Muslim women should NOT cover face, say most Muslim countries in survey

Muslim women should NOT cover face, say most Muslim countries in survey | Mail Online:

Crooks and thieves at EVERY level of government----DWP chief Ron Nichols resigns amid controversies

DWP chief Ron Nichols resigns amid controversies - latimes.com:
"Ron Nichols announced his resignation Thursday as general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is struggling through a pair of public-relations debacles.

Despite repeated demands from elected officials, Nichols has been unable to produce records showing how two nonprofit trusts created to help improve relations with the utility's largest union have spent more than $40 million in ratepayer money over the last decade.

Nichols also has been unable to adequately explain to elected officials, including his boss, Mayor Eric Garcetti, what those trusts have accomplished, even though he has co-managed them with the union leader for the last three years."

Bend over again, America. This is gonna hurt----Obamacare Ad Blitz Planned for Olympics

Obamacare Ad Blitz Planned for Olympics - ABC News:
"The White House is planning to make a major play to sign up young and healthy Americans for Obamacare when the Winter Olympics open next month.

The Department of Health and Human Services will launch a TV ad blitz to take advantage of anticipated increased viewership on NBC stations which will carry the Olympic coverage between Feb. 7 and 23, an administration official confirmed to ABC News.
The official said the ads would run in markets with the highest rates of uninsured, but declined to specify the locations or the amount that would be spent.
The ads will encourage uninsured people, particularly young adults, to enroll in Obamacare coverage before the March 31 deadline. They will also educate consumers about new insurance benefits available under the Affordable Care Act, an official said."

Math is hard-----Holder's New School Discipline Guidelines: Stop Targeting Minorities

Holder's New School Discipline Guidelines: Stop Targeting Minorities:

"In American schools, black students without disabilities were more than three times as likely as whites to be expelled or suspended, according to government civil rights data collection from 2011-2012.
Although black students made up 15 percent of students in the data collection, they made up more than a third of students suspended once, 44 percent of those suspended more than once and more than a third of students expelled.

More than half of students involved in school-related arrests or referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or black, according to the data.

The recommendations encourage schools to ensure that all school personnel are trained in classroom management, conflict resolution and approaches to de-escalate classroom disruptions.

Underfunded US homeowner associations get heavy

Underfunded US homeowner associations get heavy:
"For six years, Ingrid Boak, who travels a lot for work as a racehorse trainer, ignored mail from her homeowner association.

Boak, of Lexington, Kentucky, says the letters were requests for $48 in annual fees for upkeep of the tidy neighborhood of one-story brick homes. Because she didn't use the clubhouse or pool, or participate in social activities sponsored by the association, she didn't think she needed to pay. Last September, while she was away, a neighbor called to tell her about a handwritten sign tacked to her front door. It said her house had been sold.
Masterson Station Neighborhood Association had foreclosed on her $120,000 home because she had $288 in unpaid dues, according to the association's lawyer, Nathan Billings. Boak was sent nearly 30 notices before her property was foreclosed on, he said; the dues were mandatory association fees."

Blame slow jet stream for US deep freeze

Blame slow jet stream for US deep freeze - environment - 07 January 2014 - New Scientist

Don't blame the polar vortex. 

The real reason for the cold snap paralysing North America this week is a slow jet stream.

The cold is extreme, and deadly. In Minnesota, the wind chill was down to minus 51 °C. Chicago (pictured) hit a record low of minus 27 °C on Monday, and ice built up along Lake Michigan. TV weather channels warned that frostbite could set in after just 5 minutes of exposure, planes have been grounded after fuel froze, schools have closed and Indianapolis banned driving. Key crops like wheat are also at risk.

It has been 20 years since the entire mainland US was affected like this, says forecaster Brian Korty of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

As temperatures fell, some blamed a mysterious polar vortex, but this is a system of winds in the stratosphere that spins around the Arctic and Antarctic during their respective winters, many kilometres above the weather. There is nothing unusual about the polar vortex, according to the UK Met Office. Instead, cold Arctic air has reached North America thanks to a weakened jet stream – the continent's atmospheric conveyor belt.

HAMMOND: Should you lose your gun rights if you visit a shrink?

HAMMOND: Should you lose your gun rights if you visit a shrink? - Washington Times:
"In a preternatural example of tone-deafness, an administration under fire for snooping into Americans’ privacy is now proposing to waive federal privacy laws so psychiatrists can report their gun-owning patients to the government.

The Department of Health and Human Service’s “notice of proposed rule-making,” floated by the White House in a Friday media dump, would waive portions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to allow psychiatrists to report their patients to the FBI’s gun-ban blacklist (the NICS system) on the basis of confidential communications."

Why we pay so much for our auto insurance

Cuz so many aren't paying ANYTHING!
I've heard experts say that Michigan may be 40% uninsured today.
www.insurance-research.org:

Remember the "fix" they promised was for us to give them $Trillions. Then all would be just ducky-------Winter Storm 2014: On The Coldest Day In America In 20 Years, Here Are Al Gore’s Stupidest Global Warming Quotes

Read 'em all and wonder about the morons who actually believe his idiocy.
Winter Storm 2014: On The Coldest Day In America In 20 Years, Here Are Al Gore’s Stupidest Global Warming Quotes - Freedom Outpost | Freedom Outpost:

So are we really experiencing “global warming”?

Of course not.

If anything, things are actually getting colder.

What the United States and Canada are experiencing right now is making global warming alarmists such as Al Gore look quite foolish. 

The following are 10 of Al Gore’s stupidest global warming quotes…

#1 In 2008, Al Gore boldly declared to a German audience that “the entire North ‘polarized’ cap will disappear in 5 years.” (Needless to say, that did not happen. In fact, the ice cap in the Arctic actually got larger this year.)

#2 “CO2 is the exhaling breath of our civilization, literally. … Changing that pattern requires a scope, a scale, a speed of change that is beyond what we have done in the past.” (Actually, without carbon dioxide life on earth would not exist.)

#3 “The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, ‘Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it’s not a problem.’ If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action.” (It sounds like what Al Gore really needs is more cowbell.)

#4 During a speech at NYU Law School in 2006, Al Gore made the following statement: “Many scientists are now warning that we are moving closer to several “tipping points” that could — within as little as 10 years — make it impossible for us to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet’s habitability for human civilization.”

WeMOG--Pigeon Creek Park and ski or snow shoe. Today Jan 9 at 1:00p.m.

Come out to Pigeon Creek Park and ski or snow shoe. Today Jan 9 at 1:00p.m.

 

Directions: US31 south of Grand Haven  to Stanton Rd and go east to park. 

Grand Rapids Folks, Lake Michigan Dr to 120th (by the Yellow Jacket) and go south to Stanton Rd and then West to Park

 See you there

It's the culture, stupid-----------What Will Half of Young Black Men Have in Common by Age 23?

What Will Half of Young Black Men Have in Common by Age 23? - The Daily Beast:
"according to a new study published in the Journal of Crime & Delinquency, nearly 50 percent of all black males have been arrested by the age of 23."

"Is that a vagina in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"------------------Cormac McCarthy's ex-wife arrested for pulling gun on boyfriend

Cormac McCarthy's ex-wife arrested for pulling gun on boyfriend | The Daily Caller:
"The ex-wife of Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men” novelist Cormac McCarthy was arrested over the weekend for pulling a handgun from her vagina and aiming it at her current boyfriend’s head.

The Smoking Gun obtained the statement of probable cause from Santa Fe County Police that says Jennifer McCarthy, 48, was arguing with her unnamed boyfriend about “space aliens” when she became angry and left her home.

When she came back, McCarthy went into the bedroom and came out wearing nothing but lingerie and a Smith & Wesson handgun in her vagina. 
In a scene that sounds like it came out of her ex-husband’s latest movie “The Counselor,” she began to have “inner course” with the handgun in front of her boyfriend."

Pay to play, dudes......Tales Of Two “Healthcare” Profit Strategies

Tales Of Two “Healthcare” Profit Strategies « Rat Nation:
"Something in the stars was aligned to get these two stories on the same day.

First, Breitbart’s Wynton Hall did a tremendous amount of legwork to deliver the details on this topic sentence:

For Obama’s big money backers, however, the Obamacare fiasco has generated massive profits and contracts. 
In 2008, the healthcare industry contributed an astounding $22,471,562 to Obama–a sum nearly three times greater than it donated to his Republican challenger. 
Their “investment” paid off in 2013, as the healthcare sector index gained 37.5%, making it the S&P 500′s best-performing sector.

That means big gains for Obama’s big donors, notes Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer.

There is quite a litany of healthcare executives and their rewards, I mean bonus packages at this link, but suffice it to say that donations to the Obama presidential campaign in 2008 could look a lot like pay to play or some sort of bribe in the right light.
They’re all cashing in."

No one fired, bonuses keep going to politicians-----Madoff-related fraud to cost JPMorgan $2.5 billion

What a tawdry tale!
Why are these people not strung upside down in Central Park?
Madoff-related fraud to cost JPMorgan $2.5 billion | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"The name on the account was Bernard Madoff and on Tuesday, JPMorgan paid a steep price for keeping quiet about its suspicions.
....In 2008, the bank’s London desk circulated a memo describing JPMorgan’s inability to validate his trading activity or custody of assets and his “odd choice” of a one-man accounting firm, the government said.
In late October 2008, it filed a suspicious activity report with British officials. In the weeks that followed, JPMorgan withdrew about $300 million of its own money from Madoff feeder funds.
The fraud was revealed when Madoff was arrested in December 2008.
“Despite all these alarm bells, JPMorgan never closed or even seriously questioned Madoff’s Ponzi-enabling 703 account,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
 “On the other hand, when it came to its own money, JPMorgan knew how to connect the dots and take action to protect itself against risk.”
In a statement, JPMorgan said it recognized it “could have done a better job pulling together various pieces of information and concerns about Madoff from different parts of the bank over time.”

It's the culture, stupid! ----------------------CDC: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women

CDC: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women | CNS News:
"The fertility rate of women in the United States fell to a record low for the second year in a row in 2012, according to data released last week by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also for the second year in a row, 40.7 percent of the babies born in the United States were born to unmarried mothers."

I'm thinkin' not too many will have to cross this one off their vac lists-----20 World's Most Dangerous Vacation Destinations

20 World's Most Dangerous Vacation Destinations:
"1. Detroit, USA


Perhaps it will be a great surprise for you but Detroit is one of the places that are not desirable for visiting. It has been heading the list of the most dangerous US cities for 5 years. Crimes are widespread here. But if you are eager so much to visit this Motor City in spite of all the threats, you should control the information in the media."

Photo Essay: Beauty in ice along the Grand Haven pier

Photo Essay: Beauty in ice along the Grand Haven pier | MLive.com:
"Ice covers the pier in Grand Haven Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014.  (17 total photos)"

History for January 9 - Flirting ban?!

History for January 9 - On-This-Day.com

Birth anniversary of 37^th US president Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-1994).

More birth anniversaries:  Bob Denver (1935-2005), Lee Van Cleef (1925-89)

1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.


1902 - New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.


1929 - The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, TN. The company's purpose was to train dogs to guide the blind.


1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opened in New York City.


1969 - The supersonic aeroplane Concorde made its first trial flight, at Bristol.

1984 - Clara Peller was first seen by TV viewers in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's.

Poverty level under Obama breaks 50-year record

Poverty level under Obama breaks 50-year record - Washington Times:
"Fifty years after President Johnson started a $20 trillion taxpayer-funded war on poverty, the overall percentage of impoverished people in the U.S. has declined only slightly and the poor have lost ground under President Obama.
Aides said Mr. Obama doesn’t plan to commemorate the anniversary Wednesday of Johnson’s speech in 1964, which gave rise to Medicaid, Head Start and a broad range of other federal anti-poverty programs."

Obama's america----Gonorrhea, Syphilis Regain Traction in U.S., CDC Reports

Government "experts" say it's your fault?
Gonorrhea, Syphilis Regain Traction in U.S., CDC Reports - Bloomberg:
"Gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in the U.S., mostly in men who have sex with men, a trend the government said is linked to inadequate testing among people stymied by homophobia and limited access to health care.

The rate of new gonorrhea cases rose 4 percent in 2012 from the year before, while syphilis jumped 11 percent, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today in a report.
Rates for chlamydia, the most common of the bacterial sexually transmitted diseases, gained less than 1 percent."

More on this union led theft---100 Plus Former First, Second Responders Busted in September 11th Disability Scam

100 Plus Former First, Second Responders Busted in September 11th Disability Scam | Viewpoints of a Sagitarrian:
"In the cesspool known as New York City, more than 100 first responders, second responders and correction officers who either worked at Ground Zero during the recovery and cleanup process or were on the scene during the September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorist attack on the World Trade Center have been busted for faking mental and psychiatric illnesses in order to collect Social Security disability payments."

Oldie, but goodie----Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists

2/28/2011
Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists | The Daily Caller:

One day climate change skeptics will be seen in the same negative light as racists, or so says former Vice President Al Gore.

In an interview with former advertising executive and Climate Reality Project collaborator Alex Bogusky broadcast on UStream on Friday, Gore explained that in order for climate change alarmists to succeed, they must “win the conversation” against those who deny there is a crisis. (RELATED: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene)

“I remember, again going back to my early years in the South, when the Civil Rights revolution was unfolding, there were two things that really made an impression on me,” Gore said. 

“My generation watched Bull Connor turning the hose on civil rights demonstrators and we went, ‘Whoa! How gross and evil is that?’ 

My generation asked old people, ‘Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?’ 

And when they couldn’t really answer that question with integrity, the change really started.”