Friday, June 8, 2012

POLITICAL DIGEST 06/09/2012 CONSERVATIVE

The Real Take Away From Wisconsin’s Recall
Excerpt: Almost as soon as the results were in, those groups started spreading excuses to explain their loss and continued their effort to undermine a Governor with whom they disagree. Those excuses attempt to impact the narrative of what this election meant. … At the end of the day, Walker spent about $30 million, while unions spent somewhere near $25 million.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Has a Shot in NJ-09 After Pascrell Defeats Rothman in Primary
Excerpt: Last night, Breitbart News contributor Rabbi Shmuley Boteach won the Republican primary in New Jersey's 9th congressional district--and his campaign received an additional boost when his most likely opponent, incumbent Democrat Rep. Steve Rothman, lost to Rep. Bill Pascrell, a fellow Democrat incumbent whose supporters include some notoriously anti-Israel members of the local Arab and Muslim communities. No doubt those same supporters will be even more eager to support Pascrell against Boteach--but Boteach can now draw on new sources of support, including Democrats eager to save their party from anti-Israel radicalism.

Beginning of the End for the Euro? By Jagadeesh Gokhale
Excerpt: The euro was introduced as part of the Stability and Growth Pact of 1999, which also prescribed clear fiscal guidelines for member nations to limit public debts and deficits, and ensure the economic stability needed for the European Central Bank's conduct of a common European monetary policy. It is now clear that this was an impossible dream for such disparate economies as Greece and Germany. But are Spain, Italy and France also too far from being able to repair to those guidelines?

This should set your hair on fire …by Greta Van Susteren
Excerpt: Senator Tom Coburn (who is leaving the Senate at the end of his term) commissioned an investigation to see if there is any government money sitting around in bank accounts. He found $70 BILLION. It is disgraceful. $70 BILLION!!! Just sitting there!!!

White House rejects calls for special counsel for national security leaks
Excerpt: The White House on Thursday rejected congressional calls for a special counsel to investigate a spate of recent national-security leaks described as among the worst lawmakers have ever seen. Members of the House and Senate Intelligence committees have been particularly angered, prompting a rare show of bipartisan fire against the administration. “Leaks jeopardize American lives,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Thursday. (Yes, but trust me—you wouldn’t want your loved-ones lives, to depend on this president choosing between saving them or getting some electoral or media advantage for himself. ~Bob.)

Las Vegas labor dispute could harm President Obama and fellow Democrats
Excerpt: The skirmish between workers and Station Casinos, owners of several nonunion slot palaces, is one of the biggest labor fights in the country. Now the dispute threatens to spill over into the presidential campaign, to the detriment of President Obama, who is set to deliver an education speech Thursday in Las Vegas, and of fellow Democrats, who are grappling to gain a U.S. Senate seat to help keep Nevada's Harry Reid as majority leader

Assigned Zimmerman's old phone number, his life becomes hell
Excerpt: Strangers called at all hours. Some were insulting. Others angry. Sometimes, they threatened him. "You murderer!" "You deserve to die!" By Day 2 he figured out what was going on: T-Mobile had given him the phone number formerly used by George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in February. (Nice folks. Those campaigners for justice. A little dim, perhaps, but civil. If the president had sons, they’d sound like this. ~Bob.)

House GOP moves to act on religion in vets' funerals
Excerpt: Families of deceased veterans were shocked and angry last year when religious references were banned from funeral rituals and a Memorial Day service at Houston National Cemetery. A lawsuit eventually resolved the matter, but a House bill would enshrine in law the lessons learned from that isolated incident.

Dedicating Tax Revenue: Constraining Government or Masking Its Growth?
Excerpt: The practice of dedicating a portion of tax revenue to a specific expenditure category is a popular fiscal tool for state governments. This practice, also known as earmarking, should theoretically have no effect on the size or composition of government expenditure. However, new research indicates earmarking has inherently deceptive qualities that, among other things, work to expand the role of government, say George R. Crowley, an assistant professor of economics at Troy University, and Adam J. Hoffer, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Obamacare's Tax on Medical Devices: Cuts R&D by $2 Billion a Year. By Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D
Excerpt: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) imposes an excise tax of 2.3 percent on medical equipment and supplies, effective in 2013. Regardless of the past and recent profitability of investment in the research and development of new and improved medical devices, this tax will reduce such investment. A conservative estimate of this adverse investment effect is about 10 percent annually through 2020, or about $2 billion per year. Based upon the peer-reviewed literature on the relationship between investment in medical technology and improvements in life expectancies, this investment decline can be predicted to yield an annual decline of about 1 million expected life-years for the U.S. population, concentrated upon particular population subgroups. The economic cost of that reduction in expected life-years would be at least $100 billion per year, a sum substantially greater than the entire U.S. market for durable medical equipment and other medical products.

Speculators Are to Blame for High Gas Prices? It Just Ain't So. By Tyler Watts
Excerpt: In a CNN editorial, socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders accuses vile “Wall Street speculators” of causing a steep recent increase in crude oil and gasoline prices, arguing that were it not for their antics, American consumers would be paying significantly less for this vital resource. … Sanders never explains exactly how speculators cause high prices, nor does he offer substantive evidence for his case.

After Obamacare
Excerpt: For the past two years, America has witnessed headline after headline reporting on flaws in President Barack Obama's health care law. And as America learns more about this intolerable act, the opposition to Obamacare continues to grow. Yesterday, a new poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News showed that more than two-thirds of Americans want to see the Supreme Court strike down Obamacare in whole or in part, and only 24 percent would keep the law in place.

Texas, Taxes & Brass Tacks. By Burt Prelutsky
Excerpt: For instance, while chatting with Charlie Rose on “CBS This Morning,” Governor Jerry Brown went into a lengthy pitch for California business, pointing out that it is the state that’s always been known for innovation. To prove his case that it is as true now as it ever was, Brown announced that no less an enterprise than Facebook got its start here on the edge of the Pacific. Not wishing to embarrass a fellow liberal, Mr. Rose didn’t start cackling like a loon, as I might have done. Instead, he politely informed Governor Moonbeam that Mark Zuckerberg and a few college pals launched the billion dollar brainstorm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while they were attending Harvard.

Excerpt: Based on an analysis of the president’s calendar and news reports, President Obama and/or First Lady Michelle Obama have held over 25 fundraisers featuring Hollywood actors, producers, or singers. (And Romney’s now out-raising Obama, the fundraiser-in-chief? ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: What's Changed After Wisconsin: The Obama administration suddenly looks like a house of cards. By Peggy Noonan
Excerpt: President Obama's problem now isn't what Wisconsin did, it's how he looks each day—careening around, always in flight, a superfluous figure. No one even looks to him for leadership now. He doesn't go to Wisconsin, where the fight is. He goes to Sarah Jessica Parker's place, where the money is.

Bus bomb kills 19 in northwest Pakistan - police
Excerpt: A bomb exploded on a bus on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 19 people and wounding several, police officials said. (Another day, another bunch of Allahmurders of Muslims by Muslims who didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob.)

Pakistan blast: Quetta religious school toll rises to 15
I murder these children in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. ~Bob. Excerpt: The death toll from a bomb attack in the Pakistani city of Quetta rose to 15 on Friday, after some of those injured died in hospital, police said. At least eight people, including children, died at the scene of the blast outside a religious school.

Fourteen dismembered bodies found in north-east Mexico
Excerpt: Fourteen dismembered bodies have been discovered in a lorry in north-eastern Mexico, local officials say. The vehicle was parked outside the mayor's office in Ciudad Mante, in Tamaulipas state. Reports say gang-related messages were found on the blankets covering 11 men and three women. (Abusing drugs may ruin your life and destroy your family, but it does kill off a lot of Mexicans. ~Bob.)

Barack Obama’s war on terror is nastier and less ethical than George W Bush’s. By Tim Stanley
Excerpt: But on foreign policy, a different picture emerges. The President is a tough SOB without a liberal bone in his body. … Oddly, Obama’s top political strategist, David Axelrod, is also present at the meetings. Are targets chosen according to electoral impact?

Florida defies Justice Department on voter purge
Excerpt: The federal Department of Homeland Security may, for months, violate federal law and deny Florida and other states access to the SAVE database so that the federal Department of Justice may then assert that the resulting delays in a state’s election-integrity efforts violate the time periods established in another federal law,” he wrote. “This hardly seems like an approach earnestly designed to protect the integrity of elections and to ensure that eligible voters have their votes counted.”

Holder: Email with Words ‘Fast & Furious’ Not Referencing ‘Fast & Furious.’ By Mary Chastain
Excerpt: Another day of testimony from Attorney General Eric Holder, another day of stonewalling Congress. Thursday afternoon, the embattled Holder answered questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee. Starting out, Chairman Lamar Smith asked him directly who in the Department of Justice knew about the gun walking used in Operation Fast & Furious. “Mr. Attorney General, who is the highest ranking official in this administration that knew that these tactics were being used?” asked Chairman Smith. Mr. Holder never directly answered. (Dems determined to play defense/add to stonewalling of Dept of Injustice. –Barb)

Exposing the New York Times’ sins. By Ken Allard
Excerpt: The foreseeable harm done by Sanger and his Times colleagues now includes the likelihood of Iranian retaliation because industrial sabotage, like blockades and air raids, are acts of war. You might remember how, earlier this year, the Iranians forced down our beyond-top-secret spy drone, apparently by spoofing its GPS system. Given the sloppy condition of our cyber defenses, the mullahs must surely be contemplating retaliation, say against the notoriously computer-dependent American infrastructure.

Maybe it's time to build a nuclear bunker? B y Joseph Zaalishvili
Excerpt: Political paradoxes characterize the foreign policy of Barack Obama. Paradoxically, Sunni Turkey, in spite of its religious, political, cultural differences, is becoming an ally of Shiite Iran. Who could imagine this 20 years ago? Despite the financial, economic, and oil sanctions, Turkey has become one of the most important partners of Iran.

Movie Trailer: Operation Hot Mic
Good ad, if you haven’t seen. ~Bob.

Jim DeMint Gets It
It probably just went over the head of everyone in the room on the Joint Economic Committee, but Bernanke didn’t miss it. Paraphrased, Jim DeMint said: If you stop the deficit spending the economy craters (~10% of GDP) and if you continue doing it the economy will crater (since you will eventually hit the wall and be forced to stop, and it will be even worse.) In other words, the policies being promulgated are not and cannot be effective.

Alabama Bans U.N. Agenda 21 Sovereignty Surrender
Excerpt: Few have heard of Agenda 21, the U.N. plan for sustainable development that tosses property rights aside. But Alabama has, and it recently secured a victory as important as that over union power in Wisconsin.

Farming Cuts Sow Discord: Southern Lawmakers Say Bill to Revamp Subsidies Favors Other Regions' Growers
Excerpt: The farm bill, which cleared a hurdle Thursday when the Senate voted 90 to 8 to begin debate, would cut spending by $23.6 billion over a decade, mostly by pruning payments that farmland owners get regardless of whether they plant crops. Southern lawmakers argue the measure unravels the safety net for rice and peanut growers and favors bigger crops like corn and soybeans grown largely in the Midwest.

Can One Be Truly Black and Patriotic?
Excerpt: Famed TV minster Bishop T. D. Jakes said when your “perception is off”, you do not realize or appreciate the true value of what you have until you have lost it. Is it fair to say that, in general, black America's perception is off regarding their country which is, in reality, a tremendous gift from God? Some may think me insane for suggesting that it was a blessing for my ancestors to be betrayed by fellow blacks, sold to white slave traders, separated from their families and shipped to a strange land to be slaves. (I admire tremendously people like this writer, who certainly know what it is to be Black in America, but appreciate all the good of America and don't dwell on the past or present flaws. Their integrity and strength are truly impressive. The nation is fortunate to have people of such caliber, no matter what the color of their skin is. --Del)

Criminal Spitballing Threatens Public Education
Excerpt: In December 2010, freshman Andrew Mikel II was kicked out of Spotsylvania High School for the remainder of the school year under a charge that the “spitwad” incident constituted “violent criminal conduct” and possession of a weapon. School officials also referred the matter to local law enforcement for criminal prosecution. Although no one was harmed, the Spotsylvania County Circuit Court upheld the disciplinary action in May 2011. (Boy, I would have been gone, as I did worse. Did you know if you remove the rubber suction cups from a spring loaded dart guns darts, and heat the tip in a flame, you can insert a sewing needle in place of the cup? Yes you can. ~Bob.)

The Four Lies About the Economy That Obama Needs Voters to Believe. By Larry Elder
Excerpt: President Barack Obama's re-election turns on his ability to convince voters that 1) Obama inherited a "Great Recession," 2) every "independent" economist supported the "stimulus," 3) "bipartisan" economists agree that Obama's stimulus worked, and 4) as actor Morgan Freeman puts it, racist Republicans say, "Screw the country ... we're going to do whatever we can to get this black man outta here" -- nothing to do with deeply held policy differences.

Modern amorality in spades
An interview with a young woman who stole money from a Girl Scout who was selling cookies. Kind of like the "taking candy from a baby" thing. But listening to her explain herself is really mind blowing. Take a quick look and you'll see what I mean. Of course this is not every young person out there. But it is typical of some fraction of the population. How sad is that? –Del

Is anti-Catholicism on the rise? By Stephen Kokx
Excerpt: As of the writing of this column, 43 Catholic organizations, including Franciscan University and Ave Maria University -- two schools that stopped offering health coverage because of the reforms included in the president's health care plan -- have filed lawsuits against the Obama administration for infringing on their religious freedom. Even the University of Notre Dame, a school that bestowed an honorary degree on the president in 2009, has joined its Catholic brethren in their fight. (This essay puts together a lot of things, and reinforces the general understanding that today some religious institutions are under attack by a secularist power structure. And it is true that in current culture, the ideas of practicing Christian virtues and avoiding immorality, and even protesting against practices that violate some precept of the religion, pretty much makes you definitely un-cool, to be looked down upon or laughed at. We're all supposed to go along to get along with whatever currents exist in society. In the ceremony of Confirmation, the bishop used to lightly slap the candidate at one point, symbolizing that as a Christian you may well be called upon to suffer for your faith. Sometimes you won't be able to just go along with whatever is going on. And our Founders, almost to a man quite religious, intended for people to be able to follow the sincere precepts of their faith, so long as there was no threat to others or damage to the normal operations of the nation. The Amish live largely apart from common culture, but they are not penalized for so doing as they practice their particular version of Christianity, and that is to the credit of the country. The rise of aggressive secularism over the past decades has increasingly tended to create conflict with religious people. We have arrived at a pinch point, so to speak, with the dictate of the Health czar that Catholic institutions must provide contraception benefits to employees, students, etc. The bishops basically had little choice but to fight this, and the fight is not just for Catholics, it's for all Americans who believe that separation of Church and State means the government cannot force believers into actions contrary to their conscience. It's not about who's cool, it's about fundamental rights. –Del)

Excerpt: Hardly surprising, deeply upsetting, and geostrategically catastrophic, it’s official. Turkey has now passed over towards being an Islamist state. That turning point is marked by a tiny event of gigantic importance.

Slow Economic Recovery Ahead. From The Patriot Post
Excerpt: The economy is obviously the biggest issue in this election, just as it was in 2008. That speaks volumes about Barack Obama's record -- nearly four years and trillions in "stimulus" deficit spending later, and the economy is still stuck in neutral. That's why he held a press conference this morning to once again make sure it was clear he doesn't think any of the fault is his. Europe, Congress, headwinds -- anybody and anything but him. www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/

What Wisconsin Means. By Charles Krauthammer
Excerpt: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, will be remembered as the beginning of the long decline of the public-sector union. It will follow, and parallel, the shrinking of private-sector unions, now down to less than 7 percent of American workers. The abject failure of the unions to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- the first such failure in U.S. history -- marks the Icarus moment of government-union power.

Why Stocks Love Scott Walker. By Lawrence Kudlow
Excerpt: You didn't see it in the mainstream financial media Wednesday morning. But stocks loved Gov. Scott Walker's spanking of public-sector unions and Democrats in Wisconsin. The Dow jumped about 165 points right at the opening on Wednesday and was up over 200 points later in the day.

Former ACORN Director Gets $445 Mil From U.S. Treasury
Excerpt: The Obama Administration has given a former director at the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) nearly half a billion dollars to offer “struggling” Illinois homeowners mortgage assistance, a Judicial Watch investigation has found. It means the ACORN official (Joe McGavin) will go from operating a corrupt leftist community group that’s banned by Congress from receiving federal funding to controlling over $445 million in U.S. taxpayer funds.

What Rand Paul’s Romney endorsement means
Excerpt: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s endorsement of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romneys presidential bid on Thursday night is more important than it might seem at first glance.

Why The Can Has Not Been Kicked
Excerpt: Everyone seems to be asking repeatedly why we don’t get some sort of “solution” for Europe out of Merkel and Obama, along with The Fed. I want to put forward my theory on this, because this much is certain — the “powers that be” certainly don’t like the prospect of a blowup in Spain. But while these folks are many things, stupid isn’t one of them.

Long-Term Budget Outlook
Excerpt: The Congressional Budget Office released its latest long-term budget outlook this week, showing that the public debt will reach 70% of GDP this year. When this is combined with other government debt, the overall debt exceeds 100% of GDP. CBO says it is going to get worse (see chart below). Although this is bad news, it is not surprising.

Excerpt: All sorts of Democratic operatives and columnists are advising Obama to do A through Z, in near panic that the near-even polls in dozens of states are like light taps to an egg shell — ostensibly not serious at first until the entire surface in an unexpected subsequent moment implodes.

Pentagon Halts Free Guns For Police Program
http://www.officer.com/news/10726992/pentagon-halts-free-guns-for-police-program Excerpt: The Defense Department has stopped issuing weapons to thousands of law enforcement agencies until it is satisfied that state officials can account for all the surplus guns, aircraft, Humvees and armored personnel carriers it has given police under a $2.6 billion program, The Associated Press has learned. (I know why this has come about today. Attorney General Holder was grilled for four hours yesterday by congress and couldn't come up with reasonable answers about "Fast and Furious." So, as with everything this administration does, DEFLECT. Cynical of me, isn't it? -- This comment reportedly by an active duty L A PD Sergeant.)

Holder’s Lies Exposed By DOJ Document Leak
Excerpt: Wiretap applications obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform prove Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant AG Lanny Breuer lied to Committee members when they claimed DOJ personnel knew nothing of the tactics used by the ATF during Operation Fast And Furious.


--
Robert A. Hall

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