Thursday, February 27, 2014

Hillary pulls into passing lane on ObamaCare | Fox News

Clinton Miami.jpgHillary pulls into passing lane on ObamaCare | Fox News:



Democratic 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton nudged the accelerator in her effort to get past the problems with ObamaCare bedeviling the president and their party. Talking to a gathering of health information specialists in Florida, Clinton sounded more than open to substantial changes to President Obama’s signature law.

Obama aiming for ‘unilateral disarmament’

Obama aiming for ‘unilateral disarmament’
Michael Ramirez Cartoon
"“The fact is, this administration still does not have a strategy for how to defeat radical Islam,” he said. “They don’t even talk about it. They took us out of Iraq, and what do we find? We find now that the Iraqis are buying weapons from the Iranians. That is a very disturbing thing. We fundamentally turned Iraq over to the Iranian sphere of influence. I’m afraid we’re going to do the same thing in Afghanistan, and still no strategy for defeating radical Islam.

“They are going to let Iran, in the next two or three years, become a nuclear power. I’m very disturbed with depleting not only our Army but also our Air Force and Navy and the Marine Corps. As I’ve said, we are fundamentally, unilaterally disarming,” he said.

McInerney’s comments ring close to concerns over manpower and readiness voiced Monday by retired U.S. Army Gen Jack Keane on the Fox News Channel.

“The fact of the matter is, today, the Army has very few units that are ready to fight today. And that’s the truth of it,” Keane said.

McInerney said that analysis is spot on, and much deeper cuts would only make things worse."

Give them power? They WILL abuse it!--------------------Spies at GCHQ intercept saucy webcam pics rather than hunting terrorists

CREEPY British spies have been busy intercepting webcam images from around the world rather than hunting terrorists.


GCHQ, Optic Nerve, Spy Agency, Edward Snowden, The Guardian, WebcamsOPTIC NERVE: The British spy agency GCHQ has gathered millions of private webcam images [REUTERS]
The private images were gathered from millions of Yahoo users with sexually explicit images among those gathered by spy agency GCHQ.
Internet giant Yahoo has denied any knowledge of the programme and has described the revelations from t as a "completely unacceptable" privacy violation.
In a statement GCHQ said all of its actions were in accordance with the law.
The operation, named Optic Nerve, was aided by the powerful US National Security Agency (NSA) and is said to have stored images transmitted between 2008 and 2010.

Blast from the past! Mystery surrounds the Russian spy ship docked in Havana with no explanation as US warns Moscow over war games in Ukraine

Blast from the past! Mystery surrounds the Russian spy ship docked in Havana with no explanation as US warns Moscow over war games in Ukraine | Mail Online:
Mystery: A Soviet-made Lada limousine passes by the warship. Neither Cuba nor Russia have given any explanation for the presence of the intelligence vessel "A Russian spy ship docked in Havana on Wednesday, and neither Cuba nor Russia offered any mention or explanation of the mysterious visit that is reminiscent of the Cold War.
AFP reported that the Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, that measures 300 feet long and 47.5 feet wide, appeared in the section of Havana's port usually used by cruise ships.
The intelligence vessel bristles with electronic eavesdropping equipment and weaponry, including AK-630 rapid-fire cannons and surface-to-air missiles."

He doesn't like cheap electricity or gasoline. She doesn't want you to eat meat------Cattle Rise to Record, Hogs Gain on Shrinking Meat Supply

Cattle Rise to Record, Hogs Gain on Shrinking Meat Supply - Bloomberg:
"Cattle futures rose to a record as ranchers struggle to boost the U.S. herd from a 63-year low, and hogs climbed to a 34-month high after a virus that kills piglets spread, spurring concerns that meat supplies will shrink.
Beef output in the U.S., the world’s top producer, will fall 5.3 percent this year to 24.35 billion pounds (11.04 million metric tons), the lowest since 1994, the Department of Agriculture has forecast.
At the start of this year, the cattle herd fell to 87.7 million head, the lowest since 1951, following drought and high feed costs. "

Is that a long cylindrical object covered with a sock in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?------Gary Rough jailed over robbery bid with cucumber

BBC News - Gary Rough jailed over robbery bid with cucumber:
"Gary Rough brandished the vegetable, which was covered in a sock, at a female worker at the Ladbrokes shop in Shettleston and demanded cash.
 Shortly after she refused, the 28-year-old was pinned to the ground by an off-duty police officer and arrested.
Rough was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting a charge of assault with intent to rob.
The court heard that the bookmakers was busy when Rough carried out the raid.
Prosecutor Sheena Fraser said Rough was armed with a "long cylindrical object covered in a black sock" when he went to the counter for cash. 
Worker Andrea McIntosh thought it may be a gun - but refused to give him money."


Some Idiot Sold A WW2 Rifle at a Police Gun Buyback For $200 Gift Card (VIDEO)

Some Idiot Sold A WW2 Rifle at a Police Gun Buyback For $200 Gift Card (VIDEO) | The Libertarian Republic:




StG-44 Sold At California Gun Buyback For $200

LOS ANGELES, CA - A gun buyback program in Los Angeles, California turned up a person willing to sell a World War 2 $30,000 Sturmgewehr 44 for a $200 gift card. The StG-44 was the first modern assault rifle built by the Nazis, who would have likely been big fans of the LAPD’s tactics.

The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia

The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia | Ars Technica:
" Finally, at 9:12 Eastern Time, re-entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain gave the terrible order that had only been uttered once before, 17 years earlier when Challenger broke apart at launch: "Lock the doors."

It was an acknowledgement that the worst had happened; the mission was now in "contingency" mode. Mission Control was sealed off, and each flight controller began carefully preserving his or her console's data.

Columbia was gone, and all seven of its crew had been killed. NASA refers to this most rare and catastrophic of events as an LOCV—"Loss of Crew and Vehicle.""

Survey ranks Detroit on 'Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi' list

Survey ranks Detroit on 'Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi' list | The Detroit News:
Detroit can’t catch a break finding itself on yet another poll hating on the Motor City.

With reports out of Sochi of stray dogs, discolored drinking water and unfinished hotel rooms, Misstravel.com, a travel dating website, asked more than 3,000 customers what other travel locations were as bad.
 And, deservedly or not, Detroit ranked No. 4 on the “Top 8 Most Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi” list.

The least desirable cities included:
1. Dhaka, Bangladesh
2. New Delhi, India
3. Algiers, Algeria
4. Detroit
5. Youngstown, Ohio
6. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
7. Guadalajara, México
8. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

MissTravel said the survey-takers based their decisions on factors such as lodging, amenities, cleanliness and customer service."

Tax is "shared responsibility payment"?!!!!!!-----------------Americans for Tax Reform : IRS Warns: Obamacare Tax Must Be Paid with Tax Return

Americans for Tax Reform : IRS Warns: Obamacare Tax Must Be Paid with Tax Return:
"President Obama’s Internal Revenue Service today quietly released a series of Obamacare “Health Care Tax Tips” warning Americans that they must obtain “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by the federal government – or face a “shared responsibility payment” when filing their tax returns in 2015. "

Harvard writer: Abolish free speech

Harvard writer: Abolish free speech:
 "“This woman has just written a column about it at Harvard with what appears to be an extreme view of eliminating the First Amendment as a way of silencing opposition.
But she’s very honest. 
The First Amendment, free speech, ‘threatens liberalism,’ meaning liberalism cannot thrive in an open society. 
Liberalism is totalitarianism. 
Liberalism is statism. 
It is authoritarianism. 
It is all of the horrible Isms, and it cannot thrive when there is open debate. 
It cannot survive challenges.”"




Your tax dollars at work-----------An Entire College Course on Beyonce at Rutgers University!

But "gay marriage" and a gay football player dominate USA news-----GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS SEIZED IN UKRAINE'S CRIMEA

News from The Associated Press:

"SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) -- Dozens of heavily armed pro-Russia gunmen seized control of local government buildings in Ukraine's Crimea region early Thursday, escalating tensions in a peninsula that's become a flashpoint in the east-west divide that threatens to rip apart a country engulfed in political and economic turmoil."

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage | National Review Online:

"Although the U.S. alone seems to honor its promised deadlines of withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq, the world’s aggressors sense that the Obama administration’s bluster will be followed by more bluster.

Therefore, they have decided to risk aggrandizements while they can.

In the mind of Vladimir Putin, today Ukraine, tomorrow the Baltic States or Eastern Europe. 

In the minds of the Iranian theocrats, if chemical WMD are okay in Syria, why not nuclear WMD in Iran? 

In China’s view, when Japan backs off, why shouldn’t Taiwan, South Korea, or the Philippines? 

Such a seemingly insignificant loss of deterrence is how wars often start — when an aggressive nation bets that loud words signal that consequences will never follow. 

So it is emboldened to up the ante to try something even riskier.

 America’s step-over line/deadline/red line outrage is long past monotonous and empty — and the result has been an ever scarier world."

Obama tellin' Putin how it is........RUSSIA WAR GAMES OVER UKRAINE PROMPT US WARNING

News from The Associated Press:

"KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake."

 Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding."

And how did "Pre-WW II cuts" work out in 1941?-----------------Pentagon plans to shrink US Army to pre-WWII level

Pentagon plans to shrink US Army to pre-WWII level - Yahoo News:
"Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon plans to scale back the US Army by more than an eighth to its lowest level since before World War II, signaling a shift after more than a decade of ground wars.

  • Budget cuts to slash U.S. Army to smallest since before World War Two Reuters
  • Pentagon Signals the End of American Nation Building The Fiscal Times
  • Hagel says US military must shrink to face new era Associated Press
  • Hagel proposes big cuts in Army in 2015 budget Associated Press
  • Saying it was time to "reset" for a new era, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recommended shrinking American forces from 520,000 active duty troops to between 440,000 and 450,000."

Photo of the Day: The Catastrophe in Syria

Photo of the Day: The Catastrophe in Syria | Power Line:

 "The Obama administration’s Syria policy has been a fiasco. 

I don’t think anyone seriously tries to defend it.

That said, the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding in that country is not the responsibility of the U.S. government. It is the fault of Bashar Assad and his minions, and al Qaeda and other radical Muslims who have forcibly taken over the opposition to Assad.

 The human catastrophe in Syria is almost beyond reckoning. 

You can look up the numbers, but what stunned me was this photograph, taken late last month.

The scene is Yarmouk, a district of Damascus that is populated largely by Palestinian “refugees” and has been the scene of heavy fighting. "

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage | National Review Online:
"Don’t step over the line and re-militarize the Rhineland. Absorbing Austria would cross a red line. 
Breaking up Czechoslovakia is unacceptable. 
Get out of Poland by the announced deadline.
The rest was history.

Don’t dare blow up another American military barracks overseas.
Don’t even consider another attack on the World Trade Center.
Don’t even try blowing up one more American embassy in East Africa.
Don’t ever put a hole in a U.S. warship again.
The rest was history.

President Obama issued yet another one of those sorts of warnings to stop the violence to Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych just before protesters drove Yanukovych out of office. “There will be consequences if people step over the line,” Obama threatened."

History for February 27

History for February 27 - On-This-Day.com
Birth anniversaries of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), Marian Anderson (1897-1993),  Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)


Happy Birthday! Ralph Nader, Joanne Woodward


1827 - New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration.


1867 - Dr. William G. Bonwill invented the dental mallet.


1933 - The Reichstag, Germany's parliament building in Berlin, was set afire. The Nazis accused Communist for the fire.


1951 - The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting U.S. Presidents to two terms.


1972 - The Shanghai Communique was issued by U.S. President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai.


1982 - Wayne B. Williams was convicted of murdering two of the 28 black children and young adults whose bodies were found in Atlanta, GA, over a two-year period.



1991 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced live on television that "Kuwait is liberated."


1998 - Britain's House of Lords agreed to give a monarch's first-born daughter the same claim to the throne as any first-born son. This was the end to 1,000 years of male preference



2002 - In Boston, twenty people working at Logan International Airport were charged with lying to get their jobs or security badges. 



Wednesday, February 26, 2014

11 Million Small Business Employees to See Premiums Rise under Obamacare

The PJ Tatler » 11 Million Small Business Employees to See Premiums Rise under Obamacare:
"In a Friday night document dump, along with the usual flotsam and jetsam of the administration came a bit of bad news for small business in America. 
 Nearly two thirds of small businesses who offer insurance to employees will see their premiums increase.
That covers 11 million employees and their families.
Since those costs to businesses are usually passed down to employees in the form of higher contributions, Obamacare will impose what amounts to a pay cut on millions of workers.
 The premium increase comes on the heels of several years of skyrocketing health insurance costs for small businesses."