Showing posts with label Hunger Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunger Games. Show all posts

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Political Digest for March 31, 2012

The Old Jarhead Blog: Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

Free PDF Copy of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.

Excerpt: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney Friday, saying he believed the former Massachusetts governor was the best candidate to face off against President Obama in the fall and hold the nation’s highest office. "I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, the principles, the courage, and the integrity to do what it takes to get America back on track. So I believe he's the right person for the job," Ryan said on Fox News.

Merchants of Despair
Pulls no punches. Worth watching. ~Bob. Excerpt: Who is responsible for the current economic malaise? If you ask Bill Whittle, it's Obama's pals like David Axelrod, Harry Reid and Tim Geithner, some of the many Merchants of Despair. These merchants are costing taxpayers trillions and creating deep national divides based on class and race. Will the despair continue for another four years?

Writer Naomi Wolf urges boycott of Katy Perry video, calls it military propaganda
Excerpt: Katy Perry transforms herself into a U.S. Marine in her latest power-pop single, "Part of Me," which addresses female empowerment and pays particular tribute to service women. However, at least one media type doesn't support Perry's Marines shout-out. Prominent feminist Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth" and one of many who were arrested amid the Occupy Wall Street protests last year, is urging Americans to boycott the singer, labeling her video "a total piece of propaganda for the Marines."

W. Seattle teen beaten bloody in possible hate crime
Excerpt: A 16-year-old boy from West Seattle says he was held hostage and beaten for hours, all because of the color of his skin. Shane McClellan says two men kicked and whipped him at gunpoint - and told him they singled him out because he is white. Tim McClellan, Shane's father, says he barely recognized his son after the brutal assault. 9Media holding breath waiting for strong statement from President Obama. ~Bob.)

On health care, is the GOP ready for victory?
Excerpt: First, a party that has built its health-care message on the phrase “repeal and replace” would immediately find itself under pressure to reach consensus on how to reform the health-care system. Second, Republicans, who benefited from a sizable enthusiasm gap in 2010, could face a Democratic opposition deeply angered and newly motivated by its setback in the high court.

South Carolina teen’s brutal soccer attack earns assault charge
Excerpt: The player who is now the subject of local law enforcement is Lewisville (S.C.) High senior Annette McCullough, who brutally attacked an unnamed Chester (S.C.) High opponent during a Monday match. While there is no video showcasing prior incidents between the two players, McCullough reacted viciously to a small trip that sent her tumbling to the ground.

Roseanne Barr Joins Twitter Vigilante Crew
Excerpt: The comedian Roseanne Barr last night tweeted the home address of George Zimmerman’s parents to her 110,000-plus Twitter followers, only to delete the posting after “not fully understanding that it was private not public.”

Twitter Has Yet to Yank @KillZimmerman Twitter Handle; Where's the Media Outrage? By Ken Shepherd
 Excerpt: But now in light of the ongoing coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting, there's a different infamous set of crosshairs, this one over a picture of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida man who claims to have killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense last month. That image is the avatar for a Twitter profile established on March 24 with the handle @KillZimmerman. Despite conservative bloggers and Twitter users' complaints, as of press time the Twitter handle is still live. What's more, the liberal media have thus far been strangely silent on the matter.

Why Were Liberals So Surprised By the Supreme Court?
Excerpt: This week has really reminded me of Election Day 2004. Liberals, then, were just plain convinced John Kerry was going to be elected president, so much so Bob Shrum actually called Kerry, “Mr. President.” The left had convinced itself Bush was unpopular, Kerry had closed the deal, and everything was swinging his way in the final week. So, when the early, unweighted exit polls came up Tuesday afternoon, they were exuberant.

Lynnae Williams: The CIA Spy Who Tweets
Excerpt: Williams’s main grievance with the agency revolves around her termination. Williams says that as a trainee in the agency’s national clandestine service, she was sent to Dominion Hospital, a public mental-health facility in northern Virginia. (…) All told, by Williams’s account, she spent one night at Dominion Hospital in 2009 and then another five days in the hospital's outpatient program. (Pardon me. It took a while to pick myself up off the floor from laughing. She was actually inconvenienced for a WHOLE overnight? Off-hand, it sounds like a bad hiring decision was made and corrected. And, according to the story, as much as the ACLU hates our military and defense organizations, they won’t lift a finger to help her, the poor baby. And, a note to Daily Beast, Tom Clancy aside, analysts aren’t “spies;” “officers” are spies. Ron P.)

Headlines Control the Narrative. Guess Who Controls the Headlines?
Excerpt: Last Thursday, Rush Limbaugh, addressing one of the Associated Press’s latest offenses against journalism, suggested that we “regard every AP story, particularly this year, as nothing more than a propaganda piece for the reelection of Barack Obama.” Good idea — and of course, that goes for ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Bloomberg News, and virtually the entire establishment and entertainment press. Many if not most of their reports betray an ever more obvious preference for four more years of Obama. (This is a very important issue. This is also the reason for TOJ’s continuing series of “Slant the News 101” stories. Most people pay no attention at all to political news EXCEPT THE HEADLINES until the election is only a few weeks away. And, even the junkies can’t know every detail of every story. If folks’ve been buried in news that consistently makes one candidate seem “better,” who do you expect them to vote for? Ron P.)

The Secret Chord
Excerpt: The immense power of kuryente consists in that it operates in the world of myth. It does not belong in the universe of fact. Hence what happened when, who liked what, what reasons there were for which: these are irrelevant. Kuryente addresses what some might call a “deeper truth,” and it is therefore proof from falsification. You cannot falsify the re-telling of a myth. (Actually, there is a fair translation of kuryente: disinformation. Ron P.)

Excerpt: Limbaugh said on his radio program, “normally I don’t talk about [my ratings] in specifics because in the ethics of the broadcast business you don’t do it.” Before proceeding to share a glimpse of his ratings, he added, “It’s enough to say: Most listened to radio talk show in the country ever, and it’s unlikely to ever be topped.” Overall, Limbaugh said, his show’s ratings are higher on all 600 stations that carry it, and up as high as 60 percent at one station. (His ratings are up? Must be a fluke. ~Bob.)

Spike Lee Pays Off Elderly Couple; City of Sanford, FL A "Tinderbox"
Excerpt: Spike Lee has reached an agreement with the Florida couple forced to flee their home... “The McClains’ claim is fully resolved,” Matt Morgan, their attorney, said in an email. “Mr. Lee personally called them to give a very heartfelt apology. Further, he agreed to compensate them for their loss and the disruption to their lives. (Someone tell him I have Zimmerman in my basement. I could use a payoff for his stupidity. ~Bob.

Voters Tire of Green Agenda
Excerpt: No surprises here: A new Gallup poll reports that Americans are still broadly skeptical of the Green agenda, currently putting economic growth ahead of the environment by 49 percent to 41 percent. And moderates are increasingly joining conservatives in the opinion that economic growth should be a priority even if it incurs some environmental damage. Gallup polls show that trends have been going against the greens for years now, which makes the recent claims of a “tipping point” toward a green consensus seem especially dubious.

Israeli military cancels traditional Passover break
Excerpt: The Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz announced on Wednesday that all units must be on full alert during the traditional Passover holidays, though officials dismissed the idea that the decision is linked to planned military operations, Xinhua reported.

Bolton accuses administration of leaking story on Israeli planning along Iran border
Excerpt: Former U.S. diplomat John Bolton alleged Thursday that the Obama administration leaked a story about covert Israeli activity in order to foil potential plans by the country to attack Iran's nuclear program.

FBI Taught Agents to “Bend or Suspend the Law”
Excerpt: The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has taught its agents in the past that they can “bend or suspend the law” as they are involved in the wiretapping of suspects. The agency has since said they really didn’t mean it.

Young and Restless
Excerpt: When you look back at Barack Obama’s 7-point victory over John McCain in 2008, think of a four-legged stool. Obama needed each leg to support his candidacy. One leg was independent voters (29 percent of the vote); they chose Obama over McCain by 8 percentage points, 52 percent to 44 percent. The second leg was young voters, ages 18-29 (18 percent of vote); they broke for Obama by 34 percentage points, 66 percent to 32 percent. The third leg was Latinos (9 percent); they favored Obama by 36 points, 67 percent to 31 percent. And, finally, African-Americans (18 percent) backed Obama by 91 percentage points, 95 percent to 4 percent. (…) Let’s focus for now on just one leg of the stool, the young voters. Visit any college campus today, and you are likely to sense a lack of passion and energy for Obama.

Obama Caught in a Quandary Between Economic Growth and High Gasoline Prices
Excerpt: President Obama came remarkably close to saying high gasoline prices can be a good thing during remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday morning, just before the Senate was to vote on a bill to repeal tax subsidies for Big Oil. (…) What the president did not say, but seemed to imply, is that rising fuel prices often go hand-in-hand with a growing economy, as demand for energy increases. The result is a political conundrum for the White House: It desperately wants to declare the economy is on the upswing, but it also wants to avoid the wrath of voters angry that gasoline prices are hovering just under $4 a gallon. (If the only factor effecting prices was the economy, perhaps Obama and his trained journalists could pull off this claim. In fact, demand for oil is only now picking up after the mild winter most of the US east coast enjoyed. While domestic supply is up—no thanks to Obama, who has done everything he could to stymie new production—world supply is down because of political considerations, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. Until the USA adopts (really, re-adopts) policies that encourage the exploration and exploitation of our natural resources, especially oil and gas, prices will stay high unless those political considerations go away. That seems unlikely to me. A true “all of the above” strategy has to include petroleum and demon coal, and the EPA’s just-announced regulations for new coal-fired power plants pretty much precludes any possibility of that. Of course, the 5,000,000 or so people who are no longer looking for work, and therefore aren’t counted as being unemployed, may have a different opinion of the economy, too. Ron P.)

Jesse: Trayvon Proves 'Blacks Are Under Attack' by Larry Elder
Excerpt: True, black men, especially young ones, stand a much greater chance of being murdered than white males. But almost all murders involve a victim and a killer of the same race. Yes, instances of black-white murder -- as, for example, when James Byrd, a black man of Jasper, Texas, was dragged to his death by three white men -- do exist. But nationally, according to the Department of Justice, 53 percent of known homicide suspects in 2010 were identified as black -- although blacks comprise only 13 percent of the population.

Liberal, Just Another Word For Stupid by Burt Prelutsky
Excerpt: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked myself how it is that so many of my fellow Americans can actually go out and vote for people as ignorant as Patty Murray, Barbara Boxer and Hank Johnson. Rep. Johnson, in case he’s slipped your mind, is the Democrat representing Georgia’s 4th congressional district, whose claim to fame is that during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, he asked Admiral Robert Willard if he shared the congressman’s concern that adding 8,000 servicemen and their families to the 175,000 civilians on the island could cause Guam to tip over and capsize.

French Police Seize 17 in Raids Following Killings in Toulouse
Gee, 17 more “lone wolves.” ~Bob. Excerpt: Eight days after the police shot dead the self-confessed killer of four Jews and three French paratroopers in southwestern France, elite units on Friday raided localities in several parts of the country and detained 17 people described as Islamic militants.

Afghan Militia Member Drugs and Kills Colleagues
“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” ~Bob. Excerpt: A member of an Afghan militia promoted by the American military to protect rural villages drugged his colleagues and killed at least nine of them as they slept on Friday, the third deadly episode involving the irregular guard force in March.

Why liberals need conservatives, and vice versa By Tom Chivers
Excerpt: Liberals, especially the "very liberal", were by far the worst at guessing what people would say, and especially bad at guessing what conservatives would say about issues of care or fairness. For example, most thought that conservatives would disagree with statements like "One of the worst things a person could do is hurt a defenceless animal" or "Justice is the most important requirement for a society".

Do You Know Any Woman Who Doesn't Use Birth Control? Dan Rather Asks... Rachel Maddow
Excerpt: RATHER: I still can't believe that here, in the second decade of the 21st century, in a presidential campaign, that we're talking about contraception. Do you know any woman, of any race, creed, color or religion, who doesn't use some form of birth control? … The openly gay Maddow tactfully let Rather's question pass unanswered.

The Death of Mrs. G by Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Although we all know that death is inevitable, we are still seldom fully prepared for the death of someone who has been important in our lives. So it was with the recent death of Dr. Marie D. Gadsden, at the age of 92.

So Many Americans Are Being Killed By Their Afghan Allies The US Is Assigning 'Guardian Angels'
Excerpt: Troops have been ordered to step up watching each others' backs while they work alongside Afghan security forces, signaling a new departure in the U.S.-Afghan military relationship. Top commander General John Allen is implementing new security precautions to guard U.S. service members from insider threats, following fresh attacks on troops by their own allies. (Despite stories of betrayal, I was often alone with my Vietnamese friends in the RVN Popular Forces, in Khe Sanh ville in 1967. Maybe I wasn’t worth killing? It seems to me that while the combat isn’t often of the intensity the grunts had to face in Nam, the treachery is much worse. ~Bob.)

I Paid a Bribe
A site exposing corruption in India. Badly needed in Illinois. ~Bob.

Even If It Survives the Court, the Health Care Law Is Doomed By Scott Rasmussen
Excerpt: Media coverage now implies that the U.S. Supreme Court will determine the fate of President Obama's health care law. … But even if the law survives the Supreme Court and the next election, the clock will be ticking. Recent estimates suggest that the law would cause 11 million people to lose their employer-provided insurance and be forced onto a government-backed insurance plan.

ObamaCare meets ObamaEnergy
Good cartoon. ~Bob.

Tweet from @stephenfhayes
Ryan says when he walked Romney through what has to happen in 2013 to avoid debt crisis, Romney said: "We'll do it in the first 100 days."

The Soviet Hunger Games
Excerpt: A very real hunger game took place during most of the past century in the Soviet Union. From 1917 to 1991, the Soviet Union was controlled from Moscow, which subjugated the 14 nations surrounding Russia. The Soviet dream of a worker-led utopian paradise led to families ripped apart by the secret police in the night, gulags filled with thousands of prisoners convicted for whispering their dissent, and 20 million murdered.

Worth Reading: Not-So-Smooth Operator: Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest. By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.

Re-Engineering Humans: An Old Solution to Climate Change by Ed Driscoll
Excerpt: It’s no coincidence that global warming took off as an issue just as the Soviet Union fell; it’s top-down centralized government’s last best hope of controlling the masses. And like other forms of totalitarian worldviews, it doubles as a religion as well, as Czech President Vaclav Klaus noted late last year:…

Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare By Neil Munro - The Daily Caller http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/another-17-trillion-surprise-found-in-obamacare/#ixzz1qcGQyD00
Excerpt: Senate Republican staffers continue to look though the 2010 health care reform law to see what’s in it, and their latest discovery is a massive $17 trillion funding gap.“ The more we learn about the bill, the more we learn it is even more unaffordable than was suspected,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republican’s budget chief in the Senate.

From The Patriot Post: Who's Watching the Watchers?
Gannett Wisconsin Media became part of its own story last week when its Appleton, Wisconsin, Post-Crescent reported the names of 29 circuit court judges that had signed petitions to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker over his public-sector union reforms. After publicly tooting its own horn for such splendid journalism, Gannett was forced to follow up with a public notice admitting that 25 of its own Wisconsin reporters, including nine at the Post-Crescent, also had signed recall petitions. Oops!
While Gannett notes that this violated the company's Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms, the reporter-petitioners argue that they were not engaging in political activity and therefore retained their "journalistic neutrality." Obviously, signing a petition in support of a recall election is a political activity, but the hypocrisy continues. In its statement, Gannett patted itself on the back for its transparency in notifying its readers, and then added that it decided not to make public the names of its activist journalists. "First and foremost," the paper said, "we decided to inform our readers and be as open as possible. We have decided not to name the employees." Once again, the "shield law" shields the media from responsibility -- and the public from the truth.

MasterCard, Visa confirm credit card data theft described as 'massive'
Excerpt: Law enforcement officials are investigating what appears to be a massive theft of U.S. consumers' credit card data, MasterCard and Visa confirmed Friday. The computer security expert who first reported the theft said it might involve as many as 10 million MasterCard and Visa accounts, making it one of the largest known credit card heists.

The Unseen Message of The Hunger Games By William Ward
Excerpt: Though the liberal media and leftist Hollywood are wrapping themselves in The Hunger Games, the book series' pro-individualism, anti-socialist/communist/totalitarianism message has thus far eluded them -- but the legions of children reading the books are getting the message.

Hoodie-Wearing Gunmen Kill 1, Wound 5 in Bobby Rush's Chicago District
Excerpt: Former Black Panther Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) made quite a fuss when he donned a "hoodie" during a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives until he was escorted out. At the time, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "applauded his courage" for doing so. Meanwhile, back home in Rush's district, two men wearing hooded sweatshirts, or "hoodies," were the shooters in an incident that left one dead and five injured. (While race-baiters like Rush and Jackson are scoring points in Florida, the slaughter of black folks by black thugs goes on almost unremarked in our cities. ~Bob.)

Why Does The Department Of Homeland Security Need 450 MILLION Hollow Point Bullets?
Excerpt: Somebody out there has decided that the Department of Homeland Security needs a whole lot of ammunition. Recently it was announced that ATK was awarded a contract to provide up to 450 MILLION hollow point bullets to the Department of Homeland Security over the next five years. Is it just me, or does that sound incredibly excessive? What in the world is the DHS going to do with 450 million rounds? (I have not yet seen this verified anywhere. Just because it’s on the net, doesn’t make it true. I’m sure those 20-something women who say they saw my picture on Facebook and want to meet me don’t really mean it. If they are really young women, which is doubtful. ~Bob.)

Media Silent as Left Attacks Kids of WI Lt. Gov.
Leave Obama’s kid alone when in Mexico on taxpayer’s dime. GOP kids? Not so much. ~Bob. Excerpt: Listen here to John "Sly" Sylvester, a left-wing radio host who operates out of Madison, WI, at radio station WTDY. Sylvester accuses Kleefisch of performing sexual acts on numerous men, mocks her cancer, and attacks her children.

Poll: Romney still close to Obama, Santorum 5 points back
Excerpt: Among other findings: Romney leads the Republican field for the nomination, he leads Santorum in a two-man race if Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul drop out and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would bring more to a Romney ticket than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American — even among Latino voters. … A Romney-Bush ticket beats Obama-Biden among Latinos by 57-39, a 18-point margin. By contrast, the Democrats beat a Romney-Rubio ticket among Latinos by 50-46 percent.

Valerie Jarrett Rocks the House at
J Street
Excerpt: After telling the crowd that she is one-eighth Jewish, she launched into a full-throated push of the Obama campaign’s 2012 themes: fair shot, fair share, GM, playing by the same set of rules, job growth, all-of-the-above energy strategy.

Nice Court You Have There, It Would Be A Shame If Something Happened To It
Excerpt: The Talking Points Memo headline reads: “Dems Warn Of ‘Grave Damage’ To SCOTUS If ‘Obamacare’ Is Struck Down”. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), a former attorney general of Connecticut, pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court would damage itself if it did something so ridiculous as find Obamacare unconstitutional:

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Political Digest for March 27, 2012

The Old Jarhead Blog: Bringing you news and information the MSM is too busy covering American Idol, celebrity affairs and sensational missing person cases to cover. Please forward to friends who need to be informed.

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Help your friends and relatives stay informed by passing the digest on. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.

Find the slut

Gas prices
We were in Wisconsin for the weekend, flaunting our “Recall Santa: I didn’t get what I wanted” bumper sticker. We made sure to fill up there before coming home. At $3.86, it only cost us $52.50 to fill up with 13.6 gallons. A lot better than the $4.69 here in Blagobamaville. We gotta get Bush and his oil cronies out of there to bring prices down. What?

Hey, remember when high gas prices were all Bush’s fault?
Excerpt: Does it make sense to place all the blame for high gas prices on the president? No — but neither does it make sense to excuse him, as though he has nothing to do with them. He should be held accountable for the policies he has put in place. As I’ve written repeatedly, nowhere are the president’s crony capitalistic tendencies more in evidence than in his energy policy. He rewards his preferred providers and punishes his least favorite. Caught in the middle of that is the consumer, who, under luxurious circumstances, surely cares about the environment, but, in tight times, cares most about affordability.

Excerpt: THE MSM – OBAMA DOUBLE STANDARD CONTINUES, THEY ARE ALL IN ON OBAMA PROPAGANDA …When Barack Obama became President of the United States gas prices were at a national average of $1.84 a gallon. Flash forward to present day and the national gas average is $3.89. However, what was a negative news story for George W. Bush and the increasing gas prices is not even close to the same story spewed by the liberal MSM.

Obama Is Going To Pay For My Gas And Mortgage!!!
Excerpt: I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. (Wonder how that’s worked out for her? ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Yesterday afternoon at a press conference Mikhail Muhummud and the New Black Panther Party circulated a “wanted dead or alive” poster for George Zimmerman for shooting to death a Florida teenager four weeks ago. The new Black Panther Party offered a bounty of $10,000 Saturday for the “capture” of a Florida neighborhood watch captain who killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. (Does anyone think that Zimmerman could get a fair trial after the media and politicians have poisoned the jury-pool well so badly? What would the DOJ be doing if a white group was offering a reward on a black person like this? ~Bob.)

Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head
Excerpt: With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel. That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.

Trayvon Martin and the Politics of Racial Guilt by Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: When at the beginning of March, Allen Coon, a thirteen-year-old boy, was set on fire by two black teenagers who told him, “You get what you deserve, white boy,” this did not prove to be an occasion for national soul-searching. But the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by a Hispanic neighborhood watch captain after a scuffle between the two men has led to hysterical media coverage, state and federal investigations, civil rights marches, lynching threats from the Black Panthers and a statement from Obama urging Americans to search their souls for some unspecified reason.

Excerpt: Former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant is accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” the Trayvon Martin tragedy to “racially divide this country.” “His family should be outraged at the fact that they’re using this child as the bait to inflame racial passions,” Rev. C.L. Bryant said in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller. The conservative black pastor who was once the chapter president of the Garland, Texas NAACP called Jackson and Sharpton “race hustlers” and said they are “acting as though they are buzzards circling the carcass of this young boy.” (Bryant’s off the plantation. They will send the dogs. ~Bob.)

Mother Seeks Trayvon Martin Trademarks: Records: Late teenager's kin filed pair of applications last week
Excerpt: Sabrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon,” according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton is seeking the trademarks for use on “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin,” and other products. (Probably a fortune to be made in protest signs and hoodies alone. ~Bob.)

An Unfortunate T-Shirt Hits Florida Streets In Wake Of Trayvon Martin Killing
Cracker? I thought Hispanics were into tacos? I like tacos better than crackers. ~Bob.

Trayvon Martin case's myths, half truths
Excerpt: There is a great deal of misinformation surrounding the Trayvon Martin shooting. Here are some of the most prominent misunderstandings:

Three Black Men Murder White Mississippi State University Student
Note to editor: Please hold this item for expected statements of outrage from President Obama, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. ~Bob.

President Obama Asks Medvedev for ‘Space’ on Missile Defense — ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’ - ABC News
See, I can't dismantle our defenses when the voters might have a say about it! The media reaction will be, "Quick! Look over there! An Etch-A-Sketch!" ~Bob. Excerpt: At the tail end of his 90 minute meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Monday, President Obama said that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense, but incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to give him “space.” The exchange was picked up by microphones as reporters were let into the room for remarks by the two leaders. (Let's put it this way: There's no way Obama could want more flexibility to take an even tougher line with Russia. – Jim Geraghty, NRO.)

Political Risk Casts New Shadow Over China
Excerpt: Markets fear a slowdown in China's factories; they should also be concerned about possible government instability. China's rapid growth, for years the outstanding constant in the global economy, is showing signs of faltering. In the first two months of the year, new real-estate investment showed no growth from a year earlier. Export growth slipped to 6.8% from 14.2% in the fourth quarter of last year. In the last week, a quarterly survey by the central bank showed demand for loans at its lowest since the financial crisis

Excerpt: You can always tell that a person is losing an argument when he throws reason, logic and factual evidence aside and starts personally attacking his opponent. That’s the modus operandi of Paul Krugman, liberal columnist for The New York Times. Opponents of ObamaCare are telling “lies,” wrote Krugman the other day. In fact he used the word “lie” three times to characterize the critics in the space of a single column. Those who disagree with him “make stuff up” and concoct “completely fraudulent” statements, he adds. While he’s ranting and raving about people he calls “the enemy,” Krugman tells a few whoppers of his own, however. This is his defense of ObamaCare: The fact is that individual health insurance, as currently constituted, just doesn’t work. If insurers are left free to deny coverage at will — as they are in, say, California — they offer cheap policies to the young and healthy (and try to yank coverage if you get sick) but refuse to cover anyone likely to need expensive care. Now anyone who knows anything about the health insurance business knows that it is illegal under federal law for an insurance company “to yank” (cancel) someone’s insurance because he or she gets sick. That’s not only illegal; it’s been illegal for the past 16 years!

The Week That Was: 2012-03-24 (March 24, 2012)
Excerpt: …[S]ince there is no global warming trend, the term trend has been dropped in favor of the term level. The level of warming over the past decade has been greater than it has been since the start of the industrial revolution (about 1850) – essentially meaningless because the earth has been recovering of the Little Ice Age. Since carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) continue to increase, critical reading of this statement calls into question the accuracy of the claims that humans are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming. Another definite trend in the general literature is broadening the terminology to make it more alarming. Global warming has morphed into climate change, which is not scientifically significant because climate change is normal and natural. Now, it has morphed again into climate catastrophe or catastrophic climate change.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recall: Big money fuels small-government fight
Excerpt: Millions of dollars are pouring into Wisconsin from wealthy conservatives nationwide, and labor unions are preparing to pump resources into the campaign of whichever Democrat faces off against Walker. (A primary in early May will determine that.) (Wisconsin will have to decide if it wants to become another fiscal-disaster state like Illinois, where the Governor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public employee unions, admits we are close to fiscal collapse. Maybe because of the deals he made to get union support. Things are so bad here that public employee union officials get $100k+ taxpayer-funded pensions for low-paid jobs, sometimes for working as little as one day, because the Democrat legislature changed the law to allow their union work to count towards their public pensions. Any taxpayer who doesn’t work for the government, who votes to recall Walker, should save time by putting a signed blank check into the ballot box with the vote. ~Bob.)

Hill Poll: Voters expect justices’ personal views to decide health case
Half of likely voters want the Supreme Court to overturn President Obama’s healthcare law, according to The Hill’s latest poll. Just 42 percent said the court should uphold the law, with 50 percent saying it should be struck down. (I’d bet $100 on a 5-4 decision, but not much on which way. Kagan prepared the brief supporting it, so we know her vote. ~Bob.)

Obama Lawyer Laughed at In Supreme Court
Excerpt: On the first day of health care reform arguments before the Supreme Court, two justices needled a top Obama lawyer for simultaneously calling the fine that will be paid under the law for not purchasing insurance a “penalty” and a “tax.” The confusion arises because of the administration’s argument that the power to enforce the individual mandate is rooted in Congress’ taxing power — but that the mechanism itself is designed to be a penalty, not a revenue-generating policy.

Slower jobs growth for women voters could cost Obama in election
Excerpt: Women aren't faring as well as other groups in the job market's recovery and that could put a dent into their support for President Obama. While female workers largely held their own through the recession, job gains have slowed since the downturn ended in June 2009, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data on the demographics of the labor market recovery. (I still think the election will turn on events yet to happen. ~Bob.)

Census Data Shows Inequality Linked to Education, Not Taxes
Excerpt: Much of President Obama's rhetoric and proposed policies have focused on eliminating what leftwing analysts have labeled a burgeoning income gap. However, the researchers and analysts that inform this stance and advocate its resulting policies often fail to account for the causes of that inequality, says Scott A. Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation. Specifically, the role of education in increasing incomes for the more-educated and lowering incomes for the less-educated is substantial. Just 8 percent of those at the lowest income level have a college degree while 78 percent of those earning $250,000 or more have a college degree or advanced degree. At the other end of the income scale, 69 percent of low-income people have a high school degree or less, while just 9 percent of those earning over $250,000 have just a high school degree. (In related news, experts show that weight loss linked to eating less, exercising more. Stunning. ~Bob.)

Why Won’t They Listen?: ‘The Righteous Mind,’ by Jonathan Haidt
Excerpt: You’re smart. You’re liberal. You’re well informed. You think conservatives are narrow-minded. You can’t understand why working-class Americans vote Republican. You figure they’re being duped. You’re wrong. This isn’t an accusation from the right.

Seeing Iran Through North Korea; Obama's Hard Work Ahead at Nuclear Summit
Excerpt: The summit's direct focus, and where it has achieved measurable success, is in reducing or securing loose nuclear materials or stockpiles of high enriched uranium that could be used to produce nuclear weapons. (…) But that is cold comfort to South Korea, which is hosting the summit in Seoul, and feels menaced and double-crossed since nuclear-armed North Korea announced plans to test fire a long-rang ballistic missile next month _ after promising not to in exchange for western food aid. And it doesn't calm Israel, either, as it weighs its intelligence on how close Iran might be to producing a nuclear weapon and what it might have to do militarily to stop it. (It is just barely possible that, in a democracy or other representative government, sanctions might have enough impact on the general population to effect a change in that nation’s policies. In an autocracy, or other sort of dictatorship, it can have no effect. Why? Because the dictator makes the decisions, not the majority of inhabitants. There is no popular opinion to please, no common desire to appeal to in an autocracy. The vast majority of those inhabitants are serfs whose well-being, comfort, and even lives mean nothing to those in authority. And, because both Iran and North Korea are police states ruling their own inhabitants by terror, there isn’t even much chance of successful revolution from within. Our choices are simple: quarantine, which requires the active cooperation of their neighbors, which we are unlikely to get, or we can impose change from outside by eliminating those “leaders.” Though I’m open to suggestion, I see no third choice that will work. Mad dogs and murderers aren’t executed because they’re sick; they’re executed because they are too dangerous to everyone else around them to leave alive. That's called self-defense. Ron P.)

One Year After the Fogel Family Murders, the Community Rebuilds By Stella Paul
Excerpt: It takes more than a murderer's knife to kill the Jewish spirit. One year after five members of the Fogel family were brutally stabbed to death, the residents of their small farming community in the West Bank dedicated a new religious school in their honor.

Excerpt: A Saudi husband used a loudspeaker to divorce his wife at a busy shopping mall after seeing her take a note from another man bearing his phone number. (Attention K-Mart Shoppers! I’m going to use religious law devised 1300 years ago to humiliate a woman in public. ~Bob.)

Dozens of Frenchmen being trained by Taliban: Pakistani officials
“We’re coming to murder your children. Allah sent us.” ~Bob. Excerpt: Dozens of French Muslims are training with the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan, raising fears of future attacks following the shooting deaths of seven people in southern France allegedly by a man who spent time in the region, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday. Authorities are investigating whether Mohamed Merah, the Frenchman of Algerian descent who is suspected of killing three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three French paratroopers in Toulouse this month, was among the training group, the officials said.

The Left No Longer Finds Dissent Patriotic
Excerpt: Workforce Fairness is releasing a series of videos chronicling left-wing intimidation, including showing up at people’s houses to harass them and their families. We’re pleased to debut the first of the videos here at RedState. The videos document a growing trend in American civic discourse — the use of intimidation against private citizens to punish dissent. Listen to Media Matters For America and other outlets on the left and they claim they are outraged at Rush Limbaugh for using the word “slut.” They’re OK with it when the left does it. Routinely, conservative activists are targeted for harassment, subject to degrading comments, etc. from the left and they are okay with that. Bill Maher gets invited to keynote Democratic dinners. Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia, in a Lenten Letter to his pastoral flock, said that evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant and then tries to silence good.

The Obama of 1995 by Ben Shapiro
Excerpt: Unfortunately, it’s supremely typical leftist-speak. Leftists believe that there is something pathologically wrong with those who disagree with them. Worse, it’s based in the notion that America is irredeemably racist, incapable of moving beyond skin color and making judgments based on logic. The idea that Americans immediately turn to blaming minorities demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the progress achieved in civil rights over the last fifty years. More than that, it dramatically underestimates the American people, who are manifestly not racist, and cannot be made so by bad economic times.

Fraud Alert
Excerpt: I am Col. Sam Colvin an officer of the U.S Army. I am on the move to Afghanistan from Iraq as the last batch just left and have some items I will need to ship to you. Can you be trusted?

57% Favor Use of ‘Fracking’ To Find More U.S. Oil and Gas
Another issue Obama’s on the wrong side of. ~Bob. Excerpt: Despite challenges by the Obama administration and environmental groups, most Americans favor use of the so-called “fracking” process to produce more domestic oil and natural gas. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of American Adults favor the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for oil and natural gas in shale oil reserves. Just 22% oppose the process, while nearly as many (21%) are unsure about it.

Excerpt: For my friends who have hesitation on that score, I’d just ask you to keep four things in mind: Justice Scalia just turned 78, Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year, Justice Breyer will be 76 in August, and Justice Ginsburg turned 81 about a week ago. We wish them all well, of course, but the brute fact is that whoever we elect as president in November is almost certainly going to choose at least one and maybe more new members of the Supreme Court — in addition to hundreds of other life-tenured federal judges, all of whom will be making momentous decisions about our lives for decades to come. If you don’t think it matters whether the guy making those calls is Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, I think you’re smokin’ something funky.

Billions To Fight Global Warming In Poor Countries
Excerpt: Just when you thought the government couldn’t possibly find another social justice program to blow taxpayer money on, the Obama Administration is asking Congress for a whopping $770 million to help developing countries with global climate change initiatives. Here comes the best part. During Obama’s presidency American taxpayers have already doled out nearly $3 billion for this preposterous cause, according to a new congressional report posted this week by a think tank that publishes hard-to-find government documents of public policy interest.

Top Obama donors among frequent White House guests By Jack Gillum
Excerpt: The invitations to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which are a legal and established practice by presidents, came despite Obama's past criticisms of Washington's pay-for-access privileges and mark a reversal from early in the president's term when donors complained he was keeping them at arm's length. As a presidential candidate running against Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's campaign noted that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had invited David Geffen - whom Obama's campaign said had raised $18 million for the Clintons - to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Israel knows sanctions aren't likely to work and is increasingly aware of the poor quality of U.S. intelligence.
Excerpt: In recent speeches, interviews and private meetings, President Obama has been trying hard to dissuade Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. All along, however, he's actually made it much easier for Israel to attack. The capabilities and will of Israel's military remain unclear, but the critical parts of the administration's Iran policy (plus the behavior of the Islamic Republic's ruler, Ali Khamenei) have combined to encourage the Israelis to strike.

Rushing for the exits: The wrong lesson of A’stan
Excerpt: To the amazement of opponents and skeptics (including Vice President Joe Biden), the surge worked. Last year Marines cleared out the last remaining Taliban strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand, turning the latter province over to the new 325,000-strong Afghan National Army. They and their US Army comrades were poised to do the same thing in eastern Afghanistan, starting this spring. Counterinsurgency isn’t a new strategy. Its roots go back to the Indian wars on the American frontier. Contrary to media myth, it isn’t about winning a popularity contest, or even hearts and minds.

Excerpt: Democracies are in general prone to fits of the mob. Just read the Thucydidean account of the debate of Mytilene. Or watch a 1950s Western as the lynch party heads for the town jail. Fear of democratically sanctioned madness is why the Founders came up not just with classical tripartite government to check and limit power between the judicial, legislative, and executive branches, but also now generally disdained notions of allowing states to impose property qualifications for voting, the Electoral College, two senators guaranteed per state regardless of population, and senators originally selected without direct votes.

Must Read: The Decline of Literate Thought: How does one go about trying to rescue a culture in the throes of dissolution? by David Solway
Excerpt: And what is one to make, for example, of the fact that someone like Canada’s quondam minister of Defense, John McCallum, who holds degrees from several prestigious universities, had never heard of the disastrous raid on the beaches of Dieppe until the moment came to mark its 60th anniversary? In a letter sent by the Minister to the National Post claiming to have been misinterpreted, Mr. McCallum referred to the WW I victory at Vimy Ridge as having occurred at Vichy, capital of the Nazi puppet regime in occupied France during WW II. … The level of ignorance is stupefying and, I have come to believe, barring a miracle, verging on the irreparable. (The level of economic, political and historical ignorance among the supposedly-educated is alarming. Recently I had an friend from the past, an Obama volunteer and retied educator, tell me that the debt was no problem because the “government could print money.” When I tried to enlighten her as to the effects of such a policy her reply was that she, “doesn’t do economics—it makes her eyes glaze over.” The heart despairs. ~Bob.)

‘Disabled’ FDNYer with $95K pension now a NASCAR rescuer
Excerpt: Cliff Stabner, a 55-year-old city firefighter who retired in 2003 with a three-quarter disability pension of $95,000 annually, has surfaced as a member of the fire rescue team responding to crashes at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. The Post has obtained photos of Stabner wearing an orange jumpsuit and a helmet and standing next to a rescue vehicle at Dover’s “Monster Mile’’ track. Stabner also is a fire captain in his quaint new hometown of Lewes, Del.

Danish TV host humiliates Obama with clips showing identical compliments
Earlier this month, sarcastic Danish TV announcer Thomas Buch-Andersen utterly humiliated President Obama and undid months of his ham-fisted foreign policy attempts by proving that Obama says the same thing — literally, the exact same words — to every single foreign head of state that visits the White House. (See, it’s not his fault. He inherited these compliments from George Bush. ~Bob.)

How Green Gullibility, Hyperpartisanship Are Wrecking The Climate Movement
This is an excellent essay. Ron P. Excerpt: One of the biggest intellectual failures of the global green movement against climate change is the persistent failure of its leaders and spokespeople to grasp the way their own advocacy fatally undermines their credibility. They blame cunning, unscrupulous and well funded enemies for disasters that their own inaccuracies, overstatements and disingenuous advocacy have brought on their movement.

FBI Tracked SurvivalBlog Visitors
Excerpt: It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers.

Central Bankers Fear Long Term Price of Short Term Fix
Excerpt: The Fed’s controversial “Quantitative Easing” policies are only the most prominent of a number of similar actions by central banks around the world. Many countries’ central banks are pursuing a policy of easy money and low interest rates in an attempt to boost moribund economies and low investment. Yet at a recent meeting of central bank heads in Washington, the tone was pessimistic. Easy money policies may help boost the global economy in the short term, but bank heads are now beginning to worry that they are exposing the global economy to some serious long-term risks.

NBC: Did 'Controversial' Dick Cheney Really Deserve That Heart Transplant?
Excerpt: Sinking to a new low in their disdain for Dick Cheney, the hosts on Monday's NBC Today wondered if the former vice president should have received a recent heart transplant, with Ann Curry declaring at the top of the broadcast: "...even though he has waited longer than most to receive his donor heart, some are questioning whether someone that old should be getting one..." (well, I predicted this as soon as I heard. Liberals are always reliably un-liberal and vile about such things. Chaney’s five years older than me. I meet with the surgeon in two weeks to discuss if I should be in the queue for a lung transplant. Assume liberals will think I’m too old too. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Chicago on Wednesday reached 100 homicides for the year—the fastest the city has hit this mark in at least seven years, RedEye and police data show. Seventeen homicides have been recorded in the last week—including four each on Saturday and Sunday, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police information found. Chicago has not reached 100 homicides in March since 2004, when the city logged 106 homicides before April 1, according to police data. (The Blagobamaville murder map. More useful than traffic maps for those of us here. ~Bob.)

Documents: White House was all-hands-on-deck as Solyndra collapse neared
Excerpt: Several key White House offices were involved with the Obama administration’s messaging plans and other preparations as the collapse of the taxpayer-backed solar company Solyndra was imminent, newly released documents show. The latest White House documents delivered to House Republicans on Friday again highlight the extent to which senior administration officials braced for the fallout as Solyndra – a company President Obama had personally visited – was about to go under.

Where the well dressed Taliban assassin shops

Excerpt: And I hope they were absorbing some of the strong conservative messages embedded in the film. The totalitarian state here has deprived all the citizens outside the capital of their liberty and livelihood, using them as tools to support the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed in the capital. But citizens, including our heroine, engage in little acts of defiance (in her case, hunting small game in restricted areas to feed her family). One senses the undercurrent of rebellion about to break forth at any time; a sense shared by the powers that be — embodied in the leader of the country (played by Donald Sutherland) — who try to walk a fine line between exploiting the Hunger Game participants as propaganda and reigning them in to avoid galvanizing the opposition.

Excerpt: The Port Washington-Saukville School District may be able to save nearly $1 million by switching health insurance carriers and making relatively minor changes in the plan it offers employees, a consultant told School Board members Monday. Hays Companies, an insurance and employee benefits consulting firm hired by the district, presented preliminary bids from four insurance providers showing that the competitive bidding process alone will save the district money.