4/30/14

Donald Sterling and the rise of thought-crime

What triggered America's response to Donald Sterling's remarks? American society now considers expression of thought to be significantly more important than action...This is the thought police at work. Feelings matter more than action. Words matter more than harming others. That sets a radically dangerous precedent for freedom of thought and speech, particularly for those whose thought and speech we hate. Freedom of speech and thought matters especially when it is speech and thought with which we disagree. The moment the majority decides to destroy people for engaging in thought it dislikes, thought-crime becomes a reality. [Source]

Coming down the pipe: Obama's Keystone decision

The incomparable  Michael Ramirez made this comment on Obama's Keystone Pipeline decision making

[Investors Business Daily]

4/29/14

Dim Crims: Sister breaks into jail

A big sister's misguided attempt to help her little brother landed her in jail in Colorado this week. Monique Armstrong's strange case began when police caught her inside the fenced perimeter of the Mesa County Jail in an apparent attempt to break in early Monday, reports KJCT8, which notes she climbed over razor wire to get in. The 20-year-old told authorities that she wanted to be booked into jail so her 18-year-old brother, who had been jailed on DUI-D charges (in this case, involving drugs, not alcohol), would be set free, reports the Daily Sentinel.  Police did indeed book Armstrong on charges including criminal trespass. The kicker is that younger brother Michael was released on bond just five hours later. "If she maybe had given it a few hours, she probably could have met him at the front door,"  said a spokesperson for the sheriff's office . [Source] [BJS]

Dim Crims: Revenge of the Shih Tzu


A New Jersey woman has admitted killing her neighbor's small dog by throwing it into traffic during an argument over a parking space.
The Star-Ledger of Newark reports that 27-year-old Haniyyah Barnes, of Newark, pleaded guilty Tuesday to breaking into her neighbor's home, grabbing the 2-year-old Shih Tzu named Honey Bey and throwing the dog into oncoming traffic where she was struck by a vehicle and killed.
Barnes pleaded guilty to burglary, animal cruelty and theft charges and Essex County prosecutors will recommend that she receive a six-year state prison term when she's sentenced July 14. Barnes also would have to pay up to $2,600 in restitution and would be barred from owning, buying or living with animals for 10 years.
A Newark police officer who was sitting in a patrol vehicle saw what happened and immediately arrested Barnes, who acknowledged in court that the neighbor had followed her outside, begging her to stop and not hurt the dog.

4/28/14

Resign-- Cruz tells Kerry after Israel apartheid slur


Fury at Kerry's apartheid insult to Israel

 Showing Joe Biden-like diplomatic clumsiness, Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that, if there’s no two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state,” Kerry told a room of influential world leaders in a closed-door meeting. Response has been swift. Details here

Savages: woman sentenced to 150 lashes for driving

 woman in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced this week to 150 lashes and eight months in jail for driving and striking police officers who arrested her, news websites in the kingdom have reported.  Women in the country are prohibited from driving.  It appeared that the particularly harsh sentence was handed down because of the charges of resisting arrest and attacking police officers, according to various reports.

4/27/14

Anger on the Hill over Obama's budget arrogance

The Washington Examiner reports that President Obama's refusal to write a fiscal 2015 budget in line with pre-approved spending caps and his team's take-it-or-leave-it approach with budgeteers and appropriators is angering lawmakers and threatens to undercut his second-term agenda -- even with Democrats.  Congressional sources said that since Obama submitted his budget, which busts through spending caps on defense, neither he nor his budget advisors have met with key members to spell out the administration's priorities or at least indicate what programs they don't want cut.
Instead, they said Obama is forcing them to be the “bad guys” and make cuts, said the aide of a key Obama ally. “He’s abdicated his responsibility, and now it’s up to us to clean it up,” said the aide.
For some House and Senate members of both parties, Obama’s aloof approach and dismissal of Congress has reached new levels with his budget. “He knew what he had to come in at. We had a government shutdown over the issue. And he still spent more,” said the source.   [Read more]

Sgt. Bergdahl: Does something wicked this way come?

When word first came out of the exchange of five top Muslim terrorists for Bowe Bergdahl, it seemed we could attribute the debacle to the exceedingly poor judgment of a conspicuously unqualified president who may lack the mental capacity to consider the inevitable effect on the safety of Americans throughout the world. But as more information comes to light, it is starting to smell like something even worse.
Bergdahl was not a legitimate prisoner of war. He is a deserter who went AWOL and turned up among a band of terrorists. He has been described by a company commander as a “dirtbag” and a “sympathizer” (i.e., with the terrorist enemy).

Bergdahl evidently converted to Islam and was teaching the Taliban bomb-making skills with which to kill Americans. From a 2010 report:

Afghan intelligence officials also believe that Bergdahl is ‘cooperating with the Taliban’ and is acting as adviser to fighters at a base in the tribal area of Pakistan.

Bowe isn’t the only one in the family of questionable loyalty in the struggle between Western Civilization and militant Islam. Check out what his father tweeted, then deleted:

4/26/14

Savages: 87-year- old woman severely beaten

A 14-year-old boy wanted on suspicion of torturing and attempting to kill an 87-year-old woman as she slept in a retirement home in Hemet has been arrested, police said.
Raymond Michael Miranda was tracked to Temecula on Thursday evening and brought back to Hemet, where he was booked into the city jail, Hemet police said in a statement.
Officials said took the unusual step of releasing the boy's photo and identity Thursday "due to the serious nature of the case" and the need for the public's help in tracking the homeless teen down.
Police said they believe that Raymond and a 15-year-old teen somehow broke into the gated retirement home, The Camelot, after committing several acts of vandalism in the area and came upon the sleeping woman. The two teens allegedly brutally beat her and poured bleach on her body before fleeing the scene, police said.  The woman remained in critical condition in an intensive-care unit on Thursday, a week after the attack, according to police.  [Source]



4/24/14

Politician claims: Obamas 'headed for divorce'

A prominent Japanese politician claims it's an 'open secret' that the Obamas are headed for divorce, and that the president has been using Secret Service agents to cover for him as he pursues extramarital affairs.  Kazuyuki Hamada, who sits in the upper house of Japan's parliament, earned his PhD a half-mile from the White House at George Washington University, and emerged as a shrill commentator on America's economy and foreign policy. In 2009 he also joined the ranks of the so-called 'birthers,' arguing in a book titled Who is Obama? that the president likely wasn't born in the United States.  Read more: 

Government heathcare in action

Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake are calling for a Senate investigation and hearings into allegations that up to 40 Arizona veterans died while awaiting medical appointments at the Phoenix VA Medical Center.
The two Republican senators from Arizona sent a letter Wednesday to leaders of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs requesting a probe into "recent reports of gross mismanagement and neglect" at the facility.
McCain also wrote to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, citing a report in the Arizona Republic on whistle-blower allegations about veteran deaths and accusations about VA administrators keeping secret waiting lists.
"I am appalled by the number of veterans who stated to my office that the VA was just “waiting” or 'hoping' that they would die and be one less burden on the system," McCain wrote. "These increasing individual delays clearly illustrate systemic problems with how effectively the VA is providing care to our veterans."    [Source]
Last week, Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the panel's investigators concluded as many as 40 Arizona veteran deaths could be related to VA delays in providing them medical care. 

Chicago Safe


4/23/14

Cartoon: Rick McKee

[The Augusta Chronicle]

Barack Obama's Diary: Honest Abe

Dear Diary:  It seems that the Japanese have taken offence at the absence of Michelle on my visit to Japan. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy gave me a heads-up about this on my way to dinner with Prime Minister Abe. I greeted Mr Abe and said: "It is a delightful coincidence that you  share a name with one of our greatest presidents "
"Which President, Mr President?" Mr Abe asked.
'Why, Abe Lincoln, of course" I answered, between delicious mouthfuls of Kobe beef.
We had a translator at the table with us. I am not familiar with Japanese gestures, but the translator made a rotary motion with an index  finger around one ear as he said: "Abe Lincoln." There was an  fleeting silence which I filled with a sip of excellent plum wine. But enough about me.


Where's Michelle? Japan dismayed by her absence

First Lady Michelle Obama’s decision to sit out President Obama’s four-nation Asia tour is spurring widespread consternation in Japan, fueling questions about America’s commitment to the country, writes Keith Koffler at White House Dossier. According to a report in The Christian Science Monitor, the Japanese are particularly unnerved because Michelle just spent a celebratory week touring China, Japan’s ancient enemy whose aggressive tactics helped prompt President Obama’s Asia trip in the first place. [Source]

Mirth Day



 
Submitted by  [TG]

4/22/14

Barack Obama's Diary: I heal in Oso

Dear Diary:I like it when  I can seen showing compassion to ordinary folks who have suffered extraordinary misfortune. On my way to Tokyo today I was able to bestow my healing presence on the mudslide town of Oso, Washington.  Then I reboarded Air Force One for the flight to Tokyo. Soon after take-off I visited the cockpit to give the pilots a few tips [I'm a better pilot than my pilots] Then I retired to my bedroom and the soothing delights of Blankie, my comfort blanket, which Marv Nicholson,  my trip director, now knows is as important as my extra- large  container of hand sanitizer that I use use after shaking hands with, and and high-fiving, the unwashed masses. Time for me to snooze, relax and hopefully only wake up as we near Narita airport. But enough about me.

IRS lavishes bonuses on delinquent employees

 The Internal Revenue Service has paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with recent disciplinary problems, including $1 million to workers who owed back taxes, a government investigator said Tuesday.
More than 2,800 workers got bonuses despite facing a disciplinary action in the previous year, including 1,150 who owed back taxes, said a report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The bonuses were awarded from October 2010 through December 2012.
George's report said the bonus program doesn't violate federal regulations, but it's inconsistent with the IRS mission to enforce tax laws.  [More]

The worst of Obamacare is yet to come

Even if Obamacare doesn’t lead to an overt single payer system run by the government -- the admitted preference of the president and leading Democrats -- the future is quite predictable unless this law is drastically revised. Just as in the United Kingdom and all systems where everyone is “insured” by government-defined health insurance, we too will soon be plagued with problems unheard of in our pre-Obama system. It’s only a matter of time until we see unconscionable waits for care, overt restrictions on access to tests, drugs, and treatments, worse treatment outcomes -- all proven by the data and the facts from floundering nationalized health systems, as we see reported in the news all over the world.  Read more:     [BJS]

4/21/14

ABC earns an F for news

Since word broke on Thursday night that Chelsea Clinton will be having a baby, ABC has fixated over the news, devoting 12 minutes and 47 seconds of coverage to the arrival of America's new "royal" child. Yet, the same network totally ignored the latest delay of the Keystone XL pipeline by the Obama administration (and the political ramifications that go with it).   Read more: 

Dingy Harry's great uncle 'was hanged for horse theft'

Harry Reid's great uncle Remus reportedly met his end on a gallows in Montana for horse theft and train robbery. Read more details here.       [TG]

Rites of Spring

Don't miss this delightful essay by Conrad Black.     [BJS]

Barack Obama's Diary: Hey, foxie, foxie!

Dear Diary:  I've had a tough week dealing with Putin. And with April 20 being National Pot Day I decided that a joint of Blueberry Yum Yum would be a splendid way to settle my feelings of inadequacy. So I ducked under the Resolute Desk opened the secret compartment and withdrew a fat joint. I called Bo and Sunny along for a walk to give me cover. When I was a safe distance from the house, I lit the joint and inhaled deeply.  Bo and Sunny... Bo and Sunny...strange names for dogs. Then, suddenly ..a red-colored dog materialized before me, panting quietly:  I was transfixed: the fox! It was the mysterious White House fox! I withdrew my iPresidentophone from a pocket and knelt alongside the animal and extended an arm. Click! I had a selfie to beat all selfies and sent it Joe Biden with a message:" Nyaaa, nyaaa! Eat Your Heart Out, Joe." But enough about me.

Biden grade-school secret exposed

Archmere Academy of Claymont, Delaware, the grade school of Joe Biden,  accidentally made public a collection of 60-year-old psychological evaluations indicating that the
Vice President did not learn to speak until he was 8 years old.
The file, sealed in 1951, revealed that the otherwise healthy student
was not able to master complex sentence patterns until 6 years after his average contemporaries. Read more  [TG]

4/20/14

Michele snubbed by 1,000 high school graduates

A high school senior has organised a petition with over 1,000 signatures against Michele Obama speaking at their high school graduation 'because it would overshadow the students' big day'
Taylor Gifford, 18, started an online petition on Thursday with over 1,200 signatures asking that Michelle Obama not speak at Topeka, Kansas, High School graduation. Obama's speech is tied to the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in school. Some students feel that the speech would overshadow student accomplishments and others feel limited seating will be a problem 

4/19/14

The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

The Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled toward a group of seven Washington and Lee University (W&L) students who are are demanding the elite school  "acknowledge" General Robert E. Lee's "dishonorable side."
According to The Roanoke Times, "seven multiracial students, calling themselves 'The Committee,'" have also demanded  that the school, in Lexington, Virginia, "acknowledge and apologize for participating in chattel slavery." They want recognition of "Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the undergraduate campus" and an end to "neo-Confederates" marching across campus "to the Lee Chapel on Lee-Jackson Day."The students say they will "engage in civil disobedience" if their demands are not met by September 1.

Krauthammer: Obama 'brazenly makes things up'

President Obama claimed today that last year health care costs didn’t grow as fast as a few years ago, claiming Obamacare made that happen. But Obamacare didn’t go into effect until this year and  Charles Krauthammer says there’s no way it could have retroactively had an effect on last year’s health care costs. He said that Obama simply makes this stuff up "with a brazenness that is almost admirable." [Source]

4/18/14

Barack Obama's Diary: Vermin on the Lawn

Dear Diary: I could scarcely believe my eyes today when I saw a fox on  the outh lawn as I was spooning up my Michelle-mandated breakfast of oatmeal porridge. My first thought was that Vladimir Putin had sent in an agent to release the fox. Just his  cunning style.  As if in answer to that thought ,my iPresidentophone burst into life with the Red Army Choir's rendition of  Song of the Volga Boatmen led by bass-baritone  singer Leonid Kharitinov.  "Vladimir Pootin," I said, for it was he,"You are trying too hard.  Or else Fox News is mounting a spectacular PR stunt." "Pootin," I said using my most steely and commanding voice.  "I have warned you about  taking liberties with my dignity, and now you've made me really, really cross.  I have instructed the Secret Service to dart the animal and take it to the National Zoo for interrogation." But enough about me.

Barack Obama's Diary: Biden's gone selfie crazy

Dear Diary: I thought it would help Joe Biden's self esteem to send him to Poland. It has done that, but with his new-found zest for life has come a passion for selfies. He took one of the two of us in back of The Beast and put it out there on Instagram for the all world too see, with our ludicrously distorted  faces. How can I maintain an air  of steely invincibility with Putin, as Joe  simultaneously beclowns me  on Instagram.  Next Joe will  want to take a selfie with John Kerry -- Mr Heinz, with his bouffant hair already looks weird and more distortion will further damage his dignity.  I believe Dr Rink is now able to resume regular life and Valerie is renewing  my daily consultation. But enough about me.

4/17/14

Students give Obama the cold shoulder

President Barack Obama ventured Wednesday to a mostly blue-collar region of the United States and tried to engage an audience that was indifferent to him.
The 15 community college students who were picked to stand immediately behind the president, and in view of the TV cameras, mostly stood stone-faced through his speech.
At the end, when the president walked back from the podium to smile and wave at the roughly 60 people in the bleachers 20 feet behind him, he faced a unfriendly wall of faces.
The White House video of the bleacher’s front rank shows three men with their hands crossed, one with his hands stuck in his pockets and one who let his arms fall by his side. Obama flew to the Community College of Allegheny County, in Oakdale, Pa., so he could tout a new spending program that is intended to encourage technical training at community colleges.  Oakdale is a suburb of Pittsburgh, and is part of the 18th Congressional District, now held by Republican Tim Murphy. Oakdale’s population is roughly 1,500, down from roughly 2,000 in 1980.
Read more:



Why are Russia's diplomats eating America's lunch?

Hint: Follow the money....    [BJS]

Most voters think Obama's a liar -- new poll

A new Fox News poll finds that a majority of voters now feel that President Obama lies to the country on important matters. The poll, released on April 16, found that 37% feel that Obama lies "most of the time," while an additional 27% feel he lies "some of the time." Twenty percent said they feel he lies "now and then," and a sparse 15% said he "never" lies.
As Fox reported, "The number of voters saying Obama lies 'most of the time' includes 13 percent of Democrats. It also includes 12 percent of blacks, 16 percent of liberals, 31 percent of unmarried women and 34 percent of those under age 30--all key Obama constituencies."
President Obama was awarded the Lie of the Year for 2013 for his constant and untrue claim that we could "keep our doctors and insurance policies" if we liked them.
Meanwhile, another poll about Obamacare's popularity--or lack thereof--found that only seven percent of those polled want to keep Obamacare in place, while 84 percent of Democrats want the healthcare law changed or even repealed.
In addition, another poll found that 64% of respondents felt that Obama's takeover of our national healthcare system would never have passed if voters knew the truth.

Cartoon: Steve Sack

[Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Allen West says: NYC is 'nuts' to disband anti-terror unit

Muslim groups and civil liberties advocates applauded the decision by New York Police Department officials to disband a controversial unit that tracked the daily lives of Muslims as part of efforts to detect terrorism threats. The Demographics Unit, conceived with the help of a CIA agent working with the NYPD, assembled databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed. Plainclothes officers infiltrated Muslim student groups, put informants in mosques, monitored sermons and catalogued Muslims in New York who adopted new, Americanized surnames. NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis confirmed Tuesday that detectives assigned to the unit had been transferred to other duties within the department’s Intelligence Division.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, called the move “a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our cops and our citizens can help one another go after the real bad guys.” Allen West surmizes that, if Boston had had a Demographics Unit, they would have seen the threats and concerns about the behavior and rhetoric of the Tsarnaev brothers? Apparently we have individuals in leadership positions in America who are less concerned with protecting the American people than playing a dangerous game of political correctness.   Read more

Dim Crims: Mugged pizza man bites back

A man delivering pizzas in Buffalo, New York, was attacked by a group of four armed robbers late Monday night, but when the delivery man arrived at a home to deliver a late-night dinner, he was attacked by four men who began beating him on his head and body. One of the suspects was wearing a mask as well as a hoodie pulled over his face and was armed with a hammer, which he used to hit the man over the head. The suspect also exposed what appeared to be a gun.
But what the four assailants didn’t know was that the man they were attacking was armed as well.
The pizza guy pulled out a pistol and shot the suspect who was wearing a mask. The remaining suspects quickly scattered and fled the scene.
The injured suspect was taken to a local hospital where he is receiving treatment for gunshot wounds to the right arm and abdomen and will face first-degree robbery charges. The remaining three suspects are still at large.


4/16/14

Barack Obama's Diary: Breakfast with Putin

Dear Diary: I was able to regain some sort of normality today.  Marv had concealed Blankie under my  pillow and I was able to sleep with my comfort blanket's  soothing satin edging against my cheek. Breakfast consisted of  steel-cut oatmeal porridge, at M's insistence.  Putin was waiting to pounce as usual and  I had scarcely ingested a mouthful of  porridge when my  iPresidentophone  sounded The Song of the Volga Boatmen by the Red Army Choir.  "Good mornin,' Vlad," I said in my steely, intimidating voice.
"Obamavich," he replied. "Did your destroyer enjoy being buzzed by our jet fighter  in the Black Sea yesterday?"
"Look here, Vlad, if you don't stop these stunts and pull back that massive force assembled on Ukraine's border, I am going to get really, really cross  and there will be consequences for you."
"Now I'm really scared...From you and whose army, Obamavich?"
"Never mind, that's for me to know and you to worry about. Goodbye." I tapped the "End Call" button, and proceeded calmly to finish my oats without even  splitting an infinitive. Am I insanely cool? Or am I
insanely cool? But enough about me.

Joke of the Day

A state trooper stopped a 95-year-old woman on Interstate 20. As he was checking her driver's license, he noticed that she had a concealed carry permit. "Got any guns with you, ma'am?" he asked. "Yes," she said."A 45 Smith & Wesson in the glove compartment, a 357 magnum in the console, and a 38 special in my purse." "Lady," asked the trooper, "what are you scared of?"
"Not a damn thing!" she said.

Feds accused of Nevada destruction

Feds 'Destroyed Water Lines, Fences, Water Tanks, Killed Two Prized Bulls During Bundy Ranch Standoff'  Fox News reports    [More]

Cartoon: Rick McKee

[The Augusta Chronicle]

Medical dream is taxpayer nightmare

Of the plans that states have hatched for the Affordable Care Act, none has been bolder than that of Vermont, which wants to implement a single-payer health-care system, like Britain or Canada. One government-operated system will cover all 620,000 of Vermont’s citizens. The hope is that such a system will allow Vermont to get costs down closer to Canada’s, as well as improve health by coordinating care and ensuring universal coverage.
Just two small issues need to be resolved before the state gets to all systems go: First, it needs the federal government to grant waivers allowing Vermont to divert Medicaid and other health-care funding into the single-payer system. And second, Vermont needs to find some way to pay for it [More:]          [BJS]

Dim Crims: Rule1 --never walk awkwardly through Customs

Customs and Border Protection officers spotted Bernard Charles "walking awkwardly" at New York's JFK Airport.They patted him down—and found a "hard object in [his] groin area" that ended up being two clear packages holding 1.79 pounds of heroin, according to US Homeland Security.
Charles, a 42-year-old citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, was initially detained when he disembarked Caribbean Airlines Flight 520 and appeared "visibly nervous," avoiding eye contact; customs officers were examining his suitcase at the time, CBS New York reports, and they brought him to a private search room. That's when they noticed his gait and patted him down, the New York Daily News reports. The drugs he was allegedly carrying are worth more than $70,000 on the street, according to authorities. He faces 10 years in prison for drug smuggling. [Source]       [BJS]

Dim Crims: Courting trouble

On the bright side, James Manning made it to court on time for his hearing on a drug-possession charge. The problem is that police say he stole a car from a neighboring California county to do so, reports The Modesto Bee.
The 49-year-old's trouble got rolling when a dealership in Redding called police to say that one of its cars had disappeared and that GPS showed it to be parked in front of the Tuolumne County courthouse. Cops waited around and nabbed Manning and his wife, and they eventually confessed to stealing the vehicle in order to get to court. Police found pot inside the car, reports AP, leading to another drug charge in addition to one for car theft. [Source]     [BJS]

Cartoon: Eric Allie

[Cagle Cartoons]

Barack Obama's Diary: Pot alarm

Dr Rink says researchers at Northwestern University have analyzed  a link between casual use of marijuana and brain changes – and found that young adults who used cannabis even once or twice a week showed changes in brain structure.  I, on the other hand, know that it has not had the slightest effect on my cognition ...what was I thinking about? Oh yes, Ukraine. Funny word that: Yookrain... You crane...Hey You Crane, watcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when Putin come for you? Where was I? Oh yes. But enough about me. 

4/15/14

Academia Nuts: Too many whites makes a wrong

Western Washington University sent a questionnaire to students asking them for advice on how the administration could succeed at making sure that in future years, “we are not as white as we are today.”
The question notes that WWU’s racial make up does not perfectly reflect the nation at large, and asks students to consider strategies that other universities have used to focus on skin color as the paramount indicator of a student-applicant’s worth.
The president of WWU has stated that his explicit goal is to reduce the white population on campus, according to Campus Reform.
“I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, that we as a faculty and staff and student body, as an administration, if we 10 years from now are as white as we are today, we will have failed as a university,” said Bruce Shepard, president of WWU, in a 2012 address.  Read more  [ECS]

4/14/14

Cartoon: Nate Beeler

[The Columbus Dispatch]

Obamanomics: Foodstamp recipients ounumber working women

People participating in the food stamp program outnumbered the women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States in 2012, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau.
In the average month of 2012, according to the Department of Agriculture, there were 46,609,000 people participating in the food stamp program (formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). That contrasts with the 44,059,000 women who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, according to the Census Bureau’s report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States.
For each woman who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, there was slightly more than 1 other person collecting food stamps.

Joke of the Day

Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one
day. As they walk, they come across a sign:
 "Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world."
"I am entering," said Snow White.
After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, "Well, how'd ya do?
"First Place!" said Snow White.
They continue walking and they see a sign: "Contest for the strongest
man in the world."
"I'm entering," says Superman.
After half an hour he returns and they ask him, "How did you make out?"
"First Place!" answers Superman.
They continue walking when they see a sign: "Contest! Who is the
greatest liar in the world?"
Pinocchio says, "This is mine."
Half an hour later, he returns with tears in his eyes.
"What happened?" they all ask.
He replies:"Who the hell is Barack Obama?"       [ECS]


Mosque matter

I was going through a few magazines the  other day, down at the local mosque.
I was really enjoying myself.
Then the rifle jammed.  [BH]

Cartoon: Stilton Jarlsberg


4/13/14

LBJ was no liberal hero

This past week, on the golden anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, four of LBJ’s successors went to his library in Texas to praise his character and his deeds. George W. Bush lauded him for turning “a nation’s grief to a great national purpose.” Jimmy Carter chided his fellow Democrats for not emulating Johnson’s determination to fight for racial equality. Barack Obama remarked that LBJ’s “hunger” for power “was harnessed and redeemed by a deeper understanding of the human condition, by a sympathy for the underdog, for the downtrodden, for the outcast.” Bill Clinton reflected that Johnson “saw limitless possibilities in the lives of other poor people like him who just happened to have a different color skin.”  [More]    [BJS]

Dim Crims: Doubling down

Police arrested a New Jersey man after he stole a sound system and other valuables from a Haddon Township home, then returned a half hour for the remote control he forgot to take.  Carlos Ruiz, 42, of Pennsauken, was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief after he entered a home twice in about 30 minute, police announced.  Authorities said surveillance video near the home captured Ruiz pulling up to the home in a SUV around 9 a.m. He broke into the home and spent less than 10 minutes inside before walking out with valuables, including a sound system, police said.  A half hour later, police said, Ruiz was seen returning to the crime scene and re-entering the house. An investigation revealed that Ruiz went back to the home for a remote control to the sound system he stole on the first trip into the home, police said.  Authorities said the home burglarized was selected at random by Ruiz and his crime was fueled by his addiction to heroin. Ruiz was found to be a fugitive in a Pennsylvania fraud case and wanted by the Camden County Sheriff's Department for failure to pay child support. Authorities said he could face more charges in both Camden and Burlington counties. [Source]             [BJS]


Amazing: Hollywood star makes reasonable comment

It’s very rare for anyone in Hollywood to have anything reasonable to say these days, but when someone does, it’s always good to highlight it, says The Conservative Tribune.
Liberals are going crazy right now over some comments by actress Kirsten Dunst in defense of traditional gender roles.
In her comments, Dunst approved of women who go out and earn a living, but also emphasized the need for them  to be mothers:
“I feel like the feminine has been a little undervalued,” she says. “We all have to get our own jobs and make our own money, but staying at home, nurturing, being the mother, cooking – it’s a valuable thing my mum created. And sometimes, you need your knight in shining armor. I’m sorry. You need a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman. That’s why relationships work…”
Of course, feminists are freaking out that Dunst suggested that women have an important role in the home as homemakers.  In an age where women who freely choose to be homemakers are demeaned by feminists for not being “strong and independent,” it’s refreshing to see someone in liberal, pro-feminist Hollywood embrace traditional gender roles and reject political correctness. Natural differences in sentiments, dispositions, and inclinations between men and women are something to be embraced and not destroyed.  These things aren’t social constructs, but they are hardwired in us biologically as a part of a grand design where men and women complement each other in daily life.  It’s great to see a celebrity speaking out about this."  [Source]

4/12/14

At last: an explanation of the Affordable Care Act

TG, our man in Alaska, encountered this courageous attempt to explain the unexplainable and unaffordable Affordable Care Act.
"In order to insure the uninsured, we first have to uninsure the insured.
Next we need to require the newly uninsured to be re-insured.
To re-insure the newly uninsured, they are required to pay extra charges to be re-insured.
The extra charges are required so that the originally insured (who became uninsured and then became re-insured) pay enough extra so that the originally uninsured can be insured for free.
There, I hope that this clarifies this issue once and for all."




Barack Obama's Diary: A day on the links

Dear Diary: I played golf today with White House aides Marvin Nicholson and Joe Paulsen and with Paul Tewes, the Democratic strategist who ran Iowa for me in 2008 and ensured  my victory there. The weather at Joint Base Andrews, was sunny and in the low 70s. I played a tolerably good game and was for a while able to forget the vicissitudes of the Sebelius departure. I like to use words like vicissitudes because they remind people of my extraordinary intellect and breath of education.  I have been hoping that any opprobrium that attached to me during the launch of Obamacare will stick to Sibelius like flypaper and be consigned to the trashbin of history. Opprobrium--that's another of those words that I like to intimidate people with when they insinuate that I have a less-than-towering intellect. As if. But enough about me.

The Truth abut Chicago's crime rates

The city’s drop in crime has been nothing short of miraculous. Chicago magazine reveals what’s behind the unbelievable numbers. Details here.

Dim Crims: Yoga man held for pleasuring self

An elderly yoga enthusiast is facing a federal obscenity charge after he was spotted allegedly masturbating on National Park Service property, after which he picked up a dead animal and threw it at a passing car, according to court records.

Bill Kachle, 68, was arrested last month after Jared Tyng, a United States Park Police officer, responded to a complaint about a “disorderly male subject” along the Mount Vernon Trail in northern Virginia.
Two female witnesses pointed Tyng in the direction of Kachle, a Washington, D.C. resident who was “holding a yoga pose” nearby. The women said that they were walking along a bike trail when Kachle--who was waving his arms and “shouting odd statements”--dropped his pants and began masturbating.

“Thereafter, the subject picked up a dead animal, ran into the northbound lanes of travel on the George Washington Memorial Parkway and threw the dead animal at a passing car,” according to a U.S. District Court complaint. After flinging the animal, Kachle “returned to the trail, pointed at both women and masturbated again,” Tyng added.

Kachle was arrested on a misdemeanor “disorderly conduct/obscene acts” count.

Rancher wins range war with Feds

 Nevada cattle rancher Clive Bundy appears to have won his week-long battle with the federal government over a controversial cattle roundup that had led to the arrest of several protesters. Bundy went head to head with the Bureau of Land Management over the removal of hundreds of his cattle from federal land, where the government said they were grazing illegally.
Bundy claims his herd of roughly 900 cattle have grazed on the land along the riverbed near Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, since 1870 and threatened a "range war" against the BLM on the Bundy Ranch website after one of his sons was arrested while protesting the removal of the cattle.  "I have no contract with the United States government," Bundy said. "I was paying grazing fees for management and that's what BLM was supposed to be, land managers and they were managing my ranch out of business, so I refused to pay."
The federal government had countered that Bundy "owes the American people in excess of $1 million " in unpaid grazing fees and "refuses to abide by the law of land, despite many opportunities over the last 20 years to do so."
However, today the BLM said it would not enforce a court order to remove the cattle and was pulling out of the area.
"Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," BLM Director Neil Kornze said.

Putin revives Cold War as Obama dithers

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has declared all-out cold war on the United States, and is threatening a hot conflagration in Ukraine as well.  In response, Barack Obama is dithering, poking his head ever deeper into the sands of cowardice, and leading America down the same dead-end street followed by James E. Carter.  On April 10th, the Putin regime shut down  Voice of America radio broadcasts in Russia, calling them “mere spam in our frequencies,” and it evicted the American Councils, which is responsible for organizing student exchanges between the USA and Russia. The same day, it was revealed that the Kremlin had willfully withheld critical information about the Boston Marathon bombers from U.S. security forces, in other words playing an important role in helping the bombings to go forward.  We learned that Russia had been habitually violating its nuclear arms treaty obligations, and Russia announced as well that it intended to flout U.S. sanctions against the terrorist rogue regime in Iran.  [Source]

Meanwhile, NATO revealed that tens of thousands of Russian troops were massing on the Russian border with Ukraine, not engaging in any training exercises but clearly preparing to invade Russia’s smaller neighbor, which borders not one but three NATO members.  For years, Vladimir  Putin had condemned unilateral U.S. military action and insisted that Russia was a different kind of country, one which pursued its interests through  diplomacy and negotiation (Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia notwithstanding, of course).
Putin is also imposing Soviet-style approach to domestic policy. Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch has written:  “I do not recall a more dramatic silencing of the media in post-SovietRussia.”  All of the last remaining web portals inside Russia that could be counted on to fairly report the news and publish criticism of the Putin regime have come under virulent attack, and many have simply been blocked from the Internet entirely.  All significant TV news reports already come from the Kremlin, leaving Russians almost completely blind, just as they were in Soviet times.
The economic and political consequences for Russia of this reckless aggression have already been devastating.Russia has seen more capital flight in the first quarter of this year than in all of last year.

Street art slams Obama


An image of President Obama taking a putt above the words “SUB PAR” appeared in Augusta on Friday morning around the Masters Golf Tournament.
The image can be seen in several places including at the main entrance of Augusta Country Club, on electrical boxes, on resident lawns,  and near the local mall.  Another similar poster around town shows the president in golf gear next with the words : “If you like your handicap you can keep your handicap.”  ---[ECS]

4/11/14

The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

The Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled toward Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins who said that supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy, who right now is facing off with the Bureau of Land Management over grazing rights, "better have funeral plans."
The comment made in a phone call was revealed by Darin Bushman, a Piute County, Utah, commissioner after he spoke with Collins to discuss Utah ranchers and his fellow county commissioners who were incensed over the tactics used by the BLM in seizing Bundy’s cattle in southern Nevada. On his Facebook page, Bushman wrote, "I was just told by commissioner Collins of Clark County NV that all of us folks from Utah are a bunch of 'inbred bastards' and if we are coming to Clark County NV to support Cliven Bundy we all 'better have funeral plans.' We should 'turn our asses around and mind our own f-ing business.' Now there’s some classy leadership for you."
Bushman also ripped the Clark County sheriff for being "too spineless to exercise his jurisdiction" by arresting BLM agents for trespassing and theft. Read more

Obammer in action


The Dung Beetle Award goes to...

The Academy of Dung Beetles' Award is being rolled towards Hammerin' Hank Aaron. Hank went on a political rant against Republicans, comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan. "To remind myself," Aaron told USA TODAY Sports, "that we are not that far removed from when I was chasing the record. If you think that, you are fooling yourself. A lot of things have happened in this country, but we have so far to go. There's not a whole lot that has changed...
"Sure, this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he's treated.  "We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long ways to go in the country. "The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts."  [ECS]

Barack Obama's Diary: Good night, Kathleen

Dear Diary:  I had "the conversation" with Kathleen Sibelius early in March, agreeing that she would step down "voluntarily"  at the beginning of April [I can't have people remaining in my administration who have tainted my immortal legacy of Obamacare. I am told that something called a "website" that she was ultimately responsible for was not exactly as good as it should have been. The military pick up my medical bills so "websites" are no concern of  mine.  I have to protect old buddies like Eric Witholder from the slings and arrows of outrageous Republicans because he knows where the  bodies are buried. But Sibelius is dispensable.
Dr Rink has been over to the family apartment for a private  consultation  after his apparent meltdown over my continued smoking of Blueberry Yum Yum from a stash I keep in a secret drawer in the Resolute Desk which I'm sure must  once have have been used to contain Theodore Roosevelt's Big Stick. Dr. Rink maintains that the weed adds to my paranoia. Paranoia? As if.  To prove my good cheer, I showed the doctor my new dance move. The Resolute Desk.  "Put your left foot foot up. Put your right foot up. To scratch The Resolute you just rub them all about..."  But enough about me.



But enough about me.

Progress Notes for Patient 540463: OBAMA, Barack H.

4/11/2014.  I had a minor meltdown myself a couple days ago,  in sheer frustration at trying to get the moron to achieve the slightest understanding of his narcissistic  psyche. After hearing her normally imperturbable husband yell: "Enough already with the ego!" Mrs. Rink called in the guys with white jackets which was a wise move as I was able to spend a night away from the endless demands of The Patient and his monstrous ego and I was able to open up to another psychiatrist who prescribed a mild sedative to insure that I had a good night's sleep. I was even able to leave in time to see my first patients in my consulting rooms. After the antics of The Patient these routine minor nincompoops came as a welcome relief. When the inevitable call came later from Valerie Jarrett summoning me to the People's House I was again in excellent shape. I proceeded to the private apartment where Patient was seemingly asleep on the hideous brown sofa."Look Into my eyes, look into my eyes!" I commanded him. "When I snap my fingers you will wake immediately feeling refreshed and revitalized."  I had successfully reawakened his trance ---Dictated by Dr S.H. Rink, M.D.

4/10/14

Cartoon: Daryl Cagle

[Cagle Cartoons]

Government medicine in action

 A bi-partisan group of lawmakers has lashed out at officials from the Veterans Affairs Department accusing the agency of allowing veterans to die from delayed or absent medical care at its facilities and stonewalling a follow-up congressional inquiry.
Barry Coates, 44, said at an unusually emotional U.S. House hearing that he is dying of cancer because a simple medical procedure was delayed at several VA facilities, including the William Jennings Bryan Coates, who was featured in a CNN investigation in January about delayed care and veterans' deaths, testified how for a year he complained to VA doctors about his excruciating pain and rectal bleeding.
The Army veteran went to several VA clinics and hospitals in South Carolina, trying to get help. But the VA's diagnosis was hemorrhoids, and aside from simple pain medication he was told he might need a colonoscopy.
"Due to the inadequate and lack of follow up care I received through the VA system, I stand before you terminally ill today," Coates told members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. [Source]  [BJS]

4/9/14

Cartoon: Eric Allie

[Cagle cartoons]

Governor blasts Fed land grab

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has inserted himself into the escalating standoff between cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and federal officials by blasting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over their creation of a ‘First Amendment Area’ outside of which free speech is banned.
The ‘First Amendment Area’ set up by BLM agents is a crudely taped off piece of land inside which supporters of Bundy, who is engaged in a long running dispute with feds over grazing rights on a 600,000 acre expanse in northeastern Clark County, are allowed to express their free speech.
However, protesters have completely ignored the area, instead staging large demonstrations on Bundy’s ranch. The only presence inside the ‘First Amendment Area’ are signs which read “1st Amendment is not an area” and another that states, “Welcome to Amerika – Wake Up” alongside a hammer and sickle logo.
“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a ‘First Amendment Area’ that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution,” said Sandoval in a statement. “To that end, I have advised the BLM that such conduct is offensive to me and countless others and that the ‘First Amendment Area’ should be dismantled immediately.” [Source]

Your tax dollars in action

The federal government is worried Dora the Explorer is contributing to childhood obesity.
The National Science Foundation awarded two grants totaling $750,000 to find out if cartoon characters are making children overweight and whether researchers can hone the marketing power of characters to sway kids’ eating habits.The first grant, totaling $300,000, was awarded to Ellen Wartella, a psychology professor at Northwestern University. Sandra Calvert, the director of the Children’s Digital Media Center at Georgetown University, received $450,000. [Source]

Cartoon: Stilton Jarlsberg


4/8/14

Axis of cynicism: Obama, Reid, Pelosi

 A White House aide says President Barack Obama plans to attend a solemn memorial service Wednesday at Fort Hood — the site of last week’s shooting rampage.
Just a couple hours later Obama will be glad-handing at a Democratic fundraiser in Houston for House and Senate candidates.
The Associated Press obtained an invitation to the April 9 event where tickets start at $16,200 a person and go up to $64,800 for a couple. Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi [left] are also expected to attend.  The AP reports that the money  will go to Democratic campaign committees in the House and Senate. [Source] Compare and contrast with the people of Holland  whoare still paying their respects 70 years later to some 10,000 US, and allied soldiers who died liberating Holland, sacrificing the next 70+ years and all the dreams and hopes they had for their lives.


Barack Obama's Diary: Purple reign

Dear Diary: I have asked Marv Nicholson to record the new season of Game of Thrones for me to watch at my convenience. I have never seen it, but Valerie says it may give me some ideas  on how to govern by  fear, have heads mounted on pikes  and other deliciously dissolute pastimes enjoyed by royalty. Power to the purple,  I say. But enough about me.

That lyin' liar has been lyin' again

"Are your health insurance premiums higher than ever? You betcha! Thanks Obamacare!
You already know this but, if you liked your plan, you couldn't keep your plan.
And of course, if you liked your doctor, you couldn't keep your doctor.
Now, in a Superfecta of Obamacare #fail, if you were expecting to save $2,500 per year, well, the joke's on you. Do you remember when Barack Obama told you the average family would save $2,500 a year under Obamacare? Yeah, that was a lie, too.
Everything Obama says is a lie. Including "and" and "the," writes Chris Wysocki at Wyblog
The United States has seen the sharpest increase in health insurance premiums in the last year than possibly ever, a new survey has found, and analysts have concluded the "increases are largely due to changes under the Affordable Care Act."
According to Forbes magazine, a quarterly survey by investment bank Morgan Stanley of 148 brokers who sell insurance showed that premiums accelerated in the last quarter more than of any of the 12 prior quarterly periods, a peak which has coincided with the run-up to the Obamacare deadline. 

A Tale of two Cities


Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Population
2.7 million
2.15 million
Median HH Income
$38,600
$37,000
% African-American
38.9%
24%
% Hispanic
29.9%
44%
% Asian
5.5%
6%
% Non-Hispanic White
28.7%
26%

 Pretty similar until you compare the following:
Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Concealed Carry gun law
no
yes
# of Gun Stores
0
184 - Dedicated gun stores plus 1500 - legal places to buy guns- Walmart, K-mart, sporting goods, etc.
Homicides, 2012
1,806
207
Homicides per 100K
38.4
9.6
Avg. January high temperature  (F)
31
63

Democrat Conclusion: 
Cold weather from climate change causes murder. 
--- [TG]

Obama buddy linked to corruption charge

Quinshaunta Golden, former chief of staff to one of President Obama’s closest friends, Eric Whitaker, will plead guilty to a massive kickback scheme and has agreed to cooperate with investigators, according to The Chicago Tribune. She will admit ”to bribery, theft and obstruction of justice . . . in a $400,000 state grant kickback scam she is accused of trying to cover up,” the Tribune reports.
Whitaker, who is one of Obama’s close circle of powerful Chicago friends, that includes Valerie Jarrett, denies any knowledge of the scheme and is not named in the case.  [Source]

Obama may have, but Holland has never forgotten...

 Our Alaska contributor TG, sends this: "About six miles from Maastricht , in the Netherlands, lie buried 8,301 American soldiers who died in "Operation Market Garden" in the battles to liberate Holland in 1944.  Every one of the men buried in the cemetery, as well as those in the Canadian and British military cemeteries, has been adopted by a Dutch family who mind the grave, decorate it, and keep alive the memory of the soldier they have adopted.  It is even the custom to keep a portrait of "their" American soldier in a place of honor in their home.   Annually, on "Liberation Day," memorial services are held for "the men who died to liberate Holland ." The day concludes with a concert.  The final piece is always "Il Silenzio," a memorial piece commissioned by the Dutch and first played in 1965 on the 20th anniversary of Holland's liberation. It has been the concluding piece of the memorial concert ever since.  This year the soloist was a 13-year-old Dutch girl, Melissa Venema, backed by AndrĂ© Rieu conducting the Royal Orchestra of the Netherlands. This concert piece is based upon the original version of Taps and was composed by Italian composer Nino Rossi. Watch at full screen, volume turned up. It is impossible not to tear up.



4/7/14

Barack Obama's Diary: Madmen

Dear Diary: My head is still spinning after a  deeply  disorienting day. After a routine briefing from  aides, I had a private lunch with Joe Biden who is normally very confused, but after a week in Poland is completely out of it and has been telling  the Poles that Putin is annexing them and wants "to put you back in chains". And then there's  John Kerry who has returned from Europe with an even longer face than he had before  which scarcely seems possible, but it is the result of having achieved nothing in talks with Russia's Foreign Minister. My anxiety level was rising fast so I asked Valerie to make an appointment  for me to see Dr. Rink, but she says he was last seen being loaded into an ambulance in a canvas jacket with the sleeves  tied behind his back, yelling: "Enough of that insane egotist. I can't take him any more" I can't imagine to whom he was referring. But enough about me.

'Throw Sister under the bus'

"Catholic high school throws a nun under the bus for teaching Catholic doctrine.  Can you guess that homosexuality was involved? Of course you can." writes Chris Wysocki. "But, what you can't do, is repeat Church teaching on homosexuality in a Catholic school. Because then the tolerance crowd goes insane.  Political correctness took an ugly turn last week when a Catholic nun was excoriated for lecturing against same-sex unions at a Catholic high school in North Carolina."And the outrage didn't come from the left, but from students and parents. Sister Jane Dominic Laurel told students that homosexuality is not so much a biological trait as a result of psychological factors often prompted by environmental conditions, like being raised by same-sex parents. She used studies and data to back up her claims, according to Breitbart News. Sister Laurel, a Nashville Dominican nun with a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University in Rome, has often lectured on church doctrine, which teaches that homosexuality is a sin. She normally teaches at Aquinas College, but often guest lectures at high schools across the country. "Judging by how the students and parents reacted, that Catholic school is "Catholic" in name only," writes Wysocki.