Blog Removed.
If you log on to the Old Jarhead blog and get this notice, please check back. Every week since August, Google’s Spam Filter has pulled my blog, first on Saturdays, then Wednesdays, lately on Thursdays. They restore it when I appeal, but they don’t seem to have the technical ability to fix the problem. I hate to move to another platform with page views running to 7k to10k a week and over 1,160 followers here.
Free PDF Copy of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
Transparency
From the great cartoons at www.terrellaftermath.com.
Look whose relative just got $135.8 million energy loan
Excerpt: The sister-in-law of John Podesta, President Obama's influential White House transition director, served as the lobbyist for a wind power firm that was just awarded a $135.8 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company is Brookfield Asset Management. It boasts a board of nine directors, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-term girlfriend. The Energy Department's promise to Brookfield marks the latest in controversial massive alternative energy loans to companies with strong ties to the Obama White House and to top Democrat lawmakers.
Judge refuses to throw out death penalty in fatal child abuse case
A judge on Thursday denied a defense motion to dismiss the death penalty in a fatal child abuse trial because, the defense attorney argued, it is unsafe to go to the defendant's hometown in Mexico to find evidence that would help his case. Cesar Garcia-Soto, now 29, was arrested in February 2008 and charged with first- and second-degree murder and two counts of child abuse in connection with the death of his 3-month-old son. Edona firefighters were called to his apartment on Sugarloaf in the Village of Oak Creek the night of Jan. 23, 2008, and discovered the child, Edwin Alejandro Garcia, was unconscious and not breathing. Garcia-Soto was the only adult at the apartment. Edwin was taken to St. Joseph's hospital in Phoenix, where he died three weeks later. Doctors said he had "highly suspicious" injuries: a fractured skull and pelvis, according to YCSO investigators, and a broken arm and several broken ribs that appeared to be a result of older incidents. … The motion addressed Thursday was filed in May 2009. In it, Garcia-Soto's attorney, John Napper, argues that, because this is a death-penalty case, he is obligated to undertake "an exhaustive investigation into the history and life of Mr. Garcia-Soto," but the fact that Garcia-Soto is a Mexican citizen means that would have to take place in Mexico.
The Democrats' Blue-Collar Blues by Kim Strasselhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577016284178559556.html?mod=djemITP_h
Excerpt: 'Blue and green should never be seen without a color in between," runs the old design line. An imperiled President Obama is learning the political pain of mixing colors.
His greens are certainly in evidence, camped in ever greater numbers in front of the White House to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that will move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline officially needs State Department approval, though this week Mr. Obama further elevated the controversy by announcing that he would be making the final call. Which gets us to his blues, or rather the 20,000 blue-collar construction jobs that would come with the pipeline, and the further 118,000 spin-off jobs. The unions—from the Teamsters, to the Plumbers and Pipefitters, to the Laborers—are out in force pushing for this giant job creator. "We can't wait to get America building again," blares a union-sponsored website in support of Keystone, poking at the president's latest political rhetoric.
Faith in government doomed Corzine
Excerpt: Jon Corzine appears to have committed more than a few sins in the runup to the demise of MF Global, including possibly using client money to pay for the risky trades that forced his brokerage firm into bankruptcy over the weekend. But possibly his biggest sin was his steadfast belief in the power of government. The former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs chief executive went wrong by assuming that a government bailout would somehow turn his firm’s bet on some of the worst investments in the world -- the sovereign debt of Italy and Spain -- into gold. That absurd faith has doomed many chief executives -- Dick Fuld of Lehman Bros. chief among them, just a little more than three years ago. And, more than any of the other shenanigans that may have taken place during the ill-fated firm’s final hours, it’s what did in Corzine and MF Global. Corzine is, of course, well known for his love of government both as Goldman CEO (where he supported various left-of-center candidates) and later as a New Jersey politician best known for what he didn’t do -- namely, rein in the cancerous growth of the state’s government and its public-sector unions.
The case against Occupy
Excerpt: Asking “Where did the Occupy movement go wrong?” is akin to musing “Where did Michael Moore’s fitness regime fall apart?” The answer: early, often, all over the place. The propelling mindset driving the vast majority of the Occupy movement is not one of genuine civil service, dedicated to the honest betterment of America as a whole (like, say, the Tea Party), but rather one of entitled victimization from a growing number of those who think other people should be forced to share their success. This compilation of old hippies pining for revolution amongst college kids who simply don’t want to make their own way is the unsurprising result of liberalism in America today. This is what happens when children are fed faux lessons in self esteem and tolerance from broken family systems and then taught in school that the theory of communism is noble, if only the implementation could be mastered. American students are engulfed in a sea of liberalism from kindergarten through university, often void of any opposing views and without prompting to study the historical precedent and common sense consequences of the ideology with which they’re being indoctrinated.
Fannie, Freddie Execs Face Questions on Bonuses, Expenses
Excerpt: The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on bonuses paid to executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as congressional lawmakers increase scrutiny of the two government-controlled companies. In the House, Republican Randy Neugebauer of Texas has demanded information on the companies’ spending, including almost $842 million in Fannie Mae salaries and benefits budgeted for 2011.
15 Trillion Dollars In Debt, 45 Million Americans On Food Stamps And Zero Solutions On The Horizon
Excerpt: How does a country end up 15 trillion dollars in debt? 30 years ago, we were just a little over a trillion dollars in debt. How in the world do supposedly rational people living in “the greatest nation on earth” allow themselves to commit national financial suicide by allowing government debt to explode like that? It almost seems like there should be some sort of official ceremony in Washington D.C. to commemorate this achievement. It really takes something special to be able to roll up 15 trillion dollars of debt. To get to this level, we really had to indulge in some wild spending. For example, did you know that the U.S. national debt grows by more than 2 million dollars every single minute? All of this debt has fueled an unprecedented boom of prosperity for the last 30 years, but now that prosperity is drying up. Today, there are over 45 million Americans that are on food stamps. America is being deindustrialized at a blinding pace and there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. Poverty is exploding all over the nation, and millions of families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unfortunately, there are zero solutions on the horizon. The leaders of both major political parties seem even more clueless right now than in past years. We really could use some hope, but hope is in very short supply. When evaluating the health of America’s economy, it is important not to look at the short-term numbers. Rather, the key is to look at the long-term trends and the balance sheet numbers. For example, if a mother and a father gave their teenage kids a bunch of credit cards and told them to go out and buy whatever they wanted, that would create a lot of “economic activity”, but it would also send that family to the poorhouse really quickly. Well, we have basically done the same thing as a nation. We are drowning in debt, and all of this debt is going to destroy us financially.
The Price of Public Health Care Insurance in Canada
Excerpt: Canadians often misunderstand the true cost of their public health care system. This is partly because physician and hospital services covered by public health care insurance are free at the point of use, which leads many to grossly underestimate the actual cost of the care delivered. Furthermore, health care is financed through general government revenues rather than through a dedicated tax, which blurs further the true dollar cost of the service. So often, the bill for this type of program is presented aggregately, with the final number being so large that it no longer means anything to anyone in terms of his or her personal costs, say Milagros Palacios and Nadeem Esmail of the Fraser Institute. In order to more precisely estimate the cost of public health care insurance for the average Canadian family in 2011, Palacios and Esmail determine how much tax an average family pays to all levels of government. The percentage of the family's total tax bill that pays for public health insurance is then assumed to match the share of total government tax revenues (income) spent on health care -- estimated to be 24.9 percent in 2010-2011. In 2011, the average unattached (single) individual, earning a little less than $37,000, will pay approximately $3,607 for public health care insurance. An average Canadian family consisting of two adults and two children (earning a little more than $105,700) will pay about $10,486 for public health care insurance. With a more precise estimate of what they really pay, Canadians will be in a better position to decide whether they are getting a good return on the money they spend on health care.
Interesting: Five myths about the world’s population
Excerpt: 1 The world is overpopulated. Sure, 7 billion is a big number. But most serious demographers, economists and population specialists rarely use the term “overpopulation” — because there is no clear demographic definition. For instance, is Haiti, with an annual population growth rate of 1.3 percent, overpopulated? If it is, then was the United States overpopulated in 1790, when the new country was growing at more than 3 percent per year? And if population density is the correct yardstick, then Monaco, with more than 16,000 people per square kilometer, has a far greater problem than, say, Bangladesh and its 1,000 people per square kilometer.
The Bleeding Edge of Rationing: Obama’s Health Plan and the New Power of the United States Preventive Services Task Force
Excerpt: Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), a previously obscure government advisory body has acquired vast authority to decide which health care services Americans will have access to. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) was created in 1984 as a government advisor with the mission of assessing the clinical utility of preventive health measures such as screening tests and issuing nonbinding recommendations about which measures doctors should incorporate into routine medical care. PPACA gives the USPSTF’s recommendations the force of law, making them de facto mandates on which preventive services private health plans and public programs such as Medicare must pay for. Services that do not make the USPSTF grade are unlikely to be covered at all. The USPSTF was not designed to wield this kind of sweeping and binding authority. It does not maintain the transparency, deliberative process, appeal process, or requirements for public notice and comment that are hallmarks of sound regulatory policymaking. Moreover, because the USPSTF has few guidelines governing its function, it has great flexibility to adapt its criteria and grow its mandate in ways that may conflict with political goals and public sentiment and lead to unintended consequences. Key points in this Outlook: Under President Obama’s health care plan, the United States Preventive Services Task Force now wields great power to decide which health services (like mammograms) doctors should provide, yet it has few checks on its sweeping authority. Its mandates are likely to raise health insurance costs and premiums, while reducing the number of covered preventive services. To improve accountability for an agency that is both out of date with the medical community and out of touch with the public, Congress should closely monitor the impact new mandates have on patient care.
How has Herman Cain survived?
Excerpt: It’s been eight days since Politico first reported on allegations that businessman Herman Cain had sexually harassed two women during his time as the head of the National Restaurant Association. In the intervening week, two more women — including Sharon Bialek who went public with her allegations this afternoon — have come forward while Cain and his senior campaign team have tried without much success to beat back the story. And, yet, Cain is still standing and, to hear some in conservative circles tell it, prospering in the race. Polling confirms Cain’s surprising strength in the face of these allegations; in a Washington Post-ABC News poll he was in a statistical dead heat with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in a 2012 primary matchup.
The Media and Cain
Even if Cain is totally innocent, this will damage not just his political career, but his life. My dad had an assistant principal who was accused by a neighbor of coming on to her 12-year-old daughter. The neighbor was angry because he stopped her from coming over to borrow water—yes water, hers was shut off for non-payment—after several months of allowing it. The police quickly discovered that the child had been coached on what to say, and the man was exonerated. But his arrest and perp walk was front page news, his clearing not so much. He soon took early retirement and people would say to my dad for years, “Isn’t that the school where the principal was a child molester?”
Every male supervisor knows that if he disciplines a female employee, and she lacks integrity, he may be charged with harassment. And he is less likely to be believed in a he said/she said situation.
It seems to me that the allegations that Herman Cain was rude and lewd towards these women have received far more coverage than the allegation that President Bill Clinton raped a woman. I’m not sure if that is media bias towards conservatives, the current 24-hour news cycle that requires constant feeding, or my own perception because this is now and that was then, and memory fades. Probably a combination of all three. Note that the media didn’t feel that an allegation of rape disqualified Clinton from continuing to serve. Nor did we then hear the old feminist refrain, “Women don’t lie about rape.” See below. ~Bob
Clinton accused of 1978 hotel rape
Excerpt: Just a week after his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial, Bill Clinton faces a fresh scandal about his past sexual conduct after a former campaign worker alleged that he raped her 21 years ago. Juanita Broaddrick, who now runs a nursing-home business in Arkansas, told the Wall Street Journal that Mr Clinton raped her in the Camelot Hotel in Little Rock in 1978, when he was the state attorney-general.
Cain attacks accuser, cites woman's 'long and troubled history' http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/blog-summaries/192359-cain-attacks-accuser-cites-womans-long-and-troubled-history
Excerpt: Herman Cain’s campaign on Tuesday challenged the credibility of Sharon Bialek, who has publicly accused the GOP presidential candidate of making an unwanted sexual advance. The campaign released a memo to the press detailing what it characterized as Bialek’s “long and troubled” history, including a 1999 paternity dispute, to argue the public should trust Cain over his latest accuser. “In stark contrast to Mr. Cain’s four decades spent climbing the corporate ladder rising to the level of CEO at multiple successful business enterprises, Ms. Bialek has taken a far different path,” the Cain release said.
Cain Accuser Bialek Fired From NRA For False Accusations Of Sexual Assault
Excerpt: One might be asking themselves why Ms. Bialek was fired from the National Restaurant Association. After all, being fired, quite unlike simply being laid off, is a serious issue with serious ramifications; since leaving the Restaurant Association, Ms. Bialek has been unable to maintain regular employment. So why was this woman let go? Why has it seemingly affected her ability to remain employed for so long? Perhaps it might have something to do with the reason she was fired from the National Restaurant Association in the first place…FILING FALSE CLAIMS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT “She was fired from her job, and her boyfriend suggested she contact Cain in hopes he could help her find employment.”. In this particular incident she was fired for falsely accusing her boss of sexual harassment, a charge denied by co-workers, as well as being pretty much a pain in the ass to work with. “I remember her as a time-waster, and rabble-rouser. If she didn’t get her way she cried about sexual harassment”. A former co-worker, a female no less, emailed me. “She was trouble with a capital “T”. The fact that she waited 13 years and never said a word not even during Cain’s earlier forays into politics. She only now magically appears because Cain is leading in some polls and proving a threat to Barack Obama?
Why We Should Be Unfair To Herman Cain
Excerpt: And yes, it’s unfair. But there’s a reason it’s unfair—a reason it should be unfair. There’s a reason we right wingers vet our candidates while the left adulates theirs, a reason we condemn our miscreants while the left elevates theirs, a reason our news outlets cover stories that the left covers up. The reason is: we’re the good guys. We have to do what’s right. The left doesn’t. Sorry, but that’s the way it works. It’s the price you pay for defending what’s true and good, the price of holding yourself to a high moral standard. Our politicians have to be better than their politicians. Our journalists have to be more honest. Even our protesters have to behave with decorum and decency—and still suffer being slandered—while theirs can act like animals and commit acts of violence and lawlessness and spew anti-semitic filth and still find themselves excused and glorified.
Excerpt: If you had 14 years to develop a narrative of an event that happened in 1997, would your account of that event be plausible? Also, yes. We have here the basic “he-said, she-said” problem involved in such cases. What Bialek says happened would be very bad if it actually happened as she describes it. But there were no witnesses, there is no evidence, and the affidavits of two people to whom Bialek told her story in 1997 are inadmissible as hearsay. You could not convict Herman Cain in court based on such evidence, and yet the behavior described, if it is not criminal, certainly does fit within the category of “sexual harassment.” However . . . There is no need to minimize the seriousness of sexual harassment in order to understand the difficulties that arise from trying to reach the hurdle of “beyond a reasonable doubt” involving private behavior where witnesses and evidence are lacking, and where the rights of the accused are derided as irrelevant. Liberals who hold candlelight vigils for condemned cop-killers will, without any sense of irony, insist that whenever a man is accused of sexual misconduct by a woman, the man must automatically be presumed guilty. Well, it is not for me to decide how people react to this accusation, and so I will cease to offer my own reaction, except to say: Why wait 14 years? Oh. That’s right: The accused is leading the GOP field for president. So if you make a pass at a woman, and are rejected, you can kiss good-bye whatever plans you had for becoming president — as a Republican.
Afternoon Fix: Bachmann calls GOP rivals ‘frugal socialists'
Excerpt: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has come up with a new phrase: “frugal socialists.” Not naming anyone in particular, she told a crowd at the Family Research Council in Washington that “some” Republican presidential candidates are willing to tolerate “socialized medicine ... because they share the same core political philosophy about the purpose of government” as Obama.
Germany at Its Rubicon
Excerpt: No country is economically more dependent on the survival of the euro than Germany: the export powerhouse-largest exporter in the world until China overtook it last year-thrived because Eurozone countries could borrow unlimited amounts of euros to buy German goods. But now that the gravy train has stopped in front of a mountain of unmanageable sovereign debt, Germany finds itself at war-with itself. Germany's heroic insistence on monetary discipline is pushing the over-indebted Eurozone to the brink of breakup-the very event that German exporters fear the most. And they include the vast Mittelstand of family-owned companies. Already, German industrial orders have started to nosedive. Exporters are panicking: orders fell off a cliff during the financial crisis, leading to the worst quarterly GDP declines in the history of the Federal Republic: -2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and -3.8% in the first quarter of 2009. Annualized, those two quarters printed a double-digit decline in GDP. The German economy lives and dies by its exports. Ironically-though Germans conveniently don't remember-it got pulled out of its funk by the Fed which printed and handed out trillions of dollars, a big chunk of which we now know went directly to German banks and indirectly to German exporters. So monetization bailed them out last time though it wasn't their money that was devalued. (Germany is a frugal nation. Say what you want about the German personality, but there is a component of honesty, hard work and thrift in them that has made them prosper -- traits shared by the Chinese, now an even bigger exporter than Germany (thanks to Western softheadedness). I would argue that the British and some others, e.g., many Americans, share this trait. Because of this trait, and because of their experience with the disastrous Weimar Republic (where ordinary people took their earnings to the bank in wheelbarrows) indelibly etched in their collective memory, the Germans (unlike their government) are loathe to assume too much debt. It's déjà vu. But with an unprecedented economic crisis upon them (see article below), they now face the specter of this dreaded monetization (money creation out of thin air) once again. Will the outcome be much different from the Weimar Republic? If so, wheelbarrow manufacturers should fare rather well. Monetization explained:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89pOwgCZJ7I Need I explain the expected domino effect of all this on the US economy? --Don)
Republicans offer tax deal to break debt impasse; Democratic aides dismiss it
Excerpt: Congressional Republicans have offered to increase tax revenue by nearly $300 billion over the next decade through an overhaul of the tax code, a significant concession aimed at breaking a long-standing impasse in negotiations over the federal debt. The offer envisions a tax code rewrite that would lower rates for everyone while raising overall tax collections by $250 billion, mainly by limiting the value of itemized deductions such as write-offs for home mortgage interest, state and local taxes and other expenses. In addition, Republicans are offering to use a less generous measure of inflation to adjust formulas government-wide, a proposal that would push people more rapidly into higher tax brackets. That would generate an extra $40 billion over the next decade, according to several people with knowledge the discussions.
Investigators work to determine cause of fire
I wonder what your carbon footprint is if your $40k Chevy Volt burns down your $800k house? ~Bob. Excerpt: Investigators are looking at an electric car and its charger after a fire nearly destroyed a Mooresville home. The fire, which happened last week at a home on Cades Cove Lane, caused about $800,000 in damage. Investigators have determined that the fire started in the garage, but they have not determined exactly what caused it. An electric car was connected to a charging station in the garage.
Romney: Right on Medicare
Excerpt: Needless to say, boldness hasn’t been a quality associated with Mitt Romney during this campaign. That makes his endorsement of bold and specific proposals for entitlement reform in a speech at Americans for Prosperity last week all the more noteworthy. Most significant, Romney outlined a plan that would transform Medicare into a premium-support program — while holding current seniors and near-retireesharmless, and retaining an optional form of traditional Medicare (restructured as a premium-charging government insurance plan) to smooth the transition. It differs in details from the plan introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan and supported by the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans, but the plans share their most critical features: reintroducing choice to seniors and competition to the health-insurance market while defusing the fiscal time bomb that is Medicare before it beggars the nation. In his speech, Romney also vowed to introduce forms of means testing to both Medicare and Social Security, while gently raising the eligibility age of the latter. All of this — as well as his promises to block-grant Medicaid to the states and institute real cuts in discretionary spending — deserves praise.
People who have no respect for property rights have no respect for any other rights. You can’t deal with them without a gun in your hand. ~Bob. Excerpt: Excerpt: It always helps to put a face to a name, even if it is a bruised and bloodied one. Here is such a face. It belongs to Bruce Fancher, a hobbyist photographer who lives “a few blocks” from the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Lower Manhattan. It is this way because he ventured into Zuccotti Park on Sunday with a camera and took a few pictures. For his trouble he was “punched in the face by one of the lovely young idealists.” Bruce was taking photographs of tents when a man approached him and told to him to “have some respect.” He calmly explained that it was a public park and he had every right to be there. Before he knew it, his camera had been smacked out of his hands, and his face had been punched. Bleeding fairly heavily from his nose, he went and described the assault to one of the many policeman in the square. An ambulance was called, and arrived almost immediately. When she was finished, the EMT told him that it was the “fourteenth assault” to which she had personally been called.
Who’s in the Top 1 Percent?: There’s a reason only old people go on cruises. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: One of the things that has struck me, when I have gone on luxury cruise ships, is that most of the passengers look like they are older than the captain — and luxury cruise ships don’t have juveniles as captains. The reason for the elderly clientele is fairly simple: Most people don’t reach the point when they can afford to travel on luxury cruise ships until they have worked their way up the income ladder over a long period of years. The relationship between age and income is not hard to understand. It usually takes years to acquire the skills and experience that high-paying jobs require, or to build up a clientele for those in business or the professions. But those in the media and in politics who are currently up in arms, denouncing income inequalities, seldom mention age as a factor in those inequalities. The shrill rhetoric about differences in income proceeds as if they are talking about income inequalities between different classes of people. It would be hard to get the public all worked up over the fact that young people just starting out in their careers are not making nearly as much money as their parents or grandparents make.
Obama Caught on Live Mic Blasting Netanyahu to French PM: ‘You’re Fed Up With Him But I Have to Deal With Him Every Day!’
Damn Joos just won’t get quietly on the boxcars anymore. Makes them hard to deal with. ~Bob. Excerpt: In a “faux pas” for the ages, President Barack Obama conducted what he assumed was a private conversation about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with French President Nicolas Sarkozy after the G20 summit on Thursday. The only problem, however, was that the microphones the two men were wearing from their earlier press conference, had not in fact been turned off. What ensued was a major public embarrassment after both Obama and the French PM disparaged Netanyahu, saying they cannot “stand” dealing with him.
Cornyn to Holder: 'Are You Winging This?'
San Diego Street Cart Vendors Hurting After 'Occupy' Group Splatter Blood, Urine
Excerpt: Coffee cart owner Linda Jenson and hot dog cart operators Letty and Pete Soto said they initially provided free food and drink to demonstrators, but when they stopped, the protesters became violent. (Yep, just like LA! If you give it to them once, you owe it to them for ever after. - Kate in LA. See, Street Cart Venders are part o the rich 1% who should give them stuff. ~Bob.)
Iran Conducting Experiments 'Specific' to Developing Nuclear Arms, U.N. Says
Huh. Obama’s “soft power” outreach isn’t working. Who could have guessed? Well, if it’s your city that gets incinerated, give him an E for effort. ~Bob. Excerpt: The U.N. nuclear atomic energy agency says that Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose can only be the development of nuclear arms. The conclusion is contained in a restricted International Atomic Energy Agency report obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday, shortly after it was circulated to the IAEA's 35-nation board and to the U.N. Security Council.
Occupy Wall Street Gets More Violent
As ye sow…~Bob. Excerpt: The true colors of the Occupy Wall Street movement are starting to shine through, both in actions and affiliations. The picture that is developing is one of increasing violence married with extremist affiliations that is anything but representative of the 99 percent of Americans the movement claims to stand for. On Friday night in Washington, D.C., the Occupy protests turned violent when activists marched on the city's convention center in opposition to an annual summit held by the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Forbes reports on the conflict: Occupiers, many of whom had their faces obscured by masks or bandanas, began banging on the transparent glass walls and doors of the building, demanding entrance, then attempting to gain access by pushing their way in when guests came or went. Eventually all doors bar one at L Street were locked, with AFP guests and accredited press able to do nothing but stand inside and watch the clash intensify, with a line of police and security guards manning the locked doors at the Mt Vernon St entrance.
Politics of Personal Destruction II
Excerpt: In 2007 when she was running for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton told a fundraising event in Carson City, Nev., "I sure don't want Democrats, or the supporters of Democrats, to be engaging in the politics of personal destruction. I think we should stay focused on what we're going to do for America." Clinton's husband, the former president, used the phrase at the time of his impeachment proceedings for lying under oath about a sexual dalliance in the White House. The politics of personal destruction is nothing new. It has been around from the beginning of the country when worse things were said about presidents and presidential candidates than have been alleged against Herman Cain. After more than a week of innuendo, hearsay and rumor about alleged incidents of sexual harassment when Cain was president of the National Restaurant Association, the country on Monday was presented with one woman, a former employee at the NRA's educational foundation, by none other than powerhouse attorney-camera hog-defender of disgruntled porn stars, Gloria Allred. At a New York news conference, Allred (who, according to the Federal Election Commission, contributed $1,000 to Hillary Clinton and $2,300 to Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign) introduced Sharon Bialek, who read a statement that sounded as though a Democratic Party activist had written it. Bialek claimed Cain touched her inappropriately when she went to him for help in getting her old job back with the educational foundation.
Bloomberg's Broken Windows--- The mayor's message: When the crazies come, you're on your own.
Excerpt: In 1982, two social scientists—George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson—published an article in the Atlantic in which they argued that a city window left broken is an invitation to further disorder. Their message was as simple as it was unconventional. Sweat the small stuff (graffiti, aggressive panhandling, petty crime) and you'll stop problems before they grow bigger. In the three decades since, mayors and police chiefs across America have transformed their cities by taking the broken-window message to heart, especially in New York. Now Occupy Wall Street has taken a high-profile part of Manhattan and turned it into an anarchist campground worse than the Tompkins Square Park of the 1980s, when it stood for the worst of New York—encampments of the homeless and a haven for drug dealing. The OWS protesters seem to have no fear of Michael Bloomberg: A sign at one entryway warns hizzoner that if he tries to interfere, he will be the one arrested. For most, the Occupy movement has been a lark. For Woodstock wannabees, it's a romantic trip back to the Vietnam War protests they weren't around for. For television cameras and leftish documentarians, it's a feast of crazy signs and even crazier behavior. For a certain kind of Democrat, it's the answer to the energy of the tea party ("We are on their side," President Obama said of the Occupy movement to ABC News just three weeks ago).The president is by no means alone. The mayor of Oakland, Calif., Jean Quan, issued words of support for the Occupy movement that sprang up outside her City Hall, claiming that sometimes "democracy is messy." Indeed it is: According to the San Francisco Chronicle, eyewitnesses claim her husband was among those who helped close the port down last week.
Colbert on Occupy Wall Street
Too funny.
D.A.: Conrad Murray unlikely to serve 'appropriate' sentence http://abcnews.go.com/US/conrad-murray-verdict-prison/story?id=14902442#.TrlRIfSXunA
Excerpt: Dr. Conrad Murray's conviction for the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson could result in a maximum of four years in prison, but it's possible that the doctor may not go to prison. "It will be very difficult to achieve an appropriate sentence of incarceration for Conrad Murray," District Attorney Steve Cooley said Monday. Overcrowding in California's prisons and Murray's lack of a prior criminal record will most likely be major factors in his sentence.
Man avoids jail by faking illegal immigrant status
Excerpt: A Utah man who claimed to be an illegal immigrant from Mexico to avoid going to prison is now wanted by police after he returned to the United States and acknowledged his true identity to a judge. Jaime Alvarado, 27, of Salt Lake City, was charged Wednesday in Utah's 3rd District Court with a second-degree felony for giving false material statements and a misdemeanor charge for giving false personal information to a peace officer. The charges stem from a 2010 arrest when Alvarado told Salt Lake City police, a Utah state courts judge and federal immigration officials that he was actually Saul Quiroz and had emigrated from Mexico illegally. At the time, Alvarado was facing up to 15 years in prison for the possession of cocaine and heroin with the intent to distribute. Instead of going to prison, Alvarado was deported to Mexico based on his false identity, according to court records. But he then returned to the United States using his American passport and earlier this year was arrested in Salt Lake City on an outstanding warrant connected to his guilty plea. (Defense attorneys, pay attention. Here is a new defense for your client: plead illegal alien. --Don Hank.)
Worth reading: For The Good Of Capitalism, Don't End Occupy Wall Street
Excerpt: Years from now, a major political candidate will come to the fore and say, “I got my political education as a member of a protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street. And it’s the reason I stand before you as a private enterprise-loving capitalist today.”
Some editorial writers have called for evicting the OWS squatters from downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park (a better solution: Lock them in! Wouldn’t society be much better off without these malodorous whiners?), but the longer the occupation lasts, the more valuable the lessons being learned by these youngsters. Their college educations obviously didn’t include even rudimentary tutelage about how a marketplace — and by extension (since most things are connected to trade) society — works. But now they’re learning, for instance, that: Rule of law comes first. It doesn’t matter whether your business is widget marketing or universal social justice: You can’t work until you have secured basic order, which requires a non-corrupt constabulary authorized in the judicious use of force. The Manhattan OWS site, which is largely covered with tents that lend shelter to peaceful protesters and privacy to opportunistic felons, is being linked to more and more reports of theft, sexual assault, random groping and even rape. The occupiers, who operate on a foolhardy belief that they are a self-policing as well as self-governing organization, have reacted to crimes by forming “shame circles” in which, as if reenacting a scene from a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, they surround malefactors and cry, “Shame, shame, shame!” (What, without trial?) Desperadoes, unfazed by such non-punishment, have declined to flee. A society that fails adequately to punish lawbreakers will disintegrate into chaos.
Top CAIR Fundraiser Aids Florida Incumbent
Excerpt: A top activist tied to one of the most notorious Islamist political organizations co-hosted a re-election fundraiser last month for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Details about the Florida Democrat's Oct. 22 fundraiser in Ocala are sparse—limited mostly to what Ahmed Bedier, former Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Tampa director, posted on his Facebook page. He published a series of pictures under the heading "Hosting Senator Bill Nelson." Those pictures showed Nelson, microphone in hand, addressing supporters as Bedier stood just behind him. The fundraiser was held in the home of a doctor named Manal Fakhoury. Bedier remains closely tied to CAIR, a group linked to a Hamas-support network by evidence in the federal prosecution of a Texas-based Hamas charity called the Holy Land Foundation. Exhibits showed that CAIR was created as an arm of the "Palestine Committee, created to help Hamas politically and financially.
France cuts frantically as Italy nears debt spiral
Excerpt: France has unveiled the toughest austerity measures since World War Two despite the looming danger of a double-dip recession, vowing to slash borrowing by €65bn over the next five years in a last-ditch effort to save the country's AAA rating. (I had forwarded an article saying "Europe is finished." France wants to save itself with belated austerity measures. The French are a rebellious lot. Look for rioting. Don Hank)
Confessions of an Ex-Democrat
Excerpt: When you’re a conservative, it’s just about impossible, unless you’re the sort of person who wins million dollar lotteries, to not have some friends and relatives who are liberal. The secret, I’ve found, to maintaining even slightly cordial relationships with them is to never share your honest opinions about anything important, sliding through social occasions discussing the weather, sports and, well, more weather. The truth is I have removed a fair number of people from my social circle over the past few years simply because they support Barack Obama’s policies and respond favorably to his race and class warfare rhetoric. That may strike some people as petty and intolerant, but what would it say about me if I associate with people whose beliefs, values and behavior, I abhor? Why on earth would I want to spend time with those whom I am convinced are doing their utmost to destroy the nation I love? I understand that most people who vote for people like Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Waxman and Reid, are benign. They may be great neighbors and wonderful, caring parents, but they are also enablers. When people help addicts feed their habits, they’re not acting out of love, but out of fear that if they behave responsibly they will no longer be loved by the addict. But of course the addict doesn’t love anyone or anything but his drug of choice.
Almost a martyr
Must have believed that “religion of Peace” stuff. ~Bob. Excerpt: Dr. David Gerbi, a Libyan-born, observant psychologist living in Italy, spent the summer in a Libyan rebel encampment, joining the revolutionary forces and providing them psychiatric care. But their gratitude didn't last for long. He was nearly lynched and then booted out of the country when he tried to clean up a desecrated synagogue that hadn't seen a Jew since Muammar Gaddafi took over the country 42 years ago. Dr. Gerbi, international director of the World Organization of Libyan Jews, was the first Jew to cast his lot with the Libyan rebels when he joined the Benghazi Psychiatric Hospital staff to teach the techniques of healing post-traumatic stress disorder among the fighters. Throughout the summer, Dr. Gerbi, holed up with the revolutionaries, assisted rebel leaders in formulating strategies and restoring unity within their ranks when internal conflicts arose.
12 Facts About Money And Congress That Are So Outrageous That It Is Hard To Believe
Excerpt: Do you want to get rich? Just get elected to Congress. The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are absolutely packed with wealthy people that are very rapidly becoming even wealthier. The collective net worth of the members of Congress is now measured in the billions of dollars. The people that we have elected to the House and Senate are absolutely swimming in money. Unfortunately, it is not easy to get elected to Congress. In this day and age you generally have to be heavily connected to those that are very wealthy to get into Congress because it takes gigantic amounts of cash to win campaigns. But if you can get in to the club, you pretty much have it made. The numbers that you are about to read are very difficult to believe and they should deeply sadden you. They show that Congress has become all about money. Congressional races are mostly financed by wealthy people, most of the people that we elect to Congress are very wealthy, and they rapidly get wealthier after they are elected. All of this money has turned our republic into something far different than our founding fathers intended. The following are 12 statistics about money and Congress that are so outrageous that it is hard to believe that they are actually true.... (Martha Stewart went to jail in a complex case involving insider trading. She lied about the facts and was sent up for that, but the underlying premise of the initial investigation was that she knew too much about her own company and sold her own stock on the basis of that information. Contrast that with many congress reps and senators who do this kind of insider trading for a living, you might say. There can be little doubt that insider trading is rampant in a legislature whose members receive lavish gifts from lobbyists, as recently stated by Jack Abramoff, himself a lobbyist. Why aren't they in jail? Instead of assigning them to an appropriate cell, we pay them enormous salaries and benefits and you call them "the Honorable" so and so when you address your envelopes to them. What honor? Don Hank)
Unfair ‘Honor Crime’ Fight In Berlin
Excerpt: When it involves the horror of honor crimes, even a high profile, professional world boxing champion was not able to escape the incomprehensible and savage violence of this barbaric custom. A trial nearing its conclusion in Berlin, Germany, has outlined how a family drama in that country ended in the non-fatal shooting tragedy of Rola El-Halabi, a 26-year-old Muslim woman originally from Lebanon. Like hundreds of other mostly female victims of honor crimes in the West, the reason for the shooting was that El-Halabi had wanted to establish her independence from her culture’s restrictive and archaic customs and be with the man she chose to love. But unlike most other honor crime victims, El-Halabi was unique in that she enjoyed the unusual distinction of being a well-known sports figure who once held two world championship belts in women’s boxing in the lightweight division. In 2010, the talented El-Halabi defeated American Mia St. John for the WIBF and WIBA titles in Ulm, her hometown in Germany, giving her a perfect 11-0 record. El-Halabi even had one of her matches televised by Al-Jazeera television to the Middle East where it was seen by 22 million people. El-Halabi’s fame, however, provided no protection from her attacker who was also her step-father, Hicham El-Halabi, 44. The older El-Halabi, a German citizen and goldsmith originally from Kuwait, stormed into her dressing room minutes before she was to enter the ring in a Berlin sports arena to try to regain one of her belts and coldly and calculatingly shot her four times.
Quote
There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 % Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else. Theodore Roosevelt
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Robert A. Hall
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