Update
Wednesday Afternoon, 1/21/15: I had my cataract surgery
today. As everyone predicted, it was a cakewalk, No discomfort at all during
the surgery--worst part was the four insertions of four eye drops each time
before. Two of them burned a bit, but not for long. I was awake during it,
under local numbing and mild sedation. I listened carefully, and neither the
attending nor the resident surgeon said "oops" or "not bad for a
beginner" once. So I think it went well. Won't know until tomorrow when
they take the patch off. By "patch," they didn't mean a cool black
pirate one, but a small, oblong silver colander type cup about an inch high. It
prevents me from wearing my BiPAP mask or glasses, so I can't really do email,
my blog or read until it comes off. Which was okay. I came home and slept for
the afternoon, thanks to the sedation, and no over-the-counter sleep meds last
night. So as of now, all good. Thanks as always for everyone's thoughts,
prayers and good wishes.
Thursday Afternoon, 1/22/15: They took the patch off the eye
this morning. It is still blurry, but the surgeons both looked at it and assure
me that it is fine; blurry because it is still dilated and a little swollen,
which is normal. They stay it will get steadily better as that goes away and it
already seems to be better. In any case, this morning it was 20/60 without my
glasses. Before the surgery it was 20/70 with glasses.
So now that I can see, I see I have 187 emails backed up. Here we go....~Bob
General News and Comment
Worth Reading : A
Strange Alliance
Excerpt: I haven’t written much about religion, but I have
been surprised by the vehemence, not to say the violence, of the response to
that little that I have written. This vehemence has been provoked by the fact
that, though not religious myself, I am no longer anti-religious as I was when
it occurred to me as a child and then a teenager that God might not or did not
exist. Indeed, I can see many advantages, both personal and social, to a
religious outlook. The usefulness of religious claims is not evidence of their
truth, of course, though that usefulness probably depends upon a belief in
their truth. Probably, but not certainly. Gibbon tells us that in Rome , religious
observance, highly syncretic in nature, was adhered to by people who did not
accept the truth of the beliefs that supposedly underlay their observance.
FBI: NY Assembly
speaker arrested on corruption charges
Excerpt: New York
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested Thursday on charges he used his
position as one of the state's most powerful politicians to collect millions of
dollars in bribes and kickbacks disguised as legitimate income. The 70-year-old
lawmaker was taken into custody at the FBI's New York City office and released later in
the day on $200,000 bail on federal charges that included bribery and
conspiracy. The charges carry up to 100 years in prison. ... As speaker of the
Democrat-controlled Assembly, Silver is one of the most influential people in New York state
government.
Hillary Clinton
Accidentally Proves the Power of a Free Market
Excerpt: I think it is hilarious that the people most
adamantly opposed to the free market are often enormously benefitted by its
machinery. Think Hollywood .
Or Hillary Clinton. A story surfaced recently that her speaking fee at colleges is higher than Mitt Romney’s.
Much higher, in fact: Mitt Romney will
charge Mississippi State University $50,000 to deliver a lecture on campus next
week, most of which will go to charity — a dramatically lower fee than the
$250,000 to $300,000 Hillary Rodham Clinton requires for her university
lectures.
An American Flag Was
Burned in Front of a School. But a Marine Stepped Up in the Classiest of Ways.
By Victoria Taft
Excerpt: First Sergeant Reginald Daniels loves his
country and the flag. The married, father of two recently volunteered with some
fellow Marines to build a play ground at Brattain
Early Learning
Center in Springfield , Oregon
D.C. lawmakers float
bill to allow voting without U.S.
Excerpt: The Local Resident Voting Rights Act of 2015 would
allow D.C. residents who are not U.S. citizens but meet the federal definition
of having permanent residency status to cast ballots in local elections,
including races for mayor and the D.C. Council as
well as initiatives and charter referendums. D.C. Council member David Grosso,
at-large independent, introduced the legislation Tuesday.
Remembering the Last Lion. By Victor Davis Hanson
Remembering the Last Lion. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: From August 1939 to June 1941, the Soviet Union was an accomplice of the Third Reich.
Russian leader Josef Stalin was supplying Hitler with critical resources to
help finish off Great Britain ,
the last obstacle in Germany ’s
path of European domination. Some of the British elite wished to cut a peace
deal with Hitler to save their empire and keep Britain from being bombed or
invaded. They understandably argued that Britain
could hardly hold out when Poland ,
Denmark , Norway the Netherlands ,
Belgium and France all had
not. Yet Churchill voiced defiance and vowed to keep on fighting.
Funny but sad: Woman Showcased by Obama in SOTU is a Former
Democratic Campaign Staffer: Woman apparently the only economic success story
in Obama's America
Excerpt: The woman whose story of economic recovery was
showcased by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address is a
former Democratic campaign staffer and has been used by Obama for political
events in the past. Rebekah Erler has been presented by the White House as a woman who was
discovered by the president after she wrote to him last March about her
economic hardships. She was showcased in the speech as proof that middle class
Americans are coming forward to say that Obama’s policies are working. (The
sad part is that the vast majority of Americans will never learn of this fraud,
as the media presents only the facts Obama wants. ~Bob)
‘American Sniper’
hits close to home. By Colonel Kenneth Allard (US Army, Ret.)
Excerpt: From the Alamo to
Audie Murphy, Texans revere our war heroes. As the closing credits for
"American Sniper" rolled across the screen last weekend, a packed
audience lingered in the dark silence, reverent and maybe stunned by what they
had just seen. The reason: The movie depiction of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's heroic
life of service provided an increasingly rare glimpse of what were once
unquestioned American truths. It begins with the bedrock values imparted by a
loving, two-parent family who believed their first obligation was training
their young sons to be honorable men.
Excerpt: The Iraq War already had an official narrative in Hollywood . It was
bad and wrong. Its veterans were crippled, dysfunctional and
dangerous. Before American Sniper, Warner Brothers had gone
with anti-war flicks like Body of Lies and In the Valley
of Elah. It had lost a fortune on Body of Lies; but losing money
had never stopped Hollywood
from making anti-war movies that no one wanted to watch.
'American Sniper'
criticism makes for amusing theater. By John Kass
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0115/kass012215.php3
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0115/kass012215.php3
Excerpt: I've got to admit that it has been a barrel of fun
watching the political left get its "Je suis Charlie" all tied up in
knots over the movie "American Sniper." They're tweeting and making
angry faces, insisting that the movie is not appropriate history. And generally
their antics have been quite amusing.
Excerpt: Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from Donetsk airport's main
terminal, scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks. The government said the
military still retained control of parts of the airport, but six soldiers had
died and 16 had been wounded.
Economics 101: Obama's Paid Sick Leave Policy Will
Hurt Workers
Excerpt: President Obama's State of the Union address
Tuesday night called for seven days of paid sick leave for American workers.
That policy may sound nice, but NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick says that the
workers the president is purporting to help with ultimately pay the price for
the policy. Why? When employers are forced to pay mandatory benefits, they
won't just accept the new costs -- they will find ways to shift those costs. If
employers must provide seven paid sick days to their employees, Herrick says
they will reduce paid vacation days or will lower worker compensation in order
to make up for the additional labor costs imposed by the government mandate.
(Over Obama's head. Or he just doesn't care about workers. ~Bob)
Pension Debt Burdens
Will Fall on Millennials
Excerpt: Millennials were credited with Obama's electoral
victories, and many believe they will continue to vote Democrat. But Lance
Christensen, director of the Pension Reform Project at the Reason Foundation,
says that in states with large pension deficits such as California , millennials might become
disillusioned with the crushing debt that can accompany big government.
What kind of shape is California 's
pension system in? CalPERS, its public employee retirement system, has an
unfunded liability of more than $60 billion. This is relatively healthy
compared to the $70.5 billion unfunded liability from the state teachers union
and the nearly $14 billion unfunded liability for the University of California
Excerpt: Of all the governors in the Rust Belt, Scott Walker
is the only one gearing up for a
possible 2016 presidential bid. Walker
could potentially put states, like Michigan , Pennsylvania , and his home state of Wisconsin in play, in the general. He has
the respect of the establishment, the adoration of the conservative wing of the
GOP, and has the foundation for potentially building one of the largest
fundraising networks.
Early Presidential
Prospects: What the GOP needs is a candidate with clarity of
thought and words, plus a record of getting things done. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: The more optimistic among us may hope that the
Republicans will nominate somebody who stands for something, rather than the
bland leading the bland — the kind of candidates the Republican establishment
seems to prefer, even if the voters don’t. If the Republicans do finally decide
to nominate somebody who stands for something, and who has a track record of
succeeding in achieving what he set out to do, then no one fills that bill
better than Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who has put an end to
government employee unions’ racket of draining the taxpayers dry with inflated
salaries and extravagant pensions.
Sen. Baldwin had Tomah VA
Excerpt: Sen. Tammy Baldwin's office received an inspection report last
summer detailing high amounts of opiates prescribed at the Veterans Affairs
Medical Center
When we go to war:
Blog Comment
This is a copy of a post I placed on my blog in September of
2012. It still applies now, especially. "Just short of three years ago, I
wrote a post about why we should go to war. In a nut shell, the only time we
should go to war is when our interests are threatened to such an extent that
violently forcing our will on a people or country becomes absolutely necessary.
The only way to wage that war is in such a way as to quickly, efficiently, and
decisively inflict our will on the enemy. There is no such thing as “collateral
damage”. Either you are fighting to aid our cause or you are the enemy. The
only end game is unconditional surrender. Period. challenged readers to study
history: WWII, Korea , Viet Nam , and Israel before and after the Camp
David Peace Accord. I find the parallels between the aftermath of Chamberland’s
and Jimmy Carter’s “foreign policy” and the current administration’s striking.
Each one acted from reason and conciliation as the best solution. The result?
The bad guys decided we were too weak to stop them. Violence erupted. Many
lives were unnecessarily lost because the free world’s leaders believed that
reason was the solution. Ever try to reason with a two year old? It works just
about as well with foreign policy. Dictators and fanatics only understand that
you can and will hit them with everything y0u have. Only then will they cease
from the violence. If they perceive that you have neither the will or the balls
to strike, they will walk all over you. Read the writings from Hanoi sometime. Their tactics were almost
completely based on dragging the war out until the French and then the
Americans couldn’t take the losses any more. Sound familiar? It should. It was
invented in America .
How do you think we won the Revolutionary War? he United States used to be the world
power that held nations accountable. No longer. World violence is on the
increase as a result. Make no mistake. We will pay a much higher toll in our
children, our wealth, and our freedoms because we allow those who do not seek
peace to operate with impunity." --David R. Fry
White House aide says
Obama will 'steamroll' Democrats in Congress after they split with White House
on Cuba , Iran
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2920816/White-House-aide-says-Obama-steamroll-Democrats-Congress-split-White-House-Cuba-Iran-energy-trade-just-DAY-combative-State-Union.html#ixzz3PZISwxdG
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2920816/White-House-aide-says-Obama-steamroll-Democrats-Congress-split-White-House-Cuba-Iran-energy-trade-just-DAY-combative-State-Union.html#ixzz3PZISwxdG
Excerpt: The Obama administration appears to be arming
itself for a take-no-prisoners approach to lame-duck governing, at the
risk of crushing Democrats who disagree with policies outlined in the
president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. A White House aide
said plainly on Wednesday that 'party loyalty' won't protect Barack Obama's
fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill if they get in his way. 'The president is in
the last two years,' the aide told Daily Mail Online, 'and party loyalty isn't
worth what it used to be. He's going to steamroll them.'
Excerpt: The US
may not have “risen from recession” quite as rousingly as President Barack
Obama suggested in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. Seven
years after that severe downturn began, household income hasn’t recovered and
healthy job growth is complicated by the poor quality, and pay, of many of
those jobs.
Voters Think Obama’s
Plan Makes More Middle Class Taxes Likely
Excerpt: One reason for the opposition may be that 66% of
all voters think that if the president and Congress agree to a plan that raises
taxes on wealthy Americans, it’s likely that middle-class taxes will go up,
too. Thirty percent (30%) consider that unlikely. But this includes 33% who say
a middle-class tax hike is Very Likely and just five percent (5%) who consider
it Not At All Likely. (Actually, if they raise taxes on "the rich,"
they will pass it on through businesses to the middle class/working class.
~Bob)
Excerpt: Ever wonder how lowly paid lawmakers leave office
filthy rich?
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is showing how it’s done. The US
Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more
expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum,
is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions. (I must have done it wrong.
When I left office after ten years in the state senate, my net worth, including
the contributions I had made to the retirement fund, was about $25k. ~Bob)
Gun News
Self Defense Still Reigns as Number One Reason Women
Purchase Their First Firearm. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: According to a report released by the National
Shooting Sports Foundation at the 2015 SHOT Show, self-defense still remains
the number one reason why women purchase their first firearm. Home-defense
comes in second.
Excerpt: Passersby, uncertain of what is going on, but
hearing Foster screaming that Mr. Daniels has a gun, help immobilize him in
what appears to be “just in case” involvement until law enforcement officers
arrive, review the footage, and arrested Foster for battery. Frankly, I have to
wonder if part of the reason for Foster’s attack is that he saw a black man
with a gun and assumed that Mr. Daniels just had to be a criminal.
Man fatally shoots
robbery suspect at DeKalb Sonic
A 23-year-old National Guard member foiled an attempted
robbery at a DeKalb County restaurant Sunday night.
Suspect dead, another
in custody in possible home invasion near the Heights
Excerpt: Investigators said one suspect struck a family
member in the face with a handgun while the second suspect forced the family
inside the residence. A friend of the family managed to retrieve his gun from
his vehicle and fired at least once at one suspect, who fled the scene on foot.
Police said the family friend then confronted the second suspect and fatally
shot him.
Man charged for
weekend home invasion, slashing resident’s throat
Excerpt: “I’ll kill my targets tonight,” Kaehne reportedly
wrote in the journal the day before he broke into a nearby home. There is no
indication in the complaint that he was acquainted with the residents of the
house he broke into. .. The wound stretched from the victim’s ear and curved
down to within a quarter of an inch from his Adam’s apple, the complaint
states. The victim’s girlfriend, who awoke during the fight, picked up a gun,
spurring the burglar to flee from the scene and evade a shot from the gun while
doing so.
Race Card News
No Civil Rights
Charges Against Darren Wilson
Excerpt: No matter what Attorney General Eric Holder said
previously about police profiling, it doesn’t make Officer Darren Wilson
guilty. The Department of Justice recommends not charging Wilson
with violating the civil rights of Michael Brown when Wilson
killed him in Ferguson,
Missouri. (Interesting timing – the day after Barack Obama
mentioned the case in his State of the Union .)
Holder still needs to sign off on the end of the investigation, but if anyone
could find a racial issue where there is none, Holder would. But it’s not over,
either.
Police release Ferguson
Excerpt: St. Louis County Police are seeking the public’s
help identifying looters in newly released footage of “peaceful
protesters” pillaging a small business in Missouri after the announcement that a grand
jury would not indict a police officer in the death of a black man. The video
released Wednesday shows hundreds of looters stripping a convenience store
called the Dellwood Market just outside Ferguson , while supposedly protesting
the death of Michael Brown at the hands of white police officer Darrell Wilson.
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
H&R Block: ‘No
One Can Understand’ New Obamacare Tax Code
Excerpt: H&R Block, the nation’s largest retail tax
preparation company warns that the newly released Obamacare tax code,
officially called the Affordable Care Act, is likely to confuse millions of
taxpayers who try to tackle their tax returns for 2014. “Now that the
Affordable Care Act has made health care a tax issue, no one can understand
it,” H&R Block flatly tells taxpayers in a
video that resides on its dedicated Obamacare web site.
Religion of Peace News
This is not good: Yemen
Excerpt: Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has
resigned under pressure from Shiite rebels who seized the capital in September
and have confined the embattled leader to his home for the past two days. Presidential
officials said Hadi resigned after being pressured to make concessions to the
rebels, known as Houthis.
That time Obama
touted success of Yemen
Excerpt: On Wednesday morning, Americans woke up to news reports that rebels in Yemen had made
gains and were holding the U.S.-backed president captive, raising concerns
about the stability of the country. But last September, when President Obama
outlined his strategy for defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria , Obama touted Yemen as a successful model. (All
Obama claims and promises come with a sell-by date. ~Bob)
Worth Reading University
of Wisconsin
Excerpt: DeWayne Wickham, dean and distinguished professor of
journalism at Morgan
State University
Excerpt: A 120-page research paper
entitled "No-Go Zones in the French Republic: Myth or Reality?"
documented dozens of French neighborhoods "where police and gendarmerie
cannot enforce the Republican order or even enter without risking
confrontation, projectiles, or even fatal shootings." In October 2011, a
2,200-page report, "Banlieue de la République" (Suburbs of the
Republic) found that Seine-Saint-Denis and other Parisian suburbs are becoming
"separate Islamic societies" cut off from the French state and where
Islamic Sharia law is rapidly displacing French civil law. (Despite the
protests of the lying Paris mayor there are
no-go zones in Paris
(see link below). Now, CNN did a propaganda spot aimed at deceiving you into
thinking this was not true. However, the area of Paris they filmed was apparently on the very
outskirts of that no-go zone and there were a lot of tourists there. There are
no tourists in REAL no-go zones, so don't be fooled by a lot of frog wash!
--Don Hank. And there are no go areas in Birmingham London and even Blackpool - where the MP was the Home Secretary himself
who on touring his constituency was told by Muslims that he could not enter
their area - he was not welcome!! No better witness than the Former Home
Secretary!! --RA. France has a much higher level of Muslim population than any
other European country, and they have been more or less segregated in various
areas since the initial infusion from Algeria France Del
Will the West Defend Itself? By Walter E. Williams
Excerpt: Leftists and progressives believe that the U.S. should become more like Europe .
They praise Europe ’s massive welfare state,
socialized medicine and stifling economic regulation and accept its
unwillingness to defend itself against barbarism. I wonder whether America ’s leftists and progressives want to
import some of Europe ’s barbaric extremism
associated with its Muslim population. Several European countries have what are
called “no-go zones.” No-go zones function as microstates governed by Shariah.
The host countries' authorities have lost control over these areas. In some
cases, they are unable to provide even police, firefighting and ambulance
services. In France ,
no-go zones are officially called Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban
Zones.
Constitution takes another hit: White House, Congress
Clash Over Iran Sanctions
Google the title if the link
doesn't get the story: Excerpt: “The more I hear from the administration and
its quotes, the more it sounds like talking points that come straight out of Iran ,” said
Sen. Robert
Menendez , the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, at Wednesday’s hearing on sanctions. “And it feeds to the Iranian
narrative of victimization, when they’re the ones with original sin.” ... Deputy
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the White House doesn’t view an
agreement with Iran Del
Excerpt: A heated exchanged between President Barack Obama
and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) broke out Thursday over whether the U.S. should impose new sanctions on Iran amid
ongoing negotiations over the country's nuclear program, according to two
senators who were in the room.
King Abdullah of
Saudi Arabia dead at 90, state TV reports
Excerpt: King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia , the powerful U.S.
ally who joined Washington 's
fight against Al Qaeda and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim
kingdom has died at 90, according to Saudi state TV. His expected successor is
his 79-year-old half-brother, Prince Salman, who recently has taken on the
ailing Abdullah's responsibilities.
In Failing to
Confront Islamism, the Left Betrays Itself. By Tarek Fatah
Excerpt: As the world struggles to understand and cope with
the rise of pan-Islamism and international jihadi terrorism within Western
countries, one thing is becoming increasingly clear - the success of the
Islamists is partly due to what I believe is a grand betrayal of civil society
by the political left in Western democracies. Instead of leading the fight
against the fanatics' religious obscurantism, they have embraced it. The
refusal of social democrats, liberals and leftists to stand up to Islamofascism
in the democracies of Europe, North America, India
and South Africa ,
has also had an unintended consequence. ... I detest what communism ended up
doing, but Lenin's wisdom on this point left an imprint on this Muslim's mind
forever.
Female Genital
Mutilation a Growing Problem in Iran
Excerpt: The hideous practice of female genital mutilation
(FGM) is neither an exclusively Muslim nor a principally Middle Eastern
phenomenon. It exists among non-Muslims through wide areas of Africa .
But in Iraq and Iran , FGM is
mainly associated with Kurds. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq , which is
fighting against the terrorists of the so-called "Islamic State," has
pursued a substantive effort to eradicate FGM. As reported here, the KRG parliament introduced legislation prohibiting
FGM in 2007. The law was passed in 2011 and forbade, additionally, child
marriage, so-called "honor murders," and other abuses suffered
typically by women. In 2010, the KRG health ministry produced a plan to
eliminate FGM and called on Islamic clergy to condemn the custom.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2918799/IS-executing-educated-women-new-wave-horror-says-UN.html#ixzz3PTVexHz8%20
Excerpt: Three female lawyers have reportedly been executed
by Islamic State militants as the UN warns that educated women in Iraq are
especially at risk.
Hamas Praises Tel Aviv Bus Stabbing Attack
Hamas Praises Tel Aviv Bus Stabbing Attack
Excerpt: A Palestinian terrorist stabbed and injured nine
Israelis, four of whom remain under serious condition, on Wednesday morning
after boarding a Tel Aviv bus. Security camera footage obtained by Israel 's
Channel 10 shows the terrorist chasing after civilians running from the bus
following the initial attack, stabbing a woman in the back, reports
the Jerusalem Post.
Excerpt: A letter from a top British government official
calling on United Kingdom
mosques to root out "men of hate" is generating push-back from the
Muslim Council of Britain. The letter from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles was
co-signed by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon , a
member of the House of Lords and sent to 1,100 imams and other Islamic
religious leaders.
*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five
terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s
eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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