Update
By Friday, the eye they operated on Wednesday was great,
working better than the right one, where the cataracts aren't bad enough for
the operation. Yet. Lights appeared pale yellow in the right eye, bright white
in the left. Though prohibited from strenuous exercise for at least a week, I
did go to PT rehab, did 30 minutes on the treadmill at 2 mph. (I usually do 24
minutes at 2.6 mph, 4 minute cool down at 1.5 mph.) No weight/strength training
machines. I'm not supposed to bend over--didn't realize how often I did until told
not to. So all good so far. ~Bob
General News and Comment
Prescient, worth reading: Oil On Troubled Waters. By
Theodore Dalrymple
Excerpt: I used to visit Nigeria regularly, and knew the
writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was subsequently hanged by the dictator, General
Abacha. Saro-Wiwa, who wrote a wonderful novel of the Nigerian civil war called
Sozaboy. He came from the Niger Delta, where the oil also came from, and
he started a political movement to try to obtain oil revenues for his
particular tribe, the Ogoni. Although much of the oil came from Ogoniland, the
Ogoni had received almost no financial benefit from it whatsoever. Instead,
their native creeks, forests and fishing grounds had been largely destroyed by
oil leaks. I discussed his movement with him when I went to see him in Port
Harcourt, the largest city in the area, and took the pessimistic view that it
was bound before long to provoke violence; but Saro-Wiwa, a non-violent man
with a wonderful sense of humour, told me that the situation was already so bad
that it could get no worse.
Worth Subscribing To: Single Parenting. By Jonah
Goldberg, The Goldberg File
I am drowning in deadlines and this solo-parenting thing is
hard. (My wife is out of town for a family emergency.) ... But I also think
about how hard it must be to be an actual single parent. It seems to me that
this is the ground-floor argument conservatives should build up from when
talking about marriage. Raising kids is just easier with two committed parents
around. Put aside the moralizing for a second (moralizing I often agree with,
by the way) and just talk logistics. It’s very hard to do all the things you
want to do for your kids without a wingman (or wing-gal). I’m not even talking
about the financial part, which is huge. It’s simply harder to help
with homework, show up at games, serve home-cooked meals, and generally
participate in your kids’ life if you’re the sole breadwinner and sole parent.
(Charles Murray has been making this point for a very long time.) What drives
me crazy is when rich liberal single parents think they have legs to stand
on when speaking on behalf of low-income single parents. I certainly understand
the defensiveness, and no doubt they have some shared experiences. But the most
infuriating problem with elite culture is its refusal to understand that it can
afford its sins -- or if you prefer something more secular, its mistakes.
People with lots of financial and social capital can afford to make bad choices
that would be devastating for others. (Not on line, and I can use only an
excerpt. You should be getting this. ~Bob)
Worth Reading : A Tedious,
Recycled State of the Union: Six years later, Obama’s still
reading from the same tired script. By Jonah
Goldberg
Excerpt: Once again, we heard how much he hates cynicism and
partisanship, defining cynicism and partisanship in his own special way:
disagreement with Barack Obama. The president denies this, of course. He said
Tuesday night: “Understand, a better politics isn’t one where Democrats abandon
their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine.” But if the president actually
believed that, he would have governed that way when his party had total control
of Congress. And yet, prior to the great “shellacking” of 2010, Obama governed
as if the Republicans were at best a nuisance. When Republicans expressed
concern over the partisan nature of the stimulus, he responded, “I won.”
Free college
With tongue in cheek, my teenage son grumbled that two free
years of college is the same as adding 13th and 14th grades to the American
education system. But the real tragedy is how the president proposes to pay for
his idea: taxing middle-class college savings plans. This would harm the very group the president claims to help. Of
course, the proposal has little hope with the GOP majority running
Congress. National
Center 600
Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Suite 310 Washington ,
D.C. 20003
New top Marine Corps
general releases plan to shake up the service
Excerpt: The new top general in the Marine Corps released a
16-page plan on Friday detailing his vision for the service, emphasizing a
realignment of troops to meet demands in the Pacific and Africa ,
better coordination with Special Operations units, and new psychological
testing to assess resiliency in recruits. Commandant
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford’s planning guidance is intended to outline how
the Marine Corps “will set the conditions to fight and win against future
enemies,” he wrote.
Attention Marines!
'Fives And Twenty-fives' - A Bargain, Whatever The Price. By Andy Weddington
Excerpt: Recommend the book - to Marines, Sailors, families
thereof, and everyone. Support this Marine! Support this aspiring artist,
writer. Pass it on, please.
2015 outlook: The
next CNO
Excerpt: The next CNO will face declining budgets and the
possibility of a huge budget crunch that could force the Navy to contract to
the smallest it's been since before World War I. Half a dozen Navy and industry
insiders have pinned three front-runners for the top job: Adms. Mark Ferguson,
Bill Gortney and Michelle Howard: (Does it make any difference who he selects?
The office has already been emasculated. --Bud. Yes, it makes a difference. we
need someone to take on the thankless task of a rear guard top reserve what he
can, to make the rebuilding easier after 2016. ~Bob. Any one betting against
Michelle give me a growl! I need a couple fast bucks!!!! --Paul)
Quiz: What Heroic
Figure of American Justice Are You?
Said I'm Indiana Jones. ~Bob
Army Lieutenant Clint
Lorance Gets 19 Years at Ft.
Leavenworth
Excerpt: First
Lieutenant Clint Lorance never imagined that following the rule of
engagement to save not only his life, but the lives of his fellow soldiers
against Islamic enemies would result in him spending nearly two decades in
prison. But it did.
Excerpt: While Bush and Romney won’t be there, at least
eight potential GOP candidates will show up, along with 150 journalists. Lots
of attention will be paid to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who many
observers say has a chance to break out of the pack in Iowa . He comes from a neighboring state and
understands Midwestern sensibilities. His dramatic confrontation with
public-sector unions in 2011 and his ability since then to survive both a
recall and a reelection battle against those unions have earned him the
equivalent of a Medal of Honor with many conservative activists. He has built
up a national network of donors who can finance an intense grassroots operation
in a state where organizing supporters is key.
Marco Rubio Moves
Toward 2016 Presidential Bid
Excerpt: Sen. Marco
Rubio has begun taking concrete steps toward launching a presidential
bid, asking his top advisors to prepare for a campaign, signing on a leading
Republican fundraiser, and planning extensive travel to early-voting states in
the coming weeks, ABC News has learned.
"He has told us to proceed as if he is running for
president," a senior Rubio advisor tells ABC News.
Excerpt: Redistributing income and promoting middle-class
dependence on government was the recurring theme in Tuesday’s State of the
Union address. During a time when the labor-force participation rate is at its
lowest in decades, more important matters are getting people back to work and
policies to encourage long-term investments in jobs. But Obama’s version of
“middle class economics” was more about paying people’s bills with other
people’s money and less about fostering job creation and income growth.
And Poverty Won: The War on Poverty Has Cost $22
Trillion
Excerpt: Since the War on Poverty began under President
Lyndon Johnson, welfare spending has exploded to sixteen times its original
size. In a new report from the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector and Rachel
Sheffield tackle the welfare system, explaining how spending has skyrocketed
since the 1960s. America
has spent more on welfare than defense since 1993. The War on Poverty has cost
$22 trillion -- three times more than what the government has spent on all wars
in American history. Federal and state governments spend $1 trillion in
taxpayer dollars on America 's
80 means-tested welfare programs annually. One-third of all Americans receive
benefits from at least one welfare program.
Raising Taxes on the
Wealthy Would Hurt the Economy
Excerpt: Obama wants to increase the rate on capital gains
and dividends to 28 percent, the idea being that it would only impact high
earners. But that's not the case -- changes in tax policy affect economic
behavior, something that "dynamic scoring"
(as opposed to "static scoring") recognizes. Using dynamic analysis,
Hodge and Schuyler assess the effect of a 28 percent capital gains tax rate.
According to their model: All income groups, not just the wealthy, would see
lower after-tax incomes. The amount of tax revenue the government would receive
would fall. While static scoring estimates the tax would add $20 billion
annually in new revenue, dynamic scoring concludes it would lose $12 billion in
revenue. The United States
would have $142 billion less GDP each year. Wages would fall, resulting in $461
less annually for families earning between $50,000 and $75,000.
Founders
unavailable for comment: Obama celebrates ‘core constitutional right’
of abortion. By Doug Powers
Excerpt: Forty-two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court
issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects a woman’s freedom to
make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental
American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and
personal family matters. I am deeply committed to protecting this core
constitutional right, and I believe that efforts like H.R. 7, the bill the
House considered today, would intrude on women’s reproductive freedom and
access to health care and unnecessarily restrict the private insurance choices
that consumers have today. (Obama comes from the leftist "The Constitution
says on any given day what I think it should say" school. ~Bob)
Excerpt: Still reeling from Barack Obama's fairy tale
presentation at the State of The
Union address Tuesday night, I've been
overwhelmed with news about the Democrats grand plan to save the middle class. Rather
than implementing legislation that might grow a bigger economic pie, Barry is
still gouging at the same old sorry little pie we've had for six years. He
grabbed a great big old hunk of it in January 2013 with a huge tax increase,
and, like every big spending liberal whose ever come down the pike, he's back
for more this year.
Gun News
Excerpt: According to police, a man was walking along the
sidewalk when a vehicle drove up next to him. The driver pulled out a gun and
demanded money. However, the pedestrian was armed as well, and he started
firing. The robbery suspect was struck by the gunfire.
Cops wanted to hit
'Meet the Press' then-host David Gregory with gun charge
Excerpt: In an affidavit, the investigator wrote that “there
is probable cause that the offense of possessing a ‘high-capacity’ magazine was
committed in the District of Columbia .
Therefore your Affiant requests the issuance of an arrest warrant for Gregory,
David Michael.” Despite the request, D.C. attorney general Irvin Nathan declined to prosecute in the case. He said that his
office “determined to exercise its prosecutorial discretion to decline to bring
criminal charges against Mr. Gregory, who has no criminal record, or any other
NBC employee based on the events associated” with the broadcast.
She May Not Look That
Intimidating at 5-Foot-4 — but Just Wait Until You See What She’s Packing
Excerpt: Tessa Renaud is nurse practitioner and the mother
of six children. She is also a concealed carry permit holder who needed a
better holster for her firearms. So, she invented one. Renaud’s holster is made
from a 3-yard piece of lace fabric with a pocket for storage. It’s
called ”Lethal Lace,” a name she credits her husband for coming up with.
Race Card News
http://lastresistance.com/9739/arizona-state-university-offers-problem-whiteness-class/
Excerpt: Arizona State University is offering a course exploring the
“problem” of whiteness. The controversial class, taught by a white
professor (of course), explores race theory, post-colonialism, and a host of
other pseudo-intellectual topics centered on white privilege: (When I went to
U-Mass 70-72, things were better. There were two Republicans on the PolySci
faculty, one liberal, one conservative. All the rest were Democrats or further
left. But you could argue with them and the other students--and I did--without
fear of being failed. Not today. ~Bob)
Lie Witness News -
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Edition
And they vote. ~Bob
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Obamacare update
More than 7.1 million people have enrolled so far in Obamacare. The government released
a table of zip codes showing where the enrollees live, and most
of them seem to be from zip codes in Florida . National Center 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
SE Suite 310 Washington , D.C. 20003
I love the smell of a political fix in the morning....IRS
Has Active Contract For MILLIONS With Company HHS FIRED Over Botched
Healthcare.gov. By Richard Pollack
Excerpt: Seven months after federal officials fired CGI
Federal for its botched work on Obamacare website Healthcare.gov, the IRS
awarded the same company a $4.5 million IT contract for its new Obamacare tax
program. ... Last year, CGI was fired by the liberal states of Vermont and Massachusetts
for failing to deliver on their Obamacare websites. The Obamacare health
website in Massachusetts never
worked, despite the state paying $170 million to CGI.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
Keystone pipeline
The Senate worked late into the night on Thursday, voting on more
than a dozen amendments to the Keystone pipeline. It appears that Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell's patience with the open legislative process is running
thin. McConnell filed for cloture on the bill, which sets up a final vote next week.
There are still several pending amendments, including one that would restrict
EPA officers from carrying guns, one that would delist the lesser
prairie-chicken as a threatened species, and an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-TX) that would expedite natural gas exports. Senators have until Monday evening
to file their amendments, after which McConnell's motion to limit debate kicks
in. National Center 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
SE Suite 310 Washington , D.C. 20003
Worth Reading
http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/21/inhofe-calls-obamas-climate-agenda-a-wealth-redistribution-scheme/
Excerpt: “Why the pain for no gain?” Inhofe asked in a
rebuttal to Obama’s State of the Union speech. ”As The Wall Street Journal
put it when reporting on just one of the president’s many climate regulations,
this is a wealth redistribution scheme being imposed by the president through
the EPA." ... Inhofe warned that “the President’s agenda will cost our
economy $479-billion dollars; we will experience a double-digit electricity
price increase; and tens of thousands of Americans will lose access to
well-paying jobs over the course of the next decade.”
Religion of Peace News
Surprise! It's our fault: Islamist Panel Approaches
Self-Parody in Hebdo/Radicalization Talk
Excerpt: A panel discussion Thursday hosted by the
Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) promised to plumb the "the root causes of
radicalization" in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks at Charlie
Hebdo magazine and a kosher market. It turns out the problem is not
Islamic theology or radical Muslim ideology. It's all the things the West does
wrong. Fix those problems, panelists said, and things get better. (All we have
to do is convert to Islam and live under Shari'a Law according to the dictates
of the murders. If we can figure out the dictates of which group of murders--they
differ. Should we be Sunni or Shi'a for starters? ~Bob)
Saudi ruler is buried
as new King Salman moves younger generation closer to throne
Excerpt: King Salman acted quickly to clarify the top tier
of the Saudi hierarchy, seeking to project stability and resolve at a time when
the country faces challenges on multiple fronts, including threats from
Islamist militants and a political breakdown in neighboring Yemen . Salman’s
decisions also acknowledged an important generational shift underway in the
kingdom, as he named the country’s 55-year-old interior minister as the deputy
crown prince. That puts him just behind Salman’s younger brother, Prince
Muqrin, 69, in line for the throne.
Family members claim
leader of Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi
Excerpt: Family members of Mohamed al Zahawi, the leader of
Ansar al Sharia in Benghazi ,
say that he has died of wounds suffered during a battle last year, according
to Reuters.
Separately, a Libyan military leader has also claimed that Zahawi has passed
away as a result of injuries "sustained in an ambush" that occurred
sometime in September 2014.
During his State of the Union address, the president threatened to veto an Iran
sanctions bill that might interfere with the negotiations underway concerning Iran 's nuclear power/weapons program. Within hours, Speaker of the
House John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
speak to Congress on February 11 to offer Israel 's
views on Iran , Yemen and the other complex issues churning in
the Middle East . The invitation breaks protocol with the White House and is largely
viewed as a very public lack of confidence in the president's leadership
toward Iran .
President Obama is refusing to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu while
he's in Washington
because the president worries it might help Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli
election. National
Center 600
Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Suite 310 Washington ,
D.C. 20003
Erdoğan's Grand
Ambitions. By Burak Bekdil
Excerpt: By June 2015, the Turks will have gone to the
ballot box three times in a span of fifteen months: local polls in March 2014,
the presidential race in August 2014, and parliamentary elections next June
2015. Turkey 's
ruling Islamists, under the roof of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet
ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP), are probably heading for their ninth electoral
victory in thirteen years. But in the longer term, a simple win may not suffice
to keep afloat this coalition of Islamists, conservatives, Sunni supremacists,
business cronies, and liberals. AKP's ambitions go beyond winning elections,
and although it remains the most powerful political grouping in Turkey , with
its votes now possibly at a saturation point, the party may be vulnerable to
potential externalities.
Netanyahu ‘spat in
our face,’ White House officials said to say. PM ‘will pay price’ for spat over
Congress address; Obama said to have asked him to tone down pro-sanctions
rhetoric; Wash. Post: Kerry’s enthusiasm for
defending Israel
Excerpt: “There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in
our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that
President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there
will be a price,” he said. (So the actions of the administration are based on
payback for wounded feeling, not for what is in America 's and the world's best
interests? ~Bob)
Islam Experts: No-go
Zones Looming for America
Excerpt: The “no-go zones” in some Western nations, where
law enforcement has lost control because of the influence of Islamic law, are
coming to America .
That’s according to several Islam experts interviewed by WND who believe the
kind of Muslim enclaves that have developed in Europe due to a lack of
assimilation will eventually arise in the U.S. as the Muslim population grows.
PM Valls sets out
sweeping measures to safeguard France
Excerpt: Valls said close to 3,000 people in France with jihadist ties needed to be under
surveillance -- and that the number of people with links to networks in Iraq and Syria had increased by 130% in the
past year. In response to the threat, 2,680 new jobs will be created, of which
intelligence services alone will account for 1,100, he said. Many of the new
jobs will be dedicated to tackling the threat from online jihadism. France will
allocate 425 million euros ($490 million) over the next three years to boost
the fight against extremism, Valls said.
Islamic State
Supporters Protest in Gaza
Excerpt: Roughly 200 Salafi-Jihadis in Gaza
rallied outside of the French Cultural Institute on Monday, denouncing the
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and praising the recent
terrorist attacks in Paris ,
the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)reports.
CNN's Anderson
Excerpt: “In the wave of the Paris
attacks, several guests on this program mentioned ‘no-go zones’ in France ,” Cooper
said. “I didn’t challenge them and twice referred to them as well. I should
have been more skeptical,” he added, and promised he would not make the same
mistake again. Outside of CNN’s own reporting there is a wealth
of evidence that these Muslim “no go zones” exist. Nevertheless, four times
now Fox News has apologized on-air over the issue. What’s striking, though, is
that the left-wing CNN has only apologized once for 1) doing what Fox
News did. 2) Trashing Fox News for doing what CNN did. 3) Trashing Jindal for
doing what CNN did. 4) Covering up its own reporting of “no go zones” while
trashing others for reporting the same.
Worth Reading : Obama’s
bloody Yemen
http://michellemalkin.com/2015/01/23/obamas-bloody-yemen-disaster/
http://michellemalkin.com/2015/01/23/obamas-bloody-yemen-disaster/
Excerpt: When President Obama declares something a “success
story,” you know it has “TOTAL FAILURE” embedded in its DNA. Four months ago, America ’s King Midas in Reverse crowed about the
fruits of his triumphant foreign policy in jihad-infested Yemen . A “light
footprint” approach to counterterrorism operations, he claimed, was the most
effective path to stability. In addition, Obama has shoveled nearly $1 billion
in American tax-subsidized foreign aid to Yemen . Four months later,
Iran-backed Shia rebels seized
a Yemeni presidential palace.
Boko Haram claims
Baga massacre and threatens Nigeria
Excerpt: “We killed the people of Baga. We indeed killed
them, as our Lord instructed us in His Book,” Shekau said in the 35-minute
message, which was obtained by AFP. The militant leader was shown speaking in
front of four white pick-up trucks, with eight masked and heavily armed men.
Excerpt: This story from the Mirror last week identifies the
victim by name but describes him only as “Asian,” without ever saying he was
Sikh, and also says: “The attacker was shouting ‘White power’, witnesses said,
and detectives have confirmed the assault appeared to be racially-motivated.”
So this was presented to the British public as a an attack by one of those
right-wing racists that British authorities are much more concerned about than
they are about Islamic jihadists, and this attack appeared to substantiate
their concern. There’s just one catch: Zack Davies is a Muslim who calls
himself Zak Ali, and who warned on his
Facebook page on the morning of his attack in Tesco: “The wrath of
Allah is about to come down upon the kaffir, I will have my revenge.”
*****
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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