the daily dan

Month

May 2011

“Will Obama Sink the Democrats?” —

Archived-Articles: Will Obama Sink the Democrats?

Today, as soon as Iran explodes a bomb, Obama is going to be in deep, deep trouble with American voters.  Nuclear proliferation is now happening all over the Middle East, because Arabs fear a nuclear Iran much more than a nuclear Israel.  Obama has Carterized the most unstable region in the world ten times over.  The Democrats well remember how Jimmy got beaten by Ronald Reagan. The left cannot be trusted in the War on Terror.  Carter let the Shah of Iran be overthrown by murderous tyrannical throwback Ayatollah Khomeini.  The left is just weak-minded — which is why they keep denying there is a war going on, even when our troops are fighting and dying in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, and parts of Africa like Somalia.

FULL STORY
May 31, 2011
Rep. Anthony Weiner hires attorney to explore civil, criminal charges in lewd Twitter photo 'prank' → nydailynews.com

Rep. Anthony Weiner leaves his apartment amid controversy surrounding a lewd Twitter photo.

Blah, blah, blah…

*** Stop you had me at this….

Sen. Chuck Schumer, who served as Weiner’s political mentor, gave his protege a vote of confidence in the court of public opinion.

“I don’t know the details. But I know him to be a person of integrity and I am virtually certain he had nothing to do with this,” Schumer said.

Read more:


RELATED; From Doug Ross @ Journal:

QOTD: “Um, bluff called, dude. As Derek Hunter said:

- Victims call cops.
- Perps call lawyers.
- So, thanks for the confirmation, feller.

As a funny Tweeter said (sorry, can’t remember who), calling the police would only result in the classic horror movie reveal: We’ve traced the hack! And the hack is coming from… INSIDE THE HOUSE!!!” —Ace o’ Spades

May 31, 2011
Archived-Articles: The Nazis Find a Home in Post-Mubarak Egypt → americanthinker.com

***These silly college students!!

By Andrew G. Bostom

Wednesday May 25, 2011 a group of Egyptians, led by founding member Emad Abdel Sattar proclaimed the establishment  of “a contemporary frame of reference” Nazi Party. Sattar reportedly stated that the party, whose founding deputy is a former military official, would bring together prominent figures from Egyptian society, and vest all powers in a “carefully selected” president.  The Egyptian Leftist publication Al-Masry Al-Youm, at its English website, further contends the Nazi party operated clandestinely during the Mubarak regime which had prevented party leaders from carrying out their activities in the open. Two Facebook pages which appeared recently under the title of “the Egyptian Nazi Party,” may confirm the party's public emergence since Mubarak was deposed. Whether or not the inchoate new Egyptian Nazi Party, operating within a  “modern framework,” becomes a significant political force, Nazism and its ugly resonance with the country's Muslim masses, has a prolonged, disturbing legacy in Egypt.  Aribert Ferdinand Heim, was a member of Hitler's Waffen-SS, and a psychopathic “medical doctor” who committed the most heinous atrocities at the Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen concentration camps, including: the performance of operations on prisoners without anesthesia; removing organs from healthy inmates, who were then left then to die on the operating table; injecting poison, including gasoline, into the hearts of others; and taking the skull of at least one victim as a “souvenir.” As revealed in this February 4/5, 2009 New York Times story, Heim, like many Nazi war criminals, lived safely in Egypt, perhaps for up to three decades, following his flight from Europe in 1962.

A dusty briefcase with rusted buckles, sitting nearly forgotten in storage here in Cairo, hid the truth behind Dr. Heim's flight to the Middle East. Obtained by The New York Times and the German television station ZDF from members of the Doma family, proprietors of the hotel here where Dr. Heim resided, the files in the briefcase tell the story of his life, and death, in Egypt.


Josef Kohl, a former inmate at Mauthausen, gave the following testimony regarding Heim to a United States war crimes investigating team on Jan. 18, 1946, less than a year after the German surrender.

Dr. Heim had a habit of looking into inmates' mouths to determine whether their teeth were in impeccable condition. If this were the case, he would kill the prisoner with an injection, cut his head off, leave it to cook in the crematorium for hours, until all the flesh was stripped from the naked skull and prepare the skull for himself and his friends as a decoration for their desks.


During 1979, Heim (who died on Aug. 10, 1992, according to his son and the death certificate), wrote a letter to the German magazine Spiegel, after the publication of a report about his war-crimes case. Whether he ever sent the letter, which was found in his files (along with numerous others were “written in meticulous cursive style in German or English”) is unclear. According to the Times report,

the letter…accused Simon Wiesenthal, who was interned at Mauthausen, of being “the one who invented these atrocities.” Dr. Heim went on to discuss what he called Israeli massacres of Palestinians, and added that “the Jewish Khazar, Zionist lobby of the U.S. were the first ones who in 1933 declared war against Hitler's Germany.”  The Turkic ethnic group the Khazars were a recurring theme for Dr. Heim, who kept himself busy in Cairo, researching a paper he wrote in English and German, decrying the possibility of anti-Semitism owing to the fact, he said, that most Jews were not Semitic in ethnic origin.


Heim converted to Islam (in his case, at the Cairo mosque of Sunni Islam's foremost religious teaching institution, Al Azhar), becoming “known to locals” as Tarek Hussein Farid. Apparently, Heim, aka, Dr. Death, became a devout Muslim,  “maintained the discipline to walk some 15 miles each day through the busy streets of Egypt's capital…to the world-renowned Al Azhar mosque”, and bonded with his Muslim neighbors, who knew him as “Uncle” Tarek Hussein Farid.

He formed close bonds with his neighbors, including the Doma family, which ran the Kasr el Madina hotel, where Dr. Heim lived the last decade before his death. Mahmoud Doma, whose father owned the establishment, said Dr. Heim spoke Arabic, English and French, in addition to German. Mr. Doma said his neighbor read and studied the Koran, including a copy in German that the Domas had ordered for him. Mahmoud Doma, 38, became emotional when talking about the man he knew as Uncle Tarek, whom he described giving him books and encouraging him to study. “He was like a father. He loved me and I loved him.”

He recalled how Uncle Tarek bought rackets and set up a tennis net on the hotel roof, where he and his siblings played with the German Muslim until sundown. But by 1990, Dr. Heim's good health began to fail him and he was diagnosed with cancer.

Thus Heim epitomized scores of other Nazis, who found safe haven in Egypt, most importantly, the pious Muslim jihadist and Nazi ideologue,  Johannes “Omar Amin” von Leers. Historian Bat Ye'or has described this phenomenon, as follows (here, pp.154-55):
CONTINUE - FULL STORY
May 31, 2011
Sarah Palin, Donald Trump To Meet In New York City Tuesday Night - The Note → blogs.abcnews.com

Sarah Palin plans to meet Tuesday night with Donald Trump in New York City, according to sources close to Trump.

Her office reached out to meet with Trump. The two plan to meet in his 45,000-square-foot apartment in Trump Tower and later plan to eat dinner together.

Sources say the restaurant will be low-key, not one of New York’s more upscale dining establishements.

Palin has been on a multi-stop tour of the East Coast for the last two days visiting historical sites, sometimes dodging the press, sometimes speaking to them.

She began the day in Gettysburg, Pa, before traveling to Philadelphia to visit the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

“Each site we’re at is just so inspiring and confirming in me and me and in my family how important it is that we all learn about our foundation so that we can move forward very clearly,” she said in an interview with ABC News in Philadelphia.

May 31, 2011
“Pakistan Journalist Vanishes: Is the ISI Involved?” —

Reports: Pakistan Journalist Dead after Mysterious Disappearance - TIME

*** With allies like this, who needs Japan, the UK, Germany, Poland, The Saudis???

May 31, 2011
BBC News - Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis → bbc.co.uk

A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station.

The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.

It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.

No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.

For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.

Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends via e-mail and even messages on Twitter

“I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live,” he says.

“Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer.”

Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious.

Certainly a couple of MPs are supporting Mr Yamada.

“At this moment I can say that I am talking with many key government and Tepco people. But I am sorry I can’t say any more at this moment. It is on the way but it is a very, very sensitive issue politically,” he said.

Certainly it is likely more workers will be needed.

The plant is still spewing radiation, nearly three months after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling systems, triggering explosions.

Its operator, Tepco, has now confirmed three of the reactors probably suffered meltdowns.

The plan is to bring the plant to a cold shutdown by January, although some experts believe that is over optimistic.

To cope with the disaster Japan has raised the radiation exposure limit for emergency workers from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.

But Tepco announced this week two workers at Fukushima might have already been exposed to more.

Kamikaze?

Many of Mr Yamada’s veterans are retired engineers like him.

 Michio Ito is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit

Others are former power station workers, experts in factory design - and even a singer and two cooks - Mr Yamada says they will be useful to keep his team amused and fed.

Michio Ito used to be a primary school teacher but is spending his retirement helping out in a cafe that offers work experience to people with learning difficulties.

He is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit.

“I don’t think I’m particularly special,” he says. “Most Japanese have this feeling in their heart. The question is whether you step forward, or you stay behind and watch.

“To take that step you need a lot of guts, but I hope it will be a great experience. Most Japanese want to help out any way they can.”

Mr Yamada has already tried on his old overalls for size.

He says he is as fit as ever - with a lifetime of experience to bring to the task.

And he laughs off suggestions his proposed team is comparable to the kamikaze pilots who flew suicide missions in World War II.

“We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there. They were going to die. But we are going to come back. We have to work but never die.”

May 31, 2011
Transcript: Weiner stiffens defenses against #Weinergate "distraction", lawyers up, and insists that we all "move on" | Doug Ross @ Journal → directorblue.blogspot.com

Robert Stacy McCain has been pursuing the Weinergate story since it broke and earlier today he relayed word that Weiner has hardened his stance on the lewd photo allegations.

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has retained an attorney to advise him “what civil or criminal actions should be taken” after a lewd picture was sent from his Twitter account… Weiner, who has represented part of New York City since 1998, says online hacking led to a close-up shot of a man’s underwear being sent from his official Twitter account Saturday night…

…Weiner’s office did not answer specific questions about the photograph, whether he has contacted authorities or the Seattle woman who received the photograph… He has said that his Facebook was hacked and if his Twitter had the same password, that too could be vulnerable…

…The key point about Weiner’s retaining counsel and making noises about “civil or criminal actions” is that it permits the congressman to employ the old “ongoing legal proceedings” excuse not to talk about the case. Anyone who remembers the Clinton administration will be familiar with this tactic: “Oh, well, we’re exploring our legal options and aren’t at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation.”


Interviewed briefly by CNN, Weiner was curiously incurious about the pursuit of the person(s) who compromised his Twitter account.

I was hacked, it happens to people. You move on.

This is a prank, uhh, not a terribly creative one, and it’s a distraction…

Look… you’ve got Republicans playing games with the debt limit, a Supreme Court Justice who is refusing to recuse himself despite conflicts of interest, you have a health care act that’s under siege, this… this is a distraction.


Oh. Right. It’s a distraction.

We should move on. C’mon, people. Nothing to see here. Move along.


Update: #Vindicated!: Anthony Weiner Announces He Will Not Be Suing Ace of Spades For Defamation


Related (in reverse chronological order):
• Weinergate Timeline
• Now that @GennetteNicole has broken her #Weinergate silence, I have just a couple of questions
• Photos: Anthony Weiner’s Self-Proclaimed Girlfriend
• Anthony Weiner makes underwhelming Twitter debut

*** What worries me is that this is a congressman who got “hacked.” We all know cyber crime is a REAL and PRESENT danger.. The FBI MUST be called in on this CRIME.. We need to know if any State Secrets where also HACKED from his computer. COME ON!!! This is serious.. Or not….

RELATED:

Congressman says hacker placed lewd photo on Twitter account

***(#Thats545InSeattleIThinkLikeMySexxyLook?)

May 31, 2011
Married Couples Are No Longer a Majority, Census Finds - NYTimes.com → nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Married couples have dropped below half of all American households for the first time, the Census Bureau says, a milestone in the evolution of the American family toward less traditional forms.

Married couples represented just 48 percent of American households in 2010, according to data being made public Thursday and analyzed by the Brookings Institution. This was slightly less than in 2000, but far below the 78 percent of households occupied by married couples in 1950.

What is more, just a fifth of households were traditional families — married couples with children — down from about a quarter a decade ago, and from 43 percent in 1950, as the iconic image of the American family continues to break apart.

In recent history, the marriage rate among Americans was at its highest in the 1950s, when the institution defined gender roles, family life and a person’s place in society. But as women moved into the work force, cohabitation lost its taboo label, and as society grew more secular, marriage lost some of its central authority.

“The days of Ozzie and Harriet have faded into the past,” said William Frey, the senior demographer at Brookings who analyzed the data. (The proportion of married couples slipped below half over the past decade, but was first reported as a precise count by the 2010 census.)

Today, traditional patterns have been turned upside down. Women with college degrees are now more likely to marry than those with just high school diplomas, the reverse of several decades ago, said June Carbone, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and co-author of “Red Families v. Blue Families.”

Rising income inequality has divided American society, making college-educated people less likely to marry those without college degrees. Members of that educated group have struck a new path: they marry later and stay married. In contrast, women with only a high school diploma are increasingly opting not to marry the fathers of their children, whose fortunes have declined along with the country’s economic opportunities.

“Employment instability depresses marriage rates,” Ms. Carbone said. Explaining the reasoning, she said, “I can support myself and the kid, but not myself, the kid, and him.”

W. Bradford Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, argues that the retreat from marriage is bad for society because it means less security for children. “It’s troubling because those kids are much more likely to be exposed to instability, complex family relations and poverty,” he said.

Married couples may be half of all households, but that does not mean that only half of Americans will ever be married. The overwhelming majority of Americans — with some exceptions — do eventually marry (though increasingly, working-class people do not stay married).

Households are changing in other ways. Americans are living longer than ever, so households now include a growing number of elderly singles, said Andrew J. Cherlin, a demographer at Johns Hopkins University. Other factors have been the large influx of immigrants, who tend to be single people in their 20s and 30s, and the growing number of young people who live together without being married.

There are 37 states, plus the District of Columbia, in which married couples make up fewer than 50 percent of all households, up from just 6 states in 2000, Mr. Frey said.

In all, 41 states showed declines in traditional households of married couples with children. In 2000, married couples with children were fewer than 20 percent of all households in just one state, plus the District of Columbia. Now they are fewer than a fifth in 31 states, Mr. Frey said.

The biggest change for the decade was the jump in households headed by women without husbands — up by 18 percent in the decade. The next largest rise was in households whose occupants were not a family — up by about 16 percent, Mr. Frey said.

May 31, 2011
“Teachers hostage to ‘success’” —City teachers tell of “mandated” cheating - NYPOST.com
May 31, 2011
Anthony Weiner Retains Counsel...Not To Defend Himself But To Advise Him About "What Civil Or Criminal Actions Should Be Taken" | ACE OF SPADES → minx.cc

Posted by: DrewM

Ok.

A spokesman for Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, told The Daily Caller the Congressman’s team has “retained counsel” and is exploring the “proper next steps” after his official Twitter account posted a picture of a man’s erect penis underneath gray boxer shorts. The internet-driven scandal has come to be known online as “#Weinergate,” a pun on the Congressman’s last name.

“We’ve retained counsel to explore the proper next steps and to advise us on what civil or criminal actions should be taken,” Weiner spokesman Dave Arnold said in an email. “This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more, but we are relying on professional advice.”

So in Wiener’s World hacking multiple social media platforms of a sitting US Congressman in what’s clearly an attempt to damage his reputation and limit his participation in debates of national importance is just a “prank”?

Most people would call it something else…a crime.

I’m not a high priced NYC or DC lawyer but allow me to offer some advice. Call the FBI.

Now in an effort to help out the Congressman in his battle to clear his name, here’s how to report a cyber crime.

You’re welcome.

On second thought, perhaps I’m being too hard on Congressman Weiner. I mean every PSA I’ve ever seen about crimes always urges people that if you are the victim of a crime or see one committed you should immediately call the cops retain counsel to help you consider your options.

I bet the idiot who illegally accessed Palin’s emails wishes he’d picked on Weiner instead. She called the cops but apparently Weiner is more forgiving of being violated.

I think it’s wonderful that Weiner is such a let bygones be bygones kind of guy but doesn’t he owe it to the Comley Coed to bring the perpetrators of this ‘prank’ to justice for the anguish they’ve caused her?

If liberals are so sure this is an Andrew Breitbart or conservative hit job, shouldn’t they be hounding Weiner to call the FBI? I mean if they could send a conservative to jail for something like this, it would be a big plus for them, right? I wonder why they aren’t. Oh, right.

Transparency!

Weiner’s office did not answer specific questions about the photograph, whether he has contacted authorities or the Seattle woman who received the photograph.

May 30, 2011
BREAKING: Weiner Lawyers Up! : The Other McCain → theothermccain.com

OMG:

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has retained an attorney to advise him “what civil or criminal actions should be taken” after a lewd picture was sent from his Twitter account.
Weiner, who has represented part of New York City since 1998, says online hacking led to a close-up shot of a man’s underwear being sent from his official Twitter account Saturday night.

(Get your facts straight, guys: It was Friday night.)

Dave Arnold, a spokesman for Weiner, said the Congressman’s staff is “loathe to treat” this incident as more than a prank “but we are relying on professional advice.”
“At a time when the GOP is playing games with the debt limit, a member of the Supreme Court is refusing to recuse himself from matters he has a financial interest in, and middle class incomes are stagnant, many want to change the subject,” Weiner said in a statement emailed to POLITICO by his office. “I don’t. This was a prank, and a silly one. I’m focused on my work.”
Weiner’s office did not answer specific questions about the photograph, whether he has contacted authorities or the Seattle woman who received the photograph. He has said that his Facebook was hacked and if his Twitter had the same password, that too could be vulnerable.

So (a) Weiner himself is not speaking, but issuing statements through his spokesman, and (b) his office “did not answer specific questions.”

RELATED from Doug Ross @ Journal:

QOTD: “…hacks [like that which Wiener is alleging] these days are crimes, and are especially serious when directed at Members of Congress. If his Twitter account has been compromised, what else would the attackers have access to? Instead of reporting the attack to the FBI though, Weiner has made jokes, and in fact keeps joking about it. This is unreasonable behavior in the face of an actual attack, however if it weren’t hack, then to report one would probably be a crime in itself.

So, Congressman Weiner, it’s up to you: Admit the truth, or file a formal criminal report with the attached penalties for filing a false report. Your own party has been making a big deal about “Cybersecurity” lately as a pretext for an Internet Kill Switch and other power grabs. Set an example, or admit the old Reichstag routine. Your call.” —Neil Stevens

May 30, 2011
“Homeland-Security Business Still Booming Ten Years Later” —Homeland Security Niche Offers Safe Bets - CNBC
May 30, 2011
800 tons of fish die, rot on Philippine fish farms - CTV News → ctv.ca
*** This update just in on Global Warming..

A fish pond worker scoops up dead milkfish locally known as Bangus after thousands of them were found floating on Taal Lake in Batangas province, south of Manila, Philippines, Sunday May 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

TALISAY, Philippines — More than 800 tons of fish have died and rotted on fish farms in a lake near Taal volcano south of Manila, with authorities blaming it on a sudden temperature drop.

The massive fish deaths started late last week but have eased. Officials have banned the sale of the rotting fish, which are being buried by the truckload in Talisay and three other towns in Batangas province, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources official Rose del Mundo said Sunday.

The deaths are unrelated to recent signs of restiveness in Taal volcano, which is surrounded by the lake where many villagers have grown milkfish and tilapia — staple foods for many Filipinos, officials said. The volcano and lake are a popular tourist draw.

Government volcanologist Allan Loza said Monday that 115 earthquakes were detected in Taal in the past 24 hours compared to an average of 10 to 15 quakes daily in recent weeks, a sign that magma is rising from within the small volcano. Such unrest has been monitored since April, long before last week’s fish deaths, he said.

Talisay agricultural officer Zenaida Macatangay said an initial investigation showed the deaths may have been caused by the temperature change as the rainy season set in last week after a scorching summer, which also depleted the lake’s oxygen levels.

Schools of fish were seen swimming in circles before they floated dead to the surface in huge numbers. The deaths have occurred in the past at summer’s end but in much smaller numbers, Mendoza said.

Some Taal lake areas turned white due to the massive numbers of dead milk-colored fish. Workers covered their noses with their hands or clothing Sunday as they scooped up the rotting fish and placed them into sacks.

“Many were sad and devastated because they invested a lot in these fish cages,” Talisay Mayor Zenaida Mendoza told The Associated Press by telephone.

More than 400 tons of milkfish have died in Talisay alone since Friday in 84 out of about 1,000 fish pens — lake areas about half the size of a basketball court that are fenced off by bamboo poles and nets. Damage has been estimated at US $770,000, Mendoza said. About 400 tons more have died in the other towns.

May 30, 2011
Obama Goes Golfing on Memorial Day | The Blog on Obama: White House Dossier → whitehousedossier.com

The business of memorializing our war dead done, President Obama headed out to the Fort Belvoir golf course today, finding his way onto the links for the ninth weekend in a row.

Obama earlier today laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and met with families of those killed in battle. But he emerged from the day’s solemnity to go golfing for the 12th time this year and the 70th time of his presidency.

The decision to golf on Memorial Day invites comparison with President George W. Bush, who gave up the game early in his presidency and said he did it out of respect for the families of those killed in Iraq.

Obama is out with the three younger aides he typically has in tow on his golf excursions, junior White House staffer Ben Finkenbinder, White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson, and Energy Department staffer David Katz.

In a sign of his determination to play no matter what, Obama is golfing even though it is currently 95 degrees at Fort Belvoir and it “feels like” it’s 98 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.

*** Wishing it was warmer here.. God Bless our Military.

May 30, 2011
Netanyahu: Israel cannot prevent UN recognition of Palestinian state - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News → haaretz.com
PM says it’s impossible to recognize a Palestinian state without passing through the UN Security Council but assures such a move is bound to fail.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that no one can prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state in the United Nations in September.

“No one has the power to stop the decision to recognize a Palestinian state in the UN General Assembly in September,” Netanyahu said. “It can also be possible to make the decision there that the world is flat.”

Netanyahu said Israel can’t prevent UN recognition of a Palestinian state, and added that Israel expects to receive support only from a handful of countries.

“We have no way to obstruct the UN decision,” Netanyahu said, but warned that that the Palestinians will not succeed in their efforts in the UN Security Council.

“It is impossible to recognize a Palestinian state without passing through the Security Council and such a move is bound to fail.”

On Friday, the president of the United Nations General Assembly said there was no way that a Palestinian state could become a member of the United Nations without a recommendation from the Security Council.

CONTINUE

May 30, 2011
“Germany Will Shut Down All Nuke Plants by 2022” —

Germany Will Shut Down All Nuke Plants by 2022 - FoxNews.com

*** And open what, coal plants?

May 30, 2011
U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans Give Obama Lower Marks → gallup.com
Younger, active-duty military less likely to have an opinion on Obama either way

PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. military veterans and those currently on active military duty are less likely to approve of President Obama’s job performance than are Americans of comparable ages who are not in the military.

These results are based on an analysis of more than 238,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking from January 2010 through April 2011. Respondents were classified as veterans/active-duty military based on responses to a series of questions probing whether any member of the household had served in the U.S. military, and whether the respondent himself or herself had served and, if so, whether the respondent was currently on active duty. Americans currently serving in the military overseas or on ships at sea would not be included in this national cell and landline telephone sample.

Thirty-seven percent of all active-duty military personnel and veterans surveyed approved of the job Obama is doing during the January 2010 to April 2011 time frame. That compares with 48% of nonveterans interviewed during the same period.

Obama’s approval rating varies by age, with younger Americans in general most likely to approve and older Americans least likely. The gap in approval between veterans/active duty military and nonveterans persists across the age spectrum, from 18- to 29-year-olds to those 80 and older.

Differences Across Gender Groups

Veterans and active-duty military, particularly those 40 and older, are predominantly men, and men are less likely to approve of the job Obama is doing than are women. However, the gap in Obama job approval between veterans/active-duty military and nonveterans persists among men in each age group.

Women who are serving or have served in the military are on a relative basis more positive about Obama than is the case for men who are members of the military or veterans. Female veterans or those in the military between the ages of 30 and 49, for example, are actually slightly more likely to approve of Obama than are nonveteran women in this age group.

Active-Duty Military Less Likely to Express an Opinion on Obama

Although active-duty military personnel are less likely to approve of the job Obama is doing than are national adults overall, this group’s disapproval is only marginally higher than that of national adults. This is because active-duty military — particularly those under 40 — are significantly more likely to say they have no opinion about Obama’s job performance than is the case for all adults in the same age group.

There are several possible explanations for this finding. Those on active duty may in general be less involved in politics and current affairs and thus less likely to hold an opinion on Obama or other political matters. Or, it could be that members of the active-duty military are adhering to a general nonpartisan norm within the military culture, and are therefore less willing to express an opinion to a survey interviewer, regardless of what they may actually believe.

Military Service Rare Among the Young, Highly Prevalent Among Seniors

The basic pattern of military service among Americans is remarkably — albeit not surprisingly — differentiated by age and gender. Across all age groups, most active-duty military personnel and veterans are men. For American men under age 60, the percentage who have served or currently serve in the military ranges from 8% in the youngest age group to 21% of those aged 50 to 59. The percentage of military veterans is much greater among those 60 and older, reaching a peak of 75% among men aged 80 to 99.

Bottom Line

Americans who currently serve or previously served in the U.S. military are less likely to approve of the job President Obama is doing than are those who have not served in the military, by about 10 percentage points. This approval gap occurs across age groups.

For younger, post-draft-era veterans, individuals with certain regional, demographic, or psychographic backgrounds may be more likely to be Republican and more likely to join the military. For older veterans, their service in the military may have led them to a more Republican viewpoint on politics, either during their service or in later years.

FULL STORY & MORE STATS

May 30, 2011
Gallup: Vets and active-duty military rate Obama lower than civilians « Hot Air → hotair.com
by Ed Morrissey

The actual news from the latest Gallup poll isn’t that veterans and active-duty military give Barack Obama a lower approval rating.  It’s that Obama’s barely drafting a majority among civilians in his best age demographics.  That’s bad news for the President given that younger voters notoriously turn out less in national elections:

U.S. military veterans and those currently on active military duty are less likely to approve of President Obama’s job performance than are Americans of comparable ages who are not in the military. …

Thirty-seven percent of all active-duty military personnel and veterans surveyed approved of the job Obama is doing during the January 2010 to April 2011 time frame. That compares with 48% of nonveterans interviewed during the same period.

Obama’s approval rating varies by age, with younger Americans in general most likely to approve and older Americans least likely. The gap in approval between veterans/active duty military and nonveterans persists across the age spectrum, from 18- to 29-year-olds to those 80 and older.

First, these approval ratings might not even be all that current.  The survey took 238,000 responses from a time period that stretched 16 months.  Obama’s approval rating in January 2010 was significantly higher in Gallup’s polling (51/43) than it was in April 2011 (44/47).  The results of this analysis have been stretched out too far to make it an accurate reflection of reality today for that reason, as well as the fact that it doesn’t include any responses after the death of Osama bin Laden, which might have pushed some of the veteran/active duty responses a bit upward.

Putting those issues aside, the age demographic breakdown does show an interesting pattern.  As respondents get older, the difference between service and civilians narrows considerably.  It starts at 14 points among 18-29YOs, and narrows to six points for 50-59YOs before going back to ten points among 60-69YOs.  Unfortunately for Obama, he only gets majority approval from civilians in the first two age categories, and not spectacular approval at that — 58% among 18-29YOs and 51% for 30-39YOs.  Given that younger voters provided all of the enthusiasm for his first campaign, these are tepid numbers for an incumbent that now has to run on a disastrous economic record that only seems to be getting worse this year.

May 30, 2011
Ex-WNBA All-Star Margo Dydek dies after heart attack - ESPN → sports.espn.go.com
Former No. 1 pick dies at 37

BRISBANE, Australia — Margo Dydek, a 7-foot-2 former WNBA player who led the league in blocks nine times, died Friday after being placed in a medically induced coma following a heart attack a week ago. She was 37.

Her death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Cathy Roberts, operations manager of the Northside Wizards in the Queensland Basketball League, where Dydek was the coach.

Dydek

The Poland-born Dydek, pregnant with her third child, was stricken with a heart attack May 19 and collapsed at her home in Brisbane. Dydek was early in her pregnancy and the fetus died, Roberts said.

Dydek was once said to be the tallest active professional female basketball player. She was the No. 1 pick in the 1998 WNBA draft by the Utah Starzz. She also played for San Antonio, Connecticut and Los Angeles.

“She was a tremendous person, role model and athlete who touched the lives of her many fans and made an indelible mark on women’s basketball around the world,” WNBA president Laurel Richie said.

Dydek held the record for most blocks in a WNBA career (877 in 323 games) and led the league from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2005-07. In 2008, Dydek signed with the Los Angeles Sparks following time away from basketball to give birth to her first son.

“Not only was Margo a great basketball player, she was one of the kindest people I had the opportunity to play against and later work with,” said Sparks general manager Penny Toler, who also played with Dydek.

“I was saddened to hear about her passing at such a young age. Her memory will live on, not only with the Sparks but with the entire WNBA. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family.”

Tina Thompson, a former teammate on the Sparks, said on the WNBA’s Twitter feed: “My condolences to the family of Margo Dydek, may she rest in peace!”

According to Dydek’s Facebook page, she was born to a 6-7 father and 6-3 mother. Her oldest of two sisters, Kashka, played for the Colorado Explosion of the now defunct ABL and in Poland.

The Brisbane-based Wizards said on their website that Dydek died “peacefully and surrounded by her family.”

“Always in our hearts — Margo. … You were a much-loved member of our community and we will miss you greatly,” the team said.

She is survived by her husband, David, and two sons, David, 3, and Alex, 7 months.

May 30, 2011
Doctors Soften Their Stance on Obama’s Health Overhaul - NYTimes.com → nytimes.com
As Physicians’ Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics

AUGUSTA, Me. — With Republicans in complete control of Maine’s state government for the first time since 1962, State Senator Lois A. Snowe-Mello offered a bill in February to limit doctors’ liability that she was sure the powerful doctors’ lobby would cheer. Instead, it asked her to shelve the measure.

“It was like a slap in the face,” said Ms. Snowe-Mello, who describes herself as a conservative Republican. “The doctors in this state are increasingly going left.”

Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and usually owned their own practices. They generally favored lower taxes and regularly fought lawyers to restrict patient lawsuits. Ronald Reagan came to national political prominence in part by railing against “socialized medicine” on doctors’ behalf.

But doctors are changing. They are abandoning their own practices and taking salaried jobs in hospitals, particularly in the North, but increasingly in the South as well. Half of all younger doctors are women, and that share is likely to grow.

There are no national surveys that track doctors’ political leanings, but as more doctors move from business owner to shift worker, their historic alliance with the Republican Party is weakening from Maine as well as South Dakota, Arizona and Oregon, according to doctors’ advocates in those and other states.

That change could have a profound effect on the nation’s health care debate. Indeed, after opposing almost every major health overhaul proposal for nearly a century, the American Medical Association supported President Obama’s legislation last year because the new law would provide health insurance to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured, improve competition and choice in insurance, and promote prevention and wellness, the group said.

Because so many doctors are no longer in business for themselves, many of the issues that were once priorities for doctors’ groups, like insurance reimbursement, have been displaced by public health and safety concerns, including mandatory seat belt use and chemicals in baby products.

Even the issue of liability, while still important to the A.M.A. and many of its state affiliates, is losing some of its unifying power because malpractice insurance is generally provided when doctors join hospital staffs.

FULL STORY

May 30, 2011
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