This is the most dangerous time in modern history -- intelligence insider update

By Doug Hagmann Friday, August 30, 2013

“We’re in the most dangerous time in modern world history and here’s why, here’s what’s happening,” stated my source deep within the spy world early this morning.

“We’re seeing a combination of a nine-percent overall approval rating for intervention in Syria, or the absence of public support for the globalist plans by the Obama regime, the UK, the Saudis and other NATO allies. When have we seen this before, and what does history tell us? The increased likelihood of a false flag event larger and causing more public outrage than the alleged chemical weapons attacks.”

My source continued, “think Gulf of Tonkin, the Lusitania, even Pearl Harbor, use those as your historical guides for what we’re seeing today. Make no mistake, the global agenda has not changed,” he emphasized. “When their primary plan backfires or meets resistance, they have alternate plans. In the coming days or weeks, we could see an event that will be horrendous enough to change that nine-percent backing. Also, time is not on their side, they need to act within a short window as the anti-Assad ‘rebels’ are being beaten badly without Western assistance.”….To Read More….

Saving Consumers from Lower Prices

By Richard W. Rahn

This article appeared in Washington Times on August 20, 2013.

Why does the Obama administration claim it wants you to pay less for your airline ticket, but more for the shrimp you buy? One reason the economy keeps stumbling along is that businessmen, consumers and taxpayers are having a hard time planning because of endlessly inconsistent and often lawless policy directives from the Obama White House. On the same day last week, the administration announced that it was seeking to block the proposed American Airlines-US Airways merger, allegedly to protect consumers against higher prices — and that it might impose higher duties (taxes) on shrimp from foreign competitors to protect U.S. shrimpers, meaning that all who eat shrimp will have to pay more.

The Justice Department, under the leadership of ethically and intellectually challenged Eric H. Holder Jr., came up with a study that concluded that airline ticket prices would be higher and service worse if American Airlines and US Airways merged. The conclusion was immediately challenged by affected parties (the companies and the unions) and many transportation economists. I do not know, as a frequent flier, whether I will be better off or worse off with the proposed merger. I do know, however, that the folks at the Justice Department also do not know, but trying to block the merger massages their egos and their lust for power……To Read More….

Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 10): Who’s Discriminating Online?

by Wayne Crews on August 30, 2013

The original four Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Policy Statement principles miscast the prerequisites of broadband infrastructure wealth development (property rights, exclusive deals and contracts and so forth) as antithetical to consumer welfare and fluid access to content.

In that sense, they are philosophically flawed and harmful.

Yet, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and 2010 Order on Preserving the Free and Open Internet consolidated the principles, and went beyond with an anti-discrimination mandate.

The NPRM stated that “Subject to reasonable network management, a provider of broadband Internet access service must treat lawful content, applications and services in a nondiscriminatory manner” (Section 8.13, page 66)……To Read More…..

IG: IRS ‘Hindered’ Efforts to Stop Illegals from Misusing Social Security Numbers

August 29, 2013 - 3:56 PM

(CNSNews.com) - An audit report published this month by the inspector general for the Social Security Administration says that the Internal Revenue Service's reluctance to penalize employers who consistently file W-2s on which the Social Security Number and name do not match has "hindered" the SSA’s efforts to stop “unauthorized noncitizens” from using Social Security Numbers that are fake or belong to someone else.

The audit report looked at “inaccurate wage reporting”—or the filing of W-2 forms on which the name and the Social Security Number do not match. The SSA has long said these no-match W-2s are frequently filed on behalf of illegal aliens. According to the IG audit report released earlier this month, a senior IRS official admitted to the IG that the service knows this is the case.

“Furthermore,” said the report, “a senior employment tax official at the IRS acknowledged that unauthorized noncitizens accounted for a high percentage of inaccurate wage reporting.”……See more at:....

Should the Constitution Be Amended?

By Richard W. Rahn

This article appeared in Washington Times On August 27, 2013

What amendments to the U.S. Constitution, if any, would you like to see? The widespread belief is that the American constitutional republic, if not actually broken, is in a state of disrepair. In his new, best-selling book, “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic,” Mark R. Levin, president of the Landmark Legal Foundation and nationally syndicated talk-show host, proposes a number of amendments to the Constitution as a fix.

Mr. Levin argues that amendments are needed because the nation has entered an age of “post-constitutional soft tyranny” — as defined by the great 19th-century French historian and philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote in “Democracy in America”:

“It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”….To Read More….

Will Boehner Stop Our Rogue President?

August 30, 2013 By Patrick J. Buchanan

The next 72 hours will be decisive in the career of the speaker of the House. The alternatives he faces are these: John Boehner can, after "consultation," give his blessing to Barack Obama's decision to launch a war on Syria, a nation that has neither attacked nor threatened us.  Or Boehner can instruct Obama that, under our Constitution, in the absence of an attack on the United States, Congress alone has the authority to decide whether the United States goes to war.

As speaker, he can call the House back on Monday to debate, and decide, whether to authorize the war Obama is about to start. In the absence of a Congressional vote for war, Boehner should remind the president that U.S. cruise missile strikes on Syria, killing soldiers and civilians alike, would be the unconstitutional and impeachable acts of a rogue president.  Moreover, an attack on Syria would be an act of stupidity. Why this rush to war? Why the hysteria? Why the panic?....To Read More.....

My Take - This is another one of those "then what" scenarios.  Muslim controlled countries are nothing more than Medieval tribal cultures with modern trappings and military hardware.  After you scrap away the surface horsepucky you begin to realize these countries are still tribal societies that are still fighting the same wars they have been fighting for centuries....and not a one of them are good guys.  They hate everyone except their own.  They only love their own tribal members, their own brand of Islam, their own financial interests and their own power.  All else, and everyone else is the enemy and in their minds deserve death delivered in any way that works best. 

The Saudis try to Bribe and Threaten Putin Over Syria

Written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia's gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.   The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warship poised for missile strikes in Syria. Iran has threatened to retaliate.

The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $112 a barrel. "We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think," said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.   Leaked transcripts of a closed-door meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides. Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria.....To Read More….

 

Obama’s third war: The folly of striking Syria

By RALPH PETERS August 26, 2013

You might as well try to teach a snake to juggle as hope the Obama administration will think strategically. The “peace president” is about to embark on his third military adventure, this time in Syria, without having learned the lessons of his botched efforts in Afghanistan and Libya. He hasn’t even learned from the Bush administration’s mistakes — which he mocked with such delight.

Before launching a single cruise missile toward Syria, Team Obama needs to be sure it has a good answer to the question, “What comes next?”

If Obama does a Clinton and churns up some sand with do-nothing cruise-missile strikes, it will only encourage the Assad regime. But if our president hits Assad hard and precipitates regime change, then what?

If al Qaeda and local Islamists seize Damascus, what will we do? The enfeebled “moderate opposition” we back rhetorically couldn’t dislodge hardcore jihadis, no matter how many weapons we sent (the jihadis would simply confiscate the gear).

What if we weaken the regime to the point where the fanatics rev up their jihad to drive out Christians and other minorities? What’s your plan then, Mr. President? After your night of explosive passion, will you still love the opposition in the morning?

Exactly which American vital security interests are at stake in Syria, Mr. President? Your credibility? Put a number on it. How many American lives is your blather about red lines worth?....To Read More…..

MoveOn admits: “[I]f younger, healthier people don’t participate, then costs will skyrocket and Obamacare will fail.”

by Myron Ebell on August 30, 2013 · 0 comments

[R]ight-wing groups have launched a multi-million-dollar campaign to torpedo Obamacare before it even gets started. Their plan: Mislead young people about how the law works so they get scared and don’t enroll. The problem is that it really could work because if younger, healthier people don’t participate, then costs will skyrocket and Obamacare will fail.

MoveOn.org footnotes a Washington Post article, which explains that last sentence. From the Post Wonkblog article by Sarah Kliff: “Young adults tend to have lower medical bills, which would hold down premiums for the entire insurance market. If only the sick and elderly sign up, health costs would skyrocket.”.....To Read More......

My Take - Pelosi insisted that Obamacare be passed as soon as possible in order that we could see what was in it.  This must be one the things Pelosi was anxious to see.  Pelosi has consistently shown that she earned her position as a executive officer in the Club For the Galacticly Stupid.  Congratulations Nancy!

Labor Leader Admits ObamaCare Woes

By Alex Rogers Aug. 29, 2013

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka speaks at the St. Regis Hotel on August 29, 2013 in Washington, DC.

The head of the nation’s largest federation of unions admitted “we made some mistakes” in writing ObamaCare Thursday at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in downtown DC. The head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said he was surprised that employers have reduced workers’ hours below 30-a-week to avoid an employer penalty scheduled to go into effect in 2015.

“That is obviously something that no one intended. No one intended the act to result in people working fewer hours just so they [employers] don’t have to pay for healthcare,” said Trumka. “So that’s something that needs to be addressed. Is that an issue? Yeah that’s an issue.”......To Read More……

My Take -  "We made some mistakes".  Is that the understatement of the year.  Trumka was a big pusher of all of this five years ago and now...."We made some mistakes".  How could that have happened?  Ooops...that's right.....no one read the bill!  That was why it had to be passed right away.  Remember....."Don't wait....just pass it".  Well, it would appear that Trumka has certainly earned his spot, along with Nancy Pelosi, in the Club For the Galacticly Stupid.  Congratulations Richard! 

The Times Says “Most Lawyers” Won’t Take Age Discrimination Cases Anymore. Really?

By Daniel Schwartz on August 26th, 2013

In Tuesday’s The New York Times, an article (that, as of Monday evening was one of the lead pieces on the NYTimes.com website) argues that age discrimination continues to exist in society and that it is hitting the baby boomers particularly hard. (Indeed, the article’s tag is ”for-laid-off-older-workers-age-bias-is-pervasive”.) I do not challenge the assertion that age discrimination continues to exist in certain parts of society. The statistics quoted in the article do undermine the article’s assertion though because the unemployment rate for 55-64 year olds is 5.4 percent (compared with 7.4 percent) for the general population. I’ll leave it for others to debate what the statistics mean.

Now, admittedly, the charges don’t account for claims that were filed with an attorney’s assistance

But if “most lawyers” won’t take age discrimination cases anymore, wouldn’t you expect to see a significant dropoff?.......But try telling that to the Times. Indeed, it goes on to make a remarkable, uncredited assertion: “Since the Supreme Court ruling, most lawyers won’t even take age discrimination cases.”

Most lawyers? From where does the Times get this assertion? It fails to say. It provides no statistics, no cite, no quote to support this. Nothing….To Read More…..

My Take – Well, once again the NYT, the so-called Gray Lady, has proven she is in reality an Old Gray Hag. Can you believe anything that appears in the Times? Of course that question is universal for all newspapers and the answer is a resounding ....NO! Newspapers have always wanted to tell the story they want told - truth notwithstanding.

That same mentality permeated the electronic media. Dan Rather, Connie Chung and he rest of his peers practiced it with great glee. They weren't concerned with the facts - or at least the facts that disagreed with the narrative they were promoting - they were concerned with "their" story, not "the" story. Nothing has changed, and because of the internet society has become aware of their lies – both of commission and omission – and newspapers all over the nation are dying. Those that remain will have to make some serious changes…..like telling “the” story instead of “their” story. That will be interesting to watch!

How Many More Nidal Hasans in Our Ranks?

August 30, 2013 By Michelle Malkin

A military jury sentenced unrepentant Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan to death on Wednesday. But if another murderous Muslim soldier's case is any indication, Hasan may be sitting in the catbird seat for years to come. And our men and women in uniform will remain endangered by Islamic vigilantes in their own ranks.

Remember Sgt. Hasan Akbar? On March 23, 2003, this hate-filled soldier with the 326th Engineer Battalion lobbed stolen hand grenades and shot his M-4 automatic rifle into three tents filled with sleeping commanding officers at the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade operations center in Kuwait. The grenade attack claimed the lives of two American patriots: Capt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone.

Like Hasan, the militant Muslim Akbar gave plenty of notice that he was a threat to his fellow servicemen. His bosses pegged him as a menace with an "attitude problem" well before the fragging. Despite several incidents of insubordination and prior invocation of his Islamic beliefs to skip out of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Akbar's superiors dispatched him to Kuwait on the eve of the invasion of Iraq — and put him in charge of clearing land mines. Sensitivity trumped soldier safety.…..To Read More……

Michigan taxpayers foot bill for Batman/Superman film

Robby Soave

Who wins, when Batman fights Superman? Not Michigan taxpayers.  Warner Bros. studios has decided to shoot its sequel to 2013’s superhero film “Man of Steel” in Detroit, taking advantage of a generous incentive program that awards subsidies to films produced in the state.

Taxpayers will dole out $35 million for the film, and generate $131 million in economic gains for the state, according to the Michigan Film Office…..Michael La Faive, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the subsidy’s supporters neglected to consider the full cost of the program.

“If you were to factor the cost of the subsidy into the equation, it would be zero if not negative impact,”…..Defenders of the film incentive insist that an economic multiplier magnifies the gains from spending money on movies. But they neglect to multiply the loss of economic activity that would have resulted had taxpayers been free to spend their film subsidy money elsewhere.

This is not uncommon for film incentive programs, which have become increasingly popular around the country in the last decade, said La Faive.   “There’s no film program to my knowledge in the country that has returned to taxpayers more than it has taken,” he said…..To Read More….

My Take - As my regular readers will remember I took the position that this 'incentive' horsepucky was completely shortsighted on this August 26th post, L.A. Mayor Declares State of ‘Emergency’ As Movie, TV Production Flees Hollywood, but Ted Johnson.

At that time I stated;

“Personally....I think the whole bunch of them are nuts, including these governors and legislatures that are doing everything in their power to entice movie production to their states. Cleveland has been the recipient of a few of these in the last few years, and just this year they tied up big chunks of Cleveland's streets filming a Captain America sequel for a couple of weeks and then.....left! Was it worth it? I don't think so because all these incentives are nothing more than the government forcing the citizenry to fund movie makers in return for a small short term gain.

I would rather have one factory open in Cleveland – one that would be pouring money into Ohio’s economic base daily, weekly, monthly and yearly generating opportunities for other businesses. Companies are created where the tax and regulatory climate is favorable to business. Instead, what do they do? They create a temporary tax and regulatory shelter that will not be of any long term financial help to the people of Cleveland or Ohio.

I especially resent it when government creates incentives to keep businesses in Ohio as Governor Kasich did to keep American Greetings, Diebold, Bob Evans here in Ohio. In the real world the overall business climate is the Petri dish for new growth, not individualized special privileges to a select few. By giving these companies these breaks they are in effect forcing their competition to fund them. I think that’s outrageous.

Shouldn’t this have been obvious to the most casual observer?  Without seeing one iota of data I knew this was a loser for these states.  Why?  Because the patterns of life repeat over and over again!  One nice little influx of money will not make a local economy, and as it turns out….it probably is a net loss.

 As for Hollywood; they have no loyalty to anyone or anything except profits.  Remember, they’re having some serious problems as shown in this June 21^st post Hollywood Goes Bankrupt.  They could care less about you. Let’s try and get this once and for all……it is now and always has been all about them and their money.

The same people that decry the income made by industries that actually produce something creating opportunities for families all over the world, calling them greedy and selfish, have no qualms about feeding at the public feeding trough in order to enhance their profits.  Hollywood is filled with corrupt, self-absorbed hypocrites.    And because of the idiotic positions they take on social issues; a big chunk of them have earned the right to be installed in the Club For The Galacticly Stupid! 

Have a good weekend!

Why we need a convention of the states now

Michael Farris About | Email | Archive

Phyllis Schlafly was the general of the army in the battle against the Equal Rights Amendment. I was a line officer called into duty when, in 1978, Congress purported to change the deadline for the ratification of that amendment.  On behalf of three Washington state legislators, I filed the first legal challenge to the constitutionality of the misuse of the Article V process by Congress. My lawsuit was later consolidated with a similar case filed by state legislators from Arizona and Idaho.

Phyllis and I traveled together throughout Washington state to urge support for my lawsuit. She helped raise the funds that allowed us to battle both the federal government and the National Organization for Women.  We won that case at the federal district court level. The Supreme Court granted review but put the case on ice until the second deadline expired. When 38 states failed to ratify by the date of the “extended” deadline, the Supreme Court ruled the whole matter to be moot…..To Read More

Conservatives ready another try to unseat Lindsey Graham

By BYRON YORK | AUGUST 29, 2013 AT 6:30 PM

On a Monday night in late August, Sen. Lindsey Graham was traveling with a congressional delegation in Africa when the three Republicans who are challenging him in the 2014 GOP primary joined a large and strongly conservative crowd at Rep. Jeff Duncan's annual Faith and Freedom Barbecue. To listen to Graham's opponents tell it, that situation -- a lawmaker who is far away and out-of-touch -- is emblematic of the senator's relationship with his constituents.

"The people in South Carolina are very conservative, and he's been working with Obama and acting as if he's the Secretary of State, when he should be representing the people of South Carolina," said one of the challengers, Lee Bright, a state senator from the Greenville/Spartanburg area.

"He just doesn't represent South Carolina very well," said challenger Richard Cash, a businessman who nearly won a House seat in 2010. "He voted for Justice Sotomayor ... and then he did the same thing with Justice Kagan. We don't like his leadership on immigration -- we believe it's another Grahamnesty. He's not just on the wrong side of the issue, he's a leader on the wrong side."....To Read More.....

No, 'large segments' of Blacks aren't in prison or on parole

By GREGORY KANE | AUGUST 28, 2013

I know exactly where I wanted to be 50 years ago yesterday, and exactly where I was.  I was a typical American 11-year-old, ready to head outdoors for a late summer romp just before school started again. But I never made it out the front door. 

My Aunt Margaret thought my time would be better spent sitting in front of the TV set, listening to some guy called the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., give a speech.

So I sat; I listened. And when King finished his speech with that rousing "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!" I - in all my 11-year-old wisdom - just knew that I'd heard a speech that would be talked about for years.

Well, it has been. And, as each anniversary of the march on Washington has approached, there has been much speculation on what King would have to say about today's America.  That speculation has really been ratcheted up for this 50th anniversary celebration. As usual, the question has been asked.

And, as usual, some of the answers amount to flapdoodle.

Take last Sunday's issue of Parade magazine as an example. The question "What Would Dr. King Say Today?" was put to Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia and Bob Moses, founder and director of the Algebra Project.....To Read More....

Finding racism where it’s not as blatant, and inventing it where it’s not present

By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY | AUGUST 29, 2013

Falsely crying racism for political gain is a good way to make some people believe racism doesn’t exist any more.

I said that on Twitter this morning and was treated to a barrage of inanity from liberal writers like Matt Yglesias and Oliver Willis. But the point I made is true and important. I’ll elaborate here.

Here’s one problem I think we face in American race relations: Many people, including a lot of white conservatives, operate under the assumption that racism isn’t really a problem in America today.

We don’t have slavery, lynching, or whites-only bathrooms anymore, and in my experience almost all decent adults aspire to treat people equally regardless of the color of their skin. I wrote “aspire to.” I don’t think most of us are always successful at this effort of treating all of God’s children as equals, but we try, and every year, as a society, we succeed a little bit more, I think....To Read More.... 

California pols could target tax status of Boy Scouts, youth groups over ‘discrimination’

Posted on August 29, 2013 byCowboy Byte

California lawmakers are cruising toward a final vote on a bill that could threaten the tax-exempt status of American-as-apple-pie groups — ranging from the Boy Scouts to Little League — if their membership policies are found to be discriminatory.

If passed, the bill, SB 323, would remove an exemption from state taxes for any nonprofit youth group that discriminates on the basis of “gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation.” Well-known organizations like Girl Scouts of the USA, Boy Scouts of America, and Little League International Baseball and Softball were cited in the bill, which was introduced in February by Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara. ………To ReadMore  

Syrian Rebels Connected to Benghazi Terrorists

As President Obama prepares to make good on his Syrian “red-line” promise, new information shows the very people a U.S. strike would benefit are connected directly to the same al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on … Continue reading →

Hate Messages at Oberlin Revealed to be Hoax by Obama-Supporting Leftist

August 30, 2013 By Sara Dogan Leave a Comment

A regular column dedicated to reporting on the slanted teaching, mis-administration and sheer insanity of our nation’s colleges and universities.

Top Stories:

• The perpetrators of a series of alleged bias incidents at Oberlin College have been caught—and one of them is a fervent leftist who helped organize a voting drive for President Obama and is a member of a group called Ithaca White Allies Against Structural Racism. The incidents, which included posting racist, anti-Semitic and antigay messages and graffiti around the campus and harassing a female student, sparked a one-day cancellation of classes so that students could attend a teach-in on the evils of racism and homophobia…..To Read More…..

The Racist Liberal System

August 30, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield 10 Comments

George Zimmerman was tried, convicted and sentenced in the media on the charge of Racism in theFirst Degree without a single piece of supporting evidence other than the bare fact of his altercation with a black man.

Had there been a time when Zimmerman had uttered a racial slur then NBC or the New York Times would have dug it up and presented it to readers and viewers first thing next morning. Instead the volume of opposing evidence, including Zimmerman’s advocacy on behalf of a homeless black man assaulted by police was ignored as a fact inconvenient to the racial narrative.

Paula Deen was tried, convicted and sentenced as the Nation’s Worst Racist (after the passing of George Wallace) for using a racial slur about a man who put a gun to her head back in 1986. Walmart stopped selling a cookbook because its author said something bad back when Sam Walton was still CEO and America and Russia were going head to head over whether Communism or Capitalism would dominate. 

…….The racial double standard does black men no favors. The murder of Chris Lane is not the fault of history, but of two black men and their white getaway driver, their families, and above all else, the education and entertainment figures that taught them that hating white people was their birthright …..To Read More….

Obama is talking America into a war

By: George Will, 8/29/2013

Barack Obama’s foreign policy dream — cordial relations with a Middle East tranquilized by “smart diplomacy” — is in a death grapple with reality. His rhetorical writhings illustrate the perils of loquacity. He has a glutton’s, rather than a gourmet’s, appetite for his own rhetorical cuisine, and he has talked America to the precipice of a fourth military intervention in the crescent that extends from Libya to Afghanistan.

Characterizing the 2011 Libyan project with weirdly passive syntax (“It is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions”), he explained his sashay into Libya’s civil war as preemptive: “I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”

With characteristic self-satisfaction, Obama embraced the doctrine “R2P” — responsibility to protect civilians — and Libya looked like an opportunity for an inexpensive morality gesture using high explosives….To ReadMore….

It’s Super-Media! With the power to detect non-existent racism

By: Ann Coulter 8/28/2013

The media’s fixation on the Trayvon Martin case, while ignoring much more brutal crimes with clearer racial motivations, is a return to pre-O.J. America.

The thesis of my book, “Mugged: Racial Demagoguery From the Seventies to Obama” — out in paperback this week! — is that after decades of liberals play-acting Racist America, wherein they cast themselves as civil rights champions, and other, random white people as Bull Connor (a Democrat), it all ended with the O.J. verdict.

That’s when white America said, That’s it. The white guilt bank is shut down. It was one of the best things that ever happened to America — especially for black people.

But then in 2007, Barack Obama brought it all back. In order to immunize the most left-wing presidential candidate the nation has ever seen, the Non-Fox Media went into overdrive reporting their fantasies of an America full of racists, constantly terrorizing innocent blacks….To Read More…..

Just one in four young Americans knows about Obamacare

By: Ben Domenech 8/29/2013

This article was originally published by heartland.org.

This Commonwealth Fund study should be very worrisome to supporters of President Barack Obama’s law: Just one in four 19- to 29-year-olds is even aware of Obamacare’s exchanges.

From October 2013 through March 2014, young adults without affordable health insurance through an employer will be able to select a plan from their state’s insurance marketplace, with coverage beginning January 2014. Those with incomes under 400 percent of poverty will be eligible for subsidized coverage or Medicaid. The survey findings demonstrate just how critical outreach and education will be to inform young adults about their new options. Only 27 percent of 19-to-29-year-olds in the survey were aware of the marketplaces, with awareness lowest among those uninsured for some time during the year (19%) and those in low-income households eligible for subsidized coverage or Medicaid (18%). Awareness also varied by education levels: one-third of college graduates were aware of the marketplaces, compared with 20 percent of those with a high school degree or less…..To Read More….

Aetna pulls out of New York health insurance exchange

Thu Aug 29, 2013 10:57am EDT

(Reuters) - Aetna Inc, the No. 3 U.S. health insurer, said on Thursday it has decided not to sell insurance on New York's individual health insurance exchange, part of the country's healthcare reform.

New York is the fifth state where Aetna has pulled its application to sell the plans that go on sale on October 1 and into effect on January 1, 2014. It has also reversed course in Maryland, Ohio, Georgia, and Connecticut, where it is based.

Aetna spokesman Cynthia Michener said it made the move after assessing its business strategy, following the acquisition of smaller insurer Coventry Healthcare in May. Coventry also filed applications to sell plans in more than 10 states…..ToRead More…

Editor's Note:  The link to this article was preceded by this commentary by John Haywood.

The numbers are in, and ObamaCare's transformation of America into a part-time workforce is beyond dispute. Even last year's anemic job creation saw six full-time jobs produced for every part-time position. But this year, only one full-time job is being created for every four new part-time jobs.

Has anything like this ever happened before? The American workforce is collapsing overall, but the full-time workforce is in free fall. And there's no mystery about why: ObamaCare heavily penalizes companies that employ too many full-time workers. President Obama's much-discussed - and flagrantly illegal - delay of the employer mandate didn't change the equation... because the start date for tallying up full-time positions and imposing those job-crushing mandates didn't change.

ObamaCare affects different states in different ways, depending on the prior condition of their insurance markets. That's a point deliberately obscured by chipper Administration pronouncements that people in New York or Massachusetts might see their premiums dip a little. Of course, they don't want to discuss the vast majority of states where premiums will go up, sometimes at skyrocket velocity.

It's all such a scam, a cheap political game played to keep Americans (and especially the Republican leadership) confused and subdued until the immense, fraud-riddled subsidy system kicks in at the beginning of next year. That's the only "deadline" anyone in the Administration really cares about, because at that point, the logic of "progressivism" says the Affordable Care Act will become impossible to defund or repeal, no matter how awful it gets.

Can there be any further doubt that a serious "pivot to job creation" - especially full-time job creation - must begin with the immediate repeal of ObamaCare?

National fast-food wage protests kick off in New York

By Alana Semuels, August 29, 2013,.

NEW YORK -- Beginning a day of protests that organizers say will spread to 50 cities and 1,000 stores across the country, a crowd of chanting workers gathered Thursday morning at a McDonald's in midtown Manhattan to call for higher wages and the chance to join a union.

About 500 people, including workers, activists, religious leaders, news crews and local politicians, gathered outside the McDonald's on Fifth Avenue. The protesters chanted "Si Se Puede" ("Yes, We Can") and "Hey, hey, ho, ho $7.25 has got to go," holding signs saying "On Strike: Can't Survive on $7.25," referring to the federal minimum wage.

The protesters plan to spread out to other stores throughout New York during the day. Protests are also expected in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and other cities……"They don't seem to care," he said about his employers. "It's horrible how they manage us, how they talk to us, how they treat us. They don't respect us as human."

The fast-food industry used to employ mostly younger people just trying to make some extra money as they went through school. Now, workers are older and depend on the work to feed families. Analysis by the Economic Policies Institute shows that the average age of minimum-wage workers is now 35, and that 88% are 20 and older.

"This morning, I'm out here taking a stand for all the fast-food workers around the world," Langley said. "If you're not going to stand up for yourselves, we will."…To Read More….

For my readers:  I have had some comments sent to me that were inappropriate when I posted about this earlier in the week, and as a result I didn't publish them.  You don't have to agree with me to get a comment posted, but you must keep comments civil and intelligent.... and I will post it.  I don't like nasty comments.  I don't like smarmy, snarky, nasty, rude, crude or stupid.     

My Take - This is an effort in futility. These companies aren't going to pay over 15 dollars an hour for the work they do. Why? Because anyone can do what they do and if they paid that kind of money a ton of fast food restaurants will go out of business. Do they really believe that won't happen? Do they really believe they will be better off? Fast food is normally a temporary job, and even if it is less so now, it will be again. 

As for the abusive behavior of managers....I agree.....food managers treat everyone rotten.  For reasons I have never been able to understand food service managers have egos way out of proportion to their intelligence or to the importance of their position in society.  But, that is part and parcel of the industry.  I have been around the food business in one capacity or another for 35 years and there is one incontrovertible fact that we need to understand; it draws the strangest people in the world. It’s the only industry in the world where you get credibility for working at a lot of different places.  The other incontrovertible fact that becomes obvious to people like me who are outside the food business, but have to interact with it is this; when you talk to them or watch what they do……you quickly realize that most of these people can’t hold down a job elsewhere…..that’s why they are where they are.  That may be a sad reality, but it is a reality, and no one is going to pay them over 15 dollar an hour.  This is not going to be any more effective than the Occupy Wall Street movement.   Get over it!

Move Over, Obamacare. Here Comes Obamaschool

Mises Daily:Friday, August 30, 2013 by Hunter Lewis

The president gave a speech on August 22 in Buffalo outlining his proposal to “reform” the student loan program. He acknowledged that the program has some problems, but assured the audience they are easily fixed. Just take the principles behind Obamacare and apply them to education. The president personally “guaranteed” that his proposals would make college more affordable.

Here’s the plan. The government will rate colleges based on fees (the lower the better) and graduation rates (the higher the better) and student success in finding a job. Then student loan funds will be allocated to schools according to the rating. Students will also be guided to the best-rated schools via government web sites. And schools will get more funding if they set up demonstration projects to reduce costs. This will all encourage more “competition” among schools. Yes, you heard that right: more government control of colleges will increase market “competition.”…To Read More….

Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 9): How to Expand Consumer Choice and Access to Content

by Wayne Crews on August 29, 2013

The gravely flawed principles of the initial 2005 Policy Statement, now being promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the 2010 Order on Preserving the Free and Open Internet, claimed to enshrine the open and interconnected public Internet and uphold individuals’ ability to access the lawful content of their choice …and…connect their choice of legal devices.

Statements like this have the effect (perhaps unintended, but likely not) of improperly conflating political freedoms and contractual/economic freedoms, while potentially undermining all.

Rights, of course, describe the relation of an individual to the state, not to a commercial vendor.

Be that as it may, commerce is not a threat to democracy or the free flow of ideas; it is the enabler.

Consumer choice is created by, not threatened by, the existence of the producer.....To Read More....

Fast-food strikes set for cities nationwide

AP News | Aug 29, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Fast-food customers in search of burgers and fries might run into striking workers instead.  Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country Thursday, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages.

It's expected be the largest nationwide strike by fast-food workers, according to organizers. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the nation's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities.

Thursday's planned walkouts follow a series of strikes that began last November in New York City, then spread to cities including Chicago, Detroit and Seattle. Workers say they want $15 an hour, which would be about $31,000 a year for full-time employees. That's more than double the federal minimum wage, which many fast food workers make, of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year…..To Read More….

Animal rights group vandalizes Michigan slaughterhouse

Brett Wessler, Staff Writer | Updated: 08/28/2013

An animal rights group allegedly claimed responsibility for vandalizing a Michigan slaughterhouse and one of its vehicles and freeing cows from the facility Monday morning.

The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) released an email following the incident at McNee’s Meats. Members of the group spray-painted “Meat is Murder” on the front of the building and a sign outside, glued door locks to the building and company vehicle shut, and released cattle. WNEM reports cages used for holding chickens were also destroyed.

McNee’s Meats is located in North Branch, Michigan. ALF has attacked other slaughterhouses and cattle operations across the country including Harris Farms in January 2012. ALF set a fire that heavily damaged 14 tractors and several cattle trailers. Losses were estimated to total over $2 million….ThisAppeared Here….

Harvard study reveals gun control counterproductive

August 20, 2013 Steve Adcock

Once again, a study from an organization that you would never accuse of being “gun-loving” or “right-wing” seems to disprove the myth that the availability of handguns increases murder rates. In fact, it doesn’t.

The Harvard study attempts to answer the question of whether or not banning firearms would reduce murders and suicides. Researchers looked at crime data from several European countries and found that countries with HIGHER gun ownership often had LOWER murder rates…..To Read More….

In a study released by Harvard University, researchers found no link between gun control and a reduction in crime.

o   European countries with HIGHER gun ownership often had LOWER crime

o   Russia's (strict gun control) crime rate is 4-times higher than U.S.'s

o   No link between more guns and higher murder rates

o   Without guns, people find another way to commit crime

Clean living, pure thought, and high aspirations

By: John Hayward | August 28th, 2013

It has been sad, but predictable, to watch a parade of leftist hacks draft the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. into service this week, to promote some bit of Democrat Party dogma or other. Impeached former President Bill Clinton took the cake by uncorking a bizarre finger-wagging rant that was presumably intended to slam voter-ID laws by comparing them to the process of purchasing an assault weapon. Since Clinton is a lazy ideologue who assumes his audience is filled with idiots, he didn’t put a lot of thought behind his words, and ended up saying something that could be interpreted as a call for photo ID, background checks, and a waiting period before allowing voter registration.

Alas, also high on the hackery roll call of shame is Martin Luther King III, who used a Washington Post op-ed to peddle a bit of ersatz Trayvon Martin mythology: ……To Read More....

 

The Million Muslim March and Its Foreign Islamist Ties

August 29, 2013 By Ryan Mauro 1 Comment

The 9/11 Truther organizers of the “Million American March Against Fear on 9/11,” formerly known as the “Million Muslim March,” aren’t keen on those who dig up their alliances with foreign Islamist groups like Viva Palestina in the U.K. and Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. In a recent conference call, one of the organizers even attacked me as a “Nazi bulldog.”

The American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) leads the “Million American March Against Fear on 9/11.” Its website claims that “’Al-Qaeda is a joke. And so is the whole ‘war on terror’” and “the so-called ‘Islamic terrorist threat’ is pure hallucination.” Formerly known as the “Million Muslim March,” the event’s name was rebranded after 9/11 Truth groups joined it.....To Read More....

Black-on-White Violence: The Forgotten Victims

August 29, 2013 By Jack Kerwick 4 Comments

As the nation remembers Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it should also note that while the self-appointed guardians of King’s legacy, the “anti-racists,” obsess over Paula Deen and liken Trayvon Martin to Emmet Till, they say nothing about interracial violence when it involves black perpetrators and white victims.

Below is a select list of interracial atrocities committed by blacks against whites. These forgotten victims are men and women, young and old.

Brad Heyka, Jason Befort, Aaron Sander, Heather Muller, “H.G.”: In December of 2000, in Wichita, Kansas, over the course of hours, two brothers, Reginald and Jonathan Carr, robbed, beat, sexually tormented, and repeatedly raped three men and two women. They eventually shot all five victims, execution-style, in the backs of their heads before driving over their bodies with one of the victim’s pick-up truck. “H.G.” survived. Wearing nothing but a shirt, shot and battered, she walked a mile until she found help. 
 

 Channon Christian, Christopher Newsom: In 2007, this young couple was carjacked in Knoxville, Tennessee by four men and one woman. Both were raped—Newsom anally, Christian anally, vaginally, and orally. The former was shot and his body set on fire. The latter was suffocated over a span of hours inside of garbage bags—after she was forced to ingest bleach so as to remove traces of her assailants’ DNA. Sherry West, Antonio Santiago: 13 month-old baby son - Joshua Heath Chellew: 36 year-old man  - Jonathan Foster:, 12 year-old - Delbert “Shorty” Benton: 89 year-old veteran of World War II - Chris Lane: 23 year-old Australian  - Fannie Gumbinger: 99 year-old Poughkeepsie, New York......To Read More….…

 

Before Net Neutrality Eats the World (Part 8): The Essential Elements of Non-Destructive Rulemaking

by Wayne Crews on August 28, 2013 · 0 comments

As noted in the previous installment of “Before Net Neutrality Eats the World” on smart networks vs. dumb ones, capitalism itself is historically a relatively new phenomenon, and communications networks, as massive-scale private assets, lack the legitimization they deserve.

Consumers and competitors can rapidly and devastatingly react against bad business practices, should Internet providers attempt it; but reversing course under an inferior net neutrality regime is another story altogether.

Regulation cannot substitute for competitive enterprise. But one will scour the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Order on Preserving the Free and Open Internet in vain for recognition that government failure is both endemic and harder to extricate from than mere bad business decisions….To Read More….

From Benny Peiser: Global Warming Policy Foundation

Global investors are once again setting their sights on chaos in the Middle East. Even though Egypt is a minor player on the oil production front, the crisis-ravaged country plays a key role in the energy market because it controls two pivotal transit points: the Suez Canal and the Sumed Pipeline. While a disruption to the free flow of oil through Egypt appears unlikely at this point, investors are clearly monitoring the latest developments in Cairo for signs the situation is spiraling any further out of control or could spread to neighboring countries. --Matt Egan, Fox Business, 20 August 2013

Since the 1970s the developed world has shuddered whenever there has been a Middle East crisis, the latest involving fears of how an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would impact the Straits of Hormuz, the M4 bottleneck of the ocean-going tanker world. The biggest impact of shale will be on existing oil and gas producers, which is probably why one jittery Gulf state recently sponsored the trailers for Hollywood’s latest example of anti-fracking alarmism — starring Matt Damon — and why the subject gets such negative treatment in the Russian media. Shale gas is not just about affordable energy and growth. It’s about reducing dependence on the Middle East. -–Michael Burleigh, The Times, 26 August 2013

Lane Energy Poland is extracting some 8,000 cubicmetres of shale gas per day at a test well in northern Poland, an amount unseen in Europe to date, the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper reported on Wednesday. “This is very good news for Poland and European oil geology,” Piotr Wozniak, deputy environment minister and Poland’s chief geologist, was quoted as saying. He said the results should encourage other companies to speed up work on shale gas exploration. --Reuters, 28 August 2013

Britain’s coalition Government is heading for a bitter new row over green energy as senior Tories seek to unpick carbon targets which stand in the way of Britain building more than 40 gas-fired power stations. Ministers struck an agreement in 2011 to reduce emissions by half by the mid-2020s, compared with 1990 levels, as part of Britain’s attempt to cut its share of global warming. But George Osborne, chancellor, secured a potential opt-out if a December 2013 review by the Climate Change Committee proved that Britain was moving faster than the rest of the EU. Mr Osborne privately hopes to use the results of the review to unpick the carbon budget, which he fears could undermine manufacturing and prevent the construction of a new fleet of gas-burning power stations. --Jim Pickard, Financial Times, 28 August 2013

Plans for future wind farms in Britain could be in jeopardy after a United Nations legal tribunal ruled that the UK Government acted illegally by denying the public decision-making powers over their approval and the “necessary information” over their benefits or adverse effects. The new ruling, agreed by a United Nations committee in Geneva, calls into question the legal validity of any further planning consent for all future wind-farm developments based on current policy, both onshore and offshore. --Margareta Pagano, The Independent, 28 August 2013
What makes the row over fracking so absurd is that it is being conducted by the greenies as if this is some highly dangerous new technology which has never been properly tested. The whole point about fracking is that it has already been demonstrated at thousands of sites across America to work perfectly safely, without harming the environment, and to such effect that it has more than halved US energy bills and is helping more than anything else to put the US economy back on the road to recovery. That is why the greens so hate it, because it makes a nonsense of all their scare stories about fossil fuels becoming too expensive to use; it shows up more clearly than ever the ludicrous cost of their pitifully inadequate “renewables”; and it has even slashed US “carbon emissions”, for what that is worth, to their levels of 30 years ago. --Christopher Booker, The Sunday Telegraph, 25 August 2013

Interestingly, shale-gas production has been a major factor in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, which hit an 18-year low last year for total emissions, and fell to almost a 50-year low on a per-capita basis. Will environmentalists and their supporters in Washington and some states continue to oppose shale-gas production? Probably. But in the national discussion on fracking, we can’t ignore the significant economic and environmental benefits that the shale revolution is providing, and will continue to provide to the U.S. economy. --Mark J. Perry, The Detroit News, 26 August 2013

The ongoing “shale revolution” in U.S. oil and gas production could prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to institute economic and political reforms that would ultimately undermine his regime, experts say. Putin largely relied on oil and gas production to fuel economic expansion during his first two presidential terms from 2000 to 2008. Hydrocarbons accounted for half of Russia’s GDP growth since 2000. However, there are signs that Russia’s energy dominance is increasingly vulnerable. Russian energy giant Gazprom has lost more than $280 billion in market value since 2008. Experts on the country’s economy and governance attribute the decline to U.S. investment in the innovative oil and gas extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” which dampened U.S. demand for imports and exerted downward pressure on global gas prices and Gazprom’s profits. --Daniel Wiser, The Washington Free Beacon, 14 August 2013