That money should go to the victims...what the hell is wrong with these people!!!

Fort Hood jihad mass murderer dishonorably discharged, gets to keep $300,000 he's gotten in salary since his jihad attack 

From Jihad watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

In uniform no more

That money should be distributed among his victims and their families. "Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Dishonorably Discharged, No Longer Major: Removed from Army, Fort Hood shooter to be paid until Sept. 10," by Greg Janda for NBCDFW.com, September 5 (thanks to Kenneth):

Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has been dishonorably discharged from the United States Army, according to military officials. 

NBC 5 DFW Investigates spoke with Chris Haug, Chief of Media Relations at Fort Hood.

Haug said, according to the Senior Judge Advocate General at Fort Hood, Hasan is “no longer a military serviceman. He has no rank and is dishonorably discharged from the Army" following his court martial and sentencing for the mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009.

Haug said going forward, Hasan will be called simply “inmate Nidal Hasan" at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Haug detailed that it will technically take some time until the paperwork is signed removing Hasan from the Army’s ranks. But Haug said the order will eventually be signed and backdated to the date of conviction, effectively removing Hasan from the Army as of his conviction date.

A military panel also ordered that Hasan be stripped of his military pay. However that order will not take effect until place 14 days following his sentencing. Hasan will continue to receive his full military salary until Sept. 10.

Earlier this year, NBC 5 Investigates was the first to report that the Department of Defense showed Hasan had been paid about $300,000 after his arrest for the Nov. 5, 2009, shooting.

After the NBC 5 investigation aired, three U.S. Representatives have drafted legislation that would stop military payments to soldiers awaiting trial for major crimes. The money would be returned to the solider if they are acquitted but if they are found guilty the money would go to the victims.

The $300,000 in payments already made to Hasan are unlikely to be returned to the military. However, Army officials could consider launching a "line of duty"investigation to determine if Hasan is liable for the payments incurred for treatment of the injuries he sustained when police responding to the attack shot him. Victims of the attack are also pursuing a civil lawsuit against Hasan.

A 10 Item Agenda for a New Contract With America

John Hawkins / Townhall Columnist

 

The Republican Party has been branded as the "Party of No" in the last few years. That's not surprising since the GOP has been out of power and has been defined more by what we've wanted to stop Barack Obama from doing than from what we want to do.

The American people deserve more than that. It's important for them to know not just what we're against, but what we'll do if we get into power. Far too few conservatives are talking about that; so it seems like the right time to start that discussion.

That being said, there are a few things to keep in mind. Barack Obama will still be President in 2014 and while we can try to force his hand on a few issues, having him in the White House will constrain what we can do quite a bit.

That’s why the intention here is not to come up with an all-encompassing conservative wish list; it's to present a popular right-of-center legislative agenda that will convince the American people to help us take back the Senate.

Then if we prove ourselves, in 2016 we'll have the opportunity to take the White House as well and we'll have the ability to move much more aggressively to fix the problems that are bedeviling our nation. Until that time, if the Republican Party could actually accomplish everything on this list, it would be a tremendous step forward for the nation.

1) Defunding of Obamacare: Obamacare is a disaster for the country and no budget that funds it will be passed through the Congress under any circumstances. If voters give the Republican Party control of the House and Senate while we are explicitly making this pledge as a party, that could fairly be considered a mandate from the American people to hold out as long as it takes to get the job done.

2) A Promise Congress And The Bureaucracy Will Live Under Obamacare Until It’s Defunded: If the rest of the country has to live under Obamacare, everyone in the government should, too. Regardless of what happens with the battle to defund Obamacare, Republicans should pledge that all members of Congress and employees of the government in Washington, D.C. will have to live under Obamacare just as long as everyone else does.

3) Reagancare: The Conservative Obamacare Alternative: The Republican Party has offered up many feasible alternatives to Obamacare, but the House and Senate Republicans should unite to select a single plan that will allow providers to sell insurance across state lines, limit malpractice lawsuits to cut costs, provide high risk pools for individuals that genuinely can't afford coverage, and move health care tax credits from businesses to individuals so that you won't lose your health care if you lose your job.

4) A Pledge To Read Every Bill: Every bill will be limited to 100 pages or less and the entire bill will be posted online for a week before it's voted on so that the public has time to comment and all the members have time to read it.

5) The Job Creation Act Of 2014: Defunding Obamacare would certainly help increase job creation, but Barack Obama has done so much damage to the economy that more than that is needed to get the job done. The Republican Party should also pledge to reduce the corporate tax rate, repeal Sarbanes Oxley, do away with the National Labor Relations Board, increase funding for unemployed worker retraining, and allow businesses to write off all of their new equipment after one year to encourage them to buy the latest technology.

6) A Two Year Spending Freeze: The Republican Party would pledge to freeze all spending, including government salaries, for two years except spending on defense, Veteran Affairs, and entitlement programs.

7) Cut Your Gas Bill Act of 2014: Americans are paying too much at the pump and one of the best ways to put more money in their pockets would be to increase the supply of oil in order to help cut the cost of the gas. Towards that end, Republicans should pledge to drill ANWR, build the Keystone Pipeline, and encourage the offshore drilling that Barack Obama has tamped down on.

8) The Claw Back The NSA Act: Simply put, the NSA should not be able to collect or retain any email or phone data on an American citizen without getting approval from a judge to target that particular citizen. The 4th Amendment protects us from unreasonable search and seizures and if giving the government access to every phone call and email a law abiding citizen has made for years doesn't qualify, then nothing does.

9) Audit of the Federal Reserve: It's time for the Federal Reserve to be more open, transparent, and accountable. The best way to make sure that happens is to audit the Federal Reserve.

10) No More Bailouts: Republicans should pledge not to bail out any corporations, cities, or states. As part of that pledge, Republicans should attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank which has funding for future bank bailouts built into the bill.

Everything You Need to Know About the Jobs Report

Mike Shedlock / Townhall Finance

The establishment survey showed a gain of 169,000 jobs.

For the second consecutive month, the previous two months were revised lower. The employment change for July was revised down by 58,000 (from +162,000 to +104,000). Last month the BLS revised June employment down by 7,000 (from +195,000 to +188,000).

This month, the BLS said June was still not correct and revised June lower by another 16,000 to +172,000.

See the change in pattern here? Earlier in the year, revisions were to the plus side.

In spite of the above, the unemployment rate dropped 0.1 to 7.3%. After all, it's the household survey that determines the unemployment rate, not the establishment survey baseline jobs number. So let's take a look at the factors.

Explaining the Unemployment Rate Drop

• Employment fell by 115,000 
• Those in the labor force fell by 312,000 
• The civilian population rose by 203,000.
• The Participation Rate (The labor force as a percent of the civilian noninstitutional population) fell 0.2 to 63.2%, beating the low of 63.3% dating back to 1979.

Employment fell by 115,000 but the labor force fell more (in spite of a population rise of 203,000). That's why the unemployment rate dropped.

August BLS Jobs Statistics at a Glance

• Payrolls +169,000 - Establishment Survey
• US Employment -115,000 - Household Survey
• US Unemployment -198,000 - Household Survey
• Involuntary Part-Time Work -334,000 - Household Survey
• Voluntary Part-Time Work +211,000 - Household Survey
• Baseline Unemployment Rate -0.1 - Household Survey
• U-6 unemployment -0.3 to 13.7% - Household Survey
• Civilian Labor Force -312,000 - Household Survey
• Not in Labor Force +516,000 - Household Survey
• Participation Rate -0.2 at 63.2 - Household Survey

Quick Notes About the Unemployment Rate 

• The unemployment rate varies in accordance with the Household Survey, not the reported headline jobs number, and not in accordance with the weekly claims data.
• In the last year, those "not" in the labor force rose by 1,554,000
• Over the course of the last year, the number of people employed rose by 2,006,000 (an average of 167,000 a month)
• In the last year the number of unemployed fell from 12,483,000 to 11,316,000 (a drop of 1,167,000)
• Percentage of long-term unemployment (27 weeks or more) is 37.9%, an increase of 0.9 from last month.
• The mean duration of unemployment also increased this month, from 36.6 weeks to 37 weeks.
Once someone loses a job it is still very difficult to find another.
• 7,911,000 workers who are working part-time but want full-time work. A year ago there were 8,043,000. There has been almost no improvement in a year. This is a volatile series.

August 2013 Jobs Report

Please consider the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) August 2013 Employment Report.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 169,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in retail trade and health care but declined in information.

Click on Any Chart in this Report to See a Sharper Image

Unemployment Rate - Seasonally Adjusted



Employment History Since January 20000 



click on chart for sharper image

Change from Previous Month by Job Type



Hours and Wages

Average weekly hours of all private employees rose 0.1 to 34.5 hours. Average weekly hours of all private service-providing employees was flat at 33.3 hours. Average hourly earnings of all private workers rose $0.05 to $24.00. Average hourly earnings of private service-providing employees rose $0.05 to $23.76.

Real wages have been declining. Add in increases in state taxes and the average Joe has been hammered pretty badly. For 2013, one needs to factor in the increase in payroll taxes for Social Security.

For further discussion of income distribution, please see What's "Really" Behind Gross Inequalities In Income Distribution?

BLS Birth-Death Model Black Box

The BLS Birth/Death Model is an estimation by the BLS as to how many jobs the economy created that were not picked up in the payroll survey.

The Birth-Death numbers are not seasonally adjusted, while the reported headline number is. In the black box the BLS combines the two, coming up with a total.

The Birth Death number influences the overall totals, but the math is not as simple as it appears. Moreover, the effect is nowhere near as big as it might logically appear at first glance.

Do not add or subtract the Birth-Death numbers from the reported headline totals. It does not work that way.

Birth/Death assumptions are supposedly made according to estimates of where the BLS thinks we are in the economic cycle. Theory is one thing. Practice is clearly another as noted by numerous recent revisions.

Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2012



Birth Death Model Adjustments For 2013



Birth-Death Notes

Once again: Do NOT subtract the Birth-Death number from the reported headline number. That approach is statistically invalid.

In general, analysts attribute much more to birth-death numbers than they should. Except at economic turns, BLS Birth/Death errors are reasonably small.

For a discussion of how little birth-death numbers affect actual monthly reporting, please see BLS Birth/Death Model Yet Again.

Table 15 BLS Alternate Measures of Unemployment



click on chart for sharper image

Table A-15 is where one can find a better approximation of what the unemployment rate really is.

Notice I said "better" approximation not to be confused with "good" approximation.

The official unemployment rate is 7.3%. However, if you start counting all the people who want a job but gave up, all the people with part-time jobs that want a full-time job, all the people who dropped off the unemployment rolls because their unemployment benefits ran out, etc., you get a closer picture of what the unemployment rate is. That number is in the last row labeled U-6.

U-6 is much higher at 13.7%. Both numbers would be way higher still, were it not for millions dropping out of the labor force over the past few years.

Labor Force Factors

1. Discouraged workers stop looking for jobs
2. People retire because they cannot find jobs
3. People go back to school hoping it will improve their chances of getting a job
4. People stay in school longer because they cannot find a job 
5. Disability and disability fraud

Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be over 9%. In addition, there are 7,911,000 people who are working part-time but want full-time work.

Grossly Distorted Statistics

Digging under the surface, much of the drop in the unemployment rate over the past two years is nothing but a statistical mirage coupled with a massive increase in part-time jobs starting in October 2012 as a result of Obamacare legislation.

Wonderland Statistics

Compared to recent Gallup surveys, these BLS stats regarding the base unemployment rate and the alternative measures as well are straight from wonderland. For details, please see Gallup Says Seasonally-Adjusted Unemployment Climbs to 8.6%; Who to Believe (Gallup or the BLS)?

I believe Gallup. Thus, I expect more downward revisions in jobs, and upward revisions in the unemployment rate.

Buchanan: GOP 'Owns' War if It Backs Syria Strike

By Melanie Batley / Newsmax

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If the Republican Party supports American military strikes against the Syrian regime, it will ultimately carry responsibility for the war and its consequences, including the resurgence of al-Qaida terrorism, Pat Buchanan contends.

In an op-ed piece for WND news, the two-time candidate for the GOP presidential nomination argues that American involvement in the Syrian conflict will not be the quick mission envisioned by President Barack Obama, but a protracted involvement that puts America's credibility on the line, ultimately ending in a "debacle."

"If the Republican Party backs this war, it will own this war," Buchanan writes. "Does the Republican Party really want to own a war that could end with al-Qaida in power or occupying sanctuaries in Syria?"

Buchanan suggests a U.S. mission to overturn the Syrian regime is fraught with contradiction and has little support from the public.

"We are told we must punish Assad for killing Syrians with gas, but we do not want Assad's regime to fall. Which raises a question: How many Syrians must we kill with missiles to teach Assad he cannot kill any more Syrians with gas? Artillery, fine. Just no gas," he writes.

Buchanan takes exception to American Jewish organizations likening the struggle to the Holocaust in their campaign for U.S. military intervention.

"Does the U.S. Jewish community really want to be responsible for starting a war that ends with 2 million Christian Syrians facing a fate not unlike that of Poland's Jews?"

He encourages the U.S. to seek a resolution to the conflict within the United Nations Security Council. "If we prove our case and the U.N. does nothing, we will have learned something about the international community worth learning," he says.

"The idea of launching missiles based on evidence we will not reveal about Syria's use of chemical weapons, strikes that will advance the cause of the al-Qaida terrorists who killed 3,000 of us and are anxious to kill more," Buchanan concluded, "would be an act of such paralyzing stupidity one cannot believe that even this crowd would consciously commit it."

Syrian War Could Be Most Unpopular Conflict In Two Decades

by Personal Liberty News Desk

A Gallup poll released Friday reveals that American support for U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war is “among the lowest for any intervention Gallup has asked about in the last 20 years.”



According to the polling agency, 36 percent of Americans favor the U.S. taking military action in order to reduce Syria’s ability to use chemical weapons. Fifty-one percent oppose such action, and 13 percent of respondents said they are unsure.
Via Gallup:

Among recent past conflicts on which Gallup gauged public opinion prior to U.S. action, support was highest for intervening in Afghanistan and lowest for the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. Americans were divided about U.S. participation in the NATO bombing in Serbia’s Kosovo region about a month before the NATO campaign began. The similarity is noteworthy because some analysts are comparing a potential strike in Syria with that military episode, in terms of scope, duration, and purpose.

The other three military engagements Gallup asked Americans about before they began — in Iraq in 2003, Afghanistan in 2001, and the Persian Gulf in 1991 — were all on a larger scale than what President Barack Obama proposes to do in Syria, and involved sending U.S. troops into foreign countries. All of these proposed military operations received majority support before they began. Notably, all of these conflicts, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf, were authorized by Congress and/or the United Nations at the time of the polling. Congress is currently debating whether to authorize military force in Syria.

Meanwhile, on MSNBC: Ed Schultz explains that Americans don’t want to go to war in Syria… because President Barack Obama is black.

Despite agreeing with people speaking out against Syrian war, the pundit believes conservatives are simply being racist, saying recently on his show, “I really believe that everything that we have said on this show are reasonable, patriotic reasons to be against another war, another strike, another act of war–and that’s what it is–but hatred of our first black president is not.”

I wrote this on the way to last weekend's convention as I was thinking about the sad situation the world is in thanks to Obama and crew...

"The past is nothing but a harbinger of a future that might or might not exist. The past might not be reality for only those who win wars write the tenets of their perceived reality...a reality not based on truth but in dreams of wanted results. Look not to the past for answers for the past holds only questions waiting for the future to answer those questions. And the present is but a stop along the way to formulate new questions that might never be answered."  - Diane Sori

Op-ed: 
To bomb or NOT to bomb…that is the question 
By: Diane Sori

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it”.                                   -General Robert E. Lee

The Syrian civil war might be ‘ground zero’ for World War III…and Barack HUSSEIN Obama NOT only owns it…he might very well start it.

Bombing a sovereign nation we are NOT at war with…how far our beloved America has fallen with this man as president.

Obama…the epitome of indecisiveness…making decisions about bombing that are ambiguous at best with wiggle-room allowing for vacillation without admitting or taking responsibility for anything . And when he doesn’t get his way there’s always subterfuge and lies…always subterfuge and lies. Wanting to bomb Syria but with NO battle plan…NO game strategy… just bloviations about limited targeted strikes that will do NOTHING but stir-up the Middle East soup with Russia jumping into the pot…Russia who will NOT look casually on but will most definitely act upon Obama’s actions.

To bomb or NOT to bomb…to do it on his own because as president he feels he can, or deciding he needs Congressional approval to support the ‘badder’ guys (and the rebels are indeed the ‘badder’ guys) over the ‘bad’ guy (al-Assad)…and have Congress standing by to use as his scapegoat in case the whole damn thing goes south…decisions…decisions…decisions…

And promising NO ‘boots on the ground’ yet there are thousands of US sailors on the warships gathering in the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast…guess in Obama’s mind sailors do NOT count as ‘boots’…

NO ‘boots on the ground’ yet Obama, John ‘Swiftboat’ Kerry, and Chuck Hagel know it would take up to 75,000 US ‘boots on the ground’ to secure the known chemical weapons arsenal in Syria (bombing known storage facilities will do NOTHING as the weapons have already been moved elsewhere), so ‘boots on the ground’ will unfortunately become a reality whether Obama cares to admit it or NOT.

And all this talk of war because Obama got his dander up after seeing photos of dead children… children ‘supposedly’ gassed by al-Assad’s forces during Syria’s civil war…as in a war within their own sovereign borders that we have NO business getting involved in. And the very photos Obama’s using as his reason for America going to war have for the most part been proven by many to be either staged or left over from when Saddam gassed the Kurds (but Obama’s hoping no one will notice that), and the media is keeping that hush-hush as they dare NOT derail Obama’s war train…

A war train that is hardly about Syria…a war train that is baiting Russia and China into a war that will make WWII seem tame…a war train rolling towards Iran who will then retaliate by reigniting the fires of wanting Israel wiped off the map.

Yeah…let’s go bomb Syria over some phony photos and ignite a true ‘war to end all wars’ for the outcome…the destruction…the deaths…will solely be on Obama’s head.

Going to war over Syria…Syria where both the ‘bad’ guy and the ‘badder’ guys are NOTHING but a bunch of thugs, murderers, and worse…and for the ‘badder’ guys add in an unhealthy dose of religious zealots who will NEVER change…who will NEVER learn to live amongst civilized men…for their god…for islam itself will NOT allow them to. Inbred barbarians who survive on and feed off hate and suffering and revel in death. The ‘badder’ guys are NOT like us and NEVER will be, and going to war to fight on their side…on the side of those loyal to al-Qaeda…borders on the insane…is the mark of the inept… is the hallmark of a man who has NO clue about the can of worms he will open with the launching of even one Tomahawk missile.

And going to war over ‘red lines’…words clearly said by Obama a year ago that have now suddenly become NOT his words…

On August 21, 2012 Obama croaked, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation."

And the on September 4, 2013 Obama LIED, ” “I didn’t set a red line…the world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a [1993] treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war…”

You can’t have it both ways…you can’t just issue empty threats and draw ‘red lines’ in the sand and then say they NEVER existed…especially when the stakes are as high as they are now.

And above all else it’s oh so dangerous for an American president to bold face lie NOT only to ‘We the People’ but to the world as well…whether it be about ‘red lines’…about NOT wanting regime change…or about giving orders to ‘stand down’ (it’s still all about Benghazi), because foreign governments…both friendly and NOT…listen to the rhetoric coming out of this man’s mouth if only to see what they can and cannot get away with.

And with Barack HUSSEIN Obama they can get away with a hell of a lot and NOT have to fear being called to task.