The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
Info about my book. All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans. Please forward and post where possible.
Coming Collapse Response
Bob: Just thought you might like to know. I went on the amazon.com Web site and ordered "The Coming Collapse, etc." for myself. While I was at it, I also ordered four more and had them sent to four like-minded friends, too. BTW, I sent your book's info to another friend who lives in a small town just outside of SLC in Utah. She e-mailed me saying that she liked it so much that she bought six more copies and then hand delivered them to libraries in SLC and her own small town, too. –Paul (Several people have either called their local libraries and asked them to order the book, or have delivered one to the library. Since I have no marketing funds and the royalties go to charity, I appreciate all that everyone is doing to spread the word. It’s uphill, but we are getting a little traction. ~Bob)
Rep. Joe Wilson (Of “You Lie!” fame) endorses Tim Pawlenty
These times call for strong principled, conservative leadership. That’s why today, I’m honored to announce that I’m endorsing Tim Pawlenty for President. As Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty built a conservative record in a state that is politically tough for Republicans. His bold vision for America’s future and strong leadership are what we need to defeat Barack Obama and get our nation’s economy back on track. Governor Pawlenty is the best man to get our nation back on the right track. I’m honored to serve as the South Carolina Co-Chair for Governor Pawlenty’s Presidential Campaign. Pawlenty has an aggressive economic plan that will tackle the national debt, cut big-government red tape, and create jobs. Governor Pawlenty shares my conservative belief that we need to get the government out of the way and put people back to work. (Came in an e-mail, so no link. Strong conservative endorsement pick up for Pawlenty. ~Bob.)
When China becomes number one
Why I cite the rise of China as one of the four factors in my book, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic. ~Bob. Excerpt: How will it feel when China becomes the world’s largest economy? We may find out quite soon. A few weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund issued a report that suggested China would be number one within five years. The projection that the Chinese economy will be larger than that of the US by 2016 included adjustments for the domestic purchasing power of the two countries’ currencies. Some regard this interpretation of IMF data as a dubious move that artificially boosts the size of the Chinese economy. But even using real exchange rates does not defer the day when America is knocked off its perch by very much. A projection by The Economist, made just before Christmas, foresaw China becoming number one in 2019. The ascent of China will change ideas of what it means to be a superpower. Over the course of the American century, the world has got used to the idea that the world’s largest economy was also the world’s most obviously affluent nation. The world’s biggest economy housed the world’s richest people.
China ratings house says US defaulting: report
Have I mentioned the possibility of a collapse? If I borrow six bottles of whisky from you, and pay you back with six bottled that are watered-down, have I paid my debt? ~Bob. Excerpt: A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order. "In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying. Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said.
Book: Exposing Global-Warming Alarmism's Grasp
Excerpt: Reasonable minds differ on the science of global warming. Even if they didn't — even if the science were settled — anyone familiar with the federal government's track record on large-scale regulation ought to harbor serious doubts about Washington's anti-climate-change efforts. And while climate hysteria dominates the environmental argument within the spheres of politics and science, few realize just how far its influence extends. In Climate Coup: Global Warming's Invasion of Our Government and Our Lives, Patrick J. Michaels edits a collection of essays offering shocking insights into the impact of globalwarming alarmism on the law, the scientific peer-review process, global security, trade, international economic development, and public education. Michaels, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Climate of Extremes: Global Warming Science They Don't Want You to Know, introduces the book's eight chapters, in which academics and policy experts sketch the landscape of global-warming alarmism's reach. Roger Pilon and Evan Turgeon show how, while James Madison, the father of the Constitution, thought that "the powers of the new government would be ‘few and defined,'" the modern executive branch, "in the name of addressing global warming, is able to regulate virtually every human activity in this nation." (I have not read this yet. Will add to my list, though the pile of unread books is very high already. ~Bob.)
Semper No: Pennsylvania Marine Barred From Wearing Uniform at High School Graduation
Excerpt: "Once a Marine, always a Marine" apparently doesn't apply at a Pennsylvania high school where a 17-year-old graduate has been told she cannot wear her uniform when she receives her diploma. Lindsay Starr told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh she wanted to wear her dress blues during Friday's graduation ceremony at North Allegheny High School in Pittsburgh, but that school officials denied her request, citing the requirement of wearing only the traditional cap and gown. "I’m just trying to show pride in what I belong to now," she told the station. "I belong to the United States Marine Corps as a 17-year-old. Like, c’mon, now." Starr, of Wexford, Pa., could not be reached for comment on Thursday. She graduated from the school early and joined the Marines, having recently finished three months in boot camp, KDKA reports. School officials, however, have said the policy is clear: Graduates must wear a cap and gown bearing the school colors. Similar requests have been received in the past and they have also been rejected. (Here’s the plan. She puts the gown on over her blues, gets the diploma, and whips the gown off. Pops her cover on, salutes the colors, and marches off stage to cheers. ~Bob.)
Romney: Sure, I believe in man-made global warming
Excerpt: Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change. “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that,” he told a crowd of about 200 at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire. “It’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors.”…
Texas’s Rick Perry weighing a 2012 candidacy
Excerpt: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has disavowed for months any interest in running for president in 2012, is now actively considering whether to enter the race, according to people familiar with his thinking. Perry has made no overt moves toward a candidacy, as he deals with legislative business in a special session of the Texas legislature. But his posture has shifted because of dissatisfaction expressed by many Republicans with their current choices for the GOP nomination and because of encouragement he is receiving from around the country. One friend said Perry is “warming to the idea” of running and is now going through the process of deciding what it would take to launch a candidacy and whether he has the desire to endure a grueling campaign.
Iran Admits To Be Creating Nuclear Weapon! Where Is Main Stream Media?
Excerpt: Any mention of an Iranian nuclear weapon is taboo in the Islamic Republic, which insists that its nuclear programme is entirely for peaceful, civil purposes. So it is remarkable, to say the least, that an article has appeared on the Gerdab website, run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, anticipating the day after Iran's first test of a nuclear warhead. Here is a translation of the text:
Hatch accuses Obama of undermining Israel, offers resolution on borders
Excerpt: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) on Thursday accused President Obama of undermining Israel by calling for a peace deal to be based on the country's 1967 borders. Hatch also introduced a resolution designed to reaffirm U.S. support for Israel's borders to be based on the territory it gained in the 1967 war against several Arab states. "It is contrary to United States policy and our national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967," the resolution states.
NYU's Superficial Entrapment Study
Excerpt: A new report from New York University's law school exaggerates the government's role in "manufacturing" evidence to support the claim of a rise in homegrown terrorism while also relying on a series of flawed and biased reports from groups hostile to law enforcement's counterterrorism efforts, an analysis by the Investigative Project on Terrorism shows. The report, "Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the 'Homegrown Threat' in the United States," was released May 18 by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, a division of the NYU School of Law. It contends that federal and local law enforcement agencies are unfairly targeting Muslims without any evidence they are involved in unlawful behavior. In some cases, the report contends, the government has used paid informants who unfairly trapped defendants into participating in terror plots. In their effort to discredit federal cases against those suspected and/or convicted of terrorism-related plots, the report's authors have relied extensively on a series of studies written by their political allies, legal arguments by sympathetic but usually unsuccessful defense attorneys, and family members of convicted terrorists.
Police union pushes back on City leaders for underfunding http://lapd.com/news/pr/police_union_pushes_back_on_city_leaders_for_underfunding_lapd/
As the budget crisis in the disaster cities and states grows, law enforcement will be cut back, giving the narco-gangs freer reign. ~Bob. Excerpt: The Los Angeles Police Protective League today pushed back on City leaders for creating a public safety crisis by irresponsibly finalizing a city budget that left the LAPD with a $41 million budget gap. “With just 20 days to go before the new city budget takes effect, the LAPD is threatening to take measures to plug the gap that put the public at risk and show a total disregard for long-established collective bargaining principles,” said LAPPL President Paul M. Weber. “We are not going to sit by and allow our membership to be scapegoats for the failure of City leaders to adequately fund public safety in the budget process. The League has consistently shown its willingness to bargain in good faith. By passing the buck from the City Council to the Mayor to the Chief of Police, City leaders have shown a lack of commitment to public safety and needlessly created this situation.”
Justice Officials in 'Panic Mode' as Hearing Nears on Failed Anti-Gun Trafficking Program
Excerpt: Officials at the Department of Justice are in "panic mode," according to multiple sources, as word spreads that congressional testimony next week will paint a bleak and humiliating picture of Operation Fast and Furious, the botched undercover operation that left a trail of blood from Mexico to Washington, D.C. The operation was supposed to stem the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexico by allowing so-called straw buyers to purchase guns legally in the U.S. and later sell them in Mexico, usually to drug cartels. Instead, ATF documents show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms knowingly and deliberately flooded Mexico with assault rifles. Their intent was to expose the entire smuggling organization, from top to bottom, but the operation spun out of control and supervisors refused pleas from field agents to stop it. Only after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry died did ATF Agent John Dodson blow the whistle and expose the scandal. "What people don't understand is how long we will be dealing with this," Dodson told Fox News back in March. "Those guns are gone. You can't just give the order and get them back. There is no telling how many crimes will be committed before we retrieve them." But now the casualties are coming in.
The Public Dollars Fueling the NFL Dispute
Excerpt: The current National Football League labor dispute is sometimes characterized as a battle between billionaire team owners and millionaire players. What's often left out, however, is the role that the American taxpayer is playing in this dispute. Through rich stadium subsidies and cartel powers granted to professional football by our representatives in Congress, we have helped to bankroll the gains in revenues that are now at issue in this clash. In particular, as Vanderbilt University economist John Vrooman argues in a chapter from a forthcoming book about the NFL (Economics of the National Football League, edited by Kevin Quinn), increases in local revenues spurred by government-subsidized stadiums lie at the heart of the dispute. The lousy return that these expensive venues provide to taxpayers will get even worse if there's no football this fall.
Qualified Residential Mortgage Regulations Threaten the Housing Market
Excerpt: The housing market is still weak, and federal regulators are considering a regulation that could make matters even worse. Known as the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule, the draft rule could have the effect of requiring many home buyers to have at least a 20 percent down payment in order to qualify for a best interest rate mortgage. In addition to making it harder for qualified consumers to obtain loans, the proposed regulation would preserve the roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored finance agencies whose collapse has already cost taxpayers in excess of $150 billion. It would also further concentrate mortgage lending in the largest financial institutions.
The Gas Is Greener
Excerpt: IN April, Gov. Jerry Brown made headlines by signing into law an ambitious mandate that requires California to obtain one-third of its electricity from renewable energy sources like sunlight and wind by 2020. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have renewable electricity mandates. President Obama and several members of Congress have supported one at the federal level. Polls routinely show strong support among voters for renewable energy projects — as long as they don’t cost too much. But there’s the rub: while energy sources like sunlight and wind are free and naturally replenished, converting them into large quantities of electricity requires vast amounts of natural resources — most notably, land. Even a cursory look at these costs exposes the deep contradictions in the renewable energy movement.
The Real Cost of the Auto Bailouts: The government's unnecessary disruption of the bankruptcy laws will do long-term damage to the economy.
Excerpt: President Obama's visit to a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, on Friday was the culmination of a campaign to portray the auto bailouts as a brilliant success with no unpleasant side effects. "The industry is back on its feet," the president said, "repaying its debt, gaining ground." If the government hadn't stepped in and dictated the terms of the restructuring, the story goes, General Motors and Chrysler would have collapsed, and at least a million jobs would have been lost. The bailouts averted disaster, and they did so at remarkably little cost. The problem with this happy story is that neither of its parts is accurate. Commandeering the bankruptcy process was not, as apologists for the bailouts claim, the only hope for GM and Chrysler. And the long-term costs of the bailouts will be enormous.
Cash-strapped states look to roll back tax credits
Excerpt: Michigan last week eliminated several tax credits, including those for small donations made to universities, food banks, museums and public television. The state also capped at $25 million a year the tax incentives it gives the film industry, which has been lured to the state since 2008 by some of the more generous incentives in the nation. The changes were part of a tax overhaul that Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says will spur job growth. The Oklahoma Legislature has set up a special committee to review tax incentives there.
The Iranian Threat That Can't Be Ignored
Excerpt: The leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once said that Israel must be "wiped off the map." And now Iran stands poised to have its finger on the trigger of a nuclear weapon, yet the Obama Administration continues to remain virtually silent on the nascent threat, all while the clouds amassing over the Iranian Peninsula are growing too dark to ignore. Yesterday, following news that Iran plans to triple its output of higher-grade uranium, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement calling for Iran to provide more information about its nuclear intentions and that the country's nuclear drive is causing "deep concern" to a number of world powers. Meanwhile, the United States issued sanctions on Iran's police chief and three government entities it says are involved in the brutal repression of Iranian citizens. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Chicago Businessman Found Guilty on Two Counts in Terrorism Trial
Excerpt: A federal jury Thursday found a Pakistan-born Chicago businessman guilty on charges of participating in a conspiracy to attack a Danish newspaper and providing material support to the Pakistan-based terror group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). Tahawwur Rana was acquitted on the charge of conspiring to provide material support to the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist strike that killed over 160 people, including six Americans. The verdict came after two days of jury deliberations following a trial that began May 16. Prosecutors alleged Rana's immigration company provided cover to American Lashkar operative David Headley to scout targets for the Mumbai attacks. David Headley pleaded guilty last year to his role in plotting the attacks and was the prosecution's star witness in the trial.
Simply Madness
Excerpt: "Live simply so that others may simply live," Gandhi famously proclaimed. Some vegetarians see their diet as the truest expression of Gandhi's advice. But these days, the slogan has been embraced most passionately by those who wish to say goodbye to economic growth. That's not an exaggeration. The so-called "steady-state economy" movement holds that "We will have to get beyond growth as a society in order to realize a sustainable future." (…) Global population has doubled and the amount of food available for humanity has grown as well. But, yes, people have died of hunger since 1968. Why? It wasn't because markets failed or resources ran out. It was because government planners failed. That's why countries like India and China have introduced markets -- because their central planning was killing their own people. (…) When people start talking about capping or halting or managing economic growth, what they really mean is capping, halting and managing freedom. Hence Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and avowed envier of China's authoritarian regime, declares that "The Earth is Full" and we must therefore embrace a version of the steady-state economy.
Obama's Nuclear Politics
The Obama administration has shown a certain ruthless streak when it comes to getting what it wants. For its latest in brass-knuckle tactics, consider the ongoing fight over the proposed Yucca nuclear waste facility. This tale begins in 2008, when candidate Obama was determined to win Nevada, a crucial electoral state. Catering to locals, Mr. Obama promised to kill plans—approved by Congress—to make the state's Yucca Mountain the repository for spent nuclear fuel. He was backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevadan who has made Yucca's demise an overriding priority. Shortly after inauguration, Messrs. Obama and Reid teamed up to elevate Gregory Jaczko to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the nation's independent regulator. Mr. Jaczko was anything but a neutral designee, having served for years on the staffs of both Mr. Reid and Massachusetts' antinuke Rep. Edward Markey. As a Reid adviser, Mr. Jaczko headed up opposition to Yucca. The clear intent in making him chairman was to ensure Yucca's demise.
NRC Head Withheld Information Related To Radioactive Dump: Report
Excerpt: The license for the Yucca Mountain, which has been in development for nearly 30 years and cost more than $15 billion so far, has been in limbo since last June, when a licensing board independent of Jaczko and the rest of the commission rejected the Obama administration's request to withdraw the project application. Jaczko has yet to schedule a final vote from the five-member commission on the matter. (...) Jaczko knew his decision to shut down the technical review of Yucca Mountain, which would be used by the board to evaluate the license, "would be controversial and viewed as a policy decision for full commission consideration," the report says. "Therefore ... he strategically provided three of the four commissioners with varying amounts of information about his intention." (Jaczko has a typical Liberal attitude: why should he bother the “little people” with cumbersome facts when he knew he was correct? Ron P.)
The Problem Was the Wife
Our presidential nominating and election system has many flaws. But it does weed out those without a 100% commitment. ~Bob. Excerpt: The euphemism offered by departing staffers was they disagreed with Gingrich’s “strategy” for the campaign. Indeed, they did disagree. But it was a strategy – a part-time campaign, in effect – that Gingrich’s wife favored. Several aides, including campaign manager Rob Johnson, met with Gingrich on Thursday morning and told him of the senior staff’s unanimous decision to quit. Gingrich later put out a statement saying he was staying in the race. The last straw for the campaign staff was Gingrich’s decision to go on a two-week cruise in the Mediterranean, from which he returned on Tuesday. His advisers urged him not to go and take so much time from a campaign that was already in trouble. But his wife wanted him to go and she won the argument. As a result, the morale of the Gingrich staff fell sharply. And fundraising declined as well with Gingrich absent from the day-to-day media coverage of the campaign.
Hillary Clinton, World Bank President?
Excerpt: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources familiar with the discussions said on Thursday. The former first lady and onetime political rival to President Barack Obama quickly became one of the most influential members of his cabinet after she began her tenure at State in early 2009. She has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years. (Since she is probably the only Democrat who might be able to deny Obama the nomination for a second term (and very difficult—likely more difficult than Obama, himself—for us to beat in the general election), this may seem a bargain to the President and his supporters. If it isn’t true, they want it to be. Ron P. the Hill camp are denying it strongly. I think she knows that when a president gets a strong inter-party challenge, that party almost always loses the White House. So I always thought her challenging BO in 2012 was wishful thinking. ~Bob.)
Taxpayers On the Hook for Retiree Costs for Federal Contractors
Taxpayers are on the hook for everything—it’s become a meat hook. ~Bob. Excerpt: A surprising new government report shows that taxpayers have been footing the bill for retiree benefits not just for federal workers, but for independent freelance contractors who do work for the government as well. And no one is watching the store to see if your tax dollars are being wasted. Taxpayers for years have been covering private contractors' retiree costs for things like pensions and health care, even though these workers are not on the federal payroll. Taxpayers also cover these retiree costs for contractors' spouses, too, and in some cases if contractors want to retire early (at age 50), just like regular federal workers, many can then get taxpayer-funded coverage, says an official at the Government Accountability office.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz has rocky DNC start
Excerpt: Democrats knew they were getting an outspoken partisan when Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz took over the reins of the Democratic National Committee a month ago. But they might not have known just how outspoken. In the four weeks since she succeeded Tim Kaine, Wasserman Schultz has been called out by four nonpartisan fact-checkers for mischaracterizing the GOP’s Medicare plan. She’s accused Republicans of wanting to reinstate segregation and of waging a “war on women.” She has asserted, somewhat nonsensically, that the GOP wants to make illegal immigration — by definition against the law — “a crime.” She’s also been mocked for driving a foreign car after pounding Republicans for not supporting the American auto industry. (Just a typical liberal—she thinks using the facts against her is deeply unfair, because facts and results don’t matter, only good intentions. ~Bob.)
AT&T gave cash to merger backers
I’m shocked! Shocked, I say! ~Bob. Excerpt: AT&T is lining up support for its acquisition of T-Mobile from a slew of liberal groups with no obvious interest in telecom deals — except that they’ve received big piles of AT&T’s cash. In recent weeks, the NAACP, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Education Association have each issued public statements in support of the deal. The groups all say their public positions have nothing to do with the money they received from AT&T. And AT&T says it supports nonprofit groups because it’s the right thing to do — and not because of any quid pro quo. “For decades, AT&T has proudly supported numerous diverse groups and organizations,” a company spokesperson told POLITICO. But not everyone’s buying it.
She gets it right, You betcha
Excerpt: Sarah Palin is the hottest act in town, and the critics can only grind their teeth. She’s playing the media like a violin, though the likes of Chris Matthews and Maureen Dowd look more like bass fiddles. Her “secret” bus tour of America is a secret so closely held that she travels in a Greyhound-sized monster decorated with her name and an American flag the size of a barn. The lady who was mocked by the wisenheimers for saying she could see Russia from her backyard in Alaska now sees revenge through the windshield of her bus. The media’s Gaffe Patrol, ever on the scout for mistakes, errors, blunders, slips of the tongue and other erratum the patrollers think they see in our pols, pounced on the lady the other day in Boston for “mangling” the story of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. She had recounted the story that Paul Revere warned the British when every man riding in the press caravan was sure it wasn’t the British he warned, but patriots. (The leftist “intellectuals” laughed at her for telling a Tea Party group to “party like it’s 1773,” because they knew the Revolution started in 1775. They hadn’t read enough history to know the Boston Tea Party took place in 1773. Thanks to these patriots, we have, oh, 57 or 58 free states now, according to Obama. ~Bob.)
So far the Obama record is found in three areas: 1) Economic. We were promised a post-September 2008 recovery. We got an economic plan of massive federal borrowing and spending (“stimulus”), massive new federal hiring, a federalized absorption of health care, and radically new regulation and intrusion into the private sector (from the GM bailout to attempting to stop Boeing from opening an additional factory in a right-to-work state). The result is largely hundreds of exemptions from Obamacare granted to corporations, businesses, and unions, 9+ percent unemployment, record numbers on food stamps and unemployment insurance, sky-high gasoline prices, record annual budget deficits, $5 trillion added in aggregate debt, low economic growth, a dismal housing market, and soaring food prices.
Bush Did It! Bush Didn’t Do It!: President Obama remains haunted by the specter of President Bush.
Excerpt: During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama ran more against lame-duck President Bush than against his Republican opponent, John McCain. The campaign is now long over, and yet President Obama still seems haunted by the ghost of his predecessor. Last week, for example, he was railing at the Bush phantom, whom he blamed for his received economic mess. In the world of Barack Obama everything he inherited was someone else’s fault — unless he believes past policies offer him some advantage and thus are to be claimed as entirely his own. The stock market is sliding. Gas and food prices are soaring. The housing market is as bad as it has been for the last three years. Unemployment is back over 9 percent. Economic growth is anemic. The national debt has risen $5 trillion in just three years. This year’s $1.6 trillion budget deficit is not stimulating anything but uncertainty and despair. Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable at present rates of payouts. Record numbers of Americans draw food stamps and unemployment insurance. An unpopular Obamacare has not even been implemented yet, and the administration has already granted 1,400 exemptions from it.
Best Shot with a 1911. Ever.
Hard to believe, but a great WWII flying story. ~Bob.
Hope 'n' Change: HHS Waiver Authority Questioned
From The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/
The controversy over ObamaCare waivers became more complex this week when it was revealed that the law doesn't grant the Department of Health and Human Services authority to issue them in the first place. HHS has issued 1,372 waivers to date, granting certain companies and non-profits an exemption from meeting ObamaCare's employee insurance requirements for up to one full year. Companies have the option of renewing those waivers every year until 2014, when full compliance is expected nationwide. The waivers have drawn a considerable amount of negative attention because there is no publicly documented process for how recipients are determined. Not surprisingly, political favoritism plays a large part. Recall that a whopping 20 percent of the ObamaCare waivers granted in April went to businesses and organizations in Nancy Pelosi's district. Coincidence, or cronyism? Testimony before the House Oversight subcommittee on health care revealed that in 21 separate sections of the ObamaCare law, Congress grants explicit authority to HHS to perform certain functions, but the waiver provision clearly is not among them. Members of Congress have called upon HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to make public the process for granting waivers. She has not yet responded to the request. It may not matter, though, since a recent poll by McKinsey Quarterly reports that 30 percent of U.S. employers plan to drop their health insurance plans once ObamaCare is fully implemented. That comes as little surprise, but the White House was quick to counter the report with other polls that seemingly backed up Obama's claim that people would be able to keep their current coverage. The White House hasn't been accurate or even truthful about ObamaCare so far. We doubt they're not starting now.
New Revelations of Saddam’s Terror Ties
Means nothing. The media, eager to discredit Bush at all costs, has fixed this in the public’s mind as not being true. Facts now won’t change that. ~Bob. Excerpt: Newly-released files about detainees held in Guantanamo Bay identify two individuals who served as liaisons between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. A leaked file says that Jawad Jabber Sadkhan, an Iraqi intelligence officer who moved to Afghanistan in 1998, “admittedly forged official documents and reportedly provided liaison between the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq.” The government of Afghanistan at that time was the Taliban, which employed him as a vicious interrogator for its intelligence service. His driver said he was also close to Osama Bin Laden, who paid him before and after the 9/11 attacks. Another detainee revealed that Sadkhan would travel to Iraq through Iran to retrieve supplies for the Taliban. Sadkhan was not universally popular, as his superior, Abdul-Hadi al-Iraqi, warned Saif al-Adel in November 1998 that he was part of a group of Iraqis “involved in un-Islamic activities.” This accusation did not end the relationship. According to another detainee named Abbas Habid Rumi al-Naely, Sadkhan was a member of one of Saddam Hussein’s top units tasked with assassinating political opponents. The U.S. government also identified al-Naely as a liaison between Saddam Hussein’s regime and Al-Qaeda. He joined the Taliban in 1994 while living in Baghdad. One U.S. government memo shows he was accused of preparing attacks on the U.S. and British embassies in Pakistan in August 1998 with an Iraqi intelligence officer on the orders of Osama Bin Laden. Later memos did not include the charge. The disclosures show that the Iraqi regime and Al-Qaeda were willing to maintain a relationship despite their political and theological differences.
The Dark World of the Arab Child Slave Trade
Now, now, you have to accept child slavery in Muslim countries or you’ll be accused of being Islamophobic. ~Bob. Excerpt: While tens of thousands of adults are also victims of Arab slavers, many people only first took notice of the Arab slave trade in children when reports of enslaved child camel jockeys emerged from Persian Gulf countries. A 2004 HBO documentary on the subject was especially responsible for making Americans aware of this modern-day barbarism. These boys, who were sold by poor parents hoping their offspring would some day experience a better life, were primarily from South Asia. But instead of a life of dignity and meaningful work, they wound up in the Middle East where they were made to race camels for their Arab masters. Beaten and often sexually abused, they were all kept undernourished, so that the camels would have less weight to carry. “As many as 6,000 child camel jockeys…languished in hidden slavery on ozbah farms, where their masters beat them and starved them to keep their weight down,” wrote E. Benjamin Skinner in his book, A Crime So Monstrous.
Nepali women victims of prostitution and slavery in Arab countries http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Nepali-women-victims-of-prostitution-and-slavery-in-Arab-countries-21789.html
Excerpt: Hundreds of Nepalese women who emigrate to Arab countries in search of better jobs and wages, are unaccounted for. According to husbands and relatives they become victims of prostitution and slavery. The migrants who manage to return, show signs of physical exhaustion, injuries, psychological damage and are often infected with AIDS. To resolve this tragic situation, the Government of Nepal wants to block migration to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan where most cases are registered. In 2010, 242 women emigrated for work and were never heard of again.
When the Race Card Runs Out
Excerpt: Last week, Congressman Clyburn reached into his deck, discarded the queens, aces and jokers, and played the ‘Race Card’. “The fact of the matter is, the president’s problems are in large measure because of the color of his skin,” quoth Clyburn. Not the economy, an unwanted war or a politician who acts like a social butterfly while his constituents shovel spam from jars and dine on government cheese. It’s the color of his skin. But does anyone seriously think that if Obama had brained himself with a golf club early in his term, that Biden wouldn’t be equally besieged by angry voters and the political opposition? And unless Biden successfully pulled a Clinton, and claimed to be America’s third black president, he would have had to do it all without the benefit of a race card. We have discovered that just about anything you can say about Obama, besides ‘Messiah’ is some sort of racist code word. Two years it was revealed that calling him a socialist is racist. This week we learned that calling him European is also a slur. Calling him a ‘European Socialist’ might just qualify as a hate crime.
Why I’m a Global Warming Skeptic
Excerpt: My trust in the conclusions of the alarmists is even further diminished by the unscientific methods the alarmists are using in their efforts. Not only are we now privy to leaked documents emailed back-and-forth between those at the head of the “climate change” research detailing the destruction of their work and their underhanded methods of preventing Freedom of Information laws to allow others to double-check their supposed findings, but the campaign to slander other scientists – those whose work sheds doubt on the alarmists’ claims – reeks of the kind of cowardice shown by those who know they are lying. Slander is not a scientific practice. Dubbing anyone who challenges their hysterical campaign as being like Holocaust deniers is an ad hominem attack with no scientific merit. In fact, it is anti-scientific, a means to discredit the man rather than the answering the opposing science.
The Lone Star Jobs Surge
Is this because Texas is doing so well, or the “recovery” isn’t a recovery? ~Bob. Excerpt: The Texas model added 37% of all net U.S. jobs since the recovery began.
Former Cal State East Bay professor pleads guilty to child sex abuse
This will make you throw up. ~Bob. Excerpt: When he returned to the country, customs agents found thousands of images of child pornography on a laptop Kyle was carrying, according to Haag's office. Authorities say Kyle and 21-year-old Tessa Van Vlerah of Ballwin, Mo. took photos while sexually abusing a 13-month-old girl during Kyle's visits to the St. Louis area. (Other reports say she was the baby’s mother. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Ed Morrissey and Fausta are both not getting why the President is taking the side of Argentina (thus sharing a podium with that noted beacon of freedom, tolerance, and capitalism known as Venezuela) in its perennial attempts to get the United Kingdom to give up the Falkland Islands. It’s not just that we’re signed on to the OAS declaration demanding that the British negotiate on the question of giving up territory that doesn’t want to be given up; we’re even endorsing Argentina’s blustering insistence on calling the islands by the prior name. All in all, this is a fairly significant change: the question is, why? The answer is in two parts, both of them easy to grasp: first, President Obama doesn’t particularly like the British. It’s largely a racial thing, alas: the President’s grandfather had personal issues with the British colonial government, and the President has never really forgiven them for it*. Second, and probably more importantly (for Obama, at least**): Argentina will probably offer the President a better deal for the Falklands’ resources. And before you say “What, sheep?” …nope. Oil. It’s confirmed now that there’s oil there. See? Easy to understand: President Obama hates one side, and the other side will be happy to kiss up to the President in exchange for the opportunity to get a hold of several billion dollars’ worth of oil revenue.
IDF identifies thousands of Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
Excerpt: Today the bank has thousands more sites throughout Lebanon that would constitute legitimate targets in the event of a future war with Hezbollah, the officer told the Post. Earlier this year, the IDF released a map showing 950 locations scattered across the country – a majority of them bunkers and surveillance sites. According to the officer, Hezbollah is also believed to have passed the 50,000 mark in the number of rockets and missiles it has obtained. Most of these weapons are stored in some 100 villages around southern Lebanon.
14 Nigerian Islamists arrested after deadly bomb attacks
Didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Police in northern Nigeria said on Thursday they have arrested 14 suspected Islamists thought to be linked to bomb attacks on a church and police stations that killed 14 people this week.
Missing The News
Excerpt: Two enormous stories are waiting for the MSM when it recovers from the Weiner implosion. One concerns domestic policy and the other foreign. "Fast and Furious" is the name given to a Department of Justice/Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigation into gun running into Mexico. The Feds decided to try and tag and follow heavy weaponry into Mexico with the idea of charting the smugglers' map. What happened to the operation is the subject of an investigation by Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee. Appearing on my show Tuesday, Issa had this about the investigation into the operation:
Obama's Dilemma -- and Ours
Seventy-one years ago this spring, after the German army had broken through the French lines, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flew to France to consult his embattled allies on how to stop the advance. "Where is the strategic reserve?" Churchill urgently asked the French commander in chief, Gen. Maurice Gamelin, and then he repeated himself in French: "Ou est la masse de manoeuvre?" "Aucune," came Gamelin's reply. "There is none." The French had no reserves to stop the Germans from overrunning their country. The Battle of France was lost. The Obama administration, in its grand strategy to generate a rapid and strong recovery from the Great Recession, is at a similar pass. It has drawn and played all its cards: the $800 billion stimulus bill, three straight deficits averaging $1.4 trillion, the Federal Reserve's mass purchases of bad paper from the world's banks, and QE2, the monthly purchase of $100 billion in Treasury bills that ends June 30. … Not only for the United States but also for the West, the days of wine and roses are over. (Yes. ~Bob.)
3rd Graders Indoctrinated in School Budgeting by Milwaukee Teacher
Excerpt: I was seeing red this morning when I read this first-person account of 3rd grade socialist indoctrination in Milwaukee Public Schools. It came from Dale Weiss, an MPS teacher and devoted radical. “The process of addressing budget cuts with my students taught me an incredible amount,” Weiss recently wrote. “I learned that laying a social justice foundation for young students is a complex process. I learned when issues are addressed, they need to be revisited many, many times.” “Social justice foundation?” Oh wait, dear readers, the giddy and proud Ms. Weiss explains how she set the 8- and 9-year olds up for a fall:
Chicago Code
Excerpt: The specter of mobs of marauding youths beating random Chicago residents and visitors makes us all feel vulnerable. With apprehension, citizens watch over their shoulders when on the street to see if they are next. The issues raised by this early summer nightmare are serious and need to be addressed. First, this Obama recession/depression has devastated inner city job creation. Only 54,000 jobs were added in May as the Obama recovery is in slow- motion turning to the Obama double dip recession. There are still at least 14 million U.S. workers who can't find jobs. When you add part-time or under employed workers who want full-time jobs, the total rises to 30.6 million who want more economic opportunity. Blacks and inner city youth are the hardest hit by Obama's policies.
Libya's Gadhafi writes Congress for cease-fire
Excerpt: Congress has received a letter ostensibly from Moammar Gadhafi that calls for a cease-fire and urges the U.S. to take the lead in negotiating a deal for peace in Libya. The June 9 letter, which The Hill obtained, is addressed to the White House and lawmakers. House and Senate leadership aides say they have received the document, but have not confirmed its authenticity. The White House declined to comment.
Confidence Is Still High That U.S., Allies Winning War on Terror
Excerpt: The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Only 15% say the terrorists are winning that war, while 26% say neither side is ahead. Last month, just days after the killing of Osama bin Laden, confidence in the War on Terror jumped 23 points from a four-year low of 32% in April to 55%, the highest level since January 2009. Since early November 2006, the number of voters who believe America is winning the War on Terror has run as high as 62%, but through late 2009 and most of 2010 it hovered in the high 30s and low 40s. (Surprised that many know there is a war on terror. ~Bob.)
Syrian army 'moves on Jisr al-Shughour'
Excerpt: The Syrian army has begun operations to "restore security" in the town of Jisr al-Shughour and the surrounding area, Syrian state TV said. Earlier in the week, the Syrian government said 120 security personnel were killed in the northwestern town. The announcement, and the positioning of troops in the area, has prompted a flow of refugees to neighboring Turkey. The government has blamed the deaths on armed groups, but there are reports of a mutiny among security forces.
Is the US deliberately harming Israeli covert ops in Iran?
Excerpt: One of the dirty secrets about Western trade with enemy states like Iran is that the Western companies trading with them may also wittingly or unwittingly serve as espionage assets for their home country or for other Western countries. Consider the Stuxnet computer virus which reportedly caused great harm to at least one and perhaps multiple nuclear installations in Iran. The virus penetrated the Iranian systems through Siemens industrial control systems. In recent years, Siemens was subject to widespread criticism from US policy makers for its massive trade with Iran. And this criticism was justified. But it is important to admit that if Siemens hadn't been trading with Iran, whomever developed the Stuxnet virus would have had to find another, probably less accessible platform to penetrate Iran's computer systems.
Jihadi Media Joins Facebook
Excerpt: Jihadi media organizations are forming Facebook pages to bypass restrictions on terrorist organizations, and to pass on videos, pictures, and documents to followers. While Facebook bans inciting violence or hateful content, jihadi media groups slide underneath the restrictions because they are poorly known. "Watch here live the battle yesterday at Mogadisho as the tanks of the kufaar [disbelievers] burn," says a post on the new Facebook page of Al-Kataib Media Foundation, a division of the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab. The post also features a video of an al-Shabaab spokesman who "talks to the reporters at the front line of the jihad," provides a link to download the clip, and encourages them to "share it with your brothers and sisters."
Liberal Playwright David Mamet Turns Right
Excerpt: Conservatives have a new celebrity spokesman-writer-thinker-philosopher. David Mamet, Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, movie director and sometime essayist, has come out of the closet. No longer, he declares, is he a "brain-dead liberal." Now he's a wide-awake conservative. Some time after arriving in Hollywood, of all places, and at age 60, he engaged in a conversation with his Republican rabbi (where did he find one?), who gave him the books of conservative writers, such as Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Milton Friedman and Paul Johnson. He had a dramatic political conversion. [I know the feeling! Hollywood is the cure! And thank the Lord I had The Old Jarhead to fill in the gaps. - Kate in LA ]
Canada Pipeline Is Critical to U.S. Energy Security, Oil Industry Says
Excerpt: The Keystone XL Pipeline would consist of approximately 1,711 miles of new, 36-inch-diameter pipeline, covering 327 miles in Canada and 1,384 miles in the U.S. If it’s completed, it would bring crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. Because this proposed project will cross into the United States from Canada, State Department approval is required for the project to proceed. The State Department has until the end of the year to make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline. Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the State Department, raising a number of concerns regarding the potential environmental impact of the proposed project. Those concerns include potential oil spills, higher greenhouse emission levels at Gulf Coast refineries. The EPA also raised “environmental justice concerns” about low-income and minority communities that could be affected by proximity to the pipeline. (I wonder how happy with their “environmental justice” those “disadvantaged people” will be when they can’t afford the gas or diesel to get to work or cultivate their fields? Not that EPA will care; “disadvantaged people” seldom vote, you know, and even if they did, those running the EPA are appointed (or Civil Service), not elected officials. How did they get so much authority, again? Ron P. The left never realizes that policies have costs and actions have consequences. ~Bob.)
Democratic Senator: Environmental Protection Agency Out of Control
Excerpt: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the former governor of coal-producing West Virginia, is blasting the Obama administration for using the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate coal-fueled power plants out of business. On Thursday, American Electric Power company announced that to comply with a series of EPA regulations, it will close five coal-fired plants -- three in West Virginia and one each in Ohio and Virginia -- at a net cost of 600 jobs. American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states.
Big Green donors give money, marching orders
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/06/big-green-donors-give-money-marching-orders
Excerpt: Why does New Orleans' little do-gooder charity, the Alliance for Affordable Energy, push the most expensive power sources and fight the cheapest? It's dancing on the money strings of Big Green and feeding at the taxpayer trough at the same time, of course. With a half-million-dollar budget, it operates anti-fossil fuel campaigns and a U.S. Labor Department "Green Corps" grant training local disadvantaged youth to work on environmental restoration projects.
Rep. McCotter: Romney and Obama could be running mates
Excerpt: One thing is for sure; U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., won’t be backing fellow Michigander Mitt Romney for president. “Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama are not rivals, they’re running mates." McCotter said at a Plymouth, Mich. event held Wednesday afternoon, a day before Romney's arrival in the Wolverine state.
Spain Detains 3 in PlayStation Cyberattacks
Excerpt: The spokeswoman, who did not want to be identified per department policy, said all three were subsequently released, without bail, pending formal charges. They were expected to be charged with forming an illegal association to attack public and corporate Web sites, a charge that carries a potential sentence of up to three years in prison. (…) Sony has estimated that the hacker attacks will cost it at least ¥14 billion, or $173 million, in damages, including information technology spending, legal costs, lower sales and free offers to lure back customers. (…) The police said that they had analyzed more than two million lines of chat logs since October, as well as Web pages used by the group to identify the leadership in Spain “with the capacity to make decisions and direct attacks.” (Released without bail? Gotta be kidding, right? Even in San Francisco or Boston, they’d have had to post a very large bail to forfeit when they skipped out. Ron P.)
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Robert A. Hall
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