June 6, 1944 - D-Day; the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
Sixty-eight years ago.
An 18-year-old serviceman back then would be 86 years old today.
According to Wikipedia somewhere between 1.6 million and 1.7 million WW2 veterans are still with us today... but the Greatest Generation of fighting men (and women) are dying off at an approximate rate of 850 a day.
Here's to them... to truly the Greatest Generation!
And here's to Julia Gebbia... Mrs. Gebbia... "Mrs. J.G." who, sadly, I've just learned passed last night.
Mrs. Gebbia... mother of my great friend John... passed from this realm into Eternal Peace last night at 9:00 p.m. with her children around her and her late husband there to guide her to a Better Place where all pain and sorrow are banished.
Mr. and Mrs. Gebbia - "Julia and J.G." - did a lot for me and for that I'll always be grateful. For several years I was a semi-permanent fixture on their living room couch - aka "Bill's bed."
The college years can be tough - these two made them better for me. If those of you in Heaven read my blog... (which you ALL should by the way!)... I hope you both knew how much your kindness to me meant to me.
(*CHUCKLE*)
(*WINK*)
Rest in peace, Mrs. Gebbia.
John... Donna... grandchildren, family, friends, and colleagues of Mrs. Gebbia... Peace Be Unto You.
13 comments:
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/06/06/obama-scheduled-commemorate-dday/
Instead of scheduling a brief event to mark the 68th anniversary of America’s brutal landing on the shores of Normandy, Obama is already on his way to San Francisco, where he will hold two fundraisers before moving on to Beverly Hills to stage two more.
Obama failed to mark D-Day with either a speech or a written proclamation both last year or the year before. He did give a speech in 2009, the 65th anniversary of the event.
First Lady Michelle Obama, who has made much of her “Joining Forces” campaign to support military families, also has nothing planned for D-Day. She’ll be in New York City for a fundraiser and then in Philadelphia to meet with campaign volunteers.
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/06/05/buchanan-syria-insurrection-is-not-americas-war/
* JUST READ THE COLUMN.
* READ IT AND THEN RE-READ IT.
* THEN ASK YOURSELVES... DO AMERICA'S LEADERS GIVE A DAMN? FRANKLY... I DOUBT IT.
* WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ALLOW YET ANOTHER WAR? I SEE NO REASON WHY NOT. AFTER ALL... MOST OF US SEE OURSELVES AS HAVING NO SKIN IN THE "GAME."
* GOD HELP THIS ONCE GREAT NATION...
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/washington-post-cover-close-vote-walker/582956
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker survived his recall race last night, walking away with a seven point victory over Democratic candidate Mayor Tom Barrett.
But that's a close race, according to the front page of the Washington Post this morning.
(*SNORT*)
* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... FIRST THE MSM SPENT LITERALLY MONTHS TOUTING (WHAT TURNED OUT TO BE) MISLEADING/FLAWED POLLING SHOWING EITHER A LEFT/UNION VICTORY SURE TO EMERGE FROM LAST NIGHT'S WISCONSIN RECALL ELECTION - OR, AT WORST - A NARROW "SKIN OF THE TEETH" VICTORY BY WALKER.
(*SNORT*)
* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... BROWSE THE ARCHIVES OF USUALLY RIGHT FOR POST-ELECTION NEWSBITES AND POSTS. NOTICE... TIME AND AGAIN THE MSM HAS BEEN CAUGHT RED-HANDED ADVANCING FALSE POLLING AND WRONG ELECTION OUTCOME ANALYSIS.
* FOLKS... YOU SIMPLY CAN'T TRUST THE MSM!
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/06/06/drudge-bests-mainstream-media-again-correctly-calls-wisconsin-recall-
* FOLKS... THIS LINK COMPLIMENTS THE PREVIOUS NEWSBITE CONCERNING HOW THE MSM OPERATES. READ IT.
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303918204577444221444859342.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
This term alone, the high court has ruled unanimously against the government on religious liberty, criminal procedure and property rights. When the administration can't get even a single one of the liberal justices to agree with it in these unrelated areas of the law, that's a sign there's something wrong with its constitutional vision.
First, in Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the government sued a church school that fired a teacher for violating one of the church's religious tenets: threatening to sue over an employment dispute rather than resolving the disagreement internally. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed this violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because the firing was related to the teacher's health issues.
The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in January that punishing a church for failing to retain an unwanted teacher "interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs." Such interference, it concluded, violates the First Amendment's Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses.
In United States v. Jones, also decided in January, the government claimed the power to attach a GPS device to a suspected drug dealer's car and electronically monitor his movements, all without a warrant.
* "SUSPECTED..." "ALL WITHOUT A WARRANT..."
This claim drew opposition not just from the ACLU and the Cato Institute, but from the conservative Rutherford Institute, the liberal Constitution Project and organizations ranging from the Gun Owners of America to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
While the justices had differing opinions on why this action violated the Fourth Amendment — was it a physical trespass, a violation of privacy expectations, or something else — all agreed it was unconstitutional.
(Nevertheless, last week the Justice Department was back in a lower court, using technicalities in Jones to claim again (United States v. Pineda-Moreno) that it could attach GPS devices without seeking warrants.)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Third, in Sackett v. EPA, the government denied the right of property owners to judicial review of an EPA order to stop building a house it claimed was in violation of the Clean Water Act.
In March the Court unanimously rejected that position.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the opinion, called access to courts the least the government could provide in response to "the strong-arming of regulated parties" by government agencies. "In a nation that values due process, not to mention private property," wrote Justice Samuel Alito in a concurring opinion, the government's "treatment [of the homeowners] is unthinkable."
* BUT THE "UNTHINKABLE" WAS SIMPLY BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND ERIC HOLDER'S DEPARTMENT OF... er... "JUSTIC."
[I]n March, the administration claimed in the ObamaCare case that the government could require people to buy something as a means of regulating a broader national market. And a month later in Arizona v. United States, the government said that a federal policy decision regarding immigration enforcement priorities could by itself trump state law—a position that seemed to trouble even Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the president's own nominees.
[R]ecently the Justice Department has been suing states over voter-ID laws. Attorney General Eric Holder makes speeches claiming these laws herald the return of Jim Crow. Never mind that the Supreme Court has found them to satisfy the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution, most recently by 6-3 in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board...
The government's arguments across a wide variety of cases would essentially allow Congress and the executive branch to do whatever they wanted without meaningful constitutional restraint.
If the government loses in the health-care or immigration cases, it won't be because its lawyers had a bad day in court or because the justices ruled based on their political preferences. It will be because the Obama administration continues to make legal arguments that don't pass the smell test.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303830204577448483262804106.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
Remember a week or two ago, when President Obama was claiming to be a fiscal skinflint because some online columnist said so?
That was fun.
On Tuesday the CBO released a view more tethered to reality, and let's just say this will not be showing up in one of the President's campaign ads.
The CBO's long-term budget outlook notes that federal debt held by the public — the kind we have to pay back — will surge to 70% of the economy by the end of this year.
That's the highest share of GDP in U.S. history except World War II...higher than during the Civil War or World War I.
It's also way up from 40% in 2008 and from the 40-year average of 38%.
And it's rising fast.
[T]he the Obama era is taking America to a place it has never been. Inside of a decade the country will have a debt-to-GDP ratio well into the 90% to 100% danger zone...
(*SIGH*) FOLKS. WE'RE ALREADY IN THE DANGER ZONE.
CBO notes with its famous dry wit that this level of debt increases "the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose confidence in the government's ability to manage its budget and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates."
* IN PLAIN ENGLISH: THE COLLAPSE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Perhaps CBO's most important warning concerns the vagaries of interest rates. Even long-term interest rates are at historic lows, as investors flock to Treasurys as a safe haven in a world of uncertainty. This has dramatically reduced the U.S. government's funding costs, but that will not be true forever.
The budget outlook is based on the projection that the real interest rate on public debt will never exceed 2.7%. But if interest rates rose 0.5 percentage points higher each year than CBO projects, CBO says debt would hit 215% of GDP in 2037, rather than 199%. The compounding growth of interest payments would need to make up — people with heart conditions should stop reading here — some 30% of federal spending and 10% of the entire economy.
Every 100 basis point rise in the cost of government borrowing results in nearly $1 trillion in new debt.
The development that explains why debt is so much higher today than during the great national crises of the past is the entitlement state. Post ObamaCare, CBO explains that federal spending on health care will rise from 5.4% of the economy today to 10.4% over the next quarter-century. Ponder that one: That 93% increase means one out of every 10 dollars spent will flow through one transfer program or another — and that's transfers for health care only.
Throw in Social Security and interest on the debt, and by 2025 there's no tax revenue left to do other things government is supposed to do.
Forget about building roads and funding scientific research.
The entire defense budget would be deficit-financed.
As the fiscal adults like Paul Ryan and Tom Coburn often say, this is the most predictable crisis in history. If we wait for the bond vigilantes to strike, as in Europe today, the recourse will be painful spending cuts and destructive tax increases virtually overnight.
The longer we extend Mr. Obama's legacy of slow growth and more debt, the greater the economic price to fix it.
* MARK THIS A "MUST READ!"
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/301900/who-may-vote-florida-hans-von-spakovsky
Time and again, the Holder "Justice" Department has exhibited politically driven law enforcement.
But its latest instance of lawlessness is absolutely brazen.
Last week, the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section sent a letter to the Florida secretary of state, Ken Detzner, ordering him to stop removing voters who are not citizens from Florida’s voter-registration rolls.
* YEAH... YOU READ THAT RIGHT! (HEY... RE-READ IT...!)
This goes far beyond Holder’s previous actions, such as belittling claims of voter fraud and trying to stop voter ID and other reform measures... This letter would directly abet vote thieves in a key state as Holder’s boss seeks re-election this November.
According to the letter sent by Voting Section chief Chris Herren, Florida is checking its voter registration records against state driver’s license records to identify non-citizens.
(This shouldn’t have surprised anyone at Justice — after all, Florida is simply following federal law in making such a database comparison.)
Section 303(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 specifically directs states to coordinate their voter registration records “with other agency databases within the State” to ensure they are “accurate.”
[N]one of this seems to matter to Herren, who asserted, falsely, that Florida is violating Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act because it didn’t get its review procedure “pre-approved” by the Justice Department or a federal court.
(He is referring to the fact that five counties in Florida - not the entire state - are covered by Section 5, which requires that covered jurisdictions get such approval before they make any changes in their voting procedures or rules.)
DOJ’s claim is wrong for many reasons. First, Florida has always removed the names of registered voters who it has discovered are not U.S. citizens and were therefore registered illegally. The fact that the state is using DMV records in addition to other sources to find citizenship information does not constitute a “change” in voting procedures that must be pre-cleared under the applicable precedent of the Supreme Court case Presley v. Etowah County.
(What would have been a change requiring Section 5 approval is if Florida had suddenly announced that, contrary to federal law, it was no longer going to remove non-citizens from its voting rolls.)
* WHICH... BY THE WAY... YOU DAMN WELL KNOW HOLDER WOULD APPLAUD!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* OOPS! THIS IS ACTUALLY GONNA BE A THREE-PARTER!
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
Second, even if Section 5 applied, it would apply only to the five counties, not the entire state, so DOJ has no authority to stop this procedure statewide.
* THE GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA SHOULD TELL HOLDER TO GO SCREW HIMSELF.
And last but certainly not least, Section 98.075 of the Florida Election Code, which allows the secretary of state to remove any registrant who is “not a United States citizen,” as well as House bill No. 1355, which in 2011 amended the code section to allow the secretary of state to use “other” sources such as DMV records, were, according to a former Florida election official I talked to, specifically pre-cleared by the Justice Department! There is therefore no basis whatsoever for DOJ’s claim that Florida is violating Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Herren also makes the spurious claim that removing non-citizens violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), popularly known as Motor Voter, because the removal is occurring within 90 days of the August 14 Florida primary.
Section 8 is a complicated provision. It specifically allows the removal at any time of registered voters who have become ineligible through criminal conviction, mental incapacity, or death — the 90-day rule does not apply to such removals (which is why the letter does not mention the 53,000 dead voters Florida is removing). The 90-day rule does apply to removals based on “a change in the residence of the registrant.” (In other words, if a state implements a general program that removes individuals who have become ineligible because they have moved out of state, it has to complete that program by the 90th day before the next federal election.) But the 90-day rule does not apply to registrants being removed because they are not U.S. citizens.
Non-citizens are not mentioned in Section 8 at all for the simple reason that Section 8 deals with the removal of formerly eligible voters who have become ineligible for various reasons.
Individuals who are not U.S. citizens were never eligible to be on the voter-registration list to begin with. That is why the NVRA has a provision stating that the federal mail-in voter-registration form must include a statement specifying the “eligibility requirement” of citizenship.
Noncitizens commit a federal felony when they illegally register to vote. As the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses manual for federal prosecutors, published by the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, explains on pages 67–69, submitting false citizenship information in order to register to vote violates Section 12 of the NVRA, as well as two other federal statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1051(f) and 911).
The idea that Florida is violating one section of the NVRA when it removes non-citizens, who committed a felony when they violated another section of the NVRA by illegally registering, is ridiculous. The unlawful registration was "void ab initio" — invalid from the very beginning.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (FINALLY!)
(Part 3 of 3)
Fictitious voters who are fraudulently registered are also not mentioned in the NVRA. Yet under the Justice Department reading of the statute, Florida could not remove Mickey Mouse if it found the Walt Disney character illegally registered at the Magic Kingdom.
Neither the plain text of the NVRA nor congressional intent in passing the law requires such an absurd result.
That the Justice Department would make such a strained claim is a sign of just how desperate Eric Holder and his cohorts in the Civil Rights Division are to stop Florida’s much needed clean-up of its voter registration list before the November election.
If there were any doubt remaining, the Left-wing ideology driving the decision about Florida is revealed in the last sentence of the Herren letter, which tells the Florida secretary of state to contact the Voting Section lawyer assigned to the case, Elise Shore. Shore is one of the many political hires given career positions by the political appointees at the Civil Rights Division, as revealed in a Pulitzer nominated series chronicling the ideologues hired since Obama took office.
Herren is a former counsel for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, organizations known for their opposition to our immigration laws. She was an outspoken critic of Georgia’s proof of citizenship requirement for voter registration, claiming it was discriminatory even though a federal court had pre-cleared the Georgia law under Section 5.
Shore appears to be continuing her liberal advocacy, but this time doing so with the authority granted a government attorney.
Fortunately, Florida appears to be undeterred by the groundless directive from Herren. A spokesman for the secretary of state announced that Florida will continue to remove noncitizens from its registration records.
* HEAR! HEAR! (*STANDING OVATION*)
That is exactly what it should do.
Individuals who have violated federal law and committed a felony should not stay on the voter rolls. They should be removed and then referred to the Justice Department for prosecution — although that would appear to be a complete waste of time with this administration.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47707854
A deal is in the works that would allow Spain to recapitalize its stricken banks with aid from its European partners but avoid the embarrassment of having to adopt new economic reforms imposed from the outside, German officials say.
* THIS... IS... INSANITY...!!!
* FOLKS... AGAIN... THE FIX IS IN AND THE OLIGARCHS ARE RUNNING A SCAM ON THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!
[O]fficials said that if Madrid put in a formal aid request, funds could flow without it submitting to the kind of strict reform program agreed for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* FOLKS... NONE OF THESE COUNTRIES SHOULD BE GETTING BAILED OUT (AGAIN!), BUT AT LEAST UNTIL NOW THE GERMANS HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF DEMANDING REFORM!
* AGAIN, FOLKS... THIS... IS... INSANITY...!!!
The evolving German stance on aid for Spain is the latest evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkel is adopting a more flexible approach to solving the euro zone's deepening debt crisis.
* "FLEXIBLE." UH-HUH. ACTUALLY, THE GERMANS ARE CAVING. (*SHRUG*) MY ADVICE TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE: REVOLT!
Berlin is certainly shifting positions. Last week, it signaled it supported granting Spain an extra year to cut its deficit to the EU's 3% of gross domestic product threshold, having previously held fast to the notion that austerity drives should not be diluted.
* FOLKS... FORGET THE "EXTRA YEAR" NONSENSE AND THINK ABOUT THE "CUT ITS DEFICIT TO THE EU's 3% OF GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT THRESHOLD. WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT NOT ONLY DO THE EUROPEANS (AND I'M TALKING THE SUPPOSEDLY SANE GERMANS!) EXPECT GREECE, PORTUGAL, ITALY, AND IRELAND TO LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS WHILE THEY RETIRE THEIR EXISTING DEBTS, BUT RATHER, THE "NEW AUSTERITY" ALLOWS E.U. NATIONS TO KEEP RACKING UP NEW DEBTS OF UP TO 3% OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL GNP's YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR AD INFINITUM!
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... INSANITY. INSANITY I TELL YOU...!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9314666/French-president-Francois-Hollande-cuts-retirement-age.html
France's new socialist government cut the country’s retirement age in the face of the eurozone’s deepening crisis, citing “social justice” to explain a move that goes against austerity efforts across the region.
* "GOES AGAINST AUSTERITY...?!?!" (*VEINS BULGING*) "GOES AGAINST SANITY" IS MORE LIKE IT!
Workers who entered employment aged 18 will be able to retire at 60 rather than 62, under the decree agreed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
The "reforms" will cost the state billions of euros a year...
* YEP. THAT'S THE INSANITY PART...
...but can be afforded through higher worker and employer contributions, according to the government.
* MEANING REDOUBLE THE DOUBLE-DOWN ON THE EXISTING PONZI SCHEME WHILE SQUEEZING EMPLOYERS AND THUS NO DOUBT SLOWING NEW HIRING EVEN SLOWER THAN IT'S ALREADY REGISTERING!
Jean-Francois Cope, leader of France’s conservative UMP party, called the policy move “madness”. “It risks the downgrade of France’s credit rating and at this rate tempts fate,” he said.
* SOCIALISTS... DON'T... CARE...!!!
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c7c8468a-adf4-11e1-bb8e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1x3mtpEze
Equities, the euro and commodities rallied amid increasing hopes for another potential round of stimulus measures by the world’s largest central banks to stimulate the failing global economy.
* IN PLAIN ENGLISH: EQUITIES, THE EURO AND COMMODITIES RALLIED AMID INCREASING HOPE THAT ALREADY OVERLY INDEBTED GOVERNMENTS WOULD TAKE ON YET MORE DEBT AND DISTRIBUTE THE MONEY VIA CRONY CAPITALISM TO THE OLIGARCHS WHO CONTROL THE BANKS, BROKERAGE HOUSES, AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Benchmark stocks indexes in the U.S. posted their biggest gains for the year as Brent crude oil regained the $100-a-barrel level...
* YEP. THE OLIGARCHS - AND THE POLITICIANS - WANT US TO SPEND MORE RATHER THAN LESS ON OIL. AND IF BERNANKE HAS HIS WAY... WE WILL.
...and the euro held steady above $1.25.
* EVEN AS BY EVERY RATIONAL ECONOMIC MEASURE EUROPE CONTINUES ITS DECLINE.
(*SHRUG*)
Wednesday’s rally came after a sharp sell-off triggered by weak employment data last week. Analysts said signs that the US economic recovery is faltering has increased the likelihood of additional measures by the Federal Reserve to boost growth.
* GROUND HOG DAY. AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)
* I'M TELLING YOU, FOLKS... VIOLENCE IS ULTIMATELY THE ONLY ANSWER.
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