A lot of "worth reading" items today

Update

Couldn't get through all the email I have, and had to delete some unread, so I'm posting what I got to. Plus I got kicked off the Internet for awhile--don't know if it's us, Charter, Google or the NSA... Plus the blog is getting too long; I'll try to be more selective. Been time starved with health maintenance, life's general maintenance and getting out, so always behind on the email. It's going to get worse before it gets better. We have a lot on our plates Thursday through Sunday, so posts will likely be less frequent and it's doubtful I'll get through the email that comes in through Sunday.

Tuesday was lovely here; cool, breezy, blue sky with puffy clouds--the perfect early fall day. On august 12. Oh, winter... ~Bob

General News and Comment

Two books recommended by Theodore Dalrymple (British Psychiatrist Anthony Daniels).

It's Your Time You're Wasting: A Teacher's Tales of Classroom Hell [Kindle Edition]. By Frank Chalk 

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Your-Time-Youre-Wasting-ebook/dp/B004GEAM1S

About the deterioration of the British educational system under progressive policies. More advanced than even ours.

Wasting Police Time: The Crazy World of the War on Crime by David Copperfield 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0955285410/ref=sr_1_1_up_1_pap_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407860309&sr=1-1&condition=used

About the deterioration of the British policies and criminal justice system under progressive policies. More advanced than even ours. I've ordered both and will report on them--if I'm spared, as the Scots say. ~Bob

Special Guest Editorial: Obama's Foreign Policy Failures: By Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/special-guest-editorial-obamas-foreign-policy-failures_802870.html
Excerpt: Editor’s note: I think it was the great Maimonides who taught us, “You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.” So THE WEEKLY STANDARD is happy to feature this special guest editorial on President Obama's foreign policy failures (excerpted verbatim from the Jeffrey Goldberg’s fine interview). – William Kristol

Missouri Mayor: People started driving in from other areas to steal stuff.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/missouri-mayor-looters-were-out-of-towners/#ICb14iccojzZpw12.99
Excerpt: "A lot of the people aren’t even from our town; but they came in and stole from our businesses and left our town in ruins, and made it look like there are racial tensions here that simply aren’t what they made them out to be. Such a shame that we have people with an axe to grind, coming here to grind it,” he said.

Robin Williams had serious money troubles.
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/08/robin-williams-had-serious-money-troubles-in-months-before-his-death-claims-friend-was-the-pressure-too-much/
Excerpt: Though Williams had one of Hollywood’s most enduring careers, divorce — from first wife Valerie Velardi in 1988, and from second wife, Marsha Garces in 2008 — had gutted his bank account. “Divorce is expensive,” he recently said. “I used to joke they were going to call it ‘all the money’, but they changed it to ‘alimony’. It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet." (The happy, carefree lifestyles of the rich and famous. I liked Williams,; he at least supported the troops. But this happens so often to the elites. ~Bob)

Robin Williams hanged himself with belt.
https://news.yahoo.com/official-robin-williams-hanged-himself-belt-182543053.html
Excerpt: The actor also had superficial cuts on his wrist, and a pocketknife was found nearby.
Boyd said Williams, star of "Good Will Hunting," ''Mrs. Doubtfire," ''Good Morning, Vietnam" and dozens of other films, was seeking treatment for depression. He would not say whether the actor and comedian left a suicide note.

How Europe disguises its fascist demons with bourgeois elegance: Sexy lesbian vampire chic. By Tim Stanley
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100235585/sexy-lesbian-vampire-chic-how-europe-disguises-its-fascist-demons-with-bourgeois-elegance/
Excerpt: For what Daughters of Darkness really explores isn't feminine subjugation of the masculine but the brutality that lies beneath the facade of European elegance. It's a wonderful example of what horror movies – even those dismissed as pure exploitation – can tell us about the people who made them. Paglia is correct where she writes that "The theme is eroticized western power, the burden of history."

St. Louis Riots are Another Reason to Be Armed
http://politicaloutcast.com/2014/08/st-louis-riots-another-reason-armed/

Excerpt: Sunday night a QuickTrip in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, was robbed and burned to the ground by rioters and looters. Yesterday, violent incidents were reported at the Galleria Mall. There were also various incidents of violence and looting in several locations. The triggering event was a police shooting.

‘Damn Ferguson’: Rioters for Michael Brown Shoot at Cops and Throw Bricks at their Cars
http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/damn-ferguson-rioters-michael-brown-shoot-cops-throw-bricks-cars/

Excerpt: Last night several businesses in Ferguson, Dellwood and North County were looted and torched following the death of 18 year-old Michael Brown. The Galleria recently set a curfew on teens in the mall without adult supervision to cut down on theft and violence.

Why Mitt Romney is Perfectly Poised for a Comeback in 2016.
http://theweek.com/article/index/265552/why-mitt-romney-is-perfectly-poised-for-a-comeback-in-2016
Excerpt: First, in the intervening years since 2012 — and on a range of issues, not the least of which is Russia — Romney has been proven right. And second — perhaps more important — one of the reasons so many observers viscerally disliked Romney was the cloying "goody-goody" quality that this fortunate son seemed to ooze. But do you know what the cure for that is? Losing. That's right, Mitt Romney the scrappy underdog — the loser who's out to redeem himself — is a more attractive Mitt. You know the term "lovable loser?" He should embrace it.

Mitt Romney was right about everything in 2012. So why not Romney in 2016? By Tim Stanley.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100281944/mitt-romney-was-right-about-everything-in-2012-so-why-not-romney-2016/
Excerpt: After all, the polls show that Romney would currently win a rematch with Obama – and do so comfortably. CNN/ORC International gives him a 53 to 44 per cent advantage.

Expensive 'Choices': U.S. taxpayers spent $55,000 on travel expenses for Hillary Clinton's BOOK TOUR in Paris and Berlin – including a her $3,668-a-night hotel suite
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722178/Expensive-Choices-US-taxpayers-spent-55-000-travel-expenses-Hillary-Clintons-BOOK-TOUR-Paris-Berlin.html#ixzz3A9zQtXGX

Excerpt: Hillary Clinton left her post at the top of the U.S. State Department on Feb. 1, 2013, but the federal government spent more than $55,000 on travel expenses related to her book tour just last month, procurement documents show. The expenses included a $3,668 charge for her to enjoy a single night's lodging in a suite at the posh Four Seasons George V hotel in Paris.

President Obama racked up close to $3 million in flight costs this year on two trips he billed as business but spent playing golf 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2617270/President-Obama-racked-close-3-million-flight-costs-year.html

Excerpt: The White House spent $2,952,278 in flight expenses this year for two trips President Barack Obama took on which he spent a large chunk of his time playing golf. Obama billed both trips as official business, but he spent more time golfing than he did participating in government meetings, government oversight organization Judicial Watch reports.

The Obamas' three-day trip to Ireland in 2013 cost taxpayers $7.6 million, and Michelle’s gigantic suite cost $3,300 per night

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2600743/Taxpayers-shelled-7-9-MILLION-Obamas-2013-Ireland-excursion-including-ladys-gigantic-suite-cost-3-300-night-Dublin-sightseeing-trip.html

Excerpt: The Obamas' three day trip to Ireland last June cost the taxpayer more than $7.6million, it was revealed today. Michelle Obama spent more than $251,000 of taxpayers' money on a sightseeing jaunt to Dublin, Ireland while the first family was the official trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland. She stayed in the $3,300-per-night 'Princess Grace' presidential suite at Dublin's tony Shelbourne Hotel, a sumptuous two-bedroom, two-bathroom lodging that measures 1,530 square feet and includes butler service and its own dining room.

The GOP can attract young black voters--and it already has. By Whitney Blake
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/gop-can-attract-young-black-voters-and-already-has_802857.html
Excerpt: Exit polls from 2012 reveal an unprecedented development: not only did Mitt Romney's support from black men under the age of 30 jump 13 points from 2008, he also garnered a much larger share of votes from this group than from their elders. Even more intriguing is the fact that this under-30 voting bloc was comprised largely of the youngest millennials, those 24 and under. This means that roughly one in five new black male voters chose to cast their very first presidential ballot for a Republican, all the while passing up the opportunity to ever vote for Obama. (They want a father. I saw this in my classes at Los Angeles City College. My own father died when I was very young. I thought Mitt Romney was a stiff until I watched his speech at the convention and realized that he is what a father is--perhaps a bit remote but that's because he is always thinking about how to take care of us. The young black men at LACC loved a male teacher whom seemed to care for them and seemed to be able to guide them. Obama is just another Lost Boy who never knew his father. I want a father too. VOTE ROMNEY. --Kate.)

NJ Town Upset Over Changing ‘Kennedy Center’ to ‘Obama Center’

http://clashdaily.com/2014/08/people-pissed-nj-town-upset-changing-kennedy-center-obama-center/

Excerpt: Why is this even necessary? The residents of this town are ticked at the fact that they are changing The Kennedy Center into the Obama Center. Let’s see how long before his face is added to Mount Rushmore. (The future "Clinton Center." ~Bob)

Jerry Brown Begins To Grasp The Effects Of Moonbat Eugenics.
http://moonbattery.com/?p=49101
Excerpt: The process is so obvious at this point that even Jerry Brown — himself a character straight out of Idiocracy — has at least a vague grasp of what is happening to us as industry, independence, and intelligence are bred out of the population: ' “In California, out of six million students, two million are designated English-language learners, and that means extra money for that school, as well as for low-income families, and that’s about half the students in California,” Brown said. “It’s pretty amazing,” Brown said. “I don’t know what the affluent families are doing. “They’re not producing or something, because half the kids in schools are from low-income families,” Brown said.' (Well, Jerry, people like you in the counter culture that started in the 60s made having kids un-cool, unless you needed the welfare check. A lot of the children who would be there from upper income families became a choice, not a child. ~Bob)

‘Kill Switch’ Smart Phone Bill Passes

 http://conservativebyte.com/2014/08/kill-switch-smart-phone-bill-passes/

Excerpt: All powerful government flexing its muscles. Think about this if they said they wanted a TV, Radio, Newspaper, or Electricity kill switch. (Can a blanket signal be sent to effectively take away the ability for outside contact? --JB)

VIRAL VIDEO: Indian Jogger Filmed Chasing and Hitting Man Who Harassed Her in Bangalore.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indian-jogger-filmed-chasing-and-hitting-man-who-sexually-harassed-her-in-bangalore-9664574.html
(A note from Kate: In the autumn of 2012, a 24-year-old male volunteer at a Senior Lunch in Eugene, Oregon asked me if I would have sex with him. I was 66. Five days before Christmas, 2013, I was groped from behind by a male volunteer at the Senior Lunch in a small town near Eugene. When I was young, I didn't want to get old and fat. But I thought the consolation would be that they would stop. They will stop after I have decomposed.)

Florida: How Puerto Rican Migrants could Swing the Largest Swing State.
http://fusion.net/leadership/story/puerto-rican-migrants-swing-largest-swing-state-937727
Excerpt: The further north you go, the further south you are. So goes the axiom describing the anomaly that is Florida, a political swing state that seems to become increasingly "Southern" the closer it gets to its northern neighbors Georgia and Alabama. But shifting demographic patterns are making that less true with each passing year. Now a Pew Research Center report released today shows that a new wave of Puerto Ricans leaving their island's severe economic woes has been finding its way to Central Florida and rapidly changing the ethnic and political makeup of the country's largest swing state. Florida, which has played a crucial role in the past two presidential elections, has 29 electoral votes that could play a crucial role in the 2016 presidential race.

Anti-Capitalist Prof Makes $242K to Teach 1 Class in Fall
http://godfatherpolitics.com/16622/anti-capitalist-prof-makes-242k-teach-1-class-fall/

Excerpt: Isn’t it interesting how so many liberal Democrats are hypocritically guilty of the very things they publicly decry? Consider how much Barack Obama condemns the wealthy and talks about the redistribution of wealth, yet has more than doubled his personal wealth since illegally occupying the White House. Liberal filmmaker and documentarian Michael Moore supported the Occupy Movement and spoke out against the one percenters and is himself a one percenter worth over $50 million.

‘Cash for Clunkers’ stimulus stalled auto-industry revenues, research says

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/08/08/cash-for-clunkers-stimulus-stalled-auto-industry-revenues-research-says/

Excerpt: But rather than investing in pricey hybrids, many buyers opted for relatively cheap and small cars, such as Toyota’s Corolla, which was the No. 1 choice during the program, economists with Texas A&M University wrote in “Cash for Corollas: When Stimulus Reduces Spending.” The program ended up cutting industry revenue by around $3 billion in under a year, the researchers estimated. “This highlights how – even over a relatively short period of time – a conflicting policy objective can cause a stimulus program to instead have a contractionary net effect on the targeted industry,” researchers wrote in the working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based organization.

Defending America isn't only for those in uniform. Townhall Magazine
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/townhallmagazine/2014/08/12/defending-america-isnt-only-for-those-in-uniform-n1872454Excerpt: In the August issue of Townhall Magazine, where this column originally appeared, BearingArms.com editor Bob Owens makes the case for having well-armed civilians help keep the peace.

Hide ‘D,’ Showcase ‘R’ -- It’s the media’s unwritten rule for covering political scandals. By L. Brent Bozell III

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385185/hide-d-showcase-r-l-brent-bozell-iii

Excerpt: It is such common sense as to be undeniable that basic journalism requires a party label to be affixed to a story about an elected public official, the president excepted. ... It follows that the rule applies to stories about political scandal, precisely because it’s just that — politics. But what happens when that cardinal rule is applied to one party but ignored for the other? Favoritism? Bias? No, it’s far worse than just that. It is a commitment to abide by the rules of journalism with one party and then a deliberate attempt to protect the other, even if it means violating the most basic rules of news reporting.

Interesting: A Quiet Mediterranean?  An unusual calm for history’s constant cauldron. By Victor Davis Hanson

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385172/quiet-mediterranean-victor-davis-hanson

Excerpt: The Mediterranean (“in the middle of the earth”) has been history’s constant cauldron. It provided too easy access between three vastly different and usually rival continents — Asia, Africa, and Europe. And it helped birth and spread three major and often warring religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Without it, there would have been no Roman or Ottoman Empire.

Liberal Dana Milbank: Obama vacations as the world burns

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-vacations-as-the-world-burns/2014/08/11/58755e5e-21a5-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html

Excerpt: President Obama must really be teed off. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his once-loyal secretary of state and his likeliest successor, has gone rogue, criticizing his foreign policy as too timid. Obama responded with not one but two rounds of golf.

Gawker Media: Hypocrites vs. Douchecanoes. By Matt Forney
http://takimag.com/article/gawker_media_hypocrites_vs_douchecanoes/print#ixzz3AItXL8ZR
Excerpt: Gawker Media, the company that gets people fired from their jobs for making “sexist” jokes, has been creating a hostile work environment for its women staffers for months. They’re the leftist equivalent of a priest who rails against homosexuality only to be caught molesting altar boys in the confessional booths. In staying silent on this for so long, Dodai Stewart, Lindy West, and Jezebel’s other star employees have shown themselves to be frauds. They don’t care about feminism, “fat shaming,” or whatever cause they’re screeching about today; all they care about is money and power. And now we have the proof.

Georgia Town to Atheists: Stop Bullying Our Kids. By Todd Starnes
http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2014/08/13/georgia-town-to-atheists-stop-bullying-our-kids-n1878313
Excerpt: The American Humanist Association (AHA) is about to learn a very important lesson -- folks around Gainesville, Georgia don’t take kindly to out-of-town atheists trying to bully their children. More than 200 people turned out in defiance of the self-described atheist group early Thursday morning for an impromptu prayer rally in the middle of the Chestatee High School football field. The previous day, the atheists (acting on behalf of a single, unnamed citizen) sent a letter to school officials demanding that the football coaching staff stop participating in team prayers and that they remove all biblical references and religious messages from team documents.

Sheriff David Clarke Defeats Bloomberg's Anti-Gun Money, Wins Milwaukee County Primary. By Katie Pavlich

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/08/13/sheriff-david-clarke-defeats-bloombergs-antigun-money-wins-milwaulkee-county-primary-n1878229?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm

Excerpt: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's dollars have been defeated again, this time in Wisconsin. Despite Bloomberg dumping $150,000 into the Democrat primary for Milwaukee County Sheriff on behalf of anti-gun Milwaukee Police Lt. Chris Moews with a goal of defeating pro-self defense incumbent Sheriff David Clarke, Clarke was victorious last night. Clarke defeated Moews 52 percent to 48 percent. 

The 'oil weapon' loses some of its power as supplies increase, demand falls. By Thomas Lifson
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/the_oil_weapon_loses_some_of_its_power_as_supplies_increase_demand_falls.html
Excerpt: World oil supplies have increased as demand has fallen in key Western markets, robbing petro-power Russia of some of its clout, and softening any potential disruption that Middle East turmoil could inflict on the world economy. We can thank fracking in the United States and elsewhere for the unexpectedly favorable situation, as US oil production has added 1.2 million barrels per day to its rate his year. (Why the Arabs are scare of fracking. ~Bob)

Democrats embracing shale boom ahead of midterm elections.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/08/12/democrats-embracing-shale-boom-ahead-of-midterms/
Excerpt: In the run-up to this fall’s midterm elections, Democrats seem to be stifling some of their green sensibilities and embracing the recent U.S. energy revolution. Fracking has completely transformed the American energy landscape in just a few short years, and environmentalists, a key component of the Democratic base, aren’t happy. As the WSJ reports, many on the left seem willing to weather the criticism of this increasingly out of touch interest group as they tout the numerous benefits of the shale boom:

Democrats (and Republicans) Pay Black Staffers 30% Less

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/11/washington-s-race-pay-gap.html

Excerpt: Campaign staffers who are people of color routinely get paid less than their white counterparts, and are often given less glamorous jobs. How an antiquated understanding of race relations results in minority staffers getting the short shrift. If you’re a person of color hoping to get hired by a political campaign, here’s the ugly truth: You’ll probably get paid less than your white counterparts, if you’re even hired at all. On both sides of the aisle, there is a racial pay gap in campaign politics. Asian, Black and Latino staffers are paid less than their white counterparts, according to an analysis by the New Organizing Institute.

Readin', Writin' and Social Justice Agitatin.' By Michelle Malkin http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2014/08/08/readin-writin-and-social-justice-agitatin-n1876238/page/full

Excerpt: It's back-to-school season across the country. But in an increasing number of districts, "back to school" doesn't mean back to learning. Under the reign of social justice indoctrinators, academics are secondary to political agitation. Activism trumps achievement. In Massachusetts, the John J. Duggan Middle School will open on August 25 with a new name and mission. It is now a "social justice magnet school." (I truly am totally blown away that we now have Middle Schools whose mission is to create "21st century global citizens". That is surely the way to bring strength to this society, you know, the one that is, or used to be, America? This is social engineering in public schools, and that is not what taxpayers expect for their money. They expect, and rightfully so, that kids will learn objectively about science, math, English (you remember, part of the very basis of our society in its literature and the ability to use the language?), US history, some world history, and perhaps a bit on skills of life, like how to handle money, how to write a job application, and such things as will be useful to the young person going out into the world. Now we're going to have indoctrination in the particular worldview of very serious Liberals, with Political Correctness as the key underlying concept? Why aren't parents and taxpayers screaming to heaven about this? Does anyone want to really think about what all this indoctrination will do not so much for the kids as to them? And how will this nation be better served by a rising class of young people who think they are citizens of the world, and owe nothing to this country and its principles, history, traditions? This is now just TOO DAMN CRAZY. --Del)

The Romance of the Fall: Robin Williams. By Daniel Greenfield
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-romance-of-fall.html
Excerpt: Our society is dying because we traded the virtues of character for fake inspiration. And fake inspiration is ridiculously cheap and ridiculously worthless. It asks nothing of people and it gives them nothing. Robin Williams mimed that kind of inspiration in countless movies. And he wasn't the only one. What Obama offered America was the same empty hopeless hope, the invocation of an artificial inspiration created through tone and expression, but that asked nothing of our character. Deep down everyone can sense the hollowness. (This is what Dietrich Bonhoffer talks about in that first chapter of The Cost of Discipleship, the difference between cheap grace and costly grace. --Kate)

Ferguson Riots: North County Business Owners (Some Armed) Survey the Damage

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/08/ferguson_riots_north_county_business_owners_some_armed_survey_the_damage.php

Excerpt: Nobody is robbing St. Louis Ink Tattoo Studio anytime soon. Or County Guns, for that matter. The two north-county businesses share a storefront in a Florissant strip mall less than ten minute drive from the epicenter of last night's riots in Ferguson. ... After hearing of the roving bands of looters, Mike Gutierrez knew he had to protect his tattoo shop. He brought a posse with him, including Adam Weinstein, owner of County Guns, who was acutely worried about criminals getting their hands on his merchandise.

Important: China appears ready to dump its U.S. Treasury Bonds. By Chriss W. Street
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/12/China-Appears-Ready-to-Dump-its-U-S-Treasury-Bonds
Excerpt : Facing an overvalued currency that is hurting corporate profits and slowing growth, China appears ready to dump its $1.3 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds to drive U.S. interest rates up and strengthen the dollar. The secret to China’s spectacular growth beginning in the early 1990s was devaluing its currency to the U.S. dollar from 2.8 Chinese yuan to 8.7 yuan. (Could be the tipping point where our debt cascades into fiscal ruin. ~Bob)

Another expired Obama promise: Obama Administration Loosens Ban on Lobbyists in Government

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/13/us/politics/obama-administration-loosens-ban-on-lobbyists-in-government.html?_r=0

Excerpt: The Obama administration on Tuesday rolled back part of its ban on lobbyists serving in government, narrowing one of the president’s signature policies in the face of a legal challenge. ... Mr. Obama barred lobbyists from contributing to his campaign and signed an order on his first day in office in 2009 prohibiting them from serving in his administration. But Mr. Obama has made a number of exceptions to that rule and has hired lobbyists for several important jobs.

Worth Reading: Blasio’s War on Achievement. By Thomas Sowell

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/thomas-sowell/de-blasios-war-on-achievement/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3e3e262ad6-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag&utm_term=0_57e32c1dad-3e3e262ad6-156414477

Excerpt: The non-existent problem is the use of tests to determine who gets admitted to the city’s three most outstanding public high schools — Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. These admissions tests have been used for generations, and the students in these schools have had spectacular achievements for generations. ... That was clever, but cleverness is not wisdom. Back in those days, Jewish youngsters were over-represented among the students at all three elite public high schools. Today it is Asian students who are a majority at those same schools — more than twice as many Asians as whites in all three schools.

Obamacare News

Worth Reading: How to Transcend Obamacare: Conservatives have an opportunity to liberate health care for everyone. By Avik Roy

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385290/how-transcend-obamacare-avik-roy

Excerpt: It turns out that repealing Obamacare is not our only hope for reversing the triumph of the entitlement state. Indeed, there may be an even better one. ... One thing you often hear conservatives say about Obamacare is that it represents “the government takeover of the U.S. health-care system.” This is not precisely true. The actual government takeover of the U.S. health-care system took place in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed into law the bills enacting Medicare and Medicaid: the “Great Society.”

Small Firms Struggle under Obamacare

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=24735&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Thousands of very small business owners, such as sole proprietors, lost their small business health insurance plans in the early part of 2014, because the ACA requires "employers" to have a minimum of two full-time employees in order to qualify for group health insurance. The vast majority -- over 78 percent -- of the United States' 28 million small businesses have no employees and therefore must purchase individual, not group, coverage. Some of these business owners who have lost their group plans are finding the individual market to be costly. The Small Business Association of Michigan has 4,000 small business members with health insurance covering 40,000 employees and families. Last year, the association was forced to remove 700 sole proprietors from its plan.

Obamacare's Phony Success Story: After year one, the health care overhaul is riddled with problems. By Peter Suderman

http://reason.com/archives/2014/07/01/obamacares-phony-success-story

Excerpt: The administration's belated claims of success rested heavily on two pillars: the 8 million sign-up figure and the exceedingly low expectations established by the exchanges' disastrous launch. The White House was selling an unlikely underdog story in which the plucky little health care law, backed only by the entire executive branch of the federal government, came from behind to score an unexpected victory. But judged by other metrics, such as rising health spending, state-by-state sign-ups, demographic balance, and public opinion, the law looks less like a success story and more like an enormous national experiment still struggling out of the gate.

                                                                                                                           

What is To Be Done with Health Insurance Exchanges, Post-Obamacare? By John R. Graham

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/what-is-to-be-done-with-health-insurance-exchanges-post-obamacare/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-38796

Excerpt: Any time a Republican politician suggests that there is anything positive in Obamacare, the media are eager to declare this means the Republican establishment is backing away from repealing the Affordable Care Act and wants to “fix” it instead. This, of course, is what most businesses and their lobbyists would prefer take place. It is consistent with the Kaiser Family Foundation’s drumbeat of monthly polls reporting that “over half the public has an unfavorable view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in July, up eight percentage points since last month,” but that a “majority continues to prefer Congress improve ACA rather than repeal and replace.”

Undocumented Democrat News

Obama Administration Released Over 600 Illegal Immigrants With Criminal Convictions. By Sharyl Attkisson /

http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/12/obama-administration-released-600-illegal-immigrants-criminal-convictions/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_content=DD140710&utm_campaign=dailydigest&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonv6zLZKXonjHpfsX56e0vWK%2BzlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4AS8JkI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

Excerpt: More than 600 convicted criminals, including felons, were among thousands of illegal immigrants freed under the Obama administration in advance of 2013 budget cuts mandated under sequestration.

Important: TX Principal Fired for Encouraging Students to Speak English

http://lastresistance.com/6835/tx-principal-fired-encouraging-students-speak-english/

Excerpt: Things have changed and just suggesting that students speak English can get an educator fired as in the case of Amy Lacey, former principal of Hempstead Middle School, about 50 miles northwest of Houston. Last year, Lacey was trying to help prepare students at the school for their upcoming Texas state tests. She recommended that the students speak English as the tests were in English. She was not being racist or doing anything wrong, but that didn’t stop some liberal from blowing this all out of proportion and costing Lacey her job. ("Antiracism is the new racism." --Theodore Dalrymple (British Psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Daniels. Since all the studies show that Hispanics who are fluent in English are much better off economically than those who speak only Spanish, NOT encouraging Hispanics in America to learn English keeps them poor and is racist! ~Bob)

Schools to Be Flooded With Illegal Immigrant Children. By Katie Pavlich

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/08/12/schools-to-be-flooded-with-illegal-immigrant-children-n1877702?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm

Excerpt: Good news America, tens-of-thousands of children in the country illegally are on their way to a public school near you for a taxpayer funded education and the Department of Education says they're entitled it.

Worth Reading: The Amnesty Radicals' Big Mistake. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/the-amnesty-radicals-big-mistake/
Excerpt: Both Democrats and Republicans have made the mistake of trying to trade the white working class voters that they have for the future demographics of a transformed nation. But like their European counterparts they may find that they have prematurely buried the white working class voter. Isolationism is less of a rejection of the outside world than it is a rejection of the terms on which a domestic political leadership has dealt with the rest of the world. Skepticism toward foreign intervention and immigration are really votes of no confidence in our own government. And that’s what the poll numbers for Obama and Congress have been communicating even before the border crisis. In a miserable economy with living standards on the decline and little hope for the future, there is a great deal of free-floating anger in the political atmosphere.

TEXAS: Gov. Perry Will Personally Brief National Guard Troops About To Be Deployed Along Border. By Bob Price
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/08/13/Governor-Perry-Will-Personally-Brief-National-Guard-Troops-About-to-be-Deployed
Excerpt: Members of the Texas National Guard currently in training at Camp Swift, near Austin, have been told to stand by for a personal briefing from Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry is expected to arrive at Camp Swift this morning to brief the troops on his expectations of their deployment. It is still not clear as to exactly where this first batch of troops will be deployed, according to one of the soldiers currently at Camp Swift

Worth Reading: Get Ready for Denials. By Walter E. Williams 

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/28157

Excerpt: Unfortunately, many people approach our recent southern border problem as a “humanitarian crisis” and hint that congressmen who want to make securing our border our No. 1 priority are, as President Barack Obama says, “mean.” Others who argue for border security run the risk of being dismissed as racists. The Democrats are hoping that painting the Republicans as mean racists will help them with the Latino vote in November.

Senator Jeff Sessions: Phone Your Senators Now. Amnesty Must Be Stopped Now.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/12/Exclusive-Sessions-Obama-s-Planned-Executive-Amnesty-Must-Be-Stopped-Everyone-Needs-To-Call-Their-Senators
Excerpt: Recent developments suggest the President’s planned executive amnesty could be increasingly imminent and broad in scope,” Sessions said, citing how Pelosi has called on the President to give the “broadest possible” executive amnesty to perhaps as many as ten million illegal aliens.

VIDEO: KISS Frontman Gene Simmons to Immigrants: "Learn to speak GD English." "Dress British. Think Yiddish." "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Huff Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/kiss-gene-simmons-immigrants-learn-goddamn-english_n_5669913.html
Excerpt: Gene Simmons, nee Chaim Witz, immigrated to the United States with his mother when he was eight years old. In the 56 years since, Simmons has carved out a place in music history with his band, KISS, and become a cultural icon. As an immigrant who found such monumental success, he has some blunt advice for others who come to America in search of prosperity.

"You're Greener Than Gore" News

Real Nobel Laureate Takes Pity on Fake Nobel Laureate. By Mark Steyn
http://www.steynonline.com/6518/real-nobel-laureate-takes-pity-on-fake-nobel
Excerpt: But, while Time, NBC News and The Washington Post recognize the threat that the litigious Dr Mann poses to core liberties, the good news for Mann is that Professor Paul Krugman, the economist and New York Times columnist, has come out on his side. I've had no use for Krugman since his shifty and disingenuous explanation as to why he was on Enron's gravy train, but, unlike Mann, he is a genuine Nobel Laureate as opposed to a fraudulent, self-conferred Nobel Laureate. So I read his analysis of Mann's case against us with some interest - and then I fell around laughing at this section:

Environmental Regulation through Litigation

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=24739&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Through sue and settle litigation, interest groups have forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue new regulations, often bypassing proper procedures, writes Ann Norman, senior research fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. How does this happen? Twenty U.S. statutes contain what are known as "citizen suit" provisions, allowing citizens to file suit against a federal agency when that agency has failed to carry out a nondiscretionary duty by its prescribed deadline. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, for example, allow for citizen suits. And because federal agency rulemaking is notoriously behind schedule, every missed deadline provides an opportunity for litigation. The EPA has been a party to a number of these lawsuits.

Religion of Peace News

Worth Reading: President Obama Leading From Behind - Is An Inaccurate Accusation. By Andy Weddington

http://acoloneloftruth.blogspot.com/2014/08/president-obama-leading-from-behind-is.html

Excerpt: President Obama was not bashful taking credit for getting America out of Iraq. But he left no force in place to give Iraq a fighting chance. And not surprisingly years of American (and others) sacrifices are proving for naught. What a waste. And now President Obama, though he says he is not, is taking America back to Iraq...

VIDEO: Ad Hoc. Improvised. Spontaneous Rescue Effort. Yazidis scramble on to chopper.

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/12/watch-human-tide-of-yazidis-scramble-onto-kurdish-helicopter-in-rush-to-escape-death/

Report: ISIS Selling Captured Young Girls Into Slavery. By Daniel Doherty 

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2014/08/12/report-isis-selling-captured-young-girls-into-slavery-n1877763?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm

Excerpt: But the terrorist group’s propensity for barbarism is not merely exposed by their bloodlust and ideology. There have also been reports that many of these jihadists are kidnapping young girls and keeping them as sex slaves for themselves, or profiting off their innocence. Many of these reports are unsubstantiated, of course. But the anguish of one father who recently learned that his daughter will soon be sold into slavery underscores the depravity of IS and its evil tactics (viaThe Guardian): (Sex with slave girls is expressly permitted by the Holy Qur'an ["That which your right hand possesses."]. It's part of their culture and as liberals say all cultures are equally valid--who are we to judge? ~Bob)

Prepare for a Long War Against the Islamic State. By Jonah Goldberg

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/28161

Excerpt: In the early days after 9/11 there was a lot of talk about a “clash of civilizations” and a long “existential struggle” facing the West. I once asked the late Christopher Hitchens what he felt on that terrible day, and he said he felt no small amount of joy. Not for the suffering and death, but for the fact that the West finally had been awakened to the terrible but necessary struggle before us. And for a time, many liberals bought into the idea that America was heading into a generational struggle with jihadism.

Christian Refuge from Mosul Describes being Forced Out by Muslims. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/christian-refugee-from-mosul-describes-being-forced-out-by-muslim-neighbors-video/
Excerpt: "When ISIS entered Mosul, the people hailed them and drove out the Christians. Why did they expel just the Christians from Mosul? There are many sects in Mosul. Why just the Christians? This is nothing new.

IN PICTURES: Pro-ISIS Agitators in Oxford Street, London's Most Famous Shopping Street. By Raheem Kassam
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/08/12/ISIS-agitators-London

Limits of Airstrikes Hinder U.S. Policy in Iraq

http://online.wsj.com/articles/limits-of-airstrikes-hinder-u-s-policy-in-iraq-1407802022

Excerpt: After four days of pounding targets in northern Iraq, U.S. officials warned Monday that the campaign was unlikely to inflict serious damage to the militant group now controlling large parts of Iraq and Syria. The airstrikes' modest impact poses a strategic conundrum for President Barack Obama, who must decide whether to limit American military operations in Iraq once his objectives are met or expand the U.S. role to defeat the Sunni extremist forces, which have threatened to attack Americans. (Fish or cut bait, as the saying goes. Obama needs to really turn loose our air power from ever source available to relentlessly, thoroughly find and destroy every worthwhile ISIS target. From the former Iraqi Army vehicles and artillery, to the pickup trucks with the .50 cal in the back, to any concentration of armed men, to any known HQ of the ISIS commanders. It's time to bring the hammer down, hard, and smash their forces so badly that the cowards of the Iraqi Army will decide things are so bad for ISIS that now they can power up their remaining tanks and vehicles and go after the remnants to kill them all. This is the time to remind the world that we have a hammer and can use it, and it's the best chance we'll have for a long time to go in hard and not get too many complaints. When the guys you're bombing or hitting with missiles from drones have been beheading children, hardly anyone is going to get on your case about taking them out. If he blows this one, then all hope is really lost for anything but disaster until maybe 2016. --Del. The airstrikes are designed to make it appear Obama is doing something, with little risk or cost. ~Bob)

Stockholm, Sweden: Protests for Christians Living in Iraq.
http://m.thelocal.se//20140811/thousands-protest-christian-persecution-in-iraq-stockholm
Excerpt: Many of the protesters carried signs, stating "Shame, Swedish media, for your silence" and "Convert to Islam, pay unreasonable taxes, and still die under the sword". Multiple politicians also attended the demonstration, including Liberal Party leader Jan Björklund and EU Minister Birgitta Ohlsson.

What would Ronnie and Maggie have done? Our leaders are in denial about Islamic revolution because it exposes their own naivety. By Robin Harris, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2721515/ROBIN-HARRIS-Our-leaders-denial-Islamic-revolution-exposes-naivety.html
Excerpt: It was a cardinal rule for Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to combine steady pressure with the minimum of rash provocation and the avoidance of foolish name calling. Resolve was combined with active diplomacy, open channels of communication and basic courtesy. So what would Reagan and Thatcher have done now? I suspect that a secret personal message would have gone to Putin proposing a way forward that saved his face, while also saving Ukraine as a free but neutral country — while making it absolutely clear that Nato will defend its members with the full resources of a formidable nuclear alliance.

We are Israel. By G. Murphy Donovan
http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/we_are_israel.html
Excerpt: Hamas may have done a lot more than shoot itself in the foot this time.Hamas, Fatah, and global Islamism may still have friends in the Media, New York, Brussels, and Washington, but allies that count, local coreligionists, now including the most populous nation in Arabia, appear to be fed up with the idea of “Palestine.” Ins’allah! The West has been on the wrong side of history since New York was attacked by a Saudi/Arab terror team.

Disproportionate Denunciation: Israel Under Attack in the Court of Public Opinion.
http://www.inquisitr.com/1406933/disproportionate-denunciations-israel-under-attack-in-the-court-of-public-opinion-commentary/
Excerpt: Some of the same media outlets that rushed to portray Israel as using disproportionate force have belatedly acknowledged that fighting-age men are vastly overrepresented among Gaza’s dead, strengthening Israel’s claims all along that it has done its best to target combatants and avoid civilians. Israel’s restraint is all the more remarkable given the genocidal intent of its enemy, as clearly stated in the preamble to Hamas’ covenant and demonstrated by its genocidal missile attacks on Israel’s nuclear reactor.

UK won't sell weapons to Israel, will sell to Gaddaffi, Iran and Pakistan. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/uk-wont-sell-weapons-to-israel-will-sell-weapons-to-gaddafi-iran-and-pakistan/
Excerpt: But maybe Israel will just be able to get them secondhand from some of the UK arms industry’s clients. A group that includes China, Zimbabwe, Iran and Sudan. Sudan has committed actual genocide. Is there anyone the UK won’t sell weapons to besides Israel? It sold weapons to Gaddafi.

The Global Pogram. By Benjamin Kerstein
http://www.thetower.org/article/the-global-pogrom/
Excerpt: On July 13, 2014, as the war between Israel and Hamas intensified, an ostensibly pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris quickly devolved into the pogrom that, perhaps, it was always meant to be. A mob of thugs descended upon the Synagogue de la Roquette, trapped the congregation inside, and tried to break in while brandishing deadly weapons. One of those trapped was a woman who, perhaps for fear of reprisal, asked to be identified only as Aurélie A. Her testimony, translated in Tablet, describes a horrific scene.

European Protests Are Not So Much Anti-Israel As Anti-Jew: Gaza: Hipocracy Exposed. By Joseph Puder
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/joseph-puder/gaza-hypocrisy-exposed/
Excerpt: Pro-Palestinian protesters in Berlin shouted just a few weeks ago in the old capital of Nazi Germany, “Jew, Jew, cowardly swine, come out and fight on your own!” The New York Times reported on July 21, 2014, “several hundred protesters sought to storm two synagogues in the French capital during an anti-Israel demonstration in which protesters chanted, “Death to Jews!” and “Hitler was right.” Deidre Berger, the American Jewish Committee Berlin office director declared: “We are concerned that there are no more taboos against open expressions of anti-Semitism at anti-Israel protests.”

UK: New VIDEO Shows Muslims Chanting, "Heil Hitler," "Oh Jew You Will Die."
http://weaselzippers.us/196208-uk-new-video-shows-muslims-chanting-heil-hitler-oh-jew-you-will-die-during-anti-israel-protest/
Excerpt: A previously unreported video filmed last month in heart of London and posted to YouTube illustrates the anti-Semitic rage enveloping Europe since the start of the latest Gaza war.

Britain : If hostilities break out in Gaza again, we're cutting Israel off. By Noah Rothman
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/12/britain-if-hostilities-break-out-in-gaza-again-were-cutting-israel-off/
Excerpt: None of this matters much, however, when your position is not logical but guided by emotion and reflex. And the reflex in Europe, it seems, is to lurch toward the abhorrent anti-Semitism which characterized the mid-20th Century. If there was ever a sound argument against the necessity of a free and viable Jewish state, Europe is refuting it on a daily basis. (an incentive for Hamas to attack. ~Bob)

Thanks to Obama, Iran's Economy is Booming. By Majid Rafizadeh
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/majid-rafizadeh/thanks-to-obama-irans-economy-is-booming/
Excerpt: According to the latest statistics, Iran’s economy is being stabilized, with oil exports increasing by approximately 30 percent. This economic recovery has emboldened and empowered the ruling clerics in the Islamic republic who are fighting several proxy wars in the Middle East by funding and arming Hamas and sending troops to Iraq to ensure the power of the Shiite coalition of Prime Minister Nori Al Maleki and by supporting the Assad regime financially, politically, militarily, and through intelligence. This is mainly due to the Obama administration’s push to strike any kind of flimsy nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic to avoid taking serious actions. It is also due to President Obama’s efforts to remove economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Hamas Killed Its Own Diggers to Keep Tunnels Secret. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/hamas-killed-its-own-diggers-to-keep-tunnels-secret/
Excerpt: "The mass execution is said to have taken place after attempts from Hamas to make sure that the excavators knew nothing of the locations in which they were digging. “They would take the diggers, about a hundred men, in vans with blindfolds so that they wouldn’t know the location of the tunnels and at the end of the day would blindfold them again and return them to their homes.”

Israelis don't care that we hate them, but they'd like to know why. By Brendon O'Neill
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9157741/israelis-dont-care-that-we-hate-them-but-theyd-like-to-know-why/
Excerpt: Last year, a BBC World Service global survey found that Israel was the fourth most ‘negatively viewed’ nation in the world, after Iran, Pakistan and North Korea. In only one western country — America — did a majority express favourable views of Israel, and even there it was only 51 per cent; so much for the US being in the back pocket of some creepy Israel lobby. Out of EU nations, Britain was found to have the most unfavourable view: 72 per cent of Brits surveyed felt negatively about Israel, more than in that hotbed of populist anti-Zionism, France (63 per cent), and way more than in the country in which so much of the Holocaust was carried out, Poland (44 per cent).

VIDEO: Robin Williams wished Israel a happy 60th birthday. By Debbie Schlussel
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/73970/robin-williams-wished-israel-a-happy-60th-birthday-video/
Excerpt: You may have seen the late Robin Williams’ name on lists of pro-Israel celebrities that have been published in the last several years and especially during the current Israeli defensive war against HAMAS. He’s on those lists because, in 2008, Williams appeared in a video with other celebs (including Tom Cruise, the great Jon Voight, Elle and Dakota Fanning, etc.) to wish Israel a Happy 60th Birthday. The video, below, was played on billboards in Times Square on Israel’s 60th Birthday in May 2008.

Obama Lifts Ban on Libyans Attending U.S. Flight Schools, Training In Nuke Science

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-lifts-ban-on-libyans-attending-u-s-flight-schools-training-in-nuke-science/

Excerpt: The Obama administration has lifted longtime restrictions on Libyans attending flight schools in the United States and training here in nuclear science, according to a final amendment of the ban recently approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

President Obama’s Ramadan Speech

 http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/president-obamas-ramadan-speech?f=must_reads

Excerpt: On the first day of Ramadan, June 28th, President Obama delivered an address for the Muslim faithful in the United States. In this address he expressed sympathy for Gazans, especially those who have had Ramadan celebrations foiled by Israeli missiles.

Most significantly, President Obama equated Islamic principles of Ramadan with American values: "I...know that Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection...reciting and listening to the entire Koran over the course of the month. These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam's role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings." But is this true or even remotely true?

'Freedom X' Takes on CAIR. By Arnold Ahlert
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/arnold-ahlert/freedom-x-takes-on-cair/
Excerpt: A lawsuit has been filed in Tennessee by Freedom X, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in First Amendment issues. ACT! for America Knoxville vs. Knox County Schools alleges that Knox County School officials and Superintendent Jim McIntyre canceled an April after-hours presentation at Farragut High School that was to center around Sharia Law and its increasing acceptance in the United States due to complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “Public officials, and that includes public school officials, violate the free speech clause of the First Amendment whenever they censor speech merely because it offends someone,” said William J. Becker, Jr., Freedom X’s president and general counsel. “Unfortunately, we are seeing this trend grow as Muslim activists play the victim card.”