Political Digest for June 28, 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.

Collapse book interview on the Rob Schilling Show

I'm scheduled to be interviewed about my book today, 28th June from 1:15 pm EDT until 2:00 pm EDT (That's 12:15 pm CDT to 1:00 pm CDT). Also on the show will be Chet Nagle, author of The Iran Covenant and a former Naval Aviator and former CIA Agent. The show originates from Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the University of Virginia and streams live on the internet. You can get it on the "Listen Live" link at https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/www.SchillingShow.com%20 They welcome callers at (434) 977-1070 on their 'comment line.' Please feel free call in to discuss the book or ask questions.

How Does It Feel

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-does-it-feel.html

Good advice from a blog reader who contributes many of the article links you see here. ~Bob

Must read: There Are No Socialists

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/there-are-no-socialists/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: The strangest things about the global statist crack-up are socialists’ unhappiness with their socialist utopia, and their subsequent efforts to avoid the consequences of the very redistributive state that they themselves once so gladly crafted. Greece is the locus classicus. Why are the Greeks protesting? Against whom? They obtained long ago the promised bloated sector and high taxes that all schemed to avoid. Their alma mater EU is hardly a demonic capitalist-run plutocracy, but a kindred socialist state. Is Greece an oil producer, industrial powerhouse, high-tech innovator — anything that might explain the sort of upscale life, modern infrastructure, legions of Mercedeses, and plush second homes that one began to see in Greece after 1985? (…) Indeed, statism is not a desired outcome, but rather more a strategy for obtaining power or winning acclaim as one of the caring, by offering the narcotic of promising millions something free at the expense of others who must be seen as culpable and obligated to fund it — entitlements fueled by someone else’s money that enfeebled the state, but in the process extended power, influence, and money to a technocratic class of overseers who are exempt from the very system that they have advocated. (Hanson hit another homerun. Ron P. This is why a collapse is coming. ~Bob.)

Blagojevich guilty on 17 counts

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-blagojevich-jurors-going-into-their-10th-day-20110627,0,620170.story

Excerpt: A federal jury today convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of corruption.

Blogojevich showed no reaction as the jury found him guilty on 17 of 20 counts against him. He then sat back in his chair with his lips pursed and looked toward his wife Patti and whispered, "I love you." with disappointment on face. The jury deadlocked on two counts and found him not guilty of one count. (Most of the crooks got away. ~Bob.)

GOP Jobs Plan: Getting Government Out of the Way of Small Businesses

http://www.speaker.gov/Blog/?postid=248873

President Obama Plays Politics in Afghanistan

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/27/morning-bell-president-obama-plays-politics-in-afghanistan/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: The nation’s two highest-ranking military commanders have gone on record raising serious concerns about President Obama’s flawed plan to bring 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan by September 2012. The outgoing Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, said during Senate hearings last week that the troop withdrawal was “a more aggressive formulation…than what we had recommended.” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen echoed Petraeus when he noted the danger in moving U.S. troops out of Afghanistan too quickly, saying it will “incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept.” While the President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, heeding wise counsel from his most senior military commanders is part of fulfilling that role. The President is under political pressure from his liberal base to withdraw troops and wind down the Afghan war as next year’s election inches closer. His announcement last week reveals he is basing the Afghan troop decision more on the domestic political calendar than the goal of achieving U.S. objectives there.

Is Medicare A Good Deal?

http://healthblog.ncpa.org/is-medicare-a-good-deal/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HA#more-19867

Excerpt: Think about everything you will pay to support Medicare: the payroll taxes while you are working, the premiums during retirement, and your share of the income taxes that subsidize the system. Then compare that to the benefits of Medicare insurance, say, from age 65 until the day you die. Are you likely to come out ahead? That depends in part on how old you are. If you are a typical 85-year-old, for example, you can expect about $55,000 of insurance benefits over and above everything you have been paying into the system. If you’re a typical 25-year-old, however, you will pay an extra $111,000 into the system, over and above any benefits you can expect to receive. By the way, this is not the sort of calculations you want to try at home on a pocket calculator. It’s too complicated. Fortunately the heavy lifting has already been done by Andrew Rettenmaier and Courtney Collins in a report for the National Center for Policy Analysis. See the table.

State Economic Competitive Index

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20810&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: In this year's edition, the top 10 states on economic performance were (from one to 10, in order): Utah, South Dakota, Virginia, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, Tennessee, Missouri and Florida. Rounding out the bottom of the list were: Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Oregon, Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, Maine, Vermont and New York.

The Subprime Lending Debacle: Competitive Private Markets Are the Solution, Not the Problem

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13205&utm_source=Cato+Institute+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f0b42bc5a7-Cato_Today&utm_medium=email

Excerpt: The United States' market-government hybrid mortgage system is unique in the world. No other nation has such heavy government intervention in housing finance. This hybrid system nurtured the excessively risky loans, financed with too much leverage, that fueled the U.S. housing bubble of the last decade and resulted in the systemic collapse of the global financial system. The responsibility for the massive failures of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the center of American housing finance and the private securitization system that supports housing finance, falls directly on regulators and indirectly on their political overseers. Private and GSE prudential regulators were given politically determined social lending goals that ultimately trumped prudential regulation, forcing the GSEs to fund subprime lending in competition with private label securitizers. The result was the extension of lower and lower quality loans, creating a race-to-the-bottom between the GSEs and private mortgage providers, all while regulators and politicians looked on approvingly. The financial crisis resulted when many of those loans turned sour in the latter part of the last decade. We find no evidence that the United States housing market has unique characteristics requiring a hybrid GSE system, thus we conclude that the system and the political risks it is subject to are unnecessary.

Hybrid cars' share of sales stalls

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-06-19-hybrids_n.htm

Excerpt: Despite months of high gas prices, a bevy of new fuel-stingy cars with conventional gas engines may be eating into sales of pricier gas-electric hybrids. Sales of high-mileage, high-value conventional compacts such as the Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cruze are hot, while hybrid sales have stagnated. The hybrid share of U.S. auto sales peaked at 3.6% in July 2009, Edmunds.com says. Last month, it was 1.6%, depressed also by production cuts for some models due to the Japan disaster, but not enough to account for all the drop.

The Jobless Insurance Mess

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576343734042298022.html

Excerpt: Meanwhile, more evidence has arrived that jobless subsidies are a disincentive work. A recent report by Chicago Federal Reserve economists Luojia Hu and Shani Schechter indicates that benefit extensions account for a roughly 1% increase in the unemployment rate. They calculate that between 10% and 25% of the recent decline in unemployment is due to people exhausting their benefits. Allowing the extended emergency benefits to expire, they conclude, could help reverse their adverse effects on employment.

With Michele Bachmann’s surge comes fresh scrutiny

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-michele-bachmanns-surge-comes-fresh-scrutiny/2011/06/26/AG75u2lH_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: In the race for the White House, Michele Bachmann is surging. A new Iowa poll, the first snapshot in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, found Bachmann statistically tied with front-runner Mitt Romney among likely Republican caucus-goers there. Yet on Sunday, a day before Bachmann was to formally launch her campaign in her birthplace of Waterloo, Iowa, the Minnesota congresswoman faced the kind of scrutiny that comes to any leading presidential contender. On “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace quizzed Bachmann on a series of apparent inconsistencies in her legislative record and personal background — from Medicare to government subsidies and earmarks to her opposition to same-sex marriage. Then, as he wrapped up the interview, Wallace asked her: “Are you a flake?”

Why Michele Bachmann is the Iowa frontrunner

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/why-michele-bachmann-is-the-iowa-frontrunner/2011/06/26/AGEIWkmH_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: While the topline numbers are impressive for Bachmann, they reveal only some of her Iowa strength. The other piece of it comes from the passion that the Minnesota Republican engenders in her supporters. In the Register poll, 65 percent said they had a favorable impression of Bachmann, with 31 percent saying they felt very favorably toward her. (Just 12 percent felt unfavorably about Bachmann.) Excitement and passion are organic and can’t be created no matter how strong a political organization a candidate puts together. One need only look back to the 2008 Iowa caucus results for evidence of that phenomenon.

Survey seeks data on Camp Lejeune illnesses

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/agency-surveys-tainted-water-at-marine-base/2011/06/23/AG4aRQmH_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Excerpt: Hundreds of thousands of people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina more than 25 years ago are being asked to complete a detailed health survey to determine what diseases may be linked to contaminated water they drank and bathed in at the largest Marine base on the East Coast. As many as 1 million people over three decades may have been exposed to well water that was contaminated by toxins, officials have said. Some of the toxins may have been present at levels as much as 40 times higher than current safety standards.

Obama’s America in Black & White: Black political segregation, nurtured by the policies of the 1960s, has only hardened in the Obama years.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270291/obama-s-america-black-and-white-seth-forman

Excerpt: So it wasn’t for them to point out what the pundits ignored: Obama is and always has been a hardened, bare-knuckled veteran of the culture wars, who not only pursues racial divisions among Americans for political gain but personifies the stark differences in political attitudes between whites and blacks. It was as obvious in 2008 as it is now that electing a man who describes a sermon containing the passage “white people’s greed runs a world in need” as the formative moment in his spiritual life would guarantee a period of unusual social bitterness and resentment. And that is, in fact, where we are. A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that non-college-educated whites are the most alienated of racial groups. Only 44 percent of this demographic said they expected their economic situation to be better ten years from now, compared to two-thirds of minorities (and 55 percent of college-educated whites).

Excellent satire: The Real Story of America’s Founding

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-real-story-of-americas-founding/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: Back before the Unites States was an independent nation, people lived in horrific conditions under British rule. The British weren’t providing very good free health care (wait time for a poor person to get an MRI was over 200 years), they were refusing to increase taxes on the rich, and they had very few laws dictating what colonists were allowed to eat, causing many to become obese on the high-fructose maize syrup the Indians taught them to make. So the colonists kept demanding that the British give them big government to regulate their lives and provide for their basic needs while confiscating all their wealth. “We’re stupid,” they’d cry out to the British. “Please rule us and make us do what you think is best!” But the British kept refusing, saying, “No, you guys are doing okay by yourselves. We want you to have the freedom to run your own lives.” It was this laissez-faire attitude that led to the Boston Massacre, in which five people died of heart attacks in Boston from eating fatty foods a proper government would never have let them eat in the first place. Finally the colonists had enough of not being bossed around and decided if the British weren’t going to provide them the all-encompassing government they wanted, they had to make it themselves. They started by throwing tea into the Boston Harbor since they determined it had too much caffeine and people shouldn’t have been allowed to drink it. Then they formed militias to collect more taxes from the colonists to spend on welfare and government works projects. The British tried to strike back by ending regulations and giving tax rebates, but the colonists were now ready to fight to make sure some large entity would tell them what to do. And many were rallied to the cause by Patrick Henry’s cry of “Give me a large government telling me what I can and can’t do while spending most of my money, or give me death!”

Good conservative political humor blog

http://www.imao.us/

Their gun safety tee shirt:

http://www.thoseshirts.com/imaogun.html

Why Your New Car Doesn't Have a Spare Tire

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576383954208546170.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: That may be what's in store for drivers under the federal government's spiraling fuel economy mandates (known as CAFE, for Corporate Average Fuel Economy). The Department of Transportation is floating 62 mpg as a possible standard for 2025, more than double the current 27.5 mpg standard. How the industry can meet that target, and at what cost, is anyone's guess. A new study in mid-June by the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. put the tab at about $10,000 extra per new vehicle, while admitting that even this estimate might be far too low. And that's not the only bad news; in the past few weeks there have been two other unwelcome developments. First, GM announced that several versions of its compact Chevy Cruze would no longer have spare tires; instead, they'll have vehicle-powered sealant repair kits. This is a major jump in the trend toward eliminating spare tires, a trend due largely to CAFE's drive to shed every possible ounce of car weight.

Lost in Afghanistan?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/carter_winning.php3

Excerpt: A Yale University law professor argues that Obama would rather not talk about military victory. And that choice is as telling as it is troubling. Did we win? The question came to mind after President Obama, in a prime-time address, announced a plan to draw down American forces from Afghanistan from 100,000 today to 90,000 at the end of the year and about 70,000 by the summer of 2012. He confirmed his earlier insistence that the combat mission will be completed by 2014. The president promised to bring the troops home, and he is carrying out that promise. But did we win? Are they coming home because they did the job? Or has the enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure been for naught? The president spoke not of victory but of goals achieved and commitments fulfilled. That is the language of contemporary diplomacy and scholarship. Among sophisticates, the concept of winning wars seems so 1980s; perhaps even 1940s.

In Egypt, stealthy campaign underway for big Islamist wins in parliamentary elections later this year

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0611/islamist_votes.php3

The media and leftist dreamers prating about the flowering of democracy in the “Arab Spring” are in for a sad awakening. ~Bob. An Islamist-dominated Egyptian government is a nightmare scenario for the U.S., which plied Mubarak with billions of dollars to keep regional stability and uphold the peace treaty with Israel. Egyptian liberals, moderates and Coptic Christians are likewise terrified that Islamist parties would use elected office to reverse the revolution's efforts to improve human rights, the status of women, and provide freedom of religion and expression.

As Gaza flotilla plans suffer setbacks organizers vow to go ahead

http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/10365/as_gaza_flotilla_plans_suffer_setbacks_organizers_vow_to_go_ahead

Excerpt: Six ships that were scheduled to take part in the Gaza-bound flotilla have been detained by Greek port authorities, the Israeli news website ‘Ynet’ reported. Senior officials in Jerusalem confirmed the report, which followed a decision by Greece on Sunday to stop the American vessel ‘Audacity of Hope from participating in the convoy. While the organizers claim that more than 1,500 activists are set to take part in this year’s flotilla, it now appears that no more than seven ships, carrying between 200 and 500 passengers, will set sail next week. (Perfect name for a ship helping Jihadist terrorists efforts to exterminate Jews. ~Bob.)

Was Vandalism Of Pride Parade Floats A Hate Crime?

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/06/27/was-vandalism-of-pride-parade-floats-a-hate-crime/

Conservatives complain when the left uses these tactics against, say, vans to take Republican voters to the polls in WI. If you can't obey the laws, you cannot demand your opponents do so, and we descend into chaos. ~Bob. Excerpt: But the tire-slashing put a damper on the event before it started. Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, the floats were vandalized in the warehouse for Associated Attractions Enterprises Inc., a parade float business at

4834 S. Halsted St

.

Genocide In Sudan – Again

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/27/genocide-in-sudan-again/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=464eb232c3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

But it’s not PC to criticize anything Muslims do—you might get called “Islamophobic” which is now worse than being racist or homophobic. ~Bob. Excerpt: Imagine the outcry if the American government was suddenly to engage in a campaign of extermination against the Navajos, one of America’s aboriginal peoples. The protests, especially from the Left, would be deafening. But what would be unimaginable in America today is currently taking place in Sudan, whose rulers are no strangers to genocide. Sudan’s original people, the African Nuba tribes inhabiting central Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, are currently facing a massive campaign of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Arab and Islamist central government, whose leader, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, is currently under indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Darfur. “The Sudanese Army and its allied militias have gone on an unsparing rampage to crush rebel fighters in the Nuba Mountains …, bombing thatch-roofed villages, executing elders, burning churches…,” stated the New York Times, citing United Nations officials and “villagers who have escaped.”

Worth reading: Being Honest about the “Partisan Divide”

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/27/being-honest-about-the-%e2%80%9cpartisan-divide%e2%80%9d/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=464eb232c3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: Those who lament the “partisan divide” in Congress are missing the point. This is not about partisanship, it is about, to borrow Thomas Sowell’s phrase, a “conflict of visions.” Proof of this is that those who have no reason to be partisan – my favorite cousin, for example – falls right into line with Democrat Party policies on quite literally every issue. In fact, tell me but a single belief of one of my friends or neighbors (people with no reason to go against their own beliefs for the sake of the party) and I can tell you every other policy he supports or opposes. If, for example, you were to tell me that you believe that global warming is real and manmade, I can predict to perfection that you support Obama’s healthcare scheme, opposes the immigration bill in Arizona and elsewhere and perceive across-the-board tax cuts as “tax cuts for the rich.” On the other hand, tell me that you recognize manmade global warming to be the hoax that it is, and I can predict to perfection that you supported the liberation of the Iraqi people, are a strong supporter of Israel and understand that raising taxes on the most successful is a recipe for disaster. What seems like a “partisan divide” is really a fundamental and unbridgeable difference in how the two sides see the world, their understanding of mankind and of human nature. Most fundamental to this difference is how one understands the condition of the human being at the moment of his birth.

Israel’s Fate?

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/27/israel%e2%80%99s-fate/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=464eb232c3-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: How, then, shall the State of Israel survive? From their very beginnings, and even long before the United Nations conferral of statehood in 1948, Jews in Israel have faced war, terror and extinction. Now, Israel faces existential destruction from two main and mutually reinforcing sources: (1) the fully constituted state of Iran; and (2) the still-aspiring state of “Palestine.” Together, largely in various unrecognized and unimagined synergies, the interactive effects of these two mega-threats portend incontestable reason for concern. The situation is made more worrisome by President Obama’s persistent support of a “Two-State Solution,” and by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reciprocal acceptance of a Palestinian state that has allegedly been “demilitarized.” This is because the Palestinian side (Hamas, Fatah, it makes little difference) seeks only a One-State solution (on their maps, Israel is already drawn as a part of “Palestine”), and because a demilitarized Palestine would never actually “happen.” After all, any post-independence abrogation of earlier pre-state agreements to demilitarize by a now-sovereign Palestinian state could be permissible under international law. Iran is an established state with an expanding near-term potential to inflict nuclear harms upon Israel. The so-called “international community” has effectively done nothing to stop Iranian nuclearization. Indisputably, the “sanctions” have represented little more than a mildly pestering fly on an elephant’s back.

McCarthy: NRA, Palin a part of 'government-sponsored racism'

http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=2221691&spid=

Excerpt: Chicago's new top cop says the accessibility to firearms in America is an extension "of government-sponsored racism" that goes back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow.

Is 'global cooling' happening?

http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/519/is-global-cooling-happening

Excerpt: While we do live in the warmest decade since proper measurements began our temperatures do not seem to be unprecedented. There is good evidence that 1,000 years ago the medieval climatic optimum was just as warm, if not warmer. Before that the Roman warm period, and the Bronze Age warm period might have been just as hot. (…) Then there is the interplay of short-term natural climatic cycles called decadal variations - that are atmospheric, oceanic and solar cycles. Finally there are longer, millennial effects to account for as well. Climate scientists take a long view of things. Thirty years is enough, they say, to get away from the effects of weather variations and see what long term changes are happening. Over the past 30 years, the world has warmed. But it has not warmed at all since 2001. Although only a decade in length, scientists are puzzled why - as greenhouse gasses increase - the temperature has not. It may be a temporary blip, or possibly an indication that we do not fully understand what is going on. (The fact that there has been no warming for ten years doesn’t stop the media from blaming everything on it. I’m pretty worried about the sun, and the possible connection with a decrease in sun spots with cooling. A few degrees colder will be much worse for people than a couple degrees warmer. ~Bob.)

US: The myth of killer mercury

http://www.hacer.org/usa/?p=893

Excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued 946 pages of new rules, requiring that U.S. power plants sharply reduce (already low) emissions of mercury and 83 other air pollutants. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson claims that, while the regulations will cost electricity producers $10.9 billion annually, they will save 17,000 lives and generate up to $140 billion in health benefits. There is no factual basis for these assertions. To build its case, EPA systematically cherry-picked supportive studies (many of them dated) and ignored extensive evidence and clinical studies that contradict its regulatory agenda, which is to punish hydrocarbon use and close down coal-fired power plants. Mercury (Hg) has always existed naturally in Earth’s environment. A 2009 study found numerous spikes (and drops) in mercury deposition in Antarctic ice over the past 650,000-years. Mercury is found in air, water, rocks, soil and trees (which absorb it from the environment). This is why our bodies evolved with proteins and antioxidants that help protect us from this and other potential contaminants.

Nigeria Boko Haram Islamists 'bomb Maiduguri drinkers'

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/nigeria-jihadists-open-fire-hurl-bombs-at-beer-garden-killing-at-least-25.html

I think they didn’t get the memo, unless this is the Muslim version of AA. ~Bob. Excerpt: A bomb attack in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri has killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens, security sources say. They say they believe the attack, which occurred in a beer garden, was carried out by the Islamist sect Boko Haram. The group wants to establish an Islamic government in Nigeria.

Hundreds of Muslim youth in Senegal burn a church, destroy bar in capital neighbourhood

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/hundreds-muslim-youth-senegal-burn-church-destroy-bar-163647170.html

Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Hundreds of Muslim protesters descended on a Jehovah's Witness temple and a bar in a conservative Muslim neighbourhood of the Senegalese capital on Sunday, setting the buildings on fire in a rare instance of religious extremism in the predominantly Muslim nation.

Seattle Jihadi's Personal Ad: Seeks "Second Wife" who "want[s] to make a life from the most oppressive place on this earth 'America,'" First wife sobs for her "Perfect Muslim"

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/06/seattle-jihadis-personal-ad-seeks-second-wife-who-wants-to-make-a-life-from-the-most-oppressive-plac.html

Excerpt: The wife of suspected terror plotter Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif spoke out about the charges against her husband and tried to paint the picture that he was a “perfect Muslim.” But when the reporter questioning her asked about the possibility of spending life behind bars, she collapsed to the ground in a flood of emotions.

Where is the outrage? After earlier failure, jihadists succeed in using eight-year-old girl to carry remote-controlled bomb to police, killing her

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/where-is-the-outrage-after-earlier-failure-taliban-succeed-in-using-eight-year-old-girl-to-carry-rem.html

Excerpt: The world breathed a sigh of relief that Pakistani jihadists had failed in their attempt to use nine-year-old Sohana Jawed to carry a bomb in an attack that would have killed her. Now, Afghan jihadists tried, and this time, it worked. Perhaps this was a copycat attack; in any event, Sohana's case is no longer an anomaly, but part of the jihadist playbook in the region. Where is the outrage? As with yesterday's hospital bombing -- which reportedly hit a maternity ward the hardest -- all of Afghanistan, and indeed all of the Muslim world ought to be furious. If there ever were a time for righteous indignation, this would be it. But if protests over the Muhammad cartoons and the Florida Qur'an burning have shown us the ferocity of anger that something said to be "against Islam" can provoke, the relative silence in the face of these acts is deafening.

Pakistan Taliban use husband, wife suicide bombers

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110626/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

Didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: The Pakistani Taliban said Sunday the group had sent a husband and wife suicide squad to carry out an attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan that killed 10 people, a rare instance of militants using a woman as a bomber. The pair entered the police station in Kolachi on Saturday and said they were there to lodge a complaint, said Imtiaz Shah, a senior police official. Once inside, the two attacked with grenades and machine guns, triggering a five-hour standoff with police. Both attackers, including the woman wearing an all-covering robe known as a burqa, eventually blew themselves up. They killed eight police officers and two civilians, said Mohammad Hussain, another police official.

ICE union says Obama admin wants to ‘win votes at the expense of responsible law enforcement’

http://washingtonindependent.com/111758/ice-union-says-obama-admin-wants-to-%E2%80%98win-votes-at-the-expense-of-responsible-law-enforcement%E2%80%99

The people expected to do the dying aren’t happy. ~Bob. Excerpt: Immigration and Customs Enforcement union leaders said Thursday that a policy laid out by the agency is a “law enforcement nightmare” developed by the Obama administration to “win votes at the expense of sound and responsible law enforcement policy.” The union, AFGE National Council 118-ICE, that issued the release “represents approximately 7,600 bargaining unit employees in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands, and Guam, with over 2,300 members.” The union is a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, a national affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

The Dog That Cornered Osama Bin Laden

http://blogs.canoe.ca/parker/general/the-dog-that-cornered-osama-bin-laden/

Mohammad didn’t like dogs, so Allah, every eager to help Mo, declared them “unclean.” I suppose Obama has apologized to Muslims for using a dog against them. ~Bob. Excerpt: When U.S. President Barack Obama went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, last week for a highly publicized but very private meeting with the commando team that killed Osama bin Laden, only one of the 81 members of the super-secret SEAL DevGru unit was identified by name: Cairo, the war dog. Cairo, like most canine members of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs, is a Belgian Malinois. The Malinois breed is similar to German shepherds but smaller and more compact, with an adult male weighing in the 30-kilo range.

Netanyahu Orders Navy to Interdict Flotilla

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145222

Darn Jews just won’t get quietly on the trains like they used to. ~Bob. Excerpt: Prime Minister Binyamin ordered Israel's defense establishment Monday to interdict the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla 2, Voice of Israel radio reported. Netanahyu gave the order during a meeting of his Security Cabinet dedicated to preparations Israel was taking in advance of the new flotilla expected to set sail for Gaza this week. The Cabinet voted in favor of a Navy plan to prevent the upcoming flotilla from arriving in Gaza and granted the IDF authority to prevent the ships' arrival by any means necessary.

Feds Spy on Doctors: Equal Care to Those With Private & Govt Insurance?

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/8019-feds-spy-on-doctors-equal-care-to-those-with-private-a-govt-insurance

Physician, steel thyself: The next person who calls your office seeking an appointment may just be a spy for the federal government. The New York Times has obtained documents from Obama administration officials detailing a plan to have “‘mystery shoppers’ … pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it.” Unlike private-sector mystery shoppers, who are hired by businesses to help them improve their service, these phony patients will be working against the doctors they are calling, trying to catch them in the act of making a living and, possibly, of lying to the federal government. Moreover, if this “stealth survey” (as the Times headline describes it) is considered a success, it will pave the way for more such intrusions in the future. The alleged purpose of the survey is to address “the increasing shortage of primary care doctors, including specialists in internal medicine and family practice,” writes the Times. The possibility that government regulations may be a prime cause of the shortage is, of course, not being considered.

Our president thinks he's above the law

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/06/conn-carroll-our-president-thinks-hes-above-law

Excerpt: Taken individually, it’s easy to excuse individual episodes of executive branch overreach. But taking a step to see the broader picture exposes the stunning breadth of President Obama's lawlessness. Consider just this month's news:

U.S. is bound to lose treaty roulette

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/06/us-bound-lose-treaty-roulette

Excerpt: Regardless of what one thinks of the Vietnam War and how it was fought, no one would suggest that a Russian roulette foreign policy makes sense. Yet, that seems to be what's in store for us over the coming months. The "bullets" in this round are a variety of bad treaties that have languished in the Senate, unapproved, for years -- and with good reason. President Obama seems intent on pushing at least one them through before the election -- another "trophy" for his foreign policy wall. Pushing through treaties that farm out American sovereignty and security to international organizations and other nations goes to the core of the Obama Doctrine.

Here Comes Another Lost Tribe! (Of Israel)

http://unitedwithisrael.org/here-comes-another-lost-tribe/

Excerpt: Thousands of kilometers to the east, in the furthest reaches of northeastern India, a long-lost community continues to nourish its age-old dream of returning to its ancient homeland, the land of Israel. The Bnei Menashe, or “sons of Manasseh,” are descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrian empire more than 27 centuries ago. The community, which numbers 7,232 people, resides primarily in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. Despite generations of wandering, the Bnei Menashe never forgot who they were, where they had come from, or where they aspired to return. Three times a day, every day, they turn in silent prayer toward Jerusalem, pleading with the Creator to put an end to their long exile and bring them home to Zion. That dream is now poised, at last, to become a reality.

How Does It Feel?

This story is from my friend, Dave Hollenbeck, a retired CHP officer and is used with his permission:

One of the earliest lessons that my father taught me on how to live was one morning on the dairy near Glendale. In Arizona, if you grow anything from the soil, you do it with water from reservoirs above Phoenix on the Salt River. By a series of earth rows, you channel the water to spread over the land and irrigate your crop. The water came to you in ditches, and was directed out on to the land.

These ditches were about three feet deep.

We had a pair of Collie dogs. The female had given birth to puppies about a week before. Mother Collie was out near the ditch, leading her brood in single file. I found it great sport to pick up a puppy, throw it in the water, watch it disappear, then reappear and swim out. I had tossed in the fourth puppy, when I felt a force on the collar of my shirt, lifting me up, and then releasing me into the ditch. I went under the water, was thoroughly convinced that I was going to drown, came up, and stood on the bottom so that my head and shoulders were out of the water. My father was there, leaning on his shovel. He looked at me with no emotion on his face and asked, “How does it feel when it happens to you?”

I found that question is one a person should ask themselves frequently.

What goes around

Political Digest for June 27, 2011

Collapse book interview on the Rob Schilling Show

I'm scheduled to be interviewed about my book on Tuesday, 28th June from 1:15 pm EDT until 2:00 pm EDT (That's 12:15 pm CDT to 1:00 pm CDT). Also on the show will be Chet Nagle, author of The Iran Covenant and a former Naval Aviator and former CIA Agent. The show originates from Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the University of Virginia and streams live on the internet. You can get it on the "Listen Live" link at www.SchillingShow.com They welcome callers at (434) 977-1070 on their 'comment line.' Mark your calendars. Please call in.

Black-on-white mayhem, black flash mobs throughout the U.S., while our "leaders" remain silent

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/019733.html

Things continue to go downhill. ~Bob.

Nice lapel pin on this blog

http://conpats.blogspot.com/

I just ordered one. ~Bob.

Book Recommendation: A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester

http://www.amazon.com/World-Lit-Only-Fire-Renaissance/dp/0316545562/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309133024&sr=1-1

We listen to books on tape (or CD now) in the car, to increase our reading time. My wife and I both just finished this on a trip. It's a terrific, well-written overview of that age, with lots of detail about the intramural warfare and murders of Christian by Christian over blasphemy and apostasy and doctrine, much like some other religion we can't mention does today. Great coverage on Magellan's voyage and how it changed the world. We both recommend it. I've loved everything I've read by Manchester, including his WWII Marine memoir, Goodbye Darkness. (Note: Any book I recommend I have read, but I don't recommend even half the books I read. Sometimes I note new books of interest, that I have yet to read, without a recommendation.) ~Bob

The High Ground

http://www.thehighground.org/

We were at the quarterly luncheon of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Third Marine Division Association Saturday, in Neillsville, WI. There we visited The High Ground Veterans Memorial Park. Lovely spot on a hill top with long views and several very impressive memorials, including one to native Americans who died in Vietnam. Privately funded by donations and vets, no tax dollars. Very impressive and worth a visit. ~Bob.

Understand Islamic Theology

Like most kuffers, I have a lot of trouble understand the requirements of Shari'a. Last week, on the way to work, we passed a veiled woman, whom I presume was Muslim, though we didn't stop to inquire. She was wearing a full hood, with a face veil covering everything but her eyes. She also had on a tight tank top which emphasized her full bust, and very short denim shorts, exposing her full thighs and long legs. She was wearing high-heeled sandals. I would have liked to drop her in an Islamic capital under Shari'a law to get a reading from the religious police on how this conformed to Mohammad's dictates. ~Bob.

What Would Nixon Do?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/opinion/sunday/26afghan.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 Excerpt:

PRESIDENT OBAMA has made good on his pledge to begin drawing down American forces in Afghanistan, but his stated strategy is unlikely to lead to a successful withdrawal. Mr. Obama announced last week that 10,000 troops would come home by December and another 23,000 by next summer. By 2014, he confidently proclaimed, “the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security.” Administration hawks, largely in the military, are uneasy; they had wanted to go slower, so as to safeguard recent gains made against the Taliban. Administration doves, largely in the White House, are disappointed; they had wanted to pull back faster, seeing the killing of Osama bin Laden as an ideal opportunity to get out. The president split the difference, suggesting that he was charting a “centered course.” But he has actually once again evaded the fundamental choice between accepting the costs of staying and the risks of leaving. What he needs is a strategy for getting out without turning a retreat into a rout — and he would be wise to borrow one from the last American administration to extricate itself from a thankless, seemingly endless counterinsurgency in a remote and strategically marginal region. Mr. Obama should ask himself, in short: What would Nixon do? Richard M. Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry A. Kissinger, tried to manage the risks of exiting the Vietnam War by masking their withdrawal with deliberate deception and aggressive covering fire. They almost succeeded — and if tried again in today’s more favorable environment, their strategy would most likely work. The Nixonian approach has its costs: it would generate charges of lying, escalation and betrayal. And embracing it would require the president to display a deftness and a tough-mindedness he has rarely shown. But it could also provide the ticket home. Indeed, Mr. Obama’s best option is to repeat Mr. Nixon’s Vietnam endgame and hope for a different outcome — to get 1973, one might say, without having it followed by 1975. It may seem crazy to regard the American withdrawal from Vietnam as anything but disastrous. Our local ally collapsed two years after signing a peace deal, our enemies triumphantly conquered the country we had fought for more than a decade to defend, and the image of panicked friends reaching in vain for the last helicopter out of Saigon remains seared into our national consciousness. But Mr. Nixon actually did a lot right in Vietnam, and his approach there was not the primary cause of the war’s ignominious end. (The "ignominious end" was due to Nixon's Watergate stupidity, which put a defeatist, leftist Democrat majority in the Congress, which voided our treaty guarantees to South Vietnam. Without financial support, spare parts, ammo and supplies, they had no chance against the Russian and Chinese armed armies from the North. ~Bob.)

Marines Aim to Avoid Postwar Identity Crisis

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304231204576405640003796076.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks_4

Excerpt: The U.S. Marine Corps, one of the most storied military forces, is searching for a mission after the war in Afghanistan ends. Marines consider themselves a quick-reaction force, traveling light and giving their all whether waging war or responding to humanitarian disasters. But for the past decade, the Corps has been fighting long conflicts in the deserts of Iraq and valleys of Afghanistan, requiring it to behave more as a dug-in land army. Marines in Garmser, Afghanistan in February. With President Barack Obama's announcement this past week that he would begin drawing down troops in Afghanistan, the Corps sees the need to find a new calling. Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos, the service's top officer, sees renewal in the region where Marines experienced their most devastating losses and most heroic victories: "We're going to reorient in the Pacific," he said during a recent swing through bases in Japan and South Korea.

Egyptian Muslims Torch 8 Christian Homes on Rumor of Church Construction

http://www.aina.org/news/20110625204733.htm

Didn't get the memo: Excerpt: A mob of nearly 200 Muslims torched eight Christian homes on Saturday morning in the Upper Egyptian village of Awlad Khalaf. The attack was initiated by a rumor that a house which is being built by Wahib Halim Attia will be turned into a church. Two Christians and one Muslim were injured, no fatalities were reported.

But they really, really want peace: Muslims desecrate Jewish graves at Mount of Olives

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/06/but-they-really-really-want-peace-muslims-desecrate-jewish-graves-at-mount-of-olives.html

Excerpt: Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot. A story like this could create an international incident. Instead, only a few Jewish and Israeli news organizations have picked up this report thus far.

Lebanon Sunni clergy reject domestic abuse law

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ijlItfJUz6OTsTFkL_26-z4cI9Fw?docId=CNG.7529f04e4c90d375e355a15d0a9e1ff2.d31

All liberals should hold their breaths until American feminists condemn this! Notice he says that wife beating and marital rape are permitted by Shari'a Law, which some courts here see as compatible with our law! ~Bob. Excerpt: Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim authority on Friday rejected a bill aimed at protecting women against domestic violence and marital rape, saying it would lead to the demise "of the family as in the West." "Islam is very aware of and concerned with... resolving problems of poor treatment... but this should not happen by cloning Western laws that encourage the breakdown of the family and do not suit our society," said the influential Dar al-Fatwa in a statement on its website. Dar al-Fatwa also slammed as "heresy" a clause in the bill that criminalises marital rape, accusing those behind the draft law of "inventing new types of crimes." "This will have a negative impact on Muslim children... who will see their mother threatening their father with prison, in defiance of patriarchal authority, which will in turn undermine the moral authority" of fathers, it said. "We must continue to follow sharia (Islamic law) as concerns the Muslim family," it added.

Muslims Surround Church in Upper Egypt, Threaten to Kill Priest

http://www.aina.org/news/20110623193821.htm

If you oppose priest-killing, you must be an Islamophobic wingnut. ~Bob. Excerpt: Hundreds of Muslims surrounded the church of St George today in the village of Beni Ahmed West, 7 KM south of Minya, vowing to kill its priest Father George Thabet, who was serving the morning mass and was locked in the church with a number of parishioners. Security forces arrived five hours later and escorted Father George in a police car to the Coptic Diocese in Minya. "Father George looked as if he was the criminal, leaving his church in a police car." said one of the eye-witnesses. The Coptic youth who were attending mass remained inside church to defend it from Muslim attacks. Eyewitnesses reported the Muslim mob, in their white dresses and long beards, chanted "We will kill the priest, we will kill him and no one will prevent us." One of their leaders said that they will "…cut him to pieces." It was reported that no police or security of any kind was present during the events.

Why It Will Be President Perry in 2013

http://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2011/06/26/why_it_will_be_president_perry_in_2013

Excerpt: Current Texas Governor Rick Perry will, in all likelihood, be President of the United States in January of 2013. Having already said that on Fox News and the nationally syndicated Mancow Radio Experience, I guess it's time for me to now put into print what I see forming in front of me. So I did. I did this in December 2006 too. I was the first pundit to predict that Barack Obama would be President, and I said that would be especially true if John McCain were his opponent. The story of how my prediction turned into our nation's current nightmare is documented in my new best selling book, "No He Can't: How Barack Obama is Dismantling Hope and Change." For me the field of 2012 felt odd and disjointed as Governors Huckabee and Palin were long in making their minds up. Even now we still don't know the mind of the former Alaskan governor. But polling data was clear from February 2010 to April 2011 that if President Obama had been forced to face Gov. Huckabee he would lose.

Saving the Republic from Saving Itself

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/billtatro/2011/06/26/saving_the_republic_from_saving_itself

Excerpt: The further we get away from those fateful election of 2008, the more revisionist history takes hold. Most recently, I keep hearing how the choice for the next election is between the guy who saved us from the Great Depression Part II and everyone else who wants to take us back to the policies that created those problems. I’m told by people of all political persuasions that if the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, and the President hadn’t acted, I’d probably be in a bread line right now. Fortunately, my memory is not as clouded as many others. 

Quote

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct. --Marcus T. Cicero

Reports of Troubles in China

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-06/08/content_12654594.htm

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-06/11/content_12677568.htm

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-13/china-cracks-down-in-wake-of-riots-bombings.html

Experts Say That New Radical Reforms In Russia Are Inevitable

https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/130ce0768fa16f83

Excerpt: Experts of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented a report "20 years of reforms through the eyes of the Russians". The conclusion drawn in the report is that new radical reforms in Russia are inevitable regardless of the outcome of the elections in 2011 and 2012.

Sen. Webb has “serious problems” with Obama’s handling of Libyan conflict

http://thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/168505-sen-webb-has-serious-problems-with-obamas-handling-of-libya

Excerpt: Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), a leading Democratic authority on national security policy, on Sunday said he has “serious problems” with President Obama’s decision to support NATO operations in Libya. Webb has criticized Obama’s decision to send U.S. forces to intervene in the Libyan civil war but he ratcheted up his criticism this weekend. Webb, former Secretary of the Navy and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the action set a worrisome precedent. “The reason that he used for going in defy historical precedent. We weren't under attack. We weren't under an imminent attack. We weren't honoring treaty commitments. We weren't rescuing Americans,” he said of Obama in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We need to be clear that once Gadhafi is gone, we won't have Americans in there as a peacekeeping force. We've got to stop this addiction. We've got to focus on our true strategic interests,” he added.

Gunrunner​’ Whistleblower Vince Cefalu Speaks

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/fired-gunrunner-whistleblower-vince-cefalu-speaks-pjm-exclusive/?singlepage=true

Earlier this week, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Deputy Director William J. Hoover, insisting on assurances there would be no reprisals against the ATF agents who have chosen to testify about the failed Operation Fast and Furious — the operation Issa has called “felony stupid.” Just a day later, ATF Special Agent Vince Cefalu received notice ATF wants to terminate his employment after more than 30 years with the agency. Cefalu is one of the founders of CleanUpATF.org, a message board dedicated to addressing abuses within the ATF. He is one of the most vocal critics of the heads of the organization. He said the main reason given in the four-page document for his termination is “lack of candor.” Four years ago, what originally landed Cefalu in trouble was a case called “Road Dog“. In that case, local law enforcement was allegedly using an illegal wiretap — something Cefalu resisted:

US judge blocks state's new immigration law

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Federal-judge-blocks-Indiana-s-new-immigration-law-1439486.php

Excerpt: A federal judge blocked parts of the state of Indiana's new immigration law Friday, saying the law was the latest failed effort of states to deal with a primarily federal issue. U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker granted a request for an injunction blocking two provisions of the law, which was approved this year by Republicans who control the Statehouse. Barker wrote in the ruling that Indiana's law — as well as laws enacted in several other states — is an attempt to deal with what is seen as a failure of the federal government to deal with illegal immigration. She said the two provisions of Indiana's effort to deal with immigration "have proven to be seriously flawed and generally unsuccessful."

In Gold Cup final, it's red, white and boo again: Mexico rallies for a 4-2 win over U.S. behind overwhelming support at Rose Bowl. In what other country would the visitors have home-field advantage?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0626-plaschke-gold-cup-20110626,0,7072114.column

Excerpt: It was imperfectly odd. It was strangely unsettling. It was uniquely American. On a balmy early Saturday summer evening, the U.S soccer team played for a prestigious championship in a U.S. stadium … and was smothered in boos. Its goalkeeper was bathed in a chanted obscenity. Even its national anthem was filled with the blowing of air horns and bouncing of beach balls. Most of these hostile visitors didn't live in another country. Most, in fact, were not visitors at all, many of them being U.S. residents whose lives are here but whose sporting souls remain elsewhere.

Why Do We Pretend To Understand Climate Change?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/253210/Why-do-we-pretend-to-understand-climate-change-3

Excerpt: For years the global warming lobby has acted as if there was only one thing which drives climate change: man-made carbon emissions. This is the basis of all the mathematical models that have tried to predict the climate 100 years and more into the future. The IPCC report treats Earth’s climate as if it can be controlled like a thermostat: if we cut carbon emissions by such a percentage we will limit the rise in global temperatures to 2C and so on. It ought to be obvious that this is nonsense: Earth has undergone huge changes in climate, many of which such as the onset of ice ages have occurred incredibly rapidly – and all before mankind started burning fossil fuels. We don’t understand why these ice ages occurred, nor why Earth seems to have warmed up for a few centuries during the Middle Ages so why does anyone preclude the possibility that the recent global warming has a natural cause? We should be sceptical too of the theory that the sunspot cycle drives Earth’s climate. Accurate temperature records only go back a century or so. Neither do we have a great deal of data on sunspots before 1611. While climate scientists naturally know more about the climate than the rest of us do the truth is that they too know next to nothing. (The author never quite answers his headline question. So, here are both answers: money for the academics and activists who support it and power for the politicians and regulators who support it. That’s a tough combination to overcome, but ever so slowly, we are, we are. Ron P.)

Liberals Exit Stage Left

http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/06/liberals-exit-stage-left.html

Excerpt: I am sure that liberals were delighted to read all the criticism conservatives directed at George W. Bush, but they seemed unaware that Bush43 was more frequently than not on their team. As the debate over modifying Medicare rages on, they forget that he expanded the program by adding prescription benefits to it. W never saw a spending bill he would not sign. Now, however, liberals have their man in the Oval Office and have had two and a half years to assess his performance. They are increasingly unhappy.

A special investigation into the EU-funded culture of greed, tax evasion and scandalous waste

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007949/The-Big-Fat-Greek-Gravy-Train-A-special-investigation-EU-funded-culture-greed-tax-evasion-scandalous-waste.html#ixzz1QJxkDFS2

When they go, will the pull the rest of the EU into the abyss after them, followed by us? ~Bob. Excerpt: Even on a stiflingly hot summer's day, the Athens underground is a pleasure. It is air-conditioned, with plasma screens to entertain passengers relaxing in cool, cavernous departure halls - and the trains even run on time. There is another bonus for users of this state-of-the-art rapid transport system: it is, in effect, free for the five million people of the Greek capital. With no barriers to prevent free entry or exit to this impressive tube network, the good citizens of Athens are instead asked to 'validate' their tickets at honesty machines before boarding. Few bother.

Wisconsin set to legalize concealed carry; Illinois stands alone

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/24/wisconsin-set-to-legalize-concealed-carry-illinois-stands-alone/#ixzz1QKc1jMrm

Wisconsin is about to become the 49th state in the nation to legalize concealed carry, leaving Illinois as the only state left without such a provision. The Wisconsin House and Senate both passed the bill, which will allow citizens to carry concealed handguns, with bipartisan support. The measure now goes to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for his signature. The legislation requires residents to obtain a permit, unlike states like Alaska, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Hampshire where citizens can carry open and concealed handguns without a permit. (Illinois has also abolished the death penalty, and the Democrat AG is trying to force the State Police to make public the lists of people with Firearm ID Cards, so they thugs will know where they can steal guns. Since Chicago is a sanctuary city (for illegal immigrants as well as corrupt politicians), this place should be a prime destination for members of the Mexican drug cartels. ~Bob.)

Why Palin Can Win

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/06/why_palin_can_win.html

Excerpt: One of the most talked about subjects in politics is whether or not Sarah Palin will run for the presidency. It's frankly anyone's guess which direction she will go with her decision and when she will make the decision. However, if Palin doesn't run it will be a disaster for the Republican Party and quite possibly the country. Aside from the fact that there isn't another libertarian-conservative in the race, at least not another one who isn't an international isolationist, if Palin doesn't run, it will represent an enormous victory for the Republican beltway establishment and the big players in the left-wing-dominated media. Furthermore, the leftist media will learn a fool-proof means to destroy any political opponent in a manner that will likely result in another four years of Obama. In watching the coverage of the announced candidates, the alarm bells should be clanging violently. The fact that the leftist media hasn't really gone after the other Republican politicians in the race should be a violent warning to all conservatives and libertarians out there. It's totally out of character for the leftist media to not bring up Newt Gingrich's infidelity every ten minutes, or to have squads of reporters interviewing every foster child of Michele Bachmann that can be found to try to dig up some dirt. The rigorous inspection that has been visited upon Sarah Palin hasn't even started on the remainder of the Republican field. However, that doesn't mean the media has tacked suddenly to the center; far from it.

U.S. no longer mandating 100 percent screening of cargo containers

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/us-no-longer-mandating-100-percent-screening-cargo-containers

Excerpt: DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the United States is no longer going to screen every cargo container before it enters the United States; she said, "We believe the so-called 100 percent requirement is probably not the best way to go"; in 2007 Congress mandated that all containers entering the United States must be scanned at their ports of exit by 2012; the 2007 bill empowers DHS to extend the 2012 deadline if the agency believed that the goal was not achievable and in the past Napolitano has expressed doubts about the feasibility of screening 100 percent of the cargo entering the United States. DHS fails to reach Congressional screening mandate. (This will be read with interest in Iran. ~Bob.)

Wafa Sultan - Le Problème c'est l'islam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFN8ahYN1b0

The Week That Was: 2011-06-25 (June 25, 2011)

http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2011/TWTW%202011-6-25.pdf

Excerpt: Restoring the Scientific Method is the theme of the Sixth International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-6), Sponsored by the Heartland Institute. It will take place in Washington, DC from breakfast Thursday, June 30, to noon Friday, July 1, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Why the End is Always Near, but Never Arrives

http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-end-is-always-near-but-never.html

Excerpt: Why is it that every one of these apocalyptic groups always predict something “could be”, “might be”, “is expected to”, and a whole raft of wishy-washy terms that add up to “We don’t know, but we want to scare the crap out of you just the same”? Implicit in this latest prediction is that human actions are responsible for whatever they claim is happening to the oceans. (…) Have we not lived with this tiresome nonsense since the early days of the environmental movement and, in particular, the creation of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change? A recent editorial in The Washington Times exposed the way the latest IPCC pronouncement that “the entire world will soon depend on renewable energy” was lifted from a paper whose primary authors were from Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council! (My grandfather was a volunteer fireman at the same time my father was a volunteer EMS driver. They helped at all the local fires. When I was around 11 or 12, my parents bought a "fire alarm system" for our house. If it detected either smoke or high temperature, it sounded a siren that could've woken a month-old corpse and could be heard several houses away. Fear sells. This is known to every salesman of personal protection products, services, and insurance. It's even useful and valuable. I have several kinds of insurance on things our family values; you probably do, too. The consumer's job (NOT the salesman's) in this transaction is to buy what makes sense for his budget, not what will beggar him (and enrich the salesman) before the insured-against event has time to take place. Close friends just purchased life insurance in such a large amount, it almost guarantees they'll have to hit the lottery to get ahead, and when/if one of them dies, the other can expect some very sharp questions from the local investigative authorities. The insurance against AGW is just too expensive. Therefore, we shouldn't buy it. Ron P.)

B.C. university student beaten, blinded by husband

http://www.canada.com/news/university+student+beaten+blinded+husband/4983797/story.html

Excerpt: Syeed Hasan allegedly gouged her eyes out with his fingers and chewed part of her nose off in front of their young daughter, during a bitter argument over her education.

Manzur was slated to return to UBC in August to complete a thesis on climate change.

 ... Islam said her husband, who is unemployed, attacked and blinded her to prevent her from continuing her education.

Federal ATF chief said to resist pressure to step down

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110624,0,7283758.story

Scapegoat balking? ~Bob. Excerpt: Kenneth Melson of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms faces controversy over the agency's surveillance program that allowed U.S. guns into Mexico. He is said to be eager to testify to Congress.

American Crossroads Ad: "Shovel Ready"

http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/forum/topic/show?id=2600775%3ATopic%3A4435889&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic

Texas governor hits back at TSA, lightbulb bans, nanny-state laws

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/24/perry-takes-on-the-feds/print/

Excerpt: Rick Perry is having a good month. With all eyes on his possible bid for the Republican presidential nomination, the Texas governor is showing that his anti-Washington rhetoric is more than just talk. By vetoing feel-good, nanny-state regulations and thwarting of federal intervention in his state, he's demonstrating the kind of leadership America needs.

The Facts About Fracking

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576398462932810874.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: The U.S. is in the midst of an energy revolution, and we don't mean solar panels or wind turbines. A new gusher of natural gas from shale has the potential to transform U.S. energy production—that is, unless politicians, greens and the industry mess it up.

Only a decade ago Texas oil engineers hit upon the idea of combining two established technologies to release natural gas trapped in shale formations. Horizontal drilling—in which wells turn sideways after a certain depth—opens up big new production areas. Producers then use a 60-year-old technique called hydraulic fracturing—in which water, sand and chemicals are injected into the well at high pressure—to loosen the shale and release gas (and increasingly, oil).

Calif. Economy 47th Worst of States

http://capoliticalnews.com/blog_post/show/8952

Excerpt: California’s stagnating economy suffered more bad news by ranking 47th of the 50 states for economic outlook. The ranking comes from the new, fourth edition of “Rich States, Poor States: The ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index.” It combines 15 economic rankings, such as top marginal personal income tax rate and average workers’ compensation costs. I received an advanced copy of the rankings, and will discuss them here. It will be released tomorrow, June 22, by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonpartisan group of state legislators. I’ll put up a link to it then. In addition to ranking 47th in economic outlook, California ranked an almost-as-dismal 46th in economic performance for the previous decade, 2000-2009. It really was a “lost decade” for the state’s economy under the fumbling governorships of the recalled Gray Davis and his satyric replacement, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The only states ranking worse on the economic outlook were New York, rock-bottom 50th, followed by Vermont and Maine. Along with California, all are high-tax, high-regulation, jobs-killing states. The three other states have bad weather.

Man Police Shot During Traffic Stop Was Armed With Armor-Piercing Bullets

http://www.kirotv.com/news/28242367/detail.html

Excerpt: A man who was fatally shot by Tacoma police during a traffic stop early Wednesday morning pointed a gun loaded with armor-piercing bullets at the officer who stopped him and was carrying a large amount of ammunition in his truck, the Tacoma Police Department said. Wednesday afternoon, the Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Brooks Papineau of Gig Harbor. He died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. "The driver exited his vehicle armed with a gun, and the officer opened fire, striking the subject," said Mark Fulghum of the Tacoma Police Department. When police searched Papineau's truck, they found a large amount of ammunition and additional ammunition magazines. They also said they found a Koran and several books on converting to Islam. (But no "Islam is a Religion of Peace" memo? ~Bob.)

New Jersey Quits RGGI, Bans Coal Plants

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/05/27/new-jersey-pulls-out-of-rggi-bans-coal-plants/

Excerpt: New Jersey governor Chris Christie has pulled the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the only mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S., while promising to ban new coal-fired plants in the state. Branding the RGGI a failure, Christie told a press conference yesterday that the state will withdraw from the program “in an orderly fashion” by the end of the year, coinciding with the end of RGGI’s first compliance period.

The Supremes recommend the supreme skeptic

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/24/the-supremes-recommend-the-supreme-skeptic/#more-42189

Excerpt: The justices of the United States Supreme Court this week became the world’s most august global warming sceptics. Not by virtue of their legal reasoning – the global warming case they decided turned on a technical legal issue — but in their surprising commentary. Global warming is by no means a settled issue, they made clear, suggesting it would be foolhardy to assume it was. “The court, we caution, endorses no particular view of the complicated issues related to carbon-dioxide emissions and climate change,” reads the 8-0 decision, delivered by the court’s acclaimed liberal, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (The article contains a link to a PDF of the Court’s ruling, but it will be of interest primarily to lawyers. I’m not sure I’d have figured out what they were saying, had I not read the WUWT article first. Nobel Laureate (Physics) Freeman Dyson, mentioned in the article, was Robert Heinlein’s “favorite genius” back in the 60s. WUWT provides links to some of Dyson's work. We at TOJ have carried some of his thoughts on global warming/climate change/climate chaos in the past, as we have done with other prominent skeptics. Ron P.)

Vindication? John Bolton Returns to Capitol Hill to Discuss Syrian WMDs

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/vindication-john-bolton-returns-capitol

Excerpt: Six years after his nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ran into strong opposition in Senate, partly over claims that he had exaggerated assessments of Syria’s attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, John Bolton was back on Capitol Hill Thursday, testifying on Syria’s WMD efforts.

Kurdish Politician Banned for Terrorist Ties in Turkey

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3006/kurdish-politician-banned-for-terrorist-ties-in

Excerpt: The Turkish High Election Board (YSK) has banned Kurdish parliamentary-elect Hatip Dicle from entering office on account of his past terrorist activities, according to AFP. Under Turkish law, individuals who have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes are barred from becoming members of parliament. The YSK ruling was based on a speech that Dicle gave in support of a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). For the speech—deemed by authorities to be "propaganda for an armed terrorist organization"—Dicle was sentenced to prison. The PKK has been in conflict with Turkish security forces for some time and is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States. Around 45,000 people have been killed as a result of PKK terrorist activities in the last two decades.

Grand Central Station for Human Smuggling

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/06/24/grand-central-station-for-human-smugglin/

Excerpt: For the residents of Arizona’s Vekol Valley—80 miles north of the border with Mexico—Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano’s claim that security at the border “is better now than it ever has been” must seem like a joke. The area is a veritable highway for illegal immigrants traveling to the United States, and it’s marked by evidence of their passage. If the bullet-ridden signs warning, “Danger: ‘Active drug and human smuggling area. Visitors may encounter armed criminals’” aren’t enough of a dead giveaway, the evidence strewn across the valley ought to be proof enough.

House Deals Obama Symbolic Blow With Libya Votes

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/house-takes-up-a-rebuke-to-obamas-libya-policy/?hp

Excerpt: The House of Representatives dealt a symbolic blow to President Obama on Friday by resoundingly failing to approve a bill authorizing the contentious military operations in Libya. But the House stopped short of a total desertion of a war-time president by also rejecting a measure to limit financing to support the military operations there. The resolution to support the mission, which was based on a Senate measure introduced Tuesday by Senators John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona, failed 295 to 123, with 70 Democrats joining Republicans on an issue that has divided Democrats and became a major Constitutional flash point between Congress and The White House.

Liberals Are Smarter Than Conservatives, Just Ask Them

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/jun/24/liberals-are-smarter-conservatives-just-ask-them/

Excerpt: If you are a conservative, Jon Stewart wants you to know you are a moron. Last weekend on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked the comedian-cum-political commentator who the most consistently misinformed media viewers are. "The most consistently misinformed?” Mr. Stewart said, “Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll." This is a prevalent opinion on the left; they tend to think that those who don’t agree with them must not be bright enough to understand the complexities of the world, or willfully believe in things that are demonstrably untrue. But when the fact-checking website PolitiFact scored Mr. Stewart’s comments it turned out that he was the one who was misinformed. Their review “found three Pew studies that ranked Fox viewers low on the well-informed list, but other general-interest media outlets -- such as network news shows, network morning shows and even the other cable news networks -- often scored similarly low.

Army worries about ‘toxic leaders’ in ranks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/army-worries-about-toxic-leaders-in-ranks/2011/06/25/AGThw4kH_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Not just in the military, alas. ~Bob. Excerpt: A major U.S. Army survey of leadership and morale found that more than 80 percent of Army officers and sergeants had directly observed a “toxic” leader in the last year and that about 20 percent of the respondents said that they had worked directly for one.