Review team to look over Lincoln Park's finances

Review team to look over Lincoln Park's finances | Crain's Detroit Business:

"Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed a review team to look at the finances of Lincoln Park.

 The review is part of the process under state law that could lead to the appointment of an emergency manager. The review team was announced Monday.

 A loan board determined last month that "probable financial stress" exists in Lincoln Park, southwest of Detroit.

 Lincoln Park borrowed $2.5 million from its water and sewer fund for a pension payment in fiscal year 2013, and 46 percent of its general fund revenues in fiscal 2012 went to debt payments and retirement obligations."

Obamacare creates new ways to prosecute American business

The Insiders: Obamacare creates new ways to prosecute American business:

"And the fine print of the latest announcement from the Administration is worse than the terrible headlines.

This rule includes a provision that says you have to have the right motives for having a certain number of employees to be in compliance with Obamacare. 

Bear with me, that’s right:

You must certify to the IRS – under the threat of perjury – that the reasons for your employee head count have nothing to do with your opposition to or avoidance of Obamacare.

This president doesn’t just selectively enforce the law as he sees fit; now he is actually inventing new crimes.

It’s jaw-dropping that if you fall below 100 employees, the burden will be on you to prove that you meant no disrespect to Obamacare. "

Timeline Photos

Gary L. Bauer - Timeline Photos
"Obamacare is a mortal wound to the American economy, and further evidence of why we must repeal this "disincentive to work." 
We need economic growth to create jobs. Jobs generate tax revenues to fund vital programs. 
How is Obama going to fund Social Security and Medicare if he is providing disincentives for people to work and pay taxes? 
Oh, I'm sure he'll try to raise taxes on the rich again, but that's a dead end. 
Go ahead -- take it all. 
Confiscating the wealth of the top 1% would fund the government for about five months. Eventually they will come for the middle class too, many of whom are finding that Obamacare is already taxing them by forcing them to pay higher premiums. 
As Margaret Thatcher famously said, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

24 "No Kidding!" Photos

24 "No Kidding!" Photos:

DC Man Set for Hearing After Cops' Raid Turned Up One Shotgun Shell

DC Man Set for Hearing After Cops' Raid Turned Up One Shotgun Shell | Fox News Insider:
"A Washington, D.C. man is facing a large fine and possible jail time after he was arrested for having an inoperable shotgun shell in his home. 
The shell was a souvenir that Mark Witaschek decided to keep from a hunting trip years earlier."

Scary 1929 market chart gains traction

Scary 1929 market chart gains traction - Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch:
"There are eerie parallels between the stock market’s recent behavior and how it behaved right before the 1929 crash.

 That at least is the conclusion reached by a frightening chart that has been making the rounds on Wall Street.
The chart superimposes the market’s recent performance on top of a plot of its gyrations in 1928 and 1929.

The picture isn’t pretty.

And it’s not as easy as you might think to wriggle out from underneath the bearish significance of this chart."

Report: 95 percent of global warming models are wrong

Report: 95 percent of global warming models are wrong | The Daily Caller:

"Environmentalists and Democrats often cite a “97 percent” consensus among climate scientists about global warming. But they never cite estimates that 95 percent of climate models predicting global temperature rises have been wrong."

Former NASA scientist Dr. Roy Spencer says that climate models used by government agencies to create policies “have failed miserably.” Spencer analyzed 90 climate models against surface temperature and satellite temperature data, and found that more than 95 percent of the models “have over-forecast the warming trend since 1979, whether we use their own surface temperature dataset (HadCRUT4), or our satellite dataset of lower tropospheric temperatures (UAH).”

“I am growing weary of the variety of emotional, misleading, and policy-useless statements like ‘most warming since the 1950s is human caused’ or ‘97% of climate scientists agree humans are contributing to warming’, neither of which leads to the conclusion we need to substantially increase energy prices and freeze and starve more poor people to death for the greater good. 

Yet, that is the direction we are heading,” Spencer wrote on his blog.

"We know who you are....."-----------Thugs: Union publishes names of members who opted-out in 'Freeloaders List'

Thugs: Union publishes names of members who opted-out in 'Freeloaders List' | The Daily Caller:
"Michigan workers who exercise their right to opt-out of union membership are publicly scolded for their disloyalty by Operating Engineers Local 324, which publishes their names and places of employment in a quarterly “Freeloaders List.”"

Ohio National Guard Training Envisions Right-Wing Terrorism

Ohio National Guard Training Envisions Right-Wing Terrorism:
"The ONG 52nd Civil Support Team training scenario involved a plot from local school district employees to use biological weapons in order to advance their beliefs about “protecting Gun Rights and Second Amendment rights.”

"In the disaster-preparedness scenario, two Portsmouth Junior High School employees poisoned school lunches with mustard gas, acting on orders from white-nationalist leader William Pierce.

The ONG team discovered biological weapons being produced in the school, requiring activation of containment and decontamination procedures.

Participants in the disaster drill located documents expressing the school employees’ “anti-government” sentiments, as well as a note identifying Pierce as the fictional right-wing terrorists’ leader."

Thought Police: Firms must swear ObamaCare not a factor in firings

Thought Police: Firms must swear ObamaCare not a factor in firings | Fox News:
"Obama officials made clear in a press briefing that firms would not be allowed to lay off workers to get into the preferred class of those businesses with 50 to 99 employees.

How will the feds know what employers were thinking when hiring and firing?

Simple. Firms will be required to certify to the IRS – under penalty of perjury – that ObamaCare was not a motivating factor in their staffing decisions.

To avoid ObamaCare costs you must swear that you are not trying to avoid ObamaCare costs. 

You can duck the law, but only if you promise not to say so."

WeMOG today!

I am planning to ski about 1.5 hours. 

Please come and join me.

Directions:  in Grand Rapids take 131 South, exit at 44th and turn south on Clyde Park.

 Look for Kaufman golf course sign. Address is 4807 Clyde Park.  Groomed trails, fee is $2.00 

Andy Koning  (616.914.3374)

GSE Bailout is "The Mother of All Taxpayer Bailouts"

Rep. Hensarling: GSE Bailout is "The Mother of All Taxpayer Bailouts":

We do not have a healthy and sustainable housing finance system because we lack both freedom and opportunity.  So where are we today in America? Today hardworking taxpayers have been forced to engage in the mother of all taxpayer bailouts, nearly $200 billion to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That is unconscionable. Today taxpayers remain on the hook for more than five trillion – trillion with a T — in mortgage guarantees, roughly one-third the size of our entire economy weighing in at roughly $42,000  per American household… And today, because of the Dodd-Frank act think of the Obamacare for credit markets Washington elites decide who can qualify for a mortgage in who cannot.

The Heritage Foundation also notes:

One of the great ironies is that the government programs that were initiated in the early 1930s were nationalized versions of innovations that had long existed in the private market. Furthermore, nationalizing these advances did not eliminate financial risk, but only expanded risk and shifted it onto taxpayers.

History for February 12

History for February

Birth anniversaries of Charles Darwin (1809-82) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-65).

Also the birth anniversary of WWII general Omar Bradley (1893-1981)

Happy Birthday! Joe Don Baker, Ehud Barak

1554 - Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after being charged with treason. She had claimed the throne of England for only nine days. 


1733 - Savannah, GA, was founded by English colonist James Oglethorpe. 


1880 - The National Croquet League was organized in Philadelphia, PA. 

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. 

1973 - The State of Ohio went metric, becoming the first in the U.S. to post metric distance signs. 

1998 - A U.S. federal judge declared that the presidential line-item veto was unconstitutional. 


2003 - The U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties. The complaint was sent to the Security Council. 

Fear "Global Warming"!-----------4406 U.S. record cold temperatures in January – 1073 Snowfall records

4406 U.S. record cold temperatures in January – 1073 Snowfall records | Climate Depot

4406 Record Cold Temps

1259 Record Warm temps

1073 Snowfall records

The joke may be on taxpayers

The joke may be on taxpayers:

"At about this point in the TV show, Elaine would turn to Jerry, smile and say, “Well, they could just start euthanizing state workers.” 

Then George might chime in: “That wouldn’t be wrong, would it?” 

 Thanks to story lines and characters created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, that comedy series featured some of TV’s most self-centered, self-absorbed New Yorkers who ever cracked a seriously funny joke.

But, even in scripted humor, there is truth.

And the truth is that California’s retiring public employees living longer creates a huge problem."

Is Recycling a Scam?

Be patient, America. This is gonna hurt.........ObamaCare patients may encounter fewer doctors, longer wait times

ObamaCare patients may encounter fewer doctors, longer wait times | Fox News:

 "For instance, one study shows that while a commercial plan would have about 40 cardiologists per 100,000 people, a typical ObamaCare plan would have an average of only 15."

Dr. Ben Carson slams both parties for farm bill

Dr. Ben Carson slams both parties for farm bill [VIDEO] | The Daily Caller:

"“I find it not encouraging at all,” the doctor responded, “because basically what we’re trying to do now is take a whole ‘nother industry — the farm industry — and put them also completely under the thumb of the government.

It’s a systematic thing. … I hope people are able to see what’s going on, be able to look at the big picture here.

There’s an utter contempt for the intelligence of the people, the things that this administration is doing.”"

Anti 2nd Amendment activist carries gun into school - says he 'forgot' he had it | Best of Cain

Politics: Anti 2nd Amendment activist carries gun into school - says he 'forgot' he had it | Best of Cain:

"One rule for us, for you another.....

 Last week, on Thursday afternoon, police in Buffalo New York received a pair of anonymous tips.

Apparently, there was a man with a gun roaming the halls of Harvey Austin Elementary School.  

The school was placed on lockdown as a veritable army of police officers - including an armored vehicle and a helicopter - arrived on the scene. 

When the dust settled, a gun control activist named Dwayne Ferguson was in custody.

 Yes, you read that right.

He's a staunch gun control advocate."

The US Macro Cycle (It's Not Different Or Sustainable This Time)

The US Macro Cycle (It's Not Different Or Sustainable This Time) | Zero Hedge:
"Last year we exposed the reasoning for the extremely predictable cyclicality in US macro-economic surprise data.
Each year of the last few, the third quarter has exhibited unusual "strength" surprising 'economists' - thanks to government agencies executing their final budgets to use up all their allotments - only to stabilize in Q4 and the fade rapidly in Q1. 
2013 was "different" as we had the government shutdown which threw the seasonal pattern off... but once the agencies were re-opened, the spice did flow and we got what is now clearly not a sustainable 'surprise' in growth but a lagged cyclical bounce.
However, the lag introduced by the shutdown is now catching up to us - so it is different this time (2mo. lag) but the same...

Step-by-step...Why the "Q4 recovery is sustainable" meme is crap..."

Is The LEGO Movie The Most Subversive Pro-Liberty Film Ever?

Is The LEGO Movie The Most Subversive Pro-Liberty Film Ever?

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“The LEGO Movie” is obliterating the competition, with its 95 percent positive ratingon Rotten Tomatoes and an expected $69.1 million in domestic ticket sales on opening weekend. I myself succumbed to the buzz, taking my children to a packed 2:40 PM Sunday showing at the local cineplex.

The movie begins in Bricksburg, where all media, business, and government are controlled by the Octan Energy Corporation. The Bricksburgers are all rule-followers who love “President Business,” the embodiment of crony capitalism who runs the whole show. Under his iron-fist rule, everyone follows the instructions at home and work, enforced by cheery “I’ve got my eye on you!” advertisements and surveillance cameras. The world’s free thinkers — known as master builders — are President Business’ greatest threat. These are the mini-figurines who reject the cultural and legal norms enforced by President Business. They are caught via a massive surveillance and military system and locked up against their will. One of the rule-following citizens is a perfectly boring chap named “Emmet,” a construction worker on a team that destroys interesting and unique buildings and replaces them with brutal and uniform office structures.

U.S. is Going Bankrupt One City at a Time

U.S. is Going Bankrupt One City at a Time:

"A NATION WITH A $17 TRILLION DEBT WHO’S PRESIDENT HAS ONLY ONE ANSWER, RAISE THE DEBT LIMIT, WILL ENCOUNTER A FINANCIAL ARMAGEDDON IF THE SPENDING AND BORROWING IS NOT SHARPLY CURTAILED.

 Time to start watching U.S. cities go bankrupt. Prior to Detroit, there was Stockton, California, and, according to Stephen Moore, now the chief economist with the Heritage Foundation, there are more than sixty of the largest cities that “are plagued with the same kinds of retirement legacy costs that sent Detroit in Chapter 9 bankruptcy” last year."

Black card tax-----Gym memberships add Obamacare tax

Gym memberships add Obamacare tax - New York News:

"The reason these accounts are forced to charge the new tax is because they include the option for members to tan at the clubs.

Obamacare has a tax on tanning salons.  

It doesn't matter if the member uses or does not use the tanning facilities. 

 The tax, called an excise tax, is 10 percent. 

A Black Card membership is about $20 a month so the gym user would have to fork over an extra $24 a year in taxes."