Monday, September 30, 2013
"Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media"
I'm no fan of the media and I know I'm not alone...
On theGuardian.com website, Lisa O'Carroll reports on what Seymour Hersh is saying:
"He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.
Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" – or the death of Osama bin Laden. 'Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true,' he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011.
Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an 'independent' Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. 'The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report,' he says hinting of revelations to come in his book."
"Republicans, fix bayonets!"
At WND.com, Pat Buchanan offers his opinion along with some historical reflection:
"Senate Republicans should be asking themselves why Cruz and Rand Paul, two newcomers to the Senate of decidedly different temperaments, are being talked of as credible candidates in the presidential primaries of 2016. Answer: Both are clear in their convictions, unapologetic about them and willing to break some china to achieve them. And that part of America upon which the GOP depends most is increasingly frustrated and angry with those who run the national party. Americans don’t want a dignified surrender on Obamacare. They want someone to drive a stake through Obamacare."
Sunday, September 29, 2013
2013-09-29 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Why 'Duck Dynasty' Viewers Heed Its Call - WSJ.com
Adam Chandler writes about it in the Wall Street Journal:
"The A&E show, now in its fourth season, has managed to become the most popular reality program in cable history. The season premiere on Aug. 14 captured 11.8 million viewers, double the number that tuned in for the season premiere of "Breaking Bad" earlier that week. Set in northeast Louisiana, 'Duck Dynasty' follows the Robertsons, three generations of swamp-trawling, long-bearded duck-hunting enthusiasts who also happen to be millionaires. The entrepreneurs have built a business empire on duck-hunting gear and, especially, on duck calls made from Louisiana cedar. The family patriarch is Phil Robertson, who, according to popular legend, was the first-string quarterback ahead of future NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw at Louisiana Tech University."
Friday, September 27, 2013
Shocking: Black Teen Unemployment Rate 41.6%
When teens are idle, not so good things tend to happen.
So, why are so few talking about it?...
At Breitbart.com, Mike Flynn gives it a try:
"Black teen unemployment is a shocking 41.6%. In July last year, the unemployment was considerably lower, at 36%. That almost half of black teens who want to work can't find jobs is a stain on Obama's economic policies. This isn't a numbers trick. This isn't a rate based on the whole black teen population in the country. This is the proportion of the black teen population that is looking for work but can't find a job. Just in March, the number was eight points lower at 33%. The white teen unemployment rate is half the black rate, although still high at 20%."
"Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in Boise, laments 'alarming degree of public ignorance'"
It's heartening to has a person of stature say it publicly...
This was reported recently by Katie Terhune at McClatchydc.com:
"O'CONNOR ON CIVICS 'The more I read and the more I listen, the more apparent it is that our society suffers from an alarming degree of public ignorance,' O'Connor said. That ignorance starts in the earliest years of a child's schooling, she said, but often continues all the way through college and graduate school. O'Connor argued that learning about citizenship is just as important for American children as learning multiplication or how to write their names."
Thursday, September 26, 2013
"Former Electric-car Engineer: Electric Cars Pollute More Than Gas"
But, Selwyn Duke reports it anyway at theNewAmerican.com:
"Author of the book Green Illusions, Zehner once built his own hybrid car that could run on electricity or natural gas. And, he writes in a recent article entitled “Unclean at Any Speed,” he was convinced cars such as his “would help reduce both pollution and fossil-fuel dependence.” But he now says, 'I was wrong.'"
"1 in 4 Swedish Women Will Be Raped as Sexual Assaults Increase 500%"
Daniel Greenfield writes about it at FrontPageMag.com:
"In 2003, Sweden’s rape statistics were higher than average at 9.24, but in 2005 they shot up to 36.8 and by 2008 were up to 53.2. Now they are almost certainly even higher as Muslim immigrants continue forming a larger percentage of the population. With Muslims represented in as many as 77 percent of the rape cases and a major increase in rape cases paralleling a major increase in Muslim immigration, the wages of Muslim immigration are proving to be a sexual assault epidemic by a misogynistic ideology."
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Texas Oil And Gas Numbers Fly Off The Charts - Forbes
At Forbes.com, David Blackmon recently reported on this:
"The growing scale of the oil and natural gas boom in Texas continues to stun most observers. We have discussed this phenomenon periodically (see prior pieces here and here) , but the newest developments are so off the charts that an update is warranted."
Trillions of dollars worth of oil found in Australian outback - Telegraph
You can be sure if it's there, someone will find a way to get it out...
Back in January, Jonathan Pearlman reported on this:
"The discovery in central Australia was reported by Linc Energy to the stock exchange and was based on two consultants reports, though it is not yet known how commercially viable it will be to access the oil. The reports estimated the company’s 16 million acres of land in the Arckaringa Basin in South Australia contain between 133 billion and 233 billion barrels of shale oil trapped in the region’s rocks."
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
"Washington’s Obamacare Exemption"
That being said, he makes a very valid point.
Remembering that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was passed with the admissions that no one had read it, we knew there would inevitably be problems...
At NationalReview.com, Senator David Vitter (R., La.) tells us what's wrong:
"Recently, in a classic case of Washington protecting its own, the Obama administration announced an illegal administrative fix for this provision regarding Congress, in order to take all of the sting out. This special rule, with no basis in the Obamacare statute, would allow members of Congress to keep most or all of their staff members off the exchange entirely. Members of Congress who do decide to go on the exchange would get a huge taxpayer-funded subsidy (about $5,000 for single workers or about $10,000 for families) unavailable to all other Americans at the same income levels going on the exchange. This creates a special Obamacare exemption for members of Congress and congressional staff."
"Footage of Syrian Chem attack victims Fabricated in Advance"
So who do we believe and what do we make of this?...
This is part of a post at MINA Breaking News:
"Mother Agnes: I have carefully studied the footage, and I will present a written analysis on it a bit later. I maintain that the whole affair was a frame-up. It had been staged and prepared in advance with the goal of framing the Syrian government as the perpetrator. The key evidence is that Reuters made these files public at 6.05 in the morning. The chemical attack is said to have been launched between 3 and 5 o’clock in the morning in Guta. How is it even possible to collect a dozen different pieces of footage, get more than 200 kids and 300 young people together in one place, give them first aid and interview them on camera, and all that in less than three hours? Is that realistic at all? As someone who works in the news industry, you know how long all of it would take. The bodies of children and teenagers we see in that footage – who were they? What happened to them? Were they killed for real? And how could that happen ahead of the gas attack? Or, if they were not killed, where did they come from? Where are their parents? How come we don’t see any female bodies among all those supposedly dead children? "
Monday, September 23, 2013
"Texas Deputy Suing Woman Who Called 911"
This is from the KEYE TV website in Texas:
"A Texas woman who's 911 call led to a police shooting is now facing a lawsuit from one of the responding officers. A deputy injured at the scene says the woman failed to warn police how dangerous the situation was."
"Hundreds of private lobbyists earning public pensions in 20 states"
These out-of-control benefits serve only to accommodate cronyism...
According to this Associated Press story:
"ALBANY, N.Y. – As a lobbyist in New York's statehouse, Stephen Acquario is doing pretty well. He pulls down $204,000 a year, more than the governor makes, gets a Ford Explorer as his company car and is afforded another special perk: Even though he's not a government employee, he is entitled to a full state pension. He's among hundreds of lobbyists in at least 20 states who get public pensions because they represent associations of counties, cities and school boards, an Associated Press review found. Legislatures granted them access decades ago on the premise that they serve governments and the public. In many cases, such access also includes state health care benefits."
"Colorado recall | PPP Polling"
If the results don't meet expectations, so be it.
For me, none of the excuses/reasons given are more important that having the public believe in the integrity of polling organizations. ..
At LegalInsurrection.com, William A. Jacobson presents what happened:
"PPP has admitted that it deliberately did not release a poll showing that Colorado State Senator Angela Giron was likely to lose the recall election by a wide margin:"
Sunday, September 22, 2013
2013-09-22 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, September 21, 2013
"Wisconsin teachers’ unions in full collapse since tangling with Scott Walker"
On the CoachIsRight website, Derrick Hollenbeck includes these numbers in his posted article:
"Among Wisconsin’s fastest declining unions is AFSCME Council 24 which has seen a jaw dropping 88% (5,900 to 690) reduction in its dues paying members. Another union, the WSEU has shrunk from 22,000 members before Act 10 to less than 10,000 as of last December. Wisconsin’s AFSCME Council 40 has lost 35% of its membership (31,730 in 2011 to 20,488 today). Council 48 situated in Milwaukee County had 9,043 members two years ago. Today it has 3,498 dues paying members."
Friday, September 20, 2013
"Quit Washing Your Chicken: It Just Sprays Germs Everywhere"
Laura Northrup has the story at Consumerist.com:
"Generations of American cooks are wrong. They learned their wrongity wrongity wrong habits from their parents, or from public television’s Julia Child. Their terrible, filthy habit is rinsing poultry before cooking. Public health experts estimate that as many as 90% of Americans do it, and they want us to cut it out."
Abandoned Dogs Roam Detroit in Packs as Humans Dwindle - Bloomberg
Chris Christoff recently posted about this at Bloomberg.com:
"As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain and overwhelming the city’s ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths."
Thursday, September 19, 2013
"Mass Shootings Fuel Fear, Account for Fraction of Murders"
And by fraction, it means a very small fraction.
Of course, the coverage of such is highly sensationalized and disproportionate.
Bad news sells, and the media knows that...
Of course, the coverage of such is highly sensationalized and disproportionate.
Bad news sells, and the media knows that...
AT Bloomberg.com, Annie Linsky provides some interesting statistics:
"In the 30 years through March, 78 public mass shootings occurred in the U.S. -- incidents in which four or more people were killed at random by a gunman killing indiscriminately, according to a report issued that month by the Congressional Research Service. These crimes don’t include gang-related killings or domestic disputes where a person slays relatives or other people linked to the assailant. The mass slaughters listed in the report caused the deaths of 547 people. Over the same three decades through 2012, that’s less than a tenth of 1 percent of the 559,347 people the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates were murdered in America."
"The Facts about Mass Shootings"
Back in December 2012, John Fund wrote about mass shootings:
"A few things you won’t hear about from the saturation coverage of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre:
Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.
In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Incidents of mass murder in the U.S. declined from 42 in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of this century.
The chances of being killed in a mass shooting are about what they are for being struck by lightning."
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
"EU plans to fit all cars with speed limiters"
See what you think about the Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA)...
In the U.K. Telegraph, Claire Carter recently posted the story behind this:
"All cars could be fitted with devices that stop them going over 70mph, under new EU road safety measures which aim to cut deaths from road accidents by a third.
Under the proposals new cars would be fitted with cameras that could read road speed limit signs and automatically apply the brakes when this is exceeded."
"Tennessee to roll out "No Refusal" blood-draw DUI checkpoints..."
Oh my! See what you think about this...
This is part of a post at PoliceStateUSA.com :
"Forcible blood draws began in Tennessee in 2009, being used only for cases of vehicular assault. In all other circumstances, the blood draws were not forcible. They could be declined, with the understanding the DUI suspect’s driver’s license would be suspended. Tennessee calls it the Implied Consent Statute. That changed January 1, 2012, with the enactment of a new law that took away that choice for suspects to decline with a license suspension. Ever since the law took effect, police can obtain rubber-stamped warrants to forcibly extract blood from any driver they decide is a DUI suspect."
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
The Media - "Time mag hides Putin's success from U.S. voters"
This is clearly a deliberate act. I see it as just another example of the American media's political bias...
At DailyCaller.com, Neil Munro reports on this:
"Time Magazine’s cover for its September 16 issue features a picture of contented-looking Russian president Vladimir Putin, complete with a black background and a damning caption that declares “America’s weak and waffling, Russia’s rich and resurgent.”
But Time’s editors are shielding Americans from the demoralizing picture, putting a cheerful, sky-blue photo on the covers of magazines distributed in the United States.
'It’s time to pay college athletes,' says the chirpy, non-political U.S. cover, which shows a ball-carrying football player with arm outstretched."
"Supreme Court shutouts reveal reckless decisions"
When NOT ONE Supreme Court Justice sides with the administration, it really is VERY revealing...
At USAtoday.com, Ilya Somin recently concluded:
"When the White House loses cases 9-0, the president is going too far."
Monday, September 16, 2013
"What Minnesota's one-party rule has wrought"
The Democrat Party thinks this is the way to go.
It's up to the voters to reject it...
In the Star Tribune, Minnesota Republican Bob Barrett tells about his state:
"Our sales tax increases were the fourth-highest in America. Our income tax increases were second-highest. Our corporate tax increases were the very highest, as were our tobacco tax increases (by a mile). Considering the net increase in all taxes, Dayton and his DFL Legislature earned the silver medal in the 2013 Tax Olympics — beaten only by … Michigan. To show how large these increases are in our state, after adding up all the tax increases imposed across all 50 states, Minnesota families and businesses will pay 33 percent of all the tax increases in the entire country!"
"Evangelicals' New Chief Says Days Of Moral Majority Over"
I found this to be interesting reading.
The world around us is constantly changing, and everyone, even religious organizations, must constantly adjust accordingly...
The world around us is constantly changing, and everyone, even religious organizations, must constantly adjust accordingly...
North Carolina Public Radio's Michel Martin recently interviewed Dr. Russell Moore:
"Now Southern Baptists represent nearly 40,000 churches and missions, claiming nearly 16 million members in the country. As the leader of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, where he succeeds the very influential and prominent Richard Land, Mr. Moore will be at the forefront of some of the most contentious issues of our time. From abortion to immigration to civil rights. And we caught up with him at a studio in Nashville. Welcome to the program. Congratulations on the new post or is it condolences? I'm not sure."
Sunday, September 15, 2013
2013-09-15 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, September 14, 2013
"TV & Video Auditions & Casting Calls"
First of all, EVERYTHING on television is scripted.
You do know that, don't you?...
You do know that, don't you?...
If you're not really sure, Backstage.com posts "reality" casting calls like this:
"Casting improv actors who have restaurant experience, or have been fired from a restaurant (i.e server, manager, chef, bartender, bus boy, etc.) for upcoming reality show on a major cable network."
"Bashar Assad loses U.S. friends as Kerry, Hagel and Biden take Bush's stance on Syria"
The details in this article demonstrate the fickleness and poor judgment of those we put in charge of our well-being...
At WashingtonTimes.com, Rowan Scarborough writes about then and now:
"The Obama national security team that wants to go to war with Syria and demonizes President Bashar Assad is the same group that, as senators, urged reaching out to the dictator. As a bloc on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, President Obama, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Vice President Joseph R. Biden all opposed the George W. Bush administration's playing tough with Mr. Assad. None grew closer to Mr. Assad and promoted him in Washington more than Mr. Kerry."
Friday, September 13, 2013
What if the president lied to us? - Salon.com
Of course, most of the media is reluctant or scared to call it that. It's sad...
At Salon.com, David Sirota explains why he has come to this:
"I don’t buy any of that because, to say the least, it makes no sense. I just don’t buy that he’s so unaware of the world around him that he made such statements from a position of pure ignorance. On top of that, he has a motive. Yes, Obama has an obvious political interest in trying to hide as much of his administration’s potentially illegal behavior as possible, which means he has an incentive to calculatedly lie. For all of these reasons, it seems safe to suggest that when it comes to the NSA situation, the president seems to be lying."
John McCain Exposed By Vietnam Vets And POW's
There are more than a few strong opinions here...
Thursday, September 12, 2013
"Collapse of American Influence Recalls Disintegration of Soviet Union, Fall of France"
In the New York Sun. Conrad Black begins with this and goes on to explain:
"Not since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and prior to that the fall of France in 1940, has there been so swift an erosion of the world influence of a Great Power as we are witnessing with the United States."
"The wind farms that generate enough power to make a few cups of tea"
In the U.K. Telegraph, Robert Mendick provides these statistics:
"The Telegraph examined a snapshot of RWE’s own figures on Thursday afternoon last week. One wind farm Trysglwyn, which is in Anglesey in Wales, was producing a total of 6 kilowatts (KW) - just enough to boil two kettles each with 3KW of power. The wind farm has 14 turbines and a theoretical capacity of 5.6 megawatts (MW). In other words, the wind farm was producing just 0.001 per cent of its maximum capacity. Little Cheyne Court wind farm, which consists of 26 turbines each of them 377ft high, was producing 129KW of electricity last Thursday afternoon. The wind farm, which was hugely controversial when it was built at a cost of £50 million on the site of Romney Marsh in Kent, is the largest in the south east of England. Its supply last Thursday was equivalent to the boiling of just 43 kettles - or 0.002 per cent of its maximum capacity of 59.8MW."
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
2001-09-11 - A Day to Remember
This seems like an appropriate day to put partisan differences and complaints aside...
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
"The pre-movie ads go on, and on…"
Perhaps I'm out of line here; but, I can't come to terms with a paying customer being subjected to captive audience advertising...
In Canada, the MacLeans editors take issue with the the current practice:
"As every movie fan knows, the show is still a long way from getting started. Before you can see the movie you paid for, you’ll need to watch some ads: a lot of ads. Captive movie theatre audiences must now endure 15 minutes or more of bank, car, soft drink, wireless and other assorted commercials plus a half-dozen coming attractions stretching well after the posted start time. Quite often the theatre will slip in a few of its own promos as well, touting the power of its sound system or the magic of cinema. But of course we already knew about that; we just paid good money for a magical experience. Is it too much to ask that the movie start when scheduled?"
"Yes, You Have the Right to Record the Police"
I'm pretty sure law enforcement doesn't like it...
At PopularMechanics.com, Morgan Leigh Manning provides this within her posted article:
"In recent years, at least two federal courts of appeals have explicitly recognized the right to record the actions of on-duty police officers. In 2011's Glik v. John Cunniffe, the First Circuit ruled that a man wrongly arrested for recording police officers could sue the arresting officers for violating his First Amendment rights. The Court found a broad First Amendment right to record on-duty government officials in public, stating, "[G]athering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting 'the free discussion of government affairs.'"
Monday, September 09, 2013
"Indiana firm acquires MV-1 wheelchair accessible vehicle"
These stories just keep on coming.
I'm not sure if it's just government at work or specific to this administration's poor choices.
Keep in mind that the "lost" money did go somewhere,..
I'm not sure if it's just government at work or specific to this administration's poor choices.
Keep in mind that the "lost" money did go somewhere,..
David Shepardson tells this example of poor judgment at DetroitNews.com:
"The Obama administration said it will lose money on the investment. It previously recouped a $5 million reserve fund, so it’s not clear how much of the remaining $45 million it lost. But chances are it lost tens of millions of dollars, since there was little outside interest for the start-up. The Energy Department auctioned off its outstanding loan in recent weeks to exit the troubled investment."
Targeting the Wealthy Kills Jobs - WSJ.com
The points made here have been proven successful over and over.
Even so, the liberal side of the world continues to work against them...
Even so, the liberal side of the world continues to work against them...
In the Wall Street Journal, T.J. Rodgers recently gave examples of how it works and explained:
"In other words: Every dollar that is taxed away from private investment and spent by government produces fewer jobs than the jobs destroyed by the loss of private investment. Yet the politics of envy, promoted most notably by President Obama himself, continuously stokes the idea that the wealthy are not paying their 'fair share.' This injured sense of unjust rewards was summed up on a radio show I heard the other day, when a caller said of the rich: 'How much more do they need?' How much more do I need? How many more jobs do you want?"
"Hackers Reveal Nasty New Car Attacks--With Me Behind The Wheel"
Science Fiction and/or technology is clearly upon us...
Andy Greenberg has quite a story at Forbes.com:
"As I drove their vehicles for more than an hour, Miller and Valasek showed that they’ve reverse-engineered enough of the software of the Escape and the Toyota Prius (both the 2010 model) to demonstrate a range of nasty surprises: everything from annoyances like uncontrollably blasting the horn to serious hazards like slamming on the Prius’ brakes at high speeds. They sent commands from their laptops that killed power steering, spoofed the GPS and made pathological liars out of speedometers and odometers. Finally they directed me out to a country road, where Valasek showed that he could violently jerk the Prius’ steering at any speed, threatening to send us into a cornfield or a head-on collision. 'Imagine you’re driving down a highway at 80 ,' Valasek says. 'You’re going into the car next to you or into oncoming traffic. That’s going to be bad times.'"
Sunday, September 08, 2013
2013-09-08 - Words of Wisdom
Saturday, September 07, 2013
"Why is Obama lying on climate change?"
On the other hand, Mr. Obama can't know everything and must depend on his "handlers".
Hmmmmm...
In this Townhall.com article Marita Noon provides info to support that question:
"During the Q & A time with the first panel—which included the Democrat’s star: Heidi Cullen of Weather Channel fame, Ranking Member Senator David Vitter (R-LA) asked: 'Can any witnesses say they agree with Obama’s statement that warming has accelerated during the past 10 years?' After an awkward (to say the least) silence, Cullen tried to change the subject by saying that we need to be looking at longer time periods then ten years and then, ultimately, acknowledged that the warming has slowed, not accelerated. A few minutes later, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) made sure no one missed the point. He repeated Obama’s claim and then asked: 'Do any of you support that quote?' Again, silence.
Even the witnesses brought in by the Democrats couldn’t support Obama’s false data. But, there were other interesting aspects of the nearly four-hour-long hearing."
What We Lose if We Give Up Privacy - WSJ.com
I'm won't try to explain it other than to say it's worthwhile to read...
In the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan recently wrote about the implications of losing our privacy:
"We talk about this now because of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency revelations, and new fears that we are operating, all of us, within what has become or is becoming a massive surveillance state. They log your calls here, they can listen in, they can read your emails. They keep the data in mammoth machines that contain a huge collection of information about you and yours. This of course is in pursuit of a laudable goal, security in the age of terror. Is it excessive? It certainly appears to be. Does that matter? Yes. Among other reasons: The end of the expectation that citizens' communications are and will remain private will probably change us as a people, and a country."
Friday, September 06, 2013
"Just whose war is this?"
At WND.com, Pat Buchanan offers strong opinions against getting involved in Syria. He begins:
"The Saudis and Gulf Arabs, cash-fat on the $110-a-barrel oil they sell U.S. consumers, will pick up the tab for the Tomahawk missiles. Has it come to this – U.S. soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen as the mercenaries of sheikhs, sultans and emirs, Hessians of the New World Order, hired out to do the big-time killing for Saudi and Sunni royals?"
"Have Scientists Discovered a Way of Peering Into the Future?"
You decide...
On the theControversialFiles.net website I found this and the supporting story:
"Dr Nelson's Global Consciousness Project - originally hosted by Princeton University - is one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. It aims to ‘sense' whether all of humanity shares a single unconscious mind that we all tap into without realizing it. Some might refer to it as the mind of God. But the machine has also thrown up another tantalizing possibility: that scientists may have unwittingly discovered a way of predicting the future. "
Meanwhile - in the U.K. - a welfare documentary
In the U.K. Daily Mail, Melissa Kite writes about welfare in the U.K. She begins:
"When we first meet Karen, star of a new Channel 4 documentary, she is driving a huge, silver Nissan people-carrier. The 54-year-old grandmother is smartly dressed in fashionable clothes, jewelery and sports an immaculate manicure. But neither her car nor her clothes are paid for by her wages. Instead, Karen is among the 20 million people claiming benefits in Britain. In Karen’s case, her lifestyle is funded by her incapacity benefit, which she says she receives because she has diabetes, irregular heart rhythm, arthritis, backache and high blood pressure. ‘Because people can’t see the pain I’m suffering, [they] look and think: “There’s nothing wrong with her”,’ she explains. ‘I feel like I’m being targeted, but I’m not out to scrounge. I’m genuine, you know.’"
Thursday, September 05, 2013
"Stand Your Ground on Stand Your Ground"
In reality, it is basic common sense and is nothing to fear, unless you are ill-intended...
At NationalReview.com, Charles C. W. Cooke recently elaborated on his thought:
"Inextricable from the unalienable rights to life and liberty that serve as the bedrock of our republic is the corollary right of self-defense. Far from being the invitation to anarchy that some have insinuated it is, 'Stand Your Ground' is a legal principle that recognizes those rights, and attempts to tilt the balance in favor of the attacked. It serves, if you will, to remove the heckler’s punch from dominating the public square."
Government at Work - the Planning Commission
Then again, it does fit in the world we currently live in...
Tom DeWeese posts about this at GraniteStateFutures.org:
"Jennie Granato, a resident and tax-paying citizen of Montgomery County, Ohio, has found herself without a front yard and very little to show for it. Because the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC), as part of a $5M bike path extension, has begun to seize up private property for their 'essential' project, including almost the entirety of Miss Granato’s front lawn. The bike path will come within seven feet of her front door!!"
"Black Chamber of Commerce describes Obama as Hopeless"
At Examiner.com, Steven H. Ahle describes a case of buyer's remorse:
"Harry Alford, the president of the Black Chamber of Commerce, says that he failed to properly vet Obama before he voted for him in 2008. Alford says that his growing disappointment and growing suspicion of President Obama is based on his secretiveness and placing politics over policy. 'I didn’t analyze him. I read his book and he’s talking about using cocaine and all the drugs he could find and I kind of brushed through that. That should have caught my eye.'"
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Problems With Authority - WSJ.com
Our Constitution protects us from that, and it shouldn't require a lawsuit to fix it...
This Wall Street Journal article highlights something serious:
"In a major rebuke on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an unusual writ of mandamus, which is a direct judicial order compelling the government to fulfill a legal obligation. This 'extraordinary remedy' is nominally about nuclear waste, writes Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the 2-1 majority, yet the case 'raises significant questions about the scope of the Executive's authority to disregard federal statutes.'"
"If you see something, say nothing"
I understand that we should never rush to judgement, BUT, the constant reluctance to label this issue correctly is just plain wrong...
Some time ago, I saw this in an article by Andrew C. McCarthy at New Criterion.com:
"It was a report of the now numbingly familiar sort. Witnesses at the synagogue in Paris recounted that an Iranian immigrant had been screaming 'Allahu Akbar!' while he chased the rabbi and his son. When he finally caught up, he slashed away at them with a box-cutter, causing severe lacerations. Nevertheless, the Associated Press assured readers that '[a]n official investigation was underway to determine a possible motive.' Quite a mystery, that.
It is necessary to search for some 'possible' motive because to notice the actual and perfectly obvious motive is verboten in the judgment of both the legacy media and Western governments."
"Sex, money and lies: 'Culture of Corruption' boomerangs on Democrats as scandals blossom nationwide"
Don't be mistaken that one party is worse than the other...
At WashingtonTimes.com, Valerie Richardson documents some of them. She begins:
"The Democratic Party is battling scandals from New York to San Diego and from city hall to Capitol Hill, as the party finds itself on the defensive over embarrassing lapses ranging from sexual misconduct to multiple scandals ensnaring the Obama administration."
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
BBC News uses 'Iraq photo to illustrate Syrian massacre' - Telegraph
Time and again, their sloppiness gets the facts (and images) wrong.
Sadly, their corrections, if any, are seen by only a few...
In the U.K. Telegraph, Hannah Furness calls attention to this occurence:
"'What I am really astonished by is that a news organization like the BBC doesn't check the sources and it's willing to publish any picture sent it by anyone: activist, citizen journalist or whatever. That's all. He added he was less concerned about an apology or the use of image without consent, adding: 'What is amazing it's that a news organization has a picture proving a massacre that happened yesterday in Syria and instead it's a picture that was taken in 2003 of a totally different massacre. 'Someone is using someone else's picture for propaganda on purpose.' "
"Fascinating Call from Telecom Exec"
I'm pretty sure that most call center employees are aware of this.
As computing power has increased, this capability is now "instant"...
As computing power has increased, this capability is now "instant"...
This is from the Rush Limbaugh website:
"I left a multibillion-dollar phone company to start a smaller company, and our core product is a product that looks up phone numbers instantly when people make or receive phone calls and uses that information to populate details on the screen for people to use in selling or supporting customers, like their name, their address, the value of their home, their marital status, approximate income, approximate assets, cards they have registered to the address they live at, whether they're in foreclosure, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter profiles associated with that number.
The advent of mobile phones has created a situation where a phone number equals a person, so the phone number's a much better index for getting everything you know about a person than something that's less easy and less public like a Social Security number.
And so my company sells that information to companies so that they can know who is calling and route that call better and offer appropriate products or not."
Targeting the Wealthy Kills Jobs - WSJ.com
This column explains how the American economy should work.
Unfortunately, most elected officials see businesses as tax cows rather than job creators...
Unfortunately, most elected officials see businesses as tax cows rather than job creators...
Here's a bit of Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers recent Wall Street Journal column:
"The American dream is not politically affiliated. The last time it was alive and well was the period from Ronald Reagan's second term in office through Bill Clinton's second term in office. In those 16 years, we enjoyed continuous low taxes, low government spending and economic prosperity.
Since 2000, the economy has staggered under the record government spending and deficits of two presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The result of that spending spree has been lower real wages and higher and more-persistent unemployment. The Federal Reserve has pushed interest rates to near-zero, and, for the first time ever in the U.S., that Depression-era medicine has not worked—a scary situation reminiscent of Japan's decade-plus economic demise.
According to the latest 2012 IRS income-tax data, the top 1% of American taxpayers earned 20% of all income and paid 36% of all taxes. The top 5% earned 36% of all income and paid 58% of all taxes. Will even higher taxes help the economy? My experience in Silicon Valley tells me that high and so-called progressive taxes are a major cause of the country's current economic problems, not the solution."
Monday, September 02, 2013
2013-09-02 - Labor Day Observance
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.
It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country....
