Book Recommendation. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour. By James D. Hornfischer
I listened to this as an audio book in the car, and often found myself wanting to drive around to keep it going. Hornfischer has a wonderful ability to cover the big picture while having a fine eye for details and individual stories. Though far less well-known than Midway, the Battle of Samar was arguably the US Navy’s most gallant action in WWII. Perhaps it has been glossed over because that otherwise excellent leader, Bull Halsey, got sucked out of position, making the sacrifice necessary. If you are interested in that conflict, in military/navel history, or in American heroism, you won’t want to miss this well-written book. We still have such men defending the Republic out on the far flung battle lines, but it’s an open question if we have enough of them to face down a crisis of WWII magnitude. And I fear one is coming. ~Bob
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Worth Reading: Detroit, North Korea, The City Of Broken Lights
Excerpt: Detroit, the buckle on the Rust Belt that as recently as the 1970s had 1.8 million people, now has only 713,000 in an area of 139 square miles. It fell victim to one-party Democratic rule and labor unions that made its key industry — auto manufacturing — uncompetitive and financially unstable. Before there was Greece, there was General Motors.
Worth Reading: Culture Still Matters. By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: But government-driven efforts to change national behavior often ignore stubborn cultural differences that reflect centuries of complex history as well as ancient habits and adaptations to geography and climate. Greeks can no more easily give up siestas than the Swiss can mandate two-hour afternoon naps. If tax cheating is a national pastime in Palermo, in comparison it is difficult along the Rhine.
Romney wins over Republican women, shrinks popularity gap with Obama in new poll
Excerpt: Republican women are rallying to Mitt Romney — their party’s now-certain presidential nominee — boosting him to his best-ever showing on a fundamental measure of personal popularity, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Overall, Romney’s favorability rating still trails President Obama’s, but the gap is far more narrow than it has been.
How Entitlements Can Perpetuate Youth Unemployment
Excerpt: Persistently high post-recession unemployment is ravaging the economic prospects of younger workers, delaying their skill development and eroding their work ethic. But blaming the recession alone is misguided. We must also address longer-term trends in education, labor and capital, largely due to government policies. Social Security and Medicare, for example, are shifting wealth away from younger generations, discouraging saving and therefore education and skill acquisition, says Jagadeesh Gokhale, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. The gradual erosion of traditional sectors of the economy has given way to a large portion of the workforce whose skills are mismatched with available jobs.
Excerpt: The wind industry has actually lost about 10,000 jobs since 2009, even though it doubled its domestic production, the American Wind Energy Association reports. And Republicans were quick to point out that as Obama blocks the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas, the oil and gas industry has added 75,000 jobs since the start of his term.
GOP Whistling Past the End of America. By Ann Coulter
Excerpt: An election almost as important as the presidential election will be held next Tuesday, and conservatives aren't making a big deal of it, just as they didn't make a fuss over the 2008 Minnesota Senate election as Al Franken stole it from under their noses.
Roads Not Taken (yet)
Excerpt: This article is being written on the one-year anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated communities in northeast Japan in March of 2011. Though nearly 16,000 people were killed in the tsunami and over a million buildings were destroyed or damaged, if one were to ask nearly anyone outside Japan about the Tōhoku earthquake it would likely elicit no recognition. But mention Fukushima and immediately people know which earthquake you’re talking about. (This is an interesting look at one possible solution to the world’s energy problems. While I doubt it could ever replace all the alternatives or result in such a glut of energy as to make its cost inconsequential—which is what the author seems to think—it certainly ought to be in the mix. The Integral Fast Reactor design appears far safer, more versatile in its type of fuel used, more dependable, less likely to be used to produce weapons-grade materials, and less expensive to build and operate than the existing Light Water Reactors currently in use. I think the Chinese are in the process of building some of them. While the Brave New Climate site wants them as a “cure” for global warming, I think they make good economic sense and should at least be considered as a possible alternative. Ron P.)
(Illegal Alien) Driver who killed postal worker faces year in jail
Excerpt: A driver who struck the rear end of a U.S. Postal Service van in Boyle Heights, severing the legs of a postal worker who later died of his injuries, was sentenced to nearly a year in jail after pleading no contest to vehicular manslaughter, officials with the Los Angeles city attorney's office said.
Exclusive: Meet Dustin Boyer, the Mystery Man Who Defended San Francisco from Occupy Violence. By Joel B. Pollak
Excerpt: He stood up, single-handed and unarmed, against a violent Occupy Wall Street mob. He followed hundreds of masked Black Bloc thugs for six city blocks, yelling at them to stop smashing car windows and storefronts. He's a former Google employee with a day job in real estate who runs his own innovative taco delivery business.
How Radical Were Wisconsin's Reforms?
Excerpt: One year ago, the state of Wisconsin adopted sweeping reforms that curbed collective bargaining rights among government workers, brought the state's pension system into line, and empowered those workers to choose whether or not to pay union dues. A firestorm of opposition erupted among public sector unions. But despite all the rhetoric, the reforms did not spell doomsday for government workers.
German hostage in north Nigeria killed during rescue
Excerpt: A German man held hostage in northern Nigeria by a group linked to al Qaeda has been killed during an attempt by Nigerian forces to rescue him, a witness and security sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Obama's New Attack on Romney: Romney's Policies Were An Economic Failure Because Massachusetts' Unemployment Rate Was 4.7%
Vote for the guy who's had a 8+% unemployment record for three and a half years. The guy with the worst 30 months of employment in 25 years.
Wisconsin end game: Anti-reform war ends Tuesday. By Michael A. Walsh
Excerpt: Tuesday’s Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election is much more than a local contest between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; it’s the climax of a prolonged guerrilla war against Walker’s vital reforms. (I disagree. This war will only end when the progressives and the unions have collapsed the government in fiscal ruin. ~Bob.)
Wisconsin Unions See Ranks Drop Ahead of Recall Vote
Excerpt: But a victory for the governor, who has been leading his Democratic opponent in recent polls, would amount to an endorsement of an effort to curtail public-sector unions, which have been a pillar of strength for organized labor while private-sector membership has dwindled. That could mean the sharp losses that some Wisconsin public-worker unions have experienced is a harbinger of similar unions' future nationwide, union leaders fear.
Inside the AP’s (MUSLIM) NYPD lies
Excerpt: The Associated Press’ Pulitzer Prize-winning series on the NYPD’s supposed “clandestine spying program that monitored daily life in Muslim communities” is rife with inaccuracies. The articles confuse events and policies in ways that are misleading and cast the tale they are telling in the worst possible light. I know all this to be true, because I worked directly for the deputy commissioner of the NYPD’s Intelligence Division for the last seven years — the last four (today’s my last day) as his director of intelligence analysis, overseeing all the city’s terrorism investigations.
Elizabeth Warren Acknowledges Listing Herself As Native American To Harvard, Penn
Excerpt: Warren, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, has been dogged by questions over her heritage since a since the Boston Herald reported on her background on April 27. She initially told the Herald that she didn't know about that Harvard Law had touted her as a minority faculty member until she read it in the paper. She has said that she listed herself as Native American in law school directories. (As far as I know from family lore, my heritage is English-Irish-Scots-German-French-Dutch (my father was adopted into the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indian tribe when he was a boy of 12 or 13, but I don’t think that passes to me). Warren says she listed herself so to “find others like herself.” When I do that, I look for other “Americans.” And, that tells you a whole lot about both of us. --Ron P. What’s this “adopted by the Lenni Lenape stuff, Ron? My grandmother told me I’m 1/16th Cree. We real Indians hate you fakes trying to get in on our minority, diversity, victim benefits. ~Bob “Person of Color” Hall.)
Islamic group demands Holder take action against judge's ruling
Excerpt: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Wednesday demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder and the U.S. Department of Justice protect the religious liberties of Muslims after a Tennessee judge's ruling prevented a mosque to be completed as a result of public outcry in Murfreesboro.
Too much agreement means more entitlements. By George Will
Excerpt: Now, with Europe’s turmoil dramatizing the decadence of entitlement cultures and with American governments — federal, state and local — buckling beneath unsustainable entitlements, Congress is absent-mindedly creating a new entitlement for the already privileged. (Not “absent minded.” Vote buying with the grandkids’ money. ~Bob.)
Bill would give bank a $300M benefit
Bipartisan BS. ~Bob. Excerpt: A one-sentence bill worth $300 million to a bank owned by a politically connected family that has doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations is about to get a big push forward. … The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), but it’s backed by members of both parties on the financial services panel. Emigrant Bank is owned by billionaire Howard Milstein, a bundler for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and a major Empire State political player.
AP: Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms Wisconsin job growth. By Moe Lane
Excerpt: Readers might remember – certainly The Weekly Standard [TWS] did – that beleaguered Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial recall candidate Tom Barrett has called into question Republican Scott Walker’s contention that the Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] had reported Wisconsin had actually gained jobs in 2011, instead of the loss of jobs that had been previously reported from another source. Actually, ‘called into question’ is too mild a term; Barrett more or less called Walker a liar.
Diane Tran, Texas Honor Student Jailed For Missing School, Has Contempt Order Vacated
This is an inspirational update on a story first carried in TOJ on 29 May 2012. I’m still amazed that any judge could be such a bean-counter and keep his job. Read this and feel good. --Ron P. Excerpt: Lanny Moriarty, the judge who ordered the 17-year-old to go to jail after more than ten unexcused school absences, has set aside the contempt of court order he entered last week, according to Tran's lawyer, Brian Wice. "She can now truthfully say that she doesn't have a criminal history," Wice told The Huffington Post by phone on Wednesday afternoon. He added that he's now going to find a lawyer to expunge the record. Tran, a junior at Willis High School who takes AP and college level courses, works both full and part-time jobs to help support herself and two siblings, according to KHOU-11.
Seattle: Misunderstander of Islam admits he tried to run Marines off road
Excerpt: Mikhail Jihad is a convert to and misunderstander of Islam who apparently believes that when he converted to Islam he ceased to be an American, and came to regard American troops as his enemy. What steps are Muslim organizations in this country taking to make sure that other Muslims don't misunderstand the Religion of Peace in the same way? Why, absolutely no steps at all. And no one cares.
House rejects bill penalizing doctors for sex-selection abortions http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action
Excerpt: The House on Thursday rejected a Republican bill that would impose fines and prison terms against doctors who perform abortions for the sole purpose of controlling the gender of the child, a practice known as "sex-selective" abortion. The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA), H.R. 3541, was turned away in a 246-168 vote. While that's a clear majority of the House, Republicans called up the bill under a suspension of House rules, which limits debate and requires a two-thirds majority vote. Twenty Democrats voted for the bill, while seven Republicans opposed it. (If a “Woman’s Right To Chose” trumps everything, then there is nothing wrong with aborting a baby because it’s female. Or she can’t afford twins, so kills one of them. Or the baby doesn’t have blue eyes, for that matter. Or, eventually, doing away with an inconvenient three-year-old. ~Bob.)
Examiner editorial: Texas voters spoil trial lawyers' political plans
Excerpt: In the Houston area, they spent $1 million against state Rep. Larry Taylor, who had championed the hurricane lawsuit reforms in the state House. Despite this, Taylor finished the night with 58 percent and the nomination for a state Senate seat. The trial lawyers' preferred candidate finished with just 25 percent, or fewer than 13,000 votes.
NJ Gov. Christie Courting Radical Islamist Cleric. By Ryan Mauro
Excerpt: Christie is generally assumed to have his eyes set on higher office and is frequently suggested as a running mate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. When it comes to the Islamist threat, Christie is far from ready.
Are Liberals Immoral? By Jeffrey Folks
Excerpt: Yes, liberals are immoral. The liberal power elite are selfish, hypocritical, arrogant, self-righteous, and, worst of all, destructive of those around them. They are willing to saddle everyone else with rules and regulations that do not apply to them, and with higher taxes that they somehow escape paying. (Not immoral. Just that their morality is based on caring and intentions. As long as their intentions are good, they feel good, and are completely uninterested in the harm they do real people. ~Bob.)
Rasmussen: Romney now up in Ohio
Excerpt: Not just in Ohio, Rasmussen states, but also in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. In case you haven’t been keeping score, those are four states that Barack Obama won in 2008, and which Mitt Romney must take away to have a shot at the Presidency in November. (Too early to mean much, but a good trend. OH, FL & VA are must wins for Romney, IMHO. I think if Romney is up in the polls in early November, I’m going to want to be out of Chicago. ~Bob.)
Former WI senator, charged with drunken driving, donates to Barrett recall effort. By Eric Boehm
Excerpt: Tom Barrett’s campaign got a $30,000 boost this month from a former Wisconsin Senate majority leader pushed out of power by his own party — a Democratic lawmaker who was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol only to later oppose tougher state drunken driving laws. (Support DADD: democrats Approving Drunk Driving. ~Bob.)
Elizabeth Warren: I told Harvard about my heritage
Excerpt: Elizabeth Warren admitted on Wednesday night for the first time that she told Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania of her Native American heritage — in contrast to her previous claim that she was unaware Harvard had listed her as a minority professor until recently. (Does this make her a “White Native American” the way the media labeled Zimmerman a “white Hispanic”? ~Bob.)
Excerpt: President Obama's pretend war on "special interests" has been laid bare by emails between the White House and the drug lobby that have just been made public.
In one case, after Obama threw a rhetorical punch at the drug industry, his top aide -- and now campaign manager -- Jim Messina assured drug lobbyists that the President didn't really mean it.
America Lost 129,000 Millionaires in 2011. By: Robert Frank
Excerpt: America’s millionaire population declined last year for the first time since the financial crisis, according to a new report. The population of U.S. millionaire households (households with investible assets of $1 million or more) fell to 5,134,000 from 5,263,000 in 2011, according to The Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth study.
It’s official: Bill Clinton heading to Wisconsin to campaign against Scott Walker
Excerpt: Former President Bill Clinton has decided to go to Wisconsin to campaign against Scott Walker in the final days of the battle over whether to recall the Wisconsin Governor, a move that could give a boost to the anti-Walker forces in a campaign that will depend heavily on who turns out to vote, a source familiar with Clinton’s plans confirms to me. (Wonder if Bill is taking Hillary…or Monica? That Obama is not going tells you he expects Barrett to lose, would rather throw the WI unions under the bus than have a taint of defeat attach to him. ~Bob.)
Rural America and moray decay.
In an e-mail exchange with a Marine buddy from my electronic school days (1965!) that outside of Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin was like America used to be. I thought his response was worth sharing: “There is so much of rural America that is the same way. When you look at the numbers around the election process, you realize that urban America is what really put the boots to our living and moral standards in this country. Urban moral blight is far worse that the physical decay (blight) of the infrastructure. Whole segments of our society have lost any moral compass they may have had at one time in the past. Worse, there seems to be no home grown leadership from within their social structure that ever focuses on anything, except more firmly cementing in their perceived "victim" status. Never have I heard any agreement, among their so called leaders, that there is a need for honest self evaluation, acceptance of even some responsibility for their present conditions or a program for self improvement. Plenty of "you owe me" attitude, though. Thank God we're flawless, right. Talk at you later. –John P.”
Eric Holder Wants One Law for Whites and Another for ‘Non-Whites’
Excerpt: Attorney General Eric Holder spoke to a gathering of black church leaders on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where he told them that voting is a “sacred” right. Where’s the ACLU? Americans United for Separation of Church and State? Sounds like “theocracy” and “dominionism” to me. Where’s Michelle Goldberg? Wasn’t the Attorney General trampling on the First Amendment by mixing religion and politics? (This may be partisan over-selling, but it is clear that Obama and Holder are comfortable with an approach to politics that would be labeled racist if done by white politicians with white voters. ~Bob.)
Holder: DOJ blocking voter ID laws ‘not likely’ to make elections ‘susceptible to fraud’ By Nicholas Ballasy
Excerpt: Attorney General Eric Holder told an audience of black religious leaders that the U.S. Justice Department’s legal challenges to state voter identification laws are “not likely” to make elections “susceptible to fraud. (I’ll bet he’s got a nice lot with a sinkhole on it to sell as prime real estate, too. –Barb.)
Obama Slams Private Equity, But His Own ‘Investors’ Do Quite Well. By Lachlan Markay
Excerpt: But “investors” in an Obama presidency – i.e. his top supporters – have reaped the benefits of many of his administration’s green energy projects, at the expense of taxpayers who see no substantive return. Take Fisker Automotive, the Energy Department-backed electric vehicle manufacturer that announced last year that it would assemble its luxury Karma model in Finland, despite having drawn nearly $200 million of its $529 million federal loan.
"muslims believe in peace but killing fags like you il be doing a favor to god and il enjoy your throates being cut of and your blood ozzing out before me"
Excerpt: This just in from a moderate Muslim who opposes jihad terror but has not quite grasped that "peace" thing:
Obama: I Know Most About Judaism Of Any Other President. By Ben Shapiro
Excerpt: According to the liberal Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, President Obama met yesterday with “about 20 Conservative Jewish community leaders.” At that meeting, Ha’aretz reports, Obama “stressed he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president, because he read about it.
Obama Ad: Little Girls Need Government Condoms to Make ‘Dreams’ Come True. By Ben Shapiro
Excerpt: The Obama campaign has cut a new ad in which it suggests that little girls are being endangered by Republicans who want to do away with mandated contraception coverage. The ad, produced by Obama/Biden 2012, takes the usual Obama tack of addressing the ad from a common citizen to President Obama, like an open letter – even though the ad itself is an open love letter from Obama to Obama, apparently.
Obama Gives Avowed Socialist Presidential Medal of Freedom. By William Bigelow
Excerpt: On Tuesday, President Obama awarded the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Dolores Huerta, the openly socialist leader who is an honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. Huerta, the partner with Cesar Chavez in founding the National Farm Workers Association, has never hid her socialist views; …
Defence of Marriage Act Struck Down
“So let's see if we can connect these dots even before Republican party leaders and great intellectuals like Rush and Sean and Sarah figure it out. In Boston today, a 3 judge panel of the 1st Circuit court of appeals struck down the Defense of Marriage act (DOMA) as unconstitutional. Writing for the unanimous opinion was 72 year old judge Michael Boudin. Although a HW Bush appointee who also was in Reagan's Justice Department and appointed by Dutch to the DC US District Court, Boudin has some interesting connections. Besides being a Hahvahd, Hahvahd Law grad and professor, he is the brother of Kathy Boudin, who did serious time as a Weather Underground bomber. (Coincidence that Kenya Barry honored Bob Dillon yesterday ? I think not). And who brought up Judge Boudin's nephew when his mom was the guest of the government ? You guessed it, fellow Weatherman (woman) Bernadette Dohrn and her hubby, Barry O's best friend and mentor Chicago Bill Ayres.” –PM. This is from a friend and former colleague in the Massachusetts legislature, then a liberal Republican, now firmly in the liberal Democratic camp. He’s being funny, but I don’t think Obama honoring Bob Dillon is connected. Dillon’s voice isn’t much better than my monotone, but he’s popular, especially with the left, and if there’s votes to be harvested, that’s Obama’s main skill set. ~Bob.
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Robert A. Hall
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