Update
For new readers, I had a lung transplant on
December 23, which developed complications in March. Feel free to skip these
updates if they--understandably--bore you and go right to the news, below. FYI,
FEV is Forced expiratory volume, litters of air you can blow in 1 second. I
record my three highest numbers morning, and Night, then average them.
On Saturday, my FEV numbers averaged 1.53, the highest since
April. Sunday morning they tanked--49 points below Saturday morning in three
tries. But they came back up Sunday night, in fact above the morning. Evening
numbers are usually 15-30 points lower than the morning, after a night on the
BiPAP. Monday morning they were up 47 points over Sunday, and the evening was
also up, so the average was 1.55, higher than Saturday. I Suspect Sunday
morning I had mucus blocking a bronch tube or two that cleared out later.
In Rehab Monday, I was able to increase my speed on the
treadmill from 2 mph to 2.2 mph for the 20 minutes, and from 1 mph to 1.5 mph
for the two minute cool down. Stayed at 94% to 95% O2 saturation at 1 lpm. At
97% on the other three exercises. So all good. Thanks for all the prayers and
encouragement.
After rehab I baked Blueberry Crumble and Blueberry Scones,
using healthy ingredients. (Recipes on request). So I didn't get to all the
hundreds of emails. Sorry. ~Bob
General News and Comment
Worth Reading America
If you hit a pay wall, Googl the title. ~Bob Excerpt: The
talk turned to how some prospective presidential candidates seem to be running
to lead two different countries. Rick Perry, say, and
Elizabeth Warren experience, see, reflect and approach two very different
realities. The conversation then took a surprising turn. My acquaintance said
it's possible the U.S.
in our lifetimes will simply break up, tear apart. This might not be so
terrible, he said, it would probably work out fine. He spoke not with an air of
alarm but philosophically and almost cheerfully, which took me aback. (I think
we are likely to tear apart, but in many large and small pieces, complete with
gang rule and warlords. When the colapse comes, it will cascade rapidly after
the tipping point. First will come fiscal collapse, followed by riots and
socail and political collapse. See my book: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of this 80-page
book you can read on your computer, write me at: tartanmarine(at)gmail.com.
~Bob)
Unbelievable: Blogger fired from language school over
‘homophonia.’ By Paul Rolly
Homophones, as any English grammarian can tell you, are
words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different
spellings — such as be and bee, through and threw, which and witch, their and
there. This concept is taught early on to foreign students learning English
because it can be confusing to someone whose native language does not have that
feature. But when the social-media specialist for a private Provo-based English
language learning center wrote a blog explaining homophones, he was let go for
creating the perception that the school promoted a gay agenda. ... "Now our school is going to be
associated with homosexuality," Woodger complained, according to
Torkildson, who posted the exchange on his Facebook page.
Worth Reading
http://www.steynonline.com/6499/darkness-falls
Excerpt: Edward Grey was Britain's longest-serving Foreign Secretary, although, in contrast to Hillary Airmiles Clinton he had a modest appetite for foreigners: For his first eight years in the job, he never set foot abroad, and then only did so because he was obliged to accompany King George V on a State Visit to Paris in 1914. He served a prime minister, Asquith who, not unlike a certain US president today, had little interest in foreign affairs and was unengaged by distant events in faraway places until late July of 1914 - by which time it was too late, and the great unraveling of world order had begun.
http://www.steynonline.com/6499/darkness-falls
Excerpt: Edward Grey was Britain's longest-serving Foreign Secretary, although, in contrast to Hillary Airmiles Clinton he had a modest appetite for foreigners: For his first eight years in the job, he never set foot abroad, and then only did so because he was obliged to accompany King George V on a State Visit to Paris in 1914. He served a prime minister, Asquith who, not unlike a certain US president today, had little interest in foreign affairs and was unengaged by distant events in faraway places until late July of 1914 - by which time it was too late, and the great unraveling of world order had begun.
Excerpt: Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin had quite a good day
on July 31 when the state supreme court upheld not only Wisconsin’s voter
ID law, but also the 2011 budget legislation that severely curtailed the power
of public unions to control the lives and salaries of state and municipal
government employees.
Man, 71, alleges
self-defense in New Haven
Excerpt: New Haven
Police are investigating a shooting Sunday morning that left a 23-year-old male
in critical condition after a 71-year-old male claimed he was attacked.
The 71-year-old, Anthony Anamasi, called 911 claiming he
shot Leroy Brown, who tried to attack him with a knife and was awaiting for the
arrival of police, spokesman Officer David Hartman said in a release. (Badder
than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog...and now shot in the head.
--George)
As Democrats avoid Obama, Romney is in demand on the
midterm campaign trail. By Robert Costa and Philip Rucker
Excerpt: President Obama thumped Mitt Romney in the 2012
election, but now their political standings seem reversed. During a summer in
which Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from an unpopular
president, Romney is emerging as one of the Republican Party’s most in-demand
campaign surrogates.
Trustworthiness
and the Commandant. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt:
During the past couple of years Marines I know, coast to coast and in
exotic and not-so-exotic lands abroad, have confided they do not trust the
commandant. Imagine. It's unthinkable really. But it's reality. A sad reality
to ponder much less be obligated to address. Yesterday afternoon arrived an
email that included the following commentary attributed to a once U. S. Marine
Corps judge advocate who is now an accomplished attorney. "Just to sum
this up...
Bored Government
Workers Spend Their Days Watching Porn. By Kevin Glass
Excerpt: This takes "wasting taxpayer dollars" to
a whole new level. Government workers at a variety of different agencies have
been found to have spent their days watching porn, and a new Washington Times
investigation found that their explanation was because they were bored.
President Obama
promised a ‘year of action’ in 2014. Has he delivered? [VIDEO] By Julie Percha
Excerpt: It’s been six months since
the State of the Union address, when President Obama took to the
House rostrum and declared if Congress doesn't act, he would -- making 2014 a “year of
action.” But now, as he stares down a potentially rocky midterm
election for his party -- not to mention a Congress that’s gridlocked at near-historic low
approval ratings -- the past half-year has meant anything
but action on some of the president’s key goals.
Excerpt: Those wonderful folks who assemble your Big Mac are
out in force again. They are now equating that $15.00 dollar per hour minimum
wage with the civil rights movement of the 60's. Oh, they are an oppressed
bunch, these societal losers who thought actually getting an education was
silly! They feel shackled by the current minimum wage which varies from $7.25
to $12.00 an hour depending on who's running their state house. They work and
they toil for slave wages behind an air conditioned counter and forced to take
jobs that educated Americans worked for a time but have actually gone on to
adult occupations and don't need anymore.
Senator Says He Had
PTSD When He Wrote Thesis
Excerpt: Sen. John Walsh of Montana said Wednesday his
failure to attribute conclusions and verbatim passages lifted from other
scholars' work in his thesis to earn a master's degree from the U.S. Army War
College was an unintentional mistake caused in part by post-traumatic stress
disorder. (Most politicians when caught discover they have an alcohol o r drug
problem. Or sometimes sex addiction. But if you are a vet, you can discover you
have PTSD to excuse your behavior. ~Bob)
Even the American left is finally realizing that this is the
strangest administration in living memory. Obama simply has no real precedents,
which is why he seems so utterly foreign. American presidents tend to be
pragmatists, but Obama is locked into a simpleminded ideology of Good vs. Evil.
Obama's Greatest
Flaw: America
Excerpt: I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, but I’m
intrigued by their work, especially when it accurately explains why people do
what they do – or can’t do what they would like or are expected to do. Case in
point, President Barack Obama.
http://townhall.com/columnists/starparker/2014/08/04/texas-shows-the-way-on-abortion-n1873624
Excerpt: According to a new report by the University of Texas’ Texas Policy Evaluation Project, following these new regulations 19 of 41 abortion clinics operating in Texas have closed and abortions have declined 13 percent.
WaPo: Romney 2016
idea gaining steam among his supporters.
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/04/wapo-romney-2016-idea-gaining-steam-among-his-supporters/Excerpt:
Excerpt: Pay attention to the timeline. Asked whether he and other Republican officials are coalescing around Romney as a 2016 favorite, [Wyoming Gov. Matt] Mead said: “There is a movement afoot. . . . I’d tell him, ‘Governor Romney, people here inWyoming
and around the country would encourage you to take another look at it.’ ”…
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/04/wapo-romney-2016-idea-gaining-steam-among-his-supporters/Excerpt:
Excerpt: Pay attention to the timeline. Asked whether he and other Republican officials are coalescing around Romney as a 2016 favorite, [Wyoming Gov. Matt] Mead said: “There is a movement afoot. . . . I’d tell him, ‘Governor Romney, people here in
Fluke Can't Afford
Birth Control but able to Furnish $116,287 to Own Campaign
http://godfatherpolitics.com/16517/fluke-cant-afford-birth-control-able-furnish-116287-campaign/
http://godfatherpolitics.com/16517/fluke-cant-afford-birth-control-able-furnish-116287-campaign/
Excerpt: In February 2012, a Georgetown law student testified before Rep.
Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Sandra
Fluke spoke about the contraception mandate and women’s health. She
pleaded for the new mandate because of student’s suffering from lack of
contraceptive coverage and how they suffer financially, medically and
emotionally. Fluke told the committee that as a student, she couldn’t afford to
pay for contraception so she can peruse a sinful lifestyle of sex before
marriage. (She will say, 'It's not the money, it's the principle." Trust
me, when people say that, it's always the money. ~Bob)
Three Cheers for Ryan's Plan. By John C. Goodman
Excerpt: Representative Paul Ryan has a bold, ambitious
proposal “Expanding Opportunity in America ,” to completely remake the
American welfare state. Along the way he would also change the federal
government’s approach to education, revamp what we are doing in our prison
system and much more. Here is a surprise. Although Ryan’s approach is based on
well-known conservative ideas, some on the left are actually praising parts of
the proposal – including the editorial page of the Washington Post. Ryan’s plan
shows something I have believed for a long time. All the innovative thinking on
how to solve public policy problems for the past 25 years has come from the
right.
FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:
Ben Shapiro. How To Debate Leftists and Destroy Them - Truth Revolt
www.truthrevolt.org/.../ebook_pdf/how_to_debate_leftists_and_destroy_th...
Excerpt: 1. How To Destroy Leftists In Debate. By Ben Shapiro. How The Left Wins Arguments. All that matters is victory. That's a message that seems to have been lost.
www.truthrevolt.org/.../ebook_pdf/how_to_debate_leftists_and_destroy_th...
Excerpt: 1. How To Destroy Leftists In Debate. By Ben Shapiro. How The Left Wins Arguments. All that matters is victory. That's a message that seems to have been lost.
Imteresting: Groups: US
Political Effort In Cuba
Excerpt: A U.S.
program in Cuba
that secretly used an HIV-prevention workshop for political activism was assailed
Monday by international public health officials and members of Congress who
declared that such clandestine efforts put health programs at risk around the
world.
Beginning in late 2009, the U.S. Agency for International
Development deployed nearly a dozen young people from Latin America to Cuba to recruit
political activists, an Associated Press investigation found. The operation put
the foreigners in danger not long after a U.S. contractor was hauled away to
a Cuban jail. 9If this was in 2007, headline would say, "Bush political
effort in Cuba ...)
PHOTOS: Flanders Fields in Pictures: The 100-year-old trenches.
Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11010673/WWI-centenary-The-100-year-old-trenches-of-Flanders-Fields-in-pictures.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/11010673/WWI-centenary-The-100-year-old-trenches-of-Flanders-Fields-in-pictures.html
Excerpt: The currency of West Africa ’s
second-largest economy has plunged 36 percent against the dollar this year as
investors lost faith in the government’s ability to curb spending and rein in a
current-account deficit that’s set to exceed 10 percent of gross domestic
product this year. Since having most of its debt cleared in 2005 as part of a global
relief campaign for poor nations, Ghana has racked up borrowing,
while failing to keep government spending under control.(This is what debt and
unlimited spending eventually do. Yet a liberal Obama-supporter told me she
didn't worry about the debt because, "The government can always print more
money." When I sent her an article about debt in the past, below, she
responded, "I don't do economics--it makes my eyes glaze over." ~Bob.
The West and the Tyranny of Public Debt
Ukrainian army closes
in on Donetsk as rebel fighters call on Russia
Excerpt: Fighting has raged on the western outskirts of Donetsk as the advancing
Ukrainian army tried to seize control of the rebel stronghold. The separatists,
who are in danger of being encircled, have renewed their calls for Russia to send troops
to their aid.
A Recovery in Need of
a Recovery: Why Is the Economy Still Weak? Blame These Five Sectors. By Neil Irwin
The economy keeps underperforming. Yes, new G.D.P. data last
week werebetter
than expected. But the United States is still producing around $800 billion
a year less in goods and services than it would if the economy were at full
health, and as a result millions of people aren’t working who would be if
conditions were better.
A documentary about
the Montagnards
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the war in Viet Nam and Laos . They have been the object of
genocide in Laos ,
and only a small fraction of their population survives. In Viet Nam they are a discriminated against
minority, whose traditional way of life has been very heavily discouraged, and
their religion, a form of Christianity, has been proscribed by Hanoi . Numerous local
leaders have been harassed heavily, some have gone into jails and never been
seen again, others have just died while in custody. Reporters are never allowed
access into their areas, but Hanoi
maintains this filthy lie that there is religious freedom in the country. --Del
Excerpt: Shortly before the market crash in 2008, when oil
prices were at all-time highs, Harry Reid, Democrat Senate Majority Leader,
sold his investments in the energy industry-- according to his public filings--
and bought the healthcare industry instead. ... And now you know, in a
thumbnail sketch, how Harry Reid became a millionaire through public
service. ... Obama, Pelosi and Reid certainly know how to take care of
themselves. I predict Obama will become the first former president to be worth
a billion dollars.
The grifting wing v.
the governing wing : While the Tea Party is busy lining their pockets, the
rest of the Republicans are actually trying to get things done. By: Steve
LaTourette
Excerpt: And the most important battle being waged today
isn’t the one about which party controls the House or the Senate, it’s about
who controls the Republican Party: the grifting wing or the governing wing. ...
Political grifting is a lucrative business. Groups like the Club for Growth,
FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Patriots are run by men and women who have made
millions by playing on the fears and anger about the dysfunction in Washington . My former
House colleague Chris Chocola is pocketing a half-million dollars a year
heading the Club for Growth; same for Matt Kibbe heading up FreedomWorks (and I
don’t think Kibbe’s salary includes the infamous craft beer bar that
FreedomWorks donors ended up paying for). The Tea Party Patriots pay their
head, Jenny Beth Martin, almost as much. ... Steve LaTourette is a former
member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Ohio ’s 14th district who now heads the Main
Street Partnership.
Obama’s Own Stimulus Predictions Show We’d Have Been Better Off Without It. By Ben Howe
Obama’s Own Stimulus Predictions Show We’d Have Been Better Off Without It. By Ben Howe
Excerpt: This was, in part, a way of using the bully pulpit
to remind Americans how awesome the Recovery Act (Stimulus) was and that it is
the reason for all of our wonderful employment which sits at 6.2%.
This number ignores that there are 3.6
million fewer full-time jobs than there were in 2007 as well as the
millions of workforce dropouts that have simply given up. ... n fact,
according to the experts that crafted the monstrosity, we would’ve done better
had we not had a stimulus bill in 2009 at all.
The Home Front. By Mark Steyn
The Home Front. By Mark Steyn
Excerpt:.....Around the world, American power is a joke - in
Moscow; in Beijing; in Teheran, where US taxpayers pay billions of dollars a
month for Iran to participate in the charade of "negotiations" while
getting on with their nuclear program; in Fallujah and Ramadi, where
head-hacking jihadists now ride around in US vehicles brandishing US weapons;
in Tripoli, where "leading from behind" has effortlessly advanced
into evacuating from behind... Across the planet, American power is a joke.
Instead, like Singapore ,
the firepower's pointing the wrong way - on the domestic front, at US citizens.
British Army Now Has Fewer Tanks Than Horses Thanks To Military Cuts
Excerpt: Britain will
have just one tank regiment from today, meaning that it will have more horses
than tanks, and will only be able to field around tanks in a war.
The Times reports that thousands will gather in Wiltshire today
to mark the merger of Britain ’s
two remaining tank regiments amid concerns that the move could be misguided as
tensions with Russia increase.
After a decade fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan with
just light infantry, heavy armour became seen as outdated.
LA Times Critical Of
Michelle Obama. No, really.
Except: Unfortunately for Michelle, this seemingly innocent
initiative is not above scrutiny. She claims that by drinking more water people
will have more energy and it will even cure headaches. .... If you are not
dehydrated, the only thing drinking more water will do for you is add an extra
trip to the bathroom.
Excerpt: On July 31, the National Defense Panel released its
long-awaited report on the effects of the QDR and delivered its findings to
Congress. The panel pulled no punches — its findings were a scathing indictment
of Obama’s foreign policy, national security policy, and defense policy. The
panel found that president Barack Obama’s QDR, military force reductions, and
trillion-dollar defense budget cuts are dangerous — and will leave the country
in a position where it is unable to respond to threats to our nation’s
security.
Obama Bails Out Big
Pharma – In Kenya
Excerpt: The administration excused Kenya from completing a nationwide
pharmaceutical network for which the U.S. had already devoted more
than a half-billion dollars to create. Kenya proved unprepared to
assume control of this drug supply-chain system by July 5, a transition date
the two nations agreed upon five years ago. The U.S. Agency for International
Development, or USAID, therefore, awarded Chemonics International, the
project’s contractor, a no-bid, sole-source $224-million contract for another
15 months of work. (Command economies do not work. This kind of cherrypicking
favorites, throwing good money after obviously bad, flies in the face of the
traditional capitalist system where those/programs who work are rewarded,
versus those who fail. Government is ripe with graft, corruption and inability
to hire auditors or accountants that use figures/budget versus political bias
to make decisions. This is the kind of stuff that led to the implosion of
the USSR .
They had to introduce certain capitalistic practices despite themselves.
--Barb)
Ebola News
The following pieces were
submitted by Barb, a blog reader and frequent contributor. Read them
critically, consider the sources and make up your own mind. It's hard to sort
the alarmist from the factual on this....as on many things. ~Bob
Excerpt: ....Because
the US knows this airborne strain is a respiratory virus (the one that will
develop into the actual Pandemic), they needed to make some last minute
adjustments to their emergency pandemic protocols, which were just refined on
July 31, 2014 by Barack Obama to suite the needed definition in preparation for
a WHO Pandemic Level 6 Declaration (down the line).... This bioengineered
“respiratory” variation of the Ebola-Zaires virus was then purposely released
in January 2014 through the Takmira TKM-Ebola human trials at the Kenema
Government Hospital Lassa Diagnostic Laboratory (Soros / Gates Foundation) in
Sierra Leone, using select test subjects as hosts (that are immune to the
disease they then carry/spread).... Tekmira
doses first subject in human clinical trial of TKM-Ebola Tekmira
Pharmaceuticals Corporation has dosed the first subject in a Phase 1 human
clinical trial of TKM-Ebola, an anti-Ebola viral therapeutic that is being
developed under a US$140 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
[biotechnologyfocus.ca] Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjYFZC3FB2g
(Needs independent confirmation. ~Bob)
This Ebola Different?
Excerpt: I heard a doctor (Dr. Elaina George) on the Bill
Cunningham show last night. She said this Ebola isn’t acting like Ebola has in
the past. She also commented that she’s not sure it isn’t spread via air (i.e.
without direct contact), especially with the way it seems to be spreading and
‘acting’ with the current outbreak. She mentioned the pigs-to-macaque monkey
study which did seem to show ZEBOV (Ebola Zaire Free Republic America , 9 are Federal), and the
highest Biological Weapons Potential."
From Pigs to Monkeys,
Ebola Goes Airborne
Excerpt: When news broke that the Ebola virus had resurfaced
in Uganda ,
investigators in Canada were
making headlines of their own with research indicating the deadly virus may spread
between species, through the air. The team, comprised of researchers from the
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, the University of Manitoba Zaire strain
of the Ebola virus.
Why Experts Were Surprised
That Ebola-Infected Doctor Could Walk Into A Hospital
Excerpt: The
fact that an Ebola-infected American was able to walk into a Georgia hospital Saturday after his return to the United States surprised even medical experts
familiar with the ravages of the deadly disease. ...Schaffner said the fact that
Brantly appeared to be well enough to walk, indicates that at least for the
moment his heart rate, respiratory rate and other vital signs were not
critical...."If he really does get better, we want to know his
secret," Morse said.
Illegals
Bring Risk Of Ebola. Exclusive: Dr.
Elizabeth Lee Viet warns of 'global array of viral illnesses'
Excerpt:
If risk is
so low for the U.S. , why is the CDC quietly setting up Ebola
Quarantine Centers in 20 cities
across the U.S.
New
York City
Excerpt: Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City is testing a patient who
recently traveled to a West African country affected by the Ebola outbreak, the
hospital said in a statement Monday afternoon. The male patient
arrived at the emergency room Monday morning with a high fever and
gastrointestinal symptoms. ... CDC officials told Fox News correspondent
John Roberts that there have been “a half dozen or so” so-called “Persons Under
Investigation” in the U.S. for
possible Ebola infection and that they have all turned out to be negative.
Excerpt: The precautions don’t include screening air
passengers from affected countries. ”It is important to note that Ebola is not
contagious until symptoms appear, and that transmission is through direct
contact of bodily fluids of an infected, symptomatic person or exposure to
objects like needles that have been contaminated with infected secretions,” the
CDC said. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told CNN that the outbreak
is “coming close to being a catastrophe.”(CDC, Tell that to the monkeys who
caught it from the pigs......Since when do we believe the paternalistic state
regime? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.....Barb)
US to Begin Testing
Ebola Vaccine
Excerpt: The U.S. government will begin
testing on people an experimental Ebola vaccine as early as September, after
seeing positive results from tests on primates, according to media reports on
Thursday. The National Institutes of Health's infectious disease unit is
working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to put the vaccine into
trial as quickly as possible, according to CNN and USA Today.
If Nuclear War
Doesn’t Exterminate Us The Ebola Virus Might, Obama’s White House Press Conference
Excerpt: Allegedly the ebola carriers will be quarantined in
special rooms. But we already know that American hospitals cannot even contain
staph infections. What happens to the utensils, plates, cups, and glasses with
which the ebola infected persons eat and drink? (And there are those containers
for other bodily fluids....Barb)
Executive Order 13295
Detain Or Quarantine Americans Who Have a Bad Cough! http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/08/red-alert-serious-executive-order-13295-detain-or-quarantine-americans-who-have-a-bad-cough-wth-video-alarms-ringing-dangerous-executive-orders-3004346.html
Excerpt: The amendment signed by Obama replaces subsection
(b) of the original Bush executive order which referred only to SARS. Obama’s
amendment allows for the detention of Americans who display, “Severe acute
respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and
signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of
being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have
the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to
cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled.” Although
Ebola was listed on the original executive order signed by Bush, Obama’s
amendment ensures that Americans who merely show signs of respiratory illness,
with the exception of influenza, can be forcibly detained by medical
authorities.
Obamacare News
Barney Frank:
President Obama Lied About Obamacare. By Sandy Fitzgerald
Excerpt: Former House Financial Services Committee Chairman
Barney Frank says President Barack Obama lied to Americans about being able to
keep their healthcare coverage, and he was "appalled" by the
president's inaction during the botched Obamacare rollout. "Frankly, he
should never have said as much as he did, that if you like your current
healthcare plan, you can keep it," Frank, a retired Democrat congressman
from Massachusetts, told The Huffington Post. "That wasn't true. And you
shouldn't lie to people. And they just lied to people." (Barney Frank has
been a super supporter of Obama and lots of socialist ideas and dedicated to
the Democrat Party, but apparently he has a streak of commonsense honesty stuck
in his head somewhere. Which caused him to tell the unvarnished truth about Mr.
Obama's "misspeaking" in the campaign to get ObamaCare passed. Yes,
it was a LIE, one that was repeated many times, frankly, clearly, staring into
the cameras. But told "for your own good" in the simplest defense of
it. That's what America has always needed, smart, elite leaders who know what's
really good for us even when none of us knows it, and who are brave enough,
dedicated enough, to lie to us, flat-out, for our own good. I know, it's just
me... I can't swallow that line. And I reject, totally, passionately, the idea
that it's OK for my President to tell deliberate lies to me because he thinks
his ideas are so good that it's justified. --Del )
Worth Reading
Excerpt: The latest example of government's Mouseketeers
Club mentality comes at the shaky Massachusetts Health Connector. Recently, MHC
executive director Jean Yang doled out raises of $10,000 or more to 11 of the
agency's 53 workers. ... This action comes after the embarrassing debacle
associated with the state's rollout of its Obamacare website, which has cost
taypayers nearly $1 million in computer fixes and lawsuits and still isn't
resolved. (The Fitchburg Sentinel [which
absorbed the Leominster Enterprise]
was probably the most important paper in my senate district. Always gave me
pretty fair coverage. ~Bob)
The Trans-Atlantic Version of Great Moments in
Government-Run Healthcare. By Daniel J. Mitchell
Excerpt: When government suppresses the free market and
takes over the healthcare sector, you get some really odd results. Consider
these stories from Sweden :
A man sewing
up his own leg after getting frustrated with a long wait. The
government denying
a wheelchair to a double amputee because the bureaucrats decided his
impairment might not be permanent.
Voters Still Fear The
Worst Under New Health Care Law
Excerpt: Voters continue to give the U.S. health
care system low marks but also remain convinced that Obamacare will only make
things worse. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that
just 34% of Likely U.S. Voters rate the nation’s health care system as good or
excellent. Nearly as many (29%) give it poor marks, although that’s down from
35% in June, the highest negative in regular tracking since November 2012.
Newly Insured, Many
Now Face Learning Curve
Excerpt: Advocates of the Affordable Care Act, focused until
now on persuading people to buy health insurance, have moved to a crucial new
phase: making sure the eight million Americans who did
so understand their often complicated policies and use them properly.
The political stakes are high, as support for the health
care law will hinge at least partly on whether people have good experiences with
their new coverage.
Survey: 1 In 5
Uninsured Don't Want Coverage. By Phil Galewitz , Kaiser Health News
Excerpt: Though millions of people gained health coverage
this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act, millions more remain unaware
of their options or have no interest in getting insured, a new survey has found.
Excerpt: Aetna has picked
up 600,000 customers thanks to the Affordable Care Act. But is the company any
more profitable? CEO and Chairman Mark Bertolini couldn’t say for sure. ...
Bertolini said the initial Obamacare enrollment numbers were worse than
expected but younger enrollees increased in April in May, when Aetna picked up two-thirds of its customer growth through
Obamacare.
Employer Health
Insurance: A Bargain Compared to Government-Sponsored Coverage. By Sally
Pipes
Excerpt: After years of slowing growth, employer health
costs are forecast to climb at a faster pace next year, according to
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Even with that projected growth, employers are spending
much less per person than is the government — about 60 percent less, concludes
a new study from the American Health Policy Institute.
Undocumented Democrat News
Nancy Pelosi Loses
It: Has Meltdown on Floor as House
Republicans Pass
Excerpt: But bigger news was made by what the former Speaker
Nancy Pelosi did on the floor before the vote, throwing an undignified
tantrum right on the floor before shocked colleagues to attack a Republican who
pointed out her own dismal record on immigration. (Nancy Pelosi objects to
proposed interruption of flow of cheap labor to her vineyards. --TH)
Leaked report: Open
border attracting people from all over the world. By Thomas Lifson
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/leaked_report_open_border_attracting_people_from_all_over_the_world.html
Excerpt: It isn’t just adorable little tykes from Central America that are making long and perilous journeys to the United States, attracted by a border whose guards are busy changing diapers and offering care to those who already ignored our laws. People from almost every country on earth have been streaming into theUnited States ,
according to a leaked intelligence analysis from the Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) that was obtained by Breitbart Texas .
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/leaked_report_open_border_attracting_people_from_all_over_the_world.html
Excerpt: It isn’t just adorable little tykes from Central America that are making long and perilous journeys to the United States, attracted by a border whose guards are busy changing diapers and offering care to those who already ignored our laws. People from almost every country on earth have been streaming into the
Leaked CBP Report
Shows Entire World Exploiting Open US Border
Excerpt....It shows that most of the human smuggling from
Syria and Albania into the U.S. comes through Central America....In addition to
the individuals from terror-prone nations who attempted to illegally enter the
U.S., individuals from nations currently suffering from the world’s
largest Ebola outbreak have been caught attempting to sneak across the
porous U.S. border into the interior of the United States. At least 71
individuals from the three nations affected by the current Ebola outbreak have
either turned themselves in or been caught attempting to illegally enter the
U.S. by U.S. authorities between January 2014 and July 2014.
Illegal-Alien No-Shows: By the time ICE files court
cases, the unaccompanied minors have settled elsewhere.
Excerpt: The Department of Justice has begun ushering unaccompanied alien children to the front of
the line for immigration court proceedings — but the children still fail to
appear in court. In one day at a Los
Angeles immigration court last week, Judge Ashley
Tabaddor heard the cases of nearly 40 illegal immigrant minors, but none of the
children appeared in court, according to the Los Angeles Times. In each case,
the illegal immigrant minor was thought to have settled elsewhere, and the
judge reportedly decided not to deport the children in absentia.
Religion of Peace News.
Worth Reading
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/greenberg080414.php3#.U-AijvldW8M
Excerpt: The innocent American could only read the headlines
and shake his head sorrowfully at the continuing carnage in Gaza -- a pillar of
fire by night and a cloud of smoke by day. How did this happen again?
Simple: Hamas renewed its indiscriminate attacks on Israel through overhead rockets,
underground tunnels, words and deeds -- and Israel finally responded in
force. Not just the innocent but the sophisticated observer has to wonder: Why?
What's the sense of it? There seems none from the rational -- that is, the
conventionally Western -- point of view. Which may explain why
generations of Western diplomats, denizens of think tanks, and Deep Thinkers in
general, have failed to make sense of this ever-renewed conflict, let alone end
it. ... Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer prize-winning editorial page editor of
the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Excerpt: "Peace [be] upon my dear brothers, the
political leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and all resistance groups,"
said Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, the Commander of Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps' Qods Force (IRGC-QF,) in a
recent letter about the Gaza conflict. As expected, the war
between Hamas and Israel has
provided great ideological fodder for Iran . And it is no surprise that Iran 's
revolutionary leadership, best characterized by Ayatollah Khamenei,
has been vocal on the issue.
Hamas Snatches Disaster from the Jaws of Victory. By John Cassidy
Excerpt: Except it didn’t happen. By launching a Friday morning attack in the border city of Rafah , which ended with
two Israeli soldiers killed and one captured, Hamas’s fighters torpedoed the
seventy-two-hour truce and the negotiations that were meant to come with it.
Within hours, Israeli tanks, artillery, and aircraft were blasting Rafah and
the surrounding territory, killing another seventy Palestinians and
injuring more than three hundred and fifty, according to local officials.
Crying 'ceasefire' in
a crowded military theater: On walking with Kerry. By Rabbi Dov Fischer
Excerpt: The Government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has done well to avoid being cowed into a poorly conceived ceasefire
in the midst of its defensive struggle to stop Hamas from raining rockets and
terror indiscriminately on the people of Israel . It has been encouraging,
even inspiring, to read and hear the loud and
angry responses throughout Israel — condemnatory across the board,
from right to left — denouncing each of the respectively ludicrous ceasefire
proposals that have been floated by John Kerry, United States Secretary of
State, partly on his own and partly in consultation with two of the world's
most notorious generators of Israel-hate: Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and
the leadership of Qatar.
Attacks in Jerusalem spark fears that Gaza
(Also Islamic jihad
Leader Killed)
Excerpt: A pair of attacks along the line separating east
and west Jerusalem
set this bitterly contested city on edge Monday amid fears that the nearly
month-old war in the Gaza Strip will spawn violence far beyond the territory’s
boundaries. The assaults — one with a gun, the other with a backhoe — prompted
Israeli police armed with automatic weapons to set up makeshift checkpoints and
ambulance services to go on high alert, as city leaders appealed for calm. (And
buried in the story: Before the
cease-fire kicked in, an Israeli airstrike killed one of the most senior
militant commanders yet in the 28-day operation. The Palestinian Islamic
Jihad, a close ally of Hamas, said the leader of its northern flank, Daniel
Mansour, 44, died in astrike on his home just before dawn Monday. The incessant
Hamas attacks on Israel ,
through rockets and the tunnels, provoked the current violence. ~Bob)
Jon Voight Blasts
Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz For Fanning Flames of Anti-Semitism.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/08/03/jon-voight-blasts-actors-anti-semitismExcerpt:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/08/03/jon-voight-blasts-actors-anti-semitismExcerpt:
Excerpt: You have been able to become famous and have all
your monetary gains because you are in a democratic country: America . Do you think you would
have been able to accomplish this in Iran ,
Syria , Lebanon , et cetera? You had a great
responsibility to use your celebrity for good. Instead, you have defamed the
only democratic country of goodwill in the Middle East: Israel . You
should hang your heads in shame.
Excerpt: And the other 53% were human shields. The
“international allegations of a lopsidedly heavy civilian death toll” are jihad
propaganda, willingly and even eagerly disseminated by the mainstream media.
VIDEO: Pro-Hamas
Protesters Attack Marine in Front of White House. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/pro-hamas-protesters-attack-marine-in-front-of-white-house/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pro-hamas-protesters-attack-marine-in-front-of-white-house
Excerpt: He was punched, pulled, kicked, and even spat on.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/pro-hamas-protesters-attack-marine-in-front-of-white-house/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pro-hamas-protesters-attack-marine-in-front-of-white-house
Excerpt: He was punched, pulled, kicked, and even spat on.
Amazing: Finnish
reporter tells the truth about rockets fired from Gaza
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/amazing_finnish_reporter_tells_the_truth_on_rockets_fired_from_gaza_hospital_and_then_complains_when_proisrael_media_mention_it.html
Excerpt:Consider the case of Finnish television correspondent Aishi Zidan. William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection reports: We reported on the Finnish reporter who disclosed that there was rocket fire from just behindGaza ’s main hospital, Hamas hides in, under and around Gaza ’s main hospital, and
the media covers it up (Video):
http://americanthinker.com/blog/2014/08/amazing_finnish_reporter_tells_the_truth_on_rockets_fired_from_gaza_hospital_and_then_complains_when_proisrael_media_mention_it.html
Excerpt:Consider the case of Finnish television correspondent Aishi Zidan. William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection reports: We reported on the Finnish reporter who disclosed that there was rocket fire from just behind
To the Students for
Justice in Palestine
Excerpt: The student organization Students for Justice in
Palestine (SJP) is prominent on many college campuses, preaching a mantra of
“Freeing Palestine.” It masquerades as though it were a civil rights group when
it is not. Indeed, as an African-American, I am highly insulted that my
people’s legacy is being pilfered for such a repugnant agenda. It is thus high
time to expose its agenda and lay bare some of the fallacies they peddle. (This
lady really goes at it, line by line, in full detail. I think she is really
ticked! But she expresses herself very well. --Del )
Obama advisor John
Brennan speaks about the beauty of Islam
Pakistani newlyweds
decapitated by bride's family in honor killing. By Shelby Lin Erdman, CNN
Excerpt: A young newlywed couple in northeastern Pakistan died a horrible death at the hands of
the bride's family in the latest honor killing in the nation, police in Pakistan said
Saturday.
The couple, identified as Sajjad Ahmed, 26, and Muawia Bibi,
18, were married by a Pakistani court on June 18 against the wishes of the Bibi
family, Punjab police official Mohammad
Ahsanullah told CNN. (Well to be fair, according to JihadWatch.com, Muslims
don't committee all the honor killings of female relatives, just 91% of them.
This is part of the real War on Women ignored by multicultural progressives.
~Bob)
Excerpt: Thank president Bush, vice president Dick Cheney,
and president Obama for working together to create a how-to map of perfect
foreign policy stupidity.
Boko Haram Strapped
And Remotely Triggered Explosives On Unsuspecting Kidnapped Schoolgirls Which
Were Scoured From A Captured Chinese Factory
http://www.inquisitr.com/1387881/boko-haram-strapped-and-remotely-triggered-explosives-on-unsuspecting-kidnapped-schoolgirls-which-were-scoured-from-a-captured-chinese-factory/
http://www.inquisitr.com/1387881/boko-haram-strapped-and-remotely-triggered-explosives-on-unsuspecting-kidnapped-schoolgirls-which-were-scoured-from-a-captured-chinese-factory/
Excerpt: In what could only be deemed as one of the world’s
most heinous crimes, the Boko Haram militants have been strapping explosives
scoured from a Chinese factory onto little schoolgirls and exploding them via
remote controls.
Somali Islamists
shoot dead fifth lawmaker this year
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-02/265804-somali-islamists-shoot-dead-fifth-lawmaker-this-year.ashx#axzz39ExWebOM
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Aug-02/265804-somali-islamists-shoot-dead-fifth-lawmaker-this-year.ashx#axzz39ExWebOM
Excerpt: Somalia ’s
Al-Shabab insurgents said they had assassinated a lawmaker in Mogadishu as he left prayers at a mosque
Friday, the fifth MP killed this year in a string of attacks. (Of the Muslims
killed in the last 20 years, the vast majority were slaughtered by other
Muslims, not Christians or Jews. ~Bob)
'Pakistan used US
anti-terror military aid to fight India
Excerpt: Most of the American military aid to Islamabad for counterinsurgency has gone into buying
equipment to fight India , a
former US diplomat has told
lawmakers as he described Pakistan
as a country which is "on the edge in many ways of being a failed
state". Testifying before a Congressional Committee, Ronald
Neumann, former US
ambassador to Afghanistan ,
said the state department on terrorism ranks Pakistan as having the highest
level of terrorist incidents of any country in the world. (Time to
congratulate the Pakistani government for the fine job it is doing and send
them more money! That is the usual response in Washington to revelations like these.
--Robert Spencer, www.JihadWatch.com)
'Mujahideen’ in India threaten attacks in Mumbai in response to
Israeli Gaza
Excerpt: The Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of MEMRI
(the Middle East Media Research Institute) uncovered the story and exclusively
provided The Jerusalem Post with a report, quoting the letter signed
simply as “Mujahideen” and targeting the police chief. “We will take revenge
for Gaza . In 1993,
you [Maria] got a chance. This time you won’t. Stop us if you can,” read the
letter published in the Daily News & Analysis (DNA) newspaper on
July 27.
Turkish PM Erdogan
Returning Jewish American Award
Excerpt: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is
returning an award given to him by a Jewish American group in 2004, after the
group asked for it back because of comments he made regarding the conflict in Gaza . Turkey 's ambassador to the U.S. , Serdar
Kilic, wrote to Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, on
Erdogan's behalf. Kilic said Erdogan would be glad to return the award because
of Israel 's actions in Gaza and "the regrettable stance adopted by the
present leadership of the American Jewish Congress vis-a-vis the recent attacks
on the innocent civilians in Gaza ."
The NSA’s New Partner
in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police
Excerpt: The National Security Agency last year
significantly expanded its cooperative relationship with the Saudi Ministry of
Interior, one of the world’s most repressive and abusive government agencies.
An April 2013 top secret memo provided by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden details the agency’s plans “to provide direct
analytic and technical support” to the Saudis on “internal security”
matters.... According to the memo, the NSA began collaborating with the MOD in
2011 on a “sensitive access initiative… focused on internal security and
terrorist activity on the Arabian Peninsula ”;
that partnership was conducted “under the auspices of CIA’s relationship with
the MOI’s Mabahith (General Directorate for Investigations, equivalent to FBI).
Excerpt: The Islamic State continues to release photographs
of the execution of Iraq
soldiers and security personnel. Yesterday, the Islamic State's Anbar Division
released seven photographs documenting the beheading of three Iraq soldiers.
While the beheadings could not be confirmed, the photographs released by the
Islamic State are similar to images of other executions that have been
confirmed.
Isis Crucifies 8
Christians In Syria
Excerpt: Various sources have received independent
confirmation from inside Syria
that these men were former Muslims that had converted to Christianity. They
were not ‘..rebel fighters from a rival faction..’ as many news outlets are
reporting. Each of the 8 men were charged with the crime of apostasy for
renouncing Islam and converting to Christianity. When confronted by the ISIS members, they refused to “revert” to Islam. (I'd
"convert." In fact I'd volunteer for their army. And when I got my
hands on a gun...~Bob)
The bravest man in Turkey
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/turkish-poet-islam-is-worse-than-nazism
Excerpt: When Serkan Engin sent me this piece and asked me to publish it, I asked him if this could endanger him inTurkey Turkey U.S.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/turkish-poet-islam-is-worse-than-nazism
Excerpt: When Serkan Engin sent me this piece and asked me to publish it, I asked him if this could endanger him in
In Europe ,
They Call For Death To Jews. Again. By Abigail R. Esman
Excerpt: Few European Jews speak or understand much Arabic.
But there is one phrase many have recently come to know: "Khaybar Khaybar
ya-Yahud,jaish Mohammad saya'ud."The words refer to the battle of Khaybar,
in which the Prophet Mohammed slaughtered and enslaved hundreds of Jews,
including women and children; "Mohammed," it means, "is coming
back for you." It is a death threat to Jews everywhere, and it is being
shouted out with growing frequency these days on the streets of Paris , London , Amsterdam , and Berlin .
Five Ways Muslims
Have Contrbuted to "building the very fabric of our nation." By
Robert Spencer
http://pjmedia.com/blog/5-ways-muslims-have-contributed-to-building-the-very-fabric-of-our-nation/?singlepage=trueThe Marines
Excerpt: “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores ofTripoli …” The line from the Marines’ hymn
commemorates the Marines’ actions during the First Barbary War (1801-1805), the
first war the United States
fought against Islamic jihadists. The war came about because President Thomas
Jefferson refused to accede to the Barbary states’ demands for tribute payments
– demands made in accord with the Qur’an’s dictum that the “People of the Book”
must be made to “pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves
subdued” (9:29). The Barbary pirates, also
acting in accord with Islamic law regarding the kidnapping, enslaving and
ransoming of non-Muslims, were seizing American ships and enslaving the crews,
demanding exorbitant ransoms for their release. The Marines put a stop to all
that, and the line from the Marines’ hymn shows how pivotal their actions on
the Barbary coast were to forming the Marine
ethos. So for the Marines, too, we have Muslims to thank. (Robert Spencer runs
JihadWatch.com. Worth reading and subscribing to their daily updates. ~Bob)
http://pjmedia.com/blog/5-ways-muslims-have-contributed-to-building-the-very-fabric-of-our-nation/?singlepage=trueThe Marines
Excerpt: “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of
Lebanese soldiers die
as Syria
Excerpt: Eight Lebanese soldiers have been killed in clashes
with Syrian rebels who raided the border town of Arsal
in Lebanon
on Saturday.
Islamic State seizes
town of Sinjar
Excerpt: The ancient northern Iraqi town of Sinjar emptied Sunday, with thousands of
people fleeing on foot as Sunni extremist militants made their first
significant punches through the defenses of overstretched Kurdish forces. Sinjar
is an ancestral home of the long-persecuted Yazidi religious sect, which the
Islamic State has branded as devil worshipers, and few of its residents stayed
to find out what was planned for them when the group’s militants entered
Sunday.
Posts
As Bill Clinton taught us, semantics is all.
ReplyDeleteI propose we abandon the obsolete phrase "illegal alien," with all its negative connotations, with the far more progressive description of "unregulated immigrant."
And then Mr. Obama can explain how, at last, he has discovered something he is unwilling to regulate.