Update
Haven't had a health update lately, as basically little change. FEV numbers Monday were 1.62, highest so far in October, only four days were higher in September. But they go up and down, depending on how much mucus is in the lung, it's location and time on the BiPAP. Doing fine in PT Rehab. Have gone to 24 minutes on the treadmill at 2.5 MPH and a 4 minute cool down at 1.5. Increased the resistance band from red to Yellow, still doing 50 reps each on the three machines. Feeling pretty good, still breath hard with exertion, but O2 sats staying from 93% on the treadmill to 98%-99% sitting around. Slow progress, but a lot better off than many. Thanks as always for the good wishes and prayers.
Nurse or CNA at the VA got on the elevator, saw my mask and that I was breathing hard and asked if I was okay. "Just a little touch of Ebola," I said. Her eyes got wide, then she laughed and said, "That's not even funny..." ~Bob
General News and Comment
2014 being the centennial of the start of "The Great War," I wanted a good history. Naturally, I turned to the late Sir John Keegan, perhaps, with Max Hastings, the pre-eminent modern British military historian. He writes with great sympathy and affection for the troops and common people who bore the suffering, never forgetting when he describes an attack where 10,000 were killed that these were real people. He reports, for example, that at the end of the war, there were 630,000 war widows in France , most in the prime of life, with no chance of remarrying--the men were dead. I have been into the Scottish War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle Britain lost twice as many men in WWI as in WWII. I knew a lot about the western front, some about the eastern and Italian fronts, and of course, Gallipoli, much studied by Marines. Keegan expanded my knowledge and understanding in all areas, including little known theaters of war. He is a clear and readable writer, which is important. \Of course, as a Marine, I loved this quote when he is describing the allied counter attack to the last German "war winning" offensive of 1918: "They included the 3rd and 2nd American Divisions, the latter including a brigade of the US Marine Corps, the most professional element of the doughboy army, and at Belleau Wood on June 4 and the days following, the Marines added to their reputation for tenacity by steadfastly denying the Germans access to the road towards Rheims, the capture of which would have more than doubled the railway capacity on which they depended to feed their offensive." (P407). He also quotes Capt. Lloyd Williams answer to a French officer who urged retreat, "Retreat? Hell we just got here!" A great book to educate you about this bitter conflict which led to WWII and still creates much trouble in today's world.
Federal appeals court rules in favor of voter ID law
http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/federal-appeals-court-rules-in-favor-of-voter-id-law/article_63a3ad4f-d7fc-5f21-a69a-436d4933e7bf.html
http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/federal-appeals-court-rules-in-favor-of-voter-id-law/article_63a3ad4f-d7fc-5f21-a69a-436d4933e7bf.html
Excerpt: A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Wisconsin 's requirement for voters to show photo identification at the polls is constitutional, a decision that's not surprising after the court last month allowed for the law to be implemented while it considered the case. State elections officials are preparing for the photo ID law to be in effect for the Nov. 4 election, even as opponents continue their legal fight.
Excerpt: When respondents were asked whether their vote in the upcoming midterm elections is meant to "send a message" that you support or oppose Barack Obama, 32% said their vote would signal opposition to Obama versus only 20% who said it would show support. Gallup's findings are similar to those under George W. Bush in 2006 when Republicans suffered losses that gave Democrats control of the House and Senate. In 2006, 18% said their vote would be a sign of support and 31% said their vote would signal opposition to Bush.
Meet Elise Stefanik, the Candidate Who Could Become the Youngest Woman in Congress
Excerpt: She's been called the new "poster candidate" of the Republican Party, and this weekend New York congressional candidate Elise Stefanik was selected by House Speaker John Boehner to deliver the GOP's weekly address. ... Stefanik is not only seeking to represent New York's 21st Congressional District, but also help the Republican Party reach a demographic that tends to vote Democratic: young women. If she wins in November, Stefanik, 30, would be the youngest woman in Congress.
Tweet from Politics and Humor @PoliticalLaughs
Out of Concern for the President's Safety It's Time We Turn the White House into a Gun Free Zone
Single customer wins shootout with four armed robbers in Texas
Excerpt: Two men were fatally shot by a customer after they attempted to rob a north Harris County bar early Saturday — the latest in a fury of shootings in Houston this week. ... That’s when a customer at the bar pulled his own gun and started shooting at the men, she said. The attempted robbers fired at least three rounds inside the bar, said O’Donnell. ... It’s interesting to observe that four robbers were involved and that still wasn’t enough to guarantee a safe and successful robbery. The more that people are armed, the more dangerous and difficult it becomes for criminals to accomplish anything from basic street muggings to full-fledged home invasions. (Interesting story about an attempted bar robbery in TX, where an armed customer took on four would-be robbers in a close range firefight, killed two of them, suffered no wound himself. But left the scene himself before cops arrived. Best guess, he just didn't want to get into explanations with the cops, I can think of lots of possible reasons. But he was apparently a good shot, with steel nerves. Odds are good for him being a vet or former cop. --Del )
List of Biden's political blunders
List of Biden's political blunders
Good list. ~Bob
WH Brushes Off Plight of U.S. Marine Jailed in Mexico
Excerpt: It's the State Department's problem. On the same day Republican lawmakers urged President Obama to do something about an American war veteran languishing in a Mexican jail, a White House spokesman indicated it's not going to happen. "My colleagues at the State Department are very focused on this issue," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at Wednesday's briefing." And so, I'd refer you to them for their efforts to work with the Mexican government." Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says he asked Vice President Biden to ask President Obama to call the Mexican president directly to urge leniency for Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi -- but apparently it hasn't happened. (If any of your liberal friends ever wanted to know why vets and military are not very happy with Mr. Obama, here is the perfect example. A vet with an honorable record takes a wrong turn on a dirt road and ends up driving into Mexico with his three hunting rifles in the truck. The Mexicans arrest him on very serious charges, treat him very badly in jail until pressured to at least not keep him handcuffed to a bed all day, and have just kept on holding him on these charges when he's just a guy who took a wrong turn. No criminal record, honestly told the Mexican cops about his confusion, where the guns were, etc, gets treated like a hardened criminal with a long record. Grossly unfair, and desperately needing some help from his country. It was great to trade five really bad guys for one deserter, but Mr. Obama will not pick up the phone and call his friend the President of Mexico to get this straightened out. People have been agitating about this awful situation for months but are getting no help at all from the government in general, and of course total nothing from the White House. Personally, I am really amazed and shocked that the President has not done anything about this, it actually is not just the RIGHT thing to do, for him it's the smart thing to do. Politically it would show him as looking out for our men when they are in trouble but didn't do anything wrong. If I were his best friend I'd tell him strongly "Mr. President, pick up that phone and tell them to get the Mexican President on the line. Do it now, and push him as hard as you have to in order to get our guy back home. It'll benefit him, his family, and in fact, you as well." Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has no advisors smart enough to tell him things like this. --Del. I'm not amazed or shocked, Del. The guy was a vet--and was "clinging" to a gun he accidently crossed the border with. Thus a liberal target for "justice," the word they love to talk about. ~Bob)
6 Steps to Subtract 2 Numbers: Common Core Homework in 1 Photo
Excerpt: For third-graders learning Common Core math in Georgia , there are four ways to subtract—and only four ways allowed. The picture above is just one of the methods for subtraction under Common Core straight from RedState editor in chief Erick Erickson’s third-grade daughter’s math book. Missing from the four methods: borrowing and carrying numbers. You know, the old-fashioned-taught-the-same-way-for-decades-granny-method-not-approved-by-bureaucrats subtraction. (This Common Core thing just rolls along, and again we see the attempts to push some genius's idea of "Modern Math" onto little kids. Six steps to do a simple subtraction operation? C'mon, this is past ludicrous. One more time we get to see what happens when you turn loose PhDs with super IQs and zero real world experience or common sense to come up with wonderful new, modern, really hip ways to teach kids things. This math problem is not just enough to make some six or eight year old cry, it's enough to make me cry, I cannot for the life of me figure out how in hell this works or why it works. And I could do this subtraction in my head in a few seconds. And our tax money paid for this? I feel so much better about the checks I write to the feds every quarter. --Del )
Welcome to Fantasy Island
Excerpt: One would not expect Obama to fault past liberal congressional intervention in the financial sector that in large part forced the issuance of subprime risky mortgages, much less the earlier deregulation of the financial industry under Bill Clinton that helped fueled the rampant speculation. The videos of the sad congressional banter about supposedly insensitive questioning of the duplicitous and corrupt Fannie head Franklin Raines, or the self-important bluster of former Rep. Barney Frank, make a good 10-minute tutorial on the meltdown — namely how Wall Street sharks, hand-in-glove with liberal congressional operatives and Clinton appointees, offered federally “guaranteed” mortgages to those who had no ability to pay them back, fueling a phony real estate boom and overvalued stock market. (Another nice summary by Hanson. --Del )
Uh-oh. 51% of Democrats Support Making Some Speech Illegal
Excerpt: “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” -- George Washington “Because if you don't stand up for the stuff you don't like, when they come for the stuff you do like, you've already lost.” ― Neil Gaiman. (One does not criticize the state, Comrade. ~Bob)
Excerpt: I’ve had my fill of the pleas for money that have been filling up my email in-box, and that’s saying something – as a lawyer, I usually have a great respect for people demanding money. This is bipartisan insanity – both sides are going nuts.
Worth Reading
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/389681/making-harding-look-good-victor-davis-hanson
Excerpt: But the proper Obama comparison is not Carter, but rather Warren G. Harding. By that I mean not that Obama’s scandals have matched Harding’s, but rather that by any fair standard they have now far exceeded them and done far more lasting damage — and without Obama’s offering achievements commensurate with those that occasionally characterized Harding’s brief, failed presidency.
The terrible truth about cannabis: Expert's devastating 20-year study finally demolishes claims that smoking pot is harmless
Excerpt: One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent. It doubles risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia. Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development. Driving after smoking cannabis doubles risk of having a car crash. Study's author said: 'If cannabis is not addictive then neither is heroin.' A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found. The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain.
Video: East Haven police officer shoots dog in self-defense after attack
Excerpt: A local police officer shot a dog that was attacking him early Tuesday morning in the Momauguin section of town, the department said…Internal Affairs Officer James Naccarato is investigating the incident. Emerman said police have also notified the U.S. Department of Justice and the department’s joint compliance expert, per department policy. (I don't get why DOJ would get involved. From the photo it's clearly a white dog, but no mention of the officer's race. --George)
Obama's Faves: Muslims, Black Ghetto Trash. by Mychal Massie
When a person behaved boorishly or purposely behaved in a way that was inconsistent with propriety, my late grandmother used to say the person was “showing their behind.” In the case of Obama, he is telling America to kiss his.... I could site dozens more examples in which Obama openly shows concern for evil terrorists, Muslims, and black ghetto trash while he glaringly ignores the welfare of Americans. (Black author. --Barb)
The Bermuda Triangle of Corruption: Eric Holder, Barack Obama and Goldman Sachs
Excerpt: The investors paid for the misdeeds of the banks with their money, unfortunately without their approval. ..... And where does all the money Holder has shaken down from the banks go? No one knows and he ain’t talking.
Excerpt: President Obama was back in his home town of Chicago over the weekend. He was campaigning for Democratic candidates and raising more money for the Dem war chest. In his keynote speech Barry boldly proclaimed that he was indeed on the ballot on November 4th. He jokingly mentioned that he had broken his promise to Michelle...a pledge that his campaigning days are over. I found that drop dead funny since that's all Barry has done during his entire six years in office. Anyway, Barry said he's proud of his foreign policy and really, really proud of how he's managed the economy. He cited again this week's jobs figures that showed unemployment had dropped to 5.9%. Hey, this is a really pretty number for Kool Aid drinkers and millions of folks who don't follow the news any deeper than that.
Excerpt: Guardian, 61, qualifies as one of the nation’s unlikeliest mayors. A gay white Republican, Guardian unseated an African American Democrat last year in a city long dominated by liberals and minorities. His victory earned him a $65 million budget shortfall, 8,000 newly unemployed casino workers and perhaps the worst political job in the country.
Political Correctness Endangers President Obama's Life. By Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Excerpt: Feminists like to pretend that men and women are the same. But when it comes to tackling an intruder racing through the White House with a knife, men have biological characteristics that make them more suited for the job. It was a female Secret Service officer who failed to overpower Omar Gonzalez, who ran into the White House on Sept. 19. Women are not only smaller, lighter and weaker, on average, but female Secret Service officers have to meet lower standards of fitness than male officers do. Women have been special agents in the Secret Service since 1971. But when it comes to matters of security, President Obama and the public deserve the best. That means political correctness — appointing less-qualified women for the sake of diversity — should take a back seat to ability. (Much as some might see an ironic justice to it, if political correctness kills Obama, it would be another disaster for the country, starting with race riots and ending with President Biden. One shutters. ~Bob)
Fiscal Report Card: Which State Governors Are Earning As?
Excerpt: Nicole Kaeding, budget analyst, and Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at the Cato Institute, have released a new "fiscal policy report card" on the fifty states. The report analyzes the policies of each state governor since 2012, grading state leaders on their fiscal performance.
Who leads the pack? Kaeding and Edwards gave four As to Pat McCrory (R-N.C.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Paul LePage (R-Maine) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.). Why?
Excerpt: The official unemployment rate is 6.1 percent, but that hardly provides a fair description of the jobs crisis. Not counted are prime working age adults who have quit looking for a job, part-time workers who want full-time positions, and young college graduates who have enrolled in graduate school because they can’t find decent employment. The real jobless rate is likely closer to 20 percent, and the root cause is slow economic growth. Since 2000, GDP has advanced 1.7 percent annually, about half the pace of the Reagan-Clinton years. Five factors are slowing growth and making jobs scarce.
Meet 59-year-old David Hooks, the latest drug raid fatality. By Radley Balko
Excerpt: Phillip Smith at the Drug War Chronicle reports detailing the latest casualty in the never-ending U.S. war on drugs. A Georgia SWAT team shot and killed an armed homeowner during a September 24 drug raid sparked by the word of a self-confessed meth addict and burglar who had robbed the property the previous day. No drugs were found. David Hooks, 59, becomes the 34th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.
There is more gender equality than you think: The 'war on women' is political posturing that doesn't reflect our current reality. By Genevieve Wood,USA
Excerpt: From education to earnings, American women today enjoy unprecedented levels of opportunity. Yet too many candidates seem oblivious to the dramatic gains women have made. They're stuck in a time warp, channeling the problems and political causes of the '60s.
Outdated policy prescriptions intended to help women, can actually work to hurt us. It's time politicians recognized the realities of life for American women in 2014. Here are some salient facts.
The United States
Excerpt: Sixty-four months into a recovery, the United States has yet to find itself on solid economic footing, as household income remains below pre-recession levels. According to the Census Bureau, median household income for 2013 was 8 percent lower than it was prior to the recession, at $51,939. What's the solution? More jobs at higher wages. How to get there? Matthew Slaughter, professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and former member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, says the answer lies in trade. Were the United States to engage in pro-trade policies, Slaughter expects that the country could see 10 million new jobs. He explains:
Ebola News
Ebola and Obama. By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is both a danger in itself and a wake-up call for Americans -- about President Obama, about the institutions of this country and, most important, about ourselves. There was a time when an outbreak of a deadly disease overseas would bring virtually unanimous agreement that our top priority should be to keep it overseas. Yet Barack Obama has refused to bar entry to the United States by people from countries where the Ebola epidemic rages, as Britain has done.
Ebola patient in Dallas struggling to survive, says CDC head
US to ramp up airport screening for Ebola, Obama says
Excerpt: Amid widespread public concern, the Obama administration has said that it won't shut down flights from affected countries, particularly those in West Africa , arguing this would be counterproductive by restricting aid flights.
'We can stop Ebola in the US': CDC and Texas health officials say disease is under control but admit they LOST man who rode in ambulance that carried infected patient
Excerpt: Hours before public health officials appeared on national television today to announce they had the Ebola outbreak in Texas fully under control, authorities were forced to admit that they had lost track of one of the people who was at risk for infection. While Centers for Disease Control Director Thomas Friedan sought to reassure a jittery public during a press conference from Atlanta , police in Dallas combed the streets in search of a homeless man who rode in the same ambulance that transported Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan to the hospital. The panhandler was the very next person taken to the hospital in the ambulance from Dallas Fire-Rescue station 37 and officials fear he may have come in contact with some of Duncan 's bodily fluids on September 28. (Gee, would this make a good sci-fi horror film or what? --Barb)
Race Card News
Islam Leader: Ebola Was Manufactured To Kill Blacks
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/02/Nation-of-Islam-Leader-Louis-Farrakhan-Ebola-Was-Manufactured-to-Kill-Blacks
Excerpt: Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation if Islam, is warning his acolytes that Ebola and AIDS were created by theUS government to "depopulate" the world's black population.
Excerpt: Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation if Islam, is warning his acolytes that Ebola and AIDS were created by the
In a new missive, Farrakhan wrote that Henry Kissinger created a plan in 1974 to kill black people and now Ebola and AIDS are weapons being used to fulfill that policy.
Southern Democrats Walk a Tightrope With Black Voters: Senate Hopefuls Try to Appeal to Key Constituency While Keeping President at Arm’s Length
Excerpt: These Democrats, like others running in races across the country, are trying to distance themselves from a president who is deeply unpopular among white voters. But if they have any hopes of winning, they also must try to lock down the voters most loyal to Mr. Obama : African-Americans. How Southern Democrats walk this tightrope will help determine whether their party maintains control of the Senate.
Blacks Being Taught That Islam is Their Original Religion
Excerpt: The truth is that Muslims had conquered the African shores as early as the seventh century. This same author, who calls himself "Wrath," from the "Godless and Black" blog, also writes that the religion of Islam was spread through Africa because African chieftains were bribed into accepting it in order to gain political favor from the Muslims raiding their countries. Muslims had been taking African slaves for nearly eight centuries before the transatlantic slave trade, and this continued for nearly one hundred years after America had abolished the practice. Finally, while we see the left accuse America of being a racist country because of our past with slavery, they idolize Islam, even though African slavery was legal in Saudi Arabia until 1962. (I have read that white slaves were being sold in Cairo , Egypt
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Worth Reading
You can sign up for their free Daily Policy Digest at www.ncpa.org. They do good work and are worth supporting. ~Bob. Excerpt: The effect of Obamacare on innovation within the health care sector is staggering. Scott Atlas, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, explains how the law has begun to change research, development and innovation -- activities which traditionally have taken place in the United States -- thanks to the ACA's $500 billion in new taxes, many of which fall on medical device and drug manufacturers. The result? Companies are moving overseas: According to one CEO of a major health care company, the cost of the medical device tax that his business paid last year exceeded his company's entire research and development budget. Health care companies such as Boston Scientific, Stryker and Cook Medical have not only laid off American workers but have announced plans to open new research and manufacturing facilities, as well as clinical trial centers, in foreign countries. And as Atlas explains, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is doing nothing to help this trend: Companies seeking approval of new medical devices face delays from the FDA. While it takes seven months to get approval of a medical device (one of just low- to moderate-risk) in the European Union, it takes 31 months in the United States . According to PricewaterhouseCoopers , China , India and Brazil will see major gains over the next decade as the United States loses ground in the medical industry.
Reporting Changes in Uninsured Due to Obamacare: Government Agencies Can Be Clearer. By John R. Graham
Excerpt: One of the themes of this blog is that the number of uninsured Americans is not decreasing as quickly or surely as Obamacare’s supporters would have us believe. Part of the problem estimating this is a confusing series of releases from federal agencies, which has led to inconsistent interpretation by scholars.
Medicaid Expansion: Wisconsin
Excerpt: In a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis and the MacIver Institute, Devon Herrick explains why Wisconsin 's method of Medicaid reform was the right approach. The Affordable Care Act encouraged the states to expand their Medicaid programs in order to serve people up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL). In return, expansion states would receive federal funding for 100 percent of the costs for the first three years, dropping to 90 percent in 2020 and thereafter. States that didn't expand to this population would not receive the enhanced federal funding, rather they would receive their historical funding rate. In Wisconsin , that rate is 58 percent. Instead of expanding Medicaid to 138 percent of the FPL, Wisconsin chose to take a different route. The state already had a generous Medicaid program for which Wisconsin residents earning up to 200 percent of the FPL were eligible. However, budget constraints forced the state to halt enrollment, and many eligible residents were nonetheless unable to enroll in Medicaid. Wisconsin decided to make Medicaid available to all residents earning up to 100 percent of the FPL. All others would be transitioned into the health exchanges where they could buy private, subsidized coverage. Why does Wisconsin 's plan make sense?
Undocumented Democrat News
Immigrants Kicked Off Obamacare Now Suing Over Discrimination
Excerpt: Two immigration groups have filed legal complaints against the Obama administration for kicking over one hundred thousand Obamacare customers off their insurance plans without sending notices in their native language, Modern Healthcare reports. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Philadelphia ’s Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition (SEAMACC) have both filed complaints with Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights.
Disease plagues illegal immigrants; lack of medications, basic hygiene blamed
Excerpt: The one hiccup the investigators did find is that some CBP officers at one facility weren’t trained in how to segregate immigrant children with communicable diseases....Previous reports had detailed some of the difficulties of handling the surge, including the communicable diseases some brought, such as scabies, lice or chickenpox. And investigators found “unfamiliarity” with bathrooms resulted in unsanitary conditions, including “exposure to human waste.” (How niceto take into your home or your child's school....Your paternalistic regime at work. --Barb)
Migrants at US
Excerpt: The center opened as federal officials were realizing over the summer that the thousands of border-crossers they released had disappeared into the nation’s interior and never showed up for any meetings with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The government official in the recorded confidential meeting acknowledged that about 70% of the released families vanished. The official explained to human rights activists that prolonged detention of children and mothers is “not punitive”, adding that detention is not a tool for deterring would-be immigrants, many of them who have made claims of asylum. (What about the next wave, reported due in October? --Barb. Obama will try to get them to hold off until after the election. ~Bob)
"You're Greener than Gore" News
It’s official: no global warming for 18 years 1 month. Global Temperature Update. By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley
Excerpt: The RSS monthly satellite global temperature anomaly for September 2014 is in, and the Great Pause is now two months longer than it was last month. Would this year’s el Niño bite soon enough to stop the psychologically-significant 18-year threshold from being crossed? The official answer is No. Globally, September was scarcely warmer than August, which was itself some distance below the 18-year trend-line. Therefore, taking the least-squares linear-regression trend on the RSS satellite monthly global mean surface temperature anomalies, there has now been no global warming for 18 years 1 month.
NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea
http://www.Newsmax.com/Newsfront/Science-US-climate-oceans/2014/10/06/id/598864/#ixzz3FTHrMizI
Excerpt: The deep ocean may not be hiding heat after all, raising new questions about why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years, said the USspace agency Monday. Scientists have noticed that while greenhouse gases have continued to mount in the first part of the 21st century, global average surface air temperatures have stopped rising along with them, said NASA. ("Maybe we were wrong? Nah, that couldn't be it. Obama believes in Global warming and anything he says you can take to the bank." ~Bob)
http://www.Newsmax.com/Newsfront/Science-US-climate-oceans/2014/10/06/id/598864/#ixzz3FTHrMizI
Excerpt: The deep ocean may not be hiding heat after all, raising new questions about why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years, said the USspace agency Monday. Scientists have noticed that while greenhouse gases have continued to mount in the first part of the 21st century, global average surface air temperatures have stopped rising along with them, said NASA. ("Maybe we were wrong? Nah, that couldn't be it. Obama believes in Global warming and anything he says you can take to the bank." ~Bob)
The Dark Side of Green Justice. Review: ‘Law of the Jungle’ by Paul Barrett
Excerpt: Forget “all this bullshit about law and facts,” remarked Steven Donziger in 2007. “In the end of the day, it is about brute force.” Donziger was a plaintiffs’ attorney attempting to extract billions of dollars from oil giant Chevron—by whatever means necessary. His observation on the role the “law and facts” played in his work nicely captured the character of the years-long campaign of fraud, bribery, and extortion he conducted on behalf of his clients. That campaign is extensively detailed by Bloomberg Business Week reporter Paul Barrett in his new book, Law of the Jungle. (Righteousness is one of the most addictive emotions there is, and people addicted to it are very dangerous because being righteous allows them to disregard all normal limits, like honesty, ethics, morality, since they KNOW they have the ultimate morality on their side. And the ends justify the means, so lie, cheat, steal, smear, it's all OK. Here's a super example of that kind of thinking in action. --Del )
Excerpt: President Barack Obama raised a lot of eyebrows last week when he declared in his United Nations climate change speech: “Over the past eight years, the United States has reduced our total carbon pollution by more than any other nation on Earth.” That’s absolutely true. And it’s remarkable because we as a nation didn’t ratify the Kyoto Treaty, pass a carbon tax, or enact Mr. Obama’s cap and trade agenda. It’s all the more remarkable because Americans have been scolded nearly every day for being a major source of all these satanic gases that are allegedly burning up the planet. Instead, since 2005, our emissions are down by roughly 10 percent and almost twice that amount on a per capita basis. Not bad.
Religion of Peace News
Ex-Pentagon Chief Panetta Sees 30-year ISIS War, Blames Obama
Excerpt: The fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS) will be difficult and could last decades due to decisions made by President Barack Obama, former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has said. "I think we're looking at kind of a 30-year war" that could extend to threats in Libya , Nigeria , Somalia and Yemen , Panetta told USA Today in a story published Monday. Panetta, a respected policymaker who served under Obama, blamed the challenges on decisions the president made over the past three years. (Interesting that one of the "in group" would actually come out with clear criticism of The One. This is nice, and the media have to report it for everyone to see. I particularly love the latest gambit, where Mr. Obama says the intel services failed to warn him about ISIS , when there are the past articles showing that there were definitely reports warning about the rise of the extremists. I guess those were in the intel briefings he missed, after all, he missed half of them. Can't miss those golf dates. --Del )
Hamas Envisions West Bank Takeover, Destruction of Israel
Excerpt: Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar stated that the terrorist organization intends on establishing an Islamic state in all of Palestine , insinuating the destruction of Israel , according to a Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) translation of Al-Ayyam last week. "[Some] have said Hamas wants to create an Islamic emirate in Gaza . We won't do that, but we will build an Islamic state in Palestine , all of Palestine ," stated Al-Zahar, a senior Hamas political bureau member.
Hamas: from West Bank, We Can Destroy Israel
Excerpt: Al-Zahar further said that if Hamas had a military foothold in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria ) as it does in the Gaza Strip it would be able to destroy Israel . He alluded to a possible future war of destruction against Israel by citing a Surah from the Quran about "the final promise": "Al-Zahar said that if his movement [Hamas] were to 'transfer what it has or just a small part of it to the West Bank, we would be able to settle the battle of the final promise with a speed that no one can imagine.'"
Islamic State withstands bombing campaign, plots Baghdad
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/5/islamic-state-withstands-bombing-campaign-plots-ba/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
Excerpt: The Islamic State holds just about the same number of towns in Iraq today as it did two months ago, when the U.S. began a bombing campaign to whittle down the terrorist army and support Iraqi ground troops trying to retake territory. More troubling, analysts say, is that the Islamic State, also known by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL, is ramping up what appear to be operations designed to one day invade Baghdad. (When the lead-from-behind guy fails, they will blame Bush. ~Bob)
Air strikes against Isis are not working, say Syrian Kurds
Excerpt: He said Isis had adapted its tactics to military strikes from the air. “Each time a jet approaches, they leave their open positions, they scatter and hide. What we really need is ground support. We need heavy weapons and ammunition in order to fend them off and defeat them.”
Excerpt: The Free Syrian Army has recently allied with Islamist rebels fighting in al Harah, a town in the southern Syrian province of Deraa Syria , to take the al Harah Hill and the surrounding town. The Free Syrian Army utilized several BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles during the fighting, which the United States
White House Sends 'Thank You' To Beheader's Oklahoma
Excerpt: The White House has reportedly sent a top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official to the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City (ISGOC) to “present a special thank you to the Muslim congregation,” Oklahoma’s KFOR reports. The beheader's mosque, the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, was founded by a sibling of a U.S.-designated Hamas terrorist, and in the past has welcomed an Imam who was a close confidant to al-Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki.
To stop the next U.S.
Excerpt: The signs were all there, glaring, waiting to be seen. The predisposition to violence, time spent in prison, emotionally unstable Web postings. Alton Nolen, the alleged perp in last week’s horrible beheading in Oklahoma , was no aberration. If anything, he was a ticking time bomb with a short fuse. His firing from Vaughn Foods was simply the catalyst that seemingly tripped the trigger in his mind to move from jihadi thoughts to violent action: One small switch, one perceived slight and he was gone — doing what he had seen ISIS members do, beheading innocents.
Biden Calls UAE Prince To Clarify Remarks On Syria
Excerpt: Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday called the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting al-Qaida fighters in Syria , the White House said. Biden spoke with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and a key Emirati leader, the White House said. It was the second time in two days that Biden had to call a key partner in President Barack Obama's coalition to walk back comments he made on Thursday, when he said that U.S. allies - including Turkey , Saudi Arabia and the UAE - had funded and armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaida.
US State Dept.: Iraq Iraq ' in apparent attempt to shift blame from Obama for ISIS debacle.
At the daily State Department briefing on Friday, the blame-game over the Obama policy catastrophes of Iraq and Syria seems to have gone super-nova, when Jen Psaki, the State Department Spokesperson, appeared to insulate President Barack Obama, and directly indict Vice President Joe Biden over the debacle, by claiming the 2009-2011 Iraq total withdrawal “was the Vice President’s portfolio.” (Biden and his mouth under the bus. --Barb. When blaming Bush no longer works, Biden is the new scapegoat! ~Bob)
Somali troops 'capture key port town' from al-Shabab
Excerpt: Somali government troops backed by African Union (AU) forces have taken the last coastal stronghold of the al-Shabab Islamist group. But the AU told the BBC the joint forces were not yet in full control of the town, and the AU had parked its heavy armour on its outskirts. Barawe, 220km (135 miles) south-west of the capital Mogadishu , has not been run by the central government for 23 years.
Excerpt: COUNTER-terrorism officers intercepted 11 suspected terrorists at Melbourne and Sydney airports in less than a month in a multi-agency security crackdown. Officers who searched the grounded suspects found images of beheadings and other violent Islamist propaganda on electronic devices and seized tens of thousands of dollars in undeclared cash allegedly being smuggled out of the country.
Terror's Virus on the Northern Border. By David B. Harris
Excerpt: Ever since full-blown cases of the disease hit the United States , Canadians have dreaded the contagion's arrival north of the 49thparallel. Its effects: blindness and a deadly incapacity to recognize and adapt to reality. The malady? The White House's refusal to identify the leading terrorist enemy by name and combatant doctrine.
Leadership: The Arab Curse in Libya
Excerpt: Britain recently revealed that in August they had to deal with a mutiny among 300 Libyan soldiers being trained at a British base. The Libyans were selected to receive combat and leadership training so they could better train and command Libyan soldiers back in Libya . The mutiny occurred when British officers in charge of the training put three of the trainees under guard after police picked them up for being off base without permission. Then twenty other trainees went and threatened the British soldier guarding the three Libyan trainees. The British guard let the three go free rather than risk violence. Senior officers were uncertain about how to handle this insubordination given the nature of Arab military trainees.
What happened with these Libyans was not uncommon when Westerners are assigned to train Arabs to be military leaders. (This is fascinating and it answers a lot of questions about why the Arabs are unable to defeat the Israelis. the NCOs are key in any organization and without them, most armies fail. Our strength remains in leadership by officers and NCOs with younger troops stepping up when necessary. Our system of government and education has added to that, but I fear that we are losing some of this. --Don. In 1967, the joke went around Vietnam that LBJ had called Moshe Dayan for advice. LBJ: "We've been fighting in Vietnam for years with no progress. You won your war in six days. What's the secret?" Dayan: "Fight Arabs." ~Bob)
Professor at Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome: Islamic State not un-Islamic, “model is Muhammad himself.” By Nicolai Sennels
Excerpt: Where is the border between Islam and Islamism? The media says that the two are different as night and day; Islam is a religion of peace, and the Islamists have stolen the name. Others believe that Islamism represents the traditional, pure Islam, true to the Koran. This latter view is advanced, remarkably enough, by a theologian Martin Rhonheimer from a university endorsed by the Pope. He is a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and wrote an essay on this particular distinction in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
Norway: Laughing men hoist Islamic State flags in Oslo; EU expert says jihad songs used at beheadings “not extremism.” By Nicolai Sennels
Excerpt: The same day that the United States bombed Syria and Ubaydullah Hussain (29) appeared in Oslo court on charges of incitement to terror, several men drove around in Oslo waving an Islamic State flag. The men’s behaviour was a source of worry, and the police were quickly notified. “They laughed,” one witness told VG. … The witness said to VG that four cars drove back and forth in Tøyengata in Greenland (a Muslim-dominated area with a high rape risk https://www.politi.no/vedlegg/lokale_vedlegg/oslo/Vedlegg_1309.pdf) in Oslo . In two of the cars, an Islamic State flag stuck out of the window. “They waved the IS flag, while they played the same song which the IS terrorists play in the videos where they are beheading people,” says the witness.
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