I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article. Help your friends and relatives stay informed by passing the digest on. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation promoting my books
Chicago homicides soar in first quarter of 2012
Excerpt: Homicides in Chicago soared by 60 percent in the first three months of 2012, continuing a troublesome trend that began late last year. Nonfatal shootings also rose sharply in the first quarter, Police Department statistics show. (Rahm is blaming the guy before him-old habits die hard. 120 dead, but the majority were black folks, including children, gunned by black thugs, so they entire 120 won't get 5% of the national attention of Trayvon Martin, shot in disputer circumstances by a member of that new racial division, a "White Hispanic," because there is no benefit in power or money to the race baiters. Will the next census carry a choice between "White Hispanics" and "Brown Hispanics"? No word if Obama thinks any of the dead or any of the killers would have looked like his son would have, had Michelle been punished with another child. ~Bob.)
Obamaland: Seven-Year-Old Girl Among Eight Shot Overnight in Chicago
Excerpt: Just another average night in the Democrat cesspool of Chicago. It’s funny, but our Dear Leader never seems to stick his beak into these stories. I guess there’s no cheap political points to gain. “A 7-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet from a gun fired by a man arguing after a basketball game Thursday, one of at least six overnight shootings in Chicago that left one dead and seven people wounded.”
Worth Reading: Obama's Zimmerman Problem by Pat Buchanan
Excerpt: Where is Obama's political problem? With the election on, the case has begun to divide the nation along racial lines. And Obama's allies are doing it. It is Jesse Jackson and the Black Caucus crying that Trayvon was "hunted down like a rabid dog in the street," that he was "murdered and martyred," that it was a "hate crime."
North Korea Rocket 2012: Launch Reported By South Korea
Excerpt: Days after threatening to do so, a rocket lifted off at 7:39 a.m. from the west coast launch pad in the hamlet of Tongchang-ri, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said, citing South Korean and U.S. intelligence. However, the launch may have failed, U.S. officials said in Washington. Japan's Defense Minister Naiki Tanaka concurred. "We have confirmed that a certain flying object has been launched and fell after flying for just over a minute." (Notice there is no official word from North Korea. That’s because their press is free to print all the news the government allows them to. It might be interesting to see if we can salvage the thing, too. We could study it for a few months and then sell it back to the NKs for scrap. Ron P.)
North Korean Launch Fails: Pyongyang Admits Test of Rocket Collapses; U.S. Condemns 'Provocative Action'
Excerpt: North Korea launched a multistage rocket Friday morning, again defying countries that want it to stop pursuing advanced weapons, but it blew up less than two minutes into flight and parts crashed in the Yellow Sea off South Korea. (The only surprise is they haven’t claimed we shot down their peaceful weather satellite. ~Bob.)
North Korea missile launch could weaken Obama’s foreign policy strength http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/221363-north-korea-missile-launch-could-weaken-obamas-foreign-policy-strength
Excerpt: North Korea’s long-range missile launch may have failed Thursday, but the attempt presents a real challenge to President Obama by opening a new Republican-line of attack in the presidential campaign. While Pyongyang has a new and untested young leader in Kim Jong Un, the United States still faces familiar problems with North Korea as it did under his father, Kim Jong Il.
Tweet from Andy Levy @andylevy
I would like to apologize for saying that North Korea's stay-at-home rocket doesn't work.
U.S. Appeals Court Strikes FCC Ad Ban
Excerpt: A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down the FCC’s ban against political advertising on public TV and radio stations, saying it was too broad. The ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco could open the floodgates for an onslaught of campaign ads leading up to the November elections, Reuters reports. The Appeals Court, in a 2-1 vote, ruled that the FCC violated the First Amendment by blocking public broadcasters from running political and public-issue ads. (Although this will be binding only for the area covered by 9th Circuit, this raises interesting possibilities everywhere. There is already very little differentiating “public” radio and TV from their commercial counterparts. One of the draws of “public” media is the “lack of advertising”—which assumes you ignore all the “provided by” and “sponsored by” mentions and announcements of up up-coming fund raisers that you can avoid by sending in your donation now—which really means lack of political advertising. Once the stations begin to get money from political groups’ ads, those political groups will suddenly have a much greater hold on the stations. “Gee, we’re cutting back on advertising this season. What ever happened to Schmoe’s Recipe Show, anyway?” It will make clear which of those stations are purely for unions and Democrats and which are more balanced, too. No more hiding behind the “we’re neutral because we’re public” charade. And, when they need more money, they might, just might, have to look to parties other than the Democrats. And then, they truly won’t be able to get taxpayer money. Ron P. Public radio and TV ban political ads? I thought their programming was just one long leftist political ad, paid for with tax dollars. ~Bob.)
Allen West Ends Myth Progressives Aren't Extreme
Excerpt: : The left had a fit of the vapors after GOP Rep. Allen West of Florida insinuated that there were boatloads of communists in Congress among Democrats. Well, maybe not, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Speaking before a town hall in Jensen Beach, Fla., the popular congressman said: "I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the communist party." A staffer later explained that he was referring to the far-left congressional Progressive Caucus, all of whose members have truly radical pasts. (Actually, they are probably too clever to be formal members. But I doubt that there's anything the CPUSA would be for that Rep. "Red Jan Schakowsky" (D-Trotsky), my Congresswoman, wouldn't happily vote in favor of. ~Bob.)
The Shocking Truth About Unemployment In America In One Chart
Excerpt: The mainstream media is not telling you the truth about unemployment in the United States. The percentage of working age Americans that are employed is not increasing. In March 2010, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans had a job. In March 2012, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans had a job. So if the employment rate is exactly the same as it was two years ago, then how in the world can the Obama administration claim that things have gotten significantly better since then?
American Hero
This is worth watching! Really. ~Bob
The Democrats’ Fear of Romney’s Little Housewife by Arnold Ahlert
Excerpt: Leaving aside Rosen’s lunatic hyperbole, the faux pas, a direct denigration of stay-at-home mothers, descended into a PR meltdown. In an informal poll by the Washington Post asked whether Rosen was out of line because raising a family is a lot of work, or if Ann Romney was out of touch with the economic issues facing working women. 97 percent thought raising a family is a lot of work.
The Hill: Rosen cancels appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press' http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/221379-rosen-cancels-planned-meet-the-press-appearance
Excerpt: Hilary Rosen, the Democratic consultant who created a political firestorm with her comments about Ann Romney, on Friday cancelled a planned appearance on "Meet the Press." (Bet they told her to “go dark” to dampen the story. ~Bob
Islamic ‘Adult Breastfeeding’ Fatwas Return by Raymond Ibrahim
Excerpt: He said that if a woman fed a male colleague “directly from her breast” at least five times they would establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work. “Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage,” he ruled. “A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed.”
Excerpt: “Notable fact, Marine aircrews are currently forbidden from performing any manner of casevac or medevac unless approval has come from the Wing commander (Brig Gen) himself. Having returned from a flying tour throughout Helmand last October, I can tell you they are very serious about this. In 2009, I saw two pilots get sent home along with the ground controller who allowed the injured (Marine in this case) to be put on board the helicopter.
Australia: Muslim who said raping woman was part of "cultural differences" gets 14 years of prison dawah
Excerpt: Sharifi had an "unclear concept of what constitutes consent in sexual relationships." And that stands to reason, since consent is a very ill-defined notion in a religious context that allows for child marriage, per Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, and allows a man to have sex with captive sex slaves.
Excerpt: Saudi Arabia has draconian punishments like flogging, amputations and beheading.
CAIRO: A Saudi court sentenced a local woman to 50 lashes for swearing at her friend, following an argument, a newspaper reported on Monday. (Remember that outlawing use of Shari'a Law in American states, under which this woman is being punished, is condemned by the NYT and has been struck down by the federal courts. ~Bob.)
Saudi Preacher Urges Muslims to Wage Armed Jihad to Free German Jihadi Filiz Gelowicz
Didn't get the "Islam is a Religion of Peace" memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: On March 14, 2012, Saudi poet and preacher Hafiz bin 'Ajab Al-Dawsari devoted a sermon to Filiz Gelowicz, an imprisoned German jihad supporter and wife of Fritz Gelowicz, a German convert from the "Sauerland Cell," which allegedly plotted attacks in Germany on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Union in 2007. In his sermon, Al-Dawsari urged Muslims to come to her aid – with donations, but also with weapons, if necessary. Using passionate and inflammatory language, Al-Dawsari repeated claims that she has been brutally mistreated in prison, and reminded his audience that freeing Muslim prisoners held by the "infidels" is a supreme religious duty.
Philippines Pastors Face Death for Ministry to Muslims
Didn't get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Because of this, persecution against Christians is strong. This year, at least four house churches closed down after their pastors and lay leaders were killed by Muslim extremists.
Islamists Victimize Alawadi a Second Time
Excerpt: Islamist organizations sprang into action when they thought Shaima Alawadi was the victim of a hate crime, brutally bludgeoned in her El Cajon, Calif. home March 21. They linked the case to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, saying he was considered suspicious for wearing a hoodie and she was targeted for her hijab.
Islamist groups and their spokesmen blasted what they saw as anti-Muslim rhetoric fueling the hate leading to the attack. A Facebook page was created calling for "a Million Hijab March" to protest "a world so full of hatred that a woman wearing a head scarf is afraid for her life." Subsequent disclosures now cast that conclusion in doubt. They show that police suspect Alawadi's murder may have been a vicious act of domestic violence, and that the hate crime clues were an attempt to deflect investigators' attention.
Gay rights groups vow more pressure on Obama to sign nondiscrimination order
Excerpt: Gay rights activists vowed Thursday to step up political pressure on the White House over President Obama’s refusal to sign a nondiscrimination executive order, with some decrying the decision as an attempt to avoid controversy before the November election. One prominent liberal donor said he would spend $100,000 to fund a “We Can’t Wait” campaign targeting Obama, a takeoff on the president’s own slogan for his efforts to use administrative actions as end runs around what he has termed an obstructionist Congress. (Obama’s problem isn’t that he’s anti-Gay, but that much of his black voter base is anti Gay—as well as often being anti-Semitic. See Jesse Jackson’s unguarded “Hymietown” comment. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/frenzy/jackson.htm ~Bob.)
Hilary Rosen and the misogynistic foundation of contemporary feminism. By James Taranto
Excerpt: In a February article about the unwieldy named Democratic National Committee chairman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, The Wall Street Journal noted that "Obama advisers have occasionally told her to 'tone it down,' " an end toward which she agreed "to enlist two seasoned Democratic female pros, Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen, to begin giving her occasional political advice and media training." One shudders to think what Wasserman Schultz would have said had she, rather than the understated Rosen, been assigned to attack Ann Romney, wife of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
RAW VIDEO: Retired NYPD Lt. guns down armed robber
Excerpt: A retired NYPD lieutenant blew away a drugstore bandit yesterday as the suspect tried to gun down three police officers during a foot pursuit, sources said. … He crouched behind his hedge-fund boss’ Mercedes SUV and squeezed off three shots, killing Wyatt, 23. … Wyatt belonged to a Bloods gang crew called “All About Money,” and went by the street name “Booga.”
The Paradox of Taxing the Rich
Excerpt: Despite the enormous tax burden that the country's wealthy already shoulder, the current political and economic climate has fostered a number of plans that seek to bludgeon away income inequality with punitive tax rates for the rich. This solution to income inequality portrays three broad misunderstanding about taxes in the United States, says Economic Policies for the 21st Century. First, advocates mischaracterize the debate by implying that those they seek to tax benefit disproportionately from the current tax structure. The share of income taxes paid by the top 1 percent of income earners has hovered at around 40 percent for the past several years. This is the highest share in the history of Internal Revenue Service tax statistics and due largely to the progressivity of the tax system rather than income concentration. Since 2004, the pre-tax income share of the top 1 percent has been around 20 percent, meaning that the share of income taxes paid by the top 1 percent is about twice as large as their share of income. Second, the population constituting the 1 percent changes constantly (and is therefore not a group of tax-immune super-millionaires). Treasury data makes clear that a household in the 1 percent today has less than a 50 percent chance of being in the top 1 percent 10 years from now.
Payoff for Efficient Cars Takes Years
Excerpt: Gas would have to approach $8 a gallon before many of the cars could be expected to pay off in the six years an average person owns a car.
Obama Appointed Medicare Trustee Exposes True Cost of ObamaCare by Bob Beauprez
Excerpt: A public trustee appointed by President Obama to oversee Medicare and Social Security has issued an extensive research report finding that ObamaCare will increase government spending by far more than a trillion dollars while adding hundreds of billions of new debt. The report by Charles Blahous completely refutes the claim by Obama and the Democrats that the legislation would magically increase access and quality of care for millions of Americans while reducing the size of the deficit. The opening paragraph of the report is damning:
The Last US Field Commander in Afghanistan By Bing West
Excerpt: In late August 2011, General John R. Allen visited a base built atop the ruins of a 19th-century British fort here. Allen, an avid historian, grasped the irony of the setting. Over the previous 150 years, two British armies and one Russian army had left Afghanistan in frustration. Now Allen was in command of the fourth army to leave.
Obama embraces racial demagogue Sharpton
Excerpt: It is easy to dismiss Sharpton, now an MSNBC host, as a harmless, buffoonish talking-head along the lines of Ed Schultz. But he isn't. In 1995, the same National Action Network played a role in turning a Harlem landlord-tenant dispute into a deadly racial incident that killed seven.
Crossroads knocks Obama in coal states with new radio ad
Excerpt: A conservative super-PAC will spend $175,000 on radio ads to knock President Obama on coal regulations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The ad by American Crossroads, a Republican-aligned group founded by Karl Rove, uses clips from a news interview with Cecil Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of America, disparaging the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Tragic and Total Transformation of Mecca
Excerpt: The holiest place in Islam is undergoing an enormous facelift. Not very many Westerners seem to realize, or care. Basharat Peer writes about the hajj in this week’s New Yorker. What he found in Mecca is at once tragic and awesome. The Saudis, it seems, are eager “to erase all vestiges of the past.” The Saudis Wahhabi faith decrees that “revering structures with ties to the Prophet can lead to idolatrous practices.” … A Turkish minister described this action as “no different from the pulling down of the Buddha monuments in Afghanistan.”
From Rep. Paul Ryan
Excerpt: The President’s budget is not just a failure of math, but it also fails the fundamental test of fairness. There is nothing fair about taking more from working families because politicians in Washington refuse to restrain their spending appetite. There is nothing fair about burying our children under a mountain of debt because a politician has decided the next election is more important than the next generation. There is nothing fair about crony politics that enrich the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless. Check out the latest from AEI's Arthur Brooks on the President's misuse of 'fairness' in our policy debates.
Romney Should Play It Uncool: In the battle for young voters, nerd chic will beat the audacity of hype. By Jonah Goldberg
Excerpt: President Obama’s reelection largely hinges on his ability to play young voters for suckers — again — and whether Mitt Romney will let him.
Worth Reading: Free-lunch egalitarianism By Charles Krauthammer
Excerpt: Okay. Let’s do the math. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates this new tax would yield between $4 billion and $5 billion a year. If we collect the Buffett tax for the next 250 years — a span longer than the life of this republic — it would not cover the Obama deficit for 2011 alone.
Shovel Ready in San Fran: $205,075 to ‘Translocate’ One Shrub from Path of Stimulus Project By Thomas Cloud
Excerpt: The government spent at least $205,075 in 2010 to “translocate” a single bush in San Francisco that stood in the path of a $1.045-billion highway-renovation project that was partially funded by the economic stimulus legislation President Barack Obama signed in 2009. (Makes you proud to pay taxes. ~Bob.)
Danish television makes fun of The One
DSCC, NRSC Pick Top Targets
Excerpt: Sens. Scott Brown and Claire McCaskill might as well start packing their bags right now, according to the party strategists plotting to oust them this November. In an interview taped for C-SPAN's Newsmakers program, set to air this weekend, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee executive director Guy Cecil said Brown, the Massachusetts Republican, is the most likely incumbent to lose his seat this cycle, while National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Rob Jesmer tagged Missouri Democrat McCaskill as most likely to head for the exit.
Islam Conquers European Football
Excerpt: The top-ranked football team in Spain, Real Madrid, has removed a Christian cross from its official logo as a way to strengthen its fan base among Muslims in Europe and the Middle East. According to Spain's top sports newspaper, Marca, the change was made to "avoid any form of confusion or misinterpretation in a region where the majority of the population is Muslim." Real Madrid says its decision to remove the cross from its logo (see image here) is simply a cost of doing business in a globalized world. But critics say the move represents yet another erosion of European culture and tradition in the face of encroaching Islam. (Looks like the Reverse-Reconquista is underway. Isn't Real Madrid's name and crown still offensive to anti-Monarchy/Spain Spaniards? –PM)
Tattoos: Where East Meets West??
Excerpt: Probably the most tired cliché in travel writing is “where east meets west,” though in the age of globalization it does offer immense new comic possibilities. Take tattoos. The fad here in the U.S. is to get inked with some supposedly obscure and profound Chinese character or phrase that means something like “woman of deep soul,” when it is much more likely that the inker is pulling something randomly off the internet.
Translating Chinese character tattoos
Funny stuff. ~Bob.
If only Elizabeth Warren was a Republican, then this photo would be on the cover of Newsweek http://pic.twitter.com/end4gu2c
Did Obama Pay a Lower Rate Than His Secretary? by Keith Koffler
Excerpt: President Obama paid a total federal tax rate of 20.5 percent on a gross adjusted income $789,674, a rate that may come in below that of his secretary.
Obama has spent the past week touting the Buffett Rule, which calls on those who make $1 million – just a little more than Obama made – to pay at federal tax rate of at least 30 percent. The rule was inspired by Buffett’s comment that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.
GOP lawyers’ group chief: ‘Desperate’ Holder distorted our study to fit anti-voter ID agenda By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
Excerpt: Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chairman David Norcross told The Daily Caller that a “desperate” Attorney General Eric Holder distorted a study his group conducted about voter fraud to fit President Barack Obama’s anti-voter identification agenda.
Widow Learns Of Soldier's Death Through Facebook
Excerpt: Ariell Taylor-Brown learned her husband, the father of her two daughters, was killed in Afghanistan last week when another soldier from his unit posted on her Facebook page that there was an emergency. "I was told via Facebook," said Taylor-Brown. "It was a girl in his platoon. She wrote to me and told me to call her immediately," Taylor-Brown said. (Dear God. That soldier who posted should be disciplined. ~Bob.)
Students Become Pen Pals with a Child Molester
Excerpt: A teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church and School near downtown encouraged nine and ten-year-old students to become pen pals with a child molester. For several months the students shared personal information in the letters, including full names, what they look like and hobbies. They even expressed a desire to meet the molester once he's released. (Greatest concern is offender may have shared personal info from kids with others in prison….Supposedly Admin not aware of teacher’s “project.” Teacher fired and principal on leave. –Barb)
Long Overdue Silver Star Awarded to WWII Soldier
The only “long overdue” notice I’m likely to get is that the Marine Corps is reconsidering my Good Conduct Medal. ~Bob.
“Teaching as a Subversive Activity”: The Theory of Political Indoctrination
Excerpt: Because this was a presentation aimed at education insiders only, the lecturer, retired professor H. Douglas Brown from S.F. State, seemed perfectly willing to let the cat out of the bag about political indoctrination on college campuses. (…) Let it be noted that Professor H. Douglas Brown is no wild-eyed extremist; in fact, he’s rather bland and respectable and not the most thrilling of speakers, as you will soon hear. (…) The main drawback of Professor Brown’s verbal style (at least from my point of view) is that he often resorts to the academics’ tried-and-true escape hatch, which is to rephrase statements as questions, so as to have plausible deniability if later confronted. (As usual, Zombie has produced an in-depth, analytical article dealing with stuff we all know happens, but never seem to catch ourselves. While our immediate problem is to recapture the Presidency and begin a return to Constitutional government, our longest term goal must be to root out these self-styled “subversives” from our schools. For two full generations, they’ve had the ability, opportunity, and power to shape the country’s young minds. What have they taught them? Not the three Rs. Not history, economics, or respect for other’s viewpoints. But, those students can surely divide themselves into interest groups to compete for academic favor and government loot. Ron P.)
Short, but Worth Reading: The Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom by David Henderson
Excerpt: A few times I've referred to "The Ten Pillars of Economic Wisdom" that I teach at the start of every economics course I give. I've usually linked to someone's restatement of them from my book, The Joy of Freedom: An Economist's Odyssey. But I've updated a few times since then. Here's the current version of them.
Worth Reading: Why is there no discussion of black-on-black crime? By Jerome Hudson
Brave black writer. ~Bob. Excerpt: Martin’s death certainly deserves media coverage and scrutiny. But what I find troubling is that while millions of people are focusing on Martin’s shooting, few are focusing on the enormous number of black-on-black shootings that occur each year. Some are even trying to turn attention away from the latter. For example, a recent headline on the African-American news site News One read, “Stop Using Trayvon Martin’s Murder to Discuss Black-on-Black Crime.”
Obama Family Tax Shelter
Excerpt: President Obama and his wife, Michele, gave a total of $48,000 in tax-free gifts to their daughters, according to tax records made public on Friday. The president and his wife separately gave each daughter a $12,000 gift under a section of the federal tax code that exempts such donations from federal taxes. There is nothing illegal about the president’s taking advantage of this tax shelter, but it does raise eyebrows given that he has lamented the myriad tax exemptions used by the wealthy—“millionaires and billionaires” like himself—to pay less in taxes.
Hilary Rosen’s Attack on Ann Romney Planned at White House
Excerpt: Twitchy.com has gathered scores of Tweets in which liberals call Ann Romney a “b—-,” “c—” and “whore,” among other names. (Typical leftist sexism. ~Bob.)
--
Robert A. Hall
No comments:
Post a Comment