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, or that I was able to verify the information present, which is the responsibility of the author. In some cases I post things sent to me by readers I might not have posted on my own, to get ideas circulating.
Information on my books
Countrywide Cronyism. By Tad DeHaven
http://townhall.com/columnists/taddehaven/2012/07/08/countrywide_cronyism/page/full/ Excerpt: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a report today on failed mortgage company Countrywide’s use of a VIP loan program to curry favor with Beltway decision-makers. Members of Congress, congressional staffers, and cabinet officials received preferential treatment – including rate discounts and fee waivers – from Countrywide. Countrywide was a major beneficiary of the federal government’s overzealous subsidization of housing, which contributed to the housing bubble and bust that fueled the recent economic downturn.
Bumper flops: The idiocy of liberal slogans. By Mark Goldblatt
Excerpt: Modern American liberalism is no longer a system of beliefs about the role of government, the conduct of international relations or the nature of personal responsibility. Rather, it has become a series of bumper stickers. But if you peel them away, one by one, from the forehead of liberals, there’s nothing underneath.
A Landmark Ruling on Health Care. By Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska
Excerpt: The Supreme Court last week issued its decision on the constitutionality of the health care law: its 5-4 ruling means the 2,700-page piece of legislation is officially the law of the land. Until and unless it is repealed, it's the law we have to live with. Yet it's important to keep the Justices' ruling in perspective. They said this law was constitutional. They did not say it was good policy. Their ruling doesn't change the fact we are left with a law projected to cost $2.6 trillion; increase premiums for family plans by more than $2,000; result in 800,000 fewer jobs due to new mandates; and cut $500 billion from Medicare. That's clearly bad policy and why I believe we should redouble our efforts to repeal it. ((Detailed comment from a US Senator, who is in a position to know what he's talking about. Yep, we had to pass it to find out what's in it. Now we find out more every day of what's in it. And what's in it is absolutely terrible. --Del)
DOT Construction Signs Hacked To Read 'Impeach Obama'
Excerpt: Several electronic road construction signs around Anchorage were hacked late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, according to the state Department of Transportation. Signs that normally display closure and detour information, like the one on Minnesota Drive near 100th Avenue, were changed to read “Impeach Obama.” That particular sign wasn’t fixed until sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Thursday. (Funny, but probably counter-productive. ~Bob.)
Father of six faces 60 days behind bars for hosting Bible study in his OWN home against city rules
Excerpt: A Phoenix man has been sentenced to two months in jail, three years’ probation and more than $12,000 in fines for using his private home to host weekly Bible studies in violation of the city’s building codes.
Watchdog groups defend Florida’s efforts to purge voter lists in court
Excerpt: A top Inside-the-Beltway public-interest, watchdog group announced this week that it filed a Intervention with its client True the Vote to defend the State of Florida’s efforts to clean up voter registration lists against an Obama administration lawsuit. (This is good news. Adams, who was in the DOJ, wrote a book on how Holder's department twisted justice to favor minorities who had committed crimes. --Don Hank.)
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/ann-mariemurrell/2012/07/08/desperation_smell_like_o_team_spirit
Every now and then I try to check out what the Other Side is doing so today I visited the BarackObama.com campaign website. Wait--what’s that smell? I recognize it but can’t quite figure it out…oh yeah. It’s desperation.
Sharia in action: "It is the order of Allah that she be executed" -- Taliban murders "adulteress" near Kabul
Excerpt: Doubtless Imam Rauf is jetting over to Kabul at this very moment to explain to the Taliban that they are getting benign and humanitarian Sharia all wrong, wrong, wrong.
Suicide bomber kills 7 of his own family in Iraq
Didn't get the "Islam is a Religion of Peace" memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged belt at a gathering of his own family in western Iraq, killing his pro-government cousin and six other relatives, officials said Saturday. The blast targeting a leader in the Sahwa militias in the city of Ramadi is a reminder of how extremism still divides Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, with some working with al-Qaida-linked insurgents against others who support the Shiite-led government.
And people say my blog never covers good news... ~Bob. Excerpt: Minutes after a dispute emerged between Taliban commanders over the distribution of funds they had recently obtained by taxing local residents, Taliban militants turned their guns on each other. When the smoke cleared, four Taliban members, including two commanders, lay dead, while at least three others were wounded. The clash, which occurred in Loka Sang village in the unstable Obe district in Herat, resulted in the death of Maulvi Abdul Karim, the shadow district governor, and Mullah Imatullah, the military commander for Obe, according to a village elder who spoke to Pajhwok Afghan News.
Excerpt: General Motors recorded its best monthly sales numbers since September 2008 last month, largely due to government intervention. While The New York Daily News reports that General Motors’ sales are up 16 percent from this time last year, the National Legal and PolicyCenter pointed out that government purchases of GM automobiles rose 79 percent in June. The Detroit Free Press reports that retail sales of GM vehicles rose less than eight percent, while sales to fleet customers rose 36 percent. (Oh, is my thumb on the scale? Just look at the number. --Barb.)
UN Pushes Carbon Tax For ‘Global Development.’ By AWR Hawkins
Excerpt: The U.N. seems to be working overtime to take advantage of President Obama’s soft spot for taxes, progressive schemes, and gun control. Already this week I’ve written about the Arms Trade Treaty, a treaty aimed at stopping guns from crossing borders, and which will ultimately require gun registration to keep track of whose guns are going where. Now we can add to that a proposed billionaire’s tax, a carbon tax, and a currency exchange tax.
On this week’s “Girl on Guy” podcast with Aisha Tyler from Vibe magazine, comedian and television sitcom personality Wayne Brady said “I would gladly slap the shit out of Bill Maher in the middle of the street.” In 2010, Bill Maher said he wished President Barack Obama was less like Brady and more like Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight.
The Final Week of Judicial Activism Lost in the glare of the ObamaCare decision: last week, the Supreme Court overturned 32 of 33 statutes. By Rick Richman
Last week, while upholding ObamaCare, the Supreme Court issued rulings in four other cases, overturning a total of 32 state and federal statutes. The significance of the other cases may have been lost in the glare of the ObamaCare decision. The other cases portray a Court quite ready to — in President Obama’s famous words — “somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.” Taken together, the four cases are a study in judicial activism.
Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s Ailments ‘More Serious’ Than First Believed
Rep, Jesse Jackson, Jr., son of the civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, is more seriously ill than first believed, according to his communications director. ... Is it simply a coincidence that Nayak’s indictment came so close to the announcement of Jackson’s leave of absence? What might be the connection, if any, between the two events.
Excerpt: Over at the Washington Free Beacon, Matt Continetti has a fine piece up on “The Obama Derecho.” He’s referring to the nasty storm that crippled the Washington, D.C., area a few days ago, and whose aftereffects are still being felt, but also to the long-term crippling effects of the Obama presidency — a gift that will keep on giving long after the Emperor Hussein is turned out of office:
Roll-your-own cigarette operations to be snuffed out
Excerpt: A tiny amendment buried in the federal transportation bill to be signed today by President Barack Obama will put operators of roll-your-own cigarette operations in Las Vegas and nationwide out of business at midnight.
IPAB is a mini government within the federal bureaucracy. Not only does it create rather than merely implement Medicare cost-cutting policy, but it has greater power within its realm than elected officials — including the president of the United States. Indeed, its “advice” is really a mandate that literally can become law over a presidential veto
Putin’s July 4th Message: Russian Nuclear-Capable Bombers Intercepted Near West Coast In Second U.S. Air Defense Zone Intrusion In Two Weeks
Excerpt: Two Russian strategic nuclear bombers entered the U.S. air defense zone near the Pacific coast on Wednesday and were met by U.S. interceptor jets, defense officials told the Free Beacon. It was the second time Moscow dispatched nuclear-capable bombers into the 200-mile zone surrounding U.S. territory in the past two weeks.
Humor: Our Political Black Hole. By Gail Collins
Excerpt: Scientists in Geneva announced this week that they had found a new subatomic particle that they were 99.999999 percent sure was the elusive Higgs boson, nicknamed the “God particle.” Even though we had no earthly idea what that meant, we were definitely excited.
Will Congress Continue to Push Inefficient and Uneconomic Biofuels?
Excerpt: The biofuels provisions in the Farm Bill have nothing to do with promoting good energy or environmental policy and everything to do with continuing the handouts for big agribusiness. Ethanol itself has become the poster child for everything that is wrong with government subsidy programs, and rightly so. It’s time for Congress to wean the biofuels industry off the decades of subsidies that have supported it, and let the market decide if they truly deserve a place in our energy future. (Here is another nice summary of green billion$ burning a hole in our economy. - Chris)
Sanctuary Insanity: California Senate Passes “Anti-Arizona” Bill to Protect Illegal Aliens.
Excerpt: It’s no contest. It’s not even close. California is America’s undisputed “Sanctuary State” for illegal aliens. And now, in their hysteria over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the central provision of Arizona’s S.B. 1070 – that requires police officers to check the immigration status of people they stop – California legislators are setting new lows in contempt for the rule of law.
Look Who's Embracing Privatization—Big City Democrats
Excerpt: We often hear that America's infrastructure is crumbling, but did you know that tens and possibly hundreds of billions of dollars in private infrastructure funds are waiting to be spent? It's money that Chicago Mayor—and Democratic Party powerhouse—Rahm Emanuel has spotted, rightly calling it "a tool here that takes some of the pressure off taxpayers."
Previously Convicted DUI Illegal Alien Kills American Female Teen, 16 When He Lost Control Of Car In St. Paul (my version of title)
Excerpt: The Star Tribune headlines this story without telling the whole truth:
Obama’s Goose Is Cooked. By Larry Kudlow
Excerpt: In a campaign stop in Ohio on Friday, Obama actually said we’re still “heading in the right direction.” Is he kidding? As a stagnant GDP drops below 2 percent, employment falters, retail sales decline, and the ISM index for manufacturing drops below 50 (signaling contraction)? No objective observer can deny that the economy is headed in the wrong direction.
Jobs report: More people went on disability than got jobs in June
Excerpt: Here’s a fun tidbit that I missed from the June jobs report. Most months, the number of people transferring out of the workforce on disability claims are easily dwarfed by the people who find jobs. In June? Hope and change, baby: (Or as Obama would say... it's a step in the right direction. --Steve.)
Rep. Brady: Obama Recovery ‘Dead Last’
Excerpt: With a report showing lower-than-expected number of new jobs added to the U.S. economy last month, President Obama has come to preside over a recovery that is “dead last in the modern era,” Texas Congressman Kevin Brady said Friday on CNBC.
Worth Reading: Corrupt, Inefficient Big Government Drags Down America. By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: But no advanced society has ever attempted Big Government for a third of a billion people -- for the simple reason that it cannot be done without creating a nation with the black-hole finances of Stockton, Calif., and the Black-Hole-of-Calcutta fetid, airless, sweatbox utility services of Rockville, Md. Thanks to ObamaCare, in matters of health provision, whether you're in favor of socialized medicine or truly private health care, Swedes and Italians are now freer than Americans: They have a state system and a private system, and both are relatively simple. What's simple in micro-regulated America?
Do We Need and Should We Start a Second American Revolution?
http://godfatherpolitics.com/6047/do-we-need-and-should-we-start-a-second-american-revolution/
Excerpt: Earlier this week I attempted to ignite a debate (not a revolt) about the State of America now compared to 236 years ago when we abolished the authority of the British government over our affairs.
http://godfatherpolitics.com/6047/do-we-need-and-should-we-start-a-second-american-revolution/
Excerpt: Earlier this week I attempted to ignite a debate (not a revolt) about the State of America now compared to 236 years ago when we abolished the authority of the British government over our affairs.
WWII aviation museum in Glenview, IL
At a function Saturday, I met Carl Lau. He's 80, flew Corsairs off the Lexington for the Okinawa campaign. Mostly ground support, he says, which he hated as he always thought he was bombing civilians a lot of the time. He was shot down by AA, which blew his wing man to pieces and the debris took Carl out. He's still working, recently was asked to create a diorama of the Battle of Midway for museum in Hawaii, which he did. He's created "On Final Approach" Gallery and Events.
How Romney Can Win
Excerpt: According to a survey conducted as part of the Financial Trust Index, which I codirect, only 19 percent of Americans reject the free-market system. But 51 percent are suspicious of the excessive power of big business. In other words, they are pro-market, but not necessarily pro-business, especially when business is large and politically powerful.
Why Try To Take Baby From EDL Mother But Not From ‘Terrorists’?
Excerpt: He said: “It raises a curious question as to why Abu Qatada is allowed to radicalise his children but the state won’t take the chance of allowing Toni McLeod to look after her baby in case she says something social workers won’t like. ... Social workers have told her husband Martyn he would be unable to care for his child because he is a full-time soldier just back from Afghanistan.
Unemployment Rate Dropped In Every State That Elected A GOP Gov. in 2010
http://nation.foxnews.com/unemployment-rate/2012/07/08/unemployment-rate-dropped-every-state-elected-gop-gov-2010
http://nation.foxnews.com/unemployment-rate/2012/07/08/unemployment-rate-dropped-every-state-elected-gop-gov-2010
Excerpt: In 2010, influenced by the Tea Party and its focus on fiscal issues, 17 states elected Republican governors. And, according to an Examiner.com analysis, every one of those states saw a drop in their unemployment rates since January of 2011. Furthermore, the average drop in the unemployment rate in these states was 1.35%, compared to the national decline of .9%, which means, according to the analysis, that the job market in these Republican states is improving 50% faster than the national rate.
Reverend Wright knocks Obama in Sunday sermon
Excerpt: Speaking at the 100th anniversary of a Washington, D.C. church, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright knocked President Barack Obama and accused America’s elite academic institutions of instilling racism. (Probably helps Obama, though as he often said, he didn't listen to Wright even when he went to his church.. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations.
GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, The Head Of Obama’s Jobs Council, Is Moving Jobs And Economic Infrastructure To China At A Blistering Pace
Excerpt: Jeffrey Immelt, the head of Barack Obama's highly touted "Jobs Council", is moving even more GE infrastructure to China. GE makes more medical-imaging machines than anyone else in the world, and now GE has announced that it "is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing". Apparently, this is all part of a "plan to invest about $2 billion across China" over the next few years. But moving core pieces of its business overseas is nothing new for GE.
Economy Stalls As Obama Targets Businesses
Excerpt: What isn’t so widely known, however, is the increased frequency with which individual businesses are being confronted and threatened by governmental agencies other than the I.R.S. For example, U.S. Congressman David Schweikert (R-Arizona) tells a horrifying story about a small business owner and his government- and it’s a story that helps explain why the economy isn’t growing.
A Skeptic Looks at Alternative Energy
Excerpt: Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of energy transitions is their speed. Substituting one form of energy for another takes along time. U.S. nuclear generation began to deliver 10 percent of all electricity after 23 years of operation, and it took 38 years to reach a 20 percent share, which occurred in 1995. It has stayed around that mark ever since. Electricity generation by natural gas turbines took 45 years to reach 20 percent. (This excellent article focuses on what may be the second most important misunderstanding about “green energy” (the first being its justification by catastrophic anthropomorphic global warming). When political masters order something to be done, like impatient teenagers, they expect instant gratification. Life doesn’t work that way. Electricity has been known for centuries, but was used for little before the telegraph was invented. It really took off after Edison’s successful incandescent bulb hit the market. Electricity had a brief, intense, and successful war with gas lighting that was completely won before the First World War began. In the 1930s, the USA had a massive national Rural Electrification program that lasted for years and cost billions. Yet, I was born in 1947 and lived my early years in places (Gratz, KY and Bokelia Island, FL) where electricity was so chancy and undependable we kept—and frequently used—oil/kerosene lamps(in fact, there is an oil lamp on top of my refrigerator, filled with oil, with the wick trimmed and ready to light right this moment). My point is that it has taken more than a century to get our electrical generation and distribution grid to where it is right now, and within the past month, a large part of the country near the national capital was without power for a week or more. But policy makers seriously talk about replacing the current system of generation within a decade or two. I doubt it could be done in FIVE decades and we are currently the country most able in the world to make that conversion. Ron P.)
Mob of Black Teens Attack Whites in Columbus after 4th of July fireworks
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2012/07/07/fireworks-show-lacked-safety-plan.html
Excerpt: During the 2012 Red, White & Boom celebration, there were dozens of police officers at the fireworks. Most of these officers were clumped in bunches near the Scioto River and simply watched the fireworks along with the hundreds of thousands of spectators. After the show ended and people started walking back to their cars, things turned violent. A gang of approximately 30 black youths (both male and female) started walking and running down Broad Street and randomly assaulted white people — old people, children, women. (We are all breathlessly awaiting statements of condemnation from Obama, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Eric Withholder. ~Bob.)
Robert A. Hall
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