The World Cup is over

Just so no one could confuse me of being one of those bourgeois Americans who won't give soccer a chance, I watched the World Cup final yesterday. Besides I needed a nap after my honey do list anyway.

Prior to this tournament, I was pretty much indifferent to soccer. After watching about six games, including yesterday's final, I'm convinced that soccer was the EU before the EU became popular.

Soccer is the equivalent of sports masturbation; lot's of moving around but really not a lot of accomplishment when you're done.

I think I now know why everyone's playing with their vuvuzelas during the game.

By the way, call me a racist, but doesn't every Dutch soccer player look just like Joran van der Sloot?

None the less, I now put the World Cup in the same class as a cicada invasion; it shows up on some type of cycle measured in years, makes incessant annoying humming sounds, it's the lead conversation for about four weeks and it disappears by mid July.

Now we can get back to real sports.......like Lebron's reality show.

Life in "Progress" City - Cincinnati edition

The city of Cincinnati has a lot of money to throw around on trolley rail programs but if you need a real city service like pothole fills, not so much..........

Winter chopped more potholes into Cincinnati streets this year - at least 2,257 of them - but budget cuts have left fewer workers to fill them.

Callers reported 2,257 potholes to the Public Services department between Jan. 1 and the end of June. That's more than the number reported in 2009 (1,941) and in 2008 (2,150). That's as far back as city records currently go.

• DataCenter: Find Cincinnati potholes

The same city department, which also handles trash collection and snow removal, lost 27 workers last year after some AFSCME union members declined to take the city's request of 10 unpaid days. Another 10 workers were demoted and reassigned, nine of them to other departments.

Those who left either had direct involvement in pothole-filling or their departures prompted moves that affected the pothole progress, said Diana Frey, president of the Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees (CODE) union.

The city doesn't keep comparative records to show how long pothole-filling has taken this lean year compared to the times in fatter years, but officials don't dispute longer wait times now.

"We're working as efficiently as we can, but the budgeting does have an impact," said Larry Whitaker, spokesman for the public services department.

Spending money for a few and ignoring problems for all?

Now that's "progressive"!

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Who needs those jobs?

Diamond Offshore announced Friday that its Ocean Endeavor drilling rig will leave the Gulf of Mexico and move to Egyptian waters immediately — making it the first to abandon the United States in the wake of the BP oil spill and a ban on deep-water drilling.

And the Ocean Endeavor's exodus probably won't be the last, according to oil industry officials and Gulf Coast leaders who warn that other companies eager to find work for the now-idled rigs are considering moving them outside the U.S.

Devon Energy Corp. had been leasing the Endeavor to drill in the same region of the Gulf as BP's leaking Macondo well, which has been gushing crude since a lethal blowout April 20.

But Diamond announced Friday it will lease the rig through June 30, 2011, to Cairo-based Burullus Gas Co., which plans to send the Endeavor to Egyptian waters immediately.

Devon is one of three companies that has cited the deep-water drilling ban in trying to ease out of contracts to lease Diamond rigs. Diamond, a drilling company, said it expects to make about $100 million from the deal, including a $31 million early termination fee it recovered from Devon.

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Even Ruth Marcus is starting to get it

I'm all for a more progressive tax code. But consider: The Tax Policy Center examined what it would take to avoid raising taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year yet reduce the deficit to 3 percent of the economy by decade's end. The top two rates would have to rise to 72.4 and 76.8 percent, more than double the current level. You don't have to be anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist to think this would be insane.

C'mon Ruth I think you're underestimating the insanity of the democratic party........


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Sounds a lot like a certain president

Apparently the Illinois work ethic rubbed off on The One.............

The corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich descended into farce yesterday, as witnesses testified to just how bizarre the behavior of the loudmouth pol was. If Hollywood turns the story into a reality TV show, it would be called "Diary of a Mad Governor."

First up was former Deputy Governor Robert Greenlee, who described how disengaged Mr. Blagojevich was during his six-year tenure. The governor would spend only two to eight hours a week in the office, refused to make decisions and would hide from his staff in the bathroom so as to avoid dealing with budget issues

I guess he couldn't just vote "present".......

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Hurting the ones you love (at least you say you love)

Apparently, the Grim Sleeper, an LA based serial killer had a long record of criminal activity.........

The 57-year-old man charged with murder in 10 slayings in the Los Angeles "Grim Sleeper" case was arrested at least 15 times over four decades on other charges and was in police custody many times after the killings began, probation and jail records show.

The arrests of Lonnie Franklin Jr. in crimes including burglary, car theft and assault were never considered serious enough to send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state's DNA database, according to a report in Saturday's Los Angeles Times.

A string of slayings of young black women had south Los Angeles on edge in the mid-1980s. The killings suddenly stopped but resumed 14 years later.

Now ask yourself this question. The fact that this guy never saw any time for his previous crimes is a result of liberal or conservative law and order policies?

The conventional wisdom (and big lie) that liberals champion the underdogs of life. I'll go out on a limb to say that this guy wasn't out victimizing rich, conservative, suburban, white women; he was killing black women.

Keep that in mind the next time some squishy liberal types let another criminal on the streets.

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Thanks you Harry, Barry and Nancy

For getting to charge my clients more for their tax compliance work............

With a new mandate looming that will require business owners to file millions more tax forms, the Internal Revenue Service has begun the daunting process of figuring out how to turn the law's sweeping demands into actual rules for taxpayers.

The new regulations, which kick in at the start of 2012, require any taxpayer with business income to issue 1099 forms to all vendors from whom they purchased more than $600 of goods and services that year. That promises to launch a fusillade of new paperwork: An estimated 40 million taxpayers will be subject to the requirement, including 26 million who run sole proprietorships, according to a report released this week by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson.

Olson's office, which operates independently within the IRS, flagged the new reporting requirements as one of its priority issues for the next year. Like many who have delved into the details of the new rules, Olson is concerned about their far-reaching scope and potential unintended consequences.

"The new reporting burden, particularly as it falls on small businesses, may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance," the Taxpayer Advocate Service wrote in a report released this week.

But hey. What the hell were they going to do with that money if they weren't going to give it to me. Raises for their employees?

I need to donate more money to the DNC. Let's face it they've done more for my net worth than any republicans have.


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Another Tea Party Bombing

Local and federal investigators were at a northwest Houston home Friday night where an explosion sent a woman to the hospital.

The woman was opening a package left at her doorstep in the 2100 block of Seamist Court Friday evening. She had found the shoe-sized box in front of her home about a day ago but didn't decide to open it until around 6:30pm Friday.

The woman, who officials said is in her 60s, took the box to the backyard and opened it on the patio. That's when it exploded. "Don't know where it came from -- postal service or whether it was dropped off. I don't have that information yet," said HPD Lt. Colin Weatherly."The person went outside, basically opened the packaged; it detonated."

Residents told Eyewitness News that when the bomb went off, it sounded like a transformer blew.

The woman was transported to Northwest Memorial Hospital with facial injuries that are not life-threatening. Officials with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the Houston Police Department's homicide and bomb squad were at the scene investigating.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the house was targeted, however, Eyewitness News found out the home is owned by an oil company executive.

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Lessons From LeBron: What Clevelanders Should Really Be Pissed About

Gibbs Stumped on Immigration Question

Obama: I will not rest

Move and make a million dollars

Sound to good to be true?

It's not if you are Lebron James where his move to Florida saved him a cool 1.4 million a year in state and local taxes........

Ohio's and Cleveland's higher income tax rates (6% and 2% respectively) compared to Florida's and Miami's taxes would gobble up the differential between the Cav's richer offer and the Heat's (relatively) lesser one. Had James chosen to play with the Knicks in New York, which has the dubious distinction of having both the highest city and state income taxes in the nation,

On a five-year contract worth $96 million -- what he'd get from the Knicks or the Heat -- LeBron would pay $12.34 million in New York taxes. Quite a penalty for the privilege of working in Midtown

according to a New York Post editorial, blaming their lawmakers for perhaps keeping James out of the city and state because of the high taxes. While taxes may not have been a factor In James' decision high income and other taxes in New York, Ohio and other tax happy states have definitely pushed companies and high income individuals to pack up and move to friendlier tax regions taking their jobs, their productivity and yes, their taxes with them, proving once again that higher taxes do not automatically produce higher revenue.

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link.....

Obama Claims Israelis Suspicious of him Because Middle Name is Hussein

Ahhhh. no. They don't like you because you make their leader go out the back door by the garbage dumpster.

Education Under Obama: A Conversation with Former Assistant Secretary of...

These are the people who can't understand Supply and Demand

When your model doesn't support your theory, simply alter the model.

From the NY Times........

The issue involved an effort to reconstruct the climate history of the past several thousand years using indirect indicators like the size of tree rings and the growth rate of corals. The C.R.U. researchers, leaders in that type of work, were trying in 1999 to produce a long-term temperature chart that could be used in a United Nations publication.

But they were dogged by a problem: Since around 1960, for mysterious reasons, trees have stopped responding to temperature increases in the same way they apparently did in previous centuries. If plotted on a chart, tree rings from 1960 forward appear to show declining temperatures, something that scientists know from thermometer readings is not accurate.

Most scientific papers have dealt with this problem by ending their charts in 1960 or by grafting modern thermometer measurements onto the historical reconstructions.

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Dennis Prager Q & A At University of Denver

a must watch!

Reagan On Socialists

Who did he/she vote for? #1000

Meet Patricia Jean Dye.

Why is Patricia in the news?

In a gender-bending sex case, a Warren County woman is accused of posing as a teen boy so she could have sex with a teen girl. Patricia Jean Dye, 31, of Franklin, is being held in the Butler County Jail on charges of corruption of a minor, importuning and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

"She was pretending to be a young male – a teenage male – and in doing so, she arranged for and had sexual conduct with a teenage girl," said Matt Nolan, spokesman for the Warren County Prosecutor's Office.

The Gekko's have a number of gay friends, relatives and acquaintances so we have lot's of discussions about homosexuality.

The Lovely Mrs. Gekko believes that gays are just "born that way" even though, to date, we can find DNA markers for alcoholism but no one has been able to find any markers for homosexuality.

None the less, if you buy that theory (which I am open to) can you not make the same argument that Patricia here was just born to be an androgynous child molester?

And if that's the case, why is it illegal if she was "born that way"? Isn't that kind of arbitrary?

Well Gordon, she was having sexual relations with a minor..... that's against the law.

So? As we know from nature, as soon as a girl has a period, she's ready to be sexually active and procreate. We humans are the ones to put some arbitrary age for sexual conduct.

I'm not writing this as a way to promote sex with under age children. However, for those who want to say that gays are discriminated against, I say we put all kinds of legal restrictions on sexual behavior (and marriage). Most of those laws have nothing to do with homosexuality but, for some reason, we want to give gays a pass.

I just wonder how many people from the GLAAD community would be willing to support a 4th of July parade for androgynous child molesters? What about polygamists? After all, more than one politician (& Tiger Woods) has proven that one is just not enough.

In addition, I think we need to make up our minds as to whether sex is an animal response for which none of us have any control over or do we expect people to have some mode of control over their sexual urges and make our laws consistent with those mores.

Regardless, during the 2008 presidential election did Ms/r. Dye here pretend she was a 31 year old woman and vote? If so, for whom?

Or did she pretend she was a 14 year old boy. In which case, she was ineligible to vote.

The little engine that will never die

The effort to get a passenger rail white elephant in Cincinnati got closer to happening when the feds decided to waste 25 million on the project..................

The long, contentious debate over whether Cincinnati’s proposed streetcar system will be built has effectively ended, with a $25 million federal grant announced Thursday having made the controversial project all but a done deal.

The ferocity of the verbal salvos on both sides Thursday, however, demonstrates that the debate over whether the streetcar should be built likely will continue unabated for years.

By pushing the local, state and federal funds approved to date for the Downtown-to-Uptown streetcar plan above $114 million, Thursday’s grant brings the project’s $128 million budget within reach.

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A couple of months ago, I received this comment from one of these train obsessed nitwits.........

If you aren’t convinced Cincinnati will benefit from building a modern streetcar, here is some information on the Cincinnati Streetcar:

http://cincystreetcar.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/not-convinced-cincinnati-would-benefit-from-streetcars/

I briefly looked over some of these studies and reports and here's my response. Can you name one......... seriously......... one public works project that ever 1) came in under budget 2) delivered on the projected use and 3) didn't involve an increased public subsidy after completion?

Let me offer some of the better projects the city of Cincinnati has under taken in its history.

Do you know of the Cincinnati Subway?

The Cincinnati Subway is a set of unused tunnels and stations for a rapid transit system beneath the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is recognized as the largest abandoned subway tunnel in the United States.^[1] Construction took place in the early twentieth century, but the project was not completed so it never hosted a paying customer.^[2]

Need something more recent? How about Fountain Square West?

Across the street from our cornerstone civic area, our city leaders decided that the department store (Elder Beerman) residing on that strip was not up to quality of the real estate at hand. The original plan was to build a high rise hotel /office building with lots of retail space.

After the city blew millions and years of planning on acquisition, demolition and construction, it was ultimately blackmailed into providing the land to a department store operation (Macy's).

How about our beloved stadiums?

The original projection was that the county would provide $800 million into the construction of football and baseball fields.

The voters trusted that the county representatives would negotiate favorable lease conditions on behalf of the taxpayer's. The end result were stadiums that cost over one billion, the most ridiculous leases in all of pro sports and now we're looking at tax increases because the county cannot service the bond payments that need to be paid.

How about The Banks?

As part of the stadium deal(s), the county tore out a whole section of entertainment areas for the room to build the stadiums. We were promised that the space between the stadium would be a whole new area dedicated to retail and entertainment projects. It's been over ten years and we're still about three years before anything of substance goes into that space.

So I'll make my friend Brad or any other of you train obsessed morons a wager. I'll bet my life saving against yours the actual results of this white elephant will never do what one of these surveys or studies says it will do.

Mean while, the city will manage to blow 100 million on a project as it sits in financial insolvency.

Who did they vote for? #10,019

Police say a military member who just returned from a tour of duty overseas was involved in a gun battle that led to the shooting of an alleged robber late Thursday night.

Officers say a man on the street approached two men in a car in Mount Auburn around 11:30 p.m. The man on the street tried to rob the men in the car. But one of his alleged victims had a concealed carry permit and fired back.

The gun battle left the alleged robber with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and a man in the car with a gunshot wound to the arm. The alleged robber was taken to University Hospital. Police say he has since been released but they haven't released his name or said whether he faces charges.

The man in the car was also treated and released. Police tell Local 12 that one or both of the men in the car are military personnel just back from a tour of duty overseas.

For some reason none of the major new operations will report that the victim in this case has an Ohio concealed carry permit.

None the less, this piece warrants a few questions.

1) When the armed robbing thug was hauled into University hospital for his gun shot wounds who will pay for his treatment?
a) His employer sponsored health plan.
b) His armed robbery union health trust.
c) Medicaid
d) We all do when the hospital passes along the costs to the rest of us

2) When the armed robbing thug was counted by the US census bureau, how many times will he show up.
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3 or more

3) When the armed robbing thug voted in 2008, did he vote for
a) John McCain
b) Barack Obama
c) a third party.

Now ask yourself the same question related to the concealed carrying victim of the crime.

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NAACPPressConference.mov

Why I hate to fly #119

If airline employees have the stones to steal Israeli firearms, your IPad is a goner.

A spokesman for Israel's Shin Bet security service confirmed that the four handguns "were part of the equipment sent ahead (of Netanyahu) to Washington, and got lost," adding that Israeli and U.S. authorities were investigating.

A U.S. source familiar with the matter told Reuters that two suitcases bearing seven handguns in all -- four in one bag, three in the other -- arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York with Israel's security detail and were rechecked for a flight to Washington. But neither bag made it there.

Instead, both bags were later retrieved at Los Angeles International Airport, then were flown back to Washington through Chicago. When the two suitcases were reopened in Washington, the four guns from one bag were discovered to be missing, but it remained unknown where along the line the firearms were taken, the source said.

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Is college worth it?

I had great students in my senior English classes this year — kids accepted to Yale, Columbia, the University of Virginia, Wesleyan and other highly competitive colleges and universities. But I also had other seniors whom I still feel guilty about passing, and they, too, are among the 80% whom we boast about going to college.

In fact, it seemed to me that many of our staff beat the bushes to send as many warm bodies as they could on to higher education regardless of whether the students had the skills or motivation to do rudimentary high school work. T.C. Williams is not alone in this drive to move everyone on to college. A new study from the Pew Research Center reports that "freshman enrollment at the nation's 6,100 post-secondary institutions surged by 144,000 students from the fall of 2007 to the fall of 2008. This 6% increase was the largest in 40 years, and almost three-quarters of it came from minority freshman."

Paying customers

The trend is certainly a boon to the education establishment. High schools like mine, always eager for good press, can boast that they have prepared an ever greater percentage of their charges to move on to the halls of academe. And though colleges blame us in the high schools for sending them kids who are woefully unprepared, they blithely pocket the tuition from such students lest they have to downsize and lay off professors and administrators.

But how much students with low skills, little motivation and lousy study habits are going to profit from going to college is not so clear. Over the past five years, I have seen students who didn't have the skills one would expect of a ninth-grader going off to four-year colleges where fewer than 30% of entering freshman graduate.

That means that 70% of the freshman class is likely to end up not with a diploma but a pile of debt. In these days of tight budgets at every level of government, it's also hard to ignore that these schools are heavily subsidized by the federal government.

While T.C. Williams boasts about the 80% going on to college, it makes no effort to track what happens to these kids. Nor does it ask another important question — which is not how many make it through to a traditional college diploma, but how many need to? In a paper about to be released by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Arnold Packer, co-director of the landmark study "Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century," points out that in 2018 — as is the case today — two of three jobs in America will not require either a bachelor's degree from a four-year college or an associate degree from a community college.

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Hydrogen barackside

Thanks reader Bernie........

Modest Expectations From An Obama Supporter

I wonder how are things working out now that her big buddy is still president?

Fisher? Grassroots?

How Obamanomics kills jobs

Imagine you own a tech company looking to open a chip manufacturing facility.

There are several issues that you'll measure to decide where, when, how, & why to place that facility in it's ultimate location.

For instance, you'll review logistics (the ability to move product from Point A to Point B), you'll review the cost and stability of production such as utilities, land, labor etc.

Now your average "progressive" believes corporations are solely out to minimize the costs of production. But if that were the case, wouldn't Haiti or Sierra Leone be absolute job mecca's right now?

But they are not. Why? Because these countries have never developed a work force to be able to accomplish minimal tasks. How could they possibly do the work involved with the production of micro chips?

See, sweat shops have their place in a developing economy. For instance, you don't give your kid a key to a tractor if they haven't shown a modest competence with a lawn mower. After your kid proves they can handle a lawn mower you can move them up to something more sophisticated.

It's how things work. Companies don't locate plants in areas where the workers can't do the work. Depressed areas start with sweat shops, the money their economy earns adds to the standard of living for the area. That allows children to get educated, maybe even allows for them to go overseas for their education.

Then the economy evolves for the next level of jobs.

How does that pertain to Obamanomics?

Every time we pass a minimum wage law, a health care mandate or other unfriendly business mandate, we force those entry level jobs to another country.

Those jobs are needed for our entry level workers to obtain the skills to move on to the next job on the skill ladder.

I remember reading The Jungle in high school and was appalled with the conditions workers in the meat packing business had to endure at that time. But I would offer that without those jobs, Henry Ford could never have set up his first assembly line. First, there would not have been any money in the economy for anyone to buy cars. Second, no one would have had the smarts to actually build those cars in the first place.

Little by little, you are starting to watch the shift of good jobs going overseas. And it's because those economies welcomed the "bad" jobs first.

We currently have a chronic unemployment problem in this country. And in an attempt to "help the little guy", Obamanomics hasn't done anything but push jobs out of this country. The jobs those little guys would be doing.

And slowly but surely, those high quality blue collar jobs will be right behind them.

Harold and Kumar will need more money

To pay for White Castle employees health insurance..........

The White Castle hamburger chain fears that a health insurance reform law adopted earlier this year will put its profits on a downward slide.

The Columbus-based family owned restaurant chain - known for serving small square hamburgers called "sliders" – says a single provision in the bill will eat up roughly 55 percent of its yearly net income after 2014.

Starting that year, the bill levies a $3,000-per-employee penalty on companies whose workers pay more than 9.5 percent of household income in premiums for company-provided insurance.

White Castle, which currently provides insurance to all of its full-time workers and picks up 70 to 89 percent of their premium costs, believes it will likely end up paying those penalties. The financial hit will make it hard for the company to maintain its 421 restaurants, let alone create new jobs, says company spokesman Jamie Richardson. White Castle employs more than 10,000 people nationwide, and more than 1,200 in Ohio.

Thanks reader Jeremy

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Brooks sees the light

David Brooks, a man who once decided a certain senator should be president because of the crease in his pants, may finally be getting it. Here's a column critical of the intellectual elite (Paul Krugman) where he doesn't name the person (Paul Krugman) but you can't basically figure out who it is (Paul Krugman) by the description.......

Let’s say you’re the leader of the free world. The economy is stuck in the doldrums. Naturally, you want to do something.

Many economists say we need another stimulus bill. They debate about whether the stimulus should take the form of tax cuts or spending increases, but the ones in your party are committed to spending increases. They trot out a plausible theory with computer models to go with it. If the federal government borrows X amount of dollars and pumps it into the economy, that would produce Y amount of growth and Z amount of jobs. In a $14 trillion economy, you’d probably have to borrow hundreds of billions more to have any noticeable effect, but at least you’d be doing something to help the jobless.

These Demand Side theorists are giving you a plan of action. But you’re not a theorist. You’re a practical executive, and you have some concerns.

These Demand Siders have very high I.Q.’s, but they seem to be strangers to doubt and modesty. They have total faith in their models. But all schools of economic thought have taken their lumps over
the past few years. Are you really willing to risk national insolvency on the basis of a model?

Moreover, the Demand Siders write as if everybody who disagrees with them is immoral or a moron. But, in fact, many prize-festooned economists do not support another stimulus. Most European leaders and central bankers think it’s time to begin reducing debt, not increasing it — as do many economists at the international economic
institutions. Are you sure your theorists are right and theirs are wrong?

Here's the problems with so many of the Keynesian ilk (see econ 101). They totally forget one half of the basic theory (and it's a big f'in one half) which is this..... during good economic times...... government is supposed to retract.

Why is this important? Because our government has been priming the pump with deficit spending for generations. As a result, our economy has become "addicted to it" to the point that it's needed to just maintain status quo.

It's like a crack head who needs more and more of the substance in order to get more buzz out of it.

Now, it may take trillions in stimulus, which the country can no longer borrow, to get us back to an 2008 equilibrium point we couldn't sustain even if we wanted to. Hence, the crash in the first place.

But try telling that to a Nobel Piece Prize (error intentional) winner.

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But what would I know, I only paid attention in my Fiscal Policy econ course.

Faith in America or American in Faith

A really great piece on what it means to be an American.

Hint, it's not a birthright.........

During his immigration speech last week, President Obama said: “Being an American is not a matter of blood or birth. It’s a matter of faith.”

He’s obviously correct in observing the American character is not inherited through genetics. There is no “American race.” It’s also not determined by the location of our birth. Many who were born in other countries become Americans of outstanding patriotism. It’s an honor to recite the Pledge of Allegiance alongside someone who crossed long miles, and perhaps endured great hardship, to join us beneath the red, white, and blue. They mean every word of that pledge.

Some families have worked, studied, and waited patiently to obtain their citizenship… only to have their sons and daughters die on foreign soil in our service. We welcome their bodies back to their adopted home, comforted by the knowledge their souls never left. Those who recite the Pledge of Allegiance dwell in America forever, no matter the provenance of the ground upon which they take their final rest.

Is the American identity a matter of faith? If so, faith in what?

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Thanks reader Tim for the tip.

Where are the jobs?

A few years ago, I had a client who worked at a Ford plant in Sharonville. He was telling me that he had been working 6-12 hour shifts for the past few years. I asked him why the plant hadn't hired any new workers for the demand and he told me that because of the UAW contract it was cheaper to pay time and a half (or double time for the holidays/weekends) to existing employees than it was for the company to add someone to the payroll (because of the benefit packages offered to the employees).

So right now if you have a job; congratulations. You probably have some semblance of job security. You'll probably be asked to do a lot more for a lot less but you will be employed.

However, if you don't have a job, you're in a bad situation right now. Why?

Few small-business owners would hire more workers even if they had more money, according to the monthly American Solutions survey.

Almost half (46%) would put the extra money into savings and 15% would hire more workers. One in 17 would use the money to delay laying off existing employees.

This is the basic reason for the lack of job creation even though most experts think the economy is no longer in recession.

“The cautious behavior shows entrepreneurs are still very reluctant to make any large investments or outlays of new capital given the current economic environment,” says American Solutions, a group chaired by former Congressman Newt Gingrich, that is conducting jobs summits across the country including Irvine.

Chapman University economist Esmael Adibi agrees that employers are typically hesitant to hire coming out of a recession for two reasons:

• They are uncertain any revenue increase will continue
• They’re uncertain about the costs of government actions such as health care reform and tax increases.

• 
  

How about adding to the uncertainty; the impact of cap and trade on utility costs, increases in the minimum wage, etc.

Think about it. When you cannot reasonably ascertain the cost of an employee you're typically reluctant to hire extra people on.

It's a reasonable human response. Something I'm sure was proven in a psychology 101. But yet liberals who pretend to be so smart cannot seem to grasp that concept.

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Life in "Progress" City - San Francisco edition

Do you know how liberals are always groaning on and on about "choice"? Of course that's only where choice pertains to the bedroom. But a choice on anything else in life is totally verboten.........

Coca-Cola is out, and soy milk is now part of San Francisco's official city policy.

Under an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, Coke, Pepsi and Fanta Orange are no longer allowed in vending machines on city property, although their diet counterparts are - up to a point.

Newsom's directive, issued in April but whose practical impacts are starting to be felt now, bars calorically sweetened beverages from vending machines on city property.

That includes non-diet sodas, sports drinks and artificially sweetened water. Juice must be 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners. Diet sodas can be no more than 25 percent of the items offered, the directive says.

Restricting people's choices in life?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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The concrete on the camel's back

The camel being you, a taxpayer............

Feel like you're not paid enough? Worry about losing your job? Wish you had better benefits? Ever think about quitting?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, one thing is certain: You don't work for Uncle Sam.

That's because federal workers are much better off than private-sector workers in all the major markers of job satisfaction — salary, job security, benefits and job desirability. And it's costing taxpayers a bundle.

Start with the money. The average federal employee earns an annual salary almost 60% higher than the average private-sector employee — $79,000 vs. $50,000. Federal employees do have more education (on average) than private-sector workers. Their unions argue that this justifies their higher pay. But it doesn't. Even after controlling for education and experience, federal employees get paid significantly better — 22% more per hour, on average — than private-sector workers.

Not all federal workers earn above-market pay. The government bases raises on seniority, not performance, so the most skilled and hardest-working federal employees are actually underpaid. Overall, though, government workers earn well above what their private-sector counterparts make, even before you consider benefits.

Seriously, would you pay 22 percent more than your current wage for someone to mow your lawn and/or paint your house? Yet that is what we are expecting taxpayer's to do with government jobs.

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Politicizing justice

Several former Department of Justice employees have approached Pajamas Media to support Chris Adams, the whistle-blower who resigned from DOJ to protest Eric Holder's racist enforcement policies:

Several former DOJ employees have been in contact with Pajamas Media, interested in publicly supporting J. Christian Adams as he comes forward about the DOJ's failure to enforce the country's laws from a race-neutral perspective.

These former DOJ employees have expressed a willingness to go on record regarding Adams' professionalism, excellent performance, and outstanding record of enforcing the law without racial bias.

Additionally, they would like to corroborate Adams' statements about the DOJ. ...

From 2006-2008, Asheesh Agarwal served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division. In that position, Agarwal supervised the Division's Voting Section, which included Adams, and worked directly with Adams on several matters. [Agarwal writes, in part]:

During his tenure with the Department of Justice's Voting Section, J. Christian Adams was a model attorney who vigorously enforced federal voting rights laws on behalf of all voters, without respect to race or ideology. Mr. Adams was also one of the most productive and successful voting rights attorneys in recent memory.

Will the media demand a response?

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When liberals run stuff

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link..........

Want to send granny a card? It might cost you a bit more next year.

The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday proposed a 2-cent increase in the price of a first-class stamp, bringing the cost to 46 cents. The change, if approved, will go into effect on Jan. 2.

The Postal Service is trying to dig itself out of a deep financial hole. It projects a $7 billion deficit next fiscal year.

The agency's revenue has been crushed. Last year, the amount of mail sent declined 12.7%. Businesses hit by the recession have cut back on mailings and more people continue to turn to the web to send their messages.

So your demand is down and how do you respond? A price increase and reduced service.

Just like your local newspaper.

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Big Money leaves the dems

What goes around comes around..........

A perfect storm of events — the recession, Wall Street anger at Washington, donors who feel ignored by the White House and interest group dissatisfaction — has Democrats bracing for a brutal fundraising period and fearful of losing dominance in longtime donor stronghold and megarich New York.

While the exact quarterly figures won’t be known until after the July 15 filing deadline, a number of Democratic campaign insiders said the past few months were a mighty struggle to raise cash for candidates.

It's a humbling moment for Democratic moneymakers in the richest city in the world, an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position for New York fundraisers after a long ride on the gravy train. Beyond a free-flowing financial market that managed to rebound after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there were 16 flush years of having a Clinton family member in a position of power and working the Big Apple donor base hard.

But hey, aren't these guys for the little guy?

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Life in "Progress" City - Chicago edition

Apparently, all the criminals in Chicago must have heard about the Supreme Court ruling overturning the Chicago gun ban. How else could this have happened....

At least three people were left dead and 13 wounded in overnight shootings in Chicago, most on the South Side, officials said.

The most recent homicide occurred at 5:06 a.m. this morning, when DeShawn McNeil, 35, was found dead in the 7900 block of South Ingleside Avenue in the East Chatham neighborhood after being shot in the chest.

McNeil, of Madison, Wis., was pronounced dead at 10:53 a.m. at Jackson Park Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Based on earlier reports, police indicated four people had been killed and 12 wounded.

I would still like for someone to explain to me how it is that about every other household in my "Redville" neighborhood is packing heat and yet we don't have massive genocide occurring in this area.

Turning your cities into giant refugee camps?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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Who did they vote for?

Watch this and ask yourself are these people likely to be democrats or republicans?

We're #1

I guess someone took exception to my characterization to the US being the best country in the history of humanity.

Let me offer that this is not the jingoistic opinion of some redneck, but a fact. For those even in our lowest economic classes, just being born in the US puts you in the top 1% of the world's population in terms of wealth.

A fact also proven by the masses of people who leave families and put themselves in jeopardy just for the prospect of a greater life.

I have maybe 50 clients who are immigrants to this country. I have many German immigrants as clients. Now Germany is not exactly a 3rd world country where the impoverished are looking to flee; but a country of great wealth and opportunities of it's own. I love asking these people about their decisions and often they look at me with that glazed donut look as to communicate "this is the greatest country in the world.... why wouldn't we want to be here?"

One of the things that seems to lack for the Blame America First crowd is really the lack of civic knowledge.

For instance, we take democracy for granted but do you realize how many democracies existed during the days of the revolution? It had never been done before in any sense of the meaning. The signers of the Declaration of Independence signed their death warrants for some lark of a notion that people should be free and not subjects to a ruling monarchy.

In a word.........CRAZY.

None of this means that our society is perfect. It also doesn't mean that it can't be stripped from us by allowing a government to usurp our rights for security.

But I don't care what standard you use, the fact is, this country is the greatest in the world and there's billions of people who would give up everything they own to be a part of it to prove it.

Happy 234

I'll get into specifics tomorrow. But I want to recognize the birthday to the greatest nation in the history of humanity.

Life in "Progress" City - Detroit edition

Detroit was the nation’s fourth largest city in the 1950s—The Motor City: rich, prosperous, and growing.

Now, after five decades of failed liberal policies, can the once great shining city upon a hill rise from the ashes anew?

At the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference, Newt Gingrich began his speech by responding to Eric Holder’s recent statement that “America is a nation of cowards”:

“Let me say to Atty. Gen. Holder, I welcome an opportunity to have a dialogue with you about ‘cowardice’ anywhere anytime. Why don’t we have the dialogue in Detroit and see if Atty. Gen. Holder has the courage to talk about the failure of the Detroit school system, the failure of the Detroit teachers’ union, the betrayal of the future of thousands of young people. Let’s discuss the total failure of the Detroit political system which has taken a city of 1,800,000 with the highest per capita income in the United States and has driven it into the ground so there are now fewer than 900,000 people there with a per-capita income that is 62nd in the United States. And it’s the function of bad government, bad politicians, bad bureaucracy, and bad ideas.”

The city of Detroit provided the ideal illustration for Gingrich: five decades of failed leftist policies manifested in one troubled city. Gingrich saw the ascendency of Obamunism and subtly asserted that Detroit was a microcosm of Barack Obama’s America: big labor, a strong teacher’s union, high taxes, public utilities, strong gun control, big welfare roles, etc. Many of these policies were implemented by former Mayor Colemon Young, who reigned over the city for 20 years. One has to wonder, could the city that allowed Colemon Young to stand at the helm for two decades actually embrace Newt Gingrich and his ideas?

Turning once great cities into ghost towns?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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Life on "Progress" Continent - South American edition

All the countries in South America seem to be pulling out of the world wide economic slowdown.

Well, except for the socialist South American standard bearer, Venezuela.............

Official statistics show that major South American economies, except for Venezuela, are growing again and left the impact of the world crisis behind.

Brazil, the regional giant, grew 9 percent this year in the first quarter over the same term in 2009, thanks to investment and consumption.

Expenditure in capital goods, that is, machines and equipment able to increase future production, rose by 7.4 percent. In the meantime, the agricultural sector expanded 2.7 percent, based on the data supplied by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE).

The rest of the map also shows favorable results. In the first quarter, Argentina grew 6.8 percent; Colombia 4.4 percent; Peru 6 percent; Paraguay 10.9 percent; Uruguay 8.9 percent; Bolivia 3.26 percent; Ecuador 0.6 percent, and Chile, despite the earthquake, advanced 1 percent.

While oil prices average USD 70 thus far this year, the Venezuelan economy has failed to overcome recession and suffered a 5.8-percent setback in the first quarter.

Venezuelans not only undergo the plight of recession with layoffs, but also prices soar at a fast rate and undermine the purchasing power.

From January to May, inflation was higher than 5.2 percent in no Latin American country. On the contrary, in Venezuela, the inflation rate accounts for 14.2 percent.

In all seriousness, liberals love to think of themselves as smarter than your average conservative. They also like to boast that they have science backing them up on all things where as conservatives rely on some kind of neanderthal type tribal thinking to base their political beliefs. But how can anyone look at the evidence I've put forward in these "Life in "Progress" City pieces" and defend that liberalism and "progressive" policies work for any society.

They have a 100% failure rate.

But you won't see a lib defend one here because they know they can't.

Killing economic opportunities for your citizens?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition

From the Prairie State.........

Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.

He picks the papers off his desk and points to a figure in red: $5.01 billion.

“This is what the state owes right now to schools, rehabilitation centers, child care, the state university — and it’s getting worse every single day,” he says in his downtown office.

Mr. Hynes shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” he says. “That is obscene.”

For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state’s bills and refuses to take the painful steps — cuts and tax increases — to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state’s budget.

Then there is the spectacularly mismanaged pension system, which is at least 50 percent underfunded and, analysts warn, could push Illinois into insolvency if the economy fails to pick up.

Creating entities who don't pay their bills?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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It's 3 am: Obama isn't Responding to the Oil Spill

First Amendment Has been Suspended

Bill Clinton Justifies Byrd's KKK Membership: He Was Trying To Get Elected

What the world needs more of

For an industry who would tell you it's all about creativity, how is it that the crap coming out of Hollywood looks all so familiar.

Just the other day, I was telling the Lovely Mrs. Gekko "You know what we need for entertainment? More vampire movies, books, TV series, cooking shows, etc.? Really, there just are not enough vampires in our culture today.

This next season, I expect the Home and Garden Channel to do one of those shows were they show a recently married vampire couple several homes with varying price ranges and amenities.

Or the Golf Channel will have a show hosted by Anthony Anderson where vampires play night golf on the world's most beautiful golf courses.

Or Fox News will manage to find the only hot, busty, tanned, blonde vampire news anchor who will do the third shift news updates. MSNBC will respond with the vegan, pasty ones.

MTV will do a vampire reality show where the losers have to suck the blood out of Snooki and risk an HIV infection or else leave the house.

The Home Shopping network will do a show where you can buy all the cosmetics you need to give you the pasty, flushed look you'll need when you go out clubbing.

How is it that an ordinary accountant with no creative ability can come up with these ideas where our creative network types cannot.

Oh........ you mean they have? And they're all scheduled up for the fall?

Nevermind..........

When I win the lottery

If there were ever a day when I win the Powerball for $250 million (I'd have to play first), here's a list of things I won't be buying despite having plenty of money to do so......

1) A Rolex (my cell phone keeps fine time)
2) A Yacht (see Latrell Sprewell)
3) A Bentley (See any pro athlete)
4) Nine homes (see Al "Funny Hands" and Tipper Gore)
5) A 54,000 square foot house (see Evander Holyfield)
6) $400,000 on clothes............

A $5,000 Oxxford suit, $1,400 spent on Geneva Custom Shirts, $63 in Hanro underwear and $214 in ties — and it was all bought in a matter of days.

The Blagojevich household spent more on fine clothing than on their mortgage, child care, travel or private schools in the years that Rod Blagojevich served as governor, testimony at his trial today showed.

Jurors in the ex-governor’s trial were shown credit card bill after credit card bill where Rod Blagojevich dropped hundreds of dollars at a time on ties at Saks Fifth Avenue and thousands of dollars on high-end, custom Oxxford suits, not to mention pricey Allen Edmonds footwear.

The grand total from 2002-2008: more than $400,000 on clothes.

Several thousand dollars was spent in November of 2003 on Maximilian Furs.

Sorry Mrs. Gekko, You choices in furs will be limited to coon skinned caps.

More......

Does anyone have insurance anymore?

As hundreds of business owners shuffle through the claims process to recover losses caused by the oil disaster, BP's promise that it will "deny no legitimate claim" is taking on a bitter meaning.

"They have not denied our claim. They have just not paid it all," said Tommy Holmes, owner of Outcast Marine, a fishing-tackle supply company in Pensacola.

Holmes lost $73,000 in May and expects losses in June to exceed $100,000. BP has paid him $26,000 for May and refuses to pay the rest, he says. Holmes plans to sue them.

"They're nickel and diming us — and they're getting away with it," he said.

Question. Doesn't anyone carry business interruption insurance anymore? Seriously, if the neighbor next to my business were to have a fire and, because of collateral damage, my business could not open, I have insurance to cover my loss.

When hurricane Ike caused week long power outages in the midwest, I had several clients submit claims for the loss of business during that week or two.

I guess now I'm the stupid one....... Paying that money out when all I should do is sit on my roof and wait for someone to bail me out.

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Obama on Unemployment: "At Least It's Not at 12, 13 or 15 Percent"

Life in "Progress" State - California edition

From the Golden State......

California welfare recipients have been able to get taxpayer cash -- meant to feed and clothe needy families -- from ATM machines at strip clubs across the state, including some well-known gentlemen’s cabarets in Los Angeles.

More than $12,000 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was dispensed from the start of 2007 to the end of 2009 at clubs including Sam’s Hofbrau, Seventh Veil and Star Strip, according to officials at the Department of Social Services.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the department to remove the clubs from the official list of businesses where welfare recipients can withdraw benefits using state-issued ATM cards.

Think about this for a moment. Arnold is barring people from using their ATM's in strip clubs but not barring these people from welfare benefits.

So now if you are getting welfare bennies from Uncle Arnold, you're going to have to go to the trouble of going to the grocery store across the street from the strip club before you actually go into the strip club.

Did it ever occur to Uncle Arnold that maybe some of the strippers (single mom recipients of welfare benefits because they're "allegedly" not working) were getting money out of the ATM's because it's easier than driving to the ATM on the way home?

Making it somewhat inconvenient for welfare recipients to go to strip clubs?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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11 Reasons to Vote for Democrats in November

Life in "Progress" State - Hawai'i edition

From the great state of Hawai'i........

Pastor Joe Hunkin picked his way around rusted car axles, propane tanks and two-by-fours studded with bent nails to find a homeless encampment where people have been cooking and sleeping directly behind Waipahu High School, in an area that received unwanted national attention this month.

Hunkin walked past a pit bull puppy and peered over a makeshift shelter of tents and tarp hidden by koa haole and elephant grass, then pointed toward the high school's athletic complex barely a football field away.

"The school is right over there," Hunkin said last week. "This isn't right."

The strip of land is bounded by Waipahu High School on one side and the calming waters of Pearl Harbor's Middle Loch on the other, where the Navy's mothball fleet sits idle. It's the most visible portion of an enormous homeless encampment that stretches five miles over approximately 50 acres of city, Navy and state land that serpentines around Waipio Point Access Road, the Ted Makalena Golf Course and the city's Waipio Soccer Complex and back down to Pearl City in the opposite direction, said Beth Chapman, who uncharacteristically lost a suspect in the swampy brush last year after five straight days of searching the area with her husband, Duane "Dog" Chapman, and their bounty hunting family.

Breeding homelessness and refugee camps like the Sudan?

Now that's "Progressive"!

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Life in "Progress" State - Toll Booth edition

The Gekko's just got back from a long weekend getaway that took us to Chicago to Summerfest in Milwaukee.

One of the things you get when you cruise through these "progressive" areas are tolls........ lot's of tolls.

From Cincinnati to Milwaukee you'll need about 8 bucks for the privilege of driving on a freeway your tax dollars already paid for.

But hey, without the tolls, those roads would be horrible, Right?

Let's just say that the $3.50 toll to ride the Chicago Skyway subsidizes what might be the worst stretch of road in the history of the interstate system. What has all that money done for that 15 mile gravel road?

What's even more interesting is the 80 cent right to drive through Gary Indiana. In all fairness, I'd probably pay $20.00 not to have to stop in Gary.

By the way, it appears the casino in Gary has worked wonders for their economy. Now, people can actually afford to board up their abandoned houses.

Per Mrs. Gekko. "Wow! This area is really spooky looking. It's like a ghost town."

As soon as I bill a few dollars to pay for the tolls I just shelled out for, I'll be back to blogging.

Nutball Rep. Hank Johnson Delusional

"Guam Tipping" Johnson: We need to pass the DISCLOSE Act to stop Republi...

Who is this guy?

Mark Steyn with another head on piece................

Only the other day, Florida Sen. George Lemieux attempted to rouse the president to jump-start America's overpaid, overmanned and oversleeping federal bureaucracy and get it to do something on the oil debacle. There are 2,000 oil skimmers in the United States: Weeks after the spill, only 20 of them are off the coast of Florida. Seventeen friendly nations with great expertise in the field have offered their own skimmers; the Dutch volunteered their "super-skimmers": Obama turned them all down. Raising the problem, Sen. Lemieux found the president unengaged, and uninformed. "He doesn't seem to know the situation about foreign skimmers and domestic skimmers," reported the senator.

He doesn't seem to know, and he doesn't seem to care that he doesn't know, and he doesn't seem to care that he doesn't care. "It can seem that at the heart of Barack Obama's foreign policy is no heart at all," wrote Richard Cohen in The Washington Post last week. "For instance, it's not clear that Obama is appalled by China's appalling human-rights record. He seems hardly stirred about continued repression in Russia.

The president seems to stand foursquare for nothing much.

"This, of course, is the Obama enigma: Who is this guy? What are his core beliefs?"

Gee, if only your newspaper had thought to ask those fascinating questions oh, say, a month before the Iowa caucuses.

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Brewer to Obama: Warning Signs Are Not Enough

The real sin is the carbon footprint

WHY did AL & TIPPER GORE buy $8.8 mill California mansion just prior to publicly announcing their divorce. And WHAT is the real-estate sleight-of-hand they pulled in their home state of Tennessee that experts find "puzzling"?!

A month after scoring their new palatial Montecito estate, Al and Tipper transferred nine properties the wealthy Gores own in Carthage, Tennessee from their own names into a limited liability company (LLP) - a corporate partnership which, legally, is a separate entity.

According to legal docs filed in Tennessee, the transfer of ownership occurred after the accuser in the AL GORE SEX SCANDAL filed a 2009 police complaint accusing the ex-VICE of sexual misconduct.

A real estate insider told The ENQUIRER that such a transfer of ownership protects the valuable assets in potential legal claims.

A limited liability partnership, like a corporation, is a completely separate entity and can not be liable as an asset if someone files personal lawsuits against either Gore.

The Gores also bought the new California mansion under the auspices of a trust which, experts say, can also be shielded from potential legal attack.

So just what is the carbon footprint on nine homes?

I find it amazing that not one liberal has ever found the need to call out the hypocrisy of the Gore's.

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