Thursday, September 27, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for September 28, 2012

With the election only 40 days away, more important than ever that you do what you can to educate undecided/uninvolved voters. Please forward this blog, or select items, to people who need to see the light. ~Bob

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. 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 presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Tee Shirt from Friends in Florida

Racist Communist Propaganda

Worth Reading: Obama Versus Obama: Part III. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Obama himself is well aware of the nature and importance of his image. In his own words, "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." An 18th century philosopher put the matter bluntly: "When I speak, I put on a mask. When I act, I am forced to take it off."

Excerpt: There was only one presidential debate in 1980 between challenger Ronald Reagan and President Jimmy Carter. Just two days before the Oct. 28 debate, Carter was eight points ahead in the Gallup poll. A week after the debate, he lost to Reagan by nearly ten percentage points.

NBC Focuses On Obama Ad, Skips Libya Fallout. By Matt Hadro
Excerpt: NBC's Today show mentioned the Obama campaign's newest attack ad three times on Monday, but not once did they report on developments in the wake of deadly attacks in Libya. Questions are being raised against the Obama State Department's handling of security prior to the embassy attacks. (If the media was unbiased, Romney would be up ten in the polls. I truly believe that. ~Bob.)

Poll: U.S.-Muslim Relations Were Better Under Bush. By Jessica Stanton
Excerpt: A plurality of likely voters — or 45 percent — believe that U.S. relations with the Islamic world are worse under President Barack Obama than they were under President George W. Bush, according to a Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday. A mere 18 percent believe that U.S.-Muslim relations are better, while 31 percent believe relations have stayed the same since Obama took the White House four years ago.
Report: Racist Pics Sent To Mia Love. By Kevin Robillard
Tolerant liberals. ~Bob. Excerpt: Police are investigating racist photos sent to the office of Utah GOP congressional candidate Mia Love, but aren’t sure if any crimes were committed, according to a report. An envelope including pictures of aborted fetuses, a photo of Love and her husband Jason, and a photo of a hooded Ku Klux member were sent to Love’s mayoral office in Saratoga Springs, the Deseret News reported.

Important--Worth Reading: Debt Ceiling Fight Club: Bring on the next round of ugly budget battles. By Veronique de Rugy
Excerpt: At the current rate of federal spending, the national debt will crash through its legal $16.4 trillion limit by January 2013. When that happens, both sides of the aisle will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the hysterical debt ceiling showdown in the summer of 2011. The Democrats have not managed to pass a budget in years and do not have plans to reduce our mounting debt. Republicans generally wind up trying to weasel out of whatever spending cuts they agreed to before the ink on the deal has dried.

ObamaCare -- An Explosion of Regulatory Burdens
Excerpt: The Obama administration's health care law is already poised to cost billions in regulatory costs. However, few look to the burdens that the government and businesses will have in an effort to comply. Countless hours will be spent going over and finishing paperwork. Every hour spent on complying with the law is productivity and resources being taken away from businesses and hospitals, says Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.).

Lady Gaga will leave the planet and Madonna will stay clothed if Romney wins, how much more motivation do you guys need? #RomneyRyan2012

Obama and Congress Are Choosing to Cause a Recession
Excerpt: President Obama recently said, "The most important lesson I've learned is you can't change Washington from the inside." That's demoralizing to hear when a recession is bearing down on the economy—and it's an inside job. The Congressional Budget Office has forecasted a fresh recession to hit next year if Taxmageddon, a nearly $500 billion tax increase, hits the nation and Congress and the President drive us off the "fiscal cliff." President Obama has done nothing but ignore this warning.

Quote
Sustainable energy programs in the U.S. break the most fundamental rule of sustainability by not being fiscally sustainable. –Chris Haase

Up to 700,000 Syrians may flee by year-end: UNHCR
Excerpt: Up to 700,000 Syrian refugees may flee abroad by the end of the year, the U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday, almost four times its previous forecast for the exodus from the deepening crisis. (Will the Arabs treat these refugees better than they treat the Arab refugees they encouraged to flee Israel, and keep in poverty to ferment unrest? ~Bob.)

Proposal Sets Circumcision Regulations in Germany
Excerpt: Germany’s Justice Ministry took a firm step on Wednesday toward safeguarding the right of parents to circumcise their male children, distributing its proposal to state officials and other experts to be debated before it is drafted into law.

The Calm Before the Storm; China’s about to find out how hard it is to run an aircraft carrier. By Andrew S. Erickson, Gabriel B. Collins
Excerpt: The PLAN's possession of an aircraft carrier is a great public relations booster for the Chinese military and suggests that Chinese diplomacy will be backed by an even bigger stick in East and Southeast Asia, and possibly beyond. Yet the stick was hard to come by and remains far from a potent tool. In fact, Liaoning has not yet demonstrated the capacity for aircraft launches or landings, which is the essence of carrier operations. Why has it taken so long to get to this point, which is not itself militarily decisive?

Worth Reading: Forget 'Better Off.' Are you safer than you were four years ago?
Excerpt: It is unlikely that Obama's signature foreign-policy successes -- authorizing the raid to kill Osama bin Laden and providing the essential military and intelligence capabilities that led to the downfall of Muammar al-Qaddafi -- singlehandedly made the United States safer.

The Political Class Will Try To Con You Again Over The EU. By Nigel Farage
Excerpt: THE British establishment is quite prepared to doctor the record when it suits them – last week's Hillsborough revelations showed that. It can be decades before the truth is dragged from our political class. There is no subject on which this is truer than Britain's membership of the European Union. (Nigel Farage spells out the danger of a European Federation, which is the next step to be taken by the EU to strip the nation states of the last vestiges of sovereignty. Ironically, the notion of a formidable central government gradually strangling the sovereign states is embodied in the current stage of US governance. It strikes me for the first time that, rather than Europe being a warning to America, our current dire state of affairs, with a president who refuses to protect the states from invasion (mass illegal immigration) and even suing a state that dares to protect itself, is a warning to Europeans. I plead with my European friends not to allow themselves to be sucked into this maelstrom of deceit. It is a scheme intended to impoverish you by punishing the honest, hard-working peoples for their success. We have been similarly duped and are now seeing our last freedoms ebbing away. Your Draghi and our Bernanke are working hand in hand using the same tyrannical tactics of wanton money printing and bailouts for their cronies that is diluting the value of our currencies and inflating prices to the extent that the middle class is trending toward extinction. Since it is obvious that these power control freaks cannot be stopped by conventional "democratic" means or by fighting them under their own rules, e.g., though negotiations, I think Catalan had the right idea when it threatened to secede from Spain and leave the EU. Likewise, any American states that want to avoid the destruction of the dollar will eventually have to mint their own currency rather than continue to use a debased currency whose value falls precipitously with each passing day. Far fetched, you say? How far fetched is the current policy--on both sides of the pond--of allowing a small coterie of extravagantly rich and powerful bureaucrats to steal your sovereignty and your savings and give them to their banker and politician cronies? No, the reality is far fetched. The solution is a matter of do or die. --Don Hank)

Europe Is Now In A Completely Unmanageable Situation
Excerpt: Discontent in Spain and Greece is rising. Greece’s two largest labor unions went on strike today, disrupting flight and train services and forcing hospitals to depend on emergency staff. This is the first general strike in Greece since the coalition government came to power. (Read this in conjunction with Nigel Farage's warning of the coming European Federation. The EU knows that Greece is cooking the books and that they aren't eligible for any further loans or bailouts from the Troika. They knew Greece cooked the books to get into the Euro zone in the first place. That is one very important reason they need a European Federation, so that the annoying nation states will have no say in whether or not to participate in these boondoggles. And once the Federation is in place, look for the boondoggles to get much more extravagant. How will they pay? Easy. They will simply print and print, along with Bernanke in the US, until no one on the planet with accept a dollar or a euro as payment for anything. Why? Because, according the Agenda 21, the earth's population must be reduced. It must be implemented by impoverishment. War is not an option... yet. --Don Hank)

BREAKING NEWS: Obama Administration Knew Libya Attack Was Terrorism
Excerpt: Sources confirm to Fox News that the Obama administration knew from Day One that the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was an act of terror. White House officials, including President Obama, have held to the explanation that the attack was a 'spontaneous action.'

Excerpt: Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks. In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family. (Where is OWS opposing the one percent when you need them? Or are lavish lifestyles only wrong if you earned the money yourself? ~Bob.)

Worth Reading: Hey, Media, a $75K Mechanic Pays a Lower Tax Rate Than Romney. By Larry Elder
Excerpt: Though he pushes for tax hikes on the wealthy and demands tax transparency for Romney, Sharpton himself has taken a respite from paying his own taxes. … The liberal Tax Policy Center reports that 91.4 percent of individual taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) between $50,000 and $100,000 pay less than 15 percent in taxes. And 43.9 percent of the $50,000-$100,000 AGI taxpayers pay an effective rate between 5 and 9.99 percent, while 4.6 percent of this group pay no federal income tax at all.

The Biased Liberal Media
Excerpt: In Parts 1, 2 and 3 of my Entitlement Series I identified "Victimhood Blacks", "Invading Mexicans" and "Medicaid Queens" as segments of American society who are destroying our country. In my earlier two blogs entitled "The Second Civil War" and "Obama Re-election Means A 2nd Civil War" I provide a breakdown and a general timetable of how the second Civil War evolves. By economic necessity, traditional America will have to war with all three of these segments as we move to take back the America that gave us civil order, peace and prosperity. To fully understand how the seeds of the coming Civil War were planted, and came to thrive, you really need to read the earlier blogs. The 4th segment due for a takedown will be an out of control, biased mainstream media who embrace all of the liberal causes that are destroying us.

Commandos for Jesus. By Michael Yon
Excerpt: Free Burma Rangers is famous for providing aid to ethnic groups in Burma who have resisted the government. By all accounts that I have heard, and from what I have seen, FBR is a serious organization.

Worth Reading: Quantitative Easing Did Not Work For The Weimar Republic Either
Excerpt: Did printing vast quantities of money work for the Weimar Republic? Nope. And it won't work for us either. If printing money was the secret to economic success, we could just print up a trillion dollars for every American and be done with it. (Since the Fed is an unelected totally unaccountable entity acting like a shape shifter--government now, private now--you and your government have no control over it. It is now in the process of sucking the life blood out of our economy by implementing "quantitative easing," or issuing un-backed currency that adds zero value to the economy. Mario Draghi, his European counterpart, is doing likewise, perhaps naively believing that the world's 2 greatest economies are too big to fail. Want to see how that worked out in history? –Don Hank. P.S.: For more recent examples, look at the economic history of Zimbabwe and Argentina. Japan has also been busy printing money: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Printing-more-money-to-save-a-failed-system-30190786.html

Jackson's New Obama Video: 'Wake the F*** Up'
Excerpt: Samuel L. Jackson wants you to vote for President Obama—and in a new ad, he gets that message across as only he can. "Wake the F*** Up" is a Dr. Seuss-style rhyme, written by Adam Mansbach, who also authored "Go the F*** to Sleep" (which Jackson was also involved with). It features Jackson and a little girl urging the rest of her family to vote for Obama ... by using lots and lots of profanity. (I couldn't have made this one up either. Why Jackson or anyone would think this kind of obscenity filled video would really turn people on is a mystery to me. The only people who will like it are some of the more enthusiastic Obama fans anyhow. Maybe it's a good thing this is out there, it might even turn off some people. It certainly did me. –Del)

Clinton on Muhammad Video: ‘You Cannot Live in a Shame-Based World.’ By Bridget Johnson
Excerpt: On September 25, 2012 Former President Bill Clinton, in an interview taped Monday yet aired today on CBS, countered outcry over the anti-Muhammad film by stressing that one can’t live in a “shame-based society.” “We weren’t disrespecting Islam by not squelching a film trailer that nobody in authority knew anything about, that 99 percent think was crude and disrespectful and awful; but that we have learned the hard way over more than 200 years that in order to preserve freedom and liberty, including the freedom of religion, you have to allow people to say and do things that you find abhorrent, and you can’t react every time you’re insulted,” Clinton said. (For all the erudition ascribe to his O-ness, Obama hasn't got one percent of Clinton's common sense or one micron of his moral authority [and this is the Slick Willy of Lewinsky smarmy fame]. Cordially, Larry Greenberg)

Aussies In Iraq ~ Waltzing Matilda Sung By The Seekers
I've always loved this song. – Larry W. Nice video compilation of pictures of the Diggers. ~Bob

Ahmadinejad and Morsi Lay Out the Islamic Agenda. By Robert Spencer
Excerpt: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mohammed Morsi, arguably the foremost exponents today of Sharia rule, both spoke at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, and their speeches together amounted to an Islamic supremacist wish list for the world.

Obama, ‘The Prophet of Islam’ and Slander. By Andrew G. Bostom
Excerpt: Mr. Obama and his State Department have never condemned, let alone actively sought to preclude—in real time and with specificity—the ongoing Muslim jihadist ravages against Christians and other non-Muslims across the length and breadth of Islamdom, often perpetrated by so-called US “Muslim allies,” and/or purveyors of “moderate Islam.” Even on the domestic front, one still awaits any Obama administration commentary on the “Piss Christ” revival, an exhibit originally funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts—particularly in light of their endless condemnation of the previously marginal, amateurish video, “Innocence of Muslims.”

Wistrich on ‘the Left, the Jews and Israel.’ By Isi Leibler
Excerpt: Robert Wistrich, Hebrew University professor of European and Jewish History and director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of anti-Semitism, has just published his 29th book titled From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, the Jews and Israel. It is an impressive tome of over 600 pages and follows his monumental seminal work A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, published in 2010 and now recognized as the definitive work on the world’s oldest hatred, and an indispensable text for scholars.

Doom, Gloom, and Polls. By Erick Erickson
Excerpt: I’ve been in politics long enough to know that the louder one side gets complaining about the polls, the more likely it is that this is the side that, in reality, actually is losing. Go back to 2004 and you will find Democrats trying to destroy the credibility of any pollster who dared show George Bush winning. Heck, go back to 2010 and look at the attacks then on Scott Rasmussen, who accurately predicted the outcome. Here’s a simple truth: the polls and polling trends are by and large accurate, but — and pay attention to the but — the polls are overestimating Democratic turnout.

Senior Jihadi Writer Suggests Killing Westerners, Putting Their Decapitated Heads On Display To Silence Attempts To Mock Prophet Muhammad
Didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: On September 18, 2012, Muhib Ru'yat Al-Rahman, a senior writer on leading jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, suggested that Muslims living in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S. slaughter people, and display their decapitated heads along roads with a statement reading: "This is the punishment of those who insult our prophet."

The Film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ — Made By Terrorists? By Walid Shoeba
Excerpt: When it comes to the film Innocence of Muslims, our government and the media use a narrative mired in contradictions and false statements provided by the filmmaker, who himself is an untrustworthy source….The results of this entire fiasco will not be the apprehension of terrorists, but the continual chipping away at the First Amendment. … The film was made in the U.S., a nation that is not used to schemes like Muhammad Al Dura or what was shown in Paliwood.

Voter’s Remorse, Comedic Tragedy: There is comedy in every tragedy and tragedy in every comedy. How many Americans are willing to look into the mirror and ask whether they should be on medication for being so gullible four years ago.
Excerpt: The real tragedies of life consume us in an inarticulate manner; at least, we feel that way, after feeling so stupid for walking into an obvious trap so blindly, to be hurt so crudely, by mindless acts so devoid of meaning, by people so utterly lacking in style, grace, and substance. Their vulgarity and credulity consumes us as if they are a brute force of overpowering barbarity; but in the final analysis, it is we who gave them this pretense of competent leadership by which they trapped us so securely. …There is one way to rid ourselves of this dismal disaster, vote him out of office.

Manchurian candidate, you say?
Excerpt: A-Mansour is a black nationalist, Muslim, and a lawyer to Saudi princes who has publicly professed his hatred of the U.S. In a television interview in 2008, Percy Sutton (a prominent black political leader and former Manhattan borough president) told a reporter that Sutton was introduced to Obama by al-Mansour, who “was raising money for him [Obama]” and asked Sutton to write a letter in support of Obama’s application to Harvard Law School. (Maybe far fetched, but I know longer know what to believe, so much has happened to our country in four years. ~Bob.)

John Bolton on Obama's UN Speech: 'An Exposition of Moral Relativism'
Excerpt: John Bolton provides the only truly honest assessment of Obama's absurd speech at the UN. Via Tammy Bruce, here's a video of one of the more shocking statements from Obama to the UN: "The Future Does Not Belong To Those Who Slander The Prophet Of Islam." He says this, knowing full well that anyone who is not a Muslim is technically 'slandering' the Muslim's so-called prophet since the majority of faiths other than Islam don't recognize Muhammad as a "prophet."

Political Correctness and the Rise of Sharia Law. By William Bigelow
Excerpt: The most terrifying danger Americans face from a second Barack Obama term isn't the economy, which is scary enough. The most harrowing prospect is the Obama Administration’s passivity in the face of attempts to introduce aspects of sharia law into our legal system. Now there is strong and open evidence of the Obama administration collaborating with Islamist activists to ensure the path toward sharia law is accelerated.

Deer repeatedly defaces Obama yard sign
Excerpt: An Austin, Texas couple couldn’t understand why their “Obama 2012″ yard sign was repeatedly defaced until the family dog saw the perpetrator: a large buck. The deer attacked their Obama campaign sign every time they’ve replaced it, yet the deer never goes after Republican signs in the neighborhood, a local CW station reports. The deer hasn’t made a public statement regarding the election, but he seems to get along with other Texan deer.

States and Organizations Fight to Preserve Liberty from Dodd-Frank Act Intrusions
Excerpt: Several private organizations joined in the legal complaint, to challenge also the constitutionality of the Act’s Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the high-handed manner in which President Obama appointed the Bureau’s Director. The legal challenge by the states and private organizations seeks to enforce constitutional limits on the ever more intrusive federal government.

I hope I'm wrong, but...
On August 11, I wondered why Romney decided to throw away Florida, the Hispanic vote, and ultimately the election, by picking Ryan over Rubio as his running mate, and I still wonder why. All he did was scare fossilized Floridians. Old geezers vote, and enough of them will believe Obama and his idiot Vice President when they tell them that Romney/Ryan plan to take away their Social Security and destroy Medicare. Not all of them, but probably enough to give the state to Obama. The Vice Presidency is essentially a do-nothing job consisting of going to state funerals and waiting for the President to become incapacitated, or die. It seems Romney just isn't as politically astute as people had hoped. I think he could begin to turn the country around if he was elected, but he won't be. Obama really meant it when he said he was going to "fundamentally transform America," and that transformation will mean that America will no longer lead what little is left of the free world. At least he didn't lie during the 2007 campaign. He promised "Change", and he is fulfilling that promise. This is it, a change from a capitalist economy to a socialist one. "Hope"? I think he is fulfilling that one, too. He hoped he could do it and he is doing it. And don't forget what he cryptically said to Russian president Putin - "I will have more flexibility after the election". Oh. High gas prices and utility bills? We haven't seen anything yet. So buy ammo, canned goods, toilet paper, and a sturdy bicycle. You might even want to start a garden and learn how to can food, too. --Larry W.

Fact Check: Is Romney's tax rate really lower than yours? By Judson Berger
Excerpt: IRS data, though, shows that Romney's effective income tax rate -- that's what he pays as a percentage of his income once deductions and other benefits are factored in -- is actually far higher than what most Americans pay. (Don't tell the media. They might have to report it, which would upset them. ~Bob.)

Wasted Food, Hungry Kids: Michelle Obama’s Bill in Action. Reports of predictable nanny state chaos. By Patrick Richardson
Excerpt: In 2010, Michelle Obama went to a lame-duck session of Congress with a request: pass a nutrition bill giving the United States Department of Agriculture broad new powers to regulate school lunches. That bill was passed in late December of that year, and the new regulations have started to go into effect, with the predictable results of wasted food and angry, hungry children. …P.J. Moran, a food service director for a small district in rural Kansas, said wastage has gone up “at least 20 percent” over last year, as students, particularly at the grade school level, cannot refuse anything on their trays — but, of course, cannot be forced to eat it. (Per Fox report, calories limited at 850. Used to be minimum of 825. --Barb.)

Radical Speech at NY Muslim Parade Prompts On-Stage Walk-Off: State Senator Tony Avella (D-11th District) had heard enough about "Zionist Nazis" and "the unborn martyrs in our wombs." By Ryan Mauro
Excerpt: The video shows an imam with a thick accent from Brooklyn stating on stage, “The freedom of speak and freedom of rights our problem starts. So, I would like to demand United Nations to make an international law that would criminalize blasphemy.” He reiterates the need for legislation “for the protection of the honor of our beloved prophet.” ….State Senator Tony Avella, a marshal of the parade, walked off-stage in clear disgust over the comments.

Obama To UN—It’s Not My fault Stevens Is Dead
Excerpt: Obama added that the U.S. could not "ban" the video, because the "Constitution protects the right to practice free speech." He did not mention that his administration's policy is, in fact, that such speech can be restricted, and that the U.S. had co-sponsored a resolution with Egypt at the UN Human Rights Council in 2009 that would allow Islamist governments to ban such videos and claim they had the full support of the United States. "I do believe that it is the obligation of all leaders in all countries to speak out forcefully against violence and extremism," Obama said, placing a filmmaker in the U.S. on equal footing with those who had attacked America.

Media Roundup: MSM Trumpets Skewed Polls To Tilt Ohio Early Voting
Excerpt: Remember, in order to buy today's media polling, you have to believe Romney has shored up his base and is winning Independents, but still losing because Obama's going to match or best the extraordinary party advantage he enjoyed during the perfect storm of 2008. Poll apologists just say they believe the polls. What they're really saying, though, and can't defend, is that during a bad economy and all the Middle East unrest, Obama's going to win a record turnout advantage.

The Jack Ryan Files: Obama ‘Shamefully Soft on Crime and Drugs.’ By Vince Coglianese
Excerpt: The opposition research file of Republican Jack Ryan includes 253 pages dedicated solely to media clippings about Barack Obama….The first section — and by far the densest — is called “Shamefully Soft on Crime and Drugs,” and provides a window into Obama’s character liabilities, brought into focus by his willingness to vote either against or “present” on an array of anti-crime legislation. It includes accounts of his failing to support laws meant to protect battered women, ensure the privacy of rape victims and prevent the murder of witnesses….Obama argued that lawmakers were too often pushing through tough-on-crime legislation, complicating the criminal code. (It was the illegal release of Ryan's divorce proceedings to the Tribune, knocking him out of the senate race, which put Obama in the senate. On such things turn the fate of nations. ~Bob.)

Lieberman pushes Obama to issue cybersecurity executive order. By Josh Peterson
Excerpt: Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman’s cybersecurity bill failed to gain majority support in the Senate in August, but now he is pushing for President Obama to issue an executive order to compensate. Lieberman was the lead co-sponsor of the failed Cybersecurity Act of 2012, a controversial bill that sought to give the federal government regulatory control over the cybersecurity standards of water, power and utility companies.

Live... In Concert: Motivation, emotion, and the questions that keep musicians up at night. By Robert H. Woody, Ph.D.
Excerpt: In my own research, I've had numerous experiences in which musicians I'm working with are unaware of aspects of their own performance. (Interesting article from my friend Bob Woody, a person to whom the label polymath" applies if to anyone, on why musicians cannot judge well their own music. I suspect this applies to public speakers as well, if the boredom factor of the audience is understood. I, on the other hand, have known from an early age that, that if a song I was singing happened to hit a correct note, it was pure coincidence. ~Bob.)

Ahmadinejad meets with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. By Caroline May
Excerpt: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with the Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and other religious leaders Tuesday, according to an English translation of the Iranian president’s Web page posted Wednesday. In a picture of the Tuesday evening meeting, Farrakhan — known for making brutally anti-Semitic assertions, and calling President Obama a “murderer” for the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi — is seen smiling as he sits at a table with the Iranian president. According to Ahmadinejad’s Web page, the night before his address to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad, Farrakhan and seven other leaders of “Abrahamic religions” listened to the Iranian president’s desires for a new world order. (Ah, the "Kill the Jews, Hang the Gays" old boys club. Rahm Emanuel welcomed Farrakhan to Chicago--is Ahmadinejad next? ~Bob.)

Egypt leader demands US aid, censorship, plus end to Israel ‘occupation.’ By Neil Munro
Excerpt: Morsi also used his U.S. speech to push his revolutionary mix of Islamic and progressive demands to demand that countries unite to strip Israel of its nuclear weapons, to demand the downfall of Syria’s government, the transfer of wealth from oil-rich Arab states to poor Arabs countries and the transfer of Western aid and technology to Egypt’s government and poverty-stricken population. ... In July, White House officials said they planned a joint meeting of Morsi and Obama. In recent weeks, officials canceled it as the U.S. election drew closer. (I vote to let them eat sand. ~Bob.)

How U.S. Health Care Really Stacks Up
Excerpt: Facts: A movie has been made solely to criticize it. The left treats it as if it's an invader that must be repelled. Most Americans, however, are satisfied with this object of so much hate — America's health care industry. Manipulative filmmaker Michael Moore says "we have the worst health care in the Western world" and has offered up Cuba as a paradigm for the U.S. to follow. OK, I got interested enough in various things I have seen on the Net about how US health care compares to other country's that I did a search to find a reliable source of information. This article is 3 years old now, but I doubt things have changed a lot in regard to the statistics they quote. It says we aren't actually that badly off. And what so many people seem to forget is that no one who walks, crawls, or is carried into an Emergency Room in the US is denied treatment. Having spent time in some ERs on various occasions, I was able to observe something of the kind of cross-section of those looking for help. There was no question that a significant fraction of the people were without insurance, and some had no English at all. But they all got to see a doctor and receive treatment. The wife of a friend is an ER doctor, and she confirmed to me that between 1/4 and 1/2 (on a bad night) of those coming into her ER were without any insurance. To be fair, her hospital is located in a very low income area. Do some poor people die because they went to the ER too late? Yes. But Medicaid is there for poor people, and since I know someone well who was on it for years, I know that then you get preventative care visits, not just ER visits. In a way we have subsidized health care for everyone, since the insurance rates the rest of us pay are pushed up by the doctors and hospitals to cover the free care they have to administer. That only makes sense, otherwise the hospitals would run at a loss and go out of business. (Actually, a few hospitals on our California border have closed due to the total saturation of their ERs by illegals, which put the hospitals into financial ruin over time.) I still believe we need improvement in our health care system, but the idea that it's in terrible shape and poor people never get any care is a myth. --Del)

This year's flu vaccine guards against new strains
Excerpt: Time to get your flu vaccine. And remember: Last year's shot won't protect you this year. Federal health authorities said Thursday that this year's vaccine contains protection against two different strains that have begun circling the globe. And just because flu was mild last winter, doesn't mean it won't bounce back with its usual ferocity this winter.

US economic growth slowed to 1.3 percent in second quarter
Excerpt: The U.S. economy grew at a much slower clip — 1.3 percent — than initially estimated earlier this year. The slowing economy triggered the Federal Reserve's decision earlier this month to launch a new stimulus program and could be a drag on President Obama's reelection chances. (We tried my [economic] plan, and guess what? It worked! –Barack Obama.)

Oh Boy: Horrible New Economic Numbers Released, Double-Dip Recession Coming? By Guy Benson
Excerpt: As you digest these figures, keep in mind that we were already experiencing the worst economic 'recovery' since the Great Depression -- featuring "feeble growth, exhausted consumers, a jobs hole and shrinking paychecks." And now there's this: (We tried my [economic] plan, and guess what? It worked! –Barack Obama.)

"Every time we object to a thing being done by government the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all" ~Frederic Bastiat

Obama claim that Bush is 90% responsible for current deficit gets 100% of Pinocchios at WaPo. By Ed Morrissey
Excerpt: I hit this 60 Minutes quote two days ago in yesterday’s OOTD, but it’s worth revisiting in the form of Glenn Kessler’s fact check at the Washington Post. Kessler misses one of the biggest problems with Barack Obama’s response to Steve Kroft’s question, which was about national debt, and Obama responded by talking about deficits — two different issues, although related. I’ll put the question and the longer answer provided by Kessler together, emphases mine:

Notice that fans of income redistribution NEVER offer their own income for redistribution...

Worth Reading: Turning away when sacrilege purports to be art: Photograph of a defiled crucifix again is shoved into the public eye. By John Kass
Excerpt: Politics is by nature a brutalizing business. It is a business of ambition and lies. Stay around it too long, and your heart becomes coarsened. It thickens and gets numb.

Bibi Netanyahu photo
Can we trade leaders? ~Bob.

Quantum of Easing
New Crossroads Ad. Share. ~Bob

Obama Voter Says Vote for Obama because he gives a free Phone
Buying votes with your grandkids money, borrowed from China. ~Bob.

43% Expect Better Economy if Romney Wins; 34% Say Same of Obama
Excerpt: Most voters still don't think the economy will get better no matter which candidate wins the White House and which party wins control of Congress in November. But they’re now a little more confident in economic gains if Mitt Romney and the Republicans come out ahead.

Excerpt: Just when Democrats are slapping each other on the back congratulating themselves on the coming Obama victory, a sharp reminder is given them that world events could easily trip up the president’s efforts at re-election and throw the race to Romney.

Voter fraud in Florida could be tip of the iceberg
Excerpt: We spoke with Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, who says an organization dropped off about 304 voter registration applications to one of her satellite offices. As Bucher's staff was inputting the information, they noticed that some of the forms had very similar signatures, and there were some discrepancies in the information, and some were lacking information. (Show me your shocked face. ~Bob.)

Senate Republicans join suit against NLRB recess appointments
Excerpt: “The president’s decision to circumvent the American people by installing his appointees at a powerful federal agency while the Senate was continuing to hold sessions, and without obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate, is an unprecedented power grab,” McConnell said in a statement. “We will demonstrate to the court how the president’s unconstitutional actions fundamentally endanger the Congress’s role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch.” (Several states have joined in an effort to fight the unconstitutional appointment of Cordray to the disastrous CFPB at the same time that theses appointments were made to the NLRB. States need to also join the Senate Republican in this effort. --MM)

Millions of little girls don't know who their daddy is, but there's something wrong w/ Paul Ryan teaching his daughter how to shoot a deer? (Democrats teach their kids how to do drive-bys. ~Bob.)

“The Republican Party is the ship, all else is the sea.” —Frederick Douglas

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