News of the Week for September 1^st, 2013

• Obama Scandals
• Gun Rights
• Hide the Decline
• Obamacare
• War & Terror
• National News
• Economy & Taxes
• International News
• Opinion

 

Obama Scandals

 

IRS is targeting the American Legion with new set of guidelines
The Internal Revenue Service is targeting the veterans’ organization the American Legion, and a U.S. senator believes that Lois Lerner — a key figure in the IRS scandal – is to blame.

Britain Gives America a Preview of Obamacare
Each visit to the United Kingdom brings new horror stories about the National Health Service.

Gun Rights

 

Harvard Study: No Correlation Between Gun Control and Less Violent Crime
A Harvard Study titled “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide?” looks at figures for “intentional deaths” throughout continental Europe and juxtaposes them with the U.S. to show that more gun control does not necessarily lead to lower death rates or violent crime.

Obama offers new gun control steps
Striving to take action where Congress would not, the Obama administration announced new steps Thursday on gun control, curbing the import of military surplus weapons and proposing to close a little-known loophole that lets felons and others circumvent background checks by registering guns to corporations.

Pride of Ignorance on Firearms
When it comes to the Second Amendment, the Left doesn’t even understand what it’s getting wrong.

Obama’s new executive order will kill the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program
The White House announced on Thursday that it intends to “ban almost all re-imports of military surplus firearms to private entities” through executive order, which would effectively shut down the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program.

Hide the Decline

Environment &
“Green Energy”

 

Another Climate Embarrassment
John mentions below that the satellite global temperature data continue to run flat (but the climate campaign rolls on run-flat tires, so never mind), but here’s another fun factoid just out: with the summer drawing toward a close, so far this summer in the US has experienced the fewest 100+ degree readings at temperature stations in 100 years.

The Cult of Climate
A few years ago a boffin passing himself off as a scientist, well he did attend courses and was matriculated a few times so technically is a scientist, by the name of Mann rolled out a noteworthy graph. It even got put into the IPCC report on climate change. What a wonderful graph it was for it was the one true sign that Man was causing the globe’s temperatures to rise. It was called the Hockey Stick.

Obamacare

Government in Healthcare

 

Obamacare’s Hierarchy of Privilege
No one who favors the law wants to be bound by it.

IRS issues final rules on Obamacare’s ‘individual mandate’
The Internal Revenue Service issued final rules on Tuesday for the individual mandate of President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, one of the most contentious elements of the U.S. law set to go into effect next year.

Britain Gives America a Preview of Obamacare
Each visit to the United Kingdom brings new horror stories about the National Health Service.

It’s Fact, Not Anecdote, That ObamaCare Is Turning Us Into A Part-Time Nation
The Obama administration continues to discount the huge impact its health overhaul law is having in turning America into a part-time nation, calling reports anecdotal and not based on complete data.

 

War & Terror

 

Fort Hood Shooter Sentenced to Death
A jury has sentenced Nidal Hasan to death for his heinous actions in the November, 2009 Fort Hood massacre.

Iraq war ghosts end UK plans to take part in Syria action
Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans to join a potential military strike on Syria were thwarted on Thursday night when Britain’s parliament narrowly voted against a government motion to authorize such action in principle.

The Consequences of Cameron’s Parliamentary Defeat on Syria
David Cameron’s parliamentary defeat on his government’s motion — and, in truth, his personal commitment — to take part in a U.S.-led punitive raid on Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against its citizens is a catastrophe for the prime minister but only a moderate setback, if even that, for Britain. The catastrophe will take time to emerge to its full extent; the setback will dissolve quite quickly.

Facebook Post Said to Be by Assad’s Son Dares Americans to Attack
A Facebook post said to be written by the 11-year-old son of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and “liked” or commented on by several people who appear to be the children and grandchildren of other senior members of Mr. Assad’s government, may offer a glimpse into the mindset of Syria’s ruling elite as the country braces for a potential Western strike in response to a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21.

National

 

Poll: Hickenlooper vulnerable on gun control, death penalty
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s stance on the hot-button topics of gun control and the death penalty have given him a “lackluster” approval rating, according to a new poll that has him in a dead heat with Republican challenger Tom Tancredo.

Convicted Insider Trading Obama Donor Enjoys a ‘Manservant’ in Prison: “He’s reigning like a king”
These pals of Barack even enjoy the high life in federal prison.

Gay Marriage is Already Impacting the Rights of Churches
Attorney Erik Stanley writes that churches are at risk from the redefinition of marriage.

Brooklyn Criminal Apprehended After He Trips Over Sagging Jeans During Attempted Getaway
This day 50 years ago Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that people wouldn’t be so stupid as to wear jeans hanging off their asses as they attempted to flee from police. That dream has yet to come to fruition.

City Considers Larger Homeless Memorial
This week the Austin City Council considers placing a full-size statue to the homeless along Lady Bird Lake. But could the money be better spent on homeless programs?

Stick a fork in him: Cory Booker gets busted for lying about imaginary thug friend T-Bone

Cory Booker on His Make-Believe Friend: “He is 1,000 percent a real person”
Care to correct the record, Senator?

Ginsburg will be first justice to officiate same-sex wedding
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first Supreme Court member to conduct a same-sex marriage ceremony Saturday when she officiates at the Washington wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser.

Fun with infanticide! Videogame has players overcome obstacles to abort their babies in Texas
If Wendy Davis’ 11-hour filibuster to protect late-term abortion in the Lone Star State wasn’t proof enough of the Texas pro-abortion movement’s desperation, a new video game does the trick.

Environmental Activist Vera Scroggins Calls for Parental Pedophilia
Environmental activist Vera Scroggins provides still more evidence that normalizing pedophilia will be next on the progressive agenda.

Obama: Sex Ed for Kindergartners ‘Is the Right Thing to Do’
The Chicago Public Schools this year are mandating that the district’s kindergarten classes include sex education, fulfilling a proposal President Barack Obama supported in 2003 when he served in the Illinois state senate and later defended when he ran for president in the 2008 election cycle.

@Project_Veritas detained while meeting former US Attorney Jim Letten

‘What is Government?’ Elementary Students Taught It’s Your ‘Family’
Fourth-grade students in Illinois are learning that “government is like a nation’s family” because it sets rules and takes care of needs such as health care and education.

 

Economy
& Taxes

 

US we have a problem, and its name is durable goods
U.S. durable goods have sent a shudder through the market, after July’s headline number checked in much weaker than expected, down a whopping 7.3 percent versus expectations of a 4 percent decline.

Troy claims town parcels
City files suit for right to tax 67 properties in three bordering towns

When welfare pays better than work
Here’s an offer for you: $38,004 per year, tax free.No work required.Apply at your local welfare office.

How pension mess could get worse

Suicide Pact
How to cripple your state in five easy steps.

San Bernardino 1, Calpers 0
San Bernardino just received the judicial go-ahead to declare bankruptcy more than a year after its initial bankruptcy filing. The ruling, delivered by a federal bankruptcy court on Wednesday, concludes a long legal battle between the city and Calpers, which was fighting to keep the city out of bankruptcy in order to keep its funds flowing into the pension coffers. It now looks like Calpers will have to get in line with the city’s other creditors, meaning it will probably have to take a haircut just like everyone else.

What Happens When a Man Takes on the Feds
Buckyballs was the hottest office game on the market. Then regulators banned it. Now the government wants to ruin the CEO who fought back.

 

International

 

Golden Rice, Green Idiocy
On August 8th, 400 protesters ripped out seedlings of a new genetically modified plant called golden rice at a testing ground in the Philippines. Genes from bacteria and corn have been added to the rice to make it a source of vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness and weakens the immune system, contributing to 2 million deaths every year. (Golden rice is being developed by a non-profit organization, not Monsanto.) As the Philippine government prepares to rule on whether or not to allow farmers to grow the wonder-crop, the anti-GMO movement is digging itself in for a fight.

Korean Spy agency decides Presidential candidate isn’t up to their standards – tries to block his election
South Korea is again having problems with its national intelligence agency (NIS or National Intelligence Service) going rogue. This time it is the discovery that not only did the NIS conduct illegal Information War operations against the losing candidate in last year’s presidential election, but also arranged to have an earlier criminal investigation of that Information War activity suppressed. The facts did not stay suppressed and now the government has agreed to reform the NIS.

Ukraine to Russia: We’ve Got a New Friend, Get Used to It
Fresh off the heels of a top advisor to Putin declaring Ukraine’s potential deal with the EU “suicidal,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov is firing back, telling Moscow to start coming to terms with a more Western-looking Ukraine. “Ukraine will create a free trade zone with the EU – this also has to be inevitably accepted as a reality,” Azarov declared.

Police storm homeschool class, take children by force
‘Officers brought a battering ram and were about to break the door in’

 

Opinion

 

The end of race
Scan the news on any given day in America, and you will invariably find multiple stories about race, racism, ethnicity, and race relations. We can’t seem to get enough of this topic, and correspondingly, the media appetite for all things race-related is unquenchable.

Obama’s Racial Imbalance
He professes outrage when there’s little evidence of bias against blacks, but ignores attacks on whites.

Baffled by teen boys, experts keep trying to turn them into girls. Surprise — it’s not working.
Well, childhood-development geniuses, it’s 40 years into your project to turn boys into girls. How’s that working out for you?

Of Course: Miley Cyrus’ Public Circle-Twerk Was Also Super-Racist You Guys
And then there is this bitter racialist.

Thomas Sowell: A Poignant Anniversary
Fifty years after King’s famous speech, too many are still judged by the color of their skin.

An American Satyricon
Our elites would be right at home in Petronius’s world of debauchery and bored melodrama.

Twerking towards Gomorrah
Viewers of the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night were treated to a bizarre dance routine from former Disney child actress Miley Cyrus, which CBS News describes as “one performance that won’t be forgotten very quickly:”

School is a prison — and damaging our kids
Longer school years aren’t the answer. The problem is school itself. Compulsory teach-and-test simply doesn’t work

Miley Cyrus Doesn’t Have a ‘Race Problem’
But her critics most definitely do.

Remember When Conscience Was Cool?
Not too long ago, prevailing opinion held that the corporate world had lost its conscience. Businesses seemed to care about nothing but the bottom line. Critics asked, “Why must businesses care only about profit? Why can’t businesses be guided by values and seek the greater good?”

Soviet-Style Governance In San Francisco Bay Area
One of the all too many examples of illegal government overreach is currently playing out in the San Francisco Bay area. Unaccountable bureaucrats are imposing a sweeping new regional plan there that reflects the antiprogress, antipeople predilections of today’s leftist regulatory elites. Under the plan most future business and residential developments will be packed, sardine-like, into approximately 5% of the land area of the 9-county, 101-city region. Residents of all political stripes are outraged. Landowners feel they are suffering a government “takings” without compensation. Some environmentalists object that the impact on some of the chosen areas will be detrimental.

Pigeons, Rats, and Democrats
I went on a bird drive over the weekend; not a bird walk but a two hundred mile bird drive. I drove up to Davis, California, then through some orchard, farm, and ranch country. I eventually finished at a National Wildlife Refuge.

Jody Rosen Has White Privilege All Over His Face
That was the title of the post I was going to write yesterday, until I figured out that half the planet had already made fun of him. To recap, Jody Rosen wrote in Vulture that Miley Cyrus doing her idiotic jiggle dance on MTV was a horrible act of overt racism. Rosen apparently never learned one particular thing about crying racism – if you’re a dorky white media critic, people don’t have to be defensive when making fun of you.

Hard Times for Gender Studies Major
Hilarity ensued Monday after @Andria_XX complained that social-media criticism of Miley Cyrus included “bodyshaming/slutshaming” and “heteropatriarchal crap.” Readers will recall that Andria has an “Honors BA in Social Justice and Peace Studies” and is pursuing a Master’s degree in Gender Studies. So . . . how’s that going?

Bitches Be Cray-Cray: A Heteropatriarchal Theory of Non-Transformative Justice
Otherwise known as the Anglo-American common-law tradition, I figure glitzing up the Rule of Law in fancy intellectual jargon might give it the academic oomph necessary to compete with this crazy crap

Is Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream Unconstitutional?
Disregarding race is the new “racism”: that is the position of the modern Left. Which raises the question: is it unconstitutional for American governments to treat members of all races equally? If you think that is an absurd question, you haven’t been paying attention.

The Disparate Impact of Holder’s War on Private Schools
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the civil-rights milestone will continue to loom large in the ideological media. The right will talk about how much progress we’ve made, the left will talk about how far we have to go, and the president himself will give a speech marking the occasion this week in which he’ll talk both about the progress and the ground that must still be covered. His speech will be all the more powerful for the obvious symbolism, though the speech text will likely be thoughtful and somewhat moving in addition.

First, the Grotesque
Miley Cyrus’ behavior at the VMAs was grotesque, but isn’t new; Madonna and Lady Gaga have given us plenty examples in recent history. And even back in the 1930’s, there were several slutty grotesque performers. But which comes first? A society which exemplifies this behavior, or lewd behavior which leads to a societal downfall?

Copperheads: The ‘Jacksonian’ Sword of Lincoln
One of the most important undercurrents of the Civil War was the role the strong Democratic minority played in criticizing Lincoln’s Republican administration, the Radical Republican Congress, and the war effort in general. But Democrats did not provide a united front or bulwark of opposition to the government and the Union cause, rather far from it.