Supremes could change America with one single ruling!-------------Unionization Ruling Before The Supreme Court Could Be 'Huge'

Unionization Ruling Before The Supreme Court Could Be 'Huge' [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"As the current term of the United States Supreme Court nears its end, a ruling remains to be announced that could fundamentally change the way government unions are organized.
Harris v. Quinn, which involves personal care providers in Illinois who contested a forced unionization they were subjected to, is largely equivalent to the home health care "dues skim" that took place in Michigan.
In both unionization schemes, workers who take care of the elderly and disabled were forced into a union.
In Michigan, an affiliate of the Service Employees International union took more than $34 million from the Medicaid checks of people who were being cared for mostly by friends and family. 
The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in the Harris v. Quinn case in January and a final ruling is expected by the end of June. 
There are reasons to believe the court’s decision in the case might be to reverse the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education ruling.
If that's what happens it would have the effect of making all public employees nationwide subject to right-to-work.
Ramifications of such a ruling by the high court would be far-reaching."

Remember "policy changes" ALWAYS means "more money from you to hire more government workers"------Policy changes needed to tackle obesity

Sooooo, giving free (totally unproven to work!) drugs to folks who lack the ability to make "correct" choices about food intake and exercise will enable them to live longer.
Without changing their inability to make "correct" choices about food intake and exercise.
And this will save us money?!!!!
Guest column: Policy changes needed to tackle obesity | MLive.com:
"Nearly a year after the American Medical Association declared obesity to be a disease, we still are not using all of the tools available to help reduce this costly – and deadly – condition.
....In Michigan, more than 31 percent of residents are obese – and the problem is only growing.
Obesity is more than an appearance or lifestyle issue.
Our growing obesity problem causes more chronic diseases, which are killing more of our family members and putting a massive strain on the health system.
...Medicare must begin covering medicines to treat obesity because chronic diseases are a primary driver of higher costs in the Medicare system – and obesity is a primary cause of chronic disease.
....The federal government already recognizes the need to cover these medicines.
The Office of Personnel Management – the human resources department for government – recently said federal health plans should pay for weight loss medicines, under appropriate circumstances."

Will Harry Reid Tell This 100% Navajo Indian High School Their ‘Redskins’ Mascot is Racist?

Will Harry Reid Tell This 100% Navajo Indian High School Their ‘Redskins’ Mascot is Racist?:
"Why would a 100% Native American school name use as their own mascot a “racist” term?
Maybe Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should be asked this important question of the day.
Harry Greed and other white elitist communists latest distraction/obsession is with forcing the Washington Redskins to change their name because they’ve  determined, after decades of being silent on the word, that the term “Redskins,” a term that was chosen to HONOR Native Americans, must now be banned. "

Details Leak On How Secret Global Treaty Will Force Countries To Further Deregulate Financial Sector

Details Leak On How Secret Global Treaty Will Force Countries To Further Deregulate Financial Sector | Techdirt:
Here's how WikiLeaks describes its latest release:

Today, WikiLeaks released the secret draft text for the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Financial Services Annex, which covers 50 countries and 68.2%1 of world trade in services. 

The US and the EU are the main proponents of the agreement, and the authors of most joint changes, which also covers cross-border data flow.
In a significant anti-transparency manoeuvre by the parties, the draft has been classified to keep it secret not just during the negotiations but for five years after the TISA enters into force.
Despite the failures in financial regulation evident during the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis and calls for improvement of relevant regulatory structures, proponents of TISA aim to further deregulate global financial services markets. 

The draft Financial Services Annex sets rules which would assist the expansion of financial multi-nationals -- mainly headquartered in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt -- into other nations by preventing regulatory barriers. 

The leaked draft also shows that the US is particularly keen on boosting cross-border data flow, which would allow uninhibited exchange of personal and financial data.
...The TISA is being promoted by the same governments that installed the failed model of financial (de)regulation in the WTO and which has been blamed for helping to fuel the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
The same states shut down moves by other WTO Members to critically debate these rules following the GFC with a view to reform.

... Here, it means that restrictions on the financial industry can only be reduced, never increased, no matter how badly they screw up the global economy (again).

Like the NAZIs, they will never quit their quest to disarm the honest citizen--------Chicago Passes Law Requiring All Legal Gun Sales to Be Taped and Bans Gun Shops in 95% of City

Chicago Passes Law Requiring All Legal Gun Sales to Be Taped and Bans Gun Shops in 95% of City:
"The Chicago City Council this week passed one of the strictest sets of regulations for gun shops in the country.
The measures will all but insure that gun dealers are not able to operate within the city and will likely continue to amount to a complete ban on legal gun sales within city limits.
...It would largely limit shops to the fringes of the city by banning gun shops within 500 feet of a school or park.
It calls for criminal background checks for store owners and employees, requires a safety plan and surveillance cameras and calls for all sales to be videotaped.
Due to the wording of the law, gun shops would be banned from utilizing nearly 95% of the land within city limits. 

...Under this new law Chicago is technically allowing gun shops, although in practice they really aren’t."

Obama’s EPA: A Criminal Enterprise

Obama’s EPA: A Criminal Enterprise:
“Under this plan, there’d be no body of water in America—including mud puddles and canals—that wouldn’t be at risk from job-destroying federal regulation,” said Rep, Doc Hastings (R-Wash), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “This dramatic expansion of federal government control will directly impact the livelihoods and viability of farmers and small businesses in rural America.”

Patrick Colbeck: Increasing taxes is not the way to fix Michigan roads

Patrick Colbeck: Increasing taxes is not the way to fix Michigan roads | Detroit Free Press | freep.com: "Those pushing for a tax hike promote statistics such as, “Michigan ranks last among the 50 states in per capita road expenditures.”
Funny thing about the per capita road spending statistic: 
Only the mafia prices out pavement contracts based on the number of bodies. 

Road construction projects are typically priced out according to the number of miles to be paved.
Michigan ranks 13th when it comes to how many dollars per mile we spend on our roads — 53% more per mile than the national average, according to the Reason Foundation.
Indiana spends roughly the same amount per mile on its roads as Michigan, and it is ranked No. 1 in pavement condition.
Michigan is ranked 43rd. 
Clearly, the solution to our transportation infrastructure woes needs to look at more than tax revenue."

Pot AND porn makes you brain-dead?!!!! Bad news for Obama voters!---------Is It Really True That Watching Porn Will Shrink Your Brain?

Is It Really True That Watching Porn Will Shrink Your Brain? | Science Blogs | WIRED:
"A hundred years ago they said that masturbating would make you go blind.
We’ve progressed.
Today, we’re told that watching moderate amounts of pornography will shrink your brain. 
The claim arrives courtesy of a brain imaging paper published last month in JAMA Psychiatry, a respected medical journal."

The Stench Of Crony Capitalist Corruption At GM

The Stench Of Crony Capitalist Corruption At GM | David Stockman's Contra Corner
But this episode is not about culpability for one failed part—especially since it now appears that GM is close to achieving the recall of every single car it has ever made in the last several decades.
The real issue is the corruption of crony capitalism.

An out-of-control, dysfunctional, dangerous, red-ink bleeding industrial dinosaur like GM should have been put out of its misery in Chapter 11 in 2008.
After all, folks, GM did manage to loose the stunning sum of $85 billion during the five years leading up to 2008, and it did so after selling 35 million vehicles at total revenues of nearly $1 trillion. 
No industrial managers have ever—before or since—managed to accomplish such an economic fiasco.
So instead of being resuscitated with $50 billion of taxpayer money, there should have been a giant house-cleaning at the top. 
The entire corpus of management should have been unceremoniously fired, stripped of their perks, pensions and  other retirements and pursued relentlessly by the creditors for their insuperable incompetence. 

10 Worst Business Decisions Ever Made

5

Fox Wants Profits Now; We Don't Care About The Future

We are sure that the senior board members at 20th Century Fox still can't get to sleep properly. When George Lucas decided to take a pay cut of $20,000 in exchange for all the merchandisingrights for the Star Wars franchise (and the rights to the sequels as well) Fox jumped at the offer to save some bucks. Since then, the Star Wars movies have grossed over $4 billion in DVD and VHS sales, and the merchandise has raked in $12 billion in revenue. To be fair to Fox,merchandising wasn't very lucrative at that time. Their decision cost them dearly though.

Nancy Pelosi Believes the IRS Story About Computer Crashes and Lost Emails | TheBlaze.com

Nancy Pelosi Believes the IRS Story About Computer Crashes and Lost Emails | TheBlaze.com: "Asked about the lost emails, Pelosi said her recommendation is not to investigate the IRS further, but to buy the IRS a new computer system. Along the way, she indicated she buys the IRS story about the computer crash, one that many Republicans immediately dismissed as a lie."

It's officially Muskegon Summer!

History for June 21

History for June 21 - On-This-Day.com

Summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere at 6:51 AM EDT.

Winter begins in the Southern Hemisphere.

375th birth anniversary of Puritan minister Increase Mather (1639-1723).

 

Birth anniversary of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80).

 

Birth anniversary of novelist and critic Mary McCarthy (1912-89).

 

Happy Birthday! Meredith Baxter, Mariette Hartley,  Juliette Lewis

 

1859 - Andrew Lanergan received the first rocket patent. 


1893 - The Ferris Wheel was introduced at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL. 


1940 - Richard M. Nixon and Thelma Catherine ‘Pat’ Ryan were married. 


1954 - The American Cancer Society reported significantly higher death rates among cigarette smokers than among non-smokers. 


1963 - France announced that they were withdrawing from the North Atlantic NATO fleet. 

1972 - Hurricane Agnes wreaked havoc on the eastern seaboard of the US, killing 118 people and leaving more than 200,000 people homeless.

1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards. 


1974 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided that pregnant teachers could no longer be forced to take long leaves of absence. 


1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.

This One Word on a Syrian Mural Says All You Need to Know About ISIS Insurgents’ Ultimate Goal | TheBlaze.com

This One Word on a Syrian Mural Says All You Need to Know About ISIS Insurgents’ Ultimate Goal | TheBlaze.com:
"If a picture tells a thousand words, this one speaks volumes.
A widely followed Syria watcher shared on Twitter a photo said to have been taken in Syria that shows a mural which in one large word declares the aspiration of the Sunni jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria."

Watch How Democrat-Invited Witnesses React When Asked to Raise Their Hands If They Agree With Obama’s Big Global Warming Claim | Video | TheBlaze.com

Watch How Democrat-Invited Witnesses React When Asked to Raise Their Hands If They Agree With Obama’s Big Global Warming Claim | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"When Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Wednesday asked four former Environmental Protection Agency chiefs to raise their hands if they believe, as President Barack Obama recently claimed, that the temperature around the world is “increasing faster than was predicted,   ”none of them raised their hand."

There was no Fukushima nuclear disaster

Physicist: There was no Fukushima nuclear disaster:

Firstly let us get something clear. There was no Fukushima nuclear disaster. Total number of people killed by nuclear radiation at Fukushima was zero. Total injured by radiation was zero. Total private property damaged by radiation….zero. There was no nuclear disaster. What there was, was a major media feeding frenzy fuelled by the rather remote possibility that there may have been a major radiation leak.

At the time, there was media frenzy that “reactors at Fukushima may suffer a core meltdown.” Dire warnings were issued. Well the reactors did suffer a core meltdown. What happened? Nothing.

Certainly from the ‘disaster’ perspective there was a financial disaster for the owners of the Fukushima plant. The plant overheated, suffered a core meltdown, and is now out of commission for ever. A financial disaster, but no nuclear disaster.

Amazingly the thousands of people killed by the tsunami in the neighbouring areas who were in shops, offices, schools, at the airport, in the harbour and elsewhere are essentially ignored while there is this strange continuing phobia about warning people of ‘the dangers of Fukushima.’ 

We need to ask the more general question: did anybody die because of Fukushima? Yes they did. Why? The Japanese government introduced a forced evacuation of thousands of people living up to a couple of dozen kilometres from the power station. The stress of moving to collection areas induced heart attacks and other medical problems in many people. So people died because of Fukushima hysteria not because of Fukushima radiation.

Recently some water leaked out of the Fukushima plant. It contained a very small amount of radioactive dust. The news media quoted the radiation activity in the physics measure of miliSieverts. The public don’t know what a Sievert or a milliSievert is. As it happens a milliSievert is a very small measure.

Doubling a very small amount is still inconsequential. It is like saying: “Yesterday there was a matchstick on the football field; today there are two matchsticks on the football field. Matchstick pollution has increased by a massive 100% in only 24 hours.”

The statement is mathematically correct but silly and misleading.

At Fukushima a couple of weeks ago, some mildly radioactive water leaked into the sea. The volume of water was about equal to a dozen home swimming pools. In the ocean this really is a ‘drop in the ocean.’

Of the Bureaucrats, by the Bureaucrats, for the Bureaucrats

Of the Bureaucrats, by the Bureaucrats, for the Bureaucrats | National Review Online
But this idea that bureaucrats — very broadly defined — can become their own class bent on protecting their interests at the expense of the public seems not only plausible but obviously true.

The evidence is everywhere. Every day it seems there’s another story about teachers’ unions using their stranglehold on public schools to reward themselves at the expense of children. School-choice programs and even public charter schools are under vicious attack, not because they are bad at educating children but because they’re good at it. Specifically, they are good at it because they don’t have to abide by rules aimed at protecting government workers at the expense of students.

The Veterans Affairs scandal can be boiled down to the fact that VA employees are the agency’s most important constituency. The Phoenix VA health-care system created secret waiting lists where patients languished and even died, while the administrator paid out almost $10 million in bonuses to VA employees over the last three years.

Working for the federal government simply isn’t like working for the private sector. Government employees are essentially unfireable. In the private sector, people lose their jobs for incompetence, redundancy, or obsolescence all the time. In government, these concepts are virtually meaningless. From a 2011 USA Todayarticle: “Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Management and Budget and a dozen other federal operations.”

In 2010, the 168,000 federal workers in Washington, D.C. — who are quite well compensated — had a job-security rate of 99.74 percent. 

A HUD spokesman toldUSA Today that “his department’s low dismissal rate — providing a 99.85 percent job security rate for employees — shows a skilled and committed workforce.”

Uh huh.

Proof of global warming! Ski resort forced to close because of heat. And melt! And hotness!

"It only took eight months, but closing weekend is finally here...
 Thank you, thank you, thank you for making the 2013-14 ski and ride season one of the best in A-Basin's history.
We'll be open this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 20-22), and will be closing our lifts for the season this Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
 We were the first to open, the last to close, and we were able to extend the budgeted season for three extra weekends!
We recorded 440+" of snow over the course of the season, allowing for 241 days (as of Sunday) of lift-served skiing and riding.
Because of awesome guests like you (and your families and friends), we had the second-highest number on record of skiers visit the Basin.
Wow.  "

Apartment Balcony Decoration Reportedly Deemed a ‘Threat to the Muslim Community’ and Ordered Down — Want to Guess What It Is? | Video | TheBlaze.com

Apartment Balcony Decoration Reportedly Deemed a ‘Threat to the Muslim Community’ and Ordered Down — Want to Guess What It Is? | Video | TheBlaze.com:
"But Tran said the manager of the Lodge on El Dorado apartments doesn’t see it that way, and told him he had to take down his flag because it’s a “threat to the Muslim community.”

Soooo. It IS all about money--------“Children Immigrants” An Impending Issue For Miami-Dade Schools

“Children Immigrants” An Impending Issue For Miami-Dade Schools « CBS Miami:
"MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The crisis of children crossing the border without their parents and filling up shelters in Miami-Dade county is becoming an impending issue in Florida’s public school system.
The issue was addressed at a Miami-Dade County School Board meeting on Wednesday, knowing those kids would end up in the school system.
“We have received about 300 students from Honduras over the past few months so recognizing the challenge, that crisis, we’re asking federal got to intervene,” said Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
Carvalho asked the board for support to request funds from the federal government for those children, known as unaccompanied children immigrants, primarily from Central America to cover their costs in school.
The board will request $1,950 per year per child in addition to what the state already puts in.
Local representatives are in full support of the move."

An Inconvient truth--------Calling Interference On The Sun

Calling Interference On The Sun | Popular Science:
"Calling Interference On The Sun
Bad news: solar flares are becoming more of a threat. 
Good news: we get photos like this.


On March 29 at 1:48 p.m. EST, the sun issued a massive X1 flare that caused a brief radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth.
Because the atmosphere insulates technology from most solar-weather effects, flares of this magnitude don’t typically have a drastic impact on the planet.
But, says Dean Pesnell, project scientist at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, “Our vulnerability to solar flares will become more personal as we increasingly rely on GPS—or even as the overloaded power system has more problems.” 
For this reason, scientists are studying the phenomena in unprecedented detail. NASA announced in May that the X1 event, captured by the SDO in extreme ultraviolet light, is the most comprehensively observed flare to date. "

What the heck is going on here?------------Lawmakers have until July 1 to find $115M in road projects

Lawmakers have until July 1 to find $115M in road projects | Crain's Detroit Business:
"Top Republican lawmakers have less than two weeks to come up with a new list of priority road projects to fund, but it’s not clear if they can come up with enough projects in time.
A supplemental funding bill signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in March again gave the Legislature the authority to award $115 million to various road projects of their choosing across the state.
Specifically, the law says;
“Projects shall be obligated and construction shall be underway or design work shall be completed by July 1, 2014.”
Local government groups and transportation advocates take that to mean that at this point, due to the pending deadline, the only projects lawmakers could fund with this money are ones that have already been fully engineered and are simply awaiting the money to begin turning dirt.
That means some projects that could receive funding may not be of the highest priority, but are ones that are the most ready to begin."