5+ years of Obamamercia----"Zombie subdivisions," abandoned in downturn, plague Colorado counties

"Zombie subdivisions," abandoned in downturn, plague Colorado counties - The Denver Post:

""Zombie subdivisions" — some platted but vacant land, others partially built and then abandoned — plague parts of the Intermountain West, siphoning valuable resources from struggling local governments, dragging down property values and causing blight.
Millions of these undeveloped lots exist, many requiring public services in remote neighborhoods that generate little tax revenue. 
The unfinished developments have become the "living dead of the real estate market," according to a report released Wednesday by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
The problem is especially prevalent in states including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona — where wide-open spaces and booming economies drew new residents and developers before the recession began."

The tree huggers ain't gonna like what happens to trees when Barry triples energy costs------NH Thieves Raiding Woodpiles For Firewood

NH Thieves Raiding Woodpiles For Firewood « CBS Boston:

"CANDIA, N.H. (CBS) — Janine Richardson couldn’t believe it when she and her husband went to bring in some firewood to heat their home and it was all gone.

“We don’t use oil at all,” said Richardson. 

“We heat by wood solely so it was cold, it was cold that night, luckily we had little scraps around so we burnt that for the night.” 

Police in Candia New Hampshire says it’s happened at least twice this month. Heavy piles of firewood have been stolen from people’s property.

“I haven’t seen that in this area,” said Candia Police Chief Mike McGillen. “I can’t recall having many investigations like this.”"

Well, pot education coming to our schools? I sure hope it'll be as effective as "sex ed" was in preventing unwanted pregnancies----Sheriff to launch discussion on the impacts of legal marijuana

Sheriff to launch discussion on the impacts of legal marijuana | Aspen Daily News Online:
"How can the Aspen School District encourage students to delay marijuana use until their brains have fully matured?
How can Aspen pot shops discourage naïve tourists from eating enough cannabis-infused products to induce a bad trip?
And should the Aspen Skiing Co. be worried about more people chiefing on its chairlifts?
Those are just a few of the questions that Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo is hoping to shed light on when he convenes a community roundtable discussion about the impacts of legal marijuana on Monday."

This is very cool---His Daughter Started A Modeling Career At Age 5. Sounds Wrong, But It’s Not What I Thought…

His Daughter Started A Modeling Career At Age 5. Sounds Wrong, But It’s Not What I Thought… | Distractify:

Stupid and powerful is a bad combo for our kids---Union victory: Porn-watching Wisconsin teacher awarded new job, backpay

Union victory: Porn-watching Wisconsin teacher awarded new job, backpay | Fox News:
"Here's what Wisconsin's legal system and its teachers unions have just taught the nation:
If you're a teacher and you get fired for looking at porn at work, you'll get your job back.
Such is the case of Andrew Harris, former seventh-grade science teacher at Glacier Creek Middle School in the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District.
The district's school board Monday voted in a special closed session to comply with an arbitrator's 60-page order that demands Harris be reinstated.
He was fired in 2010 after receiving and viewing multiple pornographic and sexually inappropriate images and videos, according to a complaint.
To add insult to the district's injury, taxpayers will have to pay Harris nearly $200,000 in back pay. In total the district will spend nearly $1 million on the case, the brunt of which went to legally defending its position that the firing was fair."

Fracking Protesters Arrested for Gluing Themselves to the Wrong Petrol Pumps

Fracking Protesters Arrested for Gluing Themselves to the Wrong Petrol Pumps:
"On Monday, four members of an anti-fracking group wound up in jail for using bicycle locks and glue to fasten themselves to gas pumps at a petrol station in Great Lever, England.
The group sacrificed themselves in order to protest the hydraulic fracking activities of Total, a French petroleum company.

But, to their embarrassment, the group sacrificed themselves to the wrong petrol station, which was no longer owned by Total.
The petrol station was owned by Certas Energy, who neglected to take down the signs after buying the station."

Busted: Gun Control Legislator Dianne Feinstein's Hypocrisy Exposed!

Busted: Gun Control Legislator Dianne Feinstein's Hypocrisy Exposed! (VIDEO) - The Federalist Papers:
"The two videos illustrate the fact that gun grabbing politicians want to take the guns from you, but not from themselves. 
Do you agree?"

Say it ain't so---The Captain & Tennille Are Getting a Divorce

The Captain & Tennille Are Getting a Divorce - Breakups, Divorced : People.com:
"Their biggest hit was "Love Will Keep Us Together," but '70s singing duo the Captain & Tennille are getting a divorce.
Toni Tennille, whose real name is Cathryn Antoinette Tennille, 73, filed for divorce on Jan. 16, the Prescott, Arizona City courthouse confirms to PEOPLE.
Daryl Dragon, 71, also known as the Captain, was a keyboard player for the Beach Boys before meeting his wife.
They released their first album in 1974, winning a Grammy the following year. "

For bankrupt Detroit, is $350 million just a drop in the bucket?

For bankrupt Detroit, is $350 million just a drop in the bucket? - CSMonitor.com:
"The immediate reaction, however, has mostly ranged from confusion to criticism.
Considering that Detroit's unfunded pension liabilities are estimated to be $3.5 billion – and city-owned art at DIA is appraised at $875 million – it's unclear what $350 million could accomplish. 
Moreover, in a state where the federal bailout of the auto industry was widely criticized by Republicans, Snyder risks alienating his own party by using state money for his plan."

See No Evil

See No Evil | CNS News:

"I just saw a tease on a news site that said Obama didn't know
the extent of the NSA surveillance.
It seems that he also didn't know about our nation spying on the German Chancellor,
didn't know the Obamacare website was nowhere close to being ready to roll out,
didn't know about the IRS targeting conservative groups,
didn't know about the Petraeus investigation,
didn't know about the Department of Justice seizing the AP's phone records,
had no knowledge of Fast and Furious and
doesn't remember a thing about what he was doing the night four Americans were slaughtered in Benghazi Libya.

There are several possibilities: Obama is either surrounded with frighteningly incompetent megalomaniacs, he has terrible judgment in choosing people to fill sensitive positions, he has a very bad memory, he is an out and out liar, or perhaps a combination of all the above.

.....Hope somebody on his staff doesn't start a war and not mention it to him. 

History for January 23

History for January 23 - On-This-Day.com:

National Pie Day

Birth anniversary of John Hancock (1737-93, NS)

Ratification anniversaries: in 1933, the 20^th Amendment was ratified (moving presidential inaugurations to Jan 20) and in 1964, the 24^th Amendment was ratified (abolishing the poll tax).

Happy Birthday! Rutger Hauer

1556 - An earthquake in Shanxi Province, China, was thought to have killed about 830,000 people. 

1960 - The U.S. Navy bathyscaphe Trieste descended to a record depth of 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) in the Pacific Ocean.



1968 - North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later. 


1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, AK, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was reported as minus 80 degrees. 


1977 - The TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. 


2003 - North Korea announced that it would consider sanctions an act of war for North Korea's reinstatement of its nuclear program.

ObamaCare’s Attack on the Elderly

ObamaCare’s Attack on the Elderly | FrontPage Magazine:
"Beginning the the same time the LCP scandal was being exposed, the Obama administration began awarding hospitals bonus points for spending the least amount of money on elderly patients. 

Even worse, the idea was sold to the elderly as a good thing during the 2012 presidential election campaign."

The inconvient truth---Target announces it will drop part-time employees from its healthcare plan

Target announces it will drop part-time employees from its healthcare plan | TheHill
Target Corp. announced on Tuesday it would no longer offer healthcare coverage to its part-time employees.

In a blog post on the company’s website, Jodee Kozlak, the executive vice president of human resources, framed it as a positive development for part-time employees of the company.

“The Health Insurance Marketplaces provides new options for healthcare coverage that we believe our part-time members may prefer,” she wrote. “In fact, by offering them insurance, we could actually disqualify many of them from being eligible for newly available subsidies that could reduce their overall health insurance expense.”

Kozlak added that at present, fewer than 10 percent of part-time employees that are eligible have actually enrolled in the company’s healthcare plan.

No one can figure it out? People like "free" or "discount". And this is news?-----A quarter of Affordable Care Act enrollees were uninsured, Priority Health survey finds

A quarter of Affordable Care Act enrollees were uninsured, Priority Health survey finds | MLive.com: "Although easy access to doctors was considered a high priority, 43 percent said they did not know if the provider network in their new plan was similar to their former network.
Most said the subsidy influenced their selection of a plan.
But more than 60 percent did not know whether they were eligible for cost-sharing reductions. 
The discount is available for those who choose a silver plan from the Health Insurance Marketplace and whose income is below a certain level – about $29,000 for single people."

Wait til these guys are unionized government employees----Paramedic charged with stealing $80 from dead man

Paramedic charged with stealing $80 from dead man | MLive.com:
"Prosecutors said Price was on an ambulance run for Professional Med Team Inc.
Pro Med President Thomas Schmiedeknecht could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

The attorney listed for Price in court files, Ronald H. Pannucci, also could not be reached Tuesday."

It's comin' to America, folks-----Swedes buy insurance to skip long health queues

Swedes buy insurance to skip long health queues - The Local:
"One in ten Swedes now has private health insurance, often through their employers, with some recipients stating it makes business sense to be seen quickly rather than languish in national health care queues.

Sweden's health system 'worst in the Nordics' (04 Dec 13)
'Rid health care of venture capital': Liberals (11 Nov 13)
Swedish midwives cut health care costs (02 Oct 13)

More than half a million Swedes now have private health insurance, showed a new review from industry organization Swedish Insurance (Svensk Försäkring).
In eight out of ten cases, the person's employer had offered them the private insurance deal.

"It's quicker to get a colleague back to work if you have an operation in two weeks' time rather than having to wait for a year," privately insured Anna Norlander told Sveriges Radio on Friday.
 "It's terrible that I, as a young person, don't feel I can trust the health care system to take care of me." "

Wimp presidents get bad deals-----Iran on nuke deal: 'We did not agree to dismantle anything'

Iran on nuke deal: 'We did not agree to dismantle anything' - CNN.com:
"(CNN) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted Wednesday that the Obama administration mischaracterizes concessions by his side in the six-month nuclear deal with Iran, telling CNN in an exclusive interview that "we did not agree to dismantle anything."
Zarif told CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto that terminology used by the White House to describe the agreement differed from the text agreed to by Iran and the other countries in the talks -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
"The White House version both underplays the concessions and overplays Iranian commitments" under the agreement that took effect Monday, Zarif said"

Obama certainly knows "JV"-----Obama Claim That Post-Bin Laden Al-Qaida Is 'JV' Is Alarming

Obama Claim That Post-Bin Laden Al-Qaida Is 'JV' Is Alarming - Investors.com:

"President Obama says post-Bin Laden al-Qaida's control of more territory than ever doesn't matter because it's like a junior varsity high school basketball team.
Hoops aren't what al-Qaida is shooting.

When New Yorker editor David Remnick pointed out to Obama during a November interview that years after Osama bin Laden had been killed, "the flag of al-Qaida is now flying in Fallujah, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria" and "al-Qaida has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too," the response he got was either delusional or deceitful.
The president retorted that "if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant."

Do we really want two sets of laws in America?----D.C. trial for one shotgun shell but no gun, not given NBC David Gregory offer

MILLER: D.C. trial for one shotgun shell but no gun, not given NBC David Gregory offer - Washington Times

A year ago this month, the attorney general for the District of Columbia let NBC News anchor David Gregory off scot-free for possession of a “high capacity” magazine because doing so “would not promote public safety.”

Now, Irvin Nathan refuses to use that same prosecutorial discretion for an average citizen who violated a bizarre technicality that makes empty casings and shells a crime as serious as having an illegal firearm.

Mr. Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal history, is the first known case of a citizen being prosecuted in D.C. for inoperable ammunition. 
Washington police and prosecutors have spent a year and a half trying to nail him for the possession of so-called unregistered ammunition. 

A hunter and gun owner, Mr. Witaschek has always kept his firearms at his sister’s house in Virginia. 
If convicted, he faces a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for having a single, inoperable shotgun shell in his home. 
The jury trial starts on Feb. 11.   

The Metropolitan Police Department raided Mr. Witaschek’s rented Georgetown house twice in the summer of 2012 on the word of his angry ex-wife.

Frustrated with not finding the promised firearms, the police handcuffed him, searched his home top to bottom and came out with only ammunition, which carries the same felony penalty as a firearm.

(Click here for more details of the raids from my first story on his case.)

Mr. Witaschek told me this week, “Since the night my home was invaded and family terrorized by a militarized D.C. police force, I am more afraid of what government is doing than I am of any of the people I encountered when I spent the night in jail.”

He added, “The Second Amendment was meant to guarantee individuals the right to protect themselves against government — as much as against private bad guys and gangs.”

There have been two pre-trail hearings in the case so far. At the end of the first hearing in November, Judge Robert Morin gave the government until Jan. 3 to come up with a good defense for the initial police raid without a search warrant.

Knowing things weren’t going in their favor, the two assistant attorneys general for the District on the case, Peter Saba and Oritsejemine Trouth, offered Mr. Witaschek probation if he pleaded guilty. He declined the offer.

At the second hearing, the judge disallowed the first warrantless search and the fruits of it. This eliminated a box of rifle ammunition from the charges.

Undeterred, the prosecutors continued with the two items from the second raid — a misfired 12-gauge shotgun shell and a box of muzzleloader sabots.

Sabots are plastic covers that make it easier to push the bullet into a muzzleloader gun. 
There is no propellent on the bullet or sabot — because the gunpowder is separated — so it is not clear that it can be categorized as ammunition and thus only registered gun owners can possess it.

Thus, the single vaguely legitimate remaining charge for “unregistered ammunition” is the misfired shotgun shell that Mr. Witaschek has kept as a souvenir from deer hunting years earlier. The shell cannot be fired because the primer was already stricken and failed to propel it.

“I believe that some in the prosecution and police apparatus know what they did and are trying to continue this charade to cover their tracks,” Mr. Witaschek said of the warrantless raid and SWAT team tactics used against his family. “If I am proven a ‘criminal,’ then their bad acts are covered. If not, they are liable.”

That’s why Mr. Witaschek turned down the prosecution’s second offer that he would plead guilty to a reduced charge of “attempted possession” of ammunition. That crime still would carry a maximum of penalty of a six-month jail sentence, and it is not eligible for a jury trial.

Neither of the prosecutors nor the spokesman for Mr. Nathan responded to requests for comment.

Without a firearm, Mr. Witaschek could not do anything dangerous with an inoperable shotgun shell or muzzleloading bullets.

So it is inconceivable that a judge or jury would see this case as anything other than an overly technical interpretation of a law supposedly intended to prevent crime.

Nevertheless, the attorney general and his team insisted on prosecuting. Mr. Nathan’s office has spent countless hours and taxpayer money to try to nail a man who is an upstanding member of society with no intent to harm anyone.

Mr. Witaschek deserves the same treatment as the powerful TV anchor Mr. Gregory. Mr. Nathan should drop this absurd charge before this case goes to the jury.