Showing posts with label SOTU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SOTU. Show all posts

Thursday, January 30, 2014

SOTU and lots of interesting news

Been a few days since I could get through my e-mail, due to my usual issues. Lot's of interesting articles in this post, so forward to your low-information friends. I didn't listen to Obama's SOTU speech. Before you statists on the list say, "Ah, ha--typical," I never listened to one of Bush's either. I tend to be interested in the reaction and telling details (Such as several good pieces on the SOTU by Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post, linked below), but not a set-piece speech full of spin, given by either side.

Met a WWII vet at the VA rehab clinic. He'll be 90 in seven months. told us about landing on Omaha Beech, fighting through to Belgium, where his outfit lost 70% of the guys, and he was taken POW. He teared up several times thinking of those days ("I was only 19!") and the friends he had lost. His memories were quite clear, though he jumped around a bit in the stories. ~Bob

SOTU, starting with quotes

POTUS opens his speech touting the recovering economy. Minutes later he demands extension of unemployment insurance. --Stephen Hayes

I feel like I'm being lectured by a grad student who has never set foot outside the teachers lounge for a cigarette. --Greg Gutfeld

Why does Obama need to extend unemployment insurance benefits if he's created all these jobs? --Dana Loesch

Awful foreign policy served too little and too late. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: President Obama’s foreign policy remarks last night remind me of the Woody Allen joke: One woman says about a restaurant, “The food is terrible.” Another replies, “Yes! And the portions are so small.” In the case of Obama we can add that the service was awful.

Senate Democrats have reason to freak out. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: Senate Democrats on the 2014 ballot who were sitting in the House chamber last night had reason to worry — a lot.. Here are eight reasons they should be nervous: 1. The president is already a drag on the ticket in 2014 in swing states. Gallup reports that among the twelve states in which Obama is most unpopular (ranging from 22.5 percent to 35 percent approval) there are four hotly contested Senate seats where the Republican can lasso his opponent to the president (e.g. West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Alaska). 

Mike Lee’s thoughtful response. By Jennifer Rubin
Excerpt: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave the most interesting GOP response to the State of the Union. Although not without flaws, it showed how far he and the right flank of the GOP have come since the disastrous government shutdown.

Excerpt: The most interesting speech yesterday was not the State of the Union or any response. (Please, please end these tortuous ordeals.) It was Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech at the Heritage Foundation, a bold repudiation of isolationism and a sign that the right may, as the damage done by President Obama’s retrenchment become evident, return to a Reaganesque foreign policy.

Five Ironic and Hypocritical Statements From Obama's SOTU. By Katie Pavlich
Excerpt: After speaking for more than an hour, President Obama has finished his 2014 State of the Union Address. Not surprisingly, his words and statements didn't come without irony or hypocrisy. Here are the top five:

The debate on the size of government that didn’t happen. By Robert J. Samuelson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-the-debate-that-wasnt/2014/01/29/bbede98c-895d-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
Excerpt: “For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It’s an important debate.” — President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union. Well, there’s a presidential whopper. Obama is right that the role of the federal government deserves an important debate, but he is wrong when he says that we’ve had that debate. 

State of the Union 2014. By Cal Thomas 
Excerpt: Suppose a president of the United States delivered a State of the Union address and nobody cared? Isn't that what happened Tuesday night when the increasingly irrelevant -- and, yes, boring Barack Obama -- droned on about predictable things in a predictable way?

The Iranian Threat & Obama’s Deception. By Joseph Klein 
Excerpt: Obama made the following patently false claim about the implementation of the interim agreement: ”As we gather here tonight, Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium.”

WaPo Fact Checker Rips Obama's State Of The Union Falsehoods
Excerpt: It is a beautiful thing being President Obama. You can pretty much say whatever you want and never be held accountable for it. Sure, a Washington Post fact-checker will dutifully note the brazen falsehoods. The media dutifully reports on most everything. But make Obama pay a political price for not telling the truth in a State of the Union address about the number of jobs created and number of ObamaCare enrollees? Never.

WaPo: Fact Checking the 2014 State of the Union address

Politico: State of the Union 2014 fact check
Excerpt: With that rare, outsized audience comes the temptation for the president to put some spin on his arguments that might not otherwise fly or gain traction in Washington. Here’s POLITICO’s analysis of some of the key parts of Obama’s speech, and where the truth may have been shaped or even stretched in the process:

A Tinge of Sanity in Chicago
Excerpt: So the GOP gave a State of the Union response. The Tea Party gave a State of the Union response. Well, hat tip to Rebel Pundit, for hands down the best SOTU response from Black Chicago grassroots activists. Memo to GOP and Tea Party, stop using politicians and start using real everyday Americans to address the faults, failures, and shortcomings of progressive socialist policies.

Rep. Grimm physically threatens reporter
http://videoshare.politico.com/singletitlevideo_noads.php?bcpid=1409164951001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAETmrZQ~,EVFEM4AKJdRjek0MS21pRzf_GTDAM-xj&bclid=0&bctid=3120070679001
Video: New York Rep. Michael Grimm was accused of physically and verbally threatening a NY1 reporter in the U.S. Capitol following President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Grimm: ‘When you’re wrong, you’re wrong’
Excerpt: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), who angrily confronted a New York television reporter after the State of the Union Tuesday evening told reporters Wednesday that he has apologized and regrets his actions. (How do you get to Congress with this lack of control and lack of sense? What a gift to Democrats--hope they sent him a nice fruit basket in return. ~Bob)

Dustup could hurt Michael Grimm’s reelection
Excerpt: New York Rep. Michael Grimm was already facing a tough reelection. His post-State of the Union blowup could make it even tougher. A moderate Republican who represents a swing Staten Island district, Grimm has been atop Democratic target lists for months.

State of the Union reviews
This is how bad things are. Kimmel did interviews out on the street, asking people what they thought of Obama's SOTU address.... the day before it was given. The link takes you to the video of the results. And a whole slew of idiots fell for it, assumed it had been the night before, but went ahead anyhow with their praise of his speech. Even when asked about details, they smiled and made stuff up. Watching it makes you alternately want to laugh or cry. These people vote and their friends vote too. Heaven help us. --Del

Bush speechwriter accuses Obama of plagiarizing GWB’s 2007 SOTU
Excerpt: Barack Obama and George Bush have at least one thing in common when it comes to the second terms they won — the first year of their encores have been downers when it came to their public images. Both experienced falloffs in overall job approval and in Americans’ perceptions of their leadership, ability to get things done and trustworthiness

Ft. Hood Victim Who Will Sit at SOTU Speech Reveals What He Would Ask Obama: ‘Mr. President, Why Have You…’ By Sara Carter
Excerpt: He would ask Obama why the promises he made more than five years ago to take care of the 32 survivors and the families of the 14 people killed, including an unborn child, have not been fulfilled. He would ask his commander-in-chief to stand up for truth and reclassify the shooting as a terrorist attack. He’d ask him to honor the men, women and families with Purple Hearts and compensation like those who were honored in the Pentagon terrorist attacks and Boston Marathon bombings. (I only wish this guy could stand up and ask Obama his questions. The handling of the Ft Hood shootings has been so much worse than I ever could have imagined, ever. It's atrocious and why Obama hasn't fixed it now that the killer has been sentenced is beyond understanding. Other than it shows he really doesn't care about our military. --Del)

"Thanks to the teachers union, Chicago public schools are some of the best in the nation." #NOTinSOTU

Obama’s Tired Song and Dance. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: Obama opened his State of the Union address, full of its old familiar riffs on green energy, education, infrastructure and an end to war, with unity. Not a call to unity, but a presumption of unity. With his approval ratings underwater, his sixth State of the Union was about claiming credit and shifting blame.

Obama Blames U.S. for ‘Extremism.’ By Ryan Mauro 
Excerpt: President Obama’s State of the Union gave us a look at the premises driving his foreign policy. It showed that he believes Islamic terrorists to be driven by frustration over perceived injustices at the hands of the West, rather than an ideology. It is because of this frame of mind that he can defend the faulty nuclear deal with Iran and depict the regime as a less threatening version of the Soviet Union.

Other Political News and Opinion

This is the liberal legacy: killing baby girls in the womb, no questions asked. By Dominic Lawson
Excerpt: First, The Independent published statistical analysis of the 2011 National Census, demonstrating that there have been ‘illegal’ sex-selective abortions within communities from the subcontinent, resulting in the ‘disappearance’ of up to 4,700 girls. A day later, Government ministers admitted that in more than half of the almost 200,000 abortions that take place annually, the woman seeking termination had been seen by neither of the two doctors whose assent and signatures are required.

New Rules to Deprive Seniors of Drugs, Doctors. By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Excerpt: Two provisions in lengthy proposed regulations published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Federal Register on January 10 would deprive seniors of vital drugs and make it more difficult for them to see their doctors.

Four words in the ACA could spell its doom. By George F. Will
Excerpt: The four words that threaten disaster for the ACA say the subsidies shall be available to persons who purchase health insurance in an exchange “established by the state.” But 34 states have chosen not to establish exchanges.

The social mobility muddle. By Robert J. Samuelson
Excerpt: Americans care about mobility — and are baffled by it. The rags-to-riches story is part of national folklore. And yet, mobility is said to be declining. Is the United States still a “land of opportunity” where hard work, talent and good ideas are rewarded? No, say many experts. People stay stuck in their class of birth. Well, here’s some good news: The conventional wisdom is wrong, concludes a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

For 2016, Hillary Clinton has commanding lead over Democrats, GOP race wide open
Excerpt: Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a commanding 6 to 1 lead over other Democrats heading into the 2016 presidential campaign, while the Republican field is deeply divided with no clear front-runner, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. (H. L. Mencken: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." ~Bob)

Health-care law loses support among uninsured, poll shows. By Sandhya Somashekhar
Excerpt: Support for the health-care law declined among the uninsured this month, just as many of the program’s key provisions went into effect, according to a new poll examining Americans’ knowledge and views of the Affordable Care Act.

Inside Iran: Iran's demographic problem. By Ariel Ben Solomon
http://www.meforum.org/3724/iran-demographic-problem
Excerpt: Is there a correlation between Iran's nuclear program and its low fertility rate or, perhaps as well, between the vitality of Islamic civilization and its shrinking birthrates?
There is, according to David Goldman, a fellow at the right-wing, US-based think tank the Middle East Forum, and a longtime writer for Asia Times Online under the moniker Spengler

Surprise: California Hires Convicted Felons to Administer Obamacare. Guy Benson
Excerpt: At least 43 convicted criminals are working as Obamacare navigators in California, including three individuals with records of significant financial crimes.

Politics of Hate and Envy. By Walter E. Williams
Excerpt: Part of the progressive agenda is to create hate and envy. One component of that agenda is to attack the large differences between a corporation's chief executive officer's earnings and those of its average worker. 

The Poison of Postmodern Lying. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: All presidents at one time have fudged on the truth. Most politicians pad their resumes and airbrush away their sins. But what is new about political lying is the present notion that lies are not necessarily lies anymore -- a reflection of the relativism that infects our entire culture.

President Obama: Mr Inequality. Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison
Excerpt: No one in modern America has done more than President Obama to bring about inequality. His modern utopia is turning into a queuetopia. Under ObamaCare, Americans have to queue up even to sign up for health care.

Obama's Minimum Wage Order Is Out Of Step With America. By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Excerpt: President Obama's executive order raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour covers employees of federal government contractors who work on federal projects, and applies to new contracts. It would give some workers as much as a 39 percent raise. But others would lose jobs, since Congress is unlikely to increase contractors' funding because Obama has raised the minimum wage by executive order, skirting congressional authority.

10 Reasons Intermittent Renewables Are A Problem. By Gail Tverberg 
Excerpt: Certainly, politicians need something to provide hope, especially in countries that are obviously losing their supply of oil, such as the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the more I look into the situation, the less intermittent renewables have to offer. 1. It is doubtful that intermittent renewables actually reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Fixing the News. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: More context isn’t the solution to the news; it’s the barrier to the news. Every media outlet wants to tell you what to think about an event, instead of telling you what happened. The more sophisticated organizations do a better job of dressing up their narratives by dropping long reads on the reader. 

Iraqi troops 'end Baghdad hostage crisis'
Excerpt: Iraqi security forces have ended a hostage crisis at a government building in Baghdad, but there are conflicting reports about the number of casualties. Officials said the six men who had stormed the transport ministry facility and taken several hostages were killed.

Excerpt: Various Turkish accounts indicated that the military destroyed several vehicles belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a powerful Al Qaeda affiliate operating in rebel-held parts of Syria. The attack was apparently in retaliation for shelling or gunfire from Syria that landed in Turkish territory.

Ukraine protesters defy terms of new amnesty law
Excerpt: Parliament backed an amnesty for detainees if protesters vacated the government buildings they had occupied and unblocked streets and squares. The opposition has rejected this and protesters remain camped out in central Kiev and still occupy key buildings.

Libyan deputy prime minister survives attempt on life
Excerpt: Libya's deputy prime minister survived unhurt after gunmen fired on his car in Tripoli on Wednesday in an attack reflecting the violent chaos plaguing the North African nation two years after Muammar Gaddafi's fall. (This is what running an unauthorized, lead-from-behind war gets you. ~Bob)

Bangladesh police have charged seven students of an elite university and a cleric over the murder of an allegedly atheist blogger who was critical of Islam and Islamic groups.
Excerpt: The students are accused of hacking to death Ahmed Rajib Haider, 35, near his home in Dhaka in February last year, days after he helped launch a campaign against Islamist leaders accused of war crimes.

Where are the Syrian refugees going? The UK government has agreed to take in 500 Syrian refugees - but where are the rest going? 
At the time of writing, the number of Syrian refugees stands at 2,386,087 - more than double the entire population of Cyprus. The crisis is so severe that last year, the United Nations launched the biggest appeal in its 69-year history. But the response so far has not matched the scale or nature of the crisis. (So who made the “open-ended offer” on behalf of the US. --Barb)

Two top American bankers commit suicide in London as one jumps 500ft to his death from JP Morgan skyscraper and another hangs himself in luxury home
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547684/TWO-senior-American-bankers-working-London-commit-suicide-just-two-days-one-jumped-500ft-death-JP-Morgan-skyscraper.html
Excerpt: Two top ranking American bankers working in senior positions in London have committed suicide in the space of two days. Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan bank executive, died early this morning after he jumped 500ft from the top of the bank's European headquarters. …Just two days earlier, on Sunday, fellow American banker, William 'Bill' Broeksmit, 58, was found hanging in his South Kensington home. (Metropolitan police find “nothing suspicious.” --Barb)

Obama Step Closer To Seizing Retirement Accounts: Proposes in SOTU address T-bills for IRA, 401(k)
Excerpt: When you hear, “Hello, I’m from the federal government and I want to help you manage your retirement savings,” the best advice is to run away, as fast as you can….Packaged as a new retirement-savers plan designed for workers whose employers do not offer IRAs or 401(k), President Obama announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday an initiative that allows first-time savers to start building up their savings in Treasury bonds that could eventually be converted into traditional IRAs or 401(k) plans. While it is not as onerous as an Obama administration directive demanding a certain percentage of individual retirement savings must be invested in U.S. Treasury bonds, it is a first step in that direction. (WND is often extreme, with their hair on fire and lots of spin, so take their stuff for what it is worth. ~Bob)

Who’s ‘godless’ now? Russia says it’s U.S.
Excerpt: More than two decades on, history has come full circle, as the Kremlin and its allies in the Russian Orthodox Church hurl the same allegation at the West.…In his state of the nation address in mid-December, Mr. Putin also portrayed Russia as a staunch defender of “traditional values” against what he depicted as the morally bankrupt West. Social and religious conservatism, the former KGB officer insisted, is the only way to prevent the world from slipping into “chaotic darkness.”

Excerpt:….“[The president] has made far less use of his executive power at this point in his administration than some of his predecessors have and he will only do so, as I indicated previously, where he is unable to work with Congress to do things together,” Holder said. Lee said he “respectfully but forcefully” disagreed with Holder’s assertion. “When you look at the quality – not just the quantity, but the quality – the nature of the executive orders that he has issued, he has usurped an extraordinary amount of authority within the executive branch,” the senator continued. 

Man Tricks Girlfriend Into Getting Abortion; Faced Life Sentence for Murder
Excerpt: Liberals say that an unborn baby is not actually a person. That’s why we can end an unborn baby’s life “legally.” It’s not murder, because murder is illegal. Abortion is legal; therefore, it must not be murder. Q.E.D. If it’s not a person, then why is it that if a pregnant woman is murdered, and her unborn child also dies, the murderer is charged with a double homicide? 

Israeli Defense Official Offers Dark Security Assessment
Excerpt: Israel is entering an "Era of Fire" in which it is threatened by 170,000 rockets and missiles and in which the Syrian civil war has placed "30,000 global jihad terrorists" at its doorstep, Israel's defense intelligence chief said in a speech Wednesday.

The ACA: A Train Wreck and a Lie: Preexisting conditions, guaranteed renewability — HIPAA already covered those issues. By Jeffrey A. Singer
Excerpt: In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama repeated one of the biggest lies behind the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and it wasn’t that you could keep your health-care plan or your current doctor. In fact, most people don’t even know it’s a lie.

Excerpt: If I were to reduce to a bumper sticker the way the left thinks about the world these days, it would read: Inequality happens. If I were to reduce to a bumper sticker the way the right thinks about the same subject, it would read: Inequality happens for a reason. This is not a small distinction. For President Obama, inequality is the public policy issue du jour. And like lemmings, left wing editorial writers and bloggers can think of nothing else to write about. But here is something that may surprise you. The most interesting analyses of the problem are on the right, not the left. For the most part, all the left does is deplore. They seem to have no interest in understanding why we have a problem.

Philippines military offensive 'kills 37 rebels'
Excerpt: President Benigno Aquino said the offensive would protect villages from rebels in Maguindanao province. The insurgents involved in fighting oppose a recent peace accord between the government and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The Broken State of American Health Insurance Prior to the Affordable Care Act: A Market Rife with Government Distortion. By Rituparna Basu
Excerpt: A survey of some of the major controls pre-ACA reveals that health insurance was already one of the most government-controlled industries in America. This is the context in which we must assess the causes of our problems in health insurance. Contrary to proponents of further intervention, evidence presented in this paper suggests that government regulation plays a major role in the poor state of health insurance today.

'Populist' Obama pushes corporatist policies. By Timothy P. Carney 
Excerpt: Democrats this week are trying to claim the populist ground for the2014 elections, with President Obama's State of the Union Address as the centerpiece of this effort. Meanwhile, Obama and his party are showering corporate welfare on the likes of Boeing, Aetna, and possibly billionaire Obama fundraiser Warren Buffett.

Excerpt: Last year I shopped in Target once…about three days after Christmas. I used my credit card and got caught up in the huge ID theft caper perpetrated by that Russian teen. My credit card issuer emailed me and notified me of the breech, canceled my old card, and issued me a new one.

Excerpt: Zawahiri also added that “All those who reject the Sharia must be executed, and all those belonging to the secular media which works to disseminate debauchery and helps deviants and Christians to violate the Sharia, must be executed.”

Forget global warming!? Earth undergoing global COOLING since 2002! Climate Scientist Dr. Judith Curry: ‘Attention in the public debate seems to be moving away from the 15-17 year ‘pause’ to the cooling since 2002’
Excerpt: Growing number of scientists are predicting global cooling: Russia’s Pulkovo Observatory: ‘We could be in for a cooling period that lasts 200-250 years.’ (SOTU: Obama then declared, "[T]he debate is settled. Climate change is a fact." Have to say that the climate has been changing since the Earth was formed; never static. ~Bob)

Rep. Waxman, key ObamaCare architect, to retire after 20 terms in office
Excerpt: Longtime Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman announced Thursday he will not seek reelection in the fall, becoming the latest architect of the Affordable Care Act to announce his retirement.

Chuck Schumer Asks The IRS To Target And Stop The Tea Party
Excerpt: The IRS scandal is not only not over but is getting worse, with a call by New York's senior senator for the already-politicized agency to use its power to tax to destroy the conservative grass-roots movement. Arguing that the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision allowed Tea Party groups to "funnel millions of undisclosed dollars into campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government," Charles Schumer wants the IRS and other government agencies to take on the Tea Party through their administrative powers. (OK, here we go, getting to see how a supposed "Liberal" is ready to push government agencies to go after any kind of group he doesn't like. Remember when "Liberal" meant you were one of the shock troops for Freedom of Speech, the right to dissent, all that kind of stuff? --Del)

Matt Drudge Issues Warning: “Have An Exit Plan”
http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/01/matt-drudge-issues-warning-exit-plan/
Excerpt: The warning, while cryptic, may be the result of direct insider information. Considering he once nearly brought down the Clinton administration by revealing the President’s indiscretions with a White House intern, one could make the case that if anyone has legitimate sources pouring in from across the world it’s Matt Drudge.

Michelle Obama Has a Rabbi in Her Family
Excerpt: While Barack Obama has struggled to capture the Jewish vote, it turns out that one of his wife’s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi — a fact that has gone largely unnoticed. Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed.

Islam: The Only Religion That Tells Everyone On EARTH What To Do
Excerpt: The beauty, and envy, of our great nation has always been that it was a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. The beauty of blending and sharing of cultural traditions. People who loved America and desired to be Americans came here. Not because they were trying to transplant their nation, but to add their traditions to the great melting pot. (Nor to fundamentally transform ours. --JB)

Federal Thugs Won't Say Die When It Comes To Crushing Catholic College.
http://moonbattery.com/?p=41743
Excerpt: While prayers won’t hurt, we had better remember that God helps those who help themselves. Given all the problems generated by America’s self-imposed decline, don’t Obama and his bureaucratic thugs have anything better to do than coerce Catholics to dole out abortifacients in soul-destroying violation of their faith? Of course they don’t. Consider their agenda.

German-Israeli Relations Sliding Downwards. By Joseph Puder
Excerpt: Germany is eager to throw the Holocaust guilt off its back, and with encouragement from the European media and academia, it has found the excuses in Israel’s alleged “bad” treatment of the Palestinians, and construction in the ‘settlements,’ which are in fact, communities and towns within Area C, legally administered by Israel. Anti-Semitic expressions in Germany are allowed as long as it is directed towards the Jewish State. According to a 2013 BBC World Service Poll, 8% of Germans view Israel’s influence as positive and 67% view it as negative.

Clinton "Regrets" Benghazi. By Arnold Ahlert
Excerpt: With all due respect to [Ted] Cruz, Clinton knows what happened. She’s known it for a long time. And it is more than likely the only regret she truly harbors at this point in time is the reality that, despite her best efforts, along with those of her fellow Democrats, and a mainstream media fully invested in her 2016 election, Benghazi is not going to be the irrelevant issue they are trying to make it.

Amnesty Ends the American Dream. By Daniel Greenfield
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/amnesty-ends-the-american-dream/
Excerpt: The United States has been taking in a million immigrants a year since 2004. Are a million immigrants a year really inadequate for the needs of businesses in a country with less than one hundred million private sector employees and over ninety million people out of the workforce? Black and Latino unemployment rates are already far higher than white unemployment rates. The Mexican-American unemployment rate is between 10 and 12 percent.

Sen. Coburn: I Lost My Preferred Cancer Specialist Under Obamacare. By Daniel Doherty 
Excerpt: On Tuesday, however, he appeared on MSNBC’s morning flagship program and informed viewers that while he’s “doing well,” he’s lost his cancer specialist because of Obamacare, and thus will have to pay higher medical costs out-of-pocket as a result 

Governing by Pen and Phone: Obama used to sigh that he was not a dictator who could act unilaterally. No more. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone,” Obama boasted Tuesday as he convened his first cabinet meeting of the year. At least he did not say he intended to govern by “pen and sword.” If Obama used to sigh to supporters that he was not a dictator who could just implement progressive agendas by fiat, he now seems to have done away with the pretense of regret.

House Dem: So It Looks Like Obamacare Won't Attract Enough Young People. By Guy Benson
Excerpt: Rep. Jim Moran is retiring after his current term ends, and I'll let Millie Hemingway remind you of the many reasons why that's good news. But perhaps the ticking clock on his career has freed the Virginia Democrat up to say things that don't necessarily hew the party line. On Obamacare's demographic struggles, Moran says he fears the problems may persist, disrupting the law's financial framework in the process:

OUTRAGEOUS: Feminazi Says, ‘I Look Down on Young Women with Husbands and Kids and I’m Not Sorry. By Amy Glass
Excerpt: Every time I hear someone say that feminism is about validating every choice a woman makes I have to fight back vomit. Do people really think that a stay at home mom is really on equal footing with a woman who works and takes care of herself? There’s no way those two things are the same. It’s hard for me to believe it’s not just verbally placating these people so they don’t get in trouble with the mommy bloggers.

Green Drought: For the sake of the smelt, California farmland lies fallow. By Charles C. W. Cooke

Excerpt: “We have the greatest factory anywhere on earth,” Harris Farms’ executive vice president, William Bourdeau, tells me, as our car bumps rapidly along the dirty, uneven track. “These are pistachio trees,” he says, sweeping his hand across the horizon. “Over there, we have asparagus.” He points through the windshield. “And in that facility, we process garlic.” (Yep, the environmentalists can really mess things up in big ways for really tiny reasons. This is a great example of how generally good causes can spawn really not so good results. --Del)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for February 14, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for February 14, 2013
Robert A. Hall

Happy Valentine’s Day. Put a little more love in the world—it needs it. ~Bob

Comment on my book CYA
I am reading CYA, and find it delightful. -BW
C.Y.A. Protecting Yourself in the Modern Jungle
If you order directly from CreateSpace, the PFF receives a larger royalty:
First published in 2010, this book has been reissued through CreateSpace/Amazon at a lower price, with all royalties going to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. A humor/self-help book, this is advice with an attitude.

Comment on my book Advice for my Granddaughter from a retired Marine (and great officer)
I mentioned your book on advice to a granddaughter … She had already read it and said it was the best book she’d ever read on the subject. She loved it! As I have a growing number of granddaughters and great-granddaughters, I figured I’d better read it myself. So I ordered a copy today. Then I’ll order copies for younger granddaughters (and their mothers) who I think will get something out of it. If it’s as good as everyone says, this may be your greatest legacy. Semper Fi, John
Advice for my Granddaughter: For When I'm Gone
https://www.createspace.com/3792897All royalties go to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (which gets a larger royalty if you order directly through Create Space.).

Why people need guns: Miami 'super dad' dies protecting daughter, 11, during home invasion
Excerpt: Police say two heavily armed men fatally shot a homeowner as he tried to protect his daughter during a home invasion. The incident happened late Tuesday night in Miami. The father, identified as Maurice Harris, 36, got into a struggle with the suspects when they tried to gain entry into his 11-year-old daughter's bedroom, police told FoxNews.com. The father was fatally shot in the struggle. There were no other reports of injuries. The suspects were described as black males. (Of course, if the government’s goal is to protect the perps…~Bob.)

Republicans: Obama State of the Union dims hopes for deficit deal http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/282763-republicans-state-of-the-union-dims-hopes-for-deficit-deal
Excerpt: Republican lawmakers say a deal to reduce the deficit and replace $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to take effect on March 1 is even less likely after President Obama's State of the Union address.

listening to POTUS's awesome list of new stuff for govt to do, I almost wish DC hadn't spent all the money.

Excerpt: Much of the State of the Union was going up and down in the Bing audience live ratings that allowed viewers to vote every five seconds during the speech. But I noticed a very interesting trend among all parties and both genders when President Obama started talking about gun control.

Excerpt: “Marco Rubio is to the heart what Paul Ryan is to the head. Paul Ryan is dangerous because of the strength of his intellect. This is a smart guy, Marco Rubio, but when he connects, that last 90 seconds, Marco Rubio, he is dangerous for Democrats.”

Obama’s Most Dishonest State of the Union Address. By Daniel Greenfield 
Excerpt: Obama’s ridiculous 6600-word marathon is also not a lengthy speech; it is the party’s program. The professional flatterers and fawners in the media have long since given up describing the teleprompter-in-chief as a talented speaker. These days Obama gives speeches that not only sound like they were read from a teleprompter, but also written by a teleprompter.

Woman Votes Multiple Times in Election 2012 but Denies Voter Fraud!
Can’t be true. My progressive brother assures me that vote fraud doesn’t happen, just a way for racist Republicans to suppress minority votes. That’s the new leftist party line for the last couple of years. ~Bob. 

Double-Voting for Obama. By Matthew Vadum 
Excerpt: Double-voting is distressingly common.
For example, in September Wendy Rosen dropped out as the Democratic candidate in the first congressional district in Maryland after it was revealed she double-voted in two elections. State Democratic officials admitted Rosen voted in both Florida and Maryland in the 2006 general election and in the primaries in 2008.
In 2011 a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted local NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers was sentenced to a five-year prison term.

Robbery Victims Shooting Attackers Called ‘Alarming Trend’
Excerpt: There’s an alarming trend in Detroit that have some people worried. In the span of a week, two separate robberies were thwarted when the victims, who both had conceal carry permits and a gun, managed to defend themselves by shooting their attackers.

Video recommendation
You MUST see this video of Ben Shapiro (Breitbart) on how to counter leftist bullies. In it he touches on the "women's right to their own bodies" dogma:
Takes about an hour, but you will appreciate it immensely. Cordially, Larry Greenberg

Sin Taxes: A Questionable Source of Revenue
Excerpt: In reality, most sin taxes are an extension of policymakers' belief that they can make better consumption choices than individuals can make for themselves. By attaching a monetary fee to certain behaviors that are deemed risky or undesirable, selective sin taxes are aimed at inducing people to adopt healthier lifestyles. Sin taxes also disproportionately affect low-income individuals who are more likely to use many of the consumer goods, like alcohol and tobacco, than are higher-income individuals. Low-income individuals are less likely to have consumption alternatives and are thus less likely to respond to changes in price. (They nail the poor to make the left feel good about themselves, so Democrats love them. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: This same principle also applies to the practice of medicine. Paying doctors or hospitals based on outcomes would be fine as long as the outcomes can be reliably measured and we know how much each entity contributes. Until that is possible, we run the risk that we will inadvertently punish the good practitioners and reward the bad ones. (Pay for performance wouldn’t be a problem if we actually knew how to measure outcomes and each person’s contribution to it.)

Research Investments Are Frequently Fruitless
Excerpt: For all the meritorious research the government funds, federal research and development expenditures are riddled with wasteful projects. The rationale for government funding of research holds that only the government can make such sizeable investments and that the results yield intellectual property available to all, says Henry I. Miller, the Robert Wesson fellow in scientific philosophy and public policy at the Hoover Institution. … Miller cites Senator Tom Coburn's report that identifies trivial research projects like how to ride a bike, when dogs became man's best friend, whether parents choose trendy baby names and why the same teams always seem to dominate the NCAA basketball playoffs, all of which receive federal funding. … NIFA pales in comparison to "the master of waste, fraud and abuse" -- the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which controls an annual research budget of more than $800 million. Miller notes that a large portion of EPA research funds are spent on public relations and diverted to nonprofit organizations without any oversight.

Tibetan protester sets himself on fire in Nepal
Excerpt: A Tibetan protester doused himself with gasoline, set himself ablaze and chanted anti-China slogans as he ran down a street in Nepal's capital Wednesday, the latest in a string of self-immolations protesting China's rule over Tibet.
The dramatic protest marked the 101st time since 2009 that a Tibetan monk, nun or layperson has set themselves on fire, according to officials from the Tibetan exile government, based in India. (Once the Communist institute totalitarian rule, people prefer to die for freedom. ~Bob.)

Hagel omitted two speeches on Middle East from Senate disclosure forms
Excerpt: In the supporting documents he turned over to Senate investigators as part of his confirmation process, Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel did not disclose at least two recent speeches on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Fox News has confirmed.

Excerpt: As police scoured mountain peaks for days, using everything from bloodhounds to high-tech helicopters, the revenge-seeking ex-cop they wanted was hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across the street from their command post. … The search ended abruptly Tuesday when a man believed to be Dorner bolted from hiding, stole two cars, barricaded himself in a vacant cabin and mounted a last stand in a furious shootout in which he killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another before the building erupted in flames.

Crazy to Everyone But the New York Times
Excerpt: A homicidal maniac blames racism in the Los Angeles Police Department for his killing rampage against cops and civilians and the New York Times responds, “You know, he just may have a point.” On Monday, as fired LAPD cop Christopher Dorner eluded capture for the sixth day after killing a Riverside Police Department officer, the daughter of his departmental defense attorney, and her fiancé, the Times wrapped up three days of observations about racism in the LAPD in response to Dorner’s charge, in a lunatic manifesto, that the department was endemically biased and brutal. 9well he praised gun control, attacked the NRA and praised a lot of leftists in his manifesto, so naturally the NYT doesn’t think this murderer was all bad. If the Newtown shooter had been black and blamed racism, they would have had a good word for him, too. ~Bob.)
           
CNN Panel: Dorner's Alleged Murder Spree 'Exciting,' Like 'Denzel Washington Movie'
If you aren’t the unarmed people being murdered, it’s fun like a movie. ~Bob

Tweet from RB ‏@RBPundit
I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that you spelled Crisp Dorner wrong. You spelled it "Chris."

Details emerge in LAPD's mistaken shooting of newspaper carriers
This is a sad example of cops operating in panic mode. First, not remotely the right description of the vehicle and occupants and they open fire anyway, and second, the bullet holes all over the neighborhood that say some of them were spraying bullets in a wide arc. Good heavens, a pickup truck from fairly close range is an easy target to hit, how in hell do you wind up with bullet holes in house doors and windows of the neighborhood? The answer is only that some officers were just yanking triggers fast and hard and not paying attention to their sight picture at all. This is the kind of thing that makes anyone nervous about how smart and controlled their police are. –Del. Clearly there are problems with the actions of the police, but please bear in mind a few things: 1. The statement that the women were never ordered to stop or surrender comes from their lawyer, who is not an unbiased source. 2. It was possible for Dorner to get hold of another vehicle. 3. How can you mistake a Hispanic woman from a black male? It just shows that you can’t see who’s in a car – note the tinted back window. There’s a difference between an error and an atrocity, and the details are significant in determining which this really is. –Geoff. They were still lousy shots. –Del.

BOORING--State of the Union delivers laundry list for the left. By Adam Kredo
No surprises. Why I skip these things, GOP or Dem. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Barack Obama delivered a longwinded and leftwing State of the Union in which he advocated in favor of increased taxes, widespread “reforms” to the nation’s gun laws, minimum wage increases, and immigration policy.

Worth Reading: The real tragedy is that many Americans earn $0.00 per hour and live in poverty, because of the minimum wage law
Excerpt: If more than three-quarters of teenagers earn more than the minimum wage, then any hardworking adult certainly can, and it must be a false narrative that full-time workers “are stuck” in minimum wage jobs and trying to raise a family, but mired in a life of poverty. (The reason Obama wants to increase the minimum wage is that it will reduce low paying jobs, thus put more minorities out of work, thus denying them the change to build work skills, a work ethic and a record of having worked. Thus they will never have the chance to get out of poverty, and will be depended on the government forever. Thus they will have to vote for the party of big government for a living. He hopes the Ponzi scheme will collapse after he’s gone. Maybe. ~Bob)

Obama’s Minimum Wage Fallacy: Golden Intentions Does Not Mean Golden Results. By Andrew Kirell 
Excerpt: A preponderance of economic studies have found that minimum wage hikes tend to destroy jobs for many low-skilled, low-wage workers. Of course, some do benefit from the mandate — especially those employed by people who can absorb increased labor costs. The fact that some do, indeed, benefit from minimum wage hikes (while many others either lose jobs or remain unemployed) is important to remember when understanding the history of the policy. Throughout its near-century-long history, the minimum wage has long been used to benefit some at the expense of many. 

Williams With Sowell - Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly

Frontline -- "Cliffhanger"
WTTW just broadcast a “Frontline” show that you might find interesting. “Frontline” often annoys me, as it would many of your readers, but its most recent episode, “Cliffhanger,” about Federal government budget negotiations over the last couple of years would not confirm some expectations that it would make President Obama look good. On the contrary, it shows John Boehner relentlessly trying to pursue a budget agreement while the White House wavers and tries, unsuccessfully, to work an advantage by playing one group of Republicans against another. It makes Obama look indecisive and opportunistic while Boehner looks like a man of principle. You can watch it on your computer at the link above. --GS.

The Super Bowl Farmers. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: It was not just Harvey’s mid-20th century voice that intrigued millions, but his unapologetic praise of the farmer’s work ethic, religiosity, and family values that he implied were at the core of American greatness, and were shared by all sorts of other American originals: the truck driver, the steel worker, or waitress whom we now all praise and yet prep our children not to be. We suspect that our kids would be better off at forty for spending a summer on a tractor at fifteen, but we just can’t seem to risk the loss of a season’s computer camp or eco-camp in the bargain.

Worth Reading: Why Employment Is Dead in the Water. By Tyler Durden 
Excerpt: The only way to understand why employment is dead in the water is to stand in the shoes of a potential employer or entrepreneur. Remarkably, this perspective is unknown to economists and progressive politicians because they have never been an employer (and no, hiring a grad student to grade papers or an illegal nanny to watch your kids does not make you an employer.)

Older, but worth reading: Hipsters on food stamps: They're young, they're broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that? By Jennifer Bleyer
Excerpt: Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore last year with a meager part-time blogging job and prospects for little else. About half of his friends in Baltimore have been getting food stamps since the economy toppled, so he decided to give it a try; to his delight, he qualified for $200 a month. “I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. 

Another take, also worth reading: Hipsters On Food Stamps, Part 1
Excerpt: I'm not trying to start trouble, but let's choose something I'm familiar with, i.e. women: why would a smart high school junior, 4.0 and AP Everything, think that going to Hampshire College for English Literature was a good idea? Why would her parents allow this madness, other than the fact that they were divorcing? What did she think would happen given that she knew in advance there were no jobs for English majors?

Barbarians at the Digital Gate: Its cyberattacks show the world the nature of the Chinese regime.
Excerpt: On a visit to our offices last year, a U.S. lawmaker with knowledge of intelligence affairs explained that, when it comes to cyber-espionage, there are only two kinds of American companies these days: Those that have been hacked, and those that don't know they've been hacked. So it comes as no great surprise to learn that The Wall Street Journal has also been hacked.

Mr. Obama, Global Warming, & Science
Mr. Obama said a lot in his State of the Union address about Global Warming as a totally established scientific fact. Unfortunately, there are quite few scientists who strongly oppose that conclusion, and they can and do raise very credible rebuttals to such statements. Below is a website where a long series of detailed rebuttals can be found.
(You may have to assemble all the stuff above into one line in your browser to have it work) It is true at this point that there's more emotionalism than ever behind the near-panic attitude of those who believe in Global Warming. And too many of their comments about those who don't agree (called "deniers" of course, rather than dissenting scientists) slide into ad hominem arguments. I don't like it when scientists succumb to emotion in their discussions, which just allows nonscientists to really get carried away with their own feelings. I've tried hard to look at both sides of this, I am after all a trained and long practicing scientist. In the end it appears clear that there is more than sufficient data to support the idea that if there is an overall warming trend, it is of a much lower magnitude than the more passionate warming believers think it is. Clearly if the original predictions about the warming, made over five years ago, in some cases even further, were valid, we'd be seeing more effects now than have become evident. The other thing that is sure is that if in fact human production of CO2 were behind a warming effect, it is impossible now for us to even slow it, much less reverse it. We have no way of removing gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere, so even if we stopped producing more, the warming would continue. And with China and India moving their societies into steadily more energy use, the generation of CO2 will continue and atmospheric concentration will increase, no matter what the USA and Europe do. If I really believed in warming, I'd be buying real estate a half mile inland from the NC coast, so my grandchildren would have beachfront property. What is also sure is that imposing carbon taxes on industries is not good for the economy, and trading carbon credits becomes an instant racket allowing some people to rip off large sums of money. I should make it clear here that I consider the EPA declaring CO2 to be a poison gas to be a totally unjustifiable political act rather than science, which is having negative effects already on our economy, which will only grow worse with time. If and when the data clearly support the idea that we have significant warming, and there is some kind of scientific data demonstrating without doubt that human generation of CO2 is the cause, then and only then should we and everyone else start to consider how to lessen CO2 generation (nuclear power is the only real answer) and how to plan for the increase in warming. –Del

Who Failed Chicago? By Michelle Malkin 
Excerpt: Obama, his wife, his campaign strategists, his closest cronies and his biggest bundlers all hail from Chicago. Senior adviser and former Chicago real estate mogul/city planning commissioner Valerie Jarrett and her old boss Richard Daley presided over a massive "Plan for Transformation" in the mid-1990s to rescue taxpayer-subsidized public housing from its bloody hellhole. How'd that work out for you, Chicago? Answer: This social justice experiment failed miserably. (There is no evidence as far as I know that the shooters used a so-called “assault” rifle, or fired more than ten shots. So, of course, the left wants to use this to ban rifles and magazines [which they keep calling “clips”] that hold more than ten rounds. ~Bob)

France: Muslims force stores to close, open Muslim stores
Excerpt: If I knew everyone understood that the Western power elites want to eliminate Judeo-Christian culture (for ex, by importing hordes of Muslims knowing they will not assimilate), I wouldn't bombard you with reports like this one. But when you look at the WHOLE picture painted by these separate piecemeal reports, it is abundantly clear that there is less and less room for Jews and Christians in our own Western world and that this is by design, absolutely not a coincidence. The main reason for this disaster is ourselves: we have been taught to sympathize with everyone but ourselves. That is the path to suicide. Yet we absorb these toxic PC lessons as though they were a health-restoring elixir. --Don Hank

Sex Week at University of Chicago
http://moonbattery.com/?p=25605
Excerpt: Obama’s ham-fisted nationalization of the student loan industry indicates that the federal government will take an ever larger role in financing the preposterously bloated expense of college. This should prevent institutions of higher learning from having to cut back on essential scholarship like Sex Week: The prestigious University of Chicago is in the midst of hosting a comprehensive sex week that includes controversial events such as a course on sex education for kids, a play entitled “Genitalia the Musical,” and “Anal 101.” (This will make you fun at parties, but may not enhance the job prospects. Unless you want to work on Capital hill, of course. ~Bob.)

Obama: 57 Vacation Days Since Vowing He 'Will Not Rest Until Anyone' Can Find A GOOD Job; Unemployment still stands at 7.9 percent, actually higher than when he took office in 2009. By Dan Gainor
You have to remember, he’s a “community organizer.” He considers being on government assistance the same as having a job. ~Bob.