taxmanblog

Biden Employs Indian Accent During NH Speech

2012-01-27T17:08:00.000-05:00

liberal thought processes

2012-01-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

Let's see, I can choose to approve a shovel ready pipeline that involves lots of jobs and no taxpayer subsidy or I can drop billions into "green" companies that generates no jobs..........

The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received more than $100 million in government funding from the Obama administration has filed for bankruptcy protection, the company announced Thursday.
Alex Sorokin, the CEO for lithium-ion battery manufacturer Ener1, said the company suffered when demand for the batteries dropped as fewer Americans than expected opted for electric cars.
"This was a difficult, but necessary, decision for our company," Sorokin said in a statement on its website. "We moved aggressively to reduce costs and shift focus when the marketplace did not evolve as quickly as anticipated. Our business plan was impacted when demand for lithium-ion batteries slowed due to lower-than-expected adoption for electric passenger vehicles."
EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1 dedicated to making batteries for electric cars, was awarded a $118 million grant from the Energy Department in 2009 as part of President Obama's economic stimulus package and green energy push. Ener1 said that the bankruptcy filing and newly announced company restructuring would allow its subsidiaries, including EnerDel, to "continue normal operation."

I think we get the picture.........again.

More.......

President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22...

2012-01-27T16:26:00.000-05:00

Would I go to the White House?

2012-01-27T13:39:00.004-05:00

In light of the Tim Thomas boycott of the White House celebration of the Bruins Stanley Cup, reader Tim asked me if I would go to the White House with my team during my track and field days.

My answer is hell yeah.

1) When I was in college, I was a hard core liberal..... I voted for Jesse Jackson in a primary for cryin' out loud. I would have loved Obama.

2) With my background, a roadie to the White House would have been a pretty big deal.

3) being liberal and all, I would have spent my time at the White House looking for something to steal.

In all seriousness, I would have gone because it would have been with my team. For me, my relationships with my teammates is closer than any group of people in my life, outside of family. I wouldn't have done anything to cause stir.

Now, let's say I won the US Open. I would have gone just so I could give the president the Jan Brewer treatment.

Subsidizing the rich/enabling dysfunction

2012-01-27T13:14:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, I met with a client who was telling me about some of the shaking things her employers want her to do (ie making out paychecks to girlfiends, etc.) in the midst of our conversation she was telling me that her daughter recently had a child out of wedlock.

Now she was all prepared to provide her daughter with an apartment (they own a bunch of rental property) until she got on her feet. While her daughter was in the hospital, she was informed that qualified for the WIC (women infant and children) program.

So she went to the county and the social worker down there signed her up for all kinds of freebies, food stamps, ADC, subsidized housing, a regular welfare box of chocolates. She even advised the daughter not to get a job because it would mean that she would lose some of these benefits.

Since she's getting all the freebies, she decided that she didn't need the parent's help after all.

What's the significance of all this?

My client has a suspicion that her daughter's baby daddy is a drug user/dealer and doesn't want the grandchild expose to the dirt bag. Obviously, without the daughter living in their property they have less control over the situation.

Now ask yourself the following questions,

1) Do you think baby daddy is going to get his act together and start providing for his progeny?

2) Do you think that the daughter is going to get the smelling salts and kick this dirt bag out of her life?

3) Do you think that without welfare, her family would be able to financially pick up the slack for the daughter's and grand daughter's care?

4) Give me the odds that the grand child of my client will grow up to be taxpaying/productive citizen?

Monday, I had a client who cancelled an appointment so she could attend the funeral of her ex-husband, a forty year old who died of a heroin overdose. He was living with a woman who had kids through multiple baby daddy's. She could fund their drug habit with money from the taxpayer.

Did it ever occur to any of these liberal do-gooders that all of the "help" they like to dole out does nothing but keep people mired in misery?

Here's the difference between conservatives and liberals. When conservatives see this shit and it pisses them off. When liberals see it..... actually I don't know what they're thinking. Maybe they're not thinking at all.

maddow clue

2012-01-27T13:06:00.000-05:00

There goes John Galt

2012-01-25T07:18:00.002-05:00

Rather than deal with the complexities of U.S. tax law, Americans living overseas are increasingly renouncing their citizenship in order to avoid paying their income taxes.

According to National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, approximately 4,000 people gave up their citizenship from fiscal year 2005 to FY 2010. Renunciations increased sharply within the past three years, from 146 in FY 2008 to 1,534 in FY 2010. And during the first two quarters of FY 2011 alone, 1,024 Americans ditched their citizenship.

We don't need no stinkin' rich people.

More.....

Forgetting that the term illegal means something

2012-01-23T06:51:00.002-05:00

Let's say you're one of these people who believe that every illegal immigrant is simply an "undocumented" citizen here to better their life.

Do we deport convicted felons?

Apparently, the answer for the Obamunists is no...........

When burglar Kesler Dufrene became a twice-convicted felon in 2006, a Bradenton judge shipped him to prison for five years. And because of his convictions, an immigration judge ordered Dufrene deported to his native Haiti.
That never happened.
Instead, when Dufrene’s state prison term was up, Miami immigration authorities in October 2010 released him from custody. Two months later, North Miami police say, he slaughtered three people, including a 15-year-old girl in a murder case that remains as baffling today as it did the afternoon the bodies were discovered.

DNA on a rifle found inside the house and cellphone tracking technology later linked Dufrene to the Jan. 2, 2011, slayings.
But North Miami detectives never got to interrogate him. Just 18 days after the murders, Dufrene shot and killed himself when he was cornered by Manatee County sheriff’s deputies in Bradenton after an unrelated break-in and shooting there.
The episode is a black eye for U.S. authorities, who by law could not detain Dufrene indefinitely after the Obama administration ordered a temporary halt of deportations to the island nation.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/22/2602909/immigration-authorities-released.html#storylink=cpy

Life in "Progress" City - NY edition

2012-01-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

That was the worst National Anthem in history

2012-01-22T19:06:00.003-05:00

Was it just me or was Steven Tyler's rendition of the National Anthem the worst vocal performance you ever heard?

He made Bob Dylan sound like Pavarotti.

But other than that it's a great idea

2012-01-22T18:59:00.002-05:00

Someone should tell the Obamunists that the Keystone pipeline is hauling oil from Canada to the gulf, not beer..............

President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn't often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and -- beyond the symbolism -- won't even advance the goals of the groups that demanded it. All it tells us is that Obama is so obsessed with his re-election that, through some sort of political calculus, he believes that placating his environmental supporters will improve his chances.
Aside from the political and public relations victory, environmentalists won't get much. Stopping the pipeline won't halt the development of tar sands, to which the Canadian government is committed; therefore, there will be little effect on global warming emissions. Indeed, Obama's decision might add to them. If Canada builds a pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific for export to Asia, moving all that oil across the ocean by tanker will create extra emissions. There will also be the risk of added spills.

Now consider how Obama's decision hurts the United States. For starters, it insults and antagonizes a strong ally; getting future Canadian cooperation on other issues will be harder. Next, it threatens a large source of relatively secure oil that, combined with new discoveries in the United States, could reduce (though not eliminate) our dependence on insecure foreign oil.

Finally, Obama's decision forgoes all the project's jobs. There's some dispute over the magnitude. Project sponsor TransCanada claims 20,000, split between construction (13,000) and manufacturing (7,000) of everything from pumps to control equipment. Apparently, this refers to "job years," meaning one job for one year. If so, the actual number of jobs would be about half that spread over two years. Whatever the figure, it's in the thousands and important in a country hungering for work. And Keystone XL is precisely the sort of infrastructure project that Obama claims to favor.

The big winners are the Chinese. They must be celebrating their good fortune and wondering how the crazy Americans could repudiate such a huge supply of nearby energy. There's no guarantee that tar-sands oil will go to China; pipelines to the Pacific would have to be built. But it creates the possibility when the oil's natural market is the United States.

More.......

Stuff Baristas Say

2012-01-22T18:44:00.000-05:00

Vincent Browne v The ECB

2012-01-22T18:39:00.000-05:00

Life in "Progress" State - Minnesota edition

2012-01-22T17:53:00.003-05:00

From the land of 10,000 lakes, where the Little Brown Jug has made more appearances in the state than a conservative politician..............

If you are a current or former state employee in the state of Minnesota, watch out. Your pension depends on hot air, sketchy arithmetic, and the willingness of future taxpayers to make huge sacrifices to cover the deceit, wishful thinking and sketchy math at the heart of your pension system.
According to a recent analysis in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune by Mark Haveman (Executive Director of the Minnesota Taxpayers’ Association), Minnesota’s pension plans, even after recent mandatory increases in employee contributions, are essentially hollow. Even using the state’s extremely aggressive ‘assumed’ rate of 8.5 percent annual return on its investments, the pension fund is about $10.5 billion short of being able to pay off its future obligations. For every $1 the state has promised to pay retired civil service workers and teachers, it expects to have about 79¢. The good fairies and the wood elves are responsible for coming up with the rest of the money.

You know what I looking for in our current slate of republican candidates? Someone who will challenge the media to expose the total lack of fiduciary responsibility by all things liberal. Are these guys afraid offending a liberal voter who wouldn't vote for a republican if you promised free green energy for a lifetime?

More......

More liberal dirty tricks

2012-01-22T17:45:00.002-05:00

When you can't win the argument.... pretend to be your opponent.

A Des Moines man has been arrested after police say he used, or tried to use, the identity of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz in a scheme to falsely implicate Schultz in perceived unethical behavior in office.

Zachary Edwards was arrested Friday and charged with identity theft.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a news release saying Schultz’s office discovered the scheme on June 24, 2011 and notified authorities.

So who is Edwards?

Edwards is a former Obama staffer who directed “new media operations” for Obama in five states during the 2008 primaries. Thereafter, he was Obama’s Director of New Media for the State of Iowa. In the Democratic Party’s lexicon, “new media” apparently includes identity theft.

Edwards now works for LINK Strategies, a Democratic consulting firm with extraordinarily close ties to Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin. Its principal, Jeff Link, has served as Harkin’s campaign manager and chief of staff. Link, too, is a former Obama staffer. The LINK Strategies web site says that Jeff Link “served as a media consultant to the Obama for President Campaign, coordinating branding, all paid media and polling in 25 states, including seven battleground states (VA, NC, FL, CO, NM, NV, MT)….”

But hey, can we get some more dirt from one of Gingrich's ex's.

Thanks reader Tim for the link.

More.....

Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

2012-01-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

From the state of Illinois, where it's easier to find gold than a conservative in state government..............

Though too few noticed, this month Moody's downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That's worse even than California. The state's cost of borrowing for $800 million of new 10-year general obligation bonds rose to 3.1%-which is 110 basis points higher than the 2% on top-rated 10-year bonds of more financially secure states.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Only a year ago, Governor Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats raised individual income taxes by 67% and the corporate tax rate by 46%. They did it to raise $7 billion in revenue, as the Governor put it, to "get Illinois back on fiscal sound footing" and improve the state's credit rating.

So much for that. In its downgrade statement, Moody's panned Illinois lawmakers for "a legislative session in which the state took no steps to implement lasting solutions to its severe pension underfunding or to its chronic bill payment delays." An analysis by Bloomberg finds that the assets in the pension fund will only cover "45% of projected liabilities, the least of any state." And-no surprise-in part because the tax increases have caused companies to leave Illinois, the state budget office confesses that as of this month the state still has $6.8 billion in unpaid bills and unaddressed obligations.

It's worth contrasting this grim picture with that of Wisconsin north of the border. Last winter Madison was occupied by thousands of union protesters trying to bully legislators to defeat Republican Governor Scott Walker's plan to require government workers to pay a larger share of their health-plan costs, and to shore up the pension system by trimming future retirement liabilities. The reforms passed anyway.

In contrast to the Illinois downgrade, Moody's has praised Mr. Walker's budget as "credit positive for Wisconsin," adding that the money-saving reforms bring "the state's finances closer to a structural budgetary balance." As a result, Wisconsin jumped in Chief Executive magazine's 2011 ranking of each state's business climate-moving to 17th from 41st. Illinois dropped to 48th from 45th as ranked by the nation's top CEOs.

How conservatives are screwed

2012-01-22T09:14:00.003-05:00

I was listening to a talk show the other day and the host was asking the question, are these last four guys remaining the best we can do?

The answer is yes.

If you are a conservative, you are bound to be disappointed.

Let's face it. If you are a true conservative, you don't believe that government works. So why would anyone pursue a job in an institution they don't believe in?

Conservatives are drawn to careers that matter (which by the way tends to make the most money). In a parallel to the old adage ............"Those who can do. Those who can't run a government".

So we're left with a group who have significant flaws.

If you've been wondering why I haven't posted in a few days it's because the coalition of Romney, Gingrich, Paul and Santorum = four more years of Obama. To say I've been depressed about the our future government would be an understatement.

So I'll try and get back in the fight and advancing the cause of conservatism even though we don't have the candidate who can do it.

The Blue-Green assault on workers

2012-01-22T09:03:00.002-05:00

I've said it a hundred times. I'm not a conservative for me. Our family is well positioned to weather any liberal assault on our economy.

I'm a conservative for the working stiff.

Since Obama has decided to kill the Keystone pipeline, ask yourself the question.

Who gets hurt more?

Is it the ExxonMobil, Shell or BP executives who will simply retrieve the oil we want from other sources or will it be the guys who could have worked on that pipeline.

Some labor leaders are finally getting the smelling salts............

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline.

LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project.

“We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement.

The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups and labor unions, confirmed LIUNA’s exit Friday afternoon.

“The BlueGreen Alliance regrets the decision of the Laborers' International Union of North America to leave our strategic partnership of labor and environmental organizations,” the group’s executive director, David Foster, said in a statement.

The move underscores the intense political divide among unions over the pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries along the Gulf Coast.

So let me ask the Obamunists who so oppose this pipeline.

Is it more environmentally friendly for the Canadians to sell and ship their oil to China while we buy and ship oil from the middle east to here?

Here's a dirty little secret the left doesn't want you to know. There's only one union that matters and that's the teachers union. All you others can go to hell.

More.....

Stuff Liberals Say

2012-01-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

More liberal hypocrisy

2012-01-13T13:55:00.001-05:00

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Remember the good old days

2012-01-13T13:42:00.002-05:00

Remember way back in time when the president was responsible for the actions of his troops.

Like when George Bush was responsible for all the failures at Abu-Ghraib.

If you need a reminder, you can check out all these youtube clips.

Let's set up an over/under spread on when the big three networks will link some marines pissing on some terrorists to Barack Obama. I'll set the number at 19 years, 5 months, 1 day.

Whose Side Are You On? The NAACP Sues Charter Schools

2012-01-12T16:42:00.000-05:00

Life in "Progress" Country - Greece edition

2012-01-12T08:33:00.003-05:00

From the land of Olive oil where you can't find a conservative with a Solyndra guaranteed loan bailout and free guns............

Children are being abandoned on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who cannot afford to look after them any more.
Youngsters are being dumped by their parents who are struggling to make ends meet in what is fast becoming the most tragic human consequence of the Euro crisis.
It comes as pharmacists revealed the country had almost run out of aspirin, as multi-billion euro austerity measures filter their way through society.

But hey at least you get to retire at 55.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085163/Children-dumped-streets-Greek-parents-afford-them.html#ixzz1jFbuoJj5

Breitbart Responds To Piers Morgan Incident

2012-01-12T08:19:00.000-05:00

Life in Obamaworld

2012-01-12T08:07:00.002-05:00

When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.
But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.
In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.
“It belies logic,” Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said.
Penalizing the fuel suppliers demonstrates what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide. In fact, while it may seem harsh that the Environmental Protection Agency is penalizing them for failing to do the impossible, the agency is being lenient by the standards of the law, the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.

Now ask yourself the question. Who ultimately pays these fines? Hint. It's not the owners. It's not going to be the suppliers.

It will be the consumer. Once again Obama gives you that payroll tax holiday so you can pay it back in oil company fines.

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link.

More...

Life in "Progress" City - Detroit edition

2012-01-12T08:04:00.002-05:00

From the motor city where you can't find a conservative in town with a Bain Capital IPO and a metal detector...........

The struggling U.S. city of Detroit is on track to run out of money in May instead of April after spending changes made by city officials, Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said on Tuesday.
Dillon addressed media following a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with a team that is looking at Detroit's financial picture and trying to assess whether the city needs an emergency manager to take over operations. It was the first time the 10-member team met since it was appointed last month.

He said Detroit's most urgent issue is figuring out how to arrest escalating retiree health care costs, and clean up a balance sheet laden in debt and interest costs. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing had earlier predicted it would run out of money in April if spending wasn't curbed.

"It's my understanding that April has been pushed back to May," Dillon said, noting that the mayor "needs concessions from labor to avoid running short of cash."

Yeah, good luck with that............

Thanks reader Becky for the link

More.....

David Brooks, Resident Idiot

2012-01-06T11:19:00.004-05:00

This is what happens when you determine that a guy should be president because he has a great crease in his pants.

Center-right New York Times columnist David Brooks opined a few months ago that President Obama, whom he once supported, was governing like a liberal.

Today, Brooks doubled down, telling Laura Ingraham this morning that Obama is not only governing that way, he is that way — or at least more that way than Brooks once thought.

"I still like him and admire him personally, but he’s certainly more liberal than I thought he was,” Brooks said.

“He's more liberal than he thinks he is. He thinks he’s just slightly center-left, but when you get down to his instincts, they’re pretty left. And his problem is that he can’t really act on them, because it would be political disaster. And so that means, I think right now he’s doing very little, proposing very little."

Funny how all of parochial gun toting neanderthals in middle America seem to know this before the intelligentsia.......

More.....

Who will she vote for?

2012-01-05T07:31:00.000-05:00

So in the 2012 election will she vote for more Hope and Change or the republican?

Must read

2012-01-02T10:29:00.003-05:00

This is dated but if you haven't read the whole thing, you need to read this article by Kevin Williamson.

For a few measly millions, Wall Street not only bought itself a president, but got the start-up firm of B. H. Obama & Co. LLC to throw a cabinet into the deal, too — on remarkably generous terms. President Obama, for a guy prone to delivering prim and smug little homilies denouncing greed, greed, greed — the only of the seven deadly sins that truly offends Democrats (though Mrs. Obama has done some desultory work on gluttony) — is strangely comfortable among the Gordon Gekkos of this world. Shall we have a partial roll call? Beat the drum slowly and call out the names: With unemployment still topping 9 percent, the catastatic world economy teetering on the brink of another, even larger financial catastrophe, and trillion-dollar U.S. deficits as far as the green-shaded eye can see, let’s hear it for Obama’s first National Economic Council director, Lawrence Summers (of hedge-fund giant D. E. Shaw and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz), who has had some nice paydays courtesy of Lehman Bros., JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup. Let’s hear it for Citigroup’s Michael Froman, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national-security adviser for international economic affairs, for Hartford Financial’s Neal Wolin, deputy Treasury secretary, for JPMorgan’s William Daley, Obama’s chief of staff, and for his predecessor, Rahm Emanuel of Wasserstein Perella. Let’s hear it for Fannie Mae’s Tom Donilon, national-security adviser. (No, seriously: One of the luminous interstellar geniuses who brought Fannie Mae to its current aphotic state of affairs, upside down to the tune of trillions of dollars, is running national security, and the former director of the White House Military Office, Louis Caldera, was on the board of IndyMac when it finally went toes up — sleep tight, America!) And, lest we forget, let’s have three big, sloppy cheers for economic-transition team leaders Robert Rubin (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup) and folksy tax enthusiast/ghoulish billionaire vulture Warren Buffett.
That’s a pretty fantastic lineup, from Wall Street’s point of view, but the real bonus turned out to be Treasury secretary Tim Geithner, who came up through the ranks as part of the bipartisan Robert Rubin–Hank Paulson–Citigroup–Goldman Sachs cabal. Geithner, a government-and-academe man from way back, never really worked on Wall Street, though he once was offered a gig as CEO of Citigroup, which apparently thought he did an outstanding job as chairman of the New York Fed, where one of his main tasks was regulating Citigroup — until it collapsed into the yawning suckhole of its own cavernous ineptitude, at which point Geithner’s main job became shoveling tens of billions of federal dollars into Citigroup, in an ingeniously structured investment that allowed the government to buy a 27 percent share in the bank, for which it paid more than the entire market value of the bank. If you can’t figure out why you’d pay 100-plus percent of a bank’s value for 27 percent of it, then you just don’t understand high finance or high politics.

Are your national news media types so ingrained with liberal orthodoxy that they just can't even conceive of the notion that it's really the democrats who are the party of Wall Street and big dollar interests who love a government who will protect their turf from intruders?

It baffles the imagination.

Moving jobs to Mexico Act of 2012

2012-01-02T10:21:00.002-05:00

As if you needed another reason to move your production facility overseas...........

Employers are facing more uncertainty in the wake of a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warning them that requiring a high school diploma from a job applicant might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.
The “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC said an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.” The letter was posted on the commission’s website on Dec. 2.
Employers could run afoul of the ADA if their requirement of a high school diploma “‘screens out’ an individual who is unable to graduate because of a learning disability that meets the ADA’s definition of ‘disability,’” the EEOC explained.

Who needs the aggravation?

More......

Welcome to Obamaville

2012-01-02T09:46:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I went to a pizza shop to get my monthly pizza cheat on and I ran across this sign at the fish market next to the pizza joint.

Seriously, the local fish market accepts EBT cards. I guess if you are a liberal, you probably think I'm a cold harded SOB trying to deny poor people their daily salmon. But I don't shop at this place because it's way over priced and their selection isn't much better than your local Kroger's store.

Besides, if you have the capability to head out to your local fish market (by the way, the local butcher is right next door and they accept the EBT as well) for over priced tuna or crab, you're not f$%king poor enough to need an EBT card.

Happy New Year.

Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit - Available at BSRemoval.com - feat. Br...

2012-01-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

Occupiers kicked out of Iowa coffee shop

2012-01-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

FOX News Mocks Criminal #OWS Movement in 2011 Recap

2012-01-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

No fraud here

2011-12-28T11:05:00.003-05:00

So Eric Holder wants to gut voter ID laws because they are discriminatory. Nevermind that it's seems racist to me to assume that African Americans can't perform the most perfunctory of citizen activities. But the claim that these laws are not needed because there's no evidence of wide spread fraud are hilarious.

This week we have New York............

A total of four Democratic officials and political operatives have now pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal a New York election.

The latest guilty pleas expose the ease with which political insiders can apparently manipulate the electoral system and throw an election their way, by the forging of signatures of unsuspecting voters that are then cast as real votes.

"The phrase they use is: 'making sure they vote the right way,'" said a source close to the case, which is unfolding in Troy, N.Y. "It is not a Democratic or Republican thing. ... It is criminal."

Former Troy Democratic City Clerk William McInerney, Democratic Councilman John Brown, and Democratic political operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio have entered guilty pleas in the case, in which numerous signatures were allegedly forged on absentee ballots in the 2009 Working Families Party primary, the political party that was associated with the now-defunct community group, ACORN.

Tea Party Takeover

2011-12-28T11:02:00.002-05:00

If you want to know what a Tea Party America might look like, there is no place like Kansas.
In the past year, three state agencies have been abolished and 2,050 jobs have been cut. Funding for schools, social services and the arts have been slashed. The new Republican governor rejected a $31.5 million federal grant for a new health-insurance exchange because he opposes President Obama’s health-care law. And that’s just the small stuff.
A new “Office of the Repealer” has been created to reduce the number of laws and regulations, and the Repealer is canvassing the state for more cut suggestions.
In the upcoming legislative session, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) plans to roll out proposals to change the way schools are funded, taxes are levied and state pensions are administered.
A year after voters vaulted hundreds of tea party candidates to power in Washington and in state capitals, the movement’s goals are being pursued aggressively in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas.
But in Kansas, as nowhere else in the country, tea party fervor is reshaping government. The same political forces of the Republican Party driving the confrontation over taxes and spending in Washington are now completely in charge in Kansas.

Here's a question for those who are skeptical of tea party influence. Let's say that Kansas stays on this track, will the average standard of living improve or decline in the next 5-10-15 years?

More....

Blue state exodus

2011-12-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

Will the last person leaving, turn out the lights............

Democratic reaction to the news that Waste Connections, a $3.6-billion company and major Sacramento-area employer, is headed to Houston to seek a friendlier business climate tells other businesses all they need to know about the attitudes of those who run California's government.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, gave these clueless and snarky remarks in response to the news: "In this instance you have a company that is, in fact, profitable, making significant revenue gains in 2011 and 2010. That doesn't speak to a bad business climate here in California when a good company is able to thrive in that way. So whatever Mr. Middelstaedt's (company CEO) reasons are to leave the great state of California, I know I'm pushing back."

Is it really the Senate president's role to determine the proper profit margin for a privately owned company? Talk about arrogance.

"The decision by Waste Connections to relocate, despite the 17 percent revenue increase and the $18 million cost to move to Texas, illustrates that businesses will endure short-term costs to ensure long-term prosperity," wrote state Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, in response to Steinberg's message. Walters quotes business-relocation expert Joe Vranich of Irvine, who notes that businesses typically save 40 percent in costs by leaving California because of lower taxes and more manageable regulations found elsewhere.

If California wants to improve its business climate and reduce its double-digit unemployment rate, its officials need to understand what companies such as Waste Connections are saying, rather than simply dismiss their concerns.

More......

But hey, Let's not pick on California alone, how about Illinois, the land of liberal milk and honey........

On December 12, Illinois House approved CME-CBOE, Sears tax deal. Indeed, most of the above companies negotiated huge tax breaks and will stay in Illinois at least for a while.

Small companies with no clout and no leverage as well as taxpayers in general are the ones paying the price for the seriously misguided policies of Democratic Governors Pat Quinn, and Jerry Brown.

The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.

How to win an argument with a liberal?

2011-12-27T14:18:00.002-05:00

Salon Magazine has an article on how to argue with a conservative relative during the holidays.

It's classic liberal drivel. There's no arguing the facts but twisting the subject matter.

I rarely get into many political arguments anymore. Why? Because I simply demand from the liberal at hand to tell me how life in Detroit (a city that is 92% democratic) is better under any objective quality? Schools, Crime, Unemployment, Poverty, Homelessness, Cost of Living, etc.?

Inevitably, the liberal at hand will either a) tell me there's other socioeconomic factors at hand (which tells me that they're a racist) or b) Try to hint that I'm a racist because Detroit has such a large black population.

So I hit them with California the liberal utopia if there ever was one.

And then I hit them with Europe where Europeans will be using their currency for toilet paper.

That usually shuts up said liberal but they still won't give up their beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The fact remains that everywhere there is liberalism, there is a cesspool of humanity. Take any school district, city, township, state, country, continent where liberalism dominates and I'll show you an armpit.

So if you're liberal, give me example of where I'm wrong!

Dropping the conventional wisdom

2011-12-27T13:58:00.003-05:00

One of the reasons I started this blog is the hope that somewhere someone might read and "get" how it is that liberalism does not, cannot, will not and has never worked in any society it's ever been tried in.

For the past several weeks, it's become more and more clear that we have a huge population that will never "get it". Which has really zapped my resolve with the blog.

What do I mean by "getting it"? Part of it starts with a media who's willing to drop the canard that the republican party is tool of the rich. Seriously, where's the evidence of this when you have Jon Corzine "losing" a billion or two in his company and Nancy Pelosi, who can somehow find enough dimes in her couch cushions to fund this...........

News that President Barack Obama arrived in Hawaii this weekend to join his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha in time for a Christmas holiday has been covered by news media worldwide.

The first family and their friends have been enjoying a reclusive 17-day holiday vacation in beach front homes in Kailua, Oahu.

But another powerful politician is here for the holidays as well, albeit on another island and with less media attention.

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, who served as Speaker of the House and is now head of the House minority, is once again spending her Christmas at the exotic Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka'upulehu in Kona on the island of Hawaii.

Pelosi reportedly plans to spend her Christmas Eve at midnight mass in St. Michael's Catholic Church in Kailua-Kona.

Pelosi spent the last two Christmas holidays in Kona at the same hotel in an elaborate suite that rents for $10,000 a night.

Seriously?

Why isn't the media all over the hypocrisy of this?

More....

Who did she vote for? #102

2011-12-27T13:53:00.003-05:00

Meet Jaquetta Simmons. Why is Ms. Simmons in the news?

A woman punched a 70-year-old Walmart greeter in the face after she asked to see a receipt for merchandise the woman was carrying out of the store.

Jacquetta Simmons, 26, was charged with two counts of assault for the attack that knocked 70-year-old Grace Suozzi to the ground causing the elderly woman to fracture the side of her face.

Simmons and her male companion ran out of the store in Batavia, New York after the confrontation at 11:30am on Christmas Eve.

So in 2008 did the above voter support Hope and Change or Four more years of Bush?

Who did he vote for? #101

2011-12-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

So in 2008, did this guy drop the chain on McCain or Obama?

Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Three Years Under Obama

2011-12-26T19:31:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:55:00.001-05:00

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Another clueless democrat

2011-12-22T19:49:00.001-05:00

Life in "Progress" City

2011-12-20T11:39:00.000-05:00

Out here in "Redville" we have these concepts called "driiiiiveways". Try it sometime.

Some of us are more equal than others

2011-12-20T11:22:00.003-05:00

Full disclosure, I have a relative who worked for MF Global. Hopefully, I'll get to share some of his information one day.

By the way, in case you did not know this, Jon Corzine operated a securities firm without the proper licensing (his expired without a renewal). DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF. Unless you are connected.

Reminder

2011-12-20T11:17:00.002-05:00

It's been 780 days since the first of two federal raids on Gibson Guitars (where they confiscated millions of dollars of inventory) that have yet to yield a charge.

Call me cynical but I think it shouldn't take the government two years to either charge someone with a crime or return their property.

Calling BS

2011-12-20T11:03:00.002-05:00

When is someone going to call out the first family for a carbon footprint that would make Sasquatch jealous?

First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, spent the night in Kailua, Oahu, on Saturday.
President Barack Obama has not yet arrived for the family's 17-day holiday vacation in a beachfront home.

Friends of the Obamas are expected to arrive Sunday, December 18 and Monday, December 19, and stay nearby in several homes along the exclusive Kailuana Place.

This is the fourth year in a row that the first family has spent the holidays in Kailua.

Seriously, It's not like these folks a working a Leer over to the islands, it's a giant ass 747 with all the amenities. And they couldn't wait a day or too to carpool.

And these are the people who want to lecture me for wanting incandescent light bulbs for my dimmer fixtures.

More......

Why internet shopping is becoming more popular

2011-12-20T10:46:00.004-05:00

Last week, after one of my seminars, I rolled into a Dick's Sporting Goods to pick up some ammo and Christmas gifts.

When I went to the counter, the clerk asked if I wanted to help children by donating $1, $5, or $10 to UNICEF.

I wanted to go into a rant about the communist leanings of UNICEF but instead I just told her "No. I don't want to help kids, I hate kids."

Given my purchase of ammunition, I surprised I wasn't arrested for some youth intimidation.

None the less, it highlights part of my distaste with shopping..... Getting hit up for a hand out.

Now, I'm good with a Salvation Army kettle because I'm used to it and I generally throw a few bucks in now and then. But it seems that every store I go into now has some Girl Scout, Boy Scout, or some other charity hitting me up for some more money.

But now we have store clerks hitting you up and it's not just commercial stores, it's license bureaus and the like.

Look, if Dick's Sporting Goods wants to take part of their profits and pass them along to UNICEF, go for it. Knock yourself out. But you know, I can avoid all this crap by simply buying online. Which I'm doing more of because of all the dingleberries of shopping in person and this is one of those annoyances.

Until then, if I want to give to UNICEF then I'll actually cut a check.

Follow up

You can't even go to a strip club without being hit up for a lap dance for charity.

I'm the fourth best president in American history ~ Barack Obama

2011-12-20T08:22:00.000-05:00

Libtalker / Former CNN Host Bill Press- 'S-T-F-U Tim Tebow!'

2011-12-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

Occu-Mom Places 4 Year-Old Daughter on Train Tracks.wmv

2011-12-14T20:38:00.000-05:00

Charlie Brown Teacher Speaking

2011-12-14T09:03:00.000-05:00

I'm in the middle of a weeks long tax conference(s). The only thing different between me and Peppermint Patty is the stylish clothing (her's not mine).

Why Obama's Stimulus Failed: A Case Study of Silver Spring, Maryland

2011-12-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

Stuff libertals run - Universities

2011-12-12T08:10:00.004-05:00

Check out the graph above.

Now maybe someone in the liberal ranks can explain to me how it is that ever since the feds started expanding student loans and Pell grants, education became less and less affordable.

Article here..........

BTW. I hate to be one of "those guys". The guys who resist change because it's change. But after simply upgrading to the new blogger, I lost all the stuff on the side panels and I find the new blogger horrible. I still can't find the font change for the post text. It sucks. So I went back to the old format until I'm forced to use the new one.

I'll try and get together ASAP.

17 Miles in Just 78 Minutes! Light Rail vs. Reality in LA

2011-12-11T19:40:00.000-05:00

Thanks reader tim for the link

Cancel the game

2011-12-11T19:08:00.000-05:00

If you watched the UC XU game yesterday, you got to see a good fight on the court as the game was ending.

I've been a little perturbed that most media types and commentators have somehow placed all of this on UC, particularly, Yancey Gates, who's main sin was apparently being the only one to land a punch.

It's too bad Gates has more heart in a fight than his game.

Of course, I'm a biased UC fan but let's go through the progressions of this.

It was an UX player that initiated any of the physical altercations when he pushed the UC player who he was not guarding.

Watch the press conference with Lyon and Holloway. Do these two clowns represent the "clean image" XU purports to have. These guys are thugs. Holloway got a technical in last year's game as a result of all his trash talking.

What isn't in the video is that after all the melee calmed down, the XU guys came back out on to the court to get into with the remaining UC fans. Kenny Frease started taunting a bunch of female fans and started heading to the stands. I guess if one of them had punch him he would have crawled back to the locker room.

As a UC fan, it gets tiring to hear the conventional wisdom that our teams are packs of thugs and the XU guys are characterized as good citizens. It's not UC who let their self proclaimed "gangstas" to talk to the media and talk about putting the opposition in bodybags.

I think UC should just cancel the damn game for good and be done with the whole thing.

Life in "Progress" City - Chicago edition

2011-12-09T14:59:00.001-05:00

From the Windy city

Federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation into how nearly a dozen union officials became eligible for inflated city pensions, according to subpoenas obtained by the Tribune and WGN-TV through an open-records request.

The Chicago municipal employees and laborers pension funds each received subpoenas from a federal grand jury in October seeking "records pursuant to an official criminal investigation." The request seeks documentation on 11 labor leaders who appeared in reports from a joint Tribune/WGN-TV investigation.

The reports focused on a 1991 law that allowed union leaders who once worked for the city to receive credit in public pension plans for their private union work. When they retire, the union officials' pensions aren't based on their old city paychecks but on their much higher union salaries.

That opened the door for them to land public pensions that far exceeded their pay as city employees — even as they continued to earn lucrative salaries from their unions.

More.....

Holder and Chaffetz Fight Over Fast And Furious

2011-12-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

Laws... we don't need no stinkin' laws

2011-12-09T14:42:00.001-05:00

For democrats what this means is that if it's good enough for you, I don't have to follow it.

Seriously, how in the hell does Jon Corzine run a securities firm without a license?

We know that other FINRA staffers altered evidentiary documents regarding broker misconduct prior to forwarding cases to the SEC for action.

Now, we learn that FINRA failed to require Jon Corzine to re-qualify for certain securities licenses that were required of the head of a securities broker-dealer. It appears that as much as $1.2 billion of customer assets are missing. One could argue that Bernie Madoff was current with all of his licenses. And, that would be correct.

Now ask yourself this question. Imagine Joe the Plumber starting a securities firm in the Toledo area without a securities license.

How much trouble would he be in?

More.....

What is the meaning of "is"

2011-12-09T10:41:00.001-05:00

Probably a good question for Eric Holder...........

When Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and Attorney General Eric Holder had a sharp back-and-forth on whether or not officials in the Department of Justice lied to Congress. The questioning was during Thursday morning’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Operation Fast and Furious.

“First let me make something very clear, in response to an assertion you made, or hinted at: Nobody in the Justice Department has lied,” Holder said in response to accusations that he or his confidantes lied to Congress.

“Nobody has lied.”

“Then why was the letter withdrawn?,” Sensenbrenner retorted, referring to a factually inaccurate letter one of Holder’s deputies, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, sent to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on February 4. In that letter, Weich claimed that guns were never allowed to walk.

Holder and one of his other deputies, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer have both admitted that statement was false in recent Senate hearings.

“The letter was withdrawn because there was information in there that was inaccurate,” Holder replied to Sensenbrenner’s question.

Still unsatisfied, Sensenbrenner followed up again. “Tell me what the difference is between lying and misleading Congress in this context?,” he asked Holder.

Holder responded that whether a statement is a lie or misleading comment depends on what the person making it is thinking at the time.

More.....

Why we should consider a per mile road tax...NOT

2011-12-09T09:59:00.001-05:00

Based on recent history and what's likely to happen to the nation's infrastructure, it's an inescapable conclusion:

We will need new and different sources of funding if we are to have the type of transportation system that is needed to support economic prosperity.

For the past 75 years, the U.S. road network has provided the foundation for much of the nation's economic development. This network has not come without a cost; estimates are that the replacement value of the nation's roads is $1.3 trillion.

The bulk of the revenue to build the world's most extensive road network has come from motor vehicle fuel taxes, first used by Oregon in 1918 and culminating in a 1956 federal motor fuel tax to construct the national highway network, including the Interstate highway system.

But big challenges loom. The U.S. population is expected to grow through 2100 and the economy likely will be strongly tied to the movement of people and goods. The need for added capacity to the nation's transportation system is great.

When one adds the hundreds of billions of dollars that will be needed to reconstruct and rehabilitate existing infrastructure, the demand for transportation funding will be perhaps even greater than ever.

Why am I so adamant against increasing taxes. Because there is not one governmental unit in the history of the world who has properly prioritized its spending.

We currently pay for our roads through a fuel tax. The more you drive the more you pay. It seems totally fair to me. It would have been more than enough to cover the expenses for all our roads and bridges but our DOT decided that there were bigger priorities. And every time you drive on a freeway you get to see this............

The worst part of these walls is that they are less effective (and less green) than the plants and trees that used to be there.

So when you quit blowing taxpayer money on these road boondoggles, come back to me with your hand out.

More.........

Blue State exodus

2011-12-09T09:41:00.001-05:00

If you were to believe the conventional wisdom constantly espoused by the media, you would believe that the suburbs and the south were populated by droves of white racists; practically klansmen without the robes.

But how is it that affluent blacks are leaving the cities for these racist enclaves and there isn't even a cross burning to celebrate?

Affluent African-Americans are leaving industrial cities for the suburbs and the South shifting traditional lines between rich and poor, according to new study.

Their migration is widening the income gap between whites and the inner-city black population who remain behind, while making African-Americans less united as a group and subject to greater income disparities.

Roderick Harrison, a Howard University sociologist and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, said: 'Reverse migration is changing the South and its race relations.'

He said a rising black middle class is promoting a growing belief among some black conservatives that problems of the disadvantaged are now rooted more in character or cultural problems, rather than race.

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's what conservatives have been preaching for decades."Promoting a growing belief"? Maybe Dr Harrison can explain how it is that for all the racism in this country, how is it that many blacks can achieve and be successful and feel totally comfortable moving into primarily white, conservative areas and these people don't care.
What's most hilarious about liberals is their unflinching belief that they are so much smarter than any conservative. Yet the concept above seems so foreign to them. Exactly how smart is that?
Consider this. In the past 40 years, the south has become populated with relocated northerners, has become more conservative and decidedly less racist.
Maybe that says more about democrats than conservatives.Read more:

Energy For America: Dr. Steven Hayward explains path to North America's...

2011-12-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

Honey Badgers care

2011-12-07T11:46:00.001-05:00

I've always cracked up at your PETA and atheist enthusiasts who want to equate people with animals (rat = bear = boy).

It's always occurred to me that people are the only species of animals who cares about a damned thing.

That is until I read this.........

Researchers from the World Wildlife Federation in conjunction with the United Nations wildlife task force have come to the conclusion that the honey badger, in fact, does care.

“Honey badger has developed an unfair reputation in recent years,” said researcher Dr. Kevin Obswam. “There is no doubt that he is fearless as he goes after prey. There is no doubt that he can often be reckless as he navigates his way through the wild. But we want the world to know that at the end of the day, Honey badger do care.”

Extensive testing was done on honey badger to gauge the degree to which he cares. Electronic probes were put in place to monitor honey badger’s reactions to various stimuli. Scientists discovered that the receptors that initiate and control the emotion of caring in honey badger were no less evolved than that of most other mammals. “We found that honey badger’s senses of sympathy and empathy were rather evolved,” said Dr. Obswam. “In fact, we found that honey badger needed to be sedated, because he cared a little bit too much about having the probes attached to his head. Mauled three of our vet techs pretty good.”

Researchers discovered that honey badger cares most about friends and family, and cares deeply about making sure that they celebrate the holidays together. Honey badger also cares about global warming, man’s inhumanity to man, BCS football rankings, gluten free cooking, and sunrises. Honey badger has also been known to cry like a little girl while watching Terms of Endearment.

From Derf Magazine

Jimmy's 1993 ESPY Speech

2011-12-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight's the Jimmy V classic on the sports monstership. watching those games always reminds me of this speech.

2011-12-06T09:09:00.001-05:00

I will own that I don't fully understand the short or long term impacts of devaluing a currency on an economy. But if I had to guess, I'm betting on it not being a good thing when a finite group of people decide on manipulating a free market discipline.

This thought from MJ Perry gives more clarity to the issue...........

"Let me break from [the] consensus about China's currency policy and present an alternative position: In the best of all possible worlds for the United States, China would use its labor and capital to manufacture consumer products like clothing, footwear, furniture, electronics, and appliances and send $300 billion worth of these products to U.S. consumers for free every year as a gift or a form of foreign aid to the American people. In addition, the Chinese would produce and send to America another $100 billion worth of raw materials, parts, industrial supplies, inputs, and natural resources at no charge, as a gift to American manufacturers every year. (Note: That's roughly the amount of goods we will purchase from China this year.) . . .

Unfortunately, that extreme Chinese generosity is not realistic, so here's a possible second-best outcome: . . . [China] agrees to send us $500 billion worth of consumer and industrial goods every year, but agrees to sell us those manufactured goods at a substantial 20 percent discount for only $400 billion. In that case, the amount of foreign aid will be less than the $400 billion in the first example, but will still be significant—a $100 billion gift every year from the Chinese people to the American people.

How will China generate this $100 billion in annual foreign aid to the United States? One way is to keep its currency undervalued to bring about the 20 percent discount on its products coming to America.

Which then raises the question: If China is willing to undervalue its currency, and in the process provide approximately $100 billion of foreign aid annually to American consumers and businesses, what's the problem? Why should we complain?"

Read his blog here..........

When being poor isn't

2011-12-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

A Seattle woman who is receiving welfare assistance from Washington state also happens to live in a waterfront house on Lake Washington worth more than a million dollars.

Federal agents raided the home this weekend but have not released the woman or her husband's name because they have not officially been charged with a crime.

However, federal documents obtained by KING 5 News show the couple currently receives more than $1,200 a month in public housing vouchers, plus state and government disability checks and food stamps. They have been receiving the benefits since 2003.

The 2,500 square-foot home, which includes gardens and a boat dock, is valued at $1.2 million. And even though the couple has been receiving the benefits for nearly 10 years, records show that they accurately listed the address of their current home when applying for the state and federal benefits.

Paraphrasing an Ohio liberal blogger "just because someone has a boat dock doesn't mean they're not poor".

More.........

What's 400 million between friends

2011-12-05T12:34:00.001-05:00

Just because Ohio doesn't have a good business climate doesn't mean they don't have money to throw around for more bad companies........

Ohio has pitched $400 million in incentives to lure Sears' corporate headquarters away from Illinois, far more than Illinois was preparing to offer to keep the retailer in suburban Chicago, a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn told an Ohio newspaper.

Quinn said Thursday he is not willing to get into a bidding war with Ohio to keep Sears Holdings Corp. from leaving the state, saying a tax package that Senate lawmakers passed earlier this week "is more than adequate" to keep the company from rolling up the carpet.
Article

2011-12-05T12:29:00.001-05:00

Good news for the Obamunists..........

President Obama, with his electoral fate tied to the economy, must be pleased with the momentum he’s getting.

Just months ago, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded and Democrats worried Obama was following in the footsteps of one-term President Jimmy Carter. Maybe he will, but reports in the last week suggest manufacturing and construction are humming, and Thanksgiving saw record-setting shopping by consumers.

The icing on the cake? A jobs report Friday shaved nearly half a point off the unemployment rate. The 8.6 percent rate was down from 9 percent in October and is the lowest unemployment has stood in two and a half years.

Nevermind that the unemployment rate job primarily as a result of discouraged workers, workers who have just quit looking for a job.

So if Obama can only get another million or so workers get on with being a "lazy Americans" and quit looking for a job, he'll be looking fine...........

More......

An Incorrigible Way of Counting Unemployment

2011-12-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

How to lose weight the easy way

2011-12-03T13:57:00.000-05:00

Watch this video before every meal. If it doesn't make you nauseated, you probably need to opt for liposuction

2011-11-30T14:37:00.001-05:00

About ten years ago, I was in municipal court for a speeding ticket (52 in a 35). As I sat there were at least 20 DUI's being prosecuted that night. About five of them were illegal immigrants who needed interpreters to understand the proceedings.

I couldn't believe my ears as the magistrate just went from one to another and said $500.00 three days in jail plus court costs ($110.00). It didn't matter if you blew a .04 parked in your driveway or if you blew a .29 parked in someone's bedroom, it was clear to me that it had less to do with getting drunk drivers off the streets and more about keeping that cash register humming........

Of course by even mentioning it, I will be perceived by some as soft on drunk drivers. Which is how law enforcement extracts it's money from the public.............

Drunk driving enforcement in this country has become a racket. It’s not about safety, it’s about money. Actually, the drive over the past two decades to lower the legal limit of alcohol for drivers has likely made traffic less safe. It has undoubtedly, though, put millions of dollars into the coffers of various jurisdictions via fines and vehicle confiscation. Additional millions have lined the pockets of police officers via overtime pay to appear in court and to man sobriety checkpoints.

The cynic in me says that as long as police officers and municipalities see drinking drivers as cash cows and hide behind the fig leaf of “traffic safety”, arbitrary standards based on BAC will continue even though they may be counterproductive. In fact, after there was a national push by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to lower the legal BAC limits nationally from 0.10% to 0.08%, backed up by federal pressure on states, alcohol-related traffic fatalities went up in 2000, after 20 straight years of going down. That increase shouldn’t have been surprising. The push for a de facto national limit of 0.08% came after a 1995 NHTSA study already showed that some states that lowered the BAC limits were less safe than before. Those lower limits may have meant a windfall of revenue to jurisdictions and individual police officers, but they didn’t necessarily make us any safer. They may have led to more booze related driving injuries and deaths.

How do lower BAC limits mean more alcohol related accidents? Because those lower BAC limits in most cases led to the institution of sobriety check lanes, legal in all but 9 states. Assuming that the purpose of those checkpoints is genuinely to catch drinking drivers and not just put money into municipal coffers and cops’ pockets, I think it stands to reason that the rationale is to catch those drinking drivers that conventional on the road enforcement wasn’t catching. The idea, I suppose, was that if you check every driver, you’ll find the ones who have been drinking but aren’t impaired enough to catch attention from police or other drivers. In other words, the purpose of the check lanes is to catch drivers who aren’t driving dangerously, except for the fact that they have a particular amount of alcohol in their system.

Read the rest..........

Adam Carolla explains the OWS Generation

2011-11-30T14:27:00.000-05:00

Who did she vote for?

2011-11-30T10:46:00.001-05:00

Meet Arlene Ackerman. Why is Dr. Ackerman in the news?

Former Philadelphia schools superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who was given a nearly $1-million buyout earlier this year, has applied for unemployment.

School District spokesman Fernando Gallard today confirmed that Ackerman wants to collect state unemployment benefits.

“The former superintendent did apply for unemployment,” Gallard told KYW Newsradio today.
This comes after taxpayers funded a $905,000 buyout when she was shown the door in August (see related story).

As part of her separation agreement, the School Reform Commission agreed not to contest any unemployment claims she might file.

So in 2008, did the good Dr. vote for Obama or McCain?

From The Desk Of Donald Trump: Inconsiderate Obama

2011-11-30T10:41:00.000-05:00

Issue 2 aftermath

2011-11-29T20:04:00.001-05:00

For the past three months, voters in Ohio were bombarded with commercials from the unions saying that if Issue 2 passed it would result in fire fighters and police layoffs.

Well Issue 2 went down but yet somehow police and fire layoffs are coming anyway.............

The Middletown City Council voted 3-4 to eliminate nine Middletown firefighter positions as part of the 2012 budget.

Local 336 says it will continue to find a solution to prevent cuts and reach out to city officials.

Wow, if the city would have been able to save money by having these guys pay for more of their benefits maybe they would have enough money to save a cop or two..........

Governor Christie: What the hell are we paying you for?

2011-11-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

PETA - People Eating Tasty Animals

2011-11-28T09:35:00.001-05:00

How do I get a reservation?

Something about Tim

2011-11-28T08:21:00.001-05:00

I try to not watch the NFL. Any business model that can line the pockets of a douchebag like Mike Brown doesn't need my support.

None the less, I am an avid sports fan and I do listen to talk radio when the topic isn't exclusively pro sports.

With that said, what the hell is it about Tim Tebow?

I couldn't tell you the names of quarterbacks in San Francisco, Seattle, Jacksonville, Tampa, etc. yet I know every thing about Tim Tebow outside of a rectal exam.

What's most unnerving is the negative, almost mocking coverage of this guy. For the past few weeks I've heard Merrill Hoge, Colin Cowherd, Mike and Mike, etc. flat out make fun of this guy as some sort of freak show disguised as an NFL quarterback. And all he's done is win games for his team.

But it really goes beyond the sports talking heads of ESPN. People who have little, if any, knowledge of sports have to ridicule this guy. Bill Maher, Matt Taibbi, and, for all I know, Joy Behar mock this guy. Why?

I've come to the conclusion that it's because he's an outspoken Christian. Seriously, do you think any of these people would spend one moment trying to drag this guy down if he were your garden variety NFL thug?

When I was involved in a number of Bible study groups, many would speak figuratively of "evil winds" that were always whirling and circling looking for opportunities to bring down the devout. The Screwtape Letters is an excellent book describing how Satan uses opportunity to bring people down. For some reason, I've always tended to minimize the impact of evil in the world. It's always felt like a way to minimize our own failures to temptation.

But when you see all these media types praying to their non existent god that Tim Tebow be cast into their non existent hell along with Sarah Palin, it really starts to make you a believer.

So you keep going Tim, win more games. I will always be a huge fan of anyone who pisses off Bill Maher.

Getting back in shape sucks

2011-11-27T09:36:00.001-05:00

For the past couple of months, my blog posts have been few and far between.

There's a couple of reasons for that but the first has been my fitness commitment to get myself back in shape.

Since April 15th, I've lost 50 lbs and after some of my workouts, all I can think of doing is going to bed.

My workout regimen culminated with a Thanksgiving day 10k run.

Here's my result if you are interested.

As I was running Thursday morning, it dawned on me that there's some fairly clear barometers that tell you that you're not quite in the shape you want to be.

1) When a guy in a turkey suit passes you.
2) When a bunch of 70 year old shriners wearing fez's are running figure 8's around you.
3) When a homeless guy runs up to you asking you if you'd like a drink.
4) When you've been running for 6 minutes and you haven't even passed the starting line.
5) It's three days after the race and your quadriceps still feel like someone shot you in the legs.

Hopefully, I'll get back to blogging soon but for now, I'm going to keep up my Thanksgiving day size consumption of ibuprofen.

Frances Fox Piven vs. Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell

2011-11-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T07:40:00.000-05:00

To Catch a Journalist: Rutgers Education Professor in Pay-for-Play

2011-11-23T07:31:00.000-05:00

Obama Scores a Hat Trick - Insults America 3 Times in a Row

2011-11-20T18:55:00.000-05:00

Thrill Is Gone? Matthews Turns On Obama; 'I Hear Stories That You Would ...

2011-11-20T18:31:00.000-05:00

He should have been a senator

2011-11-18T16:34:00.001-05:00

A Harvard-trained physician was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for evading $30 million in investment losses by obtaining inside information from a fellow doctor.

Joseph "Chip" Skowron III apologized to his wife and friends in a packed Manhattan courtroom before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote announced the sentence.

Turning around to look at his wife in the first row of spectators, Skowron said she was the most harmed by his insider trading venture, which helped him avoid millions of dollars in losses.

"I am not what she expected when she married a young doctor 15 years ago," he said.

The 42-year-old Greenwich, Conn., resident pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to commit securities fraud and obstructing justice.

He called the last year "devastating" and "incredible" with glimpses of the best parts of humanity emerging from the most unexpected of circumstances.

"I was not aware of the changes that were happening in me that blurred the line between right and wrong," he said. "I allowed myself to slip into the world of relativism where the ends justified the means."

Skowron admitted gaining an advantage in his work as a hedge fund analyst in 2007 and 2008 by using tips gained through meetings and conversations with a French doctor who knew inside information about clinical drug trials.

More.....

When EF Senator talks, you better listen

2011-11-18T08:21:00.001-05:00

I always say, I'm not the smartest guy in the room but I try to imitate what the smart guys are doing.

So if you want some insider trading tips.... don't follow Martha Stewart.... follow your local senator........

Why isn’t congressional members required to put their holdings into a blind trust?

Why can’t we ban insider trading by Congress members be banned?

How cant these elected officials do “the people’s business” when they are too busy running around trading on the votes they are about to cast?

How one earth can we ever get fair outcomes of issues involving finance, healthcare, or energy when the members so personally have a monetary stake in an outcome they may or may not be in the public interest?

Why aren’t these people in jail?

~~~

1. General Electric (GE)

Members invested: 75
Total value of holdings (max.): $11.41 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $3.58 million

Top Congressional Investors
Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) – $1 million to $5 million
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $616,004 to $1.315 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $400,003 to $850,000

2. Procter & Gamble (PG)

Members invested: 62
Total value of holdings (max.): $39.42 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $8.72 million

Top Congressional Investors
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R.-N.J.) – $7.07 million to $35.15 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $200,002 to $500,000
James B. Renacci (R.-Ohio) – $180,485 to$222,482

3. Bank of America (BAC)

Members invested: 57
Total value of holdings (max.): $5.41 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $2.83 million

Top Congressional Investors
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R.-N.J.) – $1.02 million to $1.08 million
John M. Spratt Jr. (D.-S.C.) – $500,001 to $1 million
Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) – $500,001 to $1 million

4. Microsoft (MSFT)

Members invested: 56
Total value of holdings (max.): $6.43 million
Total value of holdings (min.): $3.22 million

Top Congressional Investors
John Kerry (D.-Mass.) – $1.77 million to $2.55 million
Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) – $515,003 to $1.05 million
Jane Harman (D.-Calif.) – $130,003 to $350,000

Thanks reader Tim

Read the rest..........

Life in "Progress" City- Detroit

2011-11-18T08:17:00.001-05:00

What says progress more than a city that is 90% democratic?

With Detroit Mayor Dave Bing preparing to explain the city's fiscal crisis tonight in a rare televised address, Council President Pro Tem Gary Brown says the situation is even worse than anyone has let on.

Bing is expected to discuss a confidential Ernst & Young report obtained by the Detroit Free Press that suggests Detroit could run out of cash by April without steep cuts to staff and public services.

That's a grim prognosis, but according to Brown, the city actually could be unable to make payroll "as early as December."

"I know the report says April, but there are certain risk assumptions that when you take those into consideration, worst case scenario you could run out (of cash) in December," Brown said this morning on WJR-AM 760.

In his speech tonight, Bing is expected to propose privatizing the city's public bus system and lighting departments, both of which have have been failing residents but reportedly cost them $100 million a year in subsidies.

More......

"....fundamentally right wing"

2011-11-18T08:08:00.001-05:00

As part of the solidarity with OWS, Harvard students (some of the 99% don't you know) are boycotting Greg Mankiw's basic Econ class...........

Students believe that several problems with the class itself contributed to that conservative bias. Some, including Sandalow-Ash, said that the class is “not mathematically rigorous” and presents a simplified view of the economic models. According to MIT economics Professor Jonathan H. Gruber ’87, MIT’s introductory economics courses, 14.01 and 14.02, differ from Harvard’s because they use more advanced mathematical models.

The other specific problem raised with the class is a lack of primary source material. “We just read his textbook. … We would rather read Adam Smith or studies by other economists rather than [Mankiw’s] interpretation of them,” said Sandalow-Ash.

Some question whether the walkout was the most effective way to discuss a problem with the course and to support the Occupy movement. Gruber, who teaches 14.01 this fall, said that “the Occupy movement has a good, strong message and I don’t want them to muddy it up … [by] protesting economics.”

When asked why the students chose a walkout approach instead of talking privately with Mankiw, Sandalow-Ash responded that “he’s not very accessible” and that they wanted to draw attention to their cause. According to an article published in the Harvard Political Review, Mankiw has only given three lectures this semester, while the rest of the material was presented in sections and by guest lecturers. Mankiw declined to comment for this article.

There is room for debate about whether or not Economics 10 has a conservative bias. According to Gruber, “basic economics is fundamentally right wing. … It’s not about bias; it’s how the free market works.” When it comes to teaching economics without bias, you have to “acknowledge [that fact] and … approach things even-handedly,” Gruber said.

"Basic economics is fundamentally right wing"? Seriously?

Why might that be? Because it actually makes sense? Because, unlike global warming, you can actually prove things like the Law of Supply and Demand? Because maybe, it's the conservative view point that's actually supported by "science"?

More.......

McCaskill Outlines Plan To Solve $15 Trillion Debt

2011-11-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

Kind of like proper inflation of tires will solve our energy demands.

Obama thinks Hawaii is in Asia

2011-11-16T08:42:00.000-05:00

Since when did Sarah Palin become a black man?

CTU President Karen Lewis Uncensored - NSFW

2011-11-15T15:01:00.000-05:00

And this is the quality of person molding our youth?

Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Three and a Half Days

2011-11-15T14:51:00.000-05:00

Tea Party Filth

2011-11-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

For some reason, I've grown fond of old westerns I couldn't stand when I was a kid. Probably because every other show was either Bonanza, Gunsmoke, or Big Valley.

So imagine you are a cowboy on the trail and you come across this sight; syringes, feces, broken bongs, stench from BO.

I can hear Marshall Dillon now "Festus, I think those tea partiers are only a couple of hours a head of us, it looks like they're following the trail to a local country club".

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link.

The question no one will ask

2011-11-14T14:34:00.003-05:00

I saw this article on the front page of a USA today this morning...........

Medical authorities are witnessing explosive growth in the number of newborn babies hooked on prescription painkillers, innocent victims of their mothers' addictions.

The trend reflects how deeply rooted abuse of powerful narcotics, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, has become. Prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest-growing drug problem, classified as an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"I'm scared to death this will become the crack-baby epidemic," says Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Last month, she asked the state Legislature to establish a task force to compile data on drug-exposed babies and develop prevention strategies.
National statistics on the number of babies who go through withdrawal are not available, and states with the worst problems have only begun to collect data. Scattered reports show the number of addicted newborns has doubled, tripled or more over the past decade. In Florida, the epicenter of the illicit prescription drug trade, the number of babies with withdrawal syndrome soared from 354 in 2006 to 1,374 in 2010, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Here's what I want to know. How many of these babies are being carried by moms on public assistance?

No where in the article is a mention of welfare but I'd bet my life savings that the majority of these moms are sucking off the government tit for their high and getting knocked up in the process.

But instead, we'll dance around the issue and talk about education and lack of economic opportunity and the issue will just get worse.

Who did she vote for?

2011-11-14T13:36:00.001-05:00

I think it's so unfair that people are able to climb the corporate ladder faster than I can.

A democrat on an escalator

VP Biden says he called Jon Corzine for advice

2011-11-14T13:03:00.000-05:00

I agree with Obama for a change

2011-11-14T10:13:00.001-05:00

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I agree with Obama, we were damn lazy to check this guy out to ensure he wasn't a job killing socialist before electing him.

To Catch a Journalist: New Jersey Star-Ledger

2011-11-13T16:13:00.000-05:00