Saturday, February 22, 2014

Catching up on the news

Sorry for the lack of posts. been dealing with healthcare and other personal stuff, have a lot of backed up e-mail I can't get through. Lung update below, if interested. ~Bob

Latest Lung Transplant Update - Some Issues

My new resume service brought in my first client. I did a first draft, will work on his cover letter when the resume is final. He was laid off, driving a cab, supporting a family so I gave him a big discount. Of course, he may not pay even that, but I like doing them. ~Bob

Tiger Tooth Mountain Resume Service

Worth Reading: The Lesson of Dunkirk. By Thomas Sowell 
Excerpt: Politics is often like war. Unfortunately, politicians, the media and the voting public seldom have the same degree of realism and discipline with which professional soldiers fight wars. You can indulge your emotions and base your decisions on wishful thinking in politics, in a way that you are not likely to when your own life is on the line in battle.

Worth Reading: Lessons of World War I: Much of what we think we know is false; what really happened matters desperately to us today. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: Indeed, Versailles was mild compared with what Germany had subjected France to in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian war — and yet a vengeful France did not preempt Germany in pursuit of payback over the ensuing half-century. The humiliating terms that Germany forced upon Russia at Brest-Litosvk in 1918 were far harsher than anything that Germany suffered at Versailles, and yet did it not lead to Russian insurgencies against Germany, much less lasting enmity between the two states. Just 21 years later, Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression pact.

The Party of Science: Study: Democrats more likely to think astrology is scientific, less likely to know Earth revolves around the sun
Excerpt: Another possibility is faith. It may be that the more devoutly you believe in a religion, the less likely you are to give credence to a quasi-religious belief system (which nonetheless purports to be “scientific”) like astrology. That would help explain why Republicans, the more religious of the two parties, are more skeptical. 

Disgraced Democratic congressman arrested in Zimbabwe after allegedly making 100 porno films and taking 2,000 naked pictures in hotels
Mel Reynolds (D-Obamaville) has always been a credit to the Democrat party and a shinning example of a typical leftist. Arresting him proves they are all racists in Zimbabwe. ~Bob. Excerpt: Mel Reynolds was allegedly in the country illegally since December, making pornographic films in hotel rooms with at least 10 models. He reportedly racked up $24,500 in unpaid hotel bills. Reynolds went to prison in the 1990s for the statutory rape of a 16-year-old campaign volunteer, and for bank fraud.

Excerpt: An influential commander in the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has issued a statement claiming that the group executed 23 Frontier Corps troops in retaliation for the death of jihadists by security forces.

Excerpt: In an article in today's Daily Star about the sacking of Salem Idriss, who headed the Free Syrian Army, the Lebanese news outlet said one reason for his departure was the handling of an incident involving the theft of Western supplies by rebel fighters. In late November, the Daily Star reported, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham seized Western-supplied vehicles and warehouses at the Baba al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey packed with equipment destined for the Free Syrian Army. A week or so later, in early December, the same warehouses were reportedly taken over by the newly-formed Islamic Front.

The Most Dangerous Woman In America

Excerpt: Cleta Mitchell may be the most dangerous woman in America. She is the prominent Washington attorney who represents several clients victimized by the criminal misconduct of the IRS over the past four years. She speaks with authority when she asserts, as she does in the video below, that the Obama administration is responsible for “lies upon lies” covering up the multifarious, politically inspired wrongdoing of the IRS. She gave a short course (seven minutes) for interested citizens at a House hearing yesterday. Listen to what she has to say.

Huckabee: What would George Washington have done? The nation's first president rejected imperial powers
Excerpt: Editor's Note:In 1968, things changed when the 90th Congress was determined to create a uniform system of federal Mondayholidays. They voted to shift three existing holidays (including Washington's Birthday) to Mondays. The law took effect in 1971, and as a result, Washington's Birthday holiday was changed to the third Monday in February. But not all Americans were happy with the new law. 

If Scotland wins independence, should it bring back the Stuart dynasty? By Peter Oborne
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100260139/if-scotland-wins-independence-should-they-bring-back-the-stuart-dynasty/
Excerpt: However, an even more promising candidate might be the 87-year-old Duchess of Alba. Officially she is the: Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain. She is the most titled nobleman or woman in the world, with many honours beyond those just listed. Hiding within her novel of a name is the crucial "Stuart", reflecting the fact that she too can trace her line back to that extraordinary Scottish dynasty. She has the undoubted advantage that she is one of the richest women in the world. According to the Spanish Vanity Fair Magazine, her net wealth is estimated at almost $5 billion. (Though I have a romantic, Jacobite, SNP heart, I am intellectually a supporter of republican government run on democratic principles.[These terms do not refer to our parties!] And I think non-Scots shouldn't have an opinion on the subject--it's not our country. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Every so often you run across some people that think they have it all figured out. They claim America is need of “social change” and start ranting about all the rampant injustice in America, and if you listen closely, the story they are telling is radically different from the one you know. I knew people like this in college, they would accentuate the words “social change” to win the professors favor but when pressed to define what they meant, they usually fell silent. Most of them couldn’t even tell you the first amendment to the bill of rights, they would argue that claiming Muslims are terrorists is offensive, and such language should be banned in the name of “social change.”

The Metcalf Assault – An Attack on American Soil
Excerpt: One of the more remarkable acts of potential domestic terrorism to have occurred in 2013 began to receive public scrutiny only this month. Recent reports indicate that on April 16, 2013, just outside San Jose, California, a Pacific Gas & Electric power transmission station suffered a sustained assault. The raid was carried out by unknown assailants seeking to disrupt the power grid that serves millions of Californians in the most technologically important region on the planet – Silicon Valley. It is not yet known who coordinated or conducted the attack, but the mere fact that it has occurred should send a clear message to public officials that domestic threats targeting critical infrastructure are no longer an academic afterthought. They are today’s reality. (Knocking out a major power station, leading to a collapse of a large power grid, is a very serious idea on how to wreak havoc on the lives of Americans. The feds should be all over this. Whoever these people are, they need to be found out, and taken out. --Del)

Holder's Felon Re-Enfranchisement A Ruse To Unlock 2 Mil Dem Votes
Excerpt: The Obama administration isn't satisfied with locking in votes for Democrats by giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. Now it's also trying to unlock ex-con's votes through felon re-enfranchisement. In a Georgetown University speech, Attorney General Eric Holder last week called state laws barring convicted felons from voting racist measures that "strip African-Americans of their most fundamental rights." (Eric Holder has more chutzpah than a gaggle of Zionists, he's trying to make a racist argument out of something that's not remotely racist. As the article points out, 62% of those affected by this horrific idea are non-Black, and the law about felons losing voting rights was passed a very long time ago, when Blacks were a much smaller minority in prisons. It was never about race, it was about acting in such ways that your forfeit some of your rights. Convicted felons can't vote, can't get carry permits for guns either, and are barred from various jobs. None of that is about holding down Blacks, or men as opposed to women. This is transparent Chicago politics, and should be rejected roundly by everyone with an IQ over 80. --Del. Blacks are over represented in prison because they are over represented in committing crimes. Since most of their victims are other black folks, doing something about reducing the black crime rate would help decent black people much more than this. But it doesn't get them votes. ~Bob)

A weekly talk show in China... unique
Every week in China, there is a talk show that is a mindblower for us Westerners. A woman journalist interviews death row prisoners very shortly before their executions. Executions are very public in China, a bullet to the back of the head, and sometimes the bodies are then used for organ transfers. There are 55 dealth penalty crimes in China, from horrible murder all the way down to some kinds of theft. She focuses only on the murderers. The program has been running for four years, and is extremely popular. I'm not sure what this says about Chinese government and society, but it sure doesn't sound uplifting to me. --Del

The bottom line truth of the IRS scandal
Excerpt: This is a bit over 7 minutes, and the lady is a lawyer for assorted groups that have been stone-walled on their applications for tax exempt status. No news agency would take time to show the video in its entirety, and most of us probably don't watch a lot of C-span. This was published 6 February 2014, and clarifies the gravity of the situation. It should have made huge waves all across this country, but nobody picked it up, apparently even the guys at Fox missed it, and so all of America rolls along being totally duped about what has gone on and what is still going on with this Administration and the IRS. Please watch the video, the 7 minutes will go by like nothing because she is so clear and convincing about something that should concern everyone. And then pass it on, far and wide, and especially to your friends who still believe in Mr. Obama. Just maybe it will force some of them to start thinking more about The One. --Del

The Christie scandal everyone overlooked: A $12 million self-motivated political scheme. By Rob Richie and Devin McCarthy
Excerpt: We now know that in 2013, the administration of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at least twice used its executive powers of governance for political ends. The story that’s received the most attention, of course, is high-level Christie aides calling for lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, possibly for political retribution against the mayor of Fort Lee. But another scandal received far less attention: the news that Christie called for a costly, self-motivated and unnecessary U.S. Senate special election just weeks before Election Day to boost his own vote percentage. 

The Colonialism of the Anti-Israel Left. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: The first error in John Judis’ book “Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict” is in its title. The genesis of this conflict took place thousands of years before Truman when the Roman Empire imposed its colonial rule on the Jewish population using Arab mercenaries and when the Muslim Arab conquerors colonized Israel.

The Affordable Care Act's Risk Spreading Mechanisms
Excerpt: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has a number of "risk mitigation" provisions, specifically reinsurance, risk corridors and risk adjustment. These provisions were put in place to encourage insurers to join the exchanges, as the ACA requires that insurers issue policies without regard to the health status of the applicant and charge the same premiums to applicants in the same age group, says Emily Egan, a senior health care policy analyst at the American Action Forum. Insurers must price their policies based on their best guess as to who -- and how many people -- will enroll in the exchanges. The ACA's risk spreading mechanisms are meant to mitigate this uncertainty.

Obamacare And The Coming Debt Crisis. By James C. Capretta
Excerpt: In addition, CBO projects that rapid entitlement growth will increasingly burden the federal budget and the American economy. Deficits over the next decade will be $1 trillion higher than previously forecast. CBO notes in the report that the agency now believes Obamacare will lead to the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers leaving the labor force by 2024. This finding has sent shock waves through the political system, and rightly so. 

U. S. Marines - Trust & Truth & Team. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: I'd not planned commentary for today. But it's appropriate - it's "hump" day and in the Marine Corps "hump" is something near and dear to infantrymen. As today's commentary includes Marine infantry thus I post in honor of those who "hump" - and every Marine, too.

Excerpt: If we combine a 15% (FICA) payroll tax with a 25% federal income tax and a 5% state and local income tax, a middle income family is facing a 45% marginal tax rate. In high tax states, the rate can exceed 50% — even though the family is far from wealthy. At a 50% marginal tax rate, government at all levels is paying for half the cost of any additional insurance the family chooses to buy. Insurance that costs $1 will be viewed as worthwhile, even if it is worth only 51 cents to the buyer. In other words, insurance can be extremely wasteful and still be attractive to subsidized purchasers. Alternatively, if the buyer saves a dollar by choosing less generous coverage, that dollar will become taxable income. The government will seize one-half of it. No wonder our health care system has so much waste in it.

Uproar over ObamaCare’s menu rules

Excerpt: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is close to finalizing a rule requiring calorie labels on vending machines and at restaurants and “similar retail food establishments.” … “Specifically, the proposed rule limits the ability of businesses to determine for themselves how best to provide nutritional information to customers,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

President Ben Franklin is Rolling in His Grave
Excerpt: The discount web site Groupon promoted a $10 discount for President’s Day, noting that Alexander Hamilton appears on the $10 bill and that he is “undeniably one of our greatest presidents and most widely recognized for establishing the country’s financial system.” Hamilton indeed founded America’s financial system, and was the first Secretary of the Treasury, but he never served as president. When people pointed this out to Groupon, they got responses from the company ranging from “We’ll just have to agree to disagree.” to “We respect everyone’s beliefs. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion."

Friday Afternoon Roundup: I Tow the Line. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: TOW BE OR NOT TOE BE: The problem isn't that our progressive friend with a PhD and a teaching position somewhere thinks that it's Tow the Line. We all go through life discovering on occasion that we got something very simple wrong. It's that he believes in his own intelligence because he has the right values. He's gay and liberal, therefore he's smart. I'm conservative, therefore I must be stupid. (I went through my whole life thinking Phil Everly was Don Everly. --Kate)

California Sen. Ron Calderon Accused of Accepting $100,000 in Cash Bribes. Prosecutors allege that California Sen. Ron Calderon and his brother were involved in a bribery scheme
Excerpt: A Democrat serving Montebello, Calderon took about $100,000 in cash bribes plus plane trips, golf trips and gourmet meals, according to prosecutors. The alleged scheme involved working for or against certain state legislation.

Medal Of Honor Awarded To Veterans Possibly Passed Over Due To Racism
Excerpt: Seeking to correct potential acts of bias spanning three wars, President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to 24 Army veterans following a congressionally mandated review to ensure that eligible recipients were not bypassed due to prejudice. The unusual mass ceremony, scheduled for March 18, will honor veterans, most of Hispanic or Jewish heritage, who had already been recognized with the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest military award. 

Don't you dare tell me to check my privilege. By Julie Burchill
Excerpt: It’s easy for me to sentimentalise those days when the trade unions held sway, chiming as they did with the calf country of my communism, but whatever their beery and sandwichy limits, they were far better than what replaced them; the politics of diversity. While working-class left-wing political activism was always about fighting the powerful, treating people how you would wish to be treated and believing that we’re all basically the same, modern, non-working-class left-wing politics is about… other stuff. Class guilt, sexual kinks, personal prejudice and repressed lust for power.

Obama Blames California Drought He Caused on Global Warming. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: In 2009, the Obama administration upset that agreement by requiring the diversion of water away from farmers and residents to help ensure enough water for salmon and a three-inch fish called the Delta smelt. The Obama administration justified this under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but California Republicans say this decision led to a government-created drought for regions of California’s Central Valley. (We had a film about the poor little Delta Smelt in Commie Geography at Los Angeles City College a few years back. Even in the Commie film, they admitted they were drying up the Central Valley. Last night on the news they said the prices of fruit and veg will rocket in the summer. --Kate)

How a Fanatical Environmentalist Deliberately Caused UK Flooding. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: And here’s why it happened. The Environment Agency has created a £31m bird sanctuary on the Steart peninsula, but can’t find a few million to dredge rivers, remove silt and improve river capacity. Farmers wouldn’t mind doing the job themselves, but then they discover that the silt is now classed as a controlled waste requiring removal to a licensed tip. They can’t simply dump it on farmland to the side, a practice that for centuries has produced, when combined with the natural peat, an incredibly rich soil. Not only that, they would be asked to take oxygen readings of the water.

Pensioner waits nine years for hip replacement
Excerpt: A Collinstown grandfather who has been practically confined to his home for the past year as he waits for his arthritic hip to be replaced has spoken of his frustration at how slowly the wheels turn in the health system. (The single-payer system the left wants for you. ~Bob)

Drug lord 'El Chapo' Guzman captured in Mexico
Excerpt: The head of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel was captured overnight by U.S. and Mexican authorities at a hotel in Mazatlan, Mexico. A senior U.S. law enforcement official confirmed to Fox News that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is in the custody of Mexican law enforcement. (I suggest an immediate trial followed by an immediate shooting--if they don't want to lose him. ~Bob)

Officials: Agent kills man in rock attack
Excerpt: A Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man who officials said assaulted him with a rock in rugged terrain near the border Tuesday morning. The shooting occurred about 6:40 a.m. in a mountainous area about four miles east of the Otay Mesa border crossing, sheriff's Lt. Glenn Giannantonio said. Two agents were tracking a group of suspected border-crossers when the agents split up and one of them moved to a location to cut off the group, Giannantonio said.

The Pentagon's Bow to Islamic Extremism. By Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: "Caving to pressure from Muslim groups, the Pentagon has relaxed uniform rules to allow Islamic beards, turbans and hijabs. It's a major win for political correctness and a big loss for military unit cohesion," said a recent report. (When PC infects the military, who will be left to protect us--from Islamist extremists? Cordially, Larry Greenberg.)

The FCC Wades Into the Newsroom: Why is the agency studying 'perceived station bias' and asking about coverage choices? By Ajit Pai
Excerpt: News organizations often disagree about what Americans need to know. MSNBC, for example, apparently believes that traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., is the crisis of our time. Fox News, on the other hand, chooses to cover the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi more heavily than other networks. The American people, for their part, disagree about what they want to watch. (OK, this is maybe beginning to get some traction. It should have a lot more, and I would only ask everyone to consider what would have happened if George Bush had this same program come out while he was in office. If you don't believe there would have been screaming to the skies and beyond, you have a very different memory of the relations between President Bush and the media than I do. A survey on how newspeople report the news, with a set of federal standards about what is important (the CIN list) will of course lead to a federal set of "recommendations" or even written standards about how the news MUST be prioritized and reported upon. And gee, that could just maybe become a way for the government to tell the media what to tell the citizens. For instance, we might all get told officially and repeatedly that Climate Change is a total reality and we must change how we generate and use energy, and then the EPA becomes truly an all powerful bureaucracy that dictates to every business how they can run, to every town or city how they must run, and conceivably to every person in a log cabin in the remotest mountains how they can use their fireplace. The man writing the article below is one of five FCC commissioners, yet he had no input to this new program. How does a giant federal bureaucracy undertake a huge new project without the commissioners who supposedly govern the agency being involved? The answer to that is that pen and phone in the Oval Office, it's the use of executive power overriding everything else in the system. This should not be a matter for concern for Conservatives, it should be a matter of concern for citizens. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are the granite foundations of our nation, and no one should be even trying to touch either one. --Del)

Victory: FCC Pulls the Plug on its Controversial “Study” and Pledges not to Snoop in American Newsrooms
Excerpt: In breaking news, the Federal Communications Commission has pulled the plug on its plans to monitor American newsrooms. In a statement issued lateFriday afternoon, the FCC shelved the study and promised not to question station owners, managers, and reporters: (Well, enough screaming about a totally inappropriate move on the Free Press, and finally the Administration backs off. Really a wonderful victory for the nation. The sneaky jerks should never have even tried for it, it was a great demonstration of their arrogance, but also of their overconfidence. Now we wait to see what they try next. --Del)

Is Talking the Shortest Path to War? By Michael Rubin 
Excerpt: On January 21, 2013, President Barack Obama outlined his vision for his second term and legacy, saying, “We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully — not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.” His desire to engage was both genuine and in alignment with long-held conventional wisdom among senior statesmen. A half century worth of experience, however, does not support the thesis that diplomacy with rogue regimes or terrorist groups brings peace. Rather, diplomacy misapplied can be the shortest path to war.

Cover-up? Army historian says report on deadly Afghan battle was altered to absolve faulty gun. By Owen Scarborough
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/20/cover-up-army-historian-says-report-on-deadly-afgh/?page=all#pagebreak
Excerpt: A former Army historian who chronicled the infamous Battle of Wanat in Afghanistan, where nine U.S. soldiers died after their M4 carbines jammed, tells The Washington Times that his official account was altered by higher-ups to absolve the weapons and senior officers. M4 critics have long pointed to the Afghanistan battle on July 13, 2008, as evidence that the rifle’s design was flawed. They cite reports from soldiers on the ground that their guns overheated and jammed that day. (Reaction: The author does not address at least two questions I would regard as central: 1) would any rifle have met the test posed by the Battle of Wanat? and, 2) why were these apparently extra ordinary rates of fire required? --TH)

Hamas Tests Anti-Aircraft Missiles Against Israel
Excerpt: While Israel and the Palestinian Authority engage in peace negotiations, Hamas continues to bolster its military capabilities for the next round of fighting with Israel. Al-Monitor is reporting that Palestinian terrorists had conducted a field test, firing an anti-aircraft missile at an Israeli airplane circling above Gaza's eastern border last month.

Video Proof – Democrats Break the Law to Win Elections
Excerpt: Video provocateur James O’Keefe is back with more undercover video showing Democrat activists breaking the law in an attempt to win elections. Mr. O’Keefe has a long history of proving that Democrats can be very undemocratic when it comes to winning elections. In fact, it seems that they would rather win by cheating and breaking the law than lose an honest election. Watch as the folks at Battleground Texas lie, cheat and steal in an attempt at “turning Texas blue.”

Caught: Democrats Laughing at ObamaCare Nightmare
Excerpt: But there’s something even worse than that — something more disgraceful. That’s when the ones laughing are also the very ones who caused the fears and misfortune. Case-in-point: Three politicians from Minnesota, all Democrats – two congressmen, Collin Peterson and Tim Walz, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. Congressman Walz and Senator Klobuchar voted yes for ObamaCare. And now, well, they are laughing at what it’s doing to so many Americans. Listen to this exchange at a recent forum.

Record U.S. Gun Production as Obama ‘Demonized’ on Issue
Excerpt: Almost as many guns -- 26.1 million -- were produced during Democrat Barack Obama’s first term as president as during the entire eight-year presidency of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, the ATF data show.

More Blacks Aborted Than Born. From The Patriot Post
Excerpt: It's no secret that minorities make up a disproportionate number of abortions, but new statistics out of New York City shed a different light on the startling figures. According to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, black and Hispanic babies totaled 73%, or 54,245, of the city's 73,815 abortions in 2012. Some 31,328, or 42.4%, of the aborted babies were blacks. Most disturbingly, this equates to 6,570 more than the number of blacks who were actually born. Somewhere, eugenicist Margaret Sanger -- founder of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a staunch proponent of the forced sterilization and abortions of black and minority children -- is smiling.

The Myth of ‘Settled Science.’ Computer models of climate change have been dead wrong, yet alarmists aim to quell debate. By Charles Krauthammer
Excerpt: I repeat: I’m not a global-warming believer. I’m not a global-warming denier. I’ve long believed that it cannot be good for humanity to be spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. I also believe that those scientists who pretend to know exactly what this will cause in 20, 30, or 50 years are white-coated propagandists.

Germany's Energy Goals Backfire. By Vaclav Smil
Excerpt: Germany’s radical initiative to subsidize renewable electricity generation has resulted in higher carbon dioxide emissions and the most expensive electricity in Europe, with the poor disproportionately bearing the burden. (What Obama's Green Cronies want for you. ~Bob)

The Walker scandal snoozer. By Elizabeth Titus
Excerpt: A trove of the Wisconsin governor’s aides’ emails released this week so far appear to contain few of the elements of a career-damaging digital scandal. Instead, the most serious accusations involve campaign laws more likely to elicit yawns than outrage. (Well, the "Occupy Reality" crowd in Madison are going nuts over it. ~Bob)

The New York Public Library: Racism, Gay Rights, Muslims, No Books. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The New York Public Library is drastically purging its book collections, eliminating a great number of older books in circulation and making books that in remain in its collection much less accessible. With the famous 42nd street library, it means the outright vandalism of one of the most famous libraries in the country whose books will be banished to New Jersey. At local branches, it means fewer books, more computers and more gimmicks.

Military Charities: Most Pure Ripoff Or Bad Investment
Excerpt: Eight veterans charities, including some of the nation’s largest, gave less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far below the recommended standard, the American Institute of Philanthropy says in a report. One group passed along 1 cent for every dollar raised, the report says. Another paid its founder and his wife a combined $540,000 in compensation and benefits last year, a Washington Post analysis of tax filings showed.

We Are One Electon Away from Losing Our Freedom. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: In the United States, cities aren't burning and streets aren't filling up with bloodied bodies, but the government of phone and pen also shows us that we are always one election away from losing our freedom. When a political system becomes polarized between the forces of freedom and the forces of totalitarianism, then the forces of freedom have to win every single election. Meanwhile the totalitarians only have to win one election and then spend the rest of time reconstructing civic institutions, mobilizing thugs and making it structurally impossible for the other side to compete. (Unfortunately, it was held in 2012. ~Bob)

The Obama-Clinton-Kerry Legacy. By Hugh Hewitt
Excerpt: The list of just those countries we know about because they have have made huge headlines include Iran and its lost Green Revolution, Egypt and the years of chaos begun when the president and his team had four policies vis-a-vis Egypt in as many days, Libya where "leading from behind" was coined, Syria where the red line faded into black, Lebanon and Jordan where the Syrians sought refuge, Iraq where the peace has been forfeited and civil war begun again, Afghanistan where our scamper is underway and the Taliban is waiting, and this week Venezuela and Ukraine where American fecklessness has emboldened the worst of the locals to imprison and kill. (Nice article, accurate, factual, and of course utterly depressing. But that's what we've got. And she's going to be running for President in three years. I can hardly wait. --Del)

Eric Holder Can’t Explain If Constitution Allows Obama’s Executive Actions
Excerpt: Attorney General Eric Holder flubbed a question from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that is of vital importance to the rule of law. While the Constitution allows – and sometimes requires – executive action on many matters, President Barack Obama has asserted executive authority in unprecedented ways. When Lee asked why one of Obama’s orders does not violate the Constitution, Holder – the chief legal officer of the nation – had no answer.

Health Law's Impact Has Only Begun. Insurers Seek Healthy Enrollees, Doctors Educate New Patients, Employers Wrestle With Added Costs. By Anna Wilde Mathews
Excerpt: On Jan. 1, the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. Americans gained access to new health plans subsidized by federal dollars. Insurers no longer can turn away people with existing conditions. Millions are now eligible for new Medicaid benefits. (A very even toned comment on what's going on with ObamaCare. It is almost too nice, for instance it says that "Millions are now eligible for new Medicaid benefits" without mentioning that finding doctors to accept Medicaid patients was difficult before, and now it will just get much worse. We aren't making lots of new doctors eager to take on patients for whom they will receive the absolute least pay allowance from the federal government programs. It also doesn't mention the millions of people presently taking advantage of Obama's illegal bending of the "settled law" of the ACA to tell the insurance companies they can give people one more year of their old plan. All of these people will hit the fiscal wall next year, which will add to the upset already building. Also the other delays of ACA implementation that Obama has put in place, all to keep the impact from hitting fully before next November's election. It's hard to not consider that this is really only likely to keep rolling downhill as more and more people find out they will be paying more money for higher deductibles and lower coverage. Yes, some small fraction of people will be better off, maybe 5%. Another small fraction will be worse off, and the huge majority will be facing more cost for less coverage, in what really is a wealth transfer scheme. I'm figuring that by Fall the impact will have at least started to hit a very large fraction of the population, and that should have some effect on the elections. --Del)

Obama(S)care: Con Artists and Criminals in Charge
Excerpt: Question: If Obamacare officials cannot prevent accused embezzlers from infiltrating their offices, how can they protect enrollees from grifters, con artists and thieves in the federal health insurance exchange system? Here in my home state, a director of Connect for Health Colorado — the state-sponsored Obamacare health insurance exchange — was just put on administrative leave. No, Christa Ann McClure did not go on leave over the chronic problems plaguing the cursed Connect for Health website. She's on leave because she has been indicted for filching funds from her last employer in Montana.

Excerpt: President Obama came into office just over five years ago promising to reduce the power of corporate lobbyists and to increase government’s role in the economy. But his $787 billion-dollar stimulus provided the lesson: Every time government gets bigger, some special interest is getting richer.

Excerpt: If your community is suffering from sub-par K-12 education you ought to look seriously at what some states are doing with the charter school programs. Arizona has gone all out in this state's challenging the teacher's unions and bloated public school administrators who, for too long, have produced high school graduates that can't read or write even at the sixth grade level.

Excerpt: A man and a woman were stoned to death in a village in Loralai district on Sunday after a cleric issued a fatwa against them, sources said

1 comment:

  1. As for the Stuart dynasty, one of my Scottish history tutors at St. Andrews once described that family as "as thick as two bricks."

    I would as happily have another Clinton in the White House.....

    ReplyDelete