Political Digest for August 14, 2011

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.

Marine to receive Medal of Honor next month

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/12/obama.medal.of.honor/

Excerpt: "The award honors the men who gave their lives that day, and the men who were in that fight," Meyer said, according to a Marine newsletter. "I didn't do anything more than any other Marine would. I was put in an extraordinary circumstance, and I just did my job." (The Medal of Honor is well deserved. I hope those officers who denied his unit air and artillery support on that mission live a haunted life. --MasterGuns)

Thousands honor slain San Diego police officer

http://www.cbs8.com/story/15235440/funeral-friday-morning-for-fallen-officer-jeremy-henwood

Excerpt: A Marine combat veteran who was shot in the head while patrolling San Diego streets as a police officer was remembered Friday as a generous and upbeat leader whose dedication to public service inspired those around him. Jeremy Henwood, 36, was posthumously promoted to major in the Marine Corps Reserve at a funeral service attended by more than 3,000 mourners, including California Gov. Jerry Brown. Henwood died six months after returning from Afghanistan when a motorist flashed his headlights behind his patrol car, as if to seek help, then pulled alongside and shot him. Police Chief William Lansdowne said a surveillance video taken at a fast-food restaurant two blocks from the shooting showed the officer had just bought a meal for a 10-year-old boy who was watching him in awe. ... Police shot and killed Dejon White in a confrontation minutes after Henwood was shot on Saturday. Police said White, 23, shot another man in the parking lot of another restaurant shortly before he attacked Henwood.

Great column, read it all: John Kass: London riots are illiterate homage to 'Lord of the Flies'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0812-20110813,0,6708733.column

Excerpt: It might be time for all of us to read it again. Not just in England, but in the U.S., where our feral boys are just as malevolent. Just like the ones in London, those little boys with cigarettes dangling from their lips, skinny boys who run into shops and steal vodka. Their older brothers smashing windows to steal big-screen TVs, the fires and beatings, and more boys running, girls, too, all the thugs full of thrills. And shopkeepers knocked to the ground, weeping as their savings and sacrifice and labors of a lifetime are savaged by the howling mobs. The one I can't forget is the clip of the boy with the backpack. His face has been bashed in. A thug helps the student stand up, and, as he does, another reaches into the backpack, takes what he wants and discards the rest, a brute who wanted something shiny, glumly tossing the student's papers onto the street. The mobs weren't organized to protest government policy. The excuse-makers bleated that the mobs were angered that police killed a street gangster, but the real cause is larger. This is about people giving themselves an excuse to pillage, as if the victims were figures in a video game, not people who did menial labor for years in order to open the shop where the feral boys were kicking the windows.

Lawsuit Details Depth of Berkeley Jewish Student Harassment

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3100/lawsuit-details-depth-of-berkeley-jewish-student

Excerpt: A pattern of harassment and physical assaults by members of two Muslim student groups at the University of California, Berkeley crosses the line from allowing free speech into creating a hostile campus environment, an attorney representing two students argued in court papers filed this week. Jessica Felber and Brian Maissy are suing the University of California and Berkeley President Mark Yudoff, along with Berkeley's chancellor, the Regents of the University of California, the Associated Students University of California and Berkeley's dean of students for failing to protect them from verbal and physical assaults. "Defendants assert that this Court is powerless to stop this conduct, claiming that these student groups have 'First Amendment Rights,'" wrote attorney Joel Siegal in response to a defense motion to dismiss. "But these Defendants have an equal obligation to protect the health and safety of Jewish students under Title VI," which requires federally funded educational institutions protect students against discrimination. (Be different if it were Muslims being harassed. ~Bob.)

Quotes of the Founding Fathers

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/founding.html

Quote

Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (He should see the 21st! ~Bob)

Telegraph UK: Drop the brooms, you capitalist scum

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100100831/drop-the-brooms-you-capitalist-scum/

Excerpt: This week, I met a 17‑year-old pupil from a girls’ public school that, in the past, has been more famous for turning out Sloaney husband-hunters than for filling its pupils with useless scientific facts. But the stereotype is out of date, it seems. The GCSE syllabus ranges far and wide, taking in the physics, chemistry, biology, geopolitics, economics and ethics of climate change. In English lessons, girls “debate” (ie, heartily endorse) the proposition that global warming will kill us all. And guess what topic has been chosen for French conversation? But parents shouldn’t worry that their girls will turn into eco-loons. “Honestly,” says my informant, “we’re all, like, sooo bored with climate change. I can’t wait to leave school to escape.”

A Long, Cold Summer at Mount Rainier

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/us/14snow.html?hp

Excerpt: The calendar says summer, but the conditions are more like winter. Visitors to the Mount Rainier park are down by 30 percent this year. Usually by August, most of the snow on Mount Rainier, the sleeping volcanic giant here, has long since melted. The meadows of wildflowers are abloom, and hikers galore are tramping along the trails. But this year, temperatures have been colder than usual, keeping record mounds of old snow lying around. This has discouraged everyone, from the most rigorous climbers to backpackers, hikers and Sunday drivers. Total visitors to Mount Rainier National Park from January through July were down more than 30 percent, to 601,877, compared with the same period last year, when 868,681 people came. (Dang that global warming...Kate in LA)

Rep. Alan West's economic plan

What should we do now? At this point, the House of Representatives is not in a position to act unilaterally. We have already passed good legislation, which has died in the United States Senate. Nonetheless, there are a few options we could act upon under the following circumstances: (1) if the House is to be called back into session, (2) if the Senate will agree to come back into session and get serious about fixing our broken system, and (3) if the President will heed the wishes of the American people to fix our broken government. For example, we could pursue the following actions: 1. The House and Senate could amend the Budget Control Act passed on August 1 to increase the cuts from $2.4 trillion to over $4 trillion 2. The Senate could adopt the House (Ryan) Budget 3. The Senate could adopt the House passed Cut, Cap and Balance Act 4. Both Houses could act quickly to enact reforms to address the massive amounts of waste identified in a recent GAO report, thus saving billions of taxpayer dollars 5. The Senate could adopt all of the House passed energy bills putting Americans back to work producing safe, clean, and efficient American energy from both conventional and alternative sources (and helping provide billions of dollars in additional federal revenues to help balance our budget) 6. The Senate could pass all of the House passed legislation to reform our regulatory system and remove the crushing regulatory overreach of unelected and unaccountable Washington bureaucrats 7. We could adopt the tax reforms included in the House (Ryan) Budget to simplify our tax code, remove loopholes, lower tax rates, improve competitiveness for American job creators, and develop a fairer, flatter tax system for all Americans 8. We could adopt the House designed reforms to Medicare and Medicaid to fix these programs before they go insolvent and bankrupt America in the process, and/or 9. We can immediately begin to sell excess federal property and raise billions of dollars in federal revenues. In addition, we need to reform our broken budget process which relies on inaccurate economic forecasting models, "baseline" budgeting, and provisions that allow one or more houses of Congress to ignore their responsibility to create annual budgets. We should also implement zero-based budgets, just like American families and job creators use.

Failure 101 at Chicago State University

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/failure_101_at_chicago_state_university.html

Excerpt: The Chicago Tribune reports: ...during the 2008-09 academic year, 449 Chicago State students received state grant money even though, under university policy, an untold number of them should have been dismissed for poor academic performance. Of those students, 106 had a grade-point average of 0.0 and still received aid from the taxpayer-funded Monetary Award Program, known as MAP. Should the students be exclusively held to blame? They have been designed and built from the ground up to expect a lifetime free-pass to the American dream. They never expected to be held accountable for their failures and now that lifetime work-free government jobs and social welfare programs are evaporating in the light of economic reality, what is to become of these kids?

UK Riots: What Would Hayek Do?

http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/12/uk-riots-what-would-hayek-do/#ixzz1Uvy7a6VU

Excerpt: U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has declared “everything necessary will be done to restore order” in Britain’s riot-racked cities. With respect to the right honorable gentleman, what distinguishes free from unfree societies is not order, but ordered liberty. As the great Tory philosopher Edmund Burke taught, reconciling liberty and order is the fine art of democratic statecraft. Tweaking that balance as technology evolves requires the most careful and judicious deliberation. Only where cooler heads prevail can ordered liberty thrive. Cameron’s government has hesitated to escalate physical force with rubber bullets and water cannons, lest they lend moral sanction to the brutal tactics used by China and in the Middle East to suppress dissent. Yet however noble his intentions, Cameron could do more to undermine ordered liberty with “bloodless” measures targeting social media services like Twitter and Facebook, and improperly using photo identification. (You do not have "liberty" if you cannot own a business or walk the streets without fear. Gangs can take away liberty as surely as government. ~Bob.)

It’s Perry Day in America: Wake Up and Smell The Idiocy Already Hurled at Him

 http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/08/13/its-perry-day-in-america-wake-up-and-smell-the-idiocy-already-hurled-at-him/#comments

Excerpt: No sooner had the sun risen on the day that Texas Governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for President, than—right on schedule— The Daily Beast, amply living up to its name, posted my personal nominee for Stupidest Article of the Week (deeming Saturday the final day of the past week, thus the competition includes everything written since Sunday.) I’ve never met Michael Tomasky, its author, and have barely noticed his existence until a friend emailed me his post of this morning. But if this column was my introduction to him, and it was, I’m not reading another by him. This one was idiotic enough. Why read more? Then why read this? Because it will give you an intimate peak into the mindset of the oh-so-urban, self-deluded, self-described “sophisticates” who cannot help but drip condescension when describing a…Republican, especially….a Republican governor… from Texas. It is just too, too much for the poor dears. They’re smelling W in the water. They’re intellectually unable to discern the distinction between a hard-scrabble Aggie and a patrician Yalie with a Harvard business degree. Both W and Perry served as governors of Texas, they’re both devout Christians, they both salute the flag. Therefore, to Mr. Tomasky, they are one and the same candidate. This is why I call Tomasky’s column the Stupidest of the Week. Surely, you jest, Belladonna, you may be thinking. Think again. For your reading pleasure, I hereby post Mr. Tomasky’s withering (and withered) take on Gov. Perry and his horror of all that he perceives. I’ll also supply my own responses, cleaned up for family reading of this beyond-absurd, grating piece of writing.

Nutter's City of Tough Love

 http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/12/mayor-nutters-city-of-tough-love/#ixzz1Uvx2f3Iu

Excerpt: This week, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter went where few black leaders have gone. And I think I can count the others who have on one hand. Nutter dared to speak the truth about the critical state of America’s black youth. In a speech addressing increasing youth violence, Nutter plainly declared: Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer. Pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt. (If a white Mayor said this, he'd be branded a racist. ~Bob.)

Panic! 1/2 Say Spending Cuts Will Lead To Violence

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/08/12/panic-12-say-spending-cuts-will-lead-to-violence/

Excerpt: Interestingly, further down in the survey results, we find that more than 40% of Republicans and self-identified Tea Party supporters think that violence in the streets might erupt in the event of tax increases. Given that the most likely tax hikes will be on “the rich,” though, it could significantly cut down on the number of rioters. On the other hand, they’d probably be considerably better armed. (My friend Sandy says the Rodney King riots here in LA came to an end when the rioters got to the Koreatown section of the city, and the Korean business owners went up on their roofs and opened fire with rifles. Send in the Koreans, I say. - Kate in LA)

Alaska's halibut fishermen fear new regulation​s will 'bankrupt'

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaskas-halibut-fishermen-fear-new-regulations-will-bankrupt

Excerpt: A packed room of angry and worried small businessmen fearful the federal government is about to bankrupt them got some simple advice Friday night on how to deal with the Washington, D.C. bureaucracy: "Send a letter." That was the best Glenn Merrill, assistant regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, could offer charter boat skippers facing imposition of what is being called a "halibut catching sharing" plan. Almost everyone now seems in agreement the plan will cut the 2012 halibut limit for charter anglers to one fish per day. There also seems general agreement that the halibut taken away from anglers, who are now allowed two fish per day, will be given to the commercial charter halibut fishery. The goal of the NMFS, which is operating under the guidance of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, is to make sure the charters never catch more than 17 percent of the allowable harvest in Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska and preferably are kept in the 10 to 15 percent range. The council that set this limit is an organization dominated by powerful commercial fishing interests. Arne Fuglvog, the now-disgraced former aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was a key player on the council when it set about to first freeze the charter catch beneath a "guideline harvest level" and now reduce it through the catch sharing plan. Fuglvog was at the time a longline halibut fisherman. He got out of that business to become a powerful aide to an Alaska senator, and he almost went on to become head of the NMFS.

The Politics of Liberals Bashing Obama

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-politics-of-liberals-bashing-obama/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: This week the president’s positive ratings are hovering around 40-42%; in some polls there is a 10% gap or more between negative and positive appraisals. I expect that they will go back up, and then even lower as the year wears on. But the latest nosedive has prompted many on the left to attack Mr. Obama, from a psychological portrait offered by one Drew Westen to unusual carping from Maureen Dowd, Richard Cohen and E. J Dionne. Cornel West is back again, in rather vicious fashion reminding us that he supposedly helped to introduce Obama to us and now regrets that he did, given the president’s purported ingratitude. Often the critics invoke everything from Jimmy Carter parallels to the unease of European statesmen to emphasize their own disappointment (I think that is a fair and tame term, since I doubt their present disenchantment will result in not voting to reelect Obama). How Could He? As I can fathom this August of discontent, it runs something like this: at best Barack Obama is too aloof, professorial and unable temperamentally or unwilling politically to mix it up with Republicans. Therefore he has compromised far too much on various budget deals, which in part explains his sagging ratings and the general laments in the American and European press that Obama lacks leadership qualities. The nearly $5 trillion in new debt since 2009 is a needed, if too timid, “stimulus”; and if it is seen by some as too excessive, it can be easily remedied by new taxes on the wealthy — something Obama talks about a lot but does little to enact, this buskin Theramenes who bends with the wind.

Mark Steyn: Lessons for Us from London in Flames

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/london-311857-want-book.html

Excerpt: This is the logical dead end of the Nanny State. When William Beveridge laid out his blueprint for the British welfare regime in 1942, his goal was the "abolition of want" to be accomplished by "co-operation between the State and the individual." In attempting to insulate the citizenry from life's vicissitudes, Sir William succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. As I write in my book: "Want has been all but abolished. Today, fewer and fewer Britons want to work, want to marry, want to raise children, want to lead a life of any purpose or dignity." The United Kingdom has the highest drug use in Europe, the highest incidence of sexually transmitted disease, the highest number of single mothers, the highest abortion rate. Marriage is all but defunct, except for William and Kate, fellow toffs, upscale gays and Muslims. From page 204: "For Americans, the quickest way to understand modern Britain is to look at what LBJ's Great Society did to the black family and imagine it applied to the general population."

Fast and Furious Program

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ucGucFqIg

Good report. ~Bob.

It’s no time for a presidential vacation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-no-time-for-a-presidential-vacation/2011/08/12/gIQA4c7wBJ_story.html?hpid=z3

Excerpt: Is there anyone in the White House with nerve enough to tell Barack Obama that Martha’s Vineyard is the last place on earth that the president of the United States should find himself next week? Don’t get me wrong. I don’t begrudge the chief executive a little time off from the Oval Office. But to be leaving town to spend 10 days luxuriating in an affluent, New England summer town when millions of Americans can’t find work? To fly off to the Vineyard when the public is losing faith in Washington’s ability to fix the nation’s economic problems, and with people anxious about their futures?

English Defence League - Standing Firm

http://englishdefenceleague.org/the-english-defence-league-standing-firm/

Excerpt: The war against radical Islam has no borders, even if Israel is the front line of the battle. It is an international problem, and it would be foolish of us not to ally ourselves with like-minded individuals and organisations across the world. Already, we have seen supporters from all over the world travel to this country to stand side by side with us at our demonstrations. We are thankful for their support, and have reciprocated by joining the demonstration against the Ground Zero Mosque and attending La Marche des Cochons. We should not be afraid to show solidarity with ordinary people who are continuing to suffer at the hands of radical Islam, wherever they may be. Wherever there are Muslims who support a hostile, aggressive, 7th century interpretation of Islam, we will do what we can to aid those who are working to defeat it – be they Christian, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Americans, Europeans, Brits, Israelis – whoever they are.

London Riots: Public misled on death that led to riots

http://www.scotsman.com/news/London-Riots-Public-misled-on.6817840.jp

Excerpt: THE police watchdog has admitted that it may have misled journalists and the public into believing police shooting victim Mark Duggan fired at officers before he was killed. The shooting of the 29-year-old in Tottenham, north London, last Thursday sparked riots that then spread to other English cities. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said yesterday it may have "inadvertently" led journalists to believe Mr Duggan had fired at officers.

NLRB fails to comply with congressional subpoena

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/12/nlrb-fails-comply-congressional-subpoena/?page=all#pagebreak

Excerpt: The National Labor Relations Board ignored a congressional subpoena on Friday that requested information about its lawsuit against Boeing for building a manufacturing plant in a non-union state. “The National Labor Relations Board and Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon have thus far failed to comply with a lawful subpoena,” Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who issued the subpoena, said in a statement. “This refusal by NLRB to abide by the law further heightens concerns that this is a rogue agency acting improperly. The integrity of NLRB and its leadership is clearly in question.” Mr. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, drew criticism from Democrats on the committee for issuing the subpoena last Sunday. In a letter sent on Friday, they asked him to drop the subpoena, which he had been threatening to issue for months. “We are aware of no precedent for your actions, and we are particularly concerned that they are taking us down a dangerous path of interfering directly with the decisions of prosecutors and even of judges who are charged with carrying out the laws Congress enacted,” they wrote. “We urge you to reconsider your approach, to withdraw your subpoena, and to identify a legitimate purpose for this investigation before taking any further steps.” The NLRB did not respond to requests for comment.

The NLRB Fear Factor: How the Boeing case poisons investment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904007304576498343574868286.html?mod=opinion_newsreel

Excerpt: The National Association of Manufacturers asked its members last month how the National Labor Relations Board's decision against Boeing's South Carolina plant case is affecting their decision-making. Some 60% said the government's case already has—or could—hurt hiring. Sixty-nine percent said the case would damage job growth. And 49% said capital expenditure plans "have been or may be impacted by the NLRB's complaint." Around 1,000 of the association's 11,000 members contributed to the survey. That's a lot of lost jobs. Some might dismiss these results as self-interested, or predictable given the general business distaste for regulation. But that ignores the role that confidence plays in reviving the animal spirits essential for economic growth. When CEOs or entrepreneurs fear political intervention that might impose higher costs, they are more reluctant to invest or to hire new employees. That's especially true when the economy is already growing slowly, or emerging from recession. The NLRB's assault on Boeing has been especially damaging because it violates what most Americans consider to be a core tenet of U.S. capitalism—the ability to move capital or business where you think it has the best chance of success. Boeing's executives are being punished for remarks they made long ago about strikes at their Washington plants.

Rick Perry's Crony Capitalism Problem: The presidential candidate's signature economic development initiative has raised questions among conservatives.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Excerpt: Gov. Rick Perry's presidential pitch goes something like this: During one of the worst recessions in American history, he's kept his state "open for business." In the last two years, Texas created over a quarter of a million jobs, meaning that the state's 8% unemployment rate is substantially lower than the rest of the nation's. The governor credits this exceptional growth to things like low taxes and tort reform. It's a strong message. But one of the governor's signature economic development initiatives—the Texas Emerging Technology Fund—has lately raised serious questions among some conservatives. The Emerging Technology Fund was created at Mr. Perry's behest in 2005 to act as a kind of public-sector venture capital firm, largely to provide funding for tech start-ups in Texas. Since then, the fund has committed nearly $200 million of taxpayer money to fund 133 companies. Mr. Perry told a group of CEOs in May that the fund's "strategic investments are what's helping us keep groundbreaking innovations in the state." The governor, together with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the Texas House, enjoys ultimate decision-making power over the fund's investments.

Ezam wants to burn down online news portals

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/08/12/ezam-wants-to-burn-down-online-news-portals/

Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Umno senator Ezam Mohd Nor said he has to come to the defence of Islam and will wage war against those who tarnish the religion, including burning online news portals. He also warned Muslim staff of Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider not to become agents for infidels. “Don’t be a (Brutus) for the infidel’s agenda. You can find employment elsewhere,” Ezam said after claiming that these portals showed strong stance against the JAIS action at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC). “We give you a last warning. If you don’t stop, we’ll burn,” said Ezam, a former ally of Anwar Ibrahim. He also extended his threat to the Muslims who abet the non-Muslims in conversions out of Islam. “We have no choice but to wage war to protect the Muslim faith,” said Ezam in front of 500 fellow Muslims at the compound of the Selangor state mosque in Shah Alam

Girl in Uganda Loses Use of Legs after Leaving Islam for Christ: Muslim father locked 14-year-old in room with almost no food or water for months.

http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/uganda/article_116148.html

Most schools of Islamic thought proscribe the death penalty for leaving Islam. Her father only tortured her. I suppose he was a moderate. ~Bob. Excerpt: A 14-year-old girl in western Uganda is still unable to walk 10 months after her father tortured her for leaving Islam and putting her faith in Christ, according to area Christians. Susan Ithungu of Isango village, Kasese district, has been hospitalized at Kagando Hospital since October 2010 after neighbors with police help rescued her from her father, Beya Baluku. He was arrested shortly afterward but quickly released, sources said.

Political Digest for August 13, 2011

Best older posts for new blog readers

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-older-posts-for-new-readers.html

Rick Perry to Announce GOP Candidacy Saturday

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/08/11/rick-perry-announce-gop-candidacy-saturday#ixzz1UkmDbDyC

Excerpt: Texas Gov. Rick Perry will make "a definitive announcement that he is in the 2012 race for the presidency Saturday," aides told Fox News.

Appeals court strikes down health overhaul requirement that most Americans must buy insurance

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/appeals-court-strikes-down-health-overhaul-requirement-that-most-americans-must-buy-insurance/2011/08/12/gIQA53MOBJ_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

Excerpt: A federal appeals court panel on Friday struck down the requirement in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul package that virtually all Americans must carry health insurance or face penalties. The divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the so-called individual mandate, which is considered the centerpiece of the law, siding with 26 states that had sued to block the law. But the panel didn’t go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.

London Riots: How Some Residents Burned Their Own Community

http://news.yahoo.com/riots-london-community-consumed-itself-070607087.html

Excerpt: It took 140 years to build up the House of Reeves furniture store, but only a few hours to destroy it. On Aug. 9, the morning after arsonists left the Croydon landmark in ruins, its owner put on a brave face for reporters. "It's been there since 1867, survived two wars, a depression. Yet the community seems to have burned it down," Maurice Reeves told news crews. "I'm 80 years old. It was my wedding anniversary yesterday. I don't know how I'm here today, but I am." On Aug. 10, Reeves paced around the wreckage - red bricks charred black, wooden planks split like toothpicks - but kept his eyes glued to the asphalt. Then, when a yellow bulldozer emblazoned with the word "Demolition" pulled up, Reeves walked away. For a town recovering from the worst violence since bombs rained down during World War II, the destruction of the House of Reeves symbolizes the mindless thuggery that engulfed Croydon as well as cities and towns across England. Millions watched the Croydon blaze grow larger on live television; police couldn't ensure that the mob wouldn't attack the fire crews, so the firefighters were delayed and arrived too late to save the store. … It's more of a statement than a question, and underscores the skepticism many have about the police's ability to control the country's youth. "The police were absolutely useless," says Malcolm Carter, a street sweeper who has spent much of the past two days cleaning up the mess. "Two hundred kids ruled the police in Croydon. The police are scared of them." Sure, 16,000 police swelled the streets of London on Aug. 9 - up from 6,000 the previous night. And it's now clear that the show of force helped reinstate a degree of calm. But when police ranks inevitably thin, vigilantes may need to keep the peace using chains and cricket bats. On the two nights after the fire, up to 50 men assembled at a pub in Croydon at sunset to prepare for the worst. "If they come down here, they'll be at them," Carter says. "They're going to do what the police won't and take the law into their own hands. (Why would the police risk their lives, knowing the government is more likely to try them than the thugs? In ten years it will be shoot to kill, and hanging looters on the spot. You heard it here first. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: How the liberals ruined Britain

http://melaniephillips.com/how-the-liberals-ruined-britain

Excerpt: So now the chickens have well and truly come home terrifyingly to roost. The violent anarchy that has taken hold of British cities is the all-too-predictable outcome of a three-decade liberal experiment which tore up virtually every basic social value. The married two-parent family, educational meritocracy, punishment of criminals, national identity, enforcement of the drugs laws and many more fundamental conventions were all smashed by a liberal intelligentsia hell-bent on a revolutionary transformation of society. Those of us who warned over the years that they were playing with fire were sneered at and smeared as right-wing nutters who wanted to turn the clock back to some mythical golden age.

England Used to Be a Country of Men: Something has changed in the English character.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274268/england-used-be-country-men-frank-miniter

Excerpt: With London succumbing to looters and muggers, it’s time to ask what happened to the once-manly English people. The August 9 issue of the Daily Mail, for example, includes a photo of a young man taking off his pants on the street as an impatient looter waits with the emasculated Briton’s sneakers and shirt already in his hands. Luckily the feeble Englishman chooses boxers over briefs, but I can’t help wondering if men such as T. E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, or Lord Acton could have stomached the state of manliness in this generation of Englishmen. … So I used a largely forgotten piece of history that always makes Englishmen blush: After Dunkirk in May of 1940, only the British Navy, an outnumbered British air corps, and about 20 miles of water protected the English people from German invasion. In their retreat back to England, the British forces lost much of their firearms and weaponry; meanwhile, gun-control laws passed after World War I had mostly disarmed British civilians, leaving the English people helpless. Aware of their plight, a group of Americans, headed by C. Suydam Cutting, established the “American Committee for Defense of British Homes,” a group that ran an ad in the National Rifle Association’s official journal American Rifleman that read in part: “Send a Gun to Defend a British Home.” The NRA subsequently sent more than 7,000 private arms to England. The U.S. military, of course, sent many more. Winston Churchill said, “We had become a hornet’s nest. Anyhow, if we had to go down fighting . . . a lot of our men and women had weapons in their hands.”

Forced to strip naked in the street: Shocking scenes as rioters steal clothes and rifle through bags as people make their way home
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024001/UK-riots-2011-London-Birmingham-people-forced-strip-naked-street.html

Excerpt: This picture shows the shocking depths the thugs were prepared to plumb – stealing the clothes from a man’s back. The taller, broader man already holds a pair of white and green trainers and a white T-shirt in his hands. Now, it seems, he wants the trousers too. The shorter man dutifully removes his jeans, leaving only his dark blue underpants and his white socks.

Worth Reading: Learning Something from the Streets?

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/274335/learning-something-streets-victor-davis-hanson

Excerpt: Thousands of pages have already been written in explication of the British rioting and (quite lesser incidence of) American flash mobbing. If one combines these analyses with direct news accounts, op-eds, Youtube confessionals, and official government pronouncements describing constantly changing strategies, I think one can draw three disinterested conclusions. 1. Material well-being is now defined in relative rather than absolute terms. That is, poverty means lacking the opportunities afforded the 21st-century upper middle classes, not in being deprived, in a Dickensian sense, of food (obesity, not hunger, is a Western epidemic), shelter, hot water, or access to transportation. 2. There is a natural assumption that inequality is attributable to oppression of some sort, rather than luck, fate, circumstances of birth, hard work, education, and all the multitude of complex factors that determine that a few work for $200 an hour and far more earn $20 or less.

England riots: Are brooms the symbol of the resistance?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14475741

A more positive story, but they didn’t win the Battle of Britain by sweeping up after the raids. They have to go after the anti-British barbarian invaders. ~Bob. Excerpt: After the rioting every night this week, the news headlines told a bleak story of communities under attack. But hours later locals wearing wellies and washing up gloves were reclaiming the streets with brooms, bin bags and dustpans. The fightback has been co-ordinated by the Twitter campaign #riotcleanup, launched by Dan Thompson and Sophie Collard, two strangers who were united by a shared sense of outrage at the scenes of devastation. "The most shocking thing was the TV footage of fires spreading across London," says Thompson, an artist in Worthing. "The pictures of the furniture warehouse in Croydon burning was like something out of the Blitz." The response to the Twitter campaign was dramatic. By the following morning crowds of people had gathered in riot-affected areas like Clapham Junction and Hackney. When London Mayor Boris Johnson went to inspect the damage in Clapham Junction, the crowd chanted "where's your broom" and one was soon pushed into his hand.

Police furious at sentences handed out to young rioters despite Cameron's vow they will pay the price

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025187/Child-looters-lock-Rioters-aged-11-12-let-slap-wrist.html#ixzz1UnuvJu3F

Excerpt: Police are disappointed with sentences being handed out to the rioters that have brought chaos to England's streets, senior chiefs have revealed. David Cameron has insisted that anyone involved in the violent unrest of recent days will feel the full force of the law, regardless of their age. But Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh has admitted some his officers in London are unhappy with the punishments they have been given. Child looters are being freed and allowed to return home to their families - and because of their age the law dictates their identities have to be protected. (Contrast the sentences -- or lack thereof -- given to the rioters per this article shown below to the imprisonment of Norman Scarth, an 80+ year old WW II hero, simply for recording in court (which he had been allowed to do previously -- then he had merely submitted a request to the judge and was granted permission). Norman was sentenced for being a dissident. Real criminals -- the Lumpenproletariate -- get a slap on the wrist. That is how Marxist dictatorships often work. It is clear that European nations are no longer part of the "free" world -- whatever that has come to mean. Let me spell it out: the only REAL crime left in Europe is opposing the elites publicly in such a way that the Ruling Class could lose some of its sway over people's minds. Rioters are politically unaware and only riot out of a vague sense of disenfranchisement. Otherwise, they are inarticulate, so they are no threat to the powers that be, which can easily persuade the bovine masses that they are "protecting" them simply by making speeches and press releases that make them seem tough. Pure posturing. Protecting the innocent from dangerous rioters who senselessly burn buildings and throw rocks at the police is no longer the role of government. David Cameron, like Barack Obama, is ONLY there to lie skillfully to the public and keep them docile -- an increasingly easy job as Westerners are dumbed down to near earthworm level. Western governments have lost the ability to govern. In the long run, that may prove to be a blessing. --Don Hank)

Petition: Free WW II hero Norman Scarth from prison

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/free-wwii-veteran-norman-scarth-from-leeds-prison.html

Norman Scarth was recording in court because he is hard of hearing. In that past he had received permission to do so. This time he was unable to reach the judge in time with his request. Because Norman is a dissident who states what most already know, namely, that the EU is a dictatorship (the incarceration of an octogenarian war vet is solid evidence of that), he is being punished for speaking out. He has been locked up with serious offenders. His "crime" hardly calls for that. Please sign this petition for Norman's immediate release. --Don Hank

London's Islington borough was the exemplar of leftist Britain. Now it's up in smoke.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904006104576502301564142090.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Excerpt: In April 1993, black teenager Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop in south London. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) bungled the investigation, and by 1997 Britain's new Labour government announced a judicial inquiry into the matter. The report was published in 1999 and found that "institutional racism affects the MPS, and police services elsewhere." It also made recommendations aimed at "the elimination of racist prejudice and disadvantage and the demonstration of fairness in all aspects of policing." Since then the country's police services have been suffering a public nervous breakdown, quaking at every public-relations setback and buckling under mounting restrictions on their ability to do their jobs. The Metropolitan Police is also leaderless, its commissioner having resigned last month in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. (Same thing is coming here) What has happened to the British police in the last decade is a textbook example of how to wreck an institution. In November 2010, when students and anarchists took to the streets in protest of rising tuition fees, they vandalized property and smashed the Conservative Party's headquarters. The police seemed unable to stop them. A couple of nights ago a member of the public in an affluent London neighborhood accosted a group of rioters. They beat him into traction while a policeman looked on. He had apparently called for backup and could not do anything until it arrived. Dysfunction does not only permeate Britain's police force. It applies to most of Britain's institutions, from schools to social services to local governments.

West Allis Police release timeline detailing incidents at State Fair

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-20110808-fair-mob-reports,0,1285413.story

Excerpt: The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department released 911 audio from the opening night of State Fair. These tapes display the graphic details of the attacks, some of which were racially motivated. We also spoke with someone who could put that part of the story in perspective. Most callers tell dispatchers they see a racially motivated melee. One caller told dispatchers, "A whole bunch of black dudes f----- jumped on me. I'm bleeding all over. West Allis Police recently released a statement on what took place at State Fair on opening night. They say there are currently nine assaults, one robbery without a weapon and one attempted robbery with a weapon being investigated. (Trust the media to interview a former White Power guy for balance. ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Brotherly love from Philly’s mayor

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/brotherly_love_from_philly_mayor_UMpqGMKMxVH3FNU020OAqN#ixzz1UoXgjjWj

Excerpt: Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia was true to his word when he took to the pulpit at Mount Carmel Baptist Church and prefaced his remarks: “I’m going to say some things this morning that I know from time to time many of you think, but may not say. They will not be PC.” He proceeded to unloose a 25-minute speech that must rank among the most brutally forthright calls for personal responsibility and adult authority that an elected official has ever delivered in these United States. Philadelphia has been beset by “flash mobs,” roving bands of teenagers who descend on innocent bystanders to beat and rob them in a miniature version of the senseless destruction that has engulfed London. Urban violence always occasions tawdry excuse-making under the guise of a search for “root causes.” With a pungent plain-spokenness, Nutter zeroed in on the true root causes -- irresponsible parents and their ignorant, slovenly and undisciplined kids. “Parents,” Nutter said, “get your act together. Get it together, right now!” On the cusp of officially announcing a new curfew for teens that will bring potential sanctions for the parents of violators, he warned neglectful parents: “You’re going to find yourself spending some quality time with your kids in jail, together.” And that was practically the warm-and-fuzzy portion of his presentation. He had scorching words for absent fathers in a city with an astronomical black illegitimacy rate: “You’re not a father just because you have a kid, or two, or three.” If you’re not providing moral instruction to your children and instead are sending child-support payments, “You’re just a human ATM.” If you’re doing neither, “You’re just a sperm donor.

Troubled Waters: Why China's Navy Makes Asia Nervous

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2087973,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-full-mostpopular

Excerpt: Macau's harbor was never deep enough for the Varyag. The orphaned warship of a former superpower, with its distinct ski-jump-like bow for launching planes, wound up instead in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. There, it has slowly been transformed into the first aircraft carrier of a future superpower. Now the world has a new set of concerns about the former Varyag. On Aug. 10 the newly refurbished carrier set sail from Dalian for its first sea trial. Its casino cover story long discarded, the ship will enter a wager with decidedly higher stakes: the projection of China's military power on the high seas.

As The World Burns, Obama Blames Israel

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/as_the_world_burns_obama_blames_israel.html

Excerpt: After the bloodiest day ever in Afghanistan, the first downgrade of U.S. credit in history, the Dow crashing and England run riot, it's comforting to know Obama is focused on what's really wrong: Jews building homes in Jerusalem. Commentary reports: "Obama Renews Assault on Jewish Jerusalem" "The Obama administration renewed its attack on Jewish Jerusalem today by formally condemning the construction of apartments in part of the city. The approval last week of a housing project in the Har Homa neighborhood of the city was blasted by the State Department as being contrary to the peace process and an impediment to the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians." Given Obama's disastrous week, I expect President Palin will be in Jerusalem to celebrate the opening of these much-needed new homes.

Who is the focus at this dignified transfer?

http://www.onemarinesview.com/one_marines_view/2011/08/my-entry.html

Excerpt: “A White House photographer (the only photographer there) was allowed to take and widely distribute a photo from the ceremony Tuesday for the return of the remains of 30 American troops killed in a weekend helicopter crash in Afghanistan despite the Pentagon's claim that any public depiction of the scene would violate the wishes of bereaved families.” Under the Pentagon policy spelled out in March 2009, the option to allow media access is explained to family members when they are notified of their loved one's death, and "primary next of kin will make the family decision regarding media access to dignified transfers at Dover." I have to ask the obvious question apparently. If the Pentagon respected the requests of the family members (19 out of the 30) that didn’t want the event photographed, why didn’t the White House respect those 19 family members’ requests? The photograph wasn’t of “caskets” but it was of the President and was posted on the White House website as the "Photo of the Day." It showed Obama and other officials in silhouette and did not depict caskets, family members or anything that brought respect to those fallen. Was the White House photographer there to focus on the heroes killed in action and the event at hand or was this a staged event that was focused on the POTUS?

Suggested letter to your local paper

From Paul, a blog reader: Dear Editor: I’ve been – like most Americans – following the debt limit fiasco in Disneyland East (Washington, DC) since it began many weeks ago all the way to its typical political “solution” last week, followed by S & P’s downgrade of our debt (U. S. Treasury issues) from AAA to AA+. For the last 4-5 days, though, when I wake up (and before I have my morning coffee), I have this strange feeling that, overnight, I must have slipped into an alternate universe. It seems like – just the night before – when I went to bed, the continual television news “winners-losers” competition about the debt limit increase, followed by the downgrade, had the GOP House at a slight lead in the competition, followed by the Democratic Senate, with President Obama equally on the same negative level as his Senate. When I woke up this morning and turned on my cable news, after hearing what I thought I heard, I knew that, somehow, I had been transported to an alternate universe. Where before, the GOP was regarded as the only group on capitol hill who had the real solution to solving the burgeoning U. S. debt problem, who maintained that the increasing debt load wasn’t because of not enough revenue (taxes), but, instead, was the result of our government spending and spending way too much money. The GOP-controlled House had also prepared their own well-thought-out budget, which was immediately tabled by Sen. Reid in the Senate. Instead, now I’m hearing that the budget deal could have been reached much more quickly if the GOP hadn’t been so obstructionist, and we wouldn’t have a debt downgrade if it wasn’t for the GOP and the Tea Party. What happened? When I went to bed, Sen. Reid, majority leader of the Democratic majority in the U. S. Senate, had done nothing but refuse to bring to a vote or table anything that originated from the House GOP majority to reduce spending and begin to build to balanced budgets within ten years, without a tax increase. The Senate never even suggested generalities of what they’d like to see and was never specific about anything. Even the bi-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), when asked about the President’s plan, responded by saying, “We can’t score a campaign speech.” The American people have got to wake up, become much more well informed about our U. S. budget deficit, and then vote next November of 2012 to elect a President and more House and Senate members who will vote for what’s best for our country, not just for their re-election and their Party. --YOUR NAME

Bachmann Is For Real: Connecting with crowds as she heads into the straw poll

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274294/bachmann-real-michael-barone

Excerpt: Things look different in the Midwest. Back in Washington, people are talking about Pres. Barack Obama’s poor showing this past week. (Did you see that Maureen Dowd has turned against him?) In Iowa, they’re focused on the state Republicans’ presidential straw poll in Ames next Saturday. And in Wisconsin, they just got through counting the votes in a recall election that has great national significance. In Iowa, most of the focus has been on Rep. Michele Bachmann. She’s only in her third term in the House, and she hasn’t sponsored any major legislation; she has no executive experience in government. Her Iowa headquarters, in a suburban shopping mall near a Panera Bread cafe, opened only two months ago. But the buzz is that she has a serious chance to come in first in the straw poll — and far ahead of her Minnesota neighbor, former governor Tim Pawlenty, who several months ago seemed destined to carry Iowa.

We Don’t Need Another George W. Bush

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=3847

Last Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry unofficially launched his 2012 Presidential candidacy in Houston (in my opinion). Speculation is he will officially announce his intentions this weekend in South Carolina. If he does declare his candidacy, many election-watchers say Perry will become the GOP frontrunner, due to an extremely weak field of declared candidates. If Perry does declare his candidacy, everyone will know that the Houston event was staged for the purpose of launching his Presidential bid, rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. If Perry declares his candidacy (and I’m confident he will), people should also realize that the Houston event was a precursor to the type of campaign that Perry will use throughout the Republican primary season. As a fellow Texan, it was not lost on Rick Perry how George W. Bush obtained the Republican nomination--and eventually the White House. In short, Rick Perry is going to use the G.W. Bush model to win a Presidential election. Think about it: G.W. Bush won the White House after an extremely unpopular liberal Democrat had been President. Barack Obama’s popularity is even lower than Bill Clinton’s was--and Clinton was only the second President in US history to ever be impeached!

They’re not all here to work

http://www.examiner.com/immigration-reform-in-national/they-re-not-all-here-to-work#ixzz1Ukybn8VC

Excerpt: For years, we have been told by politicians such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), former President George W. Bush and current President Barack Obama that illegal aliens are just here “doing the jobs that Americans won’t do.” Open-border advocates continue to make this absurd claim even as actual unemployment in this country approaches 20 percent. While it is true that many illegal aliens are working, it is also true that by doing so, they are in fact, taking a job away from an American. In many cases, they have also stolen a citizen’s identity to take that job from an unscrupulous employer. However, far too many of those who cross into this country illegally do so to commit heinous crimes against the American people. On Monday, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested three previously deported Mexican nationals with serious criminal histories in the Arizona desert.

USPS proposes cutting 120,000 jobs, pulling out of health-care plan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/usps-proposes-cutting-120000-jobs-pulling-out-of-health-care-plan/2011/08/11/gIQAZxIM9I_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

Excerpt: In an attempt to stem its financial hemorrhaging, the U.S. Postal Service is seeking to reduce its workforce by 20 percent, including through layoffs now prohibited by union contracts. USPS also wants to withdraw its employees from the health and retirement plans that cover federal staffers and create its own benefit programs for postal employees. This major restructuring of the Postal Service’s relationship with its workforce would need congressional approval and would face fierce opposition from postal unions. But if approved, eliminating contract provisions that prevent layoffs and quitting the federal employee health and retirement programs could have ramifications for workers across the government and throughout the national’s labor movement.

Betting the French credit rating drops next

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/betting-the-french-credit-rating-drops-next/2011/08/11/gIQAgXCz9I_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: It was only a matter of time. Paddy Power, which calls itself “Ireland’s largest bookmaker,” is out with a betting line on which country will be next to have its credit rating downgraded by Standard & Poor’s. The bookies say France is the “early favorite” to get whacked, offering 2-1 odds Thursday that the rating agency will drop France down to AA+ from AAA. Paddy Power put the French in the top spot apparently after President Nicolas Sarkozy came out and insisted that no downgrade was imminent. (A fine vote of confidence in Sarkozy.) “Early betting trends suggest that France could be next in the firing line,” the bookmaker said, “but the USA downgrade shows that no country is safe.”

Michele Bachmann: Still standing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/michele-bachmann-still-standing/2011/08/11/gIQAtHeDAJ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) faced her first major test as the Iowa frontrunner at Thursday’s debate, and with just two days to go before the Ames Straw Poll, she came out of it with some battle scars but still retaining her frontrunner status. Bachmann had both good and bad moments during the debate, as a few of her competitors — and even a moderator — made it a point to make her an issue. Overall, she came out of the debate still looking like the frontrunner in the straw poll, but certainly not bulletproof when it comes to the caucuses several months down the road.

The High Cost of Public Employee Health Benefits

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20976&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: In light of budget deficits and the need to identify ways to reduce spending in states across the United States, public discussion has increasingly focused on health care costs for public employees. Much of that discussion has focused on the relatively low share of insurance premiums paid by government workers when compared with their private-sector counterparts. Although this is a real phenomenon, it is not the only, or even the most important, reason for high health insurance costs, says Josh Barro, the Walter B. Wriston Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Among the reasons identified for the cost differences are: Public employees contribute less to their premiums -- an average of about 15 percent of the overall premium, compared with about 25 percent in the private sector. Public employee plans offer more generous benefits, including lower deductibles and lower copayments. Governments require shorter enrollment waiting periods for new employees than in the private sector. Public employees have higher opt-in rates for employer-provided coverage: 26 percent of private-sector workers choose not to participate in available employer health plans, while just 16 percent of government workers chose not to. Realigning government-employee contributions to match those of the private sector could save taxpayers millions of dollars a year. However, this simple approach does not bend the cost curve over time -- benefits will still continue to grow astronomically -- and further, it will understandably upset workers by reducing their take-home pay. Barro recommends instead that governments work more broadly to reduce their spending on health benefits -- including by reducing the overall cost of plans offered to employees. 

Shortening Unemployment Benefits Will Help U.S. Jobless: View

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-03/shortening-federal-unemployment-benefits-will-help-jobless-in-u-s-view.html

Excerpt: In 2009, Congress extended jobless benefits to 99 weeks, the longest period in U.S. history. Those payments were meant to help unemployed workers get through a tough recession, while shoring up a faltering economy. Was it a wise approach? And with extended benefits expiring at year’s end, should compensation be prolonged again? Drawn-out benefits have been most effective at sustaining household income for displaced workers. State and federal programs will pay $129.5 billion this year in jobless benefits, according to Labor Department actuaries. Those payments provide roughly 50 percent of lost wages. Nearly all that cash re-enters the economy quickly as recipients pay for food, clothing or housing. For that reason, jobless benefits have long been thought of as one of the most efficient ways to prevent consumer spending from collapsing during a slump. Unfortunately, the 99-week experiment hasn’t been so successful in helping people get re-employed. Drawn-out benefits have caused job hunts to stretch out by almost a month -- with no greater guarantee of success -- according to economists Mary Daly, Bart Hobijn and Rob Valletta. All three work for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. (Surgery is often painful, often necessary for survival. ~Bob.)

Are Taxpayers Getting Their Money's Worth?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20979&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Citizens across the country are struggling to make ends meet. They are frustrated with the failure of their elected representatives in Congress to address pressing national problems to make things better for all Americans. Compounding their frustration is the fact that members of Congress receive pay and benefits far in excess of what average working Americans receive, says the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. In addition to a salary of $174,000 per year, which by itself puts members of Congress among the highest-paid 5 percent of American workers, Congressmen and women receive more generous fringe benefits than typical American employees. In fact, congressional compensation including benefits totals around $285,000 per year. In a time when unemployment rates are at unacceptably high levels and those who are working are often subject to "pay for performance" standards, it is galling to many to hear of the generous pay and benefits Congress has provided for itself. Members of Congress should be adequately compensated for their efforts. However, the salaries and benefits make them among the best compensated employees in the American workforce. Given record budget deficits and Congress' seeming inability to agree on plans to address the shortfall, many Americans are skeptical of what they receive in return for what they are paying their elected representatives. Immediate steps need to be taken to cut Congressional salaries and benefits and reassure Americans that sacrifices made during this economic downturn are being widely shared. (Congressmen do not get a “lifetime pension” after only one term. They have a generous retirement system, probably better than yours, but not that generous. It’s an Internet rumor, forwarded by people who believe everything in their inbox and are too lazy to check. ~Bob.)

President Obama Sticks to Stimulus Script

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/12/morning-bell-president-obama-sticks-to-stimulus-script/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: In the 1993 comedy Dave, a small-town presidential impersonator is called on to pretend to be the actual President of the United States when the commander in chief takes ill. Dave steps into the White House, takes his new role too far, and with wide-eyed innocence promises America, "I'm initiating a program to try to find a decent job for every American who wants one." Yesterday in Holland, Michigan, President Barack Obama made a strikingly similar pledge: Over the coming weeks, I’m going to be putting out more proposals, week by week, that will help businesses hire and put people back to work. And I’m going to keep at it until every single American who wants a job can find one. It's anyone's guess if President Obama was taking a page from Dave's playbook, hoping that the magic of Hollywood or the power of a populist message would resonate with Americans, helping to turn around his plummeting poll numbers.

Dozens of Donors Back Multiple GOP Presidential Candidates

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/08/dozens-of-donors-back-multiple-gop-presidential-candidates.html

Excerpt: Fred Bialek isn't sure whom he'd like to support in the GOP presidential race. So he made a $1,000 contribution to both former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to attend events at which they spoke and to hear what they had to say. "When I did give the money, it was to go to session with them, and my primary motivation was to get a feel for them," Bialek, a retiree from Woodside, Calif., told OpenSecrets Blog. "I was trying to find out if I wanted to support them." He is far from the only individual who has donated to both of the former governors. At least 66 individuals have contributed to both campaigns through the second quarter of 2011, new research by the Center for Responsive Politics shows. And about half of those donors gave $2,500 or more to both men. Some of the people making these double contributions are prominent Republican donors who have had a heavy hand in previous Republican campaigns. (Some people try to cover all bets. In my second senate campaign in 1974, I discovered two people who contributed to me and to my Democrat opponent, Bernie Chartrand. I can still tell you their names and the amounts. I had more respect for folks who only gave to my opponent—at least they were sincere. If wrongheaded. ~Bob.)

Debate Tweet from @moelane

Moe Lane

Did Tim Pawlenty just advocate Mossad's assassination campaign of Iranian nuclear scientists? I mean, YES, of course, but damn.

Perry Tweet from @comradescott Comrade Scott

They were going to name a street after Rick Perry, but no one crosses Rick Perry and lives. (No, I’m not on Twitter yet. Picked these up from posts. ~Bob.)

The Left's Summer of Discontent

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904140604576499003691054810.html?mod=djemITP_h

Progressives increasingly see Obama as a loser. If so, it's because he is one of them. Barack Obama's recent political difficulties have proved shattering to many of his erstwhile enthusiasts. One of them is Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate.com, who in a column last week declared himself fed up—with America. The lesson of the debt-ceiling deal, Mr. Weisberg sobbed, is that "there is no point trying to explain complex matters to the American people. The president has tried reasonableness and he has failed." A pithier expression of this lament was the headline of an online column by liberal Republican Charles Fried: "Obama Is Too Good for Us." It takes an authoritarian mindset to look at a failing leader and fault the people for failing to follow him. But Mr. Weisberg has long harbored suspicions about his countrymen's fitness to be led by the man he described, in an August 2008 column, as "handsome, brilliant and cool." At the time, Mr. Obama was not doing as well in the polls as Mr. Weisberg thought he should have been, given the all-around awesomeness of the junior senator from Illinois. If Mr. Obama lost to John McCain, Mr. Weisberg concluded, it could mean only one thing: America was irredeemably racist. You heard that a lot in those days, and although Mr. Obama is generally credited with having run a high-minded postracial campaign, he was not above slandering his critics as bigots in an effort to evade scrutiny. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run," he said at a fund-raiser in June 2008, after securing the nomination. "They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?"

Sharia Enclaves in the West

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/12/sharia-enclaves-in-the-west/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f9c5910590-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGNExcerpt: Islamist organizations are hard at work creating Muslim enclaves in the West, including right here in the United States. These efforts are designed to create Islamic autonomous areas, often with the expressed desire of incrementally bringing the host country completely under Sharia-based governance. This campaign has not stopped or even slowed down since FrontPage Magazine and the Middle East Forum shined the light on it one year ago. One group leading the effort to establish Islamist communities within the U.S. is As-Sabiqun, led by an extremist cleric named Imam Abdul Alim Musa. His list of heroes reads like a who’s-who of the jihadist world, from Hasan al-Banna to Sayyid Qutb to Ayatollah Khomeini. He recently heaped praise upon Iranian President Ahmadinejad. In June 2002, he expressed support for suicide bombings in Israel. He preaches that the 9/11 attacks were a CIA/Mossad operation, says he “like[s]” Osama Bin Laden, supports Hezbollah, and describes Hamas as being “very nice people.” The As-Sabiqun Web site has a plan to create Sharia enclaves in the U.S. in stages, beginning with moving Muslims to one area and setting up independent social services. As-Sabiqun is now fundraising for two new initiatives: The “Islamic Institute of Counter Zionist American Psychological Warfare” and the “College in Islamic Movement Studies.” The appeal for support explains, “We are an anti-Zionist American psycho-guerrilla warfare movement.”

The Left Owns the Election Law Industry

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/12/the-left-owns-the-election-law-industry/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f9c5910590-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: Before the 2000 presidential election, most Americans assumed the mechanics of elections functioned smoothly. The thirty-six day battle for the presidency demonstrated otherwise. Today, most Americans still assume the institutions, firms and foundations that fight about election law disputes are equally matched and similarly funded as between left and right. That is a dangerously incorrect assumption, especially with the 2012 election fast approaching. From an election administration perspective, the 2012 presidential election is already upon us. And the Left is fully engaged. Like so many other institutions, whether academia or the media, leftists dominate the field of election law, and the consequences are immediate and devastating. Worst of all, hardly anyone has noticed that these scores of leftist election experts enjoy a largely unopposed battlefield. Leftist foundations, litigators and organizations have established permanent structures designed to alter election outcomes through policy advocacy and strategic litigation.

The End of Israel?

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/12/how-israels-end-will-look/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f9c5910590-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: Maybe imagining nightmarish scenarios is only the fantasy of some pessimist writers. Maybe Israel will live through a very quiet period ahead and the worst-case predictions will never materialize. But Israel’s enemies are working for a future that is clear to them: a world without Zionism, a world without Israel. Why is it not alarming when Haifa, the third-largest Israeli city, is building “the largest underground hospital in the world” to be used in case of war? Is it immoral to be on alert for a possible disaster when the Jewish State is distributing new gas masks or when the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv installs numerous underground shelters? Even the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is building a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms from where the Jewish leadership would guide the country in case of attacks. Israel remains the only “bunkered” democracy in the world, a country where its military Research and Development Directorate calculated the effects of an Iranian nuclear bomb on Tel Aviv: “A blast radius of about 500 meters and 20,000 people killed,” they said.

Soaking the Rich Won't Get Us There

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/craigsteiner/2011/08/12/soaking_the_rich_wont_get_us_there

Excerpt: The point missed in the article above--and apparently by many in the public--is that $750 billion over a decade is $75 billion/year out of a deficit that has been running at more than a trillion dollars per year for the last three years. Even draconian and confiscatory tax increases on the wealthy would not be enough to substantially decrease the deficit without endangering economic activity. (Because the rich can often avoid taxes, either illegally like Tim Gaithner and Charlie Rangel or legal, and because increased taxes on them reduce their participation in the tax paying economy, the $75B a year figure may in fact be inflated. ~Bob)

48% Think Spending Cuts Could Trigger Violence

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/august_2011/48_think_spending_cuts_could_trigger_violence

They are right, of course, but the coming forced spending cuts of fiscal collapse will produce much worse violence. ~Bob. Excerpt: Nearly one-out-of-two Americans (48%) think that cuts in government spending are at least somewhat likely to lead to violence in the United States, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. But that includes just 13% who feel it’s Very Likely. Nearly as many Adults (44%), however, believe violence as the result of spending cuts is unlikely, but only 12% say it’s Not At All Likely.

The White House tries to put one over on the Supreme Court.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904006104576502401614308620.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Excerpt: "The White House . . . has quietly altered its website to remove the references to Jerusalem being in 'Israel,' " the New York Sun reports. It sounds like another make-work Keynesian stimulus: dig a hole, fill it up. But the Obama administration forgot the first rule of holes: When you're in one, stop digging. (How's that for a passably bad Thomas Friedman imitation?) The website editing is an attempt to put one over on the Supreme Court, and we doubt it will succeed. Currently pending before the high court is the case of Zivotofsky v. Clinton. Appellant Menachem Zivotofsky, 9, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Jerusalem. As a Sun report from last week explained, two months after Menachem's birth, his parents went to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to apply for a passport for the boy. They asked that his country of birth be listed as Israel, but "the embassy refused, citing longstanding State Department policy that such passports list only 'Jerusalem,' with no country added." (This policy applies only to the capital, not other Israeli cities.) In 2002 Congress enacted legislation to reverse this policy, directing the State Department to list the country of origin as Israel on passports (as well as birth and nationality certificates) if a Jerusalem-born applicant requests it. The provision was part of a larger spending bill, which President Bush signed into law, but he issued one of those "signing statements" that were anathema to liberals before Barack Obama fundamentally transformed America.

CALIF. State's high school dropout rate almost 20 percent

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/11/BAT71KMA37.DTL&feed=rss.news

Excerpt: Nearly 1 out of every 5 students in California's projected class of 2010 - 18.2 percent - dropped out of high school before graduation day, meaning 94,000 teenagers hit the streets without diplomas, according to data released Thursday. Perhaps more alarming are the 17,000 eighth-grade students who quit before attending a single day of high school, about 3 percent of their class. These numbers are believed to be California's first accurate assessment of the dropout and graduation rates using a data system that tracks individual students over their four-year high school career, according to the state Department of Education. (Worse, how many of those who did graduate can read, write, do math or know civics or history at what should be the high school level? ~Bob.)

Five things Obama should do to lead

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/11/gergen.market.leadership/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Excerpt: When you have flown through a heavy storm, the plane tossing one way and another, have you ever wondered whether there was really anyone in the cockpit? That's the feeling that many Americans have today -- as if we are lurching through an economic storm with no one in charge. Ordinarily in a crisis, people keep their hopes up because a leader steps forward and instills faith that eventually, this, too, shall pass. Think of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Depression and World War II, calming the country with his fireside chats. Think of John F. Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis. Or Walter Cronkite during the Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations. Ronald Reagan after his shooting. Or Rudy Giuliani on 9/11.But in the current economic turmoil, the country doesn't have much confidence in anyone. With the stock markets crashing early this week, President Barack Obama tried to reassure -- and the Dow sank another 200 points. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke up Tuesday, and the roller coaster continued. While still popular with their base, Republican leaders have lost considerable ground beyond that group. Voices in the White House -- and some outside -- blame the media for making things worse than they are. And CEOs -- looked to as oracles only a few years ago -- have long since toppled from their pedestals.