Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Union Contract: Teachers Can Be Caught In School Drunk Five Times Before Being Fired

The school board approved this???

Forget zero tolerance. Bay City Public School teachers for years could be caught repeatedly under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol without being fired.

Teachers in possession or under the influence of illegal drugs could be caught three times before they lost their job, and they got five strikes if they were drunk on school grounds before being fired. A school district official said the language in the union contract that protects teachers for those instances "was incorporated into the teacher Master Agreement in 1997."

Those protections also were included in the Bay City Education Association teacher’s contract that was agreed to in January in section 16.1300 "Controlled Substances" on page 92. That contract expired June 30 and negotiations on a new contract are ongoing.

Obama, Netanyahu speak by phone

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone Friday, according to the White House. "The two leaders discussed a range of security issues, and the President reaffirmed his and our country’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security," the White house said in a statement.

Food-stamp enrollment hits record 46.7M in June

Obamination.

Food-stamp enrollment climbed to a record 46.7 million people in June, a steadily rising statistic that reflects the trouble millions of Americans have had finding work and paying the bills.

The numbers released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed a slight increase from enrollment in May, which was about 46.5 million. And they reflect a marked increase from the time when President Obama took office, when enrollment was at roughly 32 million.

Durable goods drop worst since recession

I hope the American people begin paying attention.

(Reuters) - New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August fell by the most in 3-1/2 years, pointing to a sharp slowdown in factory activity even as a gauge of planned business spending rebounded.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday durable goods orders dived 13.2 percent, the largest drop since January 2009, when the economy was in the throes of a recession. Orders for July were revised down to show a 3.3 percent increase instead of the previously reported 4.1 percent gain.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected orders for durable goods -- items from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last at least three years -- to fall 5 percent.

And then there's this: Final Q2 GDP Disaster: 1.25% Growth Comes Below Lowest Estimate

Household income down 8.2 percent since Obama took office, study shows

Just another Obama negative that the Lamestream Media chooses to ignore.

Median household incomes have fallen 8.2 percent since President Obama took office and continue to drop despite the official end of the recession, a new study shows. Data compiled by Sentier Research found that since the economic recovery technically began in June 2009, median household income has dropped 5.7 percent. As of August, that median income was $50,678 -- also down 1.1 percent from the month prior. And since Obama took office in January 2009, the median income has fallen 8.2 percent, from $55,198 to its present figure.

"The August decline in real median annual household income is indicative of a struggling economy," Sentier said in its report. "Even though we are technically in an economic recovery, real median annual household income is having a difficult time maintaining its present level, much less 'recovering.'"

Less Than Expected 31,000 New Homes Sold In August

Every single economic indicator that turns out lousy is "unexpected", WHY?

The August new single-family house sales number: 373,000 on an annualized basis, it missed expectations of a rise to 380,000, and was down from a revised 374,000. This is only the second miss in 2012, and confirms that all talk of a housing recovery is misguided, and merely represents one particular segment of the housing market.

Obama to urge UN to confront roots of Muslim rage

Idiot, the very definition of Islam is hatred of liberty, freedom, democracy, equality, Christians, Jews and everything else that is at the core of our great nation. The definitive source of the "rage" is who we are.

NEW YORK (AP) — Campaign politics shadowing every word, President Barack Obama on Tuesday will challenge the world to confront the root causes of rage exploding across the Muslim world, calling it a defining choice "between the forces that would drive us apart and the hopes we hold in common."

Obama will step before the United Nations General Assembly and declare that the United States will not shrink from its role in troubled, transitioning nations despite the killing of four Americans in Libya, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, and more than 50 people total in violence linked at least in part to an anti-Muslim film.

Monday Funny

Republican poll analysis: Romney winning with middle-class families

Bottom line, Obama can't win the election with a middle class vote deficit of these proportions.

In our latest POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll with middle-class families,which comprise about 54 percent of the total American electorate and usually split in their vote behavior between Republicans and Democrats, Romney holds a 14-point advantage (55 percent to 41 percent).

Middle-class families are more inclined to believe the country is on the wrong track (34 percent right direction, 62 percent wrong track), are more likely to hold an unfavorable view of Obama (48 percent favorable, 51 percent unfavorable), and hold a more favorable view of Romney (51 percent favorable, 44 percent unfavorable) and Paul Ryan (46 percent favorable, 35 percent unfavorable) than the overall electorate. These middle-class families also hold a majority disapproval rating on the job Obama is doing as president (45 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove), and turn even more negative toward Obama on specific areas; the economy 56 percent disapprove; spending 61 percent disapprove; taxes, 53 percent disapprove; Medicare 48 percent disapprove; and even foreign policy 50 percent disapprove.

Media Put 18,000 in Not-Quite-Full 5,000-Seat Arena for Obama in Wisconsin

And the media wonders why we don't trust them.

President Barack Obama is having trouble drawing large crowds on the campaign trail. At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, his campaign was forced to move his acceptance speech from the 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium to the 20,000 Time Warner Cable Arena, citing weather as the excuse. But the media are always eager to help--for example, putting 18,000 people inside a 5,000-seat arena at an Obama event in Milwaukee on Saturday.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Report: More than 200 coal-fired generators slated for shutdown

Expect your electic bills to go up....way, way up.

Within the next three to five years, more than 200 coal-fired electric generating units will be shut down across 25 states due to EPA regulations and factors including cheap natural gas, according to a new report by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

“This is further evidence that EPA is waging a war on coal, and a war on affordable electricity prices and jobs. EPA continues to ignore the damage that its new regulations are causing to the U.S. economy and to states that depend on coal for jobs and affordable electricity,” said Mike Duncan, president and CEO of ACCCE, in a statement.

However, ACCCE notes that EPA policies may have played a role more than 4,800 megawatts of announced closures not included on in their report which would bring total shutdowns to 241 coal generator in 30 states — more than 36,000 MW of electric generation or 11 percent of the U.S. coal fleet.

Graphic of the Day

Median income in Ohio hits 27-year low

The fact that this states electoral votes are even close to being up for grabs is truely scary.

Ohio households were poorer last year than they’ve been in more than 25 years, and the number of people living in poverty is higher than it’s been in more than 30 years, according to a census report released yesterday.

When adjusted for inflation, the 2010 annual median household income in Ohio of $46,093 was down by $543 from the previous year, and down 15.3 percent from the peak of $54,395 in 2000, according to the census’s Current Population Survey, which was released yesterday.

Ohio’s level of poverty — 15.3 percent — was worse than the nation’s, which was at 15.1 percent. Ohio’s level jumped 2 percentage points from 2009; it has never been this high since those records were first kept in 1980.

The 15.3 percent translates into 1.74 million Ohio residents living below the poverty line last year, which means a family of four making less than $22,300 a year. About 639,000 Ohioans younger than 18 were in poverty, and 244,000 children younger than 5 were.

Weekly Jobless Claims Still High Amid Wobbly Economy

Forward???

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, unwinding some of the weather-related spike during the previous week, but the underlying tone of the report pointed to some weakening in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to show 3,000 more applications than previously reported. Claims the prior week had been pushed up by Tropical Storm Isaac.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 375,000 last week. A Labor Department official said there were no special factors influencing the report, adding that only claims data for New Mexico had been estimated.

The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, rose 2,000 to 377,750 - the highest level since June. It was the fifth consecutive weekly increase in the measure.

76 upward revisions in 77 weeks. It's the only way they can show a decrease in claims from one week to the next.

Number of able-bodied adults on food stamps doubled after Obama suspended work requirement

Bottom line....Dependency = Democrat voters.

Obama administration officials have insisted that their decision to grant states waivers to redefine work requirements for welfare recipients would not “gut” the landmark 1996 welfare reform law. But a new report from the Congressional Research Service obtained by the Washington Examiner suggests that the administration’s suspension of a separate welfare work requirement has already helped explode the number of able-bodied Americans on food stamps.

In addition to the broader work requirement that has become a contentious issue in the presidential race, the 1996 welfare reform law included a separate rule encouraging able-bodied adults without dependents to work by limiting the amount of time they could receive food stamps. President Obama suspended that rule when he signed his economic stimulus legislation into law, and the number of these adults on food stamps doubled, from 1.9 million in 2008 to 3.9 million in 2010, according to the CRS report, issued in the form of a memo to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

“This report once again confirms that President Obama has severely gutted the welfare work requirements that Americans have overwhelmingly supported since President Clinton signed them into law,” Cantor said in an emailed statement. “It’s time to reinstate these common-sense measures, and focus on creating job growth for those in need.”

Graphic of the Day Part Deux

Graphic of the Day

No demonstration before attack on US Consulate, source says

Was the Obama Administration unabashedly lying to the American people about the cause of the attack solely due to political expedience.........Nah.

An intelligence source on the ground in Libya told Fox News that there was no demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi prior to last week's attack -- challenging the Obama administration's claims that the assault grew out of a "spontaneous" protest against an anti-Islam film.

The intelligence source said no protests were happening before the attackers struck at about 9:35 p.m. local time last Tuesday. The account backs up claims by a purported Libyan security guard who told McClatchy Newspapers late last week that the area was quiet before the attack.

"There wasn't a single ant outside," the unnamed guard, who was being treated in a hospital, said in the interview.

CBS: Obama Leads in Our D+13 Poll

CBS has raised oublatant liberal bias to an art form.

Anyone following the presidential campaign through the prism of media polls is doing themselves a serious disservice. Virtually every one uses a polling sample that is so heavily-skewed towards Democrats that it distorts the actual state of the campaign. Of course, that is a feature, not a bug of the polls. The polls are specifically designed to drive a narrative that Obama is surging and Romney is struggling. Increasingly, though, the polls are having to go to ridiculous efforts to support this meme. Friday's CBS/New York Times poll, for example, uses a D+13 sample of registered voters. This is absurd. In 2008, an historic election wave for Democrats, the electorate was D+7.

In 2004, when George W. Bush won reelection, the electorate was evenly split. In other words, D+0. Repeat after me; the Democrat share of the electorate is not going to double this year. Given the well-noted enthusiasm edge for Republicans this year, the electorate is going to be far closer to the 2004 model than 2008. Any poll trying to replicate the 2008 is going to artificially inflate Obama's support.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Official: No Marines in Libya at time of Benghazi attack

We are truely being governed by amateurs.

No U.S. Marines were in Libya when protesters stormed a diplomatic mission in the eastern city of Benghazi and killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans late Tuesday, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday.

The official’s comments contradict earlier reports of a small Marine presence at State Department facilities in the North African nation.

The U.S. diplomatic compound breached Tuesday by Libyan protesters in Benghazi had a relatively light security posture compared to diplomatic facilities in other conflict zones. Marines are guarding diplomatic facilities in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, Defense Press Secretary George Little told reporters Thursday.

Libyan Official Confirms Benghazi Assault a Pre-Planned Militant Attack Timed for 9-11

Remember it's the media and the Obama administration that's spewing the anti Muslim movie motivation meme. The facts do NOT support this. But then again when has the truth ever gotten in the way of an expedient leftist narrative.

The attack that killed four Americans in Libya, including the U.S. ambassador, was an organized two-part operation by heavily armed militants that included a precisely timed raid on a supposedly secret safe house just as Libyan and U.S. security forces were arriving to rescue evacuated consulate staff, a senior Libyan security official said on Thursday.

Wanis el-Sharef, eastern Libya's deputy interior minister, said the attacks Tuesday night were suspected to have been timed to mark the 9/11 anniversary and that the militants used civilians protesting an anti-Islam film as cover for their action. Infiltrators within the security forces may have tipped off militants to the safe house location, he said.

The Honeymoon is Over

So much for the "convention bounce".

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 48% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns 45% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided. See daily tracking history.

The recent numbers may have been impacted by a number of factors. Clearly, one is the fading of the president’s convention bounce. Last week, Scott Rasmussen anticipated this fade by noting that the conventions would have no lasting impact on the race.

Big Jump in Unemployment Claims

When will Obama start to blame Romney?

(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, with several states reporting an increase related to Tropical Storm Isaac. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, the highest in two months, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised UP to show 2,000 more applications than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 370,000 last week.

75 upward revisions in 76 weeks. Does anyone honestly believe that's not intentional?

Household income drops for 4th straight year

Who wants 4 more years of this?

The income of the typical American household fell last year for the fourth consecutive year, the longest sustained period of decline since the early 2000s. Americans are now poorer than they were in 1999 after taking into account how inflation erodes the value of the dollar.

Median household income fell after adjusting for inflation to $50,100 in 2011, down 1.5% from a year earlier.

The Census Bureau's annual income report is considered a key indicator of the economic health of the nation and its middle class. Median income is the true middle point of American households — half made more, half made less in 2011.

OBAMA REPEATS HILLARY'S FALSE NARRATIVE ON DEATH OF AMBASSADOR

Monkey see, monkey do.

Obama made a brief statement this morning about the death of American Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans at our Libyan consulate on yesterday. Obama's prepared remarks reflected virtually word for word an earlier statement made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Despite a CBS News report to the contrary, Obama claimed that the Libyan security forces "fought back against the attackers." He also claimed that Libyan civilians attempted to aid Ambassador Stevens by transporting him to the hospital...

Photographic images told a different story of the crowd's conduct, however. Rather than aiding Ambassador Stevens, the crowd appeared to be dragging him through the streets. One image showed a member of the crowd carrying an unidentified man that appears to be Ambassador Stevens on his shoulders like a hunting trophy.

GM Should Shut Down Volt Production Until Car Makes A Profit

Unlike the Federal government, the Free Market demands you make a profit or you don't have a business.

Reuters reports that General Motors "is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds." This is no shocker, but it should be an alarm to voters who think this president deserves another term. A little more than two weeks ago, the Obama administration released rules mandating a near-doubling of gas mileage standards for cars sold in the U.S. The mandate will not be met at no expense. The industry can't magically build fleets that average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 without steep cost increases just because politicians and bureaucrats demand that it does.

Falling for Fourth Year, U.S. Slips to World's Seventh Most Competitive

Another dubious Obama milestone.

Just 60 days before the U.S. presidential election, a report released on Wednesday shows the U.S. once again has slipped among its peers on the list of the world’s most competitive nations.

The U.S. has fallen for the fourth straight year, by two spots, to the seventh most competitive country, according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 by the World Economic Forum.

It is now led by Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

“In addition to the burgeoning macroeconomic vulnerabilities, some aspects of the country’s institutional environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency,” the World Economic Forum said in the report.

BTW we were first in 2008.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Unemployment Drops to 5.1 Percent—For Government Workers; Lowest Among All Industries

The ultimate leftist Utopia would be every man, women and child on the government payroll. You know, kinda like the  USSR back in the day.

(CNSNews.com) - There was good news for American workers in August—if government was their employer.

The unemployment rate for government wage and salaries workers dropped from 5.7 percent in July to 5.1 percent in August. At the same time, the number of government wage and salary workers counted as unemployed dropped by 123,000 people from 1,182,000 in July to 1,059,000 in August.

The overall national unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August.

Four years of LIES

Short video illustrating just a few of Obama's biggest whoppers HERE.

Definately worth a watch!

Pathetic 96K Jobs Added In August

Headlines:

Manufacturing employment down in August (-15,000).

Total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from +64,000 to +45,000, and the change for July was revised from +163,000 to +141,000. 368,000 dropped out of workforce (quit looking).

Labor force participation rate drops again, lowest in 30 years (63.5%)

More gruesome details HERE.

DNC County Chairman: Christians Want Jewish People to Die

Mark Alan Siegel, Palm Beach County Democrat Chairman. This crazy bedbug has NOT been fired but, rather, given a leave of absence untill this blows over. VIDEO HERE.

Thursday Funny

Registered and Likely voter fundamentals point to big Election night for Republicans

This combined with a large disparity in "voter enthusiasm" could spell real trouble for the Democrats.

For the first time in the history of it asking the question, Gallup polling company has found that more registered voters favor the Republicans than the Democrats. Although the difference is just 44/43, this represents an 11 point drop in favorability for the “Democrat brand” since 2008. It is the Democrats worst pre convention rating since 1992.

Moreover, in the years since Barack Obama took office the Party identification of registered voters has shown a steep drop for the Democrats. At their highest level the Democrats surpassed Republicans by an eye popping 53/34. Now Gallup’s survey of those claiming to be “registered voters” shows that gap has all been wiped away. Counting “leaners” it is now just 44/43 in favor of the Democrats.

Since Obama’s election Democrats have fallen 24 points in overall favorability but among Independents Democrats have slide from 47% to 35% and now stand 3 points below Republicans.

U.S. Manufacturing Activity Unexpectedly Falls in August

There's that word again.

U.S. manufacturing shrank at its sharpest clip in more than three years in August, the third month of contraction in a row, and firms hired the fewest workers since late 2009, a survey on Tuesday showed.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 49.6 in August from 49.8 in July.

The reading fell shy of the 50.0 median estimate in a Reuters poll of economists. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.

Monday Funny

Household income is below recession levels, report says

Oh my what Obama has done for the middle class.

Household income is down sharply since the recession ended three years ago, according to a report released Thursday, providing another sign of the stubborn weakness of the economic recovery.

From June 2009 to June 2012, inflation-adjusted median household income fell 4.8 percent, to $50,964, according to a report by Sentier Research, a firm headed by two former Census Bureau officials.

DNC Erecting Creepy Giant Obama Sculpture

Forget the marble pillars, this time there will be a giant 16-foot sculpture of Obama made out of 15.5 tons of sand at the Democratic National Convention. Building a giant sand sculpture of a living leader might be considered a bit tacky with its worshipful implications, but building one during a hurricane in South Carolina is in particularly bad taste.

But if nothing else, at least Obama has found one “Shovel Ready Project”. And this isn’t even the creepiest giant Obama sand sculpture ever made. The winner of that particular competition is still Sudarsan Pattnaik with this nightmare made out of sand.

Looks like Al Jolson in Black face.