House easily passes $1T omnibus spending bill with 359-67 vote

House easily passes $1T omnibus spending bill with 359-67 vote | TheHill:
"While most Democrats clearly preferred funding the government over risking a government shutdown, they also complained that the process needs to improve.
“This can be described very charitably as a mixed bag,” said Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.). “This is a 1,500-page bill that nobody has actually read.”
Yet the bill won even more support than the two-year budget deal it was based on. Ninety-four House members had voted against the budget deal.
Even conservative budget hawk Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), who had signaled he would vote against any bill based on the new budget, voted “yes.”
“When I ran for office in 2010, I told people that I wanted to roll back spending in Washington to 2008 [pre-stimulus] levels,” he said. “I even put that on my flyers. Today, I had the chance to do what I told people I would do if they elected me.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said he was surprised by the strong vote

“I’m almost giddy,” he said. “I think it’s a really good demonstration of trying to work across the aisle and across the dome.”"

Only a moron who's NEVER bought insurance, paid taxes, seen a gas or electric bill or bought food could be surprised that there is inflation------US consumer prices up 0.3 pct, most in 6 months

US consumer prices up 0.3 pct, most in 6 months - The Denver Post:
"WASHINGTON—U.S. consumer prices rose last month by the most since June, driven up by higher gas prices, but excluding energy, inflation was tame.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent in December, after a flat reading the previous month.

Prices increased 1.5 percent in 2013, down from 1.7 percent in 2012.
That's below the Federal Reserve's target of 2 percent."

They passed it and the MSM still refuses to read it----What You Were Never Told About Obamacare

What You Were Never Told About Obamacare – LewRockwell.com:
"The first is the Reinsurance Program under which large claims are capped for insurers offering individual plans under Obamacare.
Insurers pay for claims up to $45,000, while the Federal government picks up 80% of the costs exceeding $45,000 up to a maximum of $250,000.
This means that Obamacare is a public-private insurance scheme and that we are already half-way to the “single-payer” insurance program that Obama and his left-wing cronies so keenly pine for.
Needless to say, neither President Obama nor the establishment media have publicized this provision of Obamacare."

Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops 45.7 Percent When Planned Parenthood Leaves Town

Teen Pregnancy Rate Drops 45.7 Percent When Planned Parenthood Leaves Town - Saving Our Future:
"A study across the Texas Panhandle, using government statistics from 16 counties, found that the teen pregnancy rates among 13-17-year olds from 1994 through 2010 showed dramatic declines even as Planned Parenthood Federation of America facilities in the region shut down—dwindling from 19 family planning facilities to zero."

Ummm, doesn't pot give ya the munchies? And they're surprised "edibles" are popular among the pot heads?------Edible marijuana sales shattering sales projections in Colorado

7NEWS - Edible marijuana sales shattering sales projections in Colorado - Local Story:
"DENVER - A one-month supply of marijuana edibles, gone in the first three days of January.
That's what the area's largest supplier of marijuana edibles is saying about the incredible demand for the product since recreational sales were legalized in Colorado on Jan. 1.
"We are working hard," said Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer for Dixie Elixirs and Edibles. "We like to call ourselves the future of cannabis."
There is so much demand for edibles right now, they limit customers to two edible products a day at recreational pot shops like LoDo Wellness at 16th St. and Wazee in downtown Denver."

Government against its citizens------Lawmaker calls for Udall investigation over Obamacare numbers

Lawmaker calls for Udall investigation over Obamacare numbers | The Daily Caller
Colorado Republican Rep. Cory Gardner told a Colorado news site that he wants Democratic Sen. Mark Udall investigated for allegedly trying to bully the state insurance commissioner into lowering the number of people whose insurance policies were canceled under Obamacare.
“I think anytime you have an office that is caught red-handed in a hostile phone call where they are trying to change what is recognized as legitimate numbers for political purposes, that’s an inappropriate use of government power,” Gardner told the Colorado Observer.
“It’s clear from the emails the senator wasn’t worried about the 250,000 people who lost their insurance, he wanted to change the numbers so it didn’t look bad.”

Dang it! We're missin' Aspen's Gay Ski Week------Gay Ski Week’s Laugh Whore

Gay Ski Week’s Laugh Whore | Aspen Daily News Online:

Obama to Dems: I'll act with or without Congress

Obama to Dems: I'll act with or without Congress - Yahoo News:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has told Senate Democrats he plans to use his executive authority to act in 2014 when Congress stands in his way."

VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel Rails on Obamacare and Uninformed Young People

VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel Rails on Obamacare and Uninformed Young People | Conservative Outfitters:
"(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX: Hi. I'm Alex, and this is my wife Martha, and we're both approaching the big 6-0.

MARTHA: And we have health care issues to deal with.

ALEX: I take blood pressure medication.

MARTHA: And Levitra.

ALEX: Yes. And Martha’s got beta blockers and something for her osteoporosis. And it’s not cheap.

MARTHA: But fortunately we don't have to pay for it.

ALEX: No, you do.

MARTHA: That’s right. You young people are paying for our drugs and our doctors.

ALEX: Not to mention our Social Security and our Medicare when we retire to Boca. And you know why?

MARTHA: Because you don't vote.

ALEX: And we do.

MARTHA: That’s right. Hope you enjoy that Burning Guy festival.

ALEX: Come on, Martha, let's go find that Levitra.

MARTHA: Oh, Alex!

ANNOUNCER: The Affordable Care Act. Next time, maybe pick up a newspaper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)"

WeMog Friday!

Come out to Pigeon Creek Park and ski or snow shoe. Friday Jan 17 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

Or:

Car Pool: Hile Rd Park and Ride at US31 and I-96 at 12:15pm 

See you there

Plus:

Pancake Breakfast 

Saturday Jan 18 2014

Breakfast: 8:00 am - 11:00 am 

Crockery Township Hall, Nunica

17421  112th Ave. 

All proceeds will be used towards the $25,000 needed to match the Grant from the Loutit foundation to complete the purchase of lane for the bicycle path.

Adult: $5.00

Kids: 5-12 years $3.00

Under 4: Free

Donations may also be made to:

Crockery Citizens Committee

P.O. Box 255

Nunica MI 49448

We can stop this...only if we expend some effort...... wanna bet?-----America's Dwindling Economic Freedom

Terry Miller: America's Dwindling Economic Freedom - WSJ.com:
"World economic freedom has reached record levels, according to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal.
But after seven straight years of decline, the U.S. has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries."

Amazing what competition will do-----AC Casino Revenue Below $3B; 1st Time in 22 Years

AC Casino Revenue Below $3B; 1st Time in 22 Years - ABC News:
"Atlantic City's casino revenue fell below $3 billion last year for the first time in 22 years, as increasing competition in the northeastern U.S. continued to shrink the market.
....It marked the seventh straight year of plunging gambling revenue for Atlantic City, which won $5.2 billion in 2006. 
That was the year the first of what would become 12 Pennsylvania casinos opened, cutting deeply into a market the New Jersey resort town once called its own."

Gimme a break-----Marijuana amnesty boxes going up at Colorado Springs Airport

Marijuana amnesty boxes going up at Colorado Springs Airport:
"Amnesty boxes are going up at the Colorado Springs airport for those who didn't realize that it's illegal to carry pot on a plane.

Under the Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana, it is legal to leave the drug in a parked car at the airport.
Bringing marijuana inside is, however, prohibited.
Officials are encouraging people to leave their marijuana behind, but they also want to help people who broke the law and don't want to miss their flights.
Installation of the boxes begins on Wednesday.

According to KKTV-TV (http://tinyurl.com/mju3yna ), the ban on pot at the airport applies to both recreational and medical marijuana.
If passengers are caught trying to bring pot onto a plane, they could face up to $2,500 in fines and possible jail time."

Your tax dollars at work----CU sociology professor Patti Adler, who teaches deviant behavior class, is retiring - Local Story

7NEWS - CU sociology professor Patti Adler, who teaches deviant behavior class, is retiring - Local Story
"BOULDER, Colo. - A University of Colorado professor who was briefly barred from teaching a course called "Deviance in U.S. Society" says she is retiring.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported Tuesday sociology professor Patti Adler plans to teach the course this semester and again in May and then retire.

University officials ordered Adler to stop teaching the class in December, saying a role-playing skit on prostitution might have created a hostile environment for students who didn't want to participate. The university relented after an executive committee in the sociology department reviewed and cleared the class."

Michigan chair company founder sues after falling out of chair

Michigan chair company founder sues after falling out of chair | The Detroit News:

Grand Rapids — The founder of a Michigan chair company is suing another furniture company after falling out of a chair and hurting his back.

The lawsuit says David Miller was attending a staff meeting at Grand Rapids Chair in 2012 when he leaned down to pick up a pencil. 

A chair leg broke, sending Miller crashing to the concrete floor.

Miller says sharp pain in his lower back prevented him from continuing to serve as president of the Grand Rapids-area company. 

A lawsuit filed Monday in Grand Rapids federal court seeks more than $75,000.

The lawsuit accuses U.S. Furniture of making a defective chair. 

The California-based company said no one was available to speak to a reporter Tuesday.

History for January 16 -

History for January 16 - On-This-Day.com

Happy Birthday! A.J. Foyt

1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.

1866 - Mr. Everett Barney patented the metal screw, clamp skate. 


1919 - The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment. 


1920 - Prohibition went into effect in the U.S. 









1944 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London. 


1970 - Colonel Muammar el-Quaddafi became virtual president of Libya.

 

1979 - The Shah of Iran and his family fled Iran for Egypt. 


1988 - Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was fired as a CBS sports commentator one day after telling a TV station in Washington, DC, that, during the era of slavery, blacks had been bred to produce stronger offspring. 


In 1991, the first Gulf War began as Allied forces launched a major air strike against Iraq (Desert Storm).


2002 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted sanctions against Osama bin Laden, his terror network and the remnants of the Taliban. The sanctions required that all nations impose arms embargoes and freeze their finances. 

Sarah Palin's father harassed by IRS six times since 2008

Blog: Sarah Palin's father harassed by IRS six times since 2008:
"The problems with a politicized IRS may be far more serious than we have yet suspected. Sarah Palin's brother Chuck Heath, Jr. posted the following on his Facebook account January 11th:
 "My father, who worked multiple jobs and faithfully and honestly paid his taxes for fifty years, had never heard a word from the IRS. 
In 2008, his daughter was tapped to run for vice president of the United States. 
Since that time, he has been, in his words "horribly harassed" six times by the agency. 
They've tried to dig up something on him but he's always operated above board."

We allow the voice of al Qaeda into our homes----The Warped Priorities of the American Press

The Warped Priorities of the American Press:
In a shocking development, the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., has put its weight and prestige behind the bogus “news organization” Al Jazeera and its reporters, now jailed in Egypt, for associating with the pro-terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.

A statement issued by the NPC callsfor the “immediate release” of “imprisoned Al Jazeera journalists” in Egypt, but fails to take into account the pro-terrorist nature of this so-called “independent” news organization and its documented links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

NPC President Angela Greiling Keane, whose name appears on the statement, is a reporter for Bloomberg News who mostly covers transportation issues and has no record of expertise in foreign affairs. Her bio says, “She’s written about topics ranging from Chevrolet Volt fires to Toyota’s lobbyist revolving door to the Postal Service buying too many Simpsons cartoon stamps.”

In numerous articles going back several years, Accuracy in Media has documented the ties between Al Jazeera and the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist organizations. Indeed, anti-Al Jazeera posters had appeared in Egypt saying, “A bullet kills a man, a lying camera kills a nation.” Fear of the channel’s influence among jihadists and its ties to terrorists led the new government to close the channel—after 22 staffers had quit in disgust over its pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias—and then to arrest several remaining staffers.

Al Jazeera is best known to Americans as the voice of al Qaeda before and after 9/11. However, it now has an affiliate, Al Jazeera America, in as many as 50 million U.S. homes, anddemanding even more access to the U.S. media market.

Morons of the media--Marcus Luttrell Gets In Heated Interview On CNN

American Military News |:
"Marcus Luttrell, former Navy SEAL and author of “Lone Survivor” and new movie featuring actor Mark Walhberg recently sat down to conduct a promotional interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The interview quickly got heated when Tapper said “it seemed senseless.”
Luttrell responded with “So you’re telling me because we were over there doing what we were told by our country, that it was senseless? And my guys, what? They died for nothing?”
Click link to watch the full interview and leave a comment and let us know what you think about the video!"

A nuclear South Africa.... "mentored" by Putin?-------------How Putin Conquered South Africa

How Putin Conquered South Africa | Zero Hedge

In the global war for energy supremacy, Russia has won another victory over the United States.

This time, the battleground has been South Africa, where Russia's state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, has just signed an agreement to build eight new reactors. Once all of them are operational, South Africa's nuclear capacity will increase more than sixfold - from 1.8 gigawatts (GW) to 11.4 GW over the next 15 years.

This means that Russia will help develop the entirety of South Africa's nuclear energy sector, including financing and training.

And just as importantly, South Africa will be using Russia's nuclear fuel.

Rosatom has been busy signing these types of deals with other foreign countries as well—Finland, Turkey, Ukraine, even the United Kingdom—which guarantees that Russia will be able to keep a stranglehold on these countries' nuclear industries.

The strategy is clear: Rosatom is aiming to become the world's largest supplier of uranium in the coming years.

Remember what we said about the ongoing "Putinization" of Europe's oil and gas; how Russia is planning to leverage its control over Europe's energy to gain political and economic benefits?

The same thing is happening in uranium, except the stakes are even higher—because Putin is now looking to dominate the global nuclear market.

Russia and the former Soviet nations (colloquially called "the -stans") already control nearly half of the world's uranium supply:

There's no place quite like home in college basketball

There's no place quite like home in college basketball - ESPN:
"Bring earplugs if you go to the Breslin Center"

"There's just something about the Breslin Center.

There are certainly more nostalgic venues throughout college basketball -- Cameron Indoor, Rupp Arena, the Phog, Assembly Hall, etc.

But I've always enjoyed the Breslin Center. It's one of the country's best home environments. It helps that the Michigan State fan base loves the game. And the love tends to grow in this sport the more a team wins."

There WAS some good news. Now there ain't----Tracking the same US taxpayers over time shows significant income mobility from 1996 to 2005

Tracking the same US taxpayers over time shows significant income mobility from 1996 to 2005 | AEIdeas:
The two charts above display some of the authors’ key findings on the high degree of income mobility for US taxpayers between 1996 – 2005, taken from Table 2 of their paper and summarized below for various income quintiles and income groups:

1. More than 56% of taxpayers (100% – 43.7%) in the lowest income quintile in 1996 had moved to a higher quintile by 2005 

The ‘crime’ of the IRS

The ‘crime’ of the IRS | New York Post:

Only days after we learned the Obama administration had appointed an Obama donor to head investigations into the IRS targeting of conservative organizations, we now have a leak from law enforcement saying the FBI doesn’t expect to file criminal charges.

...Without the evidence, we’re not in a position to say. But criminal liability never been our priority. All along our position has been that federal agencies such as the IRS should be held accountable the way the Founders intended: through our democratic system.

.....Maybe the FBI is right, that it’s just all a big misunderstanding, that IRS officials were only at the White House for Easter Egg rolls. Even so, our Constitution doesn’t leave accountability to the judgement of the FBI. To the contrary, our system holds that the American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, have the right to know what their government is doing.

In short, if the threat of criminal charges has in fact been removed, there’s no more excuse for Lois Lerner not to tell us, under oath, what she was apparently afraid to say in May.