Thursday Funny

New Obamacare ID Card Out Just in Time For Holloween

White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say

Of course they did.

The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies.

The resistance emerged as the White House said it would curtail foreign intelligence collection in some cases and two senior U.S. senators called for investigations of the practice.

Monday Funny

Detroit Plans to Cut Pensions by 84% or 16¢ on the Dollar

Memo to Union employees, you reap what you sow.

Another Democrat Success Story— The 23,500 pensioners in Detroit are going to have to adjust their budgets. The city plans on cutting pensions by 84 percent. Doug Ross and Reuters reported:

On Friday, city financial consultant Kenneth Buckfire said he did not have to recommend to Orr that pensions for the city’s retirees be cut as a way to help Detroit navigate through debts and liabilities that total $18.5 billion.

Buckfire said it was clear that the city did not have the funds to pay the unsecured pension payouts without cutting them.

“It was a function of the mathematics,” said Buckfire, who said he did not think it was necessary for him or anyone else to recommend pension cuts to Orr.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov't Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

Well, the government has finally done it.....put more people on the dole than are full time workers.

Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau. They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

Crime Is Getting Worse: Violent Crime In America Increased By 15 Percent Last Year

Just another wonderful dividend courtesy of Obama's America.

If your neighborhood is not as safe as it used to be, then you have something in common with the rest of the country. All over America, crime is on the rise. According to a government survey that was just released, violent crime in the United States increased by 15 percent last year, and property crime was up by 12 percent. If violent crime keeps increasing at this rate, it will approximately double in just six years. But as I wrote about the other day, when the next major economic downturn strikes it will probably greatly accelerate the growth of the crime rate in this country.

Desperate people do desperate things, and as you will read about below, there are people out there that are already stealing entire truckloads of food. In the future, when people are extremely hungry or crazy for their next drug hit, they won’t think twice about invading your home or pulling you out of your vehicle. The rise in crime that we are witnessing right now is just the beginning. It is going to get a lot worse than this.

Whenever I do this type of an article, inevitably someone leaves a comment insisting that I am lying because crime rates are going down.

Well, that used to be true. It is no longer accurate.

White House says it was behind Durbin ‘miscommunication’

I wonder if we'll get a retraction and apology from MSNBC (extreme sarcasm).

The White House on Thursday said it was behind a miscommunication that caused Senate Democrats to think a Republican lawmaker told President Obama at a private budget meeting, “I can’t even stand to look at you.”

For a second day in a row, the White House said the incident did not happen, but Thursday it also apologized for the confusion and accepted blame.

“While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the president is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding,” a White House official said.

Quote of the Day

Addressing Obama's ridiculous attempts to place the blame on the Republicans for Obamacares epic rollout failure an anonymous source commented: "It's a game of pin the fail on the honky."

Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic ties with US over response to conflict in Syria

Just another example Obama continuing to improve our image throughout the world.

Upset at President Barack Obama's policies on Iran and Syria, members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are threatening a rift with the United States that could take the alliance between Washington and the kingdom to its lowest point in years.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a 'major shift' in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria's civil war as well as recent U.S. overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that the United States had failed to act effectively against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.

Experts stunned at cost for Healthcare.gov website development

Typical government program... barely functional, inneficient and grossly overpriced.

My overall sense, right from day one, was it was created by people who had never created a commercial database application before," said FMS Software developer Luke Chung.

Chung looked over the site and was stunned by the code and the cost - by some estimates, perhaps $200 million.

Chung continued, “At $200 an hour, that would be a million man hours, 5,000 man years. I don't think they had time to use 5,000 man years. So I don't know where the money went. I don't know what these people were doing. There're not that many web pages. I don't get it! Where'd the money go.

US Navy's largest destroyer ever built gets ready to set sail

With its fearsome array of weapons, radar evading silhouette and $7billion price tag, this is one of America's most deadly - and expensive - warships ever. USS Zumwalt - the largest destroyer ever made - is just days away from leaving the specially constructed dry docks and entering the water.
Equipped with guns capable of firing warheads 100 miles, stealth features, and engine able to generate enough power to run 78,000 homes, America is hoping it with guarantee its naval supremacy for decades to come.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Saturday Funny

Poll: Grimes Edging McConnell in Kentucky

GOOD, McConnell needs to go!

Voters in the Bluegrass State aren't pleased with the state of affairs in Washington, and they appear to be taking it out on Mitch McConnell.

The Senate minority leader narrowly trails Kentucky's Democratic secretary of state, Alison Lundergan Grimes, in his 2014 re-election bid, according to a new survey conducted by the Democratically affiliated Public Policy Polling for progressive group Americans United for Change.

Lundergan Grimes leads McConnell by a two-point margin (45 percent to 43 percent), which is within the poll’s margin of error (plus or minus 2.8 percent). Twelve percent of respondents remained undecided.

Cruz: I didn’t come to the Senate to get 99 new friends

It's unfortunate for the country your Republican bretheren don't feel that way.

An old adage (misattributed to Harry Truman by Maureen Dowd) advises newcomers to Washington that if they want to make a friend, they should buy a dog. Ted Cruz echoes that advice in a new interview with ABC News, in which he says that his ambitions in Washington didn’t involve becoming a beloved member of the clubbiest club in the world:

There’s an old saying that, ‘Politics, it ain’t beanbag.’ And, you know, I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate,” Cruz told ABC News’ Jon Karl in his first on-camera interview after the shutdown came to an end Wednesday night.

And he made it clear that he thinks his Republican colleagues in the Senate are responsible for sabotaging his effort to tie funding for the government to an effort to defund or delay the health care law.

Budget deal includes $174K payout to widow of millionaire Senator

Beyond digraceful.

Buried inside the budget deal brokered by Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid: a payout to the millionaire widow of the late Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg. There is appropriated for payment to Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, widow of Frank R. Lautenberg, late a Senator from New Jersey, $174,000.”

Agreed to by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate.

Lautenberg’s networth was $56.8 million last year.

Fukushima Industries unveils new mascot with an unfortunate name

The perfect mascot for Obamacare.

Anti-Redskins Indian leader not a legitimate member of his tribe

The American Indian leader spearheading the campaign to change the name of the Washington Redskins is not a legitimate member of the tribe he leads, according to a New York State Assemblywoman, but rather an Obama crony who is raking in casino money and paying back only small stipends to his tribe members.

Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter, who is also the CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises, is not recognized in his position by the Grand Council of Chiefs governing the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. Halbritter is not a legitimate member of the Oneida tribe, Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney told The Daily Caller.

“He is not even technically an Oneida. There is not a drop of Oneida in him,” Tenney said. “He has no ancestry in the Six Nations but he has a lot of powerful friends in D.C.,” Tenney said.
.

Obama Job Disapproval at Record 53 %

Gallop has his current job approval at 41% with 53% disapproving.

Graph HERE.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

EBT System Goes Down: Obama Voters Threaten Mass Riots

Food stamp recipients will get a $100 bonus in their account to make up for today’s “inconvenience". Guess who's paying for that.

Today, the Electronic Benefits Transfer system (electronic food stamps debit card) went down in several states due to a computer glitch, and Obama voters are going nuts on Twitter, threatening mass rioting. This is free government money gone bad and exactly what’s wrong with our country.

Graphic of the Day

Only 2 People Attend 'Obamacare and You!' Event in South Carolina

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHA.

Last night, the organization formerly known as President Obama's reelection campaign, Organizing for Action, held an Obamacare event in Greenville, South Carolina. The event was called "Obamacare and You!"

"Let's discuss what this Affordable Care Act means for you and your community. This session will help you understand the benefits and will equip you to spread the word about the benefits of Obamacare in your community. Come out and get the facts!!," the event advertisement said.

But it wasn't widely attended. Only two people, in addition to the two organizers, showed up.

Scott Carpenter, Mercury Astronaut Who Orbited Earth, Dies at 88

Godspeed hero.

M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical glitches and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site, died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America’s original space program, Project Mercury.

Ex-Detroit mayor sentenced to 28 years in prison for corruption

3/4 of the elected officials in Detroit need the same treatment.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for corruption, the apparent last step after a series of scandals destroyed his political career and helped steer a crisis-laden city even deeper into trouble.

Kilpatrick, who served as mayor from 2002 until fall 2008, fattened his bank account by tens of thousands of dollars, traveled the country in private planes and even strong-armed his campaign fundraiser for stacks of cash hidden in her bra, according to evidence at trial.

Graphic of the Day

Government shutdown 2013: Military death benefits withheld for grieving families

Yet Andrews Golf Course (the Presidents course of choice) remains unaffected.

(WJLA) - The government shutdown is causing branches of the United States military to withhold death benefits for the survivors of members of the military killed in action.

Defense officials said Monday that among many critical programs and benefits for military members being stifled due to the shutdown, family members of several troops killed in action are not able to access the gratuities guaranteed to them.

These benefits, according to the Associated Press and USA Today, include a $100,000 cash payment due within three days of a service member's death, travel costs to and from Dover Air Force Base to meet a loved one's remains, costs to cover memorial services, caskets and burial expenses and other costs.

After Bad Press and Confusion, Justice Department Restores Federal Amber Alert Website

Someone with at least half a brain realized this was a PR disaster.

After being taken down, officially because of the government shutdown, the federal website dealing with alerts about abducted children – AmberAlert.gov – was restored Monday morning.

Sunday Funny

Police prevent drivers from pulling over and viewing Mt. Rushmore

Saturday Funny

Priests threatened with arrest if they minister to military during shutdown

Now this is truely INSANE!

In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.

“With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer,” wrote John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so.”

According to its website, the Archdiocese for the Military Services “provides the Catholic Church’s full range of pastoral ministries and spiritual services to those in the United States Armed Forces.”

Poll shocker: Too close to call in Virginia governor's race, 33%-32%, McAuliffe over Cuccinelli

This is a shocker as this race had all been written off.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has caught up to former Democratic Party boss and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe in the race to be the next governor of Virginia, according to a new poll from Zogby Analytics and Newsmax.

With just a month to go, the poll of 600 likely voters in Virginia is in the margin or error: 33 percent for McAuliffe, 32 percent for Cuccinelli.

The Cuccinelli surge follows last week’s candidate debate in Fairfax where the Republican landed some punches and looked gubernatorial.

Shutdown Theater: NPS Orders Closure of Park that Receives No Federal Funding

Obama and his jackboots are setting themselves up for a major bitchslap from the American people if they aren't damn careful.

The National Park Service has ordered the closure of a Virginia park that sits on federal land, even though the government provides no resources for its maintenance or operation.

The Claude Moore Colonial Farm announced on Wednesday that NPS has ordered it to suspend operations until Congress agrees to a deal to fund the federal government.

According to Anna Eberly, managing director of the farm, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property.

“You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don’t have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money,” she said.

Quote of the Day

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” Then-Sen. Barack Obama, floor speech in the Senate, March 16, 2006