{"id":26568,"date":"2014-07-29T18:03:41","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T22:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=26568"},"modified":"2014-07-29T18:03:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T22:03:56","slug":"the-daily-gouge-archive-monday-july-28th-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=26568","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge Archive, Monday, July 28th, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Monday, July 28th, 2014…but before we begin, we present, based on long-time personal experience, a picture unequivocally worth\u00a0a thousand words…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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…and then<\/em><\/span> some!<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0And, as with almost everything else wrong with contemporary America, we have Liberals to thank for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, here’s The Gouge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We lead off the last week of July with a follow-up to our personal observations on who are the good guys in the Middle East; courtesy of the WSJ<\/em>, General James Conway, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps (Semper Fi!), opining on…<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Moral Chasm Between Israel<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0a<\/span><\/a><\/span>nd Hamas<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

The 3-mile-long tunnel from Gaza was designed for launching murder and kidnapping raids.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

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“Americans are understandably concerned when they hear that the majority of Palestinian casualties in the fighting between Israel and Hamas have been civilians and when they see images of houses in Gaza reduced to rubble and women wailing. Given the lack of corresponding Israeli civilian casualties to date, this creates the impression of an unequal\u2014and hence immoral\u2014fight between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n

Although American empathy for noncombatants is a critical component of who we are as a people, it should not blind us to reality: Israel’s military exists to protect its civilian population and seeks to avoid harming noncombatants, while its adversary cynically uses Palestinian civilians as human shields while deliberately targeting Israeli civilians<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I recently had the opportunity to see for myself the moral chasm between how the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas treat civilians during military operations. In May I joined a dozen other retired U.S. generals and admirals on a trip to Israel with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.<\/p>\n

Just outside Hamas-ruled Gaza, we toured a tunnel discovered less than one kilometer from an Israeli kindergarten. Unlike tunnels that I had seen during the Iraq war that were designed for smuggling, this Hamas tunnel was designed for launching murder and kidnapping raids.<\/span> The 3-mile-long tunnel was reinforced with concrete, lined with telephone wires, and included cabins unnecessary for infiltration operations but useful for holding hostages…<\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Speaking of the bad guys…<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Freedom Flotilla II’ set to sail for Gaza from Turkey<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Media report says activists \u2013 the same behind 2010\u2019s \u2018Mavi Marmara\u2019 \u2013 scheduled to take off with Turkish military protection.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

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Yes, that’s right; the same group of “peaceniks” who attacked the Israeli commandos who attempted to search the Mavi Marmara<\/em>, which was curiously loaded with weapons rather than humanitarian aid. \u00a0The difference; this flotilla will be escorted by the Turkish Navy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But have no fear; The Dear Misleader is on top of things…in between fundraisers, golf and a 16-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a related item forwarded by Balls Cotton, Naomi Ragen writes…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Cry for Us Israelis<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

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“…The current crisis in Gaza is so morally clear-cut, so absolutely a case of self-defense, that I must say to you, as someone finally said to Senator McCarthy: \u201cSir, have you no shame?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I prefer that you \u2013 writers of these lies and libels\u00a0–\u00a0hate me and my country, if it means that you can save your tears for other peoples\u2019 dead. We aren\u2019t greedy for sympathy. After all, we got so much after the Holocaust, we prefer other people to have their share now. These days, we prefer to live, rather than have people cry over us and the injustices done to us.<\/p>\n

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So by all means, cry for the Palestinian people \u2013 men women and children \u2013 whose duly elected leadership has callously left them without protection from just retribution for their terrorist crimes<\/em><\/span>. The leaders who took their people\u2019s aid money and are living in Qatar in five star hotels building shopping centers for themselves.<\/span> Who built terrorist tunnels under their homes, mosques, hospitals and schools, and recruited their sons to die for Allah, while they sit in bunkers waiting for the U.N. to rescue them<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t cry for us, or our families, or our children, or grandchildren. Not this time. Not ever. Not if we can help it. Because this time, thank God, we have a country. We are armed. This time, with God\u2019s help, we know how to protect ourselves from Nazis and their high-minded media cheerleaders<\/em><\/span>…<\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Which includes not only the hate-filled, but the hopelessly naive; as well as those…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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…who are both!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turning from the 2nd-worst President in our nation’s history to Numero Uno, Politico<\/em>‘s Carrie Brown reports on…\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Obama’s immigration flip flop<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

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“President Barack Obama insisted for years that he had absolutely no legal authority \u2014 none whatsoever, zero, zilch \u2014 to slow deportations on a broad scale. Forget everything he\u2019s said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s pledge to use his executive powers by the end of the summer marked both a dramatic reversal in rhetoric and a major strategic shift on immigration. The president is no longer emphasizing his own powerlessness but rather his determination \u201cto fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, without Congress.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The administration is examining how far it can go, legally and politically, to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.<\/strong><\/span> Despite the flow of young Central American children across the southwestern border, Obama remains committed to taking significant action, according to senior advisers and advocates who have attended recent meetings with White House officials.<\/p>\n

In other words, Obama has signaled that he intends to do the exact opposite of what he\u2019s long said he\u2019s unable to do<\/em><\/span>…<\/strong>“<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It doesn’t need batteries, as unfortunately, it runs largely on the power of The Press.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next up, writing at\u00a0the WSJ<\/em>,\u00a0Kimberly Strassel continues to sound the alarm about one of the greatest threats ever to face the Republic:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ObamaCare-IRS Nexus<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n

The supposedly independent agency harassed the administration’s political opponents and saved its health-care law.<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

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“One of the big questions out of the IRS targeting scandal is this: How can an agency that engaged in such political misconduct be trusted to implement\u00a0ObamaCare<\/span>? This week’s\u00a0Halbig v. Burwell\u00a0<\/em>ruling reminded us of the answer. It can’t<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in\u00a0Halbig\u00a0<\/em>that the administration had illegally provided\u00a0ObamaCare<\/span>\u00a0subsidies in 36 insurance exchanges run by the federal government. Yet it wasn’t the “administration” as a whole that issued the lawless subsidy gift.<\/span> It was the administration acting through its new, favorite enforcer: the IRS<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And it was entirely political<\/em><\/span>. Democrats needed those subsidies<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span> The party had assumed that dangling subsidies before the states would induce them to set up exchanges. When dozens instead refused, the White House was faced with the prospect that citizens in 36 states\u2014two-thirds of the country\u2014would be exposed to the full cost of ObamaCare’s overpriced insurance. The backlash would have been horrific, potentially forcing Democrats to reopen the law, or even costing President Obama re-election.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The White House viewed it as imperative, therefore, that IRS bureaucrats ignore the law’s text and come up with a politically helpful rule.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0(Sorta like having John Roberts join the IRS!)<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>The evidence shows that career officials at the IRS did indeed do as Treasury Department and Health and Human Services Department officials told them. This, despite the fact that the IRS is supposed to be insulated from political meddling<\/em><\/span>…<\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

Remember this: at the time, Max Baucus (D-MT), former chair of the Senate Finance Committee through which the health bill had to flow,\u00a0insisted reading<\/em><\/span> the law wasn’t really<\/em><\/span> necessary<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill,\u201d Baucus said, according to the Flathead Beacon. <\/em>\u201cYou know why? It\u2019s statutory language…w<\/span><\/span><\/span>e hire experts<\/span><\/em>.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aaaahhh! \u00a0Here’s one those so-called “experts”, MIT “economist” Jonathan Gruber, starring in a video clip we’ve entitled\u00a0Gruber v. Gruber<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n