Political Digest for November 23, 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. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.

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

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-copy-of-coming-collapse-of.html

Book Recommendation: Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson

http://www.amazon.com/Carnage-Culture-Landmark-Battles-Western/dp/0385720386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321981435&sr=8-1

Having long been a fan of Hanson’s clear, focused political columns, often linked in this blog, I was delighted to stumble across one of his history books. In Carnage and Culture, Hanson considers European and American battles against non-western forces from Salamis to Tet. He links western military success to our institutions and culture, including the rights afforded citizens no where but the west, and the ability of free markets to create, innovate and build weapon systems. Some of his quotes alone are worth the price of the book. Referring to the flyers at Midway, many of whom sacrificed their lives in that great victory, Hanson writes, “One wonders if an America of suburban, video-playing Nicoles, Ashleys, and Jasons shall ever see their like again.” He also reports that, “In the first two years after the fall of Saigon (1975-77) there were almost twice as many total civilian fatalities in Southeast Asia … as all those incurred during the ten years of American involvement.” That and his comparison of the rules of engagement in Vietnam to WWII will especially resonate with Vietnam Vets. He also writes that (Capitalism) is a peculiar Western practice that acknowledges the self-interest of man and channels that greed to the production of vast amounts of goods and services through free markets and institutionalized guarantees of personal profit, free exchange, deposited capital, and private property.” The economically-ignorant OWS crowd might well wonder what they would do without credit cards, laptops, smart phones, not to mention food and clothing, if they destroy the system that has created a surplus of goods and freedom from want. I highly recommend this book.

Unwanted Guests Cartoon

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/11/unwanted-guests.html

Worth Reading: Alice in Liberal Land by Thomas Sowell

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/11/22/alice_in_liberal_land

Excerpt: In the world of Liberal Land, you can just take for granted all the benefits of the existing society, and then simply tack on your new, wonderful ideas that will make things better. For example, if the economy is going along well and you happen to take a notion that there ought to be more home ownership, especially among the poor and minorities, then you simply have the government decree that lenders have to lend to more low-income people and minorities who want mortgages, ending finicky mortgage standards about down payments, income and credit histories. … The history of the 20th century is a painful lesson on what happens when collective choices replace individual choices. Even leaving aside the chilling history of totalitarianism in the 20th century, the history of economic central planning shows it to have been such a widely recognized disaster that even communist and socialist governments were abandoning it as the century ended.

Congress Balks at Across-the-Board Cuts Triggered by Supercommittee Failure

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/22/congress-balks-at-across-the-board-cuts-triggered-by-supercommittee-failure.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

Excerpt: The first of those spending fights started before Murray and Hensarling even made their announcement, as members of both parties vowed that they will not go along with the across-the-board spending cuts slated to start in 2013, now that their committee has deadlocked on finding an alternative. The $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts would slash both defense and nondefense programs for the next 10 years by about 9 percent. Although a single-digit decrease hardly sounds like a catastrophe, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned last week that the military reductions would “devastate” the Pentagon and would result in the smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest number of ships since 1915, and the smallest Air Force in history. (All you will ever need to know about how seriously the left takes our national defense is revealed in the cavalier attitude of the Daily Beast’s editors’ teaser to get people to read this, their number one story this morning: “The supercommittee may have been a super failure, but there may be some good news to come out it: a sharp drop in annual federal deficits. Now, per an earlier agreement in Congress, spending cuts will kick in automatically, with at least half coming from defense spending in 2013. Plus, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2012. Together, the new cuts and taxes would cut the annual deficit by half. But as The Daily Beast’s Patricia Murphy reports, the bright side could soon dim—lawmakers are already setting up a campaign to block the automatic cuts.” Ron P.)

Doomsday for defense? By Arthur Herman

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/doomsday_for_defense_VvfokCJsQJXqTrF1dvkyTN#ixzz1eRYC7Ns1

Excerpt: Imagine being able to aim at and hit any target on the planet within an hour; or soldiers in Afghanistan calling in a pinpoint airstrike with missiles fired from Omaha. Taken together with the successful test by the Office of Naval Research over Halloween of its hypersonic electromagnetic railgun — which, once it goes into action, can knock out approaching missiles as far away as 100 miles — and we may be entering an era as revolutionary as when gunpowder replaced the crossbow. Unfortunately, now that Congress’ supercommittee has failed to reach some kind of budget deal, we may be doomed to crossbows for good.

Worth reading: They didn’t fail – they succeeded in doing nothing by John Podhoretz

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/they_didn_fail_they_succeeded_in_FnLojzFlEYd9CACM38CWDI#ixzz1eRTCHqLq

Excerpt: The supercommittee wasn’t a failure. It was a success, despite what everybody has said, is saying and will continue to say. The supercommittee triumphed in accomplishing what it was truly intended to accomplish. It was created to kick the can down the road. The only thing that mattered was that it come into existence, and it did. Its invention made increases in the debt ceiling possible through the end of President Obama’s term.

Stimulus funds helped some stocks soar

http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/story/2011-11-20/stimulus-stocks/51323470/1

Excerpt: As Congress and the White House launch investigations into renewable-energy loan guarantees made to companies such as Solyndra under the 2009 stimulus bill and related legislation, a USA TODAY analysis shows that a series of public companies that got help have soundly beaten the stock market and most venture-capital funds raised in 2008. 9there’s a name for government picking winners from corporations favored by the government. No, it’s not “crony capitalism.” Historically, it’s “fascism.”

Seeming Green by Bjørn Lomborg

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/lomborg78/English

Excerpt: When Denmark’s new government ministers presented themselves to Queen Margrethe II last month, the incoming development minister established his green credentials by rolling up to the palace in a tiny, three-wheeled, electric-powered vehicle. The photo opportunity made a powerful statement about the minister’s commitment to the environment – but probably not the one he intended. Christian Friis Bach’s electric-powered vehicle was incapable of covering the 30 kilometers from his house to the palace without running out of power. So he put the electric mini-car inside a horse trailer and dragged it behind his petrol-powered Citroën for three-quarters of the trip, switching back to the mini-car when he neared the television cameras. The stunt produced more carbon emissions than if he had ditched the electric car and horse trailer and driven a regular car the entire distance.

Mark of the Beast: Evil Symbols in Afghanistan

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/mark-of-the-beast-evil-symbols-in-afghanistan.htm

Excerpt: US Army MEDEVAC helicopters in Afghanistan are marked with Red Crosses. Helicopters sporting a Red Cross are not allowed to be armed. The enemy knows this. The enemy tries to shoot down these unarmed helicopters with the added advantage that our people cannot shoot back. And so, we push people into combat while advertising to the enemy that our people are unarmed. The best that can be said for this policy is that it’s wrong. The worst that can be said might be that it borders on criminal.

Why the Super Committee Failed: Democrats were unwilling to agree to anything less than $1 trillion in tax hikes, and unwilling to offer meaningful reforms for health-care entitlement spending. By Jeb Hensarling

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204531404577052240098105190.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: President Obama summed up our debt crisis best when he told Republican members of the House in January 2010 that "The major driver of our long-term liabilities . . . is Medicare and Medicaid and our health-care spending." A few months later, however, Mr. Obama and his party's leaders in Congress added trillions of dollars in new health-care spending to the government's balance sheet.

Newt’s Freddie payoff--- No excuse for his cashing in

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/newt_freddie_payoff_9V6T5iEQbqQq4JiBFkurKK#ixzz1eRacmWzG

Excerpt: Newt Gingrich racked up between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in payments from Freddie Mac through the years for, the former speaker maintains, essentially doing nothing. It’s not inconceivable that he’s right. Such was the incredible largesse available to the government-sponsored mortgage giant that one or two million dollars over the course of a decade was practically chump change. Gingrich says he didn’t lobby for Freddie, and in response to a question about his payments at one of the Republican debates, said he only offered advice to Freddie “as a historian” that its lending practices were insane.

Government vs. Soup Kitchen

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204531404577052434032855246.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: This Thursday, in a parish hall not far from the New Jersey town green where George Washington once made his winter headquarters, as many as 300 people will gather for their Thanksgiving meal. Some will be homeless, some will be mentally ill, some will be old, and some will be folks and families who have just hit a hard patch. For all of them, Morristown's Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center is one of the few blessings they can count on.

Bachmann still in the running, whacks AWOL Obama

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/bachmann-obama-supercommittee-failure/2011/11/21/id/418768?s=al&promo_code=D910-1

We don’t have any perfect candidates. If I were Bachmann, I would not only whack Obama for being AWOL on vital issues, I would also come out strongly against the whole idea of a super committee. But she is still more conservative than the others and as Obama's approval rating plummets, her chances of leading him in the polls improve. --Don Hank

Disabled Illegal Alien Felon Files Hundreds of Phony Claims – On Taxpayer’s Dime

http://standwitharizona.com/blog/2011/11/21/disabled-illegal-alien-files-hundreds-of-phony-claims-on-taxpayers-dollar/

Excerpt: Over a year ago, SWA reported on an illegal alien felon in Los Angeles – Alfredo Garcia – who had been filing hundreds of mostly-frivolous Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits against California companies – using our own legal system to enrich himself despite his illegal status. Incredibly, not only has he still not been deported – despite wide media attention – but he has filed hundreds of additional phony lawsuits, left free by our insane legal system to wreak havoc on SoCal businesses. (Once all 12 million illegals discover this scam, the whole ADD scam and courts will collapse in short order. ~Bob.)

Lord Chief Justice says courts should use more English common law in their decisions

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7545164/Lord-Chief-Justice-says-courts-should-use-more-English-common-law-in-their-decisions.html

Excerpt: Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, complained that judges were allowing the European Convention on Human Rights in Strasbourg to take precedence in their decision-making. He said it was up to judges to “save” English common law - which dates back to the 12th century - by relying on it for precedents in their cases, rather than always looking to Strasbourg for guidance. English common law, which has built up over the past 900 years, comprises legal decisions made by judges who have applied their common sense and knowledge of legal precedents to the facts placed before them.

Occupy Alone

http://media.patriotpost.us/humor/2011/11-22.html

Funny picture.

Occupy Black Friday

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=27598

Excerpt: And who is really going to be hurt? If sales are down, it’s the employees who’ll lose their jobs, starting with the newest and the lowest paid. So who is the inspiration for this occupy movement? This gathering the young Americans?

A video of Halal slaughter of turkeys

http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/warning-all-butterball-turkeys-are-halal-slaughter-certified/

Where is PETA. ~Bob

Taxpayer Losses on GM Bailout Are Going to Be Massive

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21335&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Last week the Treasury Department revised its loss estimate for the General Motors (GM) bailout from $14.33 billion to $23.6 billion, thanks to the company's sinking stock price. GM's September 30 closing price, on which the new estimate is based, was $20.18, about $13 less than its December IPO price and $35 less than what is needed for taxpayers to break even, says Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst at the Reason Foundation. The $23.6 billion represents a 25 percent loss on the federal government's $60 billion direct "investment" in GM. But that's not all that taxpayers are on the hook for. As explained previously, Uncle Sam's special GM bankruptcy package allowed the company to write off $45 billion in previous losses going forward.

Be Thankful

http://www.jdpendry.com/2011/11/21/be-thankful/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JDPendry+%28JDs+Bunker%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Excerpt: Be thankful for the men and women of this nation who volunteer each day to place themselves and their lives between you and anyone – foreign or domestic – who would deprive you of your freedom to choose. Be thankful that you are in a land that is more blessed than any nation in the history of the world and that you get to choose peacefully its leaders – a most important present choice. Be thankful. (SgtMaj Pendry, USA Retired, puts it all in perspective. Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless America. MasterGuns)

The Fannie and Freddie University

http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-fannie-and-freddie-university/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: It used to be that one did not dare go to a DeVry or Phoenix for-profit school for computer certification or accounting, because one would miss out on the rich undergraduate experience, both social and intellectual — best exemplified by the core curriculum of some 50-60 units in liberal arts and sciences. But if the university is serially subsidizing panels about global warming, lauds Palestinian activists, and runs workshops on homophobia (all without balance and counter-opinion), and if its GE required courses, whether so titled or not, are too often little more than the melodramatic obsessions of over-specialized, ranting professors who otherwise would have small audiences, then why spend the money and go through the charade of classically liberal instruction, especially given that the trade school is cheaper and more honestly pragmatic? (Hanson is merciless today. From reading want ads and my observations over the course of a long and border-line evil life, I recommend the following fields to those aspiring to careers: becoming a truck driver*, heating/cooling technician, small engine repairman, plumber, electrician, or accountant. These are all skills that can be learned inexpensively, are skills easily transferable from place to place, pay well enough to justify their expense, offer a measure of independence and will be in demand for the foreseeable future. I noticed surprisingly few openings for persons with degrees in Studies of Transgendered Contributions to Early American History or similar fields. *Yes, truck driver surprised me, too, but they say there is such a huge shortage of them, some trucking companies are even paying for the schooling provided the graduating student then works for them.  Ron P.)

Kan. plane maker says Air Force bars it from bid

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/11/kan-plane-maker-says-air-force-bars-it-bid#ixzz1eS6Ie9jW

Excerpt: The Air Force has notified Hawker Beechcraft Corp. that its Beechcraft AT-6 has been excluded from competition to build a light attack aircraft, a contract worth nearly $1 billion, the company said. The company had hoped to its AT-6, an armed version of its T-6 trainer, would be chosen for the Light Air Support Counter Insurgency aircraft for the Afghanistan National Army Corps. … The decision appears to favor the Super Tucano built by Brazil's Embraer for the initial contract to supply 35 with the potential for 55 aircraft worth up to $950?million, which does not include foreign sales, the Eagle reported.

Law Professor Quits Job After Colleague Calls Care Packages for U.S. Troops 'Shameful'

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/22/law-professor-quits-job-after-colleague-calls-care-packages-for-us-troops/

Excerpt: A law professor who served overseas in Afghanistan has quit his job at a Massachusetts university after a colleague sent out a controversial e-mail declaring it "shameful" to send care packages to U.S. troops. U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Robert Roughsedge cut ties with Suffolk University in Boston in response to fellow law professor Michael Avery's defamatory e-mail regarding troops fighting overseas, Fox affiliate WFXT-TV reports.

Obama refuses to enact stiff economic punishments against Iran

http://jewishworldreview.com/1111/iran_sanctions_weak.php3

Excerpt: The Obama administration slapped Iran with a new round of sanctions for its alleged nuclear and terrorist activities, but stopped short of the tough economic punishments favored by many in Congress.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like to State Senator Lena Taylor

http://mediatrackers.org/2011/11/exclusive-lena-taylor-property-accessory-to-voter-fraud/

Excerpt: Media Trackers discovered that over 20 individuals voted, some illegally, from one of Senator Lena Taylor’s (D-Milwaukee) properties during the April 5, 2011 spring election. According to a Media Trackers open records request with the City of Milwaukee Election Commission, the property at

1018 N 35th St.

in Milwaukee currently has 36 active voter registrations and at least 23 individuals voted using the address. Media Trackers was tipped off to Senator Taylor’s property by the Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, who found 11 individuals that registered on election day to vote from Taylor’s property, 7 of which were corroborated by Senator Taylor’s mother, Lena J Taylor.

Lena Taylor denies fraud allegation

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/lena-taylor-denies-fraud-allegation-js35at4-134295943.html

Excerpt: Media Trackers, a Mequon-based nonprofit that does political research targeting liberals, released records showing that 36 people were registered to vote using the address of Mama Delta's Lovehouse, a group home and homeless shelter run by Lena J. Taylor. The home is at

1018 N. 35th St.

, property that is owned by the senator and next door to her law office. Of the 36 registered voters at that address, about 20 voted in the April 5 election for county executive and a state Supreme Court seat, records show. And 11 of those individuals registered to vote on election day.

Polio in Nigeria 'shows big increase'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15819797

Allah punishes the stupid. ~Bob. Excerpt: In 2003, the northern Nigerian state of Kano backed Muslim religious leaders in opposing an immunization programme, claiming it was a Western plot to make people infertile. Health experts say this led to many people becoming infected by polio.

Climategate 2.0 – They’re real and they’re spectacular!

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/22/climategate-2-0/#more-51549

Excerpt: Early this morning, history repeated itself. FOIA.org has produced an enormous zip file of 5,000 additional emails similar to those released two years ago in November 2009 and coined Climategate. There are almost 1/4 million additional emails locked behind a password, which the organization does not plan on releasing at this time. (Originally posted at WUWT this morning and already updated 3 times, it appears Dr. Michael Mann has said some of the emails appear to be his. Tentatively accepted as real by the (UK) Guardian and other major news organizations, the MSM is avidly watching this story develop. The few emails I’ve read seem similar to the ones in the first Climategate release with no big surprises (yet), so the headline may be a bit hyped. Ron P.)

Obama heckled by protesters at New Hampshire speech
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/195119-protesters-heckle-obama-at-new-hampshire-speech-on-payroll-tax

Excerpt: President Obama was heckled on Tuesday, during an appearance at a New Hampshire high school. … Just as the president started his speech, protesters, apparently from the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, used the “human mic” technique to amplify their voices. It was unclear what the protesters were saying, or what point they were attempting to make. (So, business as usual for OWS—unclear. Glad it was OWS, not the Tea Party, or the media would be crying “racism.” ~Bob.)

Should the Rich Be Condemned? By Walter Williams

http://cnsnews.com/blog/walter-e-williams/should-rich-be-condemned

Excerpt: Though Edison, Watson, Conover and Pfizer became wealthy, whatever wealth they received pales in comparison with the extraordinary benefits received by ordinary people. Billions of people benefited from safe and efficient lighting. Billions more were the ultimate beneficiaries of the computer, and untold billions benefited from healthier lives gained from access to tetracycline.

NAS-Kingsville installs new solar array as part of push to reduce fossil fuel use

http://www.caller.com/news/2011/nov/16/nas-kingsville-installs-new-solar-array-as-part/

Excerpt: A $3.1 million solar array is up and running at Naval Air Station Kingsville. The array is expected to offset the base's consumption of conventional energy by 2.5 percent and is part of the Navy's push to provide 50 percent of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020, spokesman Jon Gagné said. At current prices, the 3.3-acre solar array will save $55,400 a year in energy costs, he said. (Let’s see, $1.3M divided by $55k gives us a breakeven point of about 56 years. Any bets on how long this will be in service? The government has gone mad. ~Bob.)

Marines Over Medicaid

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283743/marines-over-medicaid-editors

Excerpt: The failure of the supercommittee is a testament to Democrats’ tax obsession. With the supercommittee having fizzled, the next step is the automatic sequestration process, which imposes 50 percent of the cuts on a program that accounts for only 20 percent of spending (national defense) while leaving the entitlements largely untouched. But the country needs the Marines more than it needs Medicaid.

DOJ Ignores Guam Voting Discrimination: Forget voter ID; a U.S. territory is guilty of actual racial discrimination.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283749/doj-ignores-guam-voting-discrimination-hans-von-spakovsky

Excerpt: Once again, the Obama Justice Department is refusing to enforce federal voting-rights laws in a race-neutral manner.

The Bloody Face of OWS: Not quite the poster child many hoped for.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283727/bloody-face-ows-patrick-brennan

Excerpt: It’s a pathetic image — like many from

Occupy Wall Street

, of the homeless and deranged who have descended on Zuccotti Park over time. But Watts’s story demonstrates multiple facets of OWS — the brash, immature criminality of it all, the sad delusions of many occupiers, and the directionless, anarchic refuge it has established.

The Ideas Behind the Alleged Bomber

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3303/the-ideas-behind-the-alleged-bomber

Excerpt: Often it's the paper trail that brings down a would-be terrorist. Accused lone-wolf jihadist Jose Pimentel was arrested as he assembled a pipe bomb in his home. But he leaves an extensive collection of writings and online postings which show his devotion to waging jihad in America. New York police arrested Pimentel Saturday for plotting to bomb American police and soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, using homemade pipe bombs based on an al-Qaida magazine article…

Why Newt Gingrich deserves your respect

http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/21/why-newt-gingrich-deserves-our-respect/

Excerpt: The relationship between conservatives and Newt Gingrich used to remind me of a line in The Godfather II: “Your father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth,” Frank Pentangeli told Michael Corleone, “but he never trusted Hyman Roth!” Conservatives respected Gingrich — even if they didn’t always trust him. But more and more, I’m witnessing a disturbing trend — conservatives who disrespect Gingrich. And that strikes me as wrong.

Rep. Barney Frank: Supercommittee failure ‘good news’ for Dems
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/budget-approriations/195139-rep-frank-supercommittee-failure-good-news-for-democrats

Excerpt: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the congressional supercommittee's failure Monday to come to an agreement on spending reforms was “good news” because it will help to end the Bush-era tax cuts and give Democrats more bargaining power in budget negotiations. The supercommittee’s failure to reach an agreement prompts an automatic $1.2 trillion in spending cuts in January 2013 through sequestration. Half of those cuts are to defense initiatives, which has hawks in Congress vowing to undo them. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said Monday that he was readying a bill that would prevent the defense cuts.

Is Obama’s Truman-esque approach working?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/is-obamas-truman-esque-approach-working/2011/11/21/gIQAVdImjN_blog.html

Excerpt: It’s been a few months now since President Obama started talking tougher with Republicans in Congress. And in the aftermath of the debt-reduction “supercommittee” and its failure to come to an agreement on Monday, it’s worth asking the questions: is this new, Truman-esque tactic actually working? In policy terms: not yet. And politically, it’s not looking great either.

Three American students arrested in Cairo

http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/3873VC/RN0HWH/Z6USEG/UIKQX9/C7EBN/PJ/h?a=http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/three-americans-arrested-in-cairo-as-unrest-enters-4th-day/2011/11/22/gIQAlOdikN_story.html

Excerpt: Three young men from the American University in Cairo are accused of throwing flaming canisters and Molotov cocktails at Egyptian security forces in

Tahrir Square

. (If true, that’s dumber than hiking in Iran. ~Bob.)

Firms can deter litigation by being junkyard dogs

Maureen Martin is senior fellow for legal affairs at The Heartland Institute.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-1116-harassment-20111116,0,4212698.story

Excerpt: Lost in the coverage of Herman Cain's alleged sexual harassment episodes is a lesson for tort reformers: It always costs more in the long run to settle frivolous cases.

Just ask the National Restaurant Association.

Justice accused of withholding records on Kagan's role in healthcare defense

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/legal-challenges/195135-judiciary-chair-presses-kagan-investigation?utm_campaign=hillhealthwatch&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Excerpt: The Justice Department withheld records about Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s role in healthcare reform, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said Tuesday. Smith pressed Attorney General Eric Holder to provide documents and witnesses about Kagan’s time as solicitor general and her role in preparing to defend President Obama’s healthcare reform law in court. Republicans have clamored for Kagan to recuse herself when the Supreme Court takes up a case challenging the law.

Video: UC Davis Occupiers Agreed To Be Pepper Sprayed Before Incident…

http://weaselzippers.us/2011/11/22/video-uc-davis-occupiers-agreed-to-be-pepper-sprayed-before-incident/#comment-395936

Why there is a 70 percent chance of a U.S. recession by James Pethokoukis

http://blog.american.com/2011/11/why-there-is-a-70-percent-chance-of-a-u-s-recession/

Excerpt: What are the odds of the U.S. slipping back into recession? Many Wall Street firms put the chances at around 30-40 percent — assuming no EU financial crisis. But research from the Federal Reserve finds that that since 1947, when two-quarter annualized real GDP growth falls below 2 percent, recession follows within a year 48 percent of the time.

The UC Davis Police Were Right to Pepper Spray the Occupy Protesters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-hawkins/uc-davis-pepper-spray_b_1106873.html?ref=tw

Excerpt: You have a First Amendment right to free speech. You do not, however, have a First Amendment right to trespass or set up a hobo camp. This is the problem with the Occupy protesters, well, besides the fact that most of them don't seem to know why they're protesting. They believe the law applies to everybody but them.

2009 Obama: I’ll cut deficit in half by end of my first term

http://www.therightscoop.com/2009-obama-ill-cut-deficit-in-half-by-end-of-my-first-term/

Excerpt: It just doesn’t get any clearer than this. Here is Obama back in 2009 pledging to cut spending and even more so to cut the deficit he inherited in half by the end of his first term: (The entire Obama presidency has been one long series of lies, but THIS may B the biggest whopper. –Kevin.)

Political Digest for November 22, 2011

JFK Anniversary

It’s been 48 years since President John Kennedy was murdered by a Communist who had connections with Castro’s secret service. An excellent history article in American Heritage last year made the connection clearly, and attributed it to retaliation for Robert Kennedy’s efforts to eliminate Castro. The media, of course, blamed the murder on the climate of hate created by the right wing. They are still at that meme, despite decades of leftist violence.

Sorry for no digests since Friday

Between trying to clean out a condo for sale and healthcare appointments, I haven’t turned on a computer in three days. Thus today I had 601 e-mails on my three addresses, and this digest will be rather long. Had to delete many unread, jokes, cute stuff, and political stuff without links. Things that came in formatted for the blog all got in, I think. Thanks to all the blog feeders. Hope you were entertained by the posts I left behind, linked below if you missed them.

Liberal Swan Song

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-liberal-swan-song.html

An Ode From 1949

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/11/ode-from-1949.html

Occupy Bagram

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-bagram.html

Look! Up in the sky!

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/11/look-up-in-sky.html

Supercommittee appears unlikely to reach agreement

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supercommittee-appears-unlikely-to-reach-agreement/2011/11/17/gIQAjk43VN_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Agreement is not the goal of either party. Putting the blame for the coming pain on the other party is the goal. Unfortunately, the Dems have the media on their side, like having the refs with you in a football game. ~Bob.

Deficit supercommittee members expected to announce failure

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/194749-deficit-supercommittee-members-expected-to-announce-failure

Excerpt: The supercommittee is expected to make plain on Monday that it will fall short of its deficit-reducing mandate, an outcome many in Washington have expected for days. The panel technically has a Wednesday deadline for their deficit-reduction package, which must be at least $1.2 trillion over a decade to avoid across-the-board cuts.

Why Conflict with Public Unions Will Continue

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21329&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Notwithstanding the recent demise of reform in Ohio, conflict over government labor relations is far from over and is very likely to continue. This is especially the case in states where the public workforce is heavily unionized and where slow economic growth will cause persistent budget problems -- especially as pension and health benefits for retired workers crowd out other parts of their budgets. Yet the recent strife between state lawmakers and local labor unions brings to the forefront the pervasive and harmful effects of public-sector unionization, says Daniel DiSalvo, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute. In the 1950s, about one-third of nonagricultural workers belonged to unions, yet this is the high-water mark for aggregate unionization. Today, only about 6 percent of private-sector workers belong to unions, while public-sectors have become drastically more powerful in recent decades. While less than 10 percent of full-time public employees were unionized in 1960, this figure has grown to 36 percent today, dwarfing this same share in the private sector.

Iran may have sent Libya shells for chemical weapons

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-may-have-sent-libya-shells-for-chemical-weapons/2011/11/18/gIQA7RPifN_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Excerpt: The Obama administration is investigating whether Iran supplied the Libyan government of Moammar Gaddafi with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons that Libya kept secret for decades, U.S. officials said. The shells, which Libya filled with highly toxic mustard agent, were uncovered in recent weeks by revolutionary fighters at two sites in central Libya. (And why would Iran have shells to deliver chemical weapons? Part of their peaceful nuclear program I suppose? ~Bob.)

Boehner blames Obama for failure of supercommittee
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/194827-boehner-blames-obama-for-supercommittees-failure

Excerpt: House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is blaming President Obama for the failure of the congressional supercommittee to reach a deal for cutting the deficit. The Speaker’s office sent out a memo Monday morning that says the supercommittee “was unable to reach agreement because President Obama and Washington Democrats insisted on dramatic tax hikes on American job creators, which would make our economy worse.”

Democrats’ ‘Satan sandwich’ starts tasting pretty good
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/194473-dems-satan-sandwich-starts-tasting-pretty-good-

Excerpt: The bipartisan debt-limit deal, famously called a “Satan sandwich” by a prominent Democrat this summer, is looking more heavenly to the left. Republicans crowed after striking the agreement with President Obama, while congressional Democrats cried foul. Despite the White House’s endorsement of the bill, 95 House Democrats voted against it. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the Budget Committee, subsequently said Republicans called Obama’s bluff. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he got 98 percent of what he wanted in the deal. Three months later, members of both parties are looking at the deal much differently.

VIDEO: Allen West to Media: "Stop Being Afraid of this President...The Guy Sitting at

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

is Destroying this Country" - (Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit)

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/11/allen-west-to-media-stop-being-afraid-of-this-president-the-guys-sitting-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue-is-destroying-this-country-video/

Excerpt: Rep. Allen West blasted the corrupt media for shirking their responsibility and ignoring the devastating policies of President Obama. CNS News reported: Congressman Allen West (R-Fla.) called on the media to “stop being afraid” of President Barack Obama who is “destroying this country.” West made his remarks on Tuesday at a press conference in support of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline. (Here he comes! Yes! - Kate in LA)

Huffington Post Lays Steaming Pile For Sharia and Islamic Slavery - (KGS, Tundra Tabloids)

http://tundratabloids.com/2011/11/huffington-post-lays-steaming-pile-for-sharia-and-islamic-slavery.html

Excerpt: Yes, the HuffPo author really said the Koran is against slavery. Koran: 33:50 – “Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave girls whom God has given you as booty.”

Pentagon Receives Massive Bunker-Busting Bombs, Denies Targeting Iran

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/16/massive-bunker-busting-bomb-goes-operational/?test=latestnews

Excerpt: Pentagon officials are speaking publicly about the military's new 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator, or MOP, known now as the biggest "bunker-busting bomb" in the world. The Air Force has already received an undisclosed number of these bombs from Boeing, all designed to fit exclusively with the B-2 and B-52 bombers. "It gives us a far greater capability to reach and destroy an enemy's weapons of mass destruction that are located in well protected underground facilities... to a magnitude far greater than we have now," Pentagon Spokesman Capt. John Kirby said at a briefing Wednesday. (All well and good, but we need to test it to see if it works. Say, I have an idea…~Bob.)

English Defence League Stitched Up By The 'Occupy' Movement - (Pyrus, English Defence League)

http://englishdefenceleague.org/occupy_london/

Excerpt: The reason given for the arrests (surprisingly no one was charged…) was that someone had allegedly put on a social networking site that the EDL intended to confront the protestors camped outside of St Paul’s Cathedral. As Brendan says, the reason for the arrests was that “they might have been thinking about doing something dodgy.” Here’s a newsflash for the British government: anyone who spends their time, for example, burning flags, burning poppies, telling us how ‘the West will pay’, or showing solidarity with various terrorist groups around the world… those people ‘might be thinking about doing something dodgy.’

Egypt, Syria, Turkey: The Lepers With The Fewest Fingers - (Robert P. Goldman, Pajamas Media)

http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2011/11/17/egypt-syria-and-turkey-the-lepers-with-the-fewest-fingers/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: With the financial news focused on the unraveling of Europe’s state finances, the mounting economic catastrophe in the Muslim world has barely merited a mention. Egypt and Syria are about to go over a cliff, while Turkey, supposedly the poster boy for Islamic success, faces a nasty economic reversal — not a catastrophe of Egyptian proportions, but sufficient to destroy Tayyip Erdogan’s reputation as an economic wizard and make his fractious country hard to govern.

$1.4 Billion Payoff to Kennedy Green Energy Swindle

http://moonbattery.com/?p=4645

Excerpt: President John F. Kennedy’s nephew, Robert Kennedy, Jr., netted a $1.4 billion bailout for his company, BrightSource, through a loan guarantee issued by a former employee-turned Department of Energy official. As always with massive green energy fraud, the crime boils down to money laundering by Obama to pay off campaign donors.

The American Platoon: The Battle of Fallujah and its impact on a group of young Marines

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283360/american-platoon-patrick-k-o-donnell

Excerpt: First Platoon suffered some of the highest casualties in Fallujah: four killed in action — Lance Cpl. Nick Larson, Lance Cpl. Nathan Wood, Lance Cpl. Mike Hanks, and Lance Cpl. Benjamin Bryan — and 31 wounded, many more than once. But in many ways, what happened in Fallujah paled in comparison with the sacrifices the men have made since.

Why Islam is Not a Religion - (Rebecca Bynum, New English Review)

http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/100100/sec_id/100100

Excerpt: So even if one disobeys Islam, it is still God’s will that he did so. If there is no difference between man’s will and God’s will, there is no God to seek. In Islam God is unknowable – he is completely transcendent and his will is all things. Theologically this is the equivalent to saying there is no God.

Michele Bachmann: Waterboarding Is 'Uncomfortable,' But It Would Be 'Absurd' To Have The President Try It

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/michele-bachmann-waterboarding-uncomfortable-absurd_n_1099685.html

She is NOT CFR, Trilateral Commission, or Bilderberg, NOT Federal Reserve, never flirted with the Dems, is who she is, I see a real person here. (I didn't say she was perfect). She is for ending deficit spending and debt. Last year you were rooting for Cain, this week it is Newt. You've been holding your nose so far. Now take a deep breath of fresh air. --Don Hank

What UCLA Students know about Israel

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=w-dyMsXNHx4

“Jaywalking” ignorance on display. Cute girls though, even if dumb. ~Bob.

Florida's Medicaid Reform

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21328&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: During its five years of operations, Florida's Medicaid Reform Pilot has been a decided success, improving the health of enrolled patients, achieving high patient satisfaction and keeping cost increases below average. Since then, Florida has passed its Statewide Reform, which promises to extend these benefits throughout the state. If Florida's Medicaid Reform Pilot experience were replicated nationwide, the outcomes in almost every facet of the program would be significantly improved and would offer participants meaningful reforms to a system that has been falling into decay, says Tarren Bragdon, of the Heritage Foundation. The pilot program, which was isolated to five counties in Florida, saved an estimated $161 million per year, with an aggregate estimated annual savings of $1.9 billion when the reform is put in place statewide. Researchers suggest that if a similar program were to be put in place nationwide, it would save $91 billion annually.

Road to Nowhere

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21330&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Economists have long recognized the value of infrastructure. Highways, bridges, airports and canals are the conduits through which almost all goods are transported. But the kind of infrastructure spending the government has been indulging in since 2008 is unlikely to produce much of a stimulus as it is not timely, targeted or temporary -- three requirements recognized by Larry Summers, former Obama advisor, for effective stimulus, says Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center. With regard to timeliness, infrastructure improvement is difficult to make happen quickly because it is notorious for being a multistage process.

Focused on Foreign Policy by Edwin J. Feulner

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/edwin-j-feulner/2011/11/19/focused-on-foreign-policy/

Excerpt: When the presidential debates between George W. Bush and Al Gore were held in October 2000, the 9/11 attacks were less than a year away. Guess how many times “al Qaeda” or “Osama bin Laden” came up in those debates? Not once.

Worth Reading: So-Called Electability and MSM Bias

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/david-limbaugh/2011/11/18/so-called-electability-and-msm-bias/

Excerpt: Can you imagine how differently our political climate would be if the mainstream media had the slightest inclination toward fairness and balance? The liberal media have never, to my knowledge, shined the spotlight on Obama's many embarrassing gaffes. They have rarely called attention to his deceit, broken promises and policy failures. Part of the reason is their presupposition that because he's a credentialed left-winger, he is brilliant, and any departure from that is a mere aberration, an exception that couldn't possibly detract from his presumptive brilliance. And as a bona fide "progressive," he is imbued with superior moral standards, and his misdeeds must be excused in exchange for his dedication to policies the liberal media deem are ethically unassailable.

Fodder for a Counterargument by George Will

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/george-will/2011/11/20/fodder-for-a-counterargument/#commentform

Excerpt: Shortly before the Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare's individual mandate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed, 2-1, its constitutionality. Writing for the majority, Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee, brusquely acknowledged that upholding the mandate means there is no limit to Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause. Fortunately, Silberman's stark assertion may strengthen the counterargument. Silberman forces the Supreme Court's five conservatives to face the sobering implications of affirming the power asserted with the mandate.

The Pipeline Sellout by Charles Krauthammer

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/charles-krauthammer/2011/11/18/the-pipeline-sellout/

Excerpt: In 2008, the slogan was "Yes We Can." For 2011-12, it's "We Can't Wait." What happened in between? Candidate Obama, the vessel into which myriad dreams were poured, met the reality of governance. His near-$1 trillion stimulus begat a stagnant economy with 9 percent unemployment. His attempt at Wall Street reform left in place a still too-big-to-fail financial system as vulnerable today as when he came into office. His green energy fantasies yielded Solyndra cronyism and a cap-and-trade regime not even a Democratic Congress would pass.

Dear Average American: It's All Your Fault by Jonah Goldberg

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/jonah-goldberg/2011/11/18/dear-average-american-its-all-your-fault/

Excerpt: Congratulations, average American! It's your turn to be blamed for President Obama's -- and America's -- problems. This is the biggest honor you've won since Time magazine named "you" the Person of the Year. Being the root cause of our dire national predicament puts you in some very august company indeed. You are joining the ranks of George W. Bush, the Japanese tsunami, the Arab Spring, Wall Street fat cats and other luminaries, both living and merely anthropomorphized.

American spies outed, CIA suffers in Lebanon
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111121/D9R53CD80.html

CIA now stands for “Caught In the Act.” ~Bob. Excerpt: The CIA's operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.

The Double Standard on Booing

http://bigjournalism.com/dloesch/2011/11/21/the-double-standard-on-booing/

Excerpt: Yesterday First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden appeared at the last NASCAR race of the season to serve as co-grand marshals and shout “Gentlemen, start your engines!” The appearance was part of the Joining Forces initiative and yesterday, according to the White House, FLOTUS was joined by “5,000 active duty and retired military personnel and families and thousands of NASCAR fans” and was loudly booed when her name was announced over the loud speakers.

Happy Halal Thanksgiving by Pamela Geller

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/happy_halal_thanksgiving.html

Excerpt: Did you know that the turkey you're going to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday is probably halal? If it's a Butterball turkey, then it certainly is -- whether you like it or not. … Others object because of the cruelty to animals that halal slaughter necessitates. Where are the PETA clowns and the ridiculous celebs who pose naked on giant billboards for PETA and "animal rights"? They would rather see people die of cancer or AIDS than see animals used in drug testing, but torturous and painful Islamic slaughter is OK. (Sure enough. I went to the Butterball site and they DO tout their turkeys as Halal (Islam) approved. (see link and message below). You know what galls me the most? Even though the Jewish population is many times greater than the Muslim population, at least in the US, they slap Jewish customers in the face by omitting Kosher approved from the list! There is a decided anti-Jewish and pro-Islam bias everywhere in the West right now, instigated by the elites, and it is part of our corporate culture. Some unwary folks, esp in Europe, have bought into their message that somehow, Israel, the most democratic nation in the Middle East, is worse than the other countries -- NONE of which allow Jews to settle there, some of which even refuse travel visas to Jews -- even though Israel has no such restrictions for Muslims. And of course, Israelis do not make a habit of bombing Western cities, executing women for not wearing their hijabs, or for converting to Christianity. Big companies like Butterball are extremely arrogant when they do this sort of thing, because they think they are too big to fail and that somehow, their Muslim customers (less than 1% of their business) come first (around Christmas time, for crying out loud???). Folks, I for one will NEVER buy another Butterball product! I hope some of you will join me in this life long boycott. BTW, Butterball is always the most expensive turkey at the places we used to shop. Why pay more for the right to be insulted?). --Don Hank)

The Left-Behinds

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/america-s-left-behinds-the-long-term-unemployed-20111117

Excerpt: But in many ways, the people here are part of a much broader trend toward long-term unemployment in America. As in Braddock, and now a slew of communities laid low by the housing bubble and bust, the phenomenon can feed on itself and create a vicious cycle of disappearing jobs, declining incomes, higher foreclosures, and more layoffs. (…) “We have a large population in their teens or 20s with relatively low levels of education,” says Jeff Michael, a labor expert at the University of the Pacific (Stockton). “It’s a huge problem: a whole generation of young people who are going to find difficult employment prospects.” (When I refer to a medium (like the National Journal) as being “center-left” or (like Daily Beast) “left-center,” what I’m referring to is the degree I perceive them as supporting individual rights and the economic expression of those rights in the form of capitalism. I generally consider Daily Beast to be more anti-capitalist than National Journal, but reading this article makes me wonder if I should rethink that. The politics of the media may not change the essential truth of the news being reported, but it will change the presentation—or lack of presentation—and can do so in ways that impact the truthfulness of the news. Several times in this article, the author makes reference to “unfettered capitalism” (or uses similar phrases) and makes clear he’s against it. The implication is that “unfettered capitalism” is what we have now, and look how bad it is. The author seems to think highly of the state-dominated industrial systems of China and other “command economies” in mostly formerly communist countries.  In a capitalist economy, property is owned and controlled by private citizens. In a communist economy, property is owned and controlled by “the people” as embodied in the state. In a fascist economy, the property is OWNED mostly by private citizens, but is CONTROLLED by the state. By those definitions, almost all national economies are fascistic. In particular, we in the USA do NOT have—and have never had at any time in the past—an “unfettered capitalism.” Instead, we get the worst of all worlds, a regulatory state trying, ineptly, to control an economy that they neither understand nor like (it’s STILL too damned free!). This is more than splitting hairs. The problem is not enough capitalism rather than too much of it. This article is almost an object lesson in how to slant the news. Ron P.)

Mexico Attorney General Wants U.S. Gun Walkers Extradited

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/mexico_attorney_general_wants_us_gun_walkers_extradited.html#ixzz1eLartxlO

Excerpt: Mexico's top cop Attorney General Marisela Morales has requested the extradition of six people suspected of providing guns to drug cartels. She told the Mexico's lower house of Congress last Wednesday three of the suspects are in Texas and three are in California. Morales did not mention the gun walking operation known as Fast and Furious nor did she name the individual suspects. But, according to the Latin American Herald Tribune, "One of the requests involves three people believed to have acquired a large number of weapons under the Fast and Furious program." (Wouldn’t you love to see Holder and Obama doing a perp walk in Mexico City? ~Bob.)

Obama’s Half-Billion-Dollar Crony Drug Deal

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/11/16/obamas-half-billion-dollar-crony-drug-deal/

Excerpt: What do you get when you mix Democratic fat-cat donations, Big Labor favors, pharmaceutical lobbying and Beltway business as usual? Answer: another toxic half-billion-dollar Barack Obama-approved crony deal. Move over, Solyndra. Here comes Siga-Gate. This latest Chicago-style payoff on your dime involves a dubious smallpox drug backed by a liberal billionaire investor, along with a former union boss who was one of the White House’s most frequent visitors. They’re the “1 percent” with 100 percent immunity from the selectively outraged Occupier mobs that purport to oppose partisan government bailouts and handouts to privileged corporations. (If someone breaks one window in your neighborhood, you notice. When half are broken, you tend to tune them out. So it is with Obama’s Crony Socialism deals. ~Bob.)

Gunwalker scandal broadens--​the FBI connection

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/gunwalker-scandal-broadens-the-fbi-connection

Confidential informants who are participating in the Congressional probe of the Project Gunwalker (Operation Fast and Furious) scandal have now zeroed in on the FBI connection. Such a connection has been hinted at in the past, but information relayed today shows that FBI involvement was much deeper than anyone imagined. The investigation into Gunwalker has revealed a scandal involving multiple departments of the Obama Administration--Justice, FBI, ATF, ICE, DEA, DHS, and State. These connections have been verified through previously hidden emails and documents, and sworn testimony of whistleblowers.

The Hillary Moment: President Obama can't win by running a constructive campaign, and he won't be able to govern if he does win a second term.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577041950781477944.htm

Excerpt: When Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson accepted the reality that they could not effectively govern the nation if they sought re-election to the White House, both men took the moral high ground and decided against running for a new term as president. President Obama is facing a similar reality—and he must reach the same conclusion. He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

#OWS Hijacked: #OccupyCongress Next Steps On Unions’ Agenda

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/11/19/ows-hijacked-occupycongress-next-steps-on-unions-agenda/

Excerpt: Did it really need to take two months for New York City Mayor Bloomberg to figure out that unions have hijacked the #OccupyMovement? Most sane observers knew that from the very start when the Transport Workers Union in New York endorsed the squatters in Zuccotti Park, opening the flood gates for other unions, the Democrats, and the institutional Left to climb on board. Since then, unions have provided paid protesters, legal representation, money, advertising, and even offered their property to the #OWS movement.

The Enablers: Democrats On Board with the Party of the Rich

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-enablers-democrats-on-board-with-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109#ixzz1eN45tc4y

Excerpt: Even with control of the House, Republicans couldn't divert tax money to the rich without help from key Democrats in the Senate. (Rolling Stone calling OWS. Come in, OWS. Sorry, sir they are too high to be reached. ~Bob.)

A Gold Rush of Subsidies in Clean Energy Search

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/business/energy-environment/a-cornucopia-of-help-for-renewable-energy.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Excerpt: Halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a former cattle ranch and gypsum mine, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes. The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009. (Even the cheerleading NYT may be starting to understand the financial costs required to “make green energy possible.”. Ron P.)

The Coming European Superstate That Germany Plans To Cram Down The Throats Of The Rest Of Europe

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-coming-european-superstate-that-germany-plans-to-cram-down-the-throats-of-the-rest-of-europe

Excerpt: A lot of people were puzzled about what German Chancellor Angela Merkel meant when she recently stated that the ultimate solution to the financial crisis in the EU would "mean more Europe, not less Europe". Well, now we are finding out. A leaked internal German government memo entitled "The Future of the EU: Required Integration Policy Improvements for the Creation of a Stability Union" actually proposes the creation of a "European Monetary Fund" which would be given the power to run the economies of troubled European nations.

Camp Pendleton didn't see cross flap coming

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/military-camp-pendleton-didn-t-see-cross-flap-coming/article_91a4b507-6de4-51b7-a941-0db5949049cd.html#ixzz1eHn5W3ep

Excerpt: A memorial cross atop a Camp Pendleton hillside installed by former Marines and widows of troops killed in Iraq is prompting a fight that base officials say they didn't see coming and are scrambling to resolve. The cross, erected Nov. 11 in the Camp Horno area in the northern portion of the 125,000-acre base, has raised the ire of a military atheist group, whose leader says it's an unconstitutional tacit endorsement of Christianity.

Romney Under Fire for Free Healthcare to Illegals

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/romneycare-illegal-immigrants-perry/2011/10/24/id/415574?s=al&promo_code=D55B-1#ixzz1eHNE8vL9

Excerpt: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, stung by opponents for allowing in-state college tuition for children of illegals, has leaped on reports that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s signature healthcare measure gave free care to undocumented immigrants. “Governor Romney’s government-mandated healthcare plan provided free care for illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, establishing just the kind of illegal immigration magnet Governor Romney claims to oppose,” Perry spokesman Mark Miner said.

Wonderful: Occupy Mob Now Defecating Inside St Paul's Cathedral

http://www.jammiewf.com/2011/wonderful-london-occupy-mob-now-defecating-inside-st-pauls-cathedral/

Excerpt: These are just horrible human beings, if you can actually call them that. I’d call them animals but that would be an insult to our furry friends. How much longer much people suffer this assault on decency?: The St Paul’s Cathedral protest camp has become littered with human waste and graffiti, while alcohol and drug use are rife, according to legal documents filed by the City of London.

The Desecration of St Paul's - Melanie Phillips

http://melaniephillips.com/the-desecration-of-st-pauls

Excerpt: The cathedral authorities are thus recording grossly uncivilised, antisocial behaviour which, in their own words, is desecrating the holy space of St Paul’s Cathedral. And yet, as we all know, the same cathedral authorities have refused to take action to end this affront to decency in their own churchyard. They have washed their hands of it and in effect dumped the entire mess into the lap of the City of London Corporation, so that the church can continue to show that its own heart bleeds for the poor.

Not only is this egregious hypocrisy, but it tells us more clearly than ever before that when it comes to defending a civilised society against its wreckers – indeed, when it comes to defending the church itself against sacrilege and desecration – the Church of England will be on the wrong side.

Wind farms are useless, says Duke

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-philip/8901985/Wind-farms-are-useless-says-Duke.html

In a withering assault on the onshore wind turbine industry, the Duke said the farms were “a disgrace”. He also criticised the industry’s reliance on subsidies from electricity customers, claimed wind farms would “never work” and accused people who support them of believing in a “fairy tale”.

73% Think Most Bailout Money Went To Those Who Caused Economic Crisis

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/federal_bailout/november_2011/73_think_most_bailout_money_went_to_those_who_caused_economic_crisis

Excerpt: Americans believe more strongly than ever that most of the government bailout money for the financial industry went to those who caused the economic meltdown and that the government hasn’t tried hard enough to bring Wall Street criminals to justice. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 73% of American Adults now think most of the bailout money went to the people who created the economic crisis.

Ethiopian troops move into Somalia: witnesses

http://news.yahoo.com/ethiopian-troops-move-somalia-witnesses-185321928.html

Excerpt: Scores of Ethiopian military vehicles pushed at least 80 km (50 miles) into neighbouring Somalia on Saturday, residents said, five weeks after Kenya entered Somalia to fight Islamist militants it blames for a wave of kidnappings on its soil.

Muslim with U.S. passport blows himself up in Pakistan

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/11/muslim-with-us-passport-blows-himself-up-in-pakistan.html

Excerpt: Why not? No screening -- absolutely none -- is done of Muslims who immigrate to the U.S. to try to determine whether or not they hold jihadist sentiments. As imperfect as such screening would inevitably be, the fact that there is none is an indication of how willfully blind official Washington is. They assume that only a tiny minority of Muslims are "Islamists," and know that it would be the height of "Islamophobia" to question prospective entrants into the country about these matters in any way. "Man with US passport blows himself up in Pakistan," from AP, November 19.

Mark Steyn: Penn State's Institutional Weakness

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/assistant-327670-graduate-state.html

Excerpt: For the sake of argument, let us so stipulate. Nevertheless, as the Canadian blogger Kathy Shaidle wrote some years ago: "When we say 'we don't know what we'd do under the same circumstances,' we make cowardice the default position." I quote that line in my current book, in a section on the "no man's land" of contemporary culture. It contrasts the behavior of the men on the Titanic who (notwithstanding James Cameron's wretched movie) went down with the ship and those of the École Polytechnique in Montreal decades later who, ordered to leave the classroom by a lone gunman, meekly did as they were told and stood passively in the corridor as he shot all the women. Even if I'm wetting my panties, it's better to have the social norm of the Titanic and fail to live up to it than to have the social norm of the Polytechnique and sink with it.

Mark Steyn: Wolf Whistling

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/283640/wolf-whistling-mark-steyn

Excerpt: Rich, re that “Man Arrested And Charged In Bomb Plot,” don’t worry about Señor Pimentel also being “known as Muhammad Yusuf.” Mayor Bloomberg has already pronounced him a “lone wolf“:

Sick: Sandusky Victim Bullied Out Of School - Jammie Wearing Fool

http://www.jammiewf.com/2011/sick-sandusky-victim-bullied-out-of-school/

Excerpt: Apparently these folks in Pennsylvania still can’t come to grips with the fact Joe Paterno will no longer be coaching in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. Now we learn that “Victim One” has been forced to leave school during his senior year of high school because he’s being bullied by kids upset with Paterno’s firing.

Five Los Zetas members caught in Chicago police dragnet

http://www.examiner.com/public-safety-in-national/five-los-zetas-members-caught-chicago-police-dragnet

Excerpt: “One indictment in this group signals the first federal prosecution in Chicago of defendants allegedly tied to Los Zetas drug-trafficking cartel, and the seizures of cash represented a significant blow to the operation of this alleged money transportation cell.” -- Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

America Before the Entitlement State - Yaron Brook and Don Watkins

http://www.forbes.com/sites/objectivist/2011/11/18/america-before-the-entitlement-state/

Excerpt: If you were homeless in Chicago in 1933, for example, you could find shelter at one of the city’s 614 YMCAs, or one of its 89 Salvation Army barracks, or one of its 75 Goodwill Industries dormitories. “In fact,” writes Trattner, “so rapidly did private agencies multiply that before long America’s larger cities had what to many people was an embarrassing number of them. Charity directories took as many as 100 pages to list and describe the numerous voluntary agencies that sought to alleviate misery, and combat every imaginable emergency.”

The Dull Bigotry of BBC Europhiles - Daniel Hannan

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100118572/the-dull-bigotry-of-bbc-europhiles/

Excerpt: There was a feeble gag on [BBC] Radio 4 just now which imagined Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, protesting that Queen Victoria 'shouldn't have married a German'. In Beebworld, obviously, anyone who criticises the EU is secretly motivated by xenophobia. There was, though, a slight flaw in the joke, of which the scriptwriters were evidently unaware. Nigel Farage is himself married to a German.

Foreign Hackers Target U. S. Water Plant - Ellen Nakashima

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/foreign-hackers-broke-into-illinois-water-plant-control-system-industry-expert-says/2011/11/18/gIQAgmTZYN_blog.html

Excerpt: Experts said the cyber-attack, if confirmed, would be the first known to have damaged one of the systems that supply Americans with water, electricity and other essentials of modern life. Companies and government agencies that rely on the Internet have for years been routine targets of hackers, but most incidents have resulted from attempts to steal information or interrupt the functioning of Web sites. The incident in Springfield, Ill., would mark a departure because it apparently caused physical destruction.

Walking along Avenue J(ew) by Arnold Ahlert

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1111/ahlert_avenue_jew.php3

On Wednesday, it was reported that some vandal had sprayed a sign at the Brooklyn subway stop on Avenue J, and turned it into Avenue "Jew." Here are some of the comments left by readers. All of the grammar, syntax and spelling--or lack thereof--has been left intact: "It's about time!" "the Jews deserve everything they get." "yes while you have been swindling the masses with your Zionist Jewish supremacy and your chosen people sham...but worst then you are your so called christian goyim stooges" "Nearly every "anti-semitic" thing you`ve seen on the news in the last 10 years has been by a jew." "US support of Israel and interference in the Arab world caused 9/11."

Energy Smackdown: Keystone XL vs. Solyndra
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/283587/energy-smackdown-keystone-xl-vs-solyndra-robert-bryce

Excerpt: One oil pipeline could provide more energy than all of America’s solar and wind power. The two big energy stories of the moment are the Obama administration’s announcement that it will wait another year before making a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, and the continued pummeling of the Department of Energy and Energy Secretary Steven Chu for their handling of the $529 million loan guarantee to Solyndra.(Cost doesn’t matter. Energy is judged as to how warm and fuzzy it makes liberals feel, not what the poor and working class have to shell out of it. ~Bob.)

14,000 abandoned wind turbines

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/46519

Excerpt: As Jimi Hendrix may have put it: “And the wind cries bankrupt…” Minnesotans for Global Warming report that in the last 30 years, the United States has had 14,000 wind turbines abandoned. Apparently, once the subsidies and the wind run out, these 20-story high Cuisinarts are de-bladed and retired. This means more bats and migratory birds will live.

Spain Rejects Socialism - Only 3% of EU Citizens Now Have Left-wing Governments - Daniel Hannan

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100118766/as-spain-rejects-socialism-only-three-per-cent-of-eu-citizens-now-have-left-wing-governments/

Excerpt: Congratulations to Mariano Rajoy, whose Partido Popular has won a thumping victory in Spain: nearly eleven million votes to the Socialists' seven million, 186 seats to their 110. It's not often that you get the same headline in ABC and El País , but a result on such a scale allowed no room for interpretation: the two old rivals agreed that Spain had entrusted her future wholly to the conservatives.

Insight: In Iowa, Farmland Boom Means End of an Era for Many - Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/us-farmland-idUSTRE7AK0EA20111121

Excerpt: Across the Midwest, the dizzying surge in rural land prices is accelerating a fundamental reshaping of the farm sector in the world's biggest food exporter. Instead of digging in to benefit from the boom in grain prices, the next generation is opting to cash out of the small, family-owned farms that harbor centuries of rural wisdom and deep tradition.

The Accountability Charade

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2011/11/18/the_accountability_charade/page/full/

Excerpt: You can't spell "accountability" without "A," "C" and "T." But in Washington, government officials routinely get away with "taking personal responsibility" by mouthing empty words devoid of action. Heads nod in collective agreement that mistakes were made. But heads never roll. The Obama administration has raised this accountability charade to an art form.

Greasing the solar skids

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/greasing_the_solar_skids_yf8pKoJEcktj7gUSFOWurO#ixzz1e9e5snYY

Excerpt: So it turns out that Solyndra may be just the tip of the iceberg that is the Obama administration’s politically charged energy-loan scandal. Even as Energy Secretary Stephen Chu was on Capitol Hill this week, claiming — against all the e-mail evidence — that the White House played no role in the Solyndra debacle, came word of an even bigger potential scandal. Turns out a California-based “green jobs” firm with a troubled financial history got a $1.4 billion Energy Department loan guarantee — three times the size of Solyndra’s jackpot — despite mountains of debt.

Goldman Sachs Rule the World - James Delingpole

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100118071/goldman-sachs-rules-the-world/

Excerpt: "The governments don't rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world," claimed a shockingly outspoken trader, Alessio Rastani, on the BBC two months ago. "The savings of millions of people are going to vanish," he said, warning viewers they should "get prepared" because "economic crisis is like a cancer, if you just wait and wait thinking this will go away, just like a cancer it's going to grow and it's going to be too late."

Tunisia: Islamic party figure who announced aspirations to caliphate selected as prime minister

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/11/tunisia-islamic-party-figure-who-announced-aspirations-to-caliphate-selected-as-prime-minister.html

excerpt: "Last Sunday, [Hamadi] Jebali, the party's number two official, alarmed some by bringing up 'the caliphate'." The Ennahda party did not sweep him under the rug in embarrassment for reportedly going on about his personal aspirations to be a modern-day successor to the first few rulers of the entire Islamic world after Muhammad's death, the "rightly guided" caliphs. They have not reacted with alarm at the implied aspirations for ruling beyond Tunisia's borders. No, he was a favorite for the office of prime minister, and it is now more or less official that he will assume the office.

VIDEO: Occupy Portland Man Places Small Child Between Himself and Police

http://nation.foxnews.com/occupy-wall-street/2011/11/18/occupy-portland-man-places-small-child-between-himself-and-police

DUMB: Occupy Wall Street Will Pledge To Refuse Paying Back Their Student Loans. DUMBER: Professors from NYU, CUNY Back Them Up.

http://weaselzippers.us/2011/11/21/dumb-occupy-wall-street-will-pledge-to-refuse-paying-back-their-student-loans-dumber-professors-from-nyu-cuny-to-back-them-up/

Excerpt: I know academia is completely detached from reality (hence the rampant belief in socialism) but these professors do realize students tuition pays their salaries? Via The College Fix: Forgiveness of student loan debt has emerged as one of the most consistent demands of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Later today, New York-based protesters will announce a new campaign aimed at accomplishing this goal... (Time to cancel the student loan program. They are borrowing money and not getting educated. ~Bob.)

Michelle booed at NASCAR

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/michelle-obama-booed-nascar-event-first-lady-faces-negative-reaction-public-politics-14994392

Make 29% On Your Money, Guaranteed!

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/18/make-29-on-your-money-guaranteed/#more-51396

Excerpt: Finally, the total subsidies for this plant were $1,430 million dollars. So this single “successful” green project will cost the consumer three times what Solyndra cost. And in return … we get energy priced at 50% above the market. Thanks, Energy Department, glad to know you have my back. (A perfect example of crony capitalism and how it hurts us all. This isn’t just happening in California, it’s in every state. But, green energy is GOOD for you, isn’t it? Except for the part that empties your wallet, of course. Emphasis is in the original. Ron P.)

Officially Establishing Transsexual Freakazoids as Legally Superior

http://moonbattery.com/?p=4788

Excerpt: Assuming the bill passes the upper chamber and gets avidly pro-pervert Governor Coupe Deval’s signature, men will have a “right” to barge into the women’s locker room and take off their clothes. But don’t worry — this only applies to sexual deviants. If your wife or daughter is accosted in the restroom by a person of privileged perversity, try to restrain the natural impulse. Assaulting normal people is bad; in a moonbattocracy, assaulting perverts is worse:

Protesting Hate by Promoting Anti-Semitism

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3296/protesting-hate-by-promoting-anti-semitism

"Iranophobia," an irrational fear of all things Iranian, has become the Islamic regime's catch-all excuse for international criticism. Groups like the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the representative body of the world's Muslim nations, are pushing for a United Nations resolution to ban denigration of Islam and other religions. But hate towards Jews remains a key part of political speech and culture throughout Islamic countries, even those touched by the Arab Spring. A "Million Man March against the Judaization of Jerusalem," organized by Egyptian-American Imam Salah Sultan, is planned for Monday in downtown Cairo.

The 1% of the 99% - Moonbattery

http://moonbattery.com/?p=4807

Excerpt: No matter how often moonbats make a pageant of it, you can’t help but be astonished at the sheer massiveness of their hypocrisy. From the egalitarian utopia of Occupy Wall Street: The $700-per-night W Hotel Downtown last week hosted both Peter Dutro, one of a select few OWS members on the powerful finance committee, and Brad Spitzer, a California-based analyst who not only secretly took part in protests during a week-long business trip but offered shelter to protesters in his swanky platinum-card room. “Tents are not for me,” he confessed, when confronted in the sleek black lobby of the Washington Street hotel where sources described him as a “repeat” guest.

The Democrats Were Not For Me

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/the_democrats_were_not_for_me.html#ixzz1eNTDipxm

Excerpt: I was programmed at birth to be a Democrat, a big city liberal. My parents were Irish and Catholic. Pardon any redundancy. In my slice of the East Bronx, you went to high school, you did a few years in the military, and then you came home to look for a job with Con Ed or the city.

Sheriff wants changes to Cook County ordinance

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cook-county-immigration-ordinance-20111111,0,3776973.story

Excerpt: Law sponsored by Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia prohibits cops from holding illegal immigrants arrested for other crimes Citing concerns over the potential release of dangerous felons who are in the country illegally, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has been pushing for changes to a controversial county ordinance that requires law enforcement to ignore federal requests to hold illegal immigrants who are arrested for other crimes.

Man Allegedly Throws Aluminum Water Bottle At Student's Face

http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/18/man-throws-aluminum-water-bottle-at-uc-berkeley-students-face/

Excerpt: The man asked the student if she was going to the protest on Sproul Plaza [at UC Berkeley], and when the victim answered “no,” the suspect yelled at her. “People like you are the reason that California is in debt,” he said, according to the crime alert. The suspect then threw a full aluminum water bottle at the victim’s face, the crime alert said. (Yuh, this is the California attitude. The whole of LA is like an Occupy site. - Kate in LA)

The Next War

http://townhall.com/columnists/olivernorth/2011/11/18/the_next_war/page/full/

Excerpt: It is an unalterable fact of human nature that the perception of weakness invites aggression. For us, it has been that way since the founding of the republic. We disarmed after the American Revolution. That's how we ended up with the War of 1812. (If I were to guess how the next war would go, this would be my prediction: It will begin by surprise on our soil with multiple nuclear explosions. Most will target cities, some will be EMP weapons. They will be delivered by a variety of methods including submarines, ship containers, trucks, and railroad cars as well as missiles and bombs from aircraft. Our immediate losses will be between 5 million and 20 million dead and 3 or 4 times that many injured. When two hours pass without any response from us, the South American despots will join the Iran-North Korea-Pakistan consortium with the blessing—though not the open support—of China and Russia (plus various Middle Eastern and Asian despots). If we can respond between 2 hours and 5 hours from the beginning of hostilities, there may be no actual invasion other than from Mexico; if there is no response, we will be invaded by “rescuers and First Responders” (actually military invasion forces) from various countries of the consortium. It is conceivable that we could “win” the war, even at this point, but even winning is too horrid to contemplate. Small children might be “saved,” as would some of the prettier young women. By one means or another, the rest of us will die, mostly of starvation. And, the United States of America will be no more as the New Dark Ages begin. Cheerful thoughts, eh? I’d be happy to be wrong. Ron P.)

The Meaning of the OWS Day of Protest

http://pjmedia.com/ronradosh/2011/11/17/the-meaning-of-the-ows-day-of-protest/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: In the day’s OWS protest, the motley crew of old New Left veterans, younger self-proclaimed socialists, Communists, and anarchists, as well as a bunch of New York University students protesting their private university’s tuition hikes, were to be joined by the SIEU and other AFL-CIO affiliates, who have decided to link their dwindling power to the OWS bandwagon — a move that will eventually backfire and lead to further erosion of trade union strength. After all, a movement that seeks to prevent working people from getting to their jobs is not likely to be popular with the union rank-and-file. This week, even the usually hesitant Anti-Defamation League released a report that showed how much of the OWS included supporters of Hamas, opponents of Israel’s right to exist, and old fashioned anti-Semites.

With winter looming, labor unions fortify Occupy camp

http://cowboybyte.com/1913/with-winter-looming-labor-unions-fortify-occupy-camp/

Excerpt: Some of the country’s most powerful unions are providing the infrastructure and amenities to keep the Occupy D.C. encampment fortified going into the winter. The camp’s portable toilets are being provided by the Service Employees International Union, the 2.1-million-member organization that helped Barack Obama win the presidency and recently backed his re-election bid. The estimated 100 demonstrators staying each night in McPherson Square, just blocks from the White House, can take a hot shower at the AFL-CIO headquarters on 16th Street Northwest

Too Much Exposure

http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/cook-report/the-cook-report-too-much-exposure-20111117

Excerpt: [W]e may well see many incumbents—those wearing blue Democratic jerseys as well as those wearing red Republican ones—thrown out the window, not so much because of the color of their uniforms but because of their proximity to windows. The combination of angry base voters in both parties and new congressional maps could mean that several House incumbents will lose their primaries. Voters in redrawn or competitive districts could toss out others who don’t have strong bonds with their districts even while members in more solid seats nearby win reelection without too much difficulty.

2nd test affirms faster-than-light particles

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502223_162-57327392/2nd-test-affirms-faster-than-light-particles/

Excerpt: A second experiment at the European facility that reported subatomic particles zooming faster than the speed of light -- stunning the world of physics -- has reached the same result, scientists said late Thursday. The "positive outcome of the [second] test makes us more confident in the result," said Fernando Ferroni, president of the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics, in a statement released late Thursday. Ferroni is one of 160 physicists involved in the international collaboration known as OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion Tracking Apparatus) that performed the experiment. While the second experiment "has made an important test of consistency of its result," Ferroni added, "a final word can only be said by analogous measurements performed elsewhere in the world." (THIS is the way real science is done: by replication of results and re-checking to be sure the results are valid. There is at least a slight possibility the time difference is due to some alternative shorter pathway—neutrinos can and do go through any known matter, even of planetary size, as though it wasn’t there—not yet accounted for, or even that the timing devices are not perfectly synchronous. For a result like this that overturns—or at least changes—a century of accepted basic science, it will probably need to be repeated many times before being widely accepted. If it is real, the door to faster than light travel might be open just a crack. Hello, stars, here we come. Ron P.)

Old Sexual Harassment Accusation​s are Seedy Way to Sink Political Candidates

http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2011/11/17/old_sexual_harassment_accusations_are_seedy_way_to_sink_political_candidates/page/full/

Excerpt: The media feeding frenzy over allegations of sexual harassment by Herman Cain is going to cause a shift in how we view sexual harassment. According to a University of Michigan research study last year, 90 percent of women report being sexually harassed in the workplace. This number sounds absurd. If acted upon, it would turn workplaces into Gulag camps. At some point when are women just being overly sensitive or incorrectly construing annoying behavior as sexual harassment? What percentage of sexual harassment complaints are filed merely in order to get back at a co-worker? At the same time, 86 percent of women say they would flirt with a co-worker in order to get what they wanted. This contradictory finding makes it unfair to punish unwanted flirting with draconian measures. Yet this is precisely what is being done to Herman Cain, who is about to lose his presidential bid over sexual harassment allegations from years ago.

Iran Training Palestinians with New Missiles

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3293/iran-training-palestinians-with-new-missiles

Excerpt: Israeli military officials believe Palestinian terrorists have traveled to Iran for training with sophisticated Russian-made antitank missiles, the Jerusalem Post reports. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have acquired hundreds of longer range missiles, which can travel more than four kilometers and penetrate many types of armored Israeli vehicles.

Herman Cain Gets Secret Service Protection After Death Threats

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/herman-cain-gets-secret-s_n_1100541.html

Excerpt: Herman Cain on Thursday became the first Republican presidential candidate to receive Secret Service protection. Cain asked for the security and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders approved his request Thursday, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirmed. Elite agents were expected to begin protecting the former pizza company executive sometime Thursday. (I hope the Secret Service catches anyone threatening any candidate, even Obama (I plan to vote against him—again—but, he's still the President). It would be extraordinarily bad news for the whole country if candidates started being culled other than at the ballot box. There may be more Democrats than Republicans, but considering the higher proportion of veterans and hunters among Republicans, we are probably the better shots. I was a Sharpshooter twice and an Expert twice in 4 annual tries in the USMC—and I wasn’t even good by the prevailing standards. Ron P.)