<\/p>\n
News of the Week for June 9th<\/sup>, 2013<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Obama author blasts White House leadership<\/a> IRS Commissioner Shulman\u2019s Wife Is Left-Wing Campaign Finance Activist<\/a> EPA acknowledges releasing personal details on farmers, senator slams agency<\/a> EPA Targeted Conservative Groups <\/a> National Organization for Marriage Representative: Yes, We Have Smoking Gun Proof the IRS Leaked Our Confidential Donor List to Our Chief Political Rival, Human Rights Campaign<\/a> Emails of top Obama appointees remain a mystery<\/a> Issa: IRS Targeting Coordinated in D.C.<\/a> Leon Panetta revealed classified SEAL unit info<\/a> Mainstream Media Fail to Break Even One of Four Obama Scandals<\/a> U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program<\/a> Mystery deepens: Are tech behemoths participating in PRISM voluntarily?<\/a> Ricin Suspect Was Tracked Via Mail Scanners <\/a> NSA sucks in data from 50 companies <\/a> DHS insider: It\u2019s about to get very ugly <\/a> <\/p>\n Fighting education fanatics: ColumnGlenn Harlan Reynolds, USATODAY<\/a> Hayward school to sponsor toy gun exchange<\/a> EPIC FAIL: 73 Climate Models vs. Observations for Tropical Tropospheric Temperature<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family<\/a> Issa: IRS Targeting Coordinated in D.C.<\/a> World Health Organization\u2019s Continuing Attempts to Usurp American Sovereignty<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n France: Sarin gas used in Syria<\/a> Our Next Ambassador to the UN Endorsed an Invasion of Israel in 2002<\/a> Nicaragua canal fast-tracked with Chinese boost<\/a> <\/p>\n Lautenberg Dead at 89; Special Election to Come <\/a> In Michigan, the GOP Lands a Big-Time Candidate<\/a> Gabriel Gomez called a LINO (Latino In Name Only) by Boston Spanish newspaper<\/a> Christie\u2019s Tough Choices<\/a> Supreme Court rules DNA samples can be taken after arrest without a warrant <\/a> Fined $75,000 for Saying \u201cHomo\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Frank Pallone planning run vs. Cory Booker<\/a> Va. yet to see money from Abbott fraud case, Cuccinelli says <\/a> High School Valedictorian Stuns Audience After He Rips Up Speech and Delivers the Lord\u2019s Prayer Instead \u2014 Wild Applause Follows<\/a> Anti-White, Anti-Conservative Discrimination at PERB<\/a> Mounting Signs of GOP Rebellion Against Immigration Reform<\/a> Update on the NJ Senate special election.<\/a> Few in GOP Step Forward For N.J. Senate Race <\/a> Children\u2019s media use cuddly animals to reinforce \u2018racist\u2019 and \u2018socially dominant norms,\u2019 researcher says<\/a> <\/p>\n Do Not Use The Stock Market To Claim An Economic Recovery<\/a> <\/p>\n College in Sweden is free but students still have a ton of debt. How can that be?<\/a> Australian University Censors Speech Offensive to Islam, Threatens Students<\/a> Vienna School Bans Teaching About Gates of Vienna to Avoid Offending Muslims<\/a> Flame of Fathers’ Rights Extinguished in UK by Coalition Government <\/a> Are We Looking at \u2018Europe\u2019s Last Stand\u2019?<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Obama\u2019s cave<\/a> Karl Marx Was a Tea Partier<\/a> The left’s unmistakable trend toward weaponizing the tax code <\/a> The Parochialism of ‘Diversity’ <\/a> When everything is a crime, government data mining matters<\/a>\n
<\/a>Obama Scandals<\/h1>\n
\nAuthor Jonathan Alter says White House leadership is disorganized because of a crowded chain of command and he criticized President Obama’s tapping of Valerie Jarrett to head outreach, likening it to a CEO putting his sister in charge of marketing.<\/p>\n
\nDemocrats have made much of the fact that ex-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, who presided over the agency as it obstructed and harassed conservative non-profits, was appointed by President Bush. It turns out, however, that in one of many such unholy Washington alliances, Shulman is married to Susan L. Anderson, who is an Occupy Wall Street activist and a senior program adviser for the Washington-based group Public Campaign.<\/p>\n
\nThe Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Tuesday that it released personal information on potentially thousands of farmers and ranchers to environmental groups, following concerns from congressional Republicans and agriculture groups that the release could endanger their safety.<\/p>\n
\nIs the scandalpalooza picking up scandal #5? (Benghazi, IRS, DOJ\/Press, Fast and Furious). This time something smells rotten at the EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency is facing Inspector General and Congressional probes regarding political targeting of conservative groups.<\/p>\n
\nYou’ll remember that Californians who donated to help pass Proposition 8 were boycotted.<\/p>\n
\nSome of President Barack Obama’s political appointees, including the Cabinet secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, are using secret government email accounts they say are necessary to prevent their inboxes from being overwhelmed with unwanted messages, according to a review by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\nDarrell Issa says that the IRS targeting of conservatives was coordinated out of the Washington headquarters office and that he and other lawmakers are getting the proof.<\/p>\n
\nFormer CIA Director Leon Panetta revealed the name of the Navy SEAL unit that carried out the Osama bin Laden raid and named the unit\u2019s ground commander at a 2011 ceremony attended by \u201cZero Dark Thirty\u201d filmmaker Mark Boal, according to a draft Pentagon inspector general\u2019s report obtained by a watchdog group.<\/p>\n
\nWell, if it is Thursday, there must be a new Obama scandal. But one thing is for damn sure, whatever that scandal is, you can bet the American mainstream media will be playing catch up and not carrying the glory of breaking a story about a major White House scandal.<\/p>\n
\nThe National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person\u2019s movements and contacts over time.<\/p>\n
\nGo look at this post at TechCrunch rounding up reaction from Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. All of them deny giving the feds \u201cdirect access\u201d to their servers; some of them claim never to have even heard of PRISM until WaPo\u2019s story yesterday. \u201cBut wait,\u201d you say, \u201cwhat if they\u2019re being slippery in their statements and they actually gave the feds indirect access to their servers?\u201d That\u2019s possible. Other people have noticed that loophole too.<\/p>\n
\nFeds: Postal Service photographs every piece of mail it processes<\/p>\n
\nAnalysts at the National Security Agency can now secretly access real-time user data provided by as many as 50 American companies, ranging from credit rating agencies to internet service providers, two government officials familiar with the arrangements said.<\/p>\n
\nSomething quite unexpected happened just hours ago, in the dark of night, during a two-day layover in Washington, DC. My son and I are scheduled to take part in a seminar outside of Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend, so we combined our travels to include a side-trip to DC for a business meeting we had previously arranged. It was during this layover that something seemingly ripped from the pages of a spy novel took place.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gun Rights<\/h1>\n
\nSchools treat 5-year-olds like hardened criminals. It smacks of fanaticism.<\/p>\n
\nAn elementary school will hold a toy gun exchange Saturday, offering students a book and a chance to win a bicycle if they turn in their play weapons.<\/p>\n<\/a>Hide the Decline<\/h1>\n
Environment &
\n“Green Energy”<\/h2>\n
\nCourtesy of John Christy, a comparison between 73 CMIP5 models (archived at the KNMI Climate Explorer website) and observations for the tropical bulk tropospheric temperature (aka \u201cMT\u201d) since 1979<\/p>\n<\/a>Obamacare<\/h1>\n
Government in Healthcare<\/h2>\n
\nIn a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.<\/p>\n
\nDarrell Issa says that the IRS targeting of conservatives was coordinated out of the Washington headquarters office and that he and other lawmakers are getting the proof.<\/p>\n
\nThe World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations subsidiary, appears to be gearing up for a fresh effort to undermine countries\u2019 sovereignty in setting regulations, this time by pushing for a global, comprehensive ban on all tobacco product promotion.<\/p>\n<\/a>War & Terror<\/h1>\n
\nSarin gas has been used several times in the Syrian civil war, including at least once by the Assad regime, France’s foreign minister said Tuesday, citing results from test samples in France’s possession.<\/p>\n
\nThe Institute of International Studies at UC Berkley, which has a long-running program called Conversations with History hosted by its executive director, Harry Kreisler, had a familiar face as a guest in 2002. That guest was Samantha Power. It was here that Power, who will be nominated to be our next ambassador to the UN, endorsed an invasion of Israel to prevent future genocide.<\/p>\n
\nFor centuries, tycoons and adventurers alike have dreamed of building a canal through Nicaragua between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and riding a boom in international trade to new riches. Up until now, however, all comers were forced to admit defeat when faced with the sheer challenge of building a man-made river through dense, hilly jungle.<\/p>\n<\/a>National<\/h1>\n
\nAccording to New Jersey election law, Governor Chris Christie can appoint a senator until a special election is held, and that special election could occur in November, but Christie could schedule it some other time<\/p>\n
\nTerri Lynn Land appears set to run for Senate in Michigan<\/p>\n
\nThe Boston Spanish language paper El Planeta has an Op-Ed by its former(*) Director and longtime Spanish language media executive Gerardo (Jerry) Villacr\u00e9s, in which Republican Senate candidate and former Navy pilot and SEAL Gabriel Gomez is called a LINO (Latino in name only)(h\/t @DBernstein), \u00bfQu\u00e9 es un LINO?<\/p>\n
\nThe death of Senator Frank Lautenberg gives New Jersey governor Chris Christie the chance to appoint a new Republican senator and shift the balance of power in the U.S. Senate \u2014 majority leader Harry Reid may now be less likely to try to alter Senate rules in order to remove the 60-vote threshold for cutting off debate.<\/p>\n
\nThe majority ruled that such a sample is \u2018a legitimate police booking procedure\u2019. But the four-justice minority of the divided court wrote that the decision will provide a major change in police powers.<\/p>\n
\nHours after Chris Christie set the special election clock in motion, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) started making a round of calls telling people be plans to run for the Senate, sources confirmed to POLITICO.<\/p>\n
\nEight months after a federal court approved a $1.5 billion Medicaid fraud settlement — the second largest in U.S. history — federal officials have yet to release any of the roughly $125 million owed to Virginia for being the lead investigator.<\/p>\n
\nRoy Costner IV, a former public school student from South Carolina, stunned the audience at his high school graduation last weekend when he ripped up his previously-approved valedictorian speech, going on, instead, to speak about God \u2014 and then deliver the Lord\u2019s prayer.<\/p>\n
\nOndray Harris, former executive director of the Public Employee Relations Board of the District of Columbia claims two board members, Don Wasserman and Ann Hoffman, ordered Mr. Harris to stop hiring anyone suspected of having conservative political affiliations. It went one step further when they told him to stop hiring Whites.<\/p>\n
\nDespite Marco Rubio’s push for comprehensive reform, most Republicans aren’t listening.
\n20 Completely Ridiculous College Courses Being Offered At U.S. Universities<\/a>
\nSome of the college courses listed below are funny, others are truly bizarre, others are just plain outrageous, but all of them are a waste of money.<\/p>\n
\nCory Booker makes it official: he\u2019s running for NJ-SEN (special): he announced it today. Here\u2019s the thing, though: so is Rep. Frank Pallone. For that matter, so is Rep. Rush Holt, but Holt\u2019s brand of progressive is probably not envelopes-of-cash-under-the-table enough for the Democratic Senate primary.<\/p>\n
\nGov. Christie Names Chiesa as Interim Senator to Fill Lautenberg Seat<\/p>\n
\nParents who read their kids stories about happy, human-like animals like Franklin the Turtle or Arthur at bedtime are exposing their kids to racism, materialism, homophobia and patriarchal norms, according to a paper presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.<\/p>\n<\/a>Economy
\n& Taxes<\/h1>\n
\nHow often have we been told that the economy is recovering?<\/p>\n<\/a>International<\/h1>\n
\nSwedish colleges and universities are free. Yep. Totally free. But students there still end up with a lot of debt. The average at the beginning of 2013 was roughly 124,000 Swedish krona ($19,000). Sure, the average US student was carrying about 30% more, at $24,800.<\/p>\n
\nAustralian National University (ANU) administrators have given student board members and authors of the school’s newspaper Woroni an ultimatum: retract a recently published infographic satirizing Islam or face disciplinary proceedings that could include expulsion. Not surprisingly, the students responded to the school’s threat by removing the image from the Internet, having already published an apology to “any readers who felt victimised, while stressing that the piece was intended to be satirical.”<\/p>\n
\nOne day, if this goes on, schools will no longer be allowed to teach about September 11, just as many European schools are not allowed to teach about the Holocaust, to avoid offending Muslims.<\/p>\n
\nHave you ever tried to start a campfire, or one in a fireplace or wood-burning stove and failed for one reason or other? Maybe the wood was a bit wet or your tinder insufficient to start the larger pieces. If that\u2019s ever happened to you, you may recall the sense of disappointment, the let-down you felt as you watched the small flame flicker up, try its best to light the larger pieces, prove unequal to the task, retreat and finally die out. The smoldering tinder sent up one last pitiful wisp of smoke and you knew you had to start over again.<\/p>\n
\nThe American Freedom Alliance will sponsor an international conference in Los Angeles on Sunday and Monday, June 9 and 10, on the numerous problems facing the continent and pose serious questions about whether European civilization can survive.<\/p>\n<\/a>Opinion<\/h1>\n
\nIn Book VII of the Republic Plato\u2019s Socrates presents the Allegory of the Cave. In the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates portrays men mistaking the shadows on the wall for the real deal. The philosopher emerges from the cave to see the forms casting those shadows.<\/p>\n
\nIf you think of yourself as a Marxist or a progressive, you need to read this. (Tea Partiers may want to steer clear.)<\/p>\n
\nWhat the IRS was doing behind closed doors may soon be official policy in California<\/p>\n
\nExplaining the naivet\u00e9 and hypocrisy of multiculturalism.<\/p>\n
\nI guess you could put me in the \u201cconcerned\u201d category on the various \u2014 and disputed \u2014 accounts of how the government data mines phone records and obtains email and search information from internet companies.<\/p>\n