Update
I always have a blue face mask with me, due to being
immune-suppressed. I am required to wear it in the hospital, on airplanes and
any place where there is likely to be large numbers of sick people. I usually
have it pulled down to breath better in stores or restaurants, but if I'm in
close contact with a lot of people, or someone near me is sneezing, up it goes.
People often ask if I'm contagious. Now I can just tell them, "Oh, it's
nothing...a little touch of Ebola..." ~Bob
Time to start Christmas, Hanukah or Winter Solstice Shopping
What better gift than a book by Robert A. Hall?:
Something here for everyone--and the royalties go to charity,
not me. ~Bob
Radio Interview for
Uncle Sam's Misguided Children blog
This website has published "I'm tired." They have
asked to interview me on their on air radio outlet Tuesday morning at 0900 CDT.
The interview will be by radio host and USMC veteran, Rick Ferran
"Tank." I have until then to overcome my natural shyness and
humility...~Bob
General News and Comment
Scott Walker leads
Mary Burke 50-45 among likely voters in latest Marquette
Excerpt: Republican Gov. Scott Walker has pulled ahead of
Democratic challenger Mary Burke five weeks before Election Day, according to
the latest Marquette Law School Poll.
Excerpt: We’ve heard a great deal lately about the “wrong
side of history.” It is one of the president’s favorite ways to describe
whatever side he isn’t on, and it’s been a phrase on the lips of progressives
for quite a while. Among the myriad problems with the notion of a “wrong side
of history,” as many critics (including me) have long argued, is that in the
domestic sphere it is a call for one’s opponents to surrender to the
inevitability of defeat, and in the international sphere it is deployed
rhetorically to avoid deploying anything real. (Hitler was on the wrong side of
history, but it was small consolation to the 40M dead of WWII. ~Bob)
Mission Accomplish, his career ruined, but: Tom Delay
Found Not Guilty By State’s Highest
Court
Excerpt: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was found
not guilty today by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. This is the highest
appellate court in Texas
for criminal cases and thus brings DeLay’s political persecution to an end.
A smidgeon of corruption? IRS Cover-Up: IG Report
Exposes IRS Lying to American Public. By Matthew Clark
Excerpt: The cover-up is stunning. “The IRS concealed
information it should have released in response to an estimated 336 requests in
2013, according to the report.”
In response to a report (from the same IG’s office)
detailing the IRS targeting scandal, the American public demanded to know the
truth. The American people sent in numerous FOIA requests, and the IRS
concealed pertinent information at least 336 times.
'Man with the golden
arm' saves 2million babies in half a century of donating rare type of blood
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1259627/Man-golden-arm-James-Harrison-saves-2million-babies-half-century-donating-rare-blood.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1259627/Man-golden-arm-James-Harrison-saves-2million-babies-half-century-donating-rare-blood.html
Excerpt: An Australian man who has been donating his
extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two
million babies. James Harrison, 74, has an antibody in his plasma that stops
babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia.
California Passes
Temporary Gun Confiscation Law
Excerpt: Every gun owner hates the idea of a gun
confiscation law. Not too long ago, we reported about Gabby Giffords’ “rational
middle ground” ideas aimed at preventing “gun violence.” One of those ideas was
to allow courts to issue Gun Violence Restraining Orders. These result in temporary
gun confiscation(There is nothing so "permanent" as something
"temporary". It looks like California Governor Jerry Brown took that
idea to heart, as he just signed a law like it into effect. The law was spawned
right after that kid killed six people on the UCSB campus.
Why Does the U.S.
Excerpt: In what area of policy does the United States differ from every nation in
Europe, as well as Australia ,
Japan , Russia , India
and China ?
Well, each of these countries requires the labeling of foods that contain genetically
modified organisms (GMOs), while the U.S.
has refused to budge on this issue. In fact, the U.S. is becoming more and more
isolated among industrialized nations in its stubborn insistence that GMOs are
perfectly safe for human consumption. Would it surprise you that the companies
that create GMOs are primarily U.S.
corporations? It’s seemingly another case of special interests winning, and
average citizens losing out. (Personally, I think that GMOs are a boon to
mankind, with the potential to save lives, like Golden Rice. I think the anti
GMP hysteria is another tin-foil-hat conspiracy theory, like the anti-vaccine
and anti fluoride movements. ~Bob)
Obama Brushes Off
Plight of U.S. Marine Jailed
in Mexico
Excerpt: Obama will trade 5 terrorists for a deserter traitor,
but ignores this patriot. Unreal. Check it out: It’s the State Department’s
problem. On the same day Republican lawmakers urged President Obama
to do something about an American war veteran languishing in a Mexican jail, a
White House spokesman indicated it’s not going to happen.
248,000 Jobs Added in
September. From The Patriot Post
The U.S.
economy added 248,000 jobs in September, and the headline unemployment rate
fell to 5.9%. The real story is that
315,000 people left the workforce, and labor force participation ticked down
again to 62.7%, remaining at levels not seen since the Carter-era
recession. That's why the unemployment rate is falling. The U-6
unemployment rate, a better measure, sits at 11.8%. That said, the report
contains some good news: The August report was revised up from 142,000 jobs
created to 180,000, and CNBC notes, "The job creation [in September] was tilted
heavily towards full-time positions, which surged by 671,000. Part-time jobs
actually fell by 384,000." Furthermore, writes National Review's
Patrick Brennan, "248,000 jobs in September is still not as fast as we’d
like a recovery to be, but it’s noticeably more jobs than need to be created to
keep up with population growth, and the past eight months have been a faster
average period of job creation than any comparable time during this
recovery." The American economy is resilient enough even to face the
headwinds of Barack Obama's "recovery."
Worth Reading
Excerpt: President
Obama was at Northwestern University on Thursday to deliver an economic
speech that, he and his team hoped, would lay out the case forwhy
the public is better off today than they were six years ago -- even if
they didn't feel it in their everyday lives. Instead, Obama just gave every
Republican ad-maker in the country more fodder for negative ads linking
Democratic candidates to him. Here are the four sentences that will draw all of
the attention
Dem Who Backs Obama 99 Percent of the Time: I'm Totally a
Thorn in His Side. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Colorado 's
Mark Udall is the ultimate Obama rubber stamp. He's represented his purple
state in a reflexively partisan, close-minded manner, backing President
Obama 99
percent of the time. He's getting pilloried for his slavish loyalty to a
president whose popularity has cratered in the state, and he knows its a serious
vulnerability:
Ebola News (Again rates its own section,
alas!)
First US
Excerpt: Meanwhile, even Chris Matthews wants to know why
President I Got This told the American public that it was "unlikely"
that Ebola
would reach America's shores. Allah disputes the "unlikelihood"
of it -- all we're doing is checking people for fever. That's a symptom that
might not present itself for days after the actual infection. So why would
Obama say this? Because he says "Nothing to see here, folks, move on"
to everything. He is worried how worries will affect him politically,
so he does nothing but offer empty -- and often outright false -- assurances
that he's on top of everything.
Scrutiny in Texas
Excerpt: The man who has become the first Ebola patient to
develop symptoms in the United States told
officials at Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital last Friday that he had
just arrived from West Africa but
was not admitted that day because that information was not passed along at the
hospital, officials acknowledged Wednesday. ... Mr. Duncan came back to
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday and was admitted for
treatment, but in those two days in between, his contacts with a number of
people — including five schoolchildren and the medics who helped transport
him to the hospital — potentially exposed them to Ebola, forcing officials
to monitor and isolate them in their homes and to begin a thorough cleaning of
the schools the students attended. (Does not include number of staff at ER
at Triage on first visit, let alone those on second....Barb)
Tweet from Javonni Brustow @VonniMediaMogul
President Obama said an Ebola case in America is unlikely but now that we
have one, what is Obama doing? Fundraising of course!
Tweet from Lurabyss @Lurabyss
#Ebola
will be blamed on Global Warming, it will be racist to limit travel from
infected nations to protect USA
6 Ways The Feds
Screwed Up the Ebola Response
Excerpt: Ebola is not easy to transmit. But the federal
government is making it a hell of a lot easier for those who have contracted
Ebola to transmit it here in the United States , if the case of
Thomas Eric Duncan is any indicator. Here are the top six mistakes made by our
government in dealing with the Ebola epidemic: Killing Quarantine
Rules....
Obama's Pathetic
Response To Ebola Isn't Reassuring
Excerpt: Now that Ebola has arrived
in the U.S. ,
Americans should ask why. After all, our government knew that the outbreak in Africa was severe but has done little to keep the disease
from reaching our shores. Sure, the medical professionals involved — doctors,
nurses and epidemiologists — are working hard and bravely to contain an
outbreak, which so far includes a Liberian man in Dallas and as many as 100 people he came in
contact with. But the government's response, as is too often the case, has been
far less than competent and remains so. (And the things that we actually do
need a federal government for, they don't do very well. Like getting serious
about keeping Ebola out of this country, cancelling all the flights, and
checking anyone coming from the area. The guy who brought it here isn't even a US
citizen, he's a Liberian. The further we get into this, the crazier it gets. And
there won't be any remotely large scale production of the vaccine that MAY be
effective for quite a while. Great, just great. No, not time to panic, but I do
hope that there gets to be enough interest in this for the government and
perhaps the states to get totally serious about watching out for it. And maybe
somebody can figure out how to speed up manufacture of that vaccine. --Del )
Excerpt: “Three days after the fact,” an exasperated
Aklinski stated, “I had to demand exposure testing and they are reporting
following up with all the people in the ambulance??? Bull crap!!! They haven’t
even followed up with the ten firefighters that were on duty Sunday.
CDC quarantine
regulations
Excerpt: In October 2014, the first patient on American soil
infected with the Ebola virus sits in isolation in a Texas hospital,
prompting calls for travel restrictions between the United States and
Ebola-stricken countries. Meanwhile, four years ago, the administration of
President Barack Obama moved with virtually no fanfare to abandon a
comprehensive set of regulations which the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) had called essential to preventing international travelers
from spreading deadly diseases inside the United States . The CDC had proposed
the regulations in 2005 under the administration of George W. Bush, reported USA Today in 2010.
Doomsday warning: UN
Ebola chief raises 'nightmare' prospect that virus could mutate and become
airborne - making it much more infectious
Excerpt: UN warns Ebola virus currently plaguing West Africa could become airborne. The longer it
moves between human hosts the greater possibility of mutation. The risk grows
the longer virus is living within the human 'melting pot.' NGOs have said the
Ebola virus is currently infecting five people every hour.
If Ebola doesn't worry you: Chikungunya in the Americas
Excerpt: Updates of chikungunya case counts are publicly
released every Wednesday by 12 p.m. MT. As of September 26, 2014, local
transmission had been identified in 34 countries or territories in the
Caribbean, Central America, South America, or North
America . A total of 737,084 suspected and 12,052
laboratory-confirmed chikungunya cases had been reported from these areas (Updated
data from the Pan American Health Organization
alt="External Web Site Icon" class=externalImg title="External Web Site Icon"
v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">). Chikungunya virus likely will
continue to spread to new areas in the Americas
(North America, Central America, and South America )
through infected people and mosquitoes. The mosquitoes that transmit the virus
are found throughout much of the Americas ,
including parts of the United
States . Since chikungunya virus is new to
the Americas ,
most people in the region are not immune. This means they can be infected and
spread the virus to other mosquitoes. (Could be controlled by DDT, like
Malaria, West Nile and Bedbugs, but we have to
save the birds...so the green wind farms can chop them up. ~Bob)
alt="External Web Site Icon" class=externalImg title="External Web Site Icon"
v:shapes="_x0000_i1025">). Chikungunya virus likely will
continue to spread to new areas in the
Race Card News
Lawsuit: Wrong sperm
delivered to lesbian couple
Excerpt: A white Ohio
woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly
gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it
difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old
daughter in an all-white community.
Why U.S.
Excerpt: Extremist Muslims are recruiting willing American
blacks for violent jihad against their own fellow citizens. .. Nolan reportedly
attended a mosque headed by Suhaib Webb, an imam with ties to former al-Qaida
mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki. Webb had been the leader of the Islamic Society of
Greater Oklahoma City. Amazingly, Webb is head of the sister organization of
the mosque attended by Boston Marathon bombers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Why are blacks so susceptible to being radicalized?
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Wisconsin Employers
and Workers Suffer under Obamacare
Excerpt: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) raises the price of
health insurance, affecting the labor market as employers attempt to deal with
the rising costs of health benefits. Devon Herrick, senior fellow with the National Center
for Policy Analysis, explains how the law is impacting the state of Wisconsin . Two-thirds of
insured Americans have health coverage through their employers. Wisconsin
employees are more likely to receive employer-sponsored health benefits than
are employees in other states, though the percentage of residents receiving
employer-sponsored health insurance has been declining in Wisconsin
since 2000: In 2000, 60 percent of Wisconsin
employers offered employee health plans, which fell to 50 percent in 2011. In
2000, 72 percent of Wisconsin workers employed
in small firms were offered employer-sponsored coverage. That number had
dropped to 51 percent by 2010. The ACA will only contribute to the drop in
employer coverage, which has been most prominent among small firms, as costs
rise.
As the courts turn: The continuing legal perils of
Obamacare. By Thomas P. Miller
Excerpt: Legal challenges to various aspects of Obamacare
(aka the Affordable Care Act) keep traveling on a rollercoaster. Today’s
episode of the law’s continuing courtroom soap opera involves a ruling by a
federal district court in Oklahoma, which overturned a 2012 IRS rule
authorizing premium assistance tax credits in federal exchanges (since
rebranded as “federally facilitated marketplaces”). The decision improves the
likelihood that the Supreme Court ultimately will consider this issue on
appeal; either in the spring of 2015 or during its next 2015-2016 term.
Undocumented Democrat News
And if Chikungunya doesn't worry you...The mainstream
media ignores the elephant in the room
Excerpt: The first case of the “mystery” virus affecting
kids all over the country has been reported
in Maine. The mainstream press has shown an astonishing lack of interest in
the obvious. Over 900
cases of this illness have appeared, scattered throughout the country
and they have only one thing in common. The introduction of illegal alien
children. How has the press handled this? By ignoring it.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
Global Warming in Madison , WI
After the worst winter anyone here remembers, with temps as
low as -23 degree F, we had a very cool summer. Only two days reached 90
degrees F. Tonight's forecast is for a low of 35 degrees and snow showers
extending into Saturday morning. On October 3, early autumn. ~Bob
Huffpo Authors: Climate
Change to Blame for Rise of ISIS
Excerpt: A read-it-to-believe-it column in
the Huffington Post is demanding that each American do more to stop
the looming threat of the Islamic State-- by recycling. Arguing a direct
correlation between droughts in Syria and
the rise of Islamist extremism, the authors blame climate change for the
terrorist group's advance in the Middle East ..... But
they are related, the authors argue, because the desperation that grows when
climate change triggers a severe shortage of food could snowball into an
international terrorist movement: ... [M]any in the West remain unaware that
climate played a significant role in the rise of Syria 's extremists.
Religion of Peace News
Video purportedly
shows ISIS beheading of British hostage Alan Henning
Excerpt: An Internet video released Friday purportedly shows
an Islamic State fighter beheading captured British aid worker Alan Henning and
threatening another American captive in the fourth such killing carried out by
the extremist group, according to The Associated Press.
Obama
The new non-war prompted someone to ask me why Obama is like
a banana. "Why?" I replied. "Because he came in green, turned
yellow and has now gone rotten," was the answer. Good joke, but since he's
a product of the Chicago
way machine, I think the rot was always there. ~Bob
Bomb, Occupy, or
Neither? Blowing apart a problem for a while is different from
ending it for good. By Victor Davis
Hanson
Excerpt: Wars usually end only when the defeated aggressor
believes it would be futile to resume the conflict. Lasting peace follows if
the loser is then forced to change its political system into something other
than what it was. Republican Rome learned that bitter lesson through three
conflicts with Carthage before ensuring that there was not going to be a fourth
Punic War.
FMR CIA Director: Obama
Forced Out Intel Chief Who Warned About Weak Iraqi Army
Excerpt: Wednesday on Newsmax TV's "The Steve
Malzberg Show," President Bill Clinton's former director of the CIA James
Woolsey said President Barack Obama's attempt to blame poor intelligence is
getting "less and less true" as he pointed to the forced resignation
of the Head of [Defense Intelligence Agency] Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn who was
"making it very clear he was very worried about the stability of the Iraqi
army."...And so I think that side of things really was not dealt with
real squarely by the administration and I think it did, it did either,
permitted or required Flynn to leave early, retire early, and he's the most
brilliant intelligence officer this countries seen in the last couple
decades." ...At the time there were reports he was challenging the
Obama administration narrative that al Qaeda was on the run after the death
of Osama bin Laden.
Excerpt: As President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, a storm is brewing over alleged
double standards concerning civilian casualties incurred during the current US
bombing campaign against the Islamic State terrorist organization in Iraq and
Syria. Writing in the National Review, pundit David French observed that only a
few months after the Obama Administration used terms like “appalled” and
“disgraceful” in reacting to supposed civilian deaths during Israel’s
recent war against Hamas in Gaza, the president has now loosened the
restrictions imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths arising from American
military operations.
War with ISIS : What does victory look like? By Andrew
Liepman and Philip Mudd
Excerpt: We have too many reminders of the resilience of
this particularly violent ideology to think that it can be eliminated. ...
Despite these lessons, commentators across the political spectrum speak today
about the defeat of an even larger, more geographically diverse, and more
brutal adversary, in Syria and Iraq, as if somehow the lessons of the durability
of al Qaeda ideology has proven brittle in other, equally complex,
battlefields. It hasn't.
War without end: The U.S. may still be fighting in Syria
Excerpt: America
has allies in Syria ’s
civil war, of course, including Harakat
Hazm, part of the Free Syrian Army. Harakat Hazm is fighting Assad, but it
has also fought alongside America ’s
enemy Jabhat al-Nusra, which has not disqualified it from receiving U.S. weapons
and training. Harakat Hazm took exception to the American-led bombing of Syria
in a statement, calling it an “external intervention” and “an attack on the
revolution,” according to a Los Angeles Times report. So Harakat Hazm , America ’s
friend, which fought with America ’s
enemy against Syria —which is
neither friend nor enemy—objects to the fact that America
bombed Syria
in pursuit of the Islamic State, which is also Harakat Hazm’s enemy. Meanwhile,
the militant Shiite group Hezbollah is drone-bombing Jabat
al-Nusrat along the Lebanon-Syria border at the same time Israel is downing Syrian
jets. Confused yet? You’ll have plenty of time to catch up.
Women and Children
for Sale
Excerpt: In early August, fighters from the Islamic State
swept into the small Yazidi village of
Maturat in Iraq 's
Sinjar district and took women to the Badush prison in Mosul . Hundreds more women and girls were
herded into an ancient citadel in the town of Tal Afar
in the northern province
of Nineveh
Troops not eligible
for campaign medal in fight against ISIS
Excerpt: The troops President Obama has deployed to Iraq are not eligible for certain medals because
the U.S.
has not officially designated their efforts a military campaign. ... Veterans
groups are upset over the exclusions, arguing the battle against the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or
ISIL) should be treated as an extension of previous military campaigns.
Philippine Islamist
Militants Threaten to Behead German on October 17
Excerpt: Al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants in the Philippines
said on Thursday they will kill one of two German captives on Oct. 17 unless
their demands are met. ... The militants are demanding a 250 million pesos
($5.6 million) ransom and for Germany
to stop supporting U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria .
John Kerry's "The Real Islam." Iran
Excerpt: A 37-year-old man has been executed in Iran after
being found guilty of heresy and insulting prophet Jonah, according to human
rights activists.
Mohsen Amir-Aslani was arrested nine years ago for his
activities which the authorities deemed were heretical. He was engaged in
psychotherapy but also led sessions reading and reciting the Qur’an and
providing his own interpretations of the Islamic holy book, his family said
Excerpt: A convert to Islam named Alton Nolen beheaded a co-worker at a food processing plant in Oklahoma City on
September 25 after being fired by his employer. The Clarion
Project immediately reviewed Nolen’s Facebook page and found photos
indicating support for the Islamic State terrorist group, Osama Bin Laden and
other violent jihadists.
Excerpt: In his first court appearance, Nolen requested a Muslim to
be named as his court-appointed lawyer.
(Beheadings have nothing to d with Islam, of course. Doubtless there are large
numbers of Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Secular Humanists running round
chopping off people's heads, just not reported by the media. ~Bob)
Islamic State Beheads Seven Men, Three Women in
Excerpt: The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human,
Rights Rami Abdulrahman, said five anti-Islamic State Kurdish fighters,
including three women, and four Syrian Arab rebels were detained and beheaded
on Tuesday 14 km (8 miles) west of Kobani, a Kurdish town besieged by Islamic
State near the Turkish border. He said a Kurdish male civilian was also
beheaded.
Libyan soldiers
killed in Benghazi
Excerpt: At least 29 Libyan soldiers have been killed in two
car bombings and clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi . Some 60 troops were wounded in the
violence near Benghazi
airport, medics and military sources say. (The legacy of Obama's lead-from-behind,
non-Congressionally-authorized war in Libya . ~Bob)
Nine U.N. Troops
Killed in Worst Attack Yet on Mali
Excerpt: Nine United Nations peacekeepers in Mali were
killed when heavily armed gunmen on motorbikes ambushed their convoy on Friday,
the deadliest attack yet on U.N. troops in the west African nation, the mission
said. The attack on the peacekeepers from Niger
took place in the region of Gao and highlighted a sharp increase in strikes on
foreign troops based in Mali
to prevent the return of al Qaeda-linked Islamists who seized its northern
desert region in 2012.
Long but interesting: Sandstorm: The Middle East in chaos. By Reuel Marc Gerecht
Excerpt: The concept of asabiyya is helpful in
trying to understand the Middle East today, after the second Iraq war
(2003-09) and the Arab Spring (2010-12) together unhinged a dying political
order throughout the region. Today, no Muslim state in the Middle
East has an asabiyya that peacefully and happily binds its
citizens together. Unless new organizing ideas are embraced, we are likely to
see the persistence of the Islamic militancy that has shaken the region. The
prognosis isn’t good, in part because of highly counterproductive American
actions. U.S.
air raids against the Islamic State and other radical Islamic groups, which
only stir the hornets but don’t destroy the nest, are unlikely to change the
fundamental dynamic that keeps working against us.
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