Political Digest for September 2, 2011

Posts may be limited over the long weekend. My bride of 19 years doesn’t think working on the blog is “romantic” for our anniversary. Go figure. I’ll try to check to see if Blogspot has pulled it for a third week, and/or fails to post what I’ll leave for Saturday, if I can get computer time. ~Bob.

Old Jarhead Blog Removed?

Twice in the last two weeks, both times on Saturdays, when readers logged on to my blog at http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/, they got a "blog removed" message with no explanation. Both times I logged on to Blogspot and posted a query and the blog returned in a few hours. They say they have a system for auto removing Spam blogs, but mine has zero advertising, except my books, I kill Spam posts, and it has been up since 2008. I don't know if it is a blogspot glitch, like the way they sometimes change scheduled posts to drafts, or an attack. It is costing me readers--weekly page views dropped in that time from over 4k to about 3k. If you get that message, please try again later.

Book Recommendation: The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins

http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Rome-End-Civilization/dp/0192807285/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314886555&sr=1-3

The Fall of Rome was recommended to me by a friend who had read my book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic: and what you can do to prevent it. Dr. Ward-Perkins has done truth and scholarship a service with this short book, doubtless at some discomfort in modern academia. He is scrupulous in research and in not going beyond the extant evidence, but he dispels the PC notion that Romans welcomed the barbarians and together they fairly-peacefully transformed Europe—presumably laying the foundation for today’s early-retirement, high-vacation E-utopia. I have a master’s in history, but am far more of a dilettante than a scholar in the field, so I found the fact-base focus on the distribution of high-quality Roman pot shards as opposed to infantry tactics in key battles a bit dry. But Dr. Ward-Perkins draws many compelling factors together. His description (p136) of how specialization contributed to the collapse of living standards and population when the decline and fall forced people to a localized, subsistence economy was frightening. Most Americans are ill-prepared to survive in such a world, where our highly-compensated, specialized skills will be of little use, and I fear that it may well be coming. But, as he points out in his chilling closing, people in the late Roman Republic could no more imagine that things wouldn’t go on forever as they always had, than most citizens of the West can today. Both Europe and America have been invaded, if you will, by people from—in the PC phrase—less complex cultures. While they carry no battle axes (unless sold to them by the ATF, I suppose), neither are they met by the Legion’s shield-wall, short swords and pila. I suspect that Dr. Ward-Perkins looked on the recent riots in Britain and realized that the UK, Europe and America have created homegrown Visigoths and Vandals in our cities. I fear this is not so much an interesting book about the past as a picture of our future.

Coincidences don’t happen in presidential politics. Ever.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/coincidences-dont-happen-in-presidential-politics-ever/2011/08/31/gIQALlwNsJ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Excerpt: There are no coincidences in presidential politics. Strategists spend hours poring over every word a president utters, every policy position he takes and every state he visits, a level of attention to detail that makes happenstance virtually nonexistent. And so, when the White House announced today that President Obama would deliver his much-anticipated jobs speech on Sept. 7 at 8 pm — the exact same day and time that the 2012 Republican candidates are scheduled to debate in California — the idea that the timing was purely coincidental was, well, far-fetched. It’s clear that this White House saw an opportunity to drive a major — and direct — contrast between President Obama and his potential Republican rivals and took it. As to whether that’s a good idea, strategists — even within the Democratic party — are divided. (Every Republican member should politely decline to attend, saying, “We regret the President scheduled this speech when he knew we were committed to watching the debate. Since we expect him to offer the same tax and spend solutions that have created this economic mess, we will be watching the previously-scheduled even, but will read a copy of his speech with interest.” [I wrote this before he folded.] ~Bob.)

Obama relents on jobs speech to Congress, moves address to Sept. 8

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-requests-to-speak-to-joint-session-of-congress-next-week/2011/08/31/gIQAtOF8rJ_blog.html?wpisrc=al_national

Even the reliably-liberal Washington Post wasn’t buying coincidence—see above—BO had to cave. If you want to watch the NFL instead, go ahead. All BO will offer will be more taxes, more spending, more anti-jobs regulation, more “shared-sacrifice-every-one-must-chip-in-except-my-base-the-47%-who-pay-no-income-taxes.” You won’t miss a thing. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 8 to lay out his plan for jobs and the economy, the White House announced Wednesday night. The date is one day later than the president requested earlier Wednesday, but that date conflicted with a scheduled debate of Republican presidential candidates in California, drawing objections from GOP lawmakers. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) responded by suggesting that Obama come to Capitol Hill on Thursday night, citing the need for the House to conduct a “security sweep” in its first day back in session. “It is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks,” Boehner wrote in his response letter to Obama.

Good comment on the tussle: Boehner to Obama: How about giving your speech the day after the GOP debate instead?

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/08/31/boehner-to-obama-how-about-giving-your-speech-the-day-after-the-gop-debate-instead/

Excerpt: Meanwhile, via Mediaite, enjoy the clip below as the flack-in-chief cheerily lies through his teeth and then suggests that if Republicans have a problem with the timing, they can go right ahead and reschedule their debate — which has been set for months — in order to accommodate His Highness. You know what the worst part of this little power play is? It’s not that O is so petty that he’d try to bigfoot his competition. That can be excused, sort of, on “politics ain’t beanbag” grounds. It’s not that his jobs plan won’t do much to help or that everyone — everyone — knows that the speech will reek, filled as it’ll surely be with the usual tedious bromides from the “adult in the room” about how mean Congress is, etc. By now, expectations for Obama are so low that it’s almost impossible for him to disappoint. It’s not that doing this is actually quite stupid politically, since it risks turning the GOP debate from a Perry/Romney/Bachmann free-for-all into a free-fire zone for attacks on Obama’s economic plan. Said one Democratic consultant, “It’s a bad idea [and] seems a little small. And it suggests perhaps his jobs plan won’t be that appealing because now the coverage will be about the strategy and not the substance.” It’s not even that he’s suddenly demanding the gravitas of a joint session, signaling a crisis of utmost national urgency, after having jerked around on this singularly important issue for two and a half years. Better late than never, I guess. The worst part is that, with the economy on the brink of a double-dip and consumer confidence falling off a cliff, this guy’s mind is still so preoccupied with the campaign that he can’t muster a moment of presidential leadership without counterprogramming it against a Republican primary event. He could have given this speech at any point. Six months ago, the day after the debt-ceiling deal was struck, last week, yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day before the Republican debate, the day after. Any of those would have been fine — the earlier the better, of course, given the magnitude of the problem — but that doesn’t occur to him because his own reelection is ever foremost in his imagination. We’ve known that for months, ever since he rolled out his horrendous budget that punted on entitlements so that he’d have a freer hand to demagogue the GOP, but in case you forgot, let this refresh your memory. If you could somehow promise him right now that he’ll get a second term no matter what happens with jobs, he’d tear the speech up and watch the Packers/Saints game himself. Pathetic.

Important: Solyndra Filing a Disaster for Obama

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Solyndra-Filing-a-Disaster-for-Obama-128816968.html

I predict that the word “Solyndra” will not be uttered in BO’s jobs speech, nor will it be in a question from any of the MSM, except, perhaps FOX. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Obama faces political catastrophe in the form of Solyndra -- a San Francisco Bay area solar company that he touted as a gleaming example of green technology. It has announced it will declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. More than 1,100 people will lose their jobs. During a visit to the Fremont facility in spring of 2010, the President said the factory "is just a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best universities in the world, the best technology in the world, and most importantly the best workers in the world. " It's not his statements the administration will regret; it's the loan guarantees. The President was celebrating $535 million in federal promises from the Department of Energy to the solar startup. The administration didn't do its due diligence, says the Government Accountability Office. "There's a consequence if you don't follow a rigorous process that's transparent," Franklin Rusco of GAO told the website iWatch News.

So long, Solyndra: 1100 green tech jobs risk $535 million in tax funds

http://patterico.com/2011/08/31/so-long-solyndra-1100-green-tech-jobs-risk-535-million-in-tax-funds/

Excerpt: You will be shocked to learn that Solyndra’s majority owner, Oklahoma billionaire George Kaiser, was a major fundraiser for the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign.

King’s speech writes itself

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/king_speech_writes_itself_imKO03o3y8wfiI6u5yLytO

Excerpt: OK, so the idea doesn’t exactly send a tingle up your leg or make you swoon with visions of Hope & Change. In that case, you don’t have to wait a minute longer for him to actually declare how he’ll create jobs. Here’s what he will say next week. “Folks are hurtin’.” “We have to invest in the future.” “We need a balanced approach.” “My hope and expectation is that we can put country before party and get something done for the American people.” The first three are boilerplate arguments for ever-more government spending and ever-higher taxes. Whatever else he says, that will be the heart of his “pivot” to jobs. There’s nothing new in the approach because it’s exactly what he’s said and done since he took office. He probably calls for tax hikes in his sleep. It’s the last phrase -- “put country before party” -- that is especially noteworthy and troubling.

Poll: President Obama approval on economy dips

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62458.html

Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s disapproval rating has hit yet another series of new lows on his handling of the economy, the federal budget deficit and unemployment, a new poll shows. Nearly two-thirds — 65 percent — of respondents to a CNN/ORD poll released Thursday said they disapproved of the president’s handling of the economy. Voters also gave thumbs down to other aspects of Obama’s policies as they relate to the economy. CNN found that 66 percent of respondents disapproved of Obama’s handling of the federal deficit, and 62 percent disapproved of his handling of unemployment.

Turkish need for Israeli UAVs may unite once close allies

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/turkey-s-need-for-israel-s-uavs-may-unite-once-close-allies-1.381663

Excerpt: Turkey's patience in the face of frequent attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK ) ended last week, when it began a war targeted at areas with high concentrations of members of the movement, which is defined as a terrorist organization. On Thursday the Turkish army announced that it had killed 100 PKK members in areas along the Iraqi border and inside Iraq as well, a week after the PKK killed eight Turkish soldiers. Turkey censured Israel for its activities in Gaza, but operates in a similar manner against the PKK: It penetrates Iraq's air space and bombs villages or sites suspected of housing PKK members, causing the deaths of innocent people, including women and children. And like Israeli diplomats, Turkey's ambassador was summoned to a reprimand: the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, demanded of the ambassador that his country cease its military activities on Iraqi soil immediately. Members of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament added the demand for an apology for Turkey's attacks in its country to this reprimand.

Special Forces impersonator in Md. gets 21 months

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g831hQh8VN5DFnkoHmGnBDx9HJTw?docId=47570dd8fb294b4794781cff10e1fc72

Excerpt: For years, William Hillar's tales about his exploits as an Army Green Beret and a puffed up resume helped him land jobs teaching counterterrorism and drug and human trafficking interdiction, but the scheme has now earned him 21 months in federal prison. Hillar, 66, of Millersville, pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year and was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He must pay $170,000 in restitution to the law enforcement and first responder organizations and schools that hired him believing that he had spent 28 years in the U.S. Special Forces, reaching the rank of colonel. He must also perform 500 community service hours at Maryland's veteran cemeteries. His scheme started to unravel when a skeptical veteran emailed members of the Special Forces community to see if anyone knew of Hillar, former Green Beret Jeff Hinton testified Tuesday. Hillar's story was suspicious because there were only a handful of colonels during the period Hillar claimed to have served, he said. (Next they’ll take away the “V” I’ve been wearing on my Good Conduct Medal. [It’s a vet joke.] Nice they got one of these mutts. ~Bob.)

Screw Up, Move Up, Cover Up: Why are those responsible for Fast and Furious getting new federal jobs?

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275928/screw-move-cover-michelle-malkin

Excerpt: There are now enough Operation Fast and Furious officials playing hide-and-seek in the Obama administration to fill a “rubber room.” That’s the nickname for taxpayer-subsidized holding pens — such as the ones in the New York City public schools — where crooked employees are separated from the system and paid to do nothing. Perhaps the White House can stimulate a few construction jobs by adding an entire rubber room annex for “reassigned” scandal bureaucrats at

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

. It’s getting mighty crowded.

Seduced by the Cult of Experts
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275920/seduced-cult-experts-jonah-goldberg

Excerpt: When asked what posed the greatest challenge to statesmen, Harold Macmillan, the former British prime minister, responded, “Events, my dear boy, events.” That’s because events tend to throw everybody off their plan. For example, Hurricane Irene ended President Obama’s vacation early. And the hurricane’s steady deterioration upset the plans of news producers who anticipated something more dramatic for their wall-to-wall coverage. In a similar fashion, Obama and his advisers predicted the economy would do better — much better — than it has, and those predictions were wrong. The president blames events: the European debt crisis, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the political tsunami of the 2010 elections. Some of that is plausible, but the two years of anemic job and economic growth that preceded those events can hardly be blamed on them. An earthquake in Japan didn’t make Obama’s green-jobs initiative a bust, and the euro crisis didn’t render “shovel-ready jobs” a myth. And it’s those failures that have scuttled Obama’s plans for an easy reelection in 2012 and left him and his supporters stunned and shocked.

Containing the Disability Explosion
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275809/containing-disability-explosion-robert-verbruggen

Excerpt: As recent news stories explain, the Social Security Disability Insurance Program (SSDI), which gives money to workers who become disabled, will be insolvent in six years. While the causes of this trend are various, a new book suggests that the solution might be simple: Encourage people with disabilities to work, rather than encouraging them not to. The explosion in disability is easy enough to document. Over the last ten years alone, the number of disability recipients has grown by about 50 percent. The average award has grown faster than inflation. A large portion of this has to do with the simple fact that our population is aging. As you can see on this spreadsheet, which I created with federal data, the increase in disability beneficiaries occurred overwhelmingly among those 50 and older — a demographic that is growing as the Baby Boomers join its ranks. For example, between 2000 and 2010, the number of Americans in the 55–59 age bracket rose by 42 percent. But at the same time, the number of disability beneficiaries in this demographic grew by 73 percent — meaning that while the ranks of the middle-aged and elderly have swelled, individuals in these ranks have become more likely to claim disability. If Americans in each age bracket still went on disability at the rate they did in 2000, there would be 22 percent fewer beneficiaries.

Yes, It Is a Ponzi Scheme: In fact, Social Security is a bit worse than that.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275908/yes-it-ponzi-scheme-michael-tanner

Excerpt: Texas governor Rick Perry is being criticized for calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” Even Mitt Romney is reportedly preparing to attack him for holding such a radical view. But if anything, Perry was being too kind. The original Ponzi scheme was the brainchild of Charles Ponzi. Starting in 1916, the poor but enterprising Italian immigrant convinced people to allow him to invest their money. However, Ponzi never actually made any investments. He simply took the money he was given by later investors and gave it to his early investors, providing those early investors with a handsome profit. He then used these satisfied early investors as advertisements to get more investors. Unfortunately, in order to keep paying previous investors, Ponzi had to continue finding more and more new investors. Eventually, he couldn’t expand the number of new investors fast enough, and the scheme collapsed. Ponzi was convicted of fraud and sent to prison. Social Security, on the other hand, forces people to invest in it through a mandatory payroll tax. A small portion of that money is used to buy special-issue Treasury bonds that the government will eventually have to repay, but the vast majority of the money you pay in Social Security taxes is not invested in anything. Instead, the money you pay into the system is used to pay benefits to those “early investors” who are retired today. When you retire, you will have to rely on the next generation of workers behind you to pay the taxes that will finance your benefits. As with Ponzi’s scheme, this turns out to be a very good deal for those who got in early. … Social Security is facing more than $20 trillion in unfunded future liabilities. Raising taxes and cutting benefits enough to keep the program limping along will obviously mean an ever-worsening deal for younger workers. They will be forced to pay more and get less.

Wisconsin schools buck union to cut health costs

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/07/wisconsin-schools-buck-union-cut-health-costs

Excerpt: The Hartland-Lakeside School District, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee in tiny Hartland, Wis., had a problem in its collective bargaining contract with the local teachers union. The contract required the school district to purchase health insurance from a company called WEA Trust. The creation of Wisconsin's largest teachers union -- "WEA" stands for Wisconsin Education Association -- WEA Trust made money when union officials used collective bargaining agreements to steer profitable business its way. The problem for Hartland-Lakeside was that WEA Trust was charging significantly higher rates than the school district could find on the open market. School officials knew that because they got a better deal from United HealthCare for coverage of nonunion employees. On more than one occasion, Superintendent Glenn Schilling asked WEA Trust why the rates were so high. "I could never get a definitive answer on that," says Schilling.

Worth Reading: The Obama Administration's Lone Star Mistake

http://www.american.com/archive/2011/august/the-obama-administrations-lone-star-mistake

Excerpt: The Obama administration made what was supposed to be a pre-emptive strike on Texas Governor Rick Perry, but which turned out to be, in baseball terms, a “swing … and a miss.” The administration unleashed Education Secretary Arne Duncan to attack Texas’s record on education, with Duncan saying he feels “very, very badly for the children.” When pressed to explain precisely what Texas has done wrong on education, Duncan came up a bit short on specifics. The Education Secretary’s arguments have generated a lot of useful discussion across the web, but I thought I would throw some rudimentary data analysis into the picture. To start, if you want to get an accurate picture of the quality of a school system, you ideally want to measure inputs and outputs: what does a school system generate given what it starts with? One input is money, which we’ll look at. But another, more important, input is the kids entering the system. Put simply, Texas schools start with many kids from poor or single parent homes, or for whom English isn’t a first language. You wouldn’t, after all, expect schools in inner city Chicago—those once overseen by Secretary Duncan—to outperform schools in suburban Lake Forest. Controlling by race isn’t a perfect way to handle this, but to ignore race is to say that schools bear full responsibility for the performance of kids who come from extremely challenging backgrounds, which is silly. … Texas looks particularly good when you consider how much it spends on education. The next chart shows the weighted average fourth and eighth grade reading and math scores against state spending per pupil. The idea is to get some feel for the “bank for the buck” generated by the education systems of different states. The diagonal regression line shows the average relationship between spending and test scores—for each extra thousand dollars of per pupil spending, average test scores rise by around 1.1 points. The chart and regression exclude two huge outliers, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., which have very high per pupil spending but generate low test scores even after adjusting for the racial composition of their populations. (Hawaii may fall into this group because of its large population of Pacific Islanders, who are lumped together with generally high-performing Asian students. D.C. is, well, D.C.)

Hurricane Irene Rebuilding Is No Economic Boost

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/583155/201108291855/Hurricane-Irene-Rebuilding-Is-No-Economic-Boost.htm

Anyone who thinks that a hurricane is good for the economy would think an Iranian terror nuke attack on DC would be a great thing. Okay, bad example, but you get my point. ~Bob. Excerpt: Get ready for a bunch of demand-side economists telling you the post-Hurricane Irene rebuilding phase is a good thing for future economic growth. Don't believe it. Who has it right? Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., delivered my favorite quote on the subject to the New York Times: "If you're in the middle of recession, you just wander around blowing up buildings, and that would be your path to prosperity. And clearly that's not the case. It's not the case with a natural disaster either." Echoing this thought, Ian Shepherdson, the chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, bluntly noted on CNBC's website that "no one is made better off by the destruction of their home or workplace." He acknowledged the benefits of reconstruction work, but he dismissed the idea that somehow this is a net win for the economy. It sounds to me like both of these gentlemen are recalling the parable of the broken window, introduced by French free-market philosopher Frederic Bastiat in an 1850 essay called "That Which Is Seen, and That Which Is Unseen." While Bastiat agrees that repairing broken windows is a good thing, encouraging the glazier's trade and income, he argues that it is quite different from the idea that breaking windows is a good thing, in that it would cause money to circulate and encourage industry in general. Why? Because a shopkeeper who spends money to fix broken windows cannot spend or invest that money on new ventures.

DOJ Advises Gibson Guitar to Export Labor to Madagascar

http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2011/08/31/doj-advises-gibson-guitar-to-export-labor/

The Gibson Guitar saga has taken a sinister turn. It seems that the Department of Justice wasn’t satisfied with merely raiding the law abiding factories of Gibson Guitar with armed agents, shutting down their operation costing them millions, and leaving the American company in the dark as to how to proceed without going out of business. Now, according to CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, agents of the United States government are bluntly informing them that they’d be better off shipping their manufacturing labor overseas.

Huntsman tax plan goes big and bold

http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2011/08/31/huntsman-tax-plan-goes-big-and-bold/

This would certainly be more pro-growth, pro-jobs than any thought that has crossed Obama’s mind. One problem would be the effect on the already disastrous housing market of eliminating the mortgage interest deduction (and the property tax deduction?). ~Bob. Current polls say Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn’t a top tier candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. But he certainly has a top-tier economic plan. Huntsman will offer a broad proposal later today – covering taxes, regulation, trade and energy. But I already had a peek at the tax part. And I think it is excellent. Huntsman says he would do the following: 1) Eliminate all deductions and credits in favor of three drastically lower rates of 8%, 14% and 23%. 2) Eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax. 3) Eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends in order to eliminate the double taxation on investment. 4) Reduce the corporate rate from 35% to 25%. Huntsman would also shift to a territorial tax system and implement a tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings.

Too Many Takers --- Not Enough Givers

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/elder090111.php3

Excerpt: The Irish cabdriver complained almost nonstop during our half-hour drive to the Belfast International Airport. He especially worried about the job prospects for his 20-something son and, for that matter, about those for the generation of young people who face a "sh-tty" future on this beautiful island full of friendly people. "Give me," I finally said, "the No. 1 reason for the economic problems here." He looked almost stunned. "Huh..." he said, "let me think." We drove silently for nearly a half-mile. Then he turned to me and said, "Too many takers — not enough givers." Little by little, inch by inch, drop by drop, governments both in America and in Europe began taking more and more from people, diminishing the incentive of those on both sides of the transaction — the taker and the giver. In America, nearly half of wage earners pay not one single dime in federal income taxes. Many of them trudge down to the local polling place or vote via absentee ballot — and vote themselves a raise.

Worth Reading: What's Off the Table in 2012?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0911/hanson090111.php3

Excerpt: What should we not expect during next summer's presidential campaign, given what was put off-limits in 2008 and later? There is much talk about what some are perceiving as the fringe religiosity of possible Republican primary candidates such as Michele Bachman and Rick Perry. But the media established the precedent four years ago that no candidate can be held responsible for his church. Barack Obama's pastor of more than 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was an unapologetic racist and anti-Semite, and a raving conspiracy theorist whose parishioners gave him standing ovations for his hate-filled "G-d damn America" rants. Prior education and college preparation should not be 2012 issues either. Recent articles have referred to a leaked Texas A&M undergraduate transcript of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, showing some dismal grades and thus apparent proof that Perry was not much of a past student -- or current thinker. But in this regard, Obama has never released either his Occidental or Columbia transcripts. In response, the media in 2008 shrugged and chose not to pursue the matter the way it had with the C-grade records of George W. Bush, Al Gore and John Kerry. Apparently Obama has established another wise precedent that long-ago college transcripts, like churchgoing, are irrelevant. Civility is off the table, too. Candidate Obama once called sitting president Bush "unpatriotic" for borrowing $4 trillion in eight years -- a sum he matched in less than three. He advised Latinos to "punish our enemies" and mocked opponents for wanting to put "alligators and moats" on the border. Obama's advisors reportedly promised to "Kill Romney." So civility is out the window, and 2012 will once again be a typically American no-holds-barred slugfest of anything goes from both sides. Public campaign financing won't come up either. Both sides will raise obscene amounts of money.

Admitting Clarence Thomas’ genius

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/admitting_clarence_thomas_genius_FG2JOUWArynIQ1DpzrxyJI#ixzz1WhRWj1Qx

Excerpt: In the glossy pages of The New Yorker, in graceful prose and with good reporting, the dreams and nightmares of the admirers of Barack Obama and his policies lie exposed. The dreams include, this week, as Tripoli seemed about to fall, the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, hailing Obama’s “calculated modesty.” The nightmare appears in last week’s issue, in Jeffrey Toobin’s lengthy article on Supreme Court jurisprudence, titled “Partners” and subtitled “Will Clarence and Virginia Thomas succeed in killing Obama’s health-care plan?” It’s possible to read the article as a partisan hit, but the bulk of it is worthy of attention because Toobin, despite his obvious distaste for Justice Thomas’ views, takes him seriously as a judicial thinker and pathfinder. “In several of the most important areas of constitutional law, Thomas has emerged as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court,” Toobin writes. “Rarely has a Supreme Court Justice enjoyed such broad or significant vindication.” Toobin is on particularly strong ground when he discusses the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms. For years, it was considered a dead letter in sophisticated legal circles, protecting only the right to bear arms as a member of the National Guard.

Unredacted US embassy cables available online after WikiLeaks breach

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/01/unredacted-us-embassy-cables-online?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

Excerpt: WikiLeaks published a statement blaming the documents' release on the Guardian's book WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, by investigations editor David Leigh and Luke Harding, published in February 2011. The statement, released on WikiLeaks's official Twitter feed, alleged: "A Guardian journalist has, in a previously undetected act of gross negligence or malice, and in violation of a signed security agreement with the Guardian's editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, disclosed top secret decryption passwords to the entire, unredacted, WikiLeaks Cablegate archive. We have already spoken to the state department and commenced pre-litigation action. We will issue a formal statement in due course." The Guardian denies WikiLeaks's allegations. (Very seldom do I act out one of email’s acronyms, but I really did ROFLMAO when I read this. WikiLeaks expects confidentiality? WikiLeaks is threatening legal action for an unauthorized disclosure of information? That’s like a $20 street hooker suing someone’s mistress for alienation of his affection. Emphasis added by me. Ron P.)

What US cybersecurity needs: A few more good guys ... to be hackers: In high-tech America, high-stakes fighters are in short supply http://jewishworldreview.com/0911/cybersecurity_good_guys.php3

Excerpt: America's next generation of cyberdefenders did battle recently at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition finals in San Antonio, the Super Bowl of college computer-security tournaments. The collegians' assignment: to defend a business computer network with digital defenses as porous as Swiss cheese from a "red team" of professional hackers from the military and federal agencies. After 17 grueling hours, computer science graduate student Alexei Czeskis and his "cyber swat team" buddies from the University of Washington emerged victorious, slamming their digital doors on the red team's top guns. The truth is, America could use several thousand more cyberwarriors just like Mr. Czeskis and his teammates to address an embarrassing national computer glitch: The tech-savvy nation that invented the single-chip microprocessor is weak on cyberdefenses and lacks the "human capital" to protect itself.

Security Weekly: Why Al Qaeda is Unlikely to Execute Another 9/11

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110831-why-al-qaeda-unlikely-execute-another-911?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20110901&utm_term=sweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=fafb446220d24ce4be426aaa27613a88

Excerpt: It is Sept. 1, and that means we are once again approaching the anniversary of al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States. In the 10 years that have passed since the attacks, a lot has happened and much has changed in the world, but many people can still vividly recall the sense of fear, uncertainty and helplessness they felt on that September morning. Millions of people watched United Airlines flight 175 smash into the south tower of the World Trade Center on live television. A short while later they heard that another plane had struck the Pentagon. Then they watched in horror as the World Trade Center’s twin towers buckled and collapsed to the ground. It was, by any measure, a stunning, cataclysmic scene, a kind of terrorist theater that transformed millions of television viewers into vicarious victims. Excerpts of the just-released memoir of then-Vice President Dick Cheney demonstrate that it was not just ordinary people who were affected by the attacks; America’s leaders where shocked and shaken, too. And judging from the statements of foreign citizens and leaders in the wake of 9/11, those who proclaimed, “We are all Americans,” it was also apparent that the toll on vicarious victims did not stop at the U.S. border.

Political Path to Citizenship

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/01/political-path-to-citizenship/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=929103f533-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: For some Latinos, it is more than they could have hoped for. The Obama administration will stop deportation of illegal aliens if they are in school, have a family member in the military, are responsible for a family member’s care, or are elderly. Most criminal aliens can stay except “convicted felons.” Work permits will be available—meaning fewer jobs for U.S. jobless citizens. But is this fairness or backdoor amnesty with unadulterated politics at its roots? What to do about illegal aliens is certain to be a major theme in the 2012 election. The Hispanic vote has been one of the support structures for Barack Obama​. But support is slipping, according to recent polling. And now that Texas Governor Rick Perry increasingly appears the Republican front-runner for president, the Hispanic vote is by no means in Obama’s corner. Perry won 38 percent of the Latinos in his 2010 race for Governor. He also supports in-state tuition for illegal immigrants who are high school graduates, even though he opposed the federal version of the pro-Hispanic DREAM Act.

One in five US Muslims knows of extremist support in community

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8731604/One-in-five-US-Muslims-knows-of-extremist-support-in-community.html

One in five ADMITS to knowing of jihadist support. The % who know but don’t say may be far higher. ~Bob. Excerpt: As the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, 21 per cent of respondents told a study they had detected "a great deal" or "a fair deal" of support for extremism in their areas. While the vast majority said that suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians to protect Islam were never justified, 19 per cent of respondents did not agree with this statement. Peter King, a Republican congressman for New York, said the findings "reinforce the need" for him to continue holding controversial hearings on the radicalisation of American Muslims. "There is a small percentage of American Muslims who are sympathetic to al-Qaeda. al-Qaeda is trying to recruit them. They are the ones we should be looking for," said Mr King.

Suicide bombing near Pakistani mosque kills 11

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1660158.php/Suicide-bombing-near-Pakistani-mosque-kills-11

Didn’t get the memo. Once again, the victims of Allahmurder are Muslims. ~Bob. Excerpt: A car suicide bombing on Wednesday killed at least 11 people and injured 21 in south-west Pakistan, police said. The attack took place in the parking lot of a mosque when hundreds of Shia Muslims were leaving after Eid al Fitr prayers for the end of Ramadan in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

Rick Perry panic fires up the left

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62363.html

Excerpt: In his two weeks as a presidential candidate, Rick Perry has done something that neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney could do: wake up the left. Perry panic has spread from the conference rooms of Washington, D.C., to the coffee shops of Brooklyn, with the realization that the conservative Texan could conceivably become the 45th president of the United States, a wave of alarm centering around Perry’s drawling, small-town affect and stands on core cultural issues such as women’s rights, gun control, the death penalty, and the separation of church and state. The epidemic of lefty angst isn’t just a matter of specific Perry policies though; it goes to the heart of the liberal worldview. His smashing debut on the presidential stage suggests that the victory of an urban liberal Democrat, Barack Obama, wasn’t a step toward a more progressive nation, but just a leftward swing of an increasingly wild pendulum, now poised to rocket to the right.

Was Obama Smart Enough to Make It as an Air Force Pilot?

http://townhall.com/columnists/douglasmackinnon/2011/09/01/was_obama_smart_enough_to_make_it_as_an_air_force_pilot

Excerpt: In their quest to widen the low-road and increase its rider-ship, the liberal Washington, D.C-based Politico just offered up this hackneyed but oh so predictable headline: “Is Rick Perry Dumb?” Really? While it’s no surprise to conservatives and independents that the liberal mainstream media would pull out the old “attack Ronald Reagan” hand-book, dust it off, and use its previously discredited assaults to go after the surging Perry, a better question to be asked is: “What are they all so afraid of?” First of all, something which must be highlighted and stressed by all who care about fairness and accuracy is that Texas Gov. Rick Perry not only honorably served in our military but that he was a decorated Air Force pilot. At about the same age that President Obama (by his own admission) was trying to find himself and experimenting with drugs, Perry was strapping himself into the cockpit of multi-million dollar Air Force aircraft. For those on the left who may not understand as many look down upon our military and mock its very existence, getting through flight training and becoming a pilot in the United States Air Force is a very exacting process which actually does take a high degree of intelligence, skill, judgment, and even courage. Between Obama and the front-runners now seeking the GOP nomination, only Perry served in our military and only Perry was an Air Force officer and pilot. Should that service make a difference? Absolutely. As terrorism grows and our borders weaken, every president for the foreseeable future will be a “war-time” president. A candidate with military service brings a unique and needed perspective into the Oval Office.

Nightmare on

Pennsylvania Avenue

http://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2011/09/01/nightmare_on_pennsylvania_avenue

Excerpt: In advance of a "major speech" on the economy and jobs, President Obama has selected Princeton University professor Alan Krueger to be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Krueger is no relation to the horror film character Freddy Krueger, though if his ideas are implemented, they might further "slash" the economy. Alan Krueger is the latest in a long line of professors and academics to populate this administration. Few, if any, have held real jobs in the private sector. They are mostly theorists, whose theories are often proved wrong, but in academia, as well as in government, being wrong rarely disqualifies one from a leadership post. Intentions are all that matter. As an economic theorist, Krueger's record for accuracy is not a good one and doesn't produce confidence that adding him to the Obama team will revive an economy in the doldrums. Krueger, writing for The New York Times blog in 2009, proposed as an object of discussion, instituting a 5 percent consumption, or value added tax (VAT), on top of the income tax, which he said would "raise approximately $500 billion a year, and fill a considerable hold in the budget outlook." He acknowledged, though, that a consumption tax would "reduce economic activity" and be a "greater burden for the poor, who spend a relatively high share of their income."

Obama's Immigration Directive to Face Congressional Hearings

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/obamas_immigration_directive_to_face_congressional_hearings.html

Excerpt: Instead of worrying about Americans and legal residents, President Obama, looking towards the 2012 election, has decided to usurp Congress and push his immigration policy. According to those interviewed by American Thinker, the Obama administration is making a mockery of America's laws. Recently, the Obama administration said it would review the cases of illegal immigrants currently in deportation proceedings. It has been reported that this directive will affect more than 300,000 illegals. These "low-priority" offenders, including the elderly, crime victims, and those who have been here since childhood, will be allowed to stay in the United States through a work permit. This is an unconstitutional power-grab by the president since he does not have the authority to repeal, suspend, or reinterpret federal laws. He tried to implement his own agenda, going through the back door, doing this while Congress is in recess. California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R) emphasized, "[T]he illegals were designated to be deported and now the president wants to figure out who the good illegals are and separate them from the bad ones." Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R) is one of the original leaders to make sure the states have the inherent authority to enforce the immigration laws. He told American Thinker that this latest ploy by the president shows that Obama "has no respect for the rule of law. When you enter this country illegally you are breaking the law. This shows he has no intention of enforcing the law and has circumvented it. This is a complete abuse of authority. The president does not understand that these policies are hurting our nation’s ability to recover."

Iran’s Two-Front War

http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2011/08/29/irans-two-front-war/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: While you were busy wondering if Obama could manage the hurricane, the Azeris erupted against the regime. When they riot in Azerbaijan, it’s a big deal. The Azeris are — by far — Iran’s biggest tribe. About half of the population is ethnic Persian, and half that number, a quarter of Iranians, are Azeri. We’re talking 15-20 million people, many of whom speak their own language in addition to Farsi. In the videos linked below, most of the chants are in Azeri. The Azeris matter a lot: to take the two most famous examples, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is one, as is Green Movement leader Mir Hossein Moussavi. So when they get upset, it’s worth noticing. Azerbaijan is over in the northwestern part of the country, a hot spot for other reasons as well. (Remember the Kurds?) The proximate cause of the demonstrations (videos here, here, here, here and here) is the failure of the regime to do anything to save Lake Orumiyeh, the largest lake in the Middle East, and the third largest salt water lake in the world. It is drying up. Sixty per cent of the lake is gone, and the salt flats are expanding, just as they did in the great ecological disaster back in Soviet days, the Aral Sea. The failure of the regime to do anything to stop this looming catastrophe has convinced many of the locals that the regime actually wants the lake to die, as reflected in their chant of “The lake is taking its final breaths and the Parliament issues its death sentence.” (While there doesn’t seem to be any really good coverage of the Middle East in any English language media, this author, Michael Ledeen, seems to have the straight scoop most of the time. He also seems to have his brain fully engaged. It appears things—and national relationships—in the Middle East are evolving very quickly. This could work to our advantage, if anyone in the administration had the gumption to make timely decisions. The final two paragraphs of this article are especially apt. Ron P.)

Economist Calls Entitlements A Massive Ponzi Scheme And Says US Is Actually $211 Trillion In Debt

http://www.businessinsider.com/economist-says-us-is-actually-211-million-in-debt-2011-8?utm_source=twbutton&utm_medium=social&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=moneygame

Excerpt: "We're focused just on the official debt, so we're trying to balance the wrong books," Kotlikoff said, naming Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for the skyrocketing unofficial figure. If you add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and you subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect, the difference is $211 trillion. That's the fiscal gap... Why are these guys thinking about balancing the budget?...They should try and think about our long-term fiscal problems.

25 Signs That The Financial World Is About To Hit The Big Red Panic Button

http://www.fedupusa.org/2011/08/25-signs-that-the-financial-world-is-about-to-hit-the-big-red-panic-button/

The investment advisor for the organization I manage, from a big company, manages many millions, says credit is fine right now. I don’t know what the hell to believe. ~Bob. Excerpt: Most of the worst financial panics in history have happened in the fall. Just recall what happened in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Well, September 2011 is about to begin and there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to hit the big red panic button. Wave after wave of bad economic news has come out of the United States recently, and Europe is embroiled in an absolutely unprecedented debt crisis. At this point there is a very real possibility that the euro may not even survive. So what is causing all of this? Well, over the last couple of decades a gigantic debt bubble has fueled a tremendous amount of “fake prosperity” in the western world. But for a debt bubble to keep going, the total amount of debt has to keep expanding at an ever increasing pace. Unfortunately for the global economy, sources of credit are starting to dry up. That is why you hear terms like “credit crisis” and “credit crunch” thrown around so much these days. Without enough credit to feed the monster, the debt bubble is going to burst. At this point, virtually the entire global economy runs on credit, so when this debt bubble bursts things could get really, really messy. Nations and financial institutions would never get into debt trouble if they could always borrow as much money as they wanted at extremely low interest rates. But what has happened is that lending sources are balking at continuing to lend cheap money to nations and financial institutions that are already up to their eyeballs in debt. For example, the yield on 2 year Greek bonds is now over 40 percent. Investors don’t trust the Greek government and they are demanding a huge return in order to lend them more money. Throughout the financial world right now there is a lot of fear. Lending conditions have gotten very tight. Financial institutions are not eager to lend money to each other or to anyone else. This “credit crunch” is going to slow down the economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. When easy credit stops flowing, the dominoes can start falling very quickly.

Why Perry Can Beat Obama and Romney Can't

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/30/why-perry-can-beat-obama-and-r

Excerpt: Most of the GOP establishment is uncomfortable with Rick Perry. Few have openly attacked the Texas governor, as Karl Rove did when Perry criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. However, the grumblings of former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, a number of former Bush aides, and sundry other Republican luminaries have made it clear that they would prefer to see Mitt Romney as the GOP standard-bearer in 2012. Even inveterate RINO-basher Ann Coulter has said "Romney could actually beat Obama" and that Perry "won't live up to expectations." Coulter and the GOP establishment are wrong. Not only is Perry the favorite of rank-and-file Republicans, he is far better positioned than Romney to debate the President on the two issues that will inevitably dominate next year's campaign -- jobs and health care. On jobs, Perry has a story to tell that Romney can't hope to match. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, "Some 37% of all net new American jobs since the recovery began were created in Texas." While most states have experienced anemic job growth since June of 2009, and eighteen governors have watched their states endure actual declines in growth, Governor Perry has presided over a state economy that has added 265,300 new jobs. That makes Texas the most prolific job generator in the nation. By contrast, Mitt Romney's record on job creation is lackluster at best. Job growth during his single term as Governor of Massachusetts was less than one percent, which "badly lagged other high-skill, high-wage, knowledge economy states like New York (2.7%), California (4.7%) and North Carolina (7.6%)."

Lieberman: Obama's concern with offending Muslims hurts war effort

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/179239-lieberman-obama-shies-from-naming-terrorists-as-islamist-

Excerpt: The Obama administration’s fear of offending Muslims will hurt the U.S. war against terrorism, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday in a speech blasting the president’s new counter-terrorism strategy. Lieberman said that Obama’s strategy, which was released in June, “was ultimately a big disappointment” and while it successfully identified the core of the domestic radicalization problem, it did not establish a clear plan of attack to deal with the growing issue.

White House downgrades jobs, economic forecasts for 2012

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/179223-white-house-downgrades-job-growth-forecast-for-2012

Excerpt: The Obama administration downgraded its forecast for economic growth Thursday, predicting turmoil in the economy will likely keep unemployment above 9 percent through next year’s election. The unemployment rate is considered to be one of the most important factors in presidential elections, so if the White House’s assessment holds, President Obama is in for one of the toughest reelection fights in memory. When the “substantial” economic “turbulence” of the last two months are considered, the administration expects the economy to grow as little as 1.7 percent in 2011 compared to last year. That is down from a rosier projection of 2.7 percent growth, made in February. The assessments on unemployment are contained in the administration’s midsession budget review, which is an update on the president’s February budget request. (I’ll be happy if they are right. When the collapse starts to really take hold, things could get very bad, very fast. ~Bob.)

Self-defense story of the day

http://michellemalkin.com/2011/09/01/self-defense-story-of-the-day-3/

excerpt: No one wants to talk about long-standing, brown-black tensions in southern California and elsewhere. When I do, I’m called a RAAAAACIST and accused of “trying to pit the Latinos against the African-American people.” Law-abiding victims of such violence know the truth, though. Ask the family of Jamiel Shaw. Or Cheryl Green or Shatavia Anderson. Today’s self-defense story of the day — which will be ignored by anti-gun Democrats open-borders activists, and multi-culti propagandists — comes from Norwalk, Calif., which is known as an illegal alien sanctuary city (h/t Cameron Gray):

Pregnant Palestinian woman at Israeli checkpoint

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/04/there-are-no-words.html

A little old. From the e-mail forward: This is a woman who about a year earlier was treated for massive burn over her body from a cooking gas tank explosion. She is stopped at the border when she wants to return to the same hospital in Israel due to pregnancy. Due to suspicion and security integrity, she is asked to undress at the border terminal. And the world asks: "why do the  Israelis need checkpoints, and a border fence?" watch the video, and "get" the answer. Too bad the world doesn't "get it”!!

Another embarrassing fail betrays a White House in a bubble

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/09/01/cenk_obama_boehner/index.html

Excerpt: Here was the headline on Yahoo News tonight: "Obama bows to Boehner on jobs speech." Bows to Boehner: I can tell you what any progressive who has been paying attention thought, "Oh boy, here we go again." President Obama has now changed the day of his address to Congress to accommodate the Republicans. They were having a GOP presidential debate on the original date he picked. So, Boehner told him to move his speech. He is the president for Christ's sake. Of course, they should have accommodated him, not the other way around. But as usual, President Obama bowed. So, this leads to the eternal question of whether Obama is just weak or if he is a brilliant strategist who has been playing rope-a-dope all along. I am so silly that I still had hope. My hope this morning was that Obama was laying a trap for the Republicans. He picks a day for his speech that is the same as the GOP debate. Then if Boehner says he won't let him give the speech on that day, he seems so petty and harsh.

"The Knock-Out Game" - A Violent Racist Game Claims More Victims

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/a_violent_racist_game_claims_more_victims.html

Excerpt: Excerpt: One man was stomped to death and another man nearly killed in a racist amusement called the "knock-out game," currently being played by black teenagers. The victims were both white, and that fact needs to be raised in our national conversation about race. PC disclaimer: only a tiny fraction of blacks play this game, and the vast majority of blacks do not condone violence of any kind. With that established, consider the facts: Half-brothers Elliott T. Murphy, 18, and Deonta "Fuss" Johnson, 16, were recently convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the heinous stomping death of 61-year-old Jerry Newingham and the stomping attack of 46-year-old Kevin S. Wilson.

California Assembly Passes Ridiculous Baby-Sitting Bill

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/09/calif_assembly_passes_ridiculous_babysitting_bill.html

Excerpt: The nanny state impulse runs strong in the Golden State, where the State Assembly has passed a bill that would virtually regulate babysitting out of business. After 2 hours of babysitting, a mandatory 15 minute break must be give, meaning that a stand-by babysitter must be present. Then there are the paperwork requirements, and the severe penalties that kick in for any parents who fail to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Germany, Democracy & The Eurozone

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/276055/germany-democracy-eurozone-andrew-stuttaford

Excerpt: It was no great surprise that Merkel’s cabinet yesterday approved the expanded Eurozone bailout fund. The greater drama will be in the German parliament, where a vote in the lower house (the Bundestag) on this matter is now scheduled for September 29th. Merkel’s problem is that discontent within her coalition is growing over the deal. Theoretically, there may be enough rebels to force her to rely on opposition votes to get it passed. That’s doable (easily so: the parties on the left are even more euro-federalist than those on the right), but were that to happen, it would shake the governing coalition, and maybe even lead to an early election. That’s a contest the coalition could well lose, and do so in circumstances that could be truly disastrous for its smallest partner (the classical liberals of the FDP). The FDP has lost so much support that it now risks falling below the 5% threshold it needs to get into parliament. All this leaves the rebels with a dilemma somewhat akin to that faced by the British anti-Maastricht rebels who did so much to destroy John Major’s Conservative government in the 1990s. They won the argument, but, by paving the way for the election of the disastrously europhiliac Tony Blair, they lost the war. So it is in Germany. If rebels opposed to the endless euro bailouts bring down Merkel, the likely new government will be even more willing to loot taxpayers in the name of a dishonest, dangerous and disastrous monetary experiment..

Political Digest for September 1, 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.

Old Jarhead Blog Removed?

Twice in the last two weeks, both times on Saturdays, when readers logged on to my blog at http://www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com/, they got a "blog removed" message with no explanation. Both times I logged on to Blogspot and posted a query and the blog returned in a few hours. They say they have a system for auto removing Spam blogs, but mine has zero advertising, except my books, I kill Spam posts, and it has been up since 2008. I don't know if it is a blogspot glitch, like the way they sometimes change scheduled posts to drafts, or an attack. It is costing me readers--weekly page views dropped in that time from over 4k to about 3k. If you get that message, please try again later.

Dennis Miller Web Site posts on my interview

http://www.dennismillerradio.com/blog?action=blogArchive&blogTag=Robert%20Hall

Miller was very focused and packed a lot into ten minutes. Good reason he has a national following.

Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/30/feds-to-trucking-company-you-cannot-fire-alcoholic-drivers/

Excerpt: The federal government has sued a major trucking company for its refusal to hire as drivers individuals with admitted alcohol abuse problems. Alcoholism is classified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the suit maintains, and therefore employees cannot be prohibited even from driving 18 wheelers due to their histories of abuse. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit against the Old Dominion Freight Line trucking company on August 16, noted that while “an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.” (Two Thoughts:--By and large, this trucking company is openly religious and Christian.--What I have said before: Where Government and Trial Lawyers want you--Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. –DH. Not to wish anyone ill, but one would feel a certain sense of irony if one of the fed bureaucrats was killed by a drunk driving one of these trucks. Unfortunately, it’s more likely to be your kid. ~Bob.)

James Delingpole: 'Climate Scepticism is the New Racisim' says Al Gore

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100102483/climate-scepticism-is-the-new-racism-says-gore/

Excerpt: Climate scepticism is the new racism, Al Gore has told an interviewer. And do you know what? He’s absolutely right. Just as “racist” has been honed over the decades by liberal-lefties for casual use as a deadly weapon against anyone who disagrees them, so “climate denier” has become the new leftist shorthand for “evil, wrong, uncaring, right-wing – and almost certainly funded by Big Oil.” In both cases, the intent is the same: to close down the argument by implying that your opponent is so morally compromised that his case isn’t even worth consideration. (I'm a denier, and I'm not funded by b Big Oil. Damn it. If they want to pay me to say what I already believe, I take checks or cash. ~Bob.)

Ken Blackwell: Obama's War On The Secret Ballot

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/article/obama-s-war-secret-ballot

Excerpt: The card-check legislation failed in the last Congress, but the NLRB may try to impose it through bureaucratic mandate. The threat from our nation’s capitol led the Goldwater Institute to draft a model state constitutional amendment to protect the right to secret ballot, and inspired activists mobilized to enact amendments last fall in Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah. With support from liberals and conservatives, union members and non-members alike, the measures passed overwhelmingly in all four states, averaging over 70 percent of the vote and sweeping 153 out of 154 counties. In the real world, that amounts to a popular tsunami. In politics, it’s called a serious mandate. NLRB will try to overturn the mandate through sheer force of federal law. But the agency will face a heck of a fight. The right to secret ballot is recognized under the federal constitution. (…) A key consideration for courts in deciding if federal law “pre-empts” state laws is whether the conduct is so “deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility” that state autonomy should be respected. It is hard to imagine anything more deeply rooted in local feeling and responsibility than the right to secret ballot. (Simple, Ron, there is only one principle they have. Do whatever it takes to get votes and campaign funds. Even sell guns to Mexican drug murders if it helps the leftist cause. ~Bob.)

Terrorist Prison Blues

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3134/terrorist-prison-blues

Excerpt: Life in prison is difficult, especially for 20 Muslim inmates at a high security unit housing 30 people in total. They miss their families, sometimes squabble among themselves and struggle to maintain hope during long days. That's the message offered in an article published this month by the Muslim Link, an online and print bi-weekly newspaper which serves the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas. Take 48-year-old Adham Hassoun, who "can joke 24 hours a day. But behind this humor hides a great concern for the Muslim Ummah," the article says. He also "is ready to help whenever called upon, and will leave behind everything which is important to him to do that, unless he is watching Stargate on the SciFi Channel." Hassoun also is "a co-defendant of the well-known Jose Padilla, and is serving a 15 year sentence on terrorism charges," the article says. But Hassoun's conviction stems from support for al-Qaida, and his 2007 convictions for conspiracy to commit murder abroad and provide material support to terrorists included "actively recruiting mujahideen fighters and raising funds for violent jihad." In prison, though, he's good at dispute resolution, "for he holds in his heart immense mercy for his brothers."

Every Single One: The Politicized Hiring of Eric Holder’s Housing Section

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/every-single-one-the-politicized-hiring-of-eric-holder%e2%80%99s-housing-section/?singlepage=true

Article #8 in the series. --RGP. Excerpt: Today we turn to the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, a litigation shop with enormous power over American businesses. This Section, which is headed by the infamous Steve Rosenbaum — the same individual who (along with Loretta King) ordered the dismissal of the New Black Panther Party lawsuit — is responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, among others. The Section has an undercover operation designed to spy on American businesses to determine if racial discrimination is taking place. They also have a unit designed to ensure banks keep the spigot of mortgage loans open to borrowers with marginal credit. If that sounds like behavior which contributed to the economic crisis, you’re right.

Coddling Illegals

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=583271&p=1

Excerpt: An administration that conducts raids looking for illegal wood rather than illegal aliens signs partnerships with foreign governments to advise these aliens of their rights. What part of "illegal" don't they get? Right on the heels of enacting the federal Dream Act through administrative fiat, the administration of President Obama, specifically Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, on Monday signed "partnership" agreements with ambassadors from a group of Latin American nations aiming to protect what she described as the labor rights of both legal and illegal migrants working in the U.S. This ceremony marked the signing of partnership agreements with the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, joining Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala, which had signed the agreement previously. So while the administration works closely with foreign countries to promote illegal immigration, it takes border states like Arizona to court when they try to protect their borders and enforce our immigration laws. Partners in crime would be more like it. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, "employers may hire only persons who may legally work in the United States (i.e., citizens and nationals of the U.S.) and aliens authorized to work in the U.S."

ACORN is back and may partner with Justice Department in 2012

http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/acorn-is-back-and-may-partner-with-justice-department-2010#ixzz1WZ76eUAF

Excerpt: While the cover story swallowed whole-cloth by many politicians, news organizations and Americans is that ACORN had disbanded following a number of scandals, an investigation by a Washington, D.C., watchdog reveals ACORN not only continues to exist but the group is planning to help prop-up and re-elect a failed president. A public-interest group that investigates and fights government corruption, announced yesterday, August 24, that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain records related to the agency’s communications with Estelle Rogers, a former ACORN attorney currently serving as Director of Advocacy for the ACORN-connected organization Project Vote, President Obama’s former employer. The successful legal watchdog group, Judicial Watch, is in the midst of investigating the extent to which the DOJ and Project Vote are partnering on a national campaign to use the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA) to register more individuals on public assistance, widely considered a key voting demographic for the Obama 2012 campaign. "While it's perfectly alright for a non-government organization to seek voters for candidates and political parties, the Department of Justice should not be a tool for any political campaign or candidate," said political strategist Mike Baker.

Weak Dollar Can Strengthen Economy

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21041&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Gov. Rick Perry's complaint against the Federal Reserve is that loose monetary policy has weakened the value of the dollar. Bob McTeer, a distinguished fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis and former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, understands but says a weak dollar helps U.S. exports, one of the few strengths in the economy. The value of the dollar matters most in the cost of living for Americans. Pushing too much money into the economy inflates prices. If there's too little currency in circulation, it can cause deflation, or falling prices. Between November and July, when the Federal Reserve was buying $600 billion in Treasury bonds -- in effect, printing more money -- the growth rate in the nation's money supply was "right around 5 percent," McTeer said, "which is very moderate, given a 9 percent unemployment rate." Bernanke and other Federal Reserve bankers explained last year that the economy showed signs of slipping into deflation. It's been a different story this year -- through July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found prices over the last 12 months were up 4.2 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The dollar's value also matters -- greatly -- in its exchange value with other currencies. When the dollar weakens against the currencies of the nation's trading partners, imports become more expensive. At the same time, U.S. exports become less expensive for foreign buyers. Buoyed in part by a weak dollar, U.S. exports have risen 17 percent in the last year. Imports, however, have increased even more. The United States was running a trade deficit of more than $565 billion at the end of June. That's largely because of oil and Chinese goods. For many years, the Chinese have pegged the value of their currency to the dollar and invested more than $1 trillion of their trade surplus in U.S. bonds. That has distorted trade flows by keeping Chinese goods cheap, when they should be getting more expensive.

Give Free Trade a Chance

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21043&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: As both the United States and the European Union struggle to conjure the right combination of fiscal and monetary tools to rein in deficits while boosting economic growth, they risk overlooking the role that trade policy can play. If the two powers want a non-inflationary way to inject more dynamism into their economies, there is a one quick step they could take: agree to eliminate all tariffs in transatlantic trade, says Peter S. Rashish, vice president for the European and Eurasian departments at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. While tariffs are already low between the United States and the European Union, the enormous size of their economic relationship -- $600 billion (416 billion euro) in trade and $2 trillion invested by companies in each other's markets every year -- means that even small steps could yield significant gains in prosperity. According to a report by the Brussels-based European Center for International Political Economy, a transatlantic zero-tariffs initiative would increase combined U.S.-EU gross domestic product by $180 billion within five years. That's more added growth than either would receive from the completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks. Since one-third of transatlantic trade occurs between branches of the same firm, eliminating tariffs on that trade would cut costs for both American and European companies and make them more competitive in global markets. That could help transatlantic firms respond to the rise of Chinese, Indian, Brazilian and other emerging-market firms without resorting to protectionist measures.

The Fast and Furious Scandal Continues

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/31/morning-bell-the-fast-and-furious-scandal-continues/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: A U.S. government gun-trafficking investigation gone horribly wrong has resulted in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer, some 2,000 firearms in the hands of criminals, and the dismissal of a 24-year veteran law enforcement official. This is the story of Fast and Furious, and yesterday the latest chapter unfolded when two top officials associated with the operation were removed from their positions, while a third individual resigned. The story begins in the fall of 2009, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona, began selling weapons to small-time gun buyers in the hopes of tracing them to major weapons traffickers along the southwestern border and into Mexico. Their efforts failed, the number of arms unaccounted for numbers around 1,500 as of late July, and about two-thirds of those guns ended up in Mexico, according to congressional testimony.

Rick Perry Is A Lot Closer To The 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination Than You Think

http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perry-is-a-lot-closer-to-the-2012-gop-presidential-nomination-than-you-think-2011-8?op=1#ixzz1WZCquStD

Excerpt: The Republican "establishment," such as it is, is quickly coming to the realization that the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is Texas Governor Rick Perry's to lose. He leads in Iowa and he hasn't even really campaigned there yet. He's running second in New Hampshire, which is all he needs to do. And he's running comfortably ahead in South Carolina (again, without much campaigning), which is the gateway to the South. The South is the base of the modern Republican Party. Perry has become, in less than a month, the Southern states' de facto favorite son. Two obstacles stand between Perry and the GOP nomination: Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Bachmann's campaign peaked at (or just before) the Iowa Straw Poll. Republican primary voters and caucus attenders love her energy and zest, but they worry she will be unable to defeat President Obama in the general election. "Electability" will be her undoing. Perry stands to pick up her supporters as her campaign deflates. (I like a writer who knows that it’s “attenders” who go to something. “Attendees” would have the event brought to them. An attender attends. An attendee gets attended. But I gave up that fight 20 years ago. ~Bob.)

‘Furious’ coverup? ----Gun scandal taints Justice

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/furious_coverup_WkYocS6w6PStD71TNxZRRM#ixzz1WbiNhCmX

Excerpt: There are now enough Operation Fast and Furious officials playing hide-and-seek in the Obama administration to fill a New York City-style “rubber room.” Yesterday, the Justice Department announced it was shuffling Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, out of his job. The disclosure comes amid continued investigations into the administration’s fatally botched “gun sting” racket at the border and spreading outrage over legal obstructionism and whistleblower retaliation by Justice brass. The department’s inspector general is also conducting a probe. Internal documents earlier showed that Melson was intimately involved in overseeing the program and screened undercover videos of thousands of straw purchases of AK-47s and other high-powered rifles -- many of which ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartel thugs, including those who murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. Fast and Furious weapons have been tied to at least a dozen violent crimes in America and untold bloody havoc in Mexico. In secret July 4 testimony, Melson revealed he was “sick to his stomach” when he discovered the extent of the operation’s deadly lapses. Join the club, pal.

Hurricane Irene, National guard almost drown Manville, NJ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6b54bZepoA&feature=player_embedded#!

Oh, wait, this is the Army, not the Navy….~Bob.

Quote

"Every time history repeats itself the price goes up." --Unknown

Booting Melson Won’t Contain Gunwalker Scandal

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/31/booting-melson-wont-contain-gunwalker-scandal/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dfd9e90d12-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: In what is being characterized by The Hill as the ”first major investigative victory” for Congressman Darrell Issa (D-CA) in the Mexican gunrunning scandal known as Fast and Furious, Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is being replaced. Todd Jones, U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, will take over as acting director, according to an announcement released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Mr. Melson is being reassigned to a lesser position at the Office of Legal Policy, where he will be retained in the role of senior advisor for forensic science. Despite The Hill’s assertion, Congressman Issa hardly sounded placated. “While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn’t offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department,” said Issa in a statement. “There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility, but these changes are warranted and offer an opportunity for the Justice Department to explain the role other officials and offices played in the infamous efforts to allow weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.” Issa is undoubtedly referring to the fact that, over the July 4th weekend, Melson gave secret testimony to the congressional committee investigating Fast and Furious. He contended his superiors at DOJ attempted to undermine the investigation into the program which put more than 2,000 weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartel members.

The Rise of Islamic No-Go Zones

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/08/31/the-rise-of-islamic-no-go-zones/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dfd9e90d12-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Coming soon to a location near you. ~Bob. Excerpt: Three and a half years ago, one of the Church of England’s most senior bishops, Pakistani-born Michael Nazir-Ali​, warned that Islamic extremists had created “no-go”areas across Britain too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. His politically incorrect concern sparked a firestorm of denial and criticism. The Muslim Council of Britain, for example, dismissed it as the Bishop’s “frantic scaremongering” and “intolerance,” and scoffed, We wouldn’t allow “no-go” areas to happen. I smell extreme intolerance when people criticise multiculturalism without proper evidence of what has gone wrong. Well, the evidence of how multiculturalism “has gone wrong” is in. This week Soeren Kern at the Hudson Institute documented the proliferation of such no-go zones throughout Europe – autonomous Islamic “microstates” under Sharia rule (having rejected their host countries’ legal systems), where non-Muslims must either conform to the cultural, legal, and religious norms of fundamentalist Islam or expect to be greeted with violence. As Daniel Pipes puts it, “a more precise name for these zones would be Dar al-Islam” – the House of Islam, or the place where Islam rules.

The Left: still quite unhinged about Dick Cheney.

http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/08/30/the-left-still-quite-unhinged-about-dick-cheney/

Excerpt: Darth Cheney has a book out today (“In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir“): and the Left is acting – about as you’d expect, honestly (note that I’m including in that list a bunch of people who are still trying to pretend that they’re not on the Left, these days). The shrieking is highly amusing, not least for the reason that most of the poor schmucks doing it are fairly transparently trying to avoid thinking about the fact that the current administration is more or less doing a Cargo Cult imitation of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice’s foreign policy. Which is to say, if you look at it from a distance and squint then it kind of looks like the previous administration’s foreign policy… but get up close and you realize that it’s all bamboo and palm fronds where steel should be. Not to mention all the people standing around and scratching their heads over why the magic spells weren’t working.

The real science trashers

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0830-byrne-20110830,0,7115731.column

Excerpt: Today I am writing about religion. Specifically, about those who worship in the Church of the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming. More specifically, about those who, as a matter of faith, believe that the science of climate change is settled. These believers preach that mankind is steering the planet onto an irreversible and cataclysmic course unless we do something. They have engaged in a clever ploy of labeling those who disagree with their dogma as "deniers" and "anti-science." When actually they're the ones trashing science. Let's take the latest scientific research that demonstrates, again, that the science of climate change is too complex to lend itself to simplifications and claims of "consensus." (Science doesn’t work by “consensus,” that’s a term from politics. Science is never “settled,” that’s a term from law. After receiving the Nobel Prize for Physics, when asked how many scientists it would take to disprove his Theory of General Relativity, Einstein firmly replied “One.” If it’s good enough for Albert Einstein, it should be good enough for Albert Gore and his merry band. Ron P.)

A terror attack every two days shows Israel's military restraint to be bankrupt

http://www.debka.com/article/21253/

Excerpt: In the 10 days after Palestinian raiders killed eight Israelis on the Eilat highway on Aug. 18, Israel has suffered five terrorist attacks, the latest in Tel Aviv Sunday night which targeted a big teenagers' back-to- school party. Five of the eight people injured were police officers and the club's security guard. Israeli failure to respond commensurately to the

Eilat Highway

attack, the first in the series, blew another big hole in Israel's military deterrence. The policy of military restraint pursued by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak was shown by the Tel Aviv attack by a Palestinian jihadi yelling Allah Akhbar to have crossed a dangerous red line: Civilians are being left in harm's way to serve diplomatic interests such as not further straining relations with the new rulers in Cairo. Israel received due warning ahead of the Eilat highway attack, for which15-20 gunmen from Gaza crossed into Israel from Egyptian Sinai. But no preventive action was taken. Eight Israelis paid with their lives for this restraint and another 33 were inured.

Daughter Gadhafi said was dead apparently lives

http://news.yahoo.com/daughter-gadhafi-said-dead-apparently-lives-151326287.html

Assume the media will apologize to President Reagan…~Bob. Excerpt: Since the rebel takeover of Tripoli, evidence has been mounting that Moammar Gadhafi may have lied about the death of his adopted baby daughter Hana in a 1986 U.S. airstrike. The strike hit Gadhafi's home in his Tripoli compound, Bab al-Aziziya, in retaliation for the Libyan-sponsored bombing of a Berlin nightclub earlier that year that killed two U.S. servicemen. At the time, Gadhafi showed American journalists a picture of a dead baby and said it was his adopted daughter Hana — the first public mention that she even existed. … in 2006 Gadhafi organized an event called the "Hana Festival for Freedom and Peace" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her death. Performers reportedly included Lionel Richie and Spanish tenor Jose Carreras.

Police arrest 15 at Playland in dispute over Muslim headwear

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110830/NEWS02/110830004/Dispute-sends-scores-police-Playland-park-reportedly-closed

Excerpt: A melee broke out Tuesday afternoon at Playland Amusement Park when Muslim visitors became angry that the park was enforcing its ban on headgear by prohibiting the women from wearing their traditional head coverings on some rides. Police from at least nine agencies converged on the park beginning at 3 p.m. after county police sought assistance in responding to the disturbance, which involved 30 to 40 people. Two rangers were injured while breaking up a fight between visitors, and two visitors were charged with felony assault, police said. Another 13 people were arrested, most charged with disorderly conduct. Names were not disclosed, and all those charged were released by Tuesday night. One of the rangers suffered an injured knee and the other an injured shoulder, said Deputy Parks Commissioner Peter Tartaglia. The park was crowded with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr, one of Islam’s two major holidays. (And if a Hijab caught in machinery and strangled one, who would get sued? ~Bob.)

Jihadist garage sale of the century underway: Gaza groups reportedly buying Libyan weapons

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/jihadist-garage-sale-of-the-century-underway-gaza-groups-reportedly-buying-libyan-weapons.html

Excerpt: While there continue to be concerns about Libya's unconventional weapons and potential "dirty bomb" material, lighter conventional weapons are already reported to be on the market. And there also remains the possibility of a second "storefront" opening up upon the fall of the Assad regime.

Palestinian Authority's prison affairs minister accuses Israel of harvesting organs

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/08/palestinian-authoritys-prison-affairs-minister-accuses-israel-of-harvesting-organs.html

Excerpt: More sterling behavior from the entity that wants to be handed a state in September without acting like one. This new form of blood libel has become popular in the past few years, bolstered by a bogus story in a major Swedish paper in 2009, and surfaces every now and then in one form or another. Never mind the substantive accusations against jihadists in Kosovo of doing exactly what Issa Qaraqi is accusing Israel of doing. These allegations will be given far more credence. They will also be used as a pretext for additional violence and threats against Israel, as Qaraqi surely knows.

Race and Economics

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2011/08/31/race_and_economics

I highly recommend Williams’ book of the same title. ~Bob. Excerpt: Overall U.S. unemployment is 9.1 percent. For white adults, it's 8 percent, and for white teens, 23 percent. Black adult unemployment stands at 17 percent, and for black teens, it's 40 percent, more than 50 percent in some cities, for example, Washington. Chapter 3 of "Race and Economics," my most recent book, starts out, "Some might find it puzzling that during times of gross racial discrimination, black unemployment was lower and blacks were more active in the labor force than they are today." Up until the late 1950s, the labor force participation rate of black teens and adults was equal to or greater than their white counterparts. In fact, in 1910, 71 percent of black males older than 9 were employed, compared with 51 percent for whites. As early as 1890, the duration of unemployment among blacks was shorter than it was among whites, whereas today unemployment is both higher and longer-lasting among blacks than among whites. How might one explain yesteryear's lower black unemployment and greater labor force participation? The usual academic, civil rights or media racial discrimination explanation for black/white socio-economic differences just wouldn't hold up. I can't imagine even the most harebrained professor, civil rights leader or media "expert" arguing that there was less discrimination a century ago and that explains why there was greater black labor market participation. Racial discrimination or low skills can explain low wages but not unemployment.

Consumer Confidence Plunges; 12 States in Contraction

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2011/08/31/consumer_confidence_pluges;_12_states_in_contraction

Collection of articles. ~Bob.

Go Get the Lockerbie Bomber From Libya

http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelmarsden/2011/08/30/go_get_the_lockerbie_bomber_from_libya

Excerpt: Does Barack Obama care that the terrorist convicted only a decade ago of killing 189 Americans is reportedly running around Libya? The Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was tried in the U.K. and then released two years ago -- but only on "compassionate grounds" because he was supposed to die within three months. Disappointingly, he failed to achieve his full potential in that regard and is instead reportedly fit enough nowadays to keep Gadhafi company while the tyrant plays hide-and-seek. Why doesn't Obama show a little leadership and call for Megrahi to be tried in America for the bombing? There's no statute of limitations for murder, and Obama has made a big deal about trying terror suspects in civilian federal court rather than via military commission. Well, here's an easy one. Still, I suppose there are a million reasons why Obama might not want to bother:

Worth Reading: The Tide and Marco Rubio

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/cal-thomas/2011/08/30/the-tide-and-marco-rubio/

Excerpt: In my high school days before sex and environmental education and the general dumbing down of the population, memorization of some Shakespeare was expected in Miss Kauffman's 12th-grade English class. A favorite I still recall is this line spoken by Brutus in "Julius Caesar": "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries..." Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) repeatedly says in various ways it is too soon, or he isn't ready, for higher office, such as vice president. He's been in the Senate for a little more than seven months and has delivered only two major speeches -- his maiden speech on the Senate floor and one last week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. In the Reagan Library speech, Rubio laid out his philosophical foundation, something that must be at the heart of any policy. … Rubio went further than what might be expected of a Republican, acknowledging his party is partly responsible for the growth of government: "I know that it is popular in my party to blame the president, the current president. But the truth is the only thing this president has done is accelerate policies that were already in place and were doomed to fail. All he is doing through his policies is making the day of reckoning come faster, but it was coming nonetheless." (If the Republic is to be saved, we need more leaders like Rubio. He may not feel he is ready, but we need him on the ticket. In fact, I’d be happy with him on the top of the ticket, though I know that is as unlikely as my winning the lottery. Still, we can hope. ~Bob.)

History of the fiscal meltdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=cMnSp4qEXNM&NR=1

Lest we forget. ~Bob.

"ACORN Will Shape My Agenda" -- Barack Obama

http://www.theobamafile.com/obamaacorn.htm

Lest we forget who helped them raid the mortgage industry. ~Bob.

No Egyptian crackdown on Sinai terrorists. Jihad keeps Israel in suspense

http://www.debka.com/article/21257/

Excerpt: Cairo media's highly colored accounts Monday, Aug. 30 of 1,500 Egyptian commando and tank supposedly raiding Jihad Islami and al Qaeda cells in Sinai are pure fiction, debkafile's military sources confirm. Israeli forces along the Gazan and Egyptian borders down to Eilat have been forced to stand for a week at the highest level of preparedness since receiving word that a large group of terrorists had left the Gaza Strip for Sinai on Aug. 24 bent on another attack on southern Israel. The Egyptian army, for its part, is sitting on is hands as the jihadists take up assault positions on its side of the Sinai border. The group set out from Gaza the day after the head of the Jihad Islami missile and logistics chief Ismail al-Asmar died in a targeted Israeli air strike on the car he was travelling in Rafah. Israel went on high terror alert on Aug. 25. Its leaders have repeatedly warned since then that Israel is fully prepared to respond swiftly if attacked. Tuesday night, the IDF's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said: "Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza had better realize that if they harm Israeli citizens we shall hit them hard. Testing our strength would be a mistake." (If you thought US and European involvement in Egypt to depose Mubarak was a noble cause, well, how can I put this delicately....? SHAME ON YOU!!!! No one who has paid attention can be surprised by the fact that Egyptian Islamist militants are now poised to pour into Israel in an effort to drive Israelis out of their own territory. But how many were paying attention? I know for a fact that there are some who think it is our job to sit on our butts, await the Second Coming and do absolutely nothing to warn the people of the coming Armageddon. That's not in MY Bible! Jesus said to be watchful! --Don Hank)

Double-dip fears across the West as confidence crumbles

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8731894/Double-dip-fears-across-the-West-as-confidence-crumbles.html

Excerpt: The Western world is at mounting risk of a double-dip recession after key measures of confidence collapsed in both the United States and Europe, with Germany suffering the steepest one-month fall since records began in the 1970s. The US Conference Board's index of consumer sentiment in August plunged to the lowest level since the depths of the slump in 2009, falling to 44.5 from 59.2 in July. Future expectations fell even harder. The drop was far steeper than expected and follows grim warnings over the weekend from Christine Lagarde, new chief of the International Monetary Fund, that the global crisis is entering "a dangerous new phase". The fund has slashed its growth forecast for America and Europe, according to a leaked draft of its World Economic Outlook. It has called on both the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank to stand ready for "further easing of monetary policy" - implying a fresh blast of quantitative easing (QE) by the Fed. The minutes of the Fed's meeting in early August show that a number of committee members called for more "substantial" stimulus, suggesting that they pushed for further bond purchases or 'QE3'.

Allen West Considering Leaving Congressional Black Caucus

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/178983-west-considering-leaving-black-caucus

Excerpt: Rep. Allen West (Fla.), the lone Republican in the Congressional Black Caucus, said Tuesday morning that he is considering leaving the group in light of comments by Rep. Andrè Carson (D-Ind.), the caucus whip, who said at a town hall that Tea Party affiliated members of Congress see African Americans as “second-class citizens” and would be happy to see blacks “hanging from a tree.”

Woman Buys Fake, Wooden iPod for $180

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334747/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.Tl2sdKh6KuJ

Excerpt; [The woman, Ashley] McDowell said the men were in a white Chevy Impala with no rims and untinted windows. She said one of the men had a gold tooth. (Can’t cheat the honest, non-greedy person. At that price, they would have had to be stolen. ~Bob.)

AOL Looking to Sell Say Insiders: HuffPost Buy Doomed Company

http://technorati.com/business/article/aol-looking-to-sell-says-insiders/#ixzz1Wd3Nrf9w

Excerpt: While AOL is generating significant revenue of at least $1 Billion for the first 6 months of 2011, they are still losing a great deal of money and the purchase of HuffPost hasn’t helped their woes.

Freedom Works Will Protest Mitt Romney Appearance

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62380.html#ixzz1Wd4M37TQ

Excerpt: Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is among the leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination but is viewed warily by tea party activists, who believe him to be insufficiently conservative and particularly blame him for the Massachusetts state health care overhaul he signed into law.

Roll Back the Muslim Brotherhood

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18806.xml

Excerpt: In recent weeks, we have been put on notice repeatedly: Absent a fundamental course correction, America will go the way of Europe and others before it, succumbing to an insidious totalitarian doctrine known as shariah whose purpose, in the words of its prime practitioners - the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) - is to "destroy Western civilization from within."

German Business Chief Calls Country to Quit Euro and Join New Currency With Austria, Holland and Finland

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2031808/German-business-chief-calls-country-quit-euro-join-new-currency-Austria-Holland-Finland.html#ixzz1Wd82Abn3

Excerpt: A top German business leader today called for his country to quit the euro and join richer northern neighbours in a currency block instead. Hans-Olaf Henkel, the well-respected former head of the country’s main business federation, said his earlier support for the euro was ‘the biggest professional mistake I ever made’. He called on Germany, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands to quit the euro – ditching struggling economies such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy - and set up a new currency of their own. (Well, duh, who couldn’t see a collapse coming. Suppose you, I and several other people agree to pool our income and pay bills from the pool. But we each get to decide how much we will spend on ourselves. You and I work hard, earn a lot and spend frugally. The others…not so much. Good luck with that. ~Bob.)

From Paradise on Earth to Hell on High

http://takimag.com/article/from_paradise_on_earth_to_hell_on_high/print#ixzz1WdJHK0nt

Excerpt: But back to Gstaad and the coming fight to the death. Europe has 2.9 million millionaires, while North America has 3.1 million of the same species. Asian mimes have reached 3 million, and at times it feels as if all of the above descend upon this village during the third week of August. Among the nine million is one German woman married to a billionaire who has decided to buy the whole of Gstaad—and I mean the whole kit and kaboodle, as they say in Kansas. Her husband has a couple of ex-wives and children with his exes, so the little lady has decided to ensure her future by having the old boy buy her Gstaad. (The old man is not feeling his best.) Some of us old Gstaad hands have tried to poison the bitch, but to no avail. She has Libyan food-tasters and such. Her latest get-rich scheme is to build an “art center” which will house conferences, concerts, caviar exhibitions, and down at-the-heel countesses looking for rich old buffers. In other words, everything a small alpine village bursting at the seams doesn’t need. Two hundred million Swiss francs are needed, and the usual social-climbing suspects are out knocking on doors.

A Rotting Carcass Called Europe

http://takimag.com/article/a_rotting_carcass_called_europe#ixzz1WdOYQko2

Excerpt: Blah, blah, blah! I’ve heard it all before. We are all swivel-eyed fanatics, racists, and right-wing extremists. And we’re also bigots because we believe in Jesus Christ. Today is my name day, the Day of Assumption, but please don’t ask me how my parents got Taki out of it—Panagia, Panagiotaki, Taki—that is all I can tell you in my limited English. So I stepped out on my garden overlooking Gstaad’s wooded hills early this morning and began yelling, “ALLAHU AKBAR!” at the top of my voice, like those nice guys do down south and also in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and other major Western cities which pay for their keep. “Allah! Allah!” I kept screaming until some Swiss walkers heard me and motioned me to quiet down. “Mais enfin, monsieur, nous ne sommes pas dans une mosquée,” said the rudest one.

Debunking the Rick Perry “Pro Sharia” school curriculum myth.

http://www.countercontempt.com/archives/1945

Excerpt: Also, as my regular readers know, there is no single subject to which I have devoted more time than Muslim terror. I take pride in having had my stories carried on pretty much every anti-Islamist website around, from FrontPageMag and Atlas Shrugs, to Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism, Jerusalem Pulse Radio, Moonbattery, WorldNetDaily, NewsReal Blog, Islamist Watch, Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum, The Blaze, HotAir.com, Right Pundits, Creeping Sharia, Bare Naked Islam, Michelle Malkin’s site, etc., etc., etc. Nevertheless, I still fully expect to be called a “dhimmi” by one or two of you after you read this post. Salon.com recently pulled a neat little trick, one that is currently paying great dividends The liberal mega-site recently ran a piece that essentially accuses Governor Rick Perry of being a “pro-Sharia candidate” (complete with a ridiculously crude photoshopped image of Perry standing next to a Muslim crescent). Of course, the title of the piece, “Rick Perry: The Pro-Sharia Candidate?” ends with a question mark. Ha ha! It’s not an accusation – it’s just a question! Aren’t we clever, Salon.com. And, of course, the author presents nothing to suggest that the answer to that question is yes.

How Saif Gaddafi and Friends Fooled the Euro-Left

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/how-saif-gaddafi-and-friends-fooled-the-euro-left/

Excerpt: Less than a year ago [Moammer Gaddafi's son] Saif freely mingled with Western high society, popping up in London and Monte Carlo or on a yacht off Monaco. He was considered a playboy as well as a reformer. For Saif it wasn’t about sex or money, however: as is now clear, he was mining Europe’s naive social and political leadership to advance his family’s 40-year-old dynasty. Saif is not unique, yet he is the poster child for a kind of “softer” face of the Arab political aristocracy. He is identified as the next generation of young, super-rich Middle Eastern family members who have tried to re-brand themselves as caring, compassionate Westernized Muslims. It has been lost in the American press, but until he issued his televised “river of blood” speech from Tripoli in February, Saif was the darling of Europe’s political establishment.

Subprime Mortgage Bonds Get AAA Rating S&P Denied to U.S.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-08-31/subprime-mortgage-bonds-get-aaa-rating-s-p-denied-to-u-s-.html

Really? ~Bob. Excerpt: Standard & Poor’s is giving a higher rating to securities backed by subprime home loans, the same type of investments that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, than it assigns the U.S. government. S&P is poised to provide AAA grades to 59 percent of Springleaf Mortgage Loan Trust 2011-1, a set of bonds tied to $497 million lent to homeowners with below-average credit scores and almost no equity in their properties. New York-based S&P stripped the U.S. of its top rank on Aug. 5, saying Washington politics were making the country less creditworthy. Treasuries gained about 1.95 percent and U.S. borrowing costs have fallen to record lows as investors repudiated the downgrade, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. S&P has awarded AAAs to more than $36 billion of securities in the U.S. this year that were created by bankers who continue to gather thousands of loans, bundle them into bonds of varying risk and pay ratings firms a fee to assign credit rankings.