This is in just 5 years of Obama's rule--------Reports of sexual assaults in military on rise

I'm thinkin' if W was President, the reportage might be a bit different.
Ya think?
Reports of sexual assaults in military on rise | Pacific Daily News | guampdn.com:

"According to the latest numbers, the increase in reports across the services ranges from a low of about 45 percent for the Air Force to a high of 86 percent for the Marines, the smallest service. The Navy had an increase of 46 percent and the Army, by far the largest military service, had a 50 percent jump.

Jill Loftus, director of the Navy's sexual assault program, which also includes the Marine Corps, said the increase in reporting also suggests that more service members are starting to understand what types of behavior constitute harassment or assault."

They hate the fact we have electricity. They really do-----Fewer than 32K still without power in Michigan

Fewer than 32K still without power in Michigan | The Detroit News:
"Detroit — Fewer than 6,500 homes and businesses in Metro Detroit remain without power a week after a massive ice storm swept across parts of Michigan.

Detroit-based DTE Energy reports Saturday morning that about 97 percent of the more than 210,000 who suffered outages following the storm and harsh weather Christmas week have had their power restored.

Jackson-based Consumers Energy reported Friday night that outages were down to 25,000 from 399,000 customers who lost power beginning last Saturday.

The Lansing Board of Water & Light reports on its website that 2,600 customers still have no service. The utility says about 40,000 of its customers had power knocked out."

The most popular TV shows set in each state.

Map: The most popular TV shows set in each state

Lots more photos in the links------Lake Michigan Park - Now Pere Marquette Park - Muskegon, MI

Lake Michigan Park - Now Pere Marquette Park - Muskegon, MI:

I spent time at the tire store and read my Kindle on my Galaxy S3 while waiting. Very cool-------50 Essential Android Apps

50 Essential Android Apps - Datamation:
"7) Amazon Kindle for Android
Want to read an electronic book, newspaper or magazine but don't have your Kindle with you?
Or don't have a Kindle at all?
It's not a problem with this app, which allows you to read any of 900,000 Kindle-formatted books with your Android device.
And Amazon's Whispersync that your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights will sync across your various devices.
Free."

More government. More expense. More bu!!sh!t-----------Health law to put calorie info on vending machines

Shock!
Using the "cost to the health care system" as a ruse to demand more ridiculous laws "for our benefit".
But the lawyers love 'em!
And that's what this is all about.
My Way News - Health law to put calorie info on vending machines:

Office workers in search of snacks will be counting calories along with their change under new labeling regulations for vending machines included in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.

Requiring calorie information to be displayed on roughly 5 million vending machines nationwide will help consumers make healthier choices, says the Food and Drug Administration, which is expected to release final rules early next year. It estimates the cost to the vending machine industry at $25.8 million initially and $24 million per year after that, but says if just .02 percent of obese adults ate 100 fewer calories a week, the savings to the health care system would be at least that great.

The rules will apply to about 10,800 companies that operate 20 or more machines. Nearly three quarters of those companies have three or fewer employees, and their profit margin is extremely low, according to the National Automatic Merchandising Association. An initial investment of $2,400 plus $2,200 in annual costs is a lot of money for a small company that only clears a few thousand dollars a year, said Eric Dell, the group's vice president for government affairs.

"The money that would be spent to comply with this - there's no return on the investment," he said.

Here is the email I read on the air tonight

"Here is the email I read on the air tonight" | Special Report | Bret Baier | Fox News Channel:
"Here is the email I read on the air tonight

This message came to us from Bill in Kentucky.

"Putting things in perspective:
March 21st 2010 to October 1 2013 is 3 years, 6 months, 10 days.

December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 is 3 years, 5 months, 1 day.

What this means is that in the time we were attacked at Pearl Harbor to the day Germany surrendered is not enough time for this progressive federal government to build a working webpage.  
Mobilization of millions, building tens of thousands of tanks,  planes, jeeps, subs, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes, millions upon millions of guns, bombs, ammo, etc.
Turning the tide in North Africa,  Invading Italy, D-Day,  Battle of the Bulge, Race to Berlin - all while we were also fighting the Japanese in the Pacific!!
And in that amount of time - this administration can't build a working webpage.""

If Obama fails, it will because we are racists?-------------The Great Race Hoax

Articles: The Great Race Hoax

The injection of race into the political debate serves two fundamental purposes that go beyond merely smearing political opponents. 

First, it perpetuates the myths of white privilege and rampant institutional racism. 

And second, it lays the foundation for rewriting history to conform to the racialists' agenda.

How do the racialists want history to judge President Obama's term in office? Do they want to see it primarily as an epic collision between progressivism and conservatism or do they want to see it as a collision between an African-American president and the racist ruling elite?

Make no mistake about it: the far left intends to write the history of Obama's presidency with the racial theme as the centerpiece. Whether it will work is unknown. One must also differentiate between short-term and long-term history. Historical revisionism that treats the president's race as the dominant aspect of his term might pervade pop-history in the short term, but it might be soundly rejected by historians and popular culture 50-100 years from now.

Nevertheless, historical revisionism is the intent of the racialists. If Obamacare collapses in two years, they will point to the president's race. If he leaves office an unpopular president who failed to achieve anything of substance, they will blame race.

By legitimizing the race debate, the mainstream media has in effect enabled this forthcoming perversion of history. It will happen. The only question is whether the racial theme will be absorbed into the historical record or whether history will expose it for what it is: the great race hoax.

A tawdry list that still has three years to grow--------Obama supporters will go hysterical over this well sourced list of 487 examples of his lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, etc.

Read 'em all and fear for the next 3 years.
Obama supporters will go hysterical over this well sourced list of 487 examples of his lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, etc. | Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog:
"Every President, every politician, and every human being tells lies and engages in acts of hypocrisy. 
But Barack Obama does these things to a far greater degree than anyone else that I have ever known of.
....2) Gave a no-bid contract to Halliburton – just like Bush did

In May 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration had selected KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011, just hours after the Justice Department had said it would pursue a lawsuit accusing the Houston-based company of using kickbacks to get foreign contracts.

3) Has an administration full of lobbyists, after promising he wouldn’t have any

While running for President, Obama had promised that, unlike Bush, he would not have any lobbyists working in his administration. However, by February 2010, he had more than 40 lobbyists working in his administration.

10 Funniest Photos of Billboards Gone Wrong

10 Funniest Photos of Billboards Gone Wrong - Oddee.com

You won't believe these US statistics from 2013 (83 of them)!

You won't believe these US statistics from 2013 (83 of them)!:
#1 Most people that hear this statistic do not believe that it is actually true, but right now an all-time record 102 million working age Americans do not have a job.  
That number has risen by about 27 million since the year 2000. 

#2 Because of the lack of jobs, poverty is spreading like wildfire in the United States.  
According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, an all-time record 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program each month. 

#3 As society breaks down, the government feels a greater need than ever before to watch, monitor and track the population.  
For example, every single day the NSA intercepts and permanently stores close to 2 billion emails and phone calls in addition to a whole host of other data. 

#4 The Bank for International Settlements says that total public and private debt levels around the globe are now 30 percent higher than they were back during the financial crisis of 2008. 

#5 According to a recent World Bank report, private domestic debt in China has grown from 9 trillion dollars in 2008 to 23 trillion dollars today.

#6 In 1985, there were more than 18,000 banks in the United States.  Today, there are only 6,891 left. 

#7 The six largest banks in the United States (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) have collectively gotten 37 percent larger over the past five years. 

It's about power. The government kind of power. Edison Bulb Band Takes Full Effect In 2014 — Lights Out For Freedom

Edison Bulb Band Takes Full Effect In 2014 — Lights Out For Freedom - Investors.com:

Bulb Ban: 

As of Wednesday, the manufacture and import of 60- and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs will be illegal — one more setback in the fight against government interference into the daily lives of the American people.

First they came for our light bulbs.

Before the onset of ObamaCare and its mandate to buy health insurance as a condition of citizenship, there was the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), one of the first things Democrats took up on retaking the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections.

....it was a precursor to the power grab that ensued on President Obama's election in 2008, the beginning of the total war on fossil fuels and consumer choice where government, not the free market, would tell us everything from what energy we could use to what cars we should drive.

... As with electric cars and solar energy, the new bulbs were so beneficial consumers had to be forced to use them.

American Legion outraged over VA Christmas censorship

Todd Starnes: American Legion outraged over VA Christmas censorship | Fox News:

"The national commander of the American Legion is demanding answers from the Veterans Administration after hospitals in three states placed restrictions on Christian volunteers, including a group of schoolchildren who were told they could only perform Christmas carols from a government-approved list.

"Every Christmas, every religious holiday, Christians are more and more often targeted for censorship and restriction at VA facilities," American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger said.
"Veterans in these hospitals fought to protect such freedoms.""

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People | Alternet

14. Be critical. Make sure to have an endless list of dislikes and voice them often, whether or not your opinion is solicited. For example, don’t hesitate to say, “That’s what you chose to wear this morning?” or “Why is your voice so shrill?” If someone is eating eggs, tell them you don’t like eggs. Your negativity can be applied to almost anything.

It helps if the things you criticize are well liked by most people so that your dislike of them sets you apart. Disliking traffic and mosquitos isn’t creative enough: everyone knows what it’s like to find these things annoying, and they won’t pay much attention if you find them annoying, too. But disliking the new movie that all your friends are praising? You’ll find plenty of opportunities to counter your friends’ glowing reviews with your contrarian opinion.

Exercise: Make a list of 20 things you dislike and see how many times you can insert them into a conversation over the course of the day. For best results, dislike things you’ve never given yourself a chance to like

Not a slam dunk but... you might try anything else-------New Study Exposes Acupuncture As Pseudoscience

New Study Exposes Acupuncture As Pseudoscience - seattlepi.com:
"A new study published online in the journal Cancer suggests that any relief acupuncture brings may be the result of a placebo effect.

Researchers followed a group of 47 women being treated with aromatase inhibitors, a breast cancer medication that can cause menopause-like side effects (hot flashes, night sweats) as well as joint and muscle pain.
Twenty-three of the women received eight weeks of acupuncture; the rest received eight weeks of something called "sham acupuncture," where needles are placed on the skin somewhat randomly — not at traditional acupuncture points — and then not actually inserted.

The result? 
All of the patients reported that their side effects had improved, especially the severity of their hot flashes."

The Most Amazing Images NASA Took of Earth From Space This Year

The Most Amazing Images NASA Took of Earth From Space This Year - Wired Science:
"NASA's fleet of satellites and its astronauts aboard the International Space Station took a slew of incredibly beautiful images of Earth this year.
From erupting volcanoes and wildfire scars to idyllic islands and surreal cloud formations, here are our favorites.
Pavlof volcano in the Aleutian arc erupts in this image captured by astronauts on the International Space Station on May 18, 2013. "

Michael Ramirez Political Cartoons 12/27/2013 Investors.com

Michael Ramirez Political Cartoons 12/27/2013 - Investors.com

History for December 28 - Kinda boring day!

History for December 28 - On-This-Day.com:
1869 - William E. Semple, of Mt. Vernon, OH, patented an acceptable chewing gum. 









1902 - The first professional indoor football game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Syracuse defeated the Philadelphia Nationals 6-0. 






1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognized the "Pledge of Allegiance." 









1973 - The Chamber of Commerce of Akron, OH, terminated its association with the All-American Soap Box Derby. It was stated that the race had become "a victim of cheating and fraud." 




1989 - Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament. 

Obama's military: A social experiment. Not a fighting machine-----Female Marines Not Required To Do 1 Pull-Up

Female Marines Not Required To Do 1 Pull-Up | CNS News:
"Females in the Marine Corps currently are not required to do pull-ups as part of their physical training, and a deadline mandating that they do at least 3 pull-ups by Jan. 1, 2014 as part of their training has been delayed for at least a year, the Corps quietly announced on social media.
Unlike their female counterparts, male Marines have long been required to do at least 3 pullups as part of the Physical Fitness Test (PFT).
That's the minimum requirement for males."

14 Fast Food Ads vs. Reality

14 Fast Food Ads vs. Reality

Moron Alert----MSNBC Host Blasts Palin for Displaying Christmas Tree on Christmas

MSNBC Host Blasts Palin for Displaying Christmas Tree on Christmas:
"MSNBC, the station that had employed a host that suggested someone should urinate and defecate in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's mouth, blasted Palin on Thursday for having a Christmas tree in her home on Christmas.
In a segment that was stranger than fiction on  The Ed Show, guest-host Joy Reid claimed Palin was going against the Bible by displaying a Christmas tree in her home when she was interviewed for a Fox & Friends Christmas special.
"Certain parts of the Bible also appear to preach against let’s say, I don’t know, Christmas trees," Reid said, according to a Newsbusters transcript.
Reid then read Jeremiah 10-10, thinking she was indicting Palin in a game of "gotcha":
“For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scare crow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.""

Ya think Obamacare will help continue this trend-------Cancer Death Rates in U.S. Continue Decade-Long Decline

The experts are already warning us we've screwed the pooch on our own healthcare.
Bummer, dudes.
Cancer Death Rates in U.S. Continue Decade-Long Decline | CNS News
Despite an aging population, “cancer death rates in the United States continue to decline,” according to a new study published in the medical journal Cancer.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. behind  heart disease, which is also in a long-term decline, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

“Death rates continued to decline for all cancers combined for men and women of all major racial and ethnic groups and for most major cancer sites; rates for both sexes combined decreased by 1.5 percent per year from 2001 through 2010,” according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer,1975-2010, published online December 16. (See cancer annual report.pdf)

......The decreasing cancer death rate was also tempered by a caveat: "The number of individuals diagnosed with cancer and living after a cancer diagnosis (cancer survivors) will continue to rise in the coming decades due to population aging and expansion as well as increasing success in treatment, even if incidence rates remain stable or decline.

“The ability of the U.S. health care system to respond to the growing population of older adults, cancer survivors, and patients with multiple co-morbidities is uncertain,” researchers noted.

Taxes for thee but not for me-----Unions Get Big ObamaCare Christmas Present As Other Self-Insured Groups Get Scrooged

Unions Get Big ObamaCare Christmas Present As Other Self-Insured Groups Get Scrooged - Forbes

Obama’s latest constitutional violation will exempt unions from a fee the law imposes upon all large group health plans.
That provision which appears in Section 1341 (b)(1)(A)  establishes a reinsurance program to compensate insurers on exchanges in the individual market if they are hit with higher than expected costs to cover those with pre-existing conditions. This will come from insurers and self-insured employers who pay in proportion to the number of people they cover.
The target is to raise $25 billion during 2014, amounting to $63 per covered employee.
The union exemption would kick in for 2015 and 2016.

As reported in a Wall Street Journal editorial, “The unions hate this reinsurance transfer because it takes from their members in the form of higher premiums and gives to people on the exchanges.”

The union exemption deal will require that insurers who aren’t fully reimbursed by fees along with non-exempted self-insured employers will have to pay more to make up the shortfall.
How will they make that up? 
How else but by passing on higher costs to their customers? 
The Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that the fee for other non-exempt plans will be higher as a result.

This is creepy----Obama moves to impose his vision of how we should live, Part One

Obama moves to impose his vision of how we should live, Part One | Power Line

In essence, President Obama seeks to fulfill the left’s longtime dream of redistributing money from the suburbs to the cities and inner-ring suburbs, and imposing racial and income balance in every neighborhood.

Terry Eastland, writing in the Weekly Standard, explains how the new HUD rule would enable the federal government to use its power to create communities of a certain kind, each having what the government deems an appropriate mix of economic, racial, and ethnic diversity:

Grantees​—​the states, localities, and public housing authorities—​are required to 

improve choice, through “planning, strategies, and actions.” And HUD promises to help by providing data on “patterns of integration and segregation; racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty; [and] access to education, employment, .  .  . transportation, and environmental health, among other critical assets.”

From the data, statistically expressed in terms of race and other protected classes, grantees are directed to identify “fair housing issues” in their communities. “Fair housing issue” is a technical term for a segregated living pattern, a racial concentration of poverty, or disparate access to some community asset. Grantees are to determine what accounts for the “fair housing issues” they have identified as they prepare, under a process involving community participation, an “assessment of fair housing” (AFH).

And that’s what they are to submit to HUD for approval. The AFH is to include goals that “will inform housing and community development policy and investment planning.” The proposed rule gives as an example of such a goal “promoting greater mobility and access to areas offering vital assets such as quality schools, employment, and transportation.” A program participant whose AFH is not approved could lose its federal housing dollars. In other words, you satisfy HUD, or you do without your grants.

By requiring the use of statistical analysis to infer the existence of “unfair housing,” HUD is imposing on states and localities its view that unfair housing means much more than discriminatory housing, a view that the Obama administration has turned summersaults to insulate from Supreme Court review. 

For HUD and for those who accept its money, unfair housing encompasses any race-neutral policy that has the “effect” of creating “disparate access” for minorities to good jobs, schools and other suburban “assets.”

And there’s more:

The rule states that “tenant selection and assignment policies should be designed to reduce racial and national origin concentrations, including racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, and to reduce segregation and promote integration.”

Every city on the list has a democrat mayor and city council----This is America's Most Apocalyptic, Violent City — And You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It

Liberalism.
Progressivism.
Communism.
It's all the same.
And it destroys everything and everyone in its path.
Big unions hurry the process.
This is America's Most Apocalyptic, Violent City — And You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It - PolicyMic:
"The city, which was No. 1 on Forbes' "most miserable cities" list, has 78,000 vacant buildings; 40% of the streetlights do not work, and more than half of the city's parks have closed since 2008.
It takes an average of one hour for the police to respond to any call.
But this story is not about Detroit.
It's about Detroit's failing and forsaken neighbor, 66 miles to the northwest. It's a story about Flint, Michigan."

Make no mistake about the C of C. Economic fascists to the core-----Chamber of Commerce Spending $50 Million to Fight Tea Party

Chamber of Commerce Spending $50 Million to Fight Tea Party:
"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is ready to take on the tea party in 2014 Senate primaries and elections with a deep-pocketed boost of establishment and business Republican candidates.

"Our No. 1 focus is to make sure, when it comes to the Senate, that we have no loser candidates," Chamber strategist Scott Reed told The Wall Street Journal. "That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket."

Editor’s Note: 5 Reasons Stocks Will Collapse . . .

The financial support, which The Hill reported would pour at least $50 million into the campaigns of centrist GOP candidates, is part of an aggressive approach toward tea party Republicans since the 16-day October government shutdown.

The Chamber has expressed its displeasure with tea party favorites Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who resisted passing a budget without a provision to defund Obamacare, triggering a stalemate."

It's genetic. They live to steal--------Big Spanish Labor Union Facing an Investigation on Misuse of Funding

Big Spanish Labor Union Facing an Investigation on Misuse of Funding - NYTimes.com:
"MADRID — Spain’s shrinking labor unions have struggled during the economic crisis to put a brake on the government’s austerity measures and help reduce record unemployment."

Unemployed mother-of-two borrows £1,700 from EIGHT payday loan companies to buy 'hundreds' of Christmas presents for her children... but says she can't pay them back | Mail Online

Unemployed mother-of-two borrows £1,700 from EIGHT payday loan companies to buy 'hundreds' of Christmas presents for her children... but says she can't pay them back | Mail Online:
"Meet the unemployed mother-of-two who borrowed £1,700 from EIGHT payday loan companies to buy 'hundreds' of Christmas presents... and now she says she can't pay any of them back
Katie McGil, 28, from Devizes, Wiltshire, will have to repay £3,000
Unemployed mother, who is on benefits, wanted to 'treat' her family
Has claimed she will be unable to provide for her children when she starts to pay money back"

Chicago-AS CITY CYCLING GROWS, SO DOES BIKE TAX TEMPTATION

News from The Associated Press:
"A city councilwoman's recent proposal to institute a $25 annual cycling tax set off a lively debate that eventually sputtered out after the city responded with a collective "Say what?"
A number of gruff voices spoke in favor, feeding off motorists' antagonism toward what they deride as stop sign-running freeloaders.
Bike-friendly bloggers retorted that maybe pedestrians ought to be charged a shoe tax to use the sidewalks."

"Womyns studies" or "white racists in america" won't cut it with the auto guys?--------------Auto suppliers struggling to find qualified engineers

Auto suppliers struggling to find qualified engineers | Crain's Detroit Business:
"As North American vehicle production rises, suppliers are scrambling to find many types of engineers: mechanical, software, electrical, manufacturing -- you name it.

Last month, a survey of 100 North American suppliers revealed that 90 percent planned to expand their engineering staffs. Of those, 75 percent said they were having trouble finding candidates, according to the survey by the Original Equipment Suppliers Association."