1
percent earned salaries in small and medium-sized businesses, not large
financial firms. Moreover, the top 1 percent includes a growing number of athletes,
entertainers and coaches. The minimum salary in the NBA, the NFL and MLB is
sufficient to put every player in the top 1 percent automatically. The federal
government raised $900 billion in individual income taxes in 2010, $350 billion
of which came from the top 1 percent. That same year, the top 1 percent earned
36 percent of their income from salaries and wages -- 22 percent came from
businesses, farms and partnerships, while only 19 percent came from capital
gains.
The liberal agenda: Being good to liberals. By George F. Will
Excerpt: Still, bleak judgments about the stimulus spending
miss the main point of it, which was to funnel a substantial share of its money
to unionized, dues-paying, Democratic-voting government employees. ... through
the proper prism, most liberal policies succeed because they can hardly fail.
Each achieves one or both of two objectives — making liberals feel good about
themselves and being good to liberal candidates.
The
Curse of Modern Man.
http://takimag.com/article/the_curse_of_modern_man_taki/print#ixzz2uZS1ug1n
http://takimag.com/article/the_curse_of_modern_man_taki/print#ixzz2uZS1ug1n
Excerpt:
My question is: Why doesn’t [London Nigeria
Excerpt: This Obamacare horror story will no doubt be summarily
discarded by Harry Reid, but Hawaii 's
taxpayers may take notice anyway. Remember, Hawaii is one of those enlightened,
down-for-the-cause states that happily agreed to
fully implement Obamacare -- the sundry failures of which have been lamely and
inaccurately blamed on less cooperative states. The law is "going to be
smoother in places...where governors are working to implement it rather than
fight it, "President Obama told a cheering
audience of partisans in late September.
AP Exclusive: Few
Army Women Want Combat Jobs
Excerpt: Only a small fraction of Army women say they'd like
to move into one of the newly opening combat jobs, but those few who do say
they want a job that takes them right into the heart of battle, according to
preliminary results from a survey of the service's nearly 170,000 women.
Mt.Gox site
disappears, Bitcoin future in doubt
Excerpt: What was once the world's largest trading platform
for bitcoins is now a blank page.
The Bitcoin-trading website Mt.Gox was taken offline late
Monday, putting at risk millions of dollars put there by investors who gambled
on the digital currency. (Bitcoin always struck me as a Ponzi Scheme, like
Social Security. I'm naturally conservative, so there was no danger I'd invest
a farthing in it. ~Bob)
Federal Fly Swatters:
Pit Bulls vs. Poodles
Excerpt: It may come as a surprise to many, but the Library of Congress has its own SWAT team, 85 bodies
strong. Learning this elicited a chuckle from me and a recollection of a
classic Seinfeld shtick: the Library Cop.
It otherwise isn't a laughing matter. A Library of Congress SWAT force showing
up outside your door, to paraphrase Mr. Bookman's closing line, would be worse
than a pit bull sicced on a poodle.
Open letter to John
Kerry - Greater Men have Tried. By Paula R. Stern
Excerpt: Dear Secretary of State John Kerry: Because of
my respect for the United
States , I will attempt to afford you the
honor you think you so richly deserve. It’s hard to speak to you with anything
but anger, hard to feel the need, again, to start from the beginning because
you clearly choose to ignore history in your quest for glory. It is a quest
destined to fail but its outcome, even, or more accurately especially, in
failure, will hurt Israel .
Greater men than you have tried to make, to force, peace on the Middle East . I promise you, you will fail too. You will
fail because you are not addressing the root cause of the problem. You, like so
many before you, take the easy way out. Blame Israel . It is so easy to do, and so
stupid. (Hanoi John is still out there, as arrogant and stupid as ever, maybe
even more so. The Israelis have his number, and we can only shake our heads in
embarrassment that he is the official representative of our country. --Del )
Excerpt: Kerry Kennedy played the Catholic card in her
drugged-driving trial Tuesday, producing an actual Irish priest who testified
that in the 41 years he’s known the jet-setter — from the days she lived in
Virginia to the time she cracked up her Lexus SUV in Westchester — he’s never
seen her on a bender.
Greenpeace co-founder Patrick
Moore testified before a Senate committee this week, admitting that any link
between human emissions and global warming is dubious at best: "There is
no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the
dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the past 100
years." He added, "Today, we live in an unusually cold period in the
history of life on earth and there is no reason to believe that a warmer
climate would be anything but beneficial for humans and the majority of other
species. There is ample reason to believe that a sharp cooling of the climate
would bring disastrous results for human civilization." Moore
Islamists demand levy
from Christians in Syrian city
Excerpt: An al Qaeda splinter group has demanded that
Christians in a Syrian city it controls pay a levy in gold and curb displays of
their faith in return for protection, according to a statement posted online on
Wednesday.
Excerpt: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will undoubtedly
reduce seniors’ access to care. A huge chunk of the funding for ObamaCare is
derived from cutting $716 billion from the Medicare program over the next
decade. For instance, one provision cuts the fees paid to physicians who treat
Medicare enrollees by 25 percent. Another provision — the Independent Payment
Advisory Board — will have the power to slow Medicare spending by curtailing
increases in Medicare provider payments. A third strike reduces funding for
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which cover one-quarter of Medicare
beneficiaries. Compared to traditional Medicare, MA plans provide approximately
$825 annually in added benefits to (mostly) moderate-income enrollees.
Why
David Cameron's "Northern Alliance" May Reshape Europe .
By Fraser Nelson
Excerpt:
If David Cameron were to divide Europe up,
he’d make some crude distinctions. There would be the basket cases, like Italy , Spain ,
Greece , France Brussels Northern
Alliance ’
Excerpt:
A California
Sleeves
and the Fine Art of Misdirection. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt:
Magicians entertain. The grand ones, illusionists extraordinaire, command
the stage, and audience. And much of their act revolves around deception and
mastery of misdirection. That is - 'hey folks, look here and not over there or
look over there and not here.' In fact, misdirection is the heart of good
magic. It's not uncommon for a magician to hike up coat sleeves or roll up
shirt sleeves and confidently exclaim, "See, nothing up my
sleeve!" Breaches of integrity are purposeful and, well, an integral
part of the illusion act.
Syrian
Christians Reduced to Dhimmitude, Treaty Of Submission Signed.
Excerpt: I’m telling you, this is the reality of Islam
101, it’s what the jihad is all about, the instituting of the sharia. In the
end, you either convert, submit to second class dhimmitude, or face death.
Excerpt:
You see, these are the people that tried and failed to register their firearms…
and it’s absolutely dwarfed by the people who refused to tell the state of Connecticut Connecticut
ManBearPig
Blamed for Future Rapes. Gay Patriot Blog
Excerpt:
The Schizophrenic Rape Hysteria of the left continues unabated. Did you know Global Warming causes
rape?
Excerpt:
[Interior Minister Gideon] Sa'ar credits the figures to the new
anti-infiltration amendment, the opening of the Holot detention facility for African migrants, greater of
enforcement against Israelis hiring illegal migrants, the one-time grant that
was increased from $1,500 to $3,500 and a general climate that he says is not
rewarding for those migrating to Israel illegally.
The
Pause and the Cause. By Mark Steyn
Excerpt:
Handing out his awards for "sustainability" at Buckingham Palace
Rigor
Mortis. By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: Thanks to everyone who's contacted me since I
decided to countersue Michael Mann.
That's the main reason I didn't set up a formal "legal defense fund"
or "legal defence fund" (as we'll come to in a moment). Because I'm
going on legal offense against an abusive litigant. (If you'd like to be a part
of the pushback, please consider supporting me by buying a SteynOnline gift certificate:
They never expire, so when my new book comes out later this year you won't have
to rummage down the back of the sofa for the loose change.)
Michael E Mann:
"Sloppy and Unethical" By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: You don't have to be sued by Michael E Mann to have
a certain antipathy toward him. It's been fascinating to discover how many
people there are who believe in "anthropogenic global warming" and
believe in climate science but really, strongly dislike Mann, his methods, and
his promotion of himself as sole proprietor of Global Warming, Inc. I quoted a
few of them the other day, but you have to be both secure in your
career and have a certain toughness to come out against him in public.
Raise
Minimum Wage to $14 an Hour Using This One Weird Trick! By Ann Coulter
Excerpt:
The minimum wage is the perfect Democratic issue. It will screw the very people
it claims to help, while making Democrats look like saviors of the working
class, either by getting them a higher wage or providing them with generous
government benefits when they lose their jobs because of the mandatory wage
hike. Of course, the reason American workers’ wages are so low in the first
place is because of the Democrats’ policies on immigration. Republicans might
want to point that out.
Ben
Shapiro Crashes UCLA Divestment from Israel
Excerpt: On Tuesday night, the UCLA undergraduate student
government heard public testimonies for nearly 9 hours — from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. — on whether or not the university
should go forward with a resolution to boycott and divest from businesses that
allegedly “profit from the Israeli occupation of Gaza and
the West Bank.” The meeting, attended by over 500 people, began at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and ended 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Ben Shapiro, TruthRevolt.org
Editor-in-Chief and UCLA alum, crashed the divestment hearing to blast both the
student sponsors and those considering the anti-Semitic measure.
Soros
and Saudi Arabia Finance a
Non-Profit War in Israel
Excerpt:
Israel
Muslim Converts
Jailed for Murder of UK
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lee-rigbys-killers-michael-adebolajo-3186715#ixzz2uW6N9eNy
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lee-rigbys-killers-michael-adebolajo-3186715#ixzz2uW6N9eNy
Excerpt: The widow of murdered
soldier Lee Rigby told a judge of her endless heartache today - just
moments before his brutal killers were dragged kicking and screaming to jail
Shapiro: Why
Americans Disliked Piers.
Excerpt: This week, CNN's Piers Morgan announced that
"Piers Morgan Live" would be coming to an ignominious end sometime in
March. His replacement has not yet been chosen. But his television demise came
not a moment too soon for millions of Americans who had tired of his sneering
nastiness. (I am an Yank and lived in the UK for 30 years. Whenever I
encountered Britons who'd deigned to actually visit the USA , they
always said the same thing when they came back: "Everyone was so friendly
and generous! They couldn't do enough for us! We had a wonderful time!"
Whenever I encountered Americans visiting the UK , they always said the same
thing: "What's wrong with these people? Who do they think they are?"
--Kate. I've been to the UK
at least 20 times, found most people very friendly and helpful. Of course, I
spent 95% of my time there in Scotland .
~Bob)
John
Steinbeck: "Socialism is Just Another Form of Religion and Thuss
Delusional." By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt:
On the 112th anniversary of his birth, the left prefers to remember John
Steinbeck as the author of Grapes of Wrath, not the patriot and CIA agent.
In 2012, the Central Intelligence Agency released documents indicating that
Steinbeck had offered to spy for his country. The author planned a tour of Europe in 1952 and asked the agency if it needed anyone
on the ground. (God, Si! Religion, No! -Kate.)
The
End of the World Powers. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt:
The only thing less appealing than selfishness is the complete absence of self.
The only thing less appealing than empire is an anti-imperialism that so
thoroughly negates its own power that it has no influence and no reason to
exist. Post-American America
Excerpt: "I saw 12 bodies lying motionless on the
ground and other 8 people were wounded in the thunderous explosion. The
security forces immediately cordoned off the roads leading to the scene of the
attack," an eyewitness told Garowe Online. Shabaab, al Qaeda's affiliate
in Somalia ,
quickly claimed credit for the attack, and said more are to come.
Excerpt: Special elections rarely attract this much
attention. But the race for Florida 's
13th Congressional District is a hot one -- with so much at stake in November,
what happens here is seen as a possible indicator of how the midterm elections
could break. (Despite spin from both sides every time, I don't believe
specials tell you much. ~Bob)
IDF Restructuring
Syrian Border Defenses Due to Jihadi Threat
Excerpt: As Syria 's
brutal civil war drags on, Israeli military officials are preparing to deal
with a rapidly changing security reality brought on by an influx of Islamic
jihadists from throughout the world. In this new emerging landscape, both
Shi'ite and Sunni terrorist entities grow more powerful and enjoy access to
advanced weapons
Marco Rubio is Back!
Watch Him Destroy Democrats’ Love of Cuba
Excerpt: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) took a big tumble in
popularity polls among Republicans when he supported John McCain’s Senate
effort on comprehensive immigration. Since then he has been quietly toiling at
building back up his reputation among conservatives – first, by apologizing for
his role in immigration reform. Second, by embracing conservative efforts on
many different fronts – like fighting abortion, supporting limits on executive
power and standing with Rand Paul against President Obama on drones and with
Ted Cruz against funding Obamacare.
Progressive Chameleons: The difficulty of
beating an opponent who doesn’t believe in much of anything. By Jim Geraghty
Excerpt: The Obama era is a particularly frustrating period
for the Right, as each passing year reveals the extraordinary difficulty of
beating a foe who holds few if any inviolable positions or beliefs.
Wounded Warriors Project A Legal Scam. By Alex Graham
As we are coming to find out, wounded Vets are big money.
Considering I’m 146% disabled, I’m trying to figure out how to tap into this.
The only thing I can see is to start my own 501(c)(3) and start cooking the
books with a big $300 K a year salary for my work. (Actually, $300k a year
isn't large for the CEO of a charity that size. But I looked at the WWP 990 federal
tax return on guidestar.com. In my view, as a retired non-profit executive,
they spend far too much on advertising, travel, meetings, rent, salaries, and
other overhead, and too little on wounded warriors. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Picture yourself locked “in a dimly lit, windowless
concrete box, approximately nine feet long by four feet wide,” with a bamboo
mat and a bucket, one or both of your ankles locked in irons, left there like a
caged animal. Now imagine spending two years there, alone—the isolation
interrupted only by routine interrogation and occasional torture sessions, some
lasting days—and you are getting close to describing the experiences of a
handful of American prisoners of war whose North Vietnamese hosts had
designated them as troublemakers. These were the men of Alcatraz .
(The book is highly recommended, and the article following is really an
eye-opener that a lot of Americans should be reading. --Del )
Lessons on the New
Left from the Hanoi
Excerpt; C-SPAN’s Brian Lamb recently interviewed Lee Ellis,
author of Leading with Honor: Leadership Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton.The
book is a valuable primer on history that many Americans have forgotten or know
only in part. Leading with Honor is also an introduction to
characters all Americans should get to know better, such as Tom Hayden and Jane
Fonda. Ellis came to know the pair under different circumstances. (A new book
on the treatment of our POWs by the communists in Viet Nam . A subject that deserved
more attention at the time, and deserves it still to this day. The North
Vietnamese were guilty of very clear war crimes, the POW treatments being one
of several during and after the war. But oddly, hardly anyone has ever really
taken notice of any of it. Somehow the media and academia that were frothing at
the mouth about alleged bad acts by Americans could never make the transition
to very provable and extensive bad acts by the other guys. And our media and
academia haven't changed much since then. --Del )
Excerpt: France 's
day of reckoning has arrived: Its wealthy, best and brightest are saying
goodbye to a nation they believe doesn't want them to succeed or become
affluent. According to one poll in Le Point, half of all young adults in France would
leave the country if they could because the future looks so bleak. (A country
where they super tax the rich, have a tremendous welfare system, and stifle
creation of new businesses and entrepreneurism, and gee, it's doesn't seem to
be working out well. Maybe there's a lesson here for the USA somewhere?
--Del )
New Benghazi
Excerpt: National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared on
NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday and said that when she had appeared
on several news outlets back in September 2012 to state that the attack on an
American diplomatic installation in Benghazi was a “spontaneous reaction” to an
American-made film that appeared on YouTube she had used “the best information
we [the White House] had at the time.” Senator John McCain responded to her
statement Sunday that it left him “almost speechless.” (Wow, they
aren't even smart enough at the White House to just stick with ignoring Benghazi and hoping it
gets forgotten. To let Susan Rice come out with comments again at this point in
time, when anyone who doesn't know it was a planned attack by pros and that the
people at Benghazi knew it and said so at the time, has been either in a coma
or somewhere in the mountains where there are no signals from TV, radio, or
Internet. But hey, great, bring it up again and let McCain and other just
ridicule the heck out of you, and keep the knowledge of the atrocity up in
lights. --Del )
Worth Reading : The
fabulous life of your US
Excerpt: Match your U.S. lawmaker with the
corresponding charges on his or her fundraising expense account, and one can
get a textured glimpse of exactly what it takes these days to charm donors. For
example, which congressman spent $91,000 in 2013 for a getaway at Dorado Beach
Club, a luxury resort in Puerto Rico known for
its championship golf courses and plantation-style residences? That would be
Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland ,
the No. 2 Democrat in the House, who has lamented the widening income gap that separates rich and poor
and has been a forceful advocate for a minimum wage hike. (I hate to pass on stuff from Al
Jazeera, but this article is to interesting to ignore. And it's bipartisan!
--Del. To be fair, keeping up with the Obamas is expensive. ~Bob)
Alienating Those Who
Defend Us
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/alienating-those-who-defend-us?f=must_reads
Excerpt: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that budget
cuts will reduce the size of the U.S. Army to 440,000 soldiers - its lowest
number since 1940. However dangerous and unwise, Mr. Hagel's cuts are only the
latest steps in the steady alienation of American society from those who defend
us.
Global Warming to
Cause More Rapes
Excerpt: Here is liberal logic at its finest. This ludicrous
claim should show you the desperation of the left. And always remember that the
rest of the solar system has had climate change too. (Oh no, Martian rape!
--JB).
CINCO DE SHUT-UP: Court Rules
School
Excerpt: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled
officials at a Northern California high school
were right to place concern of racial violence over freedom of expression
rights. (Shouldn't they be taught that the American flag reigns supreme here in
America and if that
insults their sensibilities, then Mexico is not that far away and I'm
sure we could provide transportation. --JB)
Memo to Reid:
Cancellation pain in ObamaCare increasing
Excerpt: Getting into ObamaCare may be
the easy task. Getting out of an ObamaCare plan — well, as we’ve noted before, that can be painful indeed, and the
pain is getting worse. WFLV-TV in Florida finds that ObamaCare resembles Hotel
California … you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave
(via Daniel Halper):
Posts
