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

Rush Caller

A caller just proposed, what I think is a really good idea.

The House send the bill back to the Senate and says, "Ok, we'll give you Obamacare. BUT...nobody gets exemptions. Not the unions, not Congress, not any of Obama's friends. No one."

This put the Rats on the defensive, as they try to explain why they'll shutdown the govt. rather than take away obamacare exemptions for a privileged few.

Excellent.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Photoshop of the Day

Ted Cruz now leads GOP presidential pack: poll

A-OK by me.

Fresh off his 21-hour filibuster against Obamacare funding, a new poll shows that Sen. Ted Cruz has leapfrogged past his potential rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and that GOP primary voters trust him more than their party leaders on Capitol Hill.

Public Policy Polling survey found that 20 percent of those surveyed supported Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, while 17 percent supposed Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 14 percent supported New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 11 percent supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Boehner: No Funding Bill Without 1-Year Obamacare Delay

Showing some spine?

Speaker John Boehner said Thursday the GOP-controlled House will not accept a temporary spending bill from the Democratic Senate if it is shorn clean of a tea party plan to "defund Obamacare."

don't see that happening," Boehner told reporters.

the same time, the Ohio Republican said House GOP leaders would unveil legislation to lift the government's borrowing cap, but only if the new health care law is delayed for a year. He defended that measure's relatively modest spending cuts even as some rank-and-file conservatives pressed for more.

President Obama's best friend from high school 'brutally beat and raped woman in her apartment'

Birds of a feather...

President Obama's high school best friend, who at one time was 'like a brother' to him, has been accused of brutally raping and beating a woman, it emerged today.

Keith Kiyoshi Kakugawa, 54, from Eureka, California, was arrested at his home last Sunday and booked into Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment, sexual penetration by force, oral copulation by force and battery.

The arrest is the latest in a long list of convictions for Kakugawa, who was close friends with the President when they both attended Panahou High School.

Stands to reason as Obama's been raping this country for going on 5 years.

Rand Paul wants Chief Justice Roberts all federal workers to enroll in Obamacare

Absolutely right. If one has to suffer this train wreck, ALL must.

Arguing federal workers should not get special treatment, Rand Paul says he does not want taxpayers subsidizing the personal health-care plans of any federal employee — including Chief Justice John Roberts — anymore.

With some in Congress arguing lawmakers and their staff should not get subsidies to cover their health insurance as President Obama’s health-care law goes into effect, the Republican senator from Kentucky told The Daily Caller on Sunday that he’s going to start pushing a constitutional amendment that goes even further. Paul’s proposal — outlawing any special exemptions for government employees — would mean all federal workers would have to purchase health insurance on the new Obamacare exchanges instead of getting taxpayer-funded subsidies. Some critics say those subsidies amount to special treatment. The Obamacare health insurance exchange opens Oct 1.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Harvard study shows gun control doesn't save Lives

No surprise to those of us who have been p[aying attention.

Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy has just released a study of the relative effects of stringent gun laws. They found that a country like Luxenbourg, which bans all guns has a murder rate that is 9 times higher than Germany, where there are 30,000 guns per 100,000 people. They also cited a study by the U.S.National Academy of Sciences, which studied 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and it failed to find one gun control initiative that worked.

In fact, in many cases it found that violence is very often lower, where guns are more readily available. The report points to a myth that guns are more easily obtained in the United States than in Europe. That is factually incorrect.

Gay activist planned to shoot first, rub Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his victims’ faces later

Don't you just love starting the weekend on a happy note.

WASHINGTON - A Virginia man who had planned to shoot people at a conservative Washington lobbying group and then rub Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his victims’ faces was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday.

The man, 29-year-old Floyd Corkins II, in August last year attempted to carry into the Family Research Center a 9-millimeter handgun, two spare ammunition magazines and a backpack containing 15 day-old chicken sandwiches from the fast-food chain whose president was known for having voiced opposition to gay marriage.

Tom DeLay verdict overturned by Texas appellate court

Good, the trial was a complete sham

Texas Court of Appeals in Austin has overturned the conviction of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, attorney Brian Wice told KVUE sister station KHOU 11 News.

Now it's time to indict the prosecutor for malicious prosecution.

Wednesday Funny

Employment gap between rich, poor widest on record

Precisely the opposite of what Obama said he would accomplish.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The gap in employment rates between America's highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to an analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press.

Rates of unemployment for the lowest-income families - those earning less than $20,000 - have topped 21 percent, nearly matching the rate for all workers during the 1930s Great Depression.

U.S. households with income of more than $150,000 a year have an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, a level traditionally defined as full employment. At the same time, middle-income workers are increasingly pushed into lower-wage jobs. Many of them in turn are displacing lower-skilled, low-income workers, who become unemployed or are forced to work fewer hours, the analysis shows.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Retail sales fall short in August, temper Fed speculation

This economy can be explained in just one word.....TEPID.

U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in August even as demand increased for automobiles and other big-ticket items, the latest sign that economic growth slowed in the third quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Friday retail sales increased 0.2 percent last month as Americans bought automobiles, furniture and electronics and appliances.

However, they cut back on clothing, building materials and sporting goods.

Graphic of the Day

The MSM is crowing that the worst is over, all is good now. Don't you believe it.

Colorado voters oust Democratic state senators over gun control

Hopefully this is a preview of coming attractions across the country

(Reuters) - Colorado voters ousted two Democratic lawmakers, including the state senate president, in a historic recall vote on Tuesday over their support for tougher gun control laws, handing a major victory to gun rights supporters.

The recall races, the first in Colorado history, are at the epicenter of the national fight over gun control in the aftermath of a series of mass shootings last year, and were seen as a test of the sway of lobbyists on both sides of the debate.

State Senate President John Morse, who helped lead efforts in the state legislature to ban ammunition magazines with more than 15 rounds and to require background checks for private gun sales and transfers, said he had "absolutely no regrets" about pushing the gun-control measures.

U.S. Admits No Imminent Threat from Syria, No Clear Evidence Assad Ordered Chemical Weapons Attack

All the rhetoric, bluster and speechifying in the world won't change the fact that they simply don't have the evidence.

Obama’s top aide says the administration lacks “irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence” that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking. In an interview Sunday in Damascus, Assad told American journalist Charlie Rose there is no conclusive evidence about who is to blame for the chemical weapons attacks and again suggested the rebels were responsible. Rose said Assad also warned him previous U.S. military efforts in the region have proved disastrous.

Thanks RR.

Friday Funny

August Jobs Report: 169,000 Jobs Added

This report is the most massaged, contrived and manipulated POS in the history of government reporting.

Job growth in the U.S. is slowing, the Labor Department confirmed today, reporting that 169,000 jobs were added in August as unemployment fell to 7.3 percent.

Economists were expecting a gain of 180,000 jobs, according to a Bloomberg survey. They expected unemployment to stay at 7.4 percent.

Last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the economy added 162,000 jobs in July. The bureau today revised that figure downward to 104,000 and it lowered the June figure to 172,000 from 188,000.

SUSPENDED: Michigan State removes liberal professor who went on anti-Republican tirade

Well, you could knock me over with a feather...

Michigan State administrators have suspended Prof. William Penn for the remainder of the semester, after he was caught on video going on an anti-Republican tirade on the very first day of his literature class.

In an email to students Thursday morning, Dean Karen Wurst of the College of Arts & Letters, cited his “inappropriate, disrespectful and offensive” comments.

“On Aug. 29, during your Literatures, Cultures, Identities course, Professor William Penn made comments he has acknowledged were inappropriate, disrespectful and offensive and may have negatively affected the learning environment,” she wrote. “Once MSU was made aware of the situation the Office of the Provost immediately began a review.”

“As a result, Penn’s duties have been reassigned, and he will not be teaching this semester,” she added. “A new instructor is being assigned to your course.”

Rebuffing Obama, McCain a No-Vote on Syria: Courtship by the president comes up short

Now this surprises me.

Sen. John McCain pulled his support Wednesday for the Senate resolution authorizing limited strikes in Syria, a blow to President Barack Obama’s campaign to get congressional approval for military action in the war-torn country.

McCain, the Arizona Republican and Obama’s 2008 White House rival, has long been a strong advocate for intervention in Syria’s civil war, and Obama doggedly courted McCain’s support for the measure authorizing military force, including during a meeting at the White House on Monday. But McCain said the limited actions that would be authorized by the resolution don’t go far enough in responding to Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons last month.

Wonder how long before lap dog Lindsey does an about face.

DOJ Sues Louisiana to Stop School Voucher Program Helping Black Students

Short sighted, myopic imbeciles.

Last week, Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, fresh off its controversial decision to sue the state of Texas of its voter identification law, sued the state of Louisiana to block its school voucher program largely designed to help minority children. The DOJ sued to stop 34 school district from giving out private-school vouchers, claiming that such vouchers slowed the “desegregation progress.”

A full 90% of the children who benefit from the voucher program are black. The remaining 10% came from 22 school districts under desegregation orders handed down five decades ago, which prompted the DOJ to state, “the voucher recipients were in the racial minority at the public school they attended before receiving the voucher.” As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, “Justice is claiming that the voucher program may be illegal because minority kids made their failing public schools more white by leaving those schools to go to better private schools.” As black kids go to better schools, the schools left behind become less integrated, the logic goes. So keep those black kids in those failing schools.

Typically, vouchers enhance integration by allowing educational opportunities to children who have not had them before. But that’s not the point. The point is that teachers unions lose leverage when kids opt out of their failing school systems. And Eric Holder’s DOJ will do anything to help their union allies out.

Or are they just attempting to keep them on the plantation? An educated Black doesn't neccessarily vote Democrat.

Rangel: 'Of course it's embarrassing'

If anyone is an expert on "embarrassing" behavior it's Charlie Rangel.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Monday said "of course it's embarrassing" that President Obama warned Syria of a red line for using chemical weapons but then didn't move forward immediately with a military strike.

Rangel, who opposes a military strike against Syria, also said Secretary of State John Kerry must be even more embarrassed after making an aggressive speech calling for a military strike on Friday, and then seeing Obama delay it to ask Congress for authorization a day later.

Speaking on MSNBC, Rangel said "I love Obama" and you'll "never find a truer Democrat than me."

But he said the idea that a president could draw a red line and push the nation into war was "unheard of.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Breaking news: Rebels admit gas attack result of mishandling chemical weapons

Have always believed this was more than a remote possibility.

On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry said: That Assad’s guilt was “a judgment already clear to the world," according to theguardian.com.

The interviews conducted of residents, rebels and their families in Damascus and Ghouta are painting a different picture of what actually happened. Many believe that rebels received chemical weapons provided through the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. It's being reported that these weapons are responsible for last week's gas attack.

The story is from journalist Dale Gavlak who has written articles for the Associated Press, NPR and BBC. He is a Middle Eastern journalist, his articles also appear on the Mint Press News, which is affiliated with AP.

Local McDonald’s Forced To Close Amid Protest For Higher Wages

Have some good news and some bad news....The good news is we raised your pay to $15/hour, the bad news is we have to let you go.

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ/AP) - A local McDonald’s restaurant was forced to close after its employees walked out and hundreds gathered outside to protest for higher wages.

The restaurant on 8 Mile and Lahser roads along the Detroit/Southfield city line was just one location locally where fast food workers are participating in a nationwide “walkout for better wages.”

Over 200 protestors crowded the restaurant, carrying signs that read “We are worth more. Strike for 15,” as in $15 an hour

Verdict: Maj. Nidal Hasan sentenced to death for Fort Hood shooting rampage

This is one execution I'd pay to see.

FORT HOOD – U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan will be executed for the 2009 shooting rampage on post that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

The jury panel of 13 U.S. Army officers delivered the verdict on post moments before 2 p.m. Wednesday. They deliberated for less than three hours.

Last Friday, the same panel unanimously found Hasan guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Kentucky students to first lady Michelle Obama: Your food ‘tastes like vomit’

Nanny state communism at it's finest...

Kentucky students to first lady Michelle Obama: Your food ‘tastes like vomit’

The Daily Caller 1 hour ago EducationSchool district.

Students in a rural Kentucky county — and their parents — are the latest to join a growing national chorus of scorn for the healthy school lunches touted by first lady Michelle Obama.

U.S. durable goods post largest drop in nearly a year

Another "Summer of Recovery" fails to materialize.

(Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in nearly a year in July and a gauge of planned business spending on capital goods tumbled, casting a shadow over the economy early in the third quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Monday durable goods orders dropped 7.3 percent as demand for goods ranging from aircraft to computers and defense equipment fell. That was the biggest decline since last August and snapped three consecutive months of gains

Orders for these goods, which range from toasters to aircraft, had increased 3.9 percent in June.

Thanks RR.

The Christopher Lane Murder Wasn't a Tragedy, It Was a Hate Crime

Personally I think the whole notion of something being classified as "hate crime" and treated differently than a regular crime is misguided at best. But if we have to live with that designation this certainly would fit the definition.

Three Oklahoma teens are accused of shooting and killing 23-year-old Chris Lane, an Australian student visiting the United States on a baseball scholarship. Sixteen-year-old Chancey Luna, along with his friends James Edwards and Michael Jones, have been charged in connection to the slaying. Not only was the case possibly a hate crime, it should spark a national conversation about the way our media treats race.

The tweets and Facebook status updates from accounts linked to James Edwards paint a very clear picture of someone obsessed with violence and hatred for white people. Edwards had no problem putting violent and hate-filled messages like "90% of white ppl are nasty. #HATE THEM." or "knocked out 5 woods since Zimmerman court." out for public consumption. "Woods" is a slang term for white people.

Is Obama Good for Black Americans?

Yet they continue to vote for him at a ratio of 92%-8%, unbelievable.

Buried in a New York Times story about the economy was this arresting statistic: Median family income for black Americans has declined a whopping 10.9 percent during the Obama administration. It has declined for other groups as well -- 3.6 percent for non-Hispanic whites and 4.5 percent for Hispanics - but the figure for blacks is huge. This decline does not include losses suffered during the financial crisis and the recession that followed, but it instead measures declines since June 2009, when the recession officially ended.

That's not the only bad news for African-Americans. The poverty rate for blacks is now 25.8 percent. The black labor force participation rate, which rose throughout the 1980s and 1990s, has declined for the past decade and quite sharply under Obama to 61.4 percent. The black unemployment rate, according to Pew Research, stands at 13.4 percent. Among black, male, high school dropouts, PBS' Paul Salmon reports, the unemployment rate is a staggering 95 percent.

Thursday Funny

Talk about creepy!

ACT test results: Only 5% of black students 'fully ready' for college

Buckwheat says...Do the simple math: If it only costs $8,000 per year for public schooling (and in many districts it costs much more), then it costs about $100,000 to bring a single black student to the point they graduate high school and go on to enter college. But at 5% readiness, it costs $2 MILLION dollars to bring a single black student to be ready for college, ignoring how few black youth stay in school to even take the ACT let alone graduate. How can we bring ourselves to admit that the public school model is broken and dangerously so? Clearly, it is time for alternatives such as allowing parents to choose how they want their own children to be educated and where.

Yep.

WASHINGTON — Just a quarter of this year's high school graduates who took the ACT tests have the reading, math, English and science skills they need to succeed in college or a career, according to data the testing company released Wednesday.

The numbers are even worse for black high school graduates: Only 5 percent are fully ready for life after high school.

The results, part of ACT's annual report, indicate thousands of students graduate from high schools without the knowledge necessary for the next steps in life. The data also show a downturn in overall student scores, although company officials attribute the slide to updated standards and more students taking the exams - including those with no intention of attending two- or four-year colleges.

Quote of the Day

"Praying for the family of Chris Lane. This senseless violence is frowned upon and the justice system must prevail."— Rev Jesse Jackson Sr (@RevJJackson) August 21, 2013

Beyond comment.

UPS Responds to Obamacare By Dropping Spousal Coverage

Just another of the thousands of negative unintended cosequences provided by the Obamacare trainwreck.

United Parcel Service Inc. plans to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. The Atlanta-based logistics company points to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as a big reason for the decision, reports Kaiser Health News.

The decision comes as many analysts are downplaying the Affordable Care Act’s effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move reflects a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits, Kaiser Health News reports. But UPS repeatedly cites Obamacare to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether it erodes traditional employer coverage, Kaiser says.

Three teens accused of murder of baseball player Chris Lane identified

They said they were "bored" and "did it for fun". This story was buried by several news outlets with no mention of the perpetrators' race in the articles, much less the headlines. Black on white violent crimes occur daily and are often racially motivated, but they don't fit with the Left's prevailing narrative of blacks as perpetual victims of racist whites.

THE images of three youths police say murdered Melbourne baseballer Christopher Lane have emerged.

The Oklahoma teens who face first-degree murder charges have been named as Chancey Luna, James Edwards and Michael Jones.

But their parents yesterday protested their innocence. Jennifer Luna, whose son is suspected of firing the fatal shot, claimed her son was at home saying: "My son is not that way. My son is a good kid.

Authorities: Iowa couple shot, killed escaped inmate

Don't you just love a happy ending.

BEDFORD, Iowa —Law enforcement authorities said Tuesday that an Iowa couple shot and killed an escaped inmate after being held in their home for four hours.

Authorities said Rodney Long forced his way into the couple's home at 2609 Highland Avenue about 10:15 p.m. and held them for the next four hours.

The couple said Long was armed by a semi automatic handgun. He had also taken their phones.

The couple, ages 71 and 66, decided to defend themselves, authorities said.

Regulation nation: Obama expands the regulatory state

Believe it or not there are people out there that think this is a good thing.

President Obama has overseen a dramatic expansion of the regulatory state that will outlast his time in the White House.

The reach of the executive branch has advanced steadily on his watch, further solidifying the power of bureaucrats who churn out regulations that touch nearly every aspect of American life and business.

Experts debate whether federal rulemaking has accelerated under Obama, but few dispute that Washington — for better or worse — is reaching deeper than ever before into the workings of society.

“It would be difficult for anyone to pretend that this isn’t a high water mark in terms of regulation,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office who now heads the American Action Forum.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR

Oklahoma's ban on Sharia law thrown out by federal judge

An Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would bar the state's courts from considering or using Sharia law was ruled unconstitutional Thursday by a federal judge in Oklahoma City.

In finding the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause, U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the certification of the results of the state question that put the Sharia law ban into the state constitution.

"While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried out, the Court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest in upholding an individual's constitutional rights," the judge wrote.

This women is an imbecile. What in the world does she think Sharia law does exactly?

As Detroit Goes, So Goes the Nation

Detroit is the poster child for economic decline. The city’s policies and politics over the past half-century should serve as a “do not” guide for policymakers across the country.

There’s a great deal lawmakers in Washington can learn. The first is understanding that Detroit’s demise was the result of big-government, liberal policies promoted by self-interested politicians and coercive public employee unions.

Body Count Keeps Rising Under Gun Walking Operation Fast And Furious

Just another "phony scandal"

Three more weapons from the Fast and Furious gun walking operation by U.S. law enforcement "have turned up at crime scenes in Mexico" as reported by Sharyl Attkisson for CBS News:

"A steady stream of the guns have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S. But the Justice Department has refused repeated requests from Congress and CBS News to provide a full accounting. An estimated 1,400 guns are still on the street or unaccounted for."

Over 200 people have been killed, including border patrol agent Brian Terry, by Fast and Furious guns.

The Justice Department says it hoped the walked guns would lead to cartel leaders but the purported explanation makes no sense on its face because tracking devices were not placed on any of the subject weapons, and they would be recovered only later at murder scenes which invariably involve expendable soldiers -- often teenagers -- rather than powerful bosses.

Bush rodeo clown allowed in '94, Obama clown banned forever

More Fascism on parade.

While there is no written law, we may have finally reached a place in America where it’s forbidden to publicly mock the president of the United States — assuming the president is an African-American and a member of the Democratic Party.

The outcry over a rodeo clown donning a mask resembling President Obama reached a new level of absurdity when it was reported Monday that the man behind the mask has been permanently banned from performing at the fair ever again, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Missouri State Fair officials barred the rodeo clown from ever performing at the fair again and are requiring that “all officials and subcontractors associated with the association must participate in “sensitivity training,” the Post-Dispatch noted.

...In fact, it was documented back in 1994 that a dummy wearing a President George H.W. Bush mask, propped up by a broomstick, was employed as a decoy during a bull riding riding contest.

Obamas' Dog Arrives on Own Flight for Martha's Vineyard Vacation

Typical for a King.

President Obama is officially on vacation with his family in Martha's Vineyard but apparently, there just wasn't enough room on 4,000 square feet of Air Force One for their dog Bo.

Naturally, the dog was put on a separate flight. According to the Government Accountability Office, it costs $11,000 per hour to fly an Osprey. The Osprey is typically used for military operations, not as a presidential dog taxi.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Antarctic Sea Ice hits another record: 900,000 square kilometers above average

Antarctic Sea Ice has hit it’s 23rd daily record for the year. Wonder how the global warming Kool-Aid drinkers will try and spin this. They may just ignore it.

Obama Tells Marines Al-Qaeda Is Near ‘Defeat,’ ‘Decimated’

You would think that Obama would have learned from George Bush to be very wary of making statements such as this. Obviously not.

One thing for sure, he won't catch anywhere near the crap from the MSM as GW did for making it.

Colorado Apartment Building Tells Tenants They Have to Get Rid of Their Guns — or Leave

Hope the complex has several Lawyers on retainer, they're gonna need em.

An apartment complex in Colorado has news for tenants: get rid of your guns, or get out.

Art Dorsch said he’ll either have to give up his guns or move out of his apartment.

The Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock, Colo. sent notice to residents last week of a new provision banning all “firearms and weapons” from the premises, KUSA-TV reported. Tenants have until Oct. 1 to comply.

Art Dorsch, a 77-year-old retired Marine Corps veteran, told KUSA he’s afraid he’ll lose his home if he doesn’t go along with the new rule. He’s a hunter and has a concealed carry permit. Dorsch, who’s living on a fixed income, said managers told him he has three options: get rid of his guns and stay, keep his guns and move out voluntarily, or keep his guns and be forced out.

Most 2013 job growth is in part-time work, survey suggests

A bad sign....a very bad sign indeed.

WASHINGTON — The July government employment report released Friday showed the job market treading water.

And a closer look at one of the two measures the Labor Department uses to gauge employment suggests that part-time work accounted for almost all the job growth that’s been reported over the past six months.

Employers added a weaker-than-expected 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in July, according to the Establishment Data Survey, which relies on reporting by a large sample of businesses.

Sunday Funny

                                                                                                                              Thanks RR.

For Obamacare to Work, Everyone Must Be In

Precisely why it will never work.

TWO beliefs continue to shape debate on Obamacare. First, pre-existing medical conditions shouldn’t prevent people from obtaining affordable health insurance. And second, people who don’t want health insurance shouldn’t be forced by the government to purchase it.

These may seem to be reasonable positions. But they are incompatible. That’s been shown by historical events, and it’s now being strikingly confirmed by recent experience in the emerging Obamacare insurance exchanges.

The crux of the matter is what economists call the adverse-selection problem. Uninsured people with pre-existing conditions often face tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical costs annually. If insurers charged everyone the same rate, buying coverage would be far more attractive financially for people with chronic illnesses than for healthy people. And as healthy policyholders began dropping out of the insured pool, it would become increasingly composed of sick people, forcing insurers to raise their rates.

But higher rates make insurance even less attractive for healthy people, causing even more of them to drop out. Before long, coverage would become too expensive for almost everyone.

Health Premiums Up $3,065; Obama Vowed $2,500 Cut

Just another Obama lie.

During his first run for president, Barack Obama made one very specific promise to voters: He would cut health insurance premiums for families by $2,500, and do so in his first term.

But it turns out that family premiums have increased by more than $3,000 since Obama's vow, according to the latest annual Kaiser Family Foundation employee health benefits survey.

Premiums for employer-provided family coverage rose $3,065 — 24% — from 2008 to 2012, the Kaiser survey found. Even if you start counting in 2009, premiums have climbed $2,370.

Factoid of the Day

Where's the outrage?

Graphic of the Day

U.S. economy finds momentum in second quarter, further gains seen

U.S. economic growth unexpectedly accelerated in the second quarter, laying a firmer foundation for the rest of the year that could bring the Federal Reserve a step closer to cutting back its monetary stimulus. Gross domestic product grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, stepping up from the first-quarter's downwardly revised 1.1 percent expansion pace.

Leave it to Reuters to spin this as some sort of positive. Actually last qtr. was revised down from 1.8% growth so based on that we have lost ground. One could make a sound bet that the 2nd qtr. will be revised down as well. Regardless, even if it holds 1.8% growth is extremely anemic.

Appeals judges: NYC soda ban is unconstitutional

Of course it is.

NEW YORK -- A plan to ban big, sugary drinks in New York City restaurants is unconstitutional, said a state appeals court in a unanimous decision that upholds a lower court ruling. The appeals judges said the city's plan violates the principle of separation of powers, according to media reports.

80% Of US Adults Are Near Poverty, Rely On Welfare, Or Are Unemployed

That's the whole idea....make everyone dependent on government and insure the governments power over our lives.

Despite consumer confidence at a six-year high, the latest AP survey of the real America shows a stunning four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, are near poverty, or rely on welfare for at least parts of their lives amid signs of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Hardship is particularly on the rise among whites, based on several measures. Pessimism among whites about their families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at least 1987. "Poverty is no longer an issue of 'them', it's an issue of 'us'," as 'the invisible poor' - lower income whites - are generally dispersed in suburbs (Appalachia, the industrial Midwest, and across America's heartland, from Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma up through the Great Plains) where more than 60% of the poor are white. More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four - accounting for more than 41% of the nation's destitute - nearly double the number of poor blacks and as one survey respondent noted "I think it's going to get worse."

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Saturday Funny

Obama's Misery Index Approaches Carter Years

Yet the media continues to cheerlead like there'd no tomorrow.

In the past 30 years if you were in the top 1% economic class your inflation-adjusted incomes grew by 224%. The top 0.1% grew by 390%. In contrast, the bottom 90% struggled with only a 5% growth in incomes.

Whoop-tee-do! A 5% increase over 30 years is pathetic! According to the Credit Suisse's annual Global Wealth Data Book, America's middle class ranks 27th in the world. Are they serious? I thought the United States was the wealthiest country in the world. The U.S. misery index has reached its highest level since May, 1983. I remember the Carter years.

The only thing missing today is the 18% interest rates. So how can the index be so high in the Obama years without double-digit interest rates? For starters, I remember having a job back then. Today, a lot of us don't have jobs, 50% of the population receives government checks, the population is aging, and the dollar has plummeted in value.

Wednesday Funny

America's biggest deadbeat dad with 22 kids by 14 women to get his own reality show

In 0bama's world, this asshat is considered an entreprener.

A man who fathered 22 kids by 14 different women - earning himself the title 'America's biggest deadbeat dad' - is to get his own reality TV show.

It comes after unemployed Orlando Shaw, 33, was filmed boasting outside a Nashville courthouse following a child support hearing, 'the ladies don't like me, they love me.'

The interview, recorded by Nashville’s NewsChannel, has since gone viral. It has been estimated that the state of Tennessee pays around $7,000 each month to help support Shaw’s children.

He was filmed following a court hearing in which some of his former lovers - and mothers to his children - were demanding that he pay tens of thousands of dollars in back child support, Inquisitr.com reports.

Tuesday Funny

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA

An excellent reflection of what the majority of white Americans believe. Read the whole thing, this ones well worth your time.

Let’s have a discussion about race.

Not a one-sided harangue, but a two-way discussion. Let’s move beyond the politically correct “Whites are racists, blacks are victims” and actually talk things out. You do that by hearing both sides.

Toward that end, in the spirit of the president’s remarks, I’d like to discuss what it’s like to be a white man in America. And I’d like to be held to the same standard as the president. His remarks were personal impressions based on generalizations, traditions, culture and folklore. He was called brave. I’ll be called racist.

That’s because our system is based on a double standard. Black criticisms of white society are insightful; white criticisms of black society are bigotry. White people know that if they say anything that doesn’t exactly toe the line of political correctness, they run the risk of losing their jobs and their public reputations.

We live in a society where the accusation of racism is evidence enough; to be accused is to be guilty. That’s what we white people think. We also think that we pay the bills. We think that we disproportionately pay the taxes and that black people disproportionately collect the welfare. We feel like we are being ripped off and that this uneven shouldering of the burden will eventually bankrupt and kill our country.

I work in a building that houses a Social Security office. One elevator serves that office specifically. It is stunning to note the demographic difference between the elevators. Overwhelmingly, white people go up one set of elevators to work, and black people go up the other set of elevators to apply for SSI.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK FOR THE CLIMATE ALARMISTS

Never in history has one person been so wrong about so many things.

One of the highlights was when the assembled panel of experts was asked whether any of them could support Barack Obama’s claim that global warming has been accelerating over the last decade:

Warmists were asked: “Can any witnesses say they agree with Obama’s statement that warming has accelerated during the past 10 years?” For several seconds, nobody said a word. Sitting just a few rows behind the expert witnesses, I thought I might have heard a few crickets chirping.

Heh. You can count on Obama to be wrong about pretty much everything.

The ‘New School’ on CNN - If Rachel Jeantel is the future of America, we’re completely doomed.

But also according to CNN she does speak perfect southern North Carolina, ghetto, jive Queens English with a Caribbean twist.

Becoming a teenage television star turns out to be surprisingly easy: Testify for the prosecution in the murder trial of an innocent man in a case that liberals want to turn into a carnival of racial hatred.

Rachel Jeantel’s appearance on Monday night’s Piers Morgan Live was a new low in the relentless dumbing down of American culture. Her claim to fame is that she was having a cell-phone conversation with Trayvon Martin shortly before the 17-year-old was shot to death by George Zimmerman. Having been discovered by Florida civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and offered as “Witness 8” for the prosecution, Jeantel was undeniably the star of the Zimmerman trial — not in a good way. During the course of her testimony, she introduced the phrase “creepy-ass cracker” to the national vocabulary and embarrassed herself when she was forced to admit that she could not read a letter she allegedly wrote to Trayvon’s parents. Asked to read the letter aloud in court two weeks ago, the Miami teen confessed: “I don’t read cursive.”

Exactly what Rachel Jeantel does read is a mystery. She appears to be a typical specimen of the sub-literate youth warehoused within the Miami-Dade County school system. Anyone who has read the text-messages Trayvon exchanged with Jeantel and his other friends must despair for the future of the country. After watching Jeantel on CNN Monday, it’s even harder to be hopeful. The 19-year-old was asked by Morgan to react to a juror’s comments about the incoherence of her testimony.

“Well, the jury, they see their fact,” Jeantel replied. “None offense to the jury, they old. That’s old school people. We in the new school, our generation, my generation.”

Hold placed on George Zimmerman trial evidence

The DOJ is crossing the line between diligence and harrassment.

SANFORD, Fla. —A hold was placed Thursday on all evidence related to the death of Trayvon Martin.

It's another indication that federal investigators are not done with the George Zimmerman case, despite a jury's not guilty verdict.

The Zimmerman Prosecution Clarified

There should be little doubt in the mind of any clear thinking person that the Zimmerman prosecution was entirely political in its origin and process.

Cut the the noise from the minority (black) community, its leaders, the media and the co-dependent left and we are left with one singular immutable fact......George Zimmerman was getting the crap kicked out of him by a younger, stronger, more  physically proficient young "man" and he reacted as any rational person would, he protected himself from serious bodily harm or even death with the only tool at his disposal.

It wouldn't have mattered if he had grabbed a rock or a lead pipe or a gun or a marshmellow to incapaciate his attacker, any and all actions were justifiable under the circumstances.

That's it, everything else is just noise. Was he following Martin? Doesn't matter. Did he strike the first blow? Doesn't matter. Was he profiling Martin because he was Black? Doesn't matter. Was he ordered not to follow Martin by a police officer? Doesn't matter. Was he a rascist? Doesn't matter. Even whether or not Martin was reaching for the gun doesn't matter. Now as a matter of fact almost all of these conjectures have been proven erroneous but bottom line, none of it matters as it pertains to the law. Zimmerman broke no laws before, during or after the incident. They couldn't legitimately indict him for spitting on the sidewalk.

The only thing that mattered was Martin was on top pounding George Zimmerman into the sidewalk  (even the prosecution conceded this fact toward the end) and any reasonable person would likely be in fear for life and limb. Stand your ground doesn't even apply. It's the time honored tradition in law that a person DOES have the right to defend themselves by any means neccessary if they reasonably feel in fear for their safety. Zimmerman surely did and the jury believed that was reasonable  belief on his part.  That's it, it's that simple.

I know when someone is killed or seriously injured people feel a need to assign blame and make someone pay. Three of the jurors initially felt that way until the other 3 clear thinking ones showed them the light. They all eventually scrutinized the facts and made a judgement with their brains and not their heart. It was definitively the correct one.

People can and should feel some sense of closure as the person who instigated then perpetuated the entire confrontation HAS paid.... with his life. It may not seem fair but life(and death) rarely are. All the breast beating and politically motivated persecution of an innocent man in the world won't change that fact.

Jimmy Carter: ‘Jury Made The Right Decision’ In Zimmerman Case

Looks like this "creepy ass cracker" got one right.

Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday weighed in on the murder trial of George Zimmerman, saying the "jury made the right decision" in acquitting the neighborhood watch volunteer of all charges in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

"I think the jury made the right decision based in the evidence presented because the prosecution inadvertently set the standard so high that the jury had to be convinced that it was a deliberate act by Zimmerman and that he was not defending himself and so forth," Carter told television station WXIA in Atlanta. "It's not a moral question, it's a legal question and the American law requires that the jury listens to the evidence presented."

This is How Ridiculous It's Become

Jesse Jackson: 'I Do Not Accept' Zimmerman Verdict

Spoken like a true demagogic race baiter.

Civil rights leaders say the case against neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman is not over. Zimmerman was acquitted on Saturday in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, compares the verdict to the court cases of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers. “Something about it was stacked from the very beginning.”

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Graphic of the day

Angela Corey Fires IT Director Who Raised Concerns in Trayvon Martin Case

Damn the truth, tow the government line or you're history.

State Attorney Angela Corey fired her office’s information technology director Friday after he testified last month about being concerned prosecutors did not turn over information to George Zimmerman’s defense team in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. On the same day attorneys finished their closing arguments in that nationally watched trial, a state attorney investigator went to Ben Kruidbos’ home about 7:30 a.m. to hand-deliver a letter stating Kruidbos “can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

Pic of the Day

Ms Judge Nelson

Ex-Sanford Police Chief Was Pressured To Arrest Zimmerman — Fired For Refusing To Arrest Without Probable Cause

I see one helluva suit for malicious prosecution here.

The George Zimmerman investigation was hijacked “in a number of ways” by outside forces, said the former police chief of Sanford, Florida.

Bill Lee, who testified Monday in Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial, told CNN’s George Howell in an exclusive interview that he felt pressure from city officials to arrest Zimmerman to placate the public rather than as a matter of justice.

“It was (relayed) to me that they just wanted an arrest. They didn’t care if it got dismissed later,” he said. “You don’t do that.”

When Sanford police arrived on the scene on February 26, 2012, after Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, they conducted a “sound” investigation, and the evidence provided no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman at the scene, he said.

And this to go along with it: Government-Approved Race Riots?

What about these dead black kids?

Don’t get me wrong; I mourn for Trayvon Martin. It’s a tragedy that any young kid like him will not live to see adulthood. But I don’t blame George Zimmerman for shooting him in self-defense.

I blame the corrupt, violent, lifeless, drug and gangsta culture that is breeding generations of Trayvons – kids who are uneducated, devoid of morals, without vision, dreams and aspirations. I blame a political establishment that fosters all of this and lures kids and their parents into dependency on the state. I blame the broader culture that tolerates violence against black people – as long as that violence is perpetrated by black people. You think I’m exaggerating?

As the nation is fixated on George Zimmerman’s trial for the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, over the weekend, 74 people were shot in Chicago – most of them black victims attacked by black perps. At least 12 were killed. Many of the injuries are serious.

Almost no one is talking about 74 people being shot in one holiday weekend in a city with the strictest anti-gun laws in the country. That’s more Americas that were shot in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the same time period – a lot more.

Couldn't have said it any better.

STUDY: ALL NET GAIN IN U.S. EMPLOYMENT HAS GONE TO IMMIGRANTS

I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

A new analysis of government data shows that all of the net gain in employment over the last 13 years has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). From the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2013, the number of natives working actually fell by 1.3 million while the overall size of the working-age (16 to 65) native population increased by 16.4 million. Over the same time period, the number of immigrants working (legal and illegal) increased by 5.3 million.

In addition to the decline in the number of natives working, there has been a broad decline in the percentage holding a job that began before the 2007 recession. This decline has impacted natives of almost every age, race, gender, and education level. The total number of working-age (16 to 65) natives not working — unemployed or out of the labor force entirely — was nearly 59 million in the first quarter of this year, a figure that has changed little in the last three years and is nearly 18 million larger than in 2000.

Thus, the data do not support the argument of Schumer-Rubio proponents that the nation’s workforce isn’t large enough.

Sunday Funny

Thanks RR.

Obamacare Strikes: Part-Time Jobs Surge To All Time High; Full-Time Jobs Plunge By 240,000

Regardless of the MSM spin, the employment news today is NOT good.

As a reminder: jobs have quantity and quality components. The quantity component was good enough to convince the 10 Year the taper is imminent (if not stocks, which continue to trade dislocated from any and all fundamentals). But how about the quality? In a word: not good. In June, the household survey reported that part-time jobs soared by 360,000 to 28,059,000 - an all time record high. Full time jobs? Down 240,000. And looking back at the entire year, so far in 2013, just 130K Full-Time Jobs have been added, offset by a whopping 557K Part-Time jobs. And there is your jobs "quality" leading to today's market euphoria ...

The Freedom Index

Very informative, click the link and see how your Congresscritter measures up.

A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution rates congressmen based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements. The percentages below are cumulative scores are based on key votes from 1999 through 2013.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Wednesday Funny

White House backing away from Morsi in record time

That's one thing you can say about the Obama administration without contradiction....they're reactive.

The withdrawal of support for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi by President Obama is the latest bit of bad news for Egypt's leader and the Muslim Brotherhood movement that catapulted him to power as the country's first freely elected head of state.

The US hasn't publicly abandoned Mr. Morsi, whom the State Department has repeatedly hailed as a democratically elected leader. But via anonymous spokesmen it's done everything but, and the distancing has come in record time – just three days since mass protests broke out.

When protests against President Hosni Mubarak broke out in January 2011, the US struggled mightily to hold back the tide. On day two, Vice President Joe Biden famously insisted that Mubarak was no dictator (all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding) and that he should remain in office. It was only on day five that Obama's people began muttering about the need for "reform" and an unspecified "orderly transition" of some sort. Only on day 17, when Mubarak's fate was written, did the administration publicly say that Mubarak must go.

Supreme Court Update Public Approval of Supreme Court Falls to All-Time Low

They bring it on themselves.

The U.S. Supreme Court finished its term with big decisions on voting rights, affirmative action and same-sex marriage. Following those rulings, public approval of the court has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded in more than nine years of polling.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 28% believe the Supreme Court is doing a good or an excellent job. At the same time, 30% rate its performance as poor. That’s the highest-ever poor rating. It’s also the first time ever that the poor ratings have topped the positive assessments. Thirty-nine percent (39%) give the court middling reviews and rate its performance as fair.