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. 

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."

Government ain't gonna help you. Find ways to help yourself-----------------Opternative Is The First Online Eye Exam That Writes You A Prescription

Opternative Is The First Online Eye Exam That Writes You A Prescription | TechCrunch:
"“Do I need glasses?” is a question you usually have to get an in-person eye test to answer.
But today, online eye exam provider Opternative is coming out of stealth to get you a doctor’s prescription for glasses straight from your computer or phone. 
Opternative’s test takes five to 10 minutes and costs around $35 — 75 percent less than in-person exams.
With $1 million in funding, it plans to launch this summer.
“Doing eye testing day in and day out, I thought ‘there has to be a better way to do this’”, Dr Steven Lee tells me.
The co-founder of Opternative graduated from optometry school in 2007 and has been practicing ever since.
He realized that with advances in computers and phones, he could probably replace that clunky ‘What’s better? One or two’ machine."

Apple’s Security Breach Should Scare You More Than Target’s Did

Apple’s Security Breach Should Scare You More Than Target’s Did | TheBlaze.com:
"Apple’s security protocol breach is nearly as bad as handing your credit card straight to a hacker rather than making them steal the information through the magnetic stripe readers."

"Education" insanity-------Clarksville Student Suspended For Knife In Father's Car

Clarksville Student Suspended For Knife In Father's Car - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports:
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn - A high school student in Montgomery County has been suspended after school officials found a knife inside his father's car.
David Duren-Sanner should be spending his time going through college and scholarship applications this time of year.
Instead, he's wondering if he'll even be able to graduate after what hundreds of people are calling an overreaction to a mistake.
On Thursday, Duren-Sanner, a senior at Northeast High School drove his father's car to school.
During a random lockdown, his car was chosen to be searched.
Duren-Sanner gave permission because he said he had nothing to hide.
His father is a commercial fisherman on the West Coast and had apparently left a fishing knife in the car. Duren-Sanner's father said it might have been wedged between one of the seats.
Duren-Sanner said he told school officials and the Sheriff's department the car was his father's and he didn't know the knife was in it.
"He's like 'it doesn't matter it was in your possession anyway,'" Duren-Sanner said.
School officials suspended him for 10 days, the maximum allowed under school policy, and then he was reprimanded to attend 90 days at an alternative school.

Repeat a lie often enough........Biden: New voter ID laws tied to 'hatred'

Biden: New voter ID laws tied to 'hatred' | TheHill:
"Vice President Biden said new voter ID laws in North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas were evidence of “hatred” and “zealotry” during a Black History Month event at the Naval Observatory on Tuesday.
The vice president said his votes to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act were among his proudest as a senator, and expressed frustration with a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down a key provision of the law.
...."These guys never go away. Hatred never, never goes away," Biden said. "The zealotry of those who wish to limit the franchise cannot be smothered by reason."

Phone Call Foils Meat Cleaver-Wielding Bank Robber's Plan

When Failure Is Success

When Failure Is Success | National Review Online:
Losing a job is freedom from job lock. 
A budget deficit larger than in any previous administration is austerity. 
A mean right-wing video caused the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. Al-Qaeda was long ago washed up. 
The Muslim Brotherhood is secular. Jihad is a personal journey. 
Shooting people while screaming Allahu akbar! is workplace violence. 
Unaffordable higher premiums and deductibles are the result of an Affordable Care Act. 
Losing your doctor and your health-insurance plan prove you will never lose your doctor and your health-insurance plan — period! 
Being a constitutional lawyer means you know how to turn the IRS and the FCC on your enemies. 
Failure is success; lies are truth.

President Obama’s polls are creeping back up again.
They do that every time the latest in the series of scandals — the IRS, AP, NSA, Benghazi, and Obamacare messes — recedes into the media memory hole.
The once-outrageous IRS scandal was rebranded as psychodramatic journalists being outraged.
The monitoring of AP reporters and of James Rosen is mostly “Stuff happens.”
The NSA octopus was Bush’s creation.
You can keep your doctor and your health plan — period — begat liberation from “job lock” and the ability to write poetry because you don’t have to work.

Proposed Muskegon County smoking ordinance fails to pass; only two officials in support

Proposed Muskegon County smoking ordinance fails to pass; only two officials in support | MLive.com

MUSKEGON, MI – A proposed amendment to Muskegon County’s smoking ordinance failed to pass on Tuesday, allowing residents, employees and visitors to continue using tobacco on county property.

The Muskegon County Board of Commissioners voted 4-2 on Feb. 25 to reject proposed changes to existing regulations that prohibit smoking inside county buildings.

Ken Mahoney and Bob Scolnik voted for the measure, while Rillastine Wilkins, Terry Sabo, Ben Cross and Susie Hughes voted against it.

During the roll call, Commissioner Charles Nash opted to abstain from voting after taking a few seconds to make a decision.

......Mahoney and Scolnik, on the other hand, suggested the government take a leadership role and help the region reach the wellness goals set by the One in 21 Healthy Muskegon County effort.

Scolnik said the county owns only a very small portion of the property in the region and the ordinance would not have affected people’s lives in a significant manner.

“All we’re doing is sending a message that smoking is bad for you. The hospitals are doing it. Colleges are doing it. Schools are doing it. I think it’s a good thing. My dad died from lung cancer and he smoked most of his life,” Scolnik said.

Bush's FAULT!!! ----------------------Golden Gate Bridge hits milestone in 2013 with 46 suicides

Obama's economy has NOTHINK to do with ANYTHINK!
Golden Gate Bridge hits milestone in 2013 with 46 suicides - Yahoo News:
"San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge marked a milestone in 2013 as 46 people leaped to their deaths in what appears to be the deadliest year for suicides at the California landmark, a watchdog group said on Tuesday.
The Bridge Rail Foundation, which tracks fatalities at the 4,200-foot-long (1,280-meter) span, said the high number of suicides demonstrates the need for a safety net to be installed to make it more difficult for would-be jumpers to take their own lives there."

I bet our president will have some really, really nasty things to say to Mr. Putin..................On The Roads Into The Crimea, The Quiet Russian Mobilization Continues

On The Roads Into The Crimea, The Quiet Russian Mobilization Continues | Zero Hedge:
"Not a day passes without a YouTube clip being released showing some colonnade of Russian vehicles headed into the Ukraine, and specifically into the Crimea, where the Russian base of Sevastopol is located, and where the biggest pro-Russian support groups are to be found.
 Today, we show the following Youtube clip taken recently with a dashcam, several miles above the port of Novorossiysk near the village of Gaiduk, which shows Russian vehicles carrying assorted military equipment being carried toward the Crimean."

Dartmouth Students Threaten ‘Physical Action’ If School Doesn't Respond to Over 100 Demands

Dartmouth Students Threaten ‘Physical Action’ If School Doesn't Respond to Over 100 Demands | National Review Online
An unknown number of anonymous Dartmouth students are threatening the Big Green with “physical action” if the administration does not respond to list of over 100 demands issued in an eight-page letter, the College Fix reports.

The students — who label themselves as “Concerned Asian, Black, Latin@[sic], Native, Undocumented, Queer, and Differently-Abled students” — claim that the Ivy League school deploys “systems of oppression,” including “racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism.”

“We believe that dialogue and resistance are both legitimate and necessary ways of disturbing the status quo,” the students wrote in a letter addressed to 13 faculty members and cc’ed in an email to every student at Dartmouth College.

The students’ first demand is for the college to “increase enrollment of Black, Latin@[sic], and Native students to at least 10 percent each.” Ten percent appears to be a magic number for undergraduate quotas, as the Black Student Union at the University of Michigan demanded that same percentage during a Martin Luther King day rally earlier this year. However, the disaffected Dartmouth students think 10 percent is insufficient for post-doctoral studies, and instead demand a minority population equal to 47 percent of that student body. The rationale behind demanding 47 percent went unexplained.

Yet racial quotas were only the beginning of the list of demands. In an effort to treat illegal immigrants as both the same as and different from American students, the activists called on the university to “place all undocumented students in the domestic/U.S.A. applicant pool, not the international admissions pool,” shortly before asking the college to “allow undocumented students to be able to work similarly to international students.”

Because education about “social justice” and “marginalization” are currently insufficient, the letter also demands that each student be required to take multiple classes “that will challenge their understanding of institutionalized justice around issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.”

Gender-neutral housing must be available for all students (it is currently available only to sophomores and older) and gender-neutral facilities must be offered in every single campus building, the students write.

Speech must also be heavily regulated and altered. The anonymous students call for “serious consequences against hate speech/crimes,” the definition of which was undefined. They also seek a ban on the term “Indian” in a student publication and outlawing of the terms “illegal aliens” and “illegal immigrants.”

To top it off, “every Dartmouth student should be taught and made aware that the land they reside on is Abenaki homeland,” and they must be reminded of this at “all major Dartmouth ceremonies.”

The above is merely a sampling of the complete letter, which provides many more gems, such as replacing “women” with “womyn” throughout.

Drug Rationing for Seniors Begins

Drug Rationing for Seniors Begins | The American Spectator:

"Even some left-leaning media outlets are uncomfortable with the Obama administration’s rationing policy.

In the Huffington Post, Professor Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, recently pointed out that the CMS rule “will not only fail to rein in Medicare’s long-term spending growth, but will inflict severe and unnecessary harm on our nation's poor and elderly who are suffering from serious physical and behavioral illnesses.”

Thorpe makes much the same point as does Feyman: “Restricting access to the medicines patients need to manage depression, avoid organ transplant rejection, and treat psychosis will drive healthcare utilization in far more costly ways.”

 It’s a little disorienting to find such an objective view in a publication that normally repeats Obama administration talking points verbatim, but there it is."

The Great Establishment Deception on Winning Back Senate

The Great Establishment Deception on Winning Back Senate | RedState:
"The unambiguous strategy of the GOP establishment this year has been to avoid any and all confrontation in the hopes of gliding into a Senate majority in 2015. 
To that end, they have capitulated on all of the major leverage points, passed a number of Democrat spending bills, and are in the process of pushing “small-ball” legislation in the House so as not to rock the boat before November.

This pusillanimous strategy is predicated on the false hope that a bare-minimum Senate majority – comprised of the same Republicans who support these Democrat priorities – will somehow alter the landscape in Washington. 
They are misleading conservative and GOP activists into thinking that as long as the GOP can hold tight on the status quo until 2015 we will enjoy robust power to push for conservative priorities thereafter.

The reality is that nothing will change in 2015.

Irrespective of the outcome in November, Republicans will control the House and have the ability to block bad legislation.  On the other hand, President Obama will still be in the White House for another two years.  Consequently, the addition of six more Senate seats with the current incumbent leaders and rank-and-file members will not change the legislative dynamic.

Republicans who lack the will or principles to fight on major issues will still use Obama’s obstructionism as the baseline for excuses not to advocate bold initiatives.  Whether it’s a debt ceiling or a budget bill, they will fear brinkmanship with Obama as much as they do now.

What about blocking bad bills?  Certainly Republicans will have the power to do so if they win back the Senate, won’t they?

Well, they already have the power to stop bad bills with control of the House, yet, time and again, we have seen a de facto Democrat super-majority in the Senate pass harmful legislation only to be rubber-stamped by the House – or at least open for consideration.

Unless we elect the right candidates for Senate, a weak GOP majority would still net enough votes to pass amnesty, an internet sales tax, omnibus bills, highway bills, or the anti-liberty “ENDA” bill.

Unofficial results: Voters approve 1-mill tax increase for tech, security upgrades at Muskegon County schools

It seems we deserve what we get.
But our county has 170,000 residents, 128,000 registered voters and, yet, less than 6300 voters can impose a $100/yr tax on the rest of us.
There something wrong when less than 4% of voters can forcibly take money from the producers, homeowners, renters, businesses and other municipal organizations. And "give" it to the takers. 
Unofficial results: Voters approve 1-mill tax increase for tech, security upgrades at Muskegon County schools | MLive.com:
"MUSKEGON, MI – Voters approved a tax increase to fund technology and security upgrades at public school districts in the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District in the Tuesday, Feb. 25 election.

 The proposed millage increase narrowly succeeded, with 6,285 "yes" votes or 51 percent of voters favoring it and 6099 or 49 percent voting against it, according to unofficial numbers reported election night by the Muskegon County Clerk."

How To Identify Economic Zombies

How To Identify Economic Zombies | Zero Hedge

A Simple Test For Economic Zombie Determination

The test to determine whether you or your friends are zombies is simple. Answer the following question: 

How would you live if debt/credit were outlawed? The economic zombie has difficulty comprehending the question, no less answering it. 

If you or your friends do, then you are well on your way toward full zombie-hood, if in fact you are not already there.

The question is relevant because it identifies those too ignorant to comprehend the fact that you cannot consume more than your income will support, at least not forever.

Income for a period determines the amount you can spend that period, or it would in the absence of debt or savings. Borrowing this period enables spending to exceed income this period. But borrowing is nothing but advancing consumption that otherwise would occur in a later period. Whatever is borrowed raises consumption this period but reduces it next period when some of the income earned then cannot be spent because it must be used to service the prior debt. Total consumption for both periods is lower than it would have been without the borrowing. That is due to the paying the carrying cost of debt, interest.

If you cannot understand this concept or you believe that you can nullify it by borrowing again next period, you qualify as an economic zombie. If you answered that you could not live if debt/credit were outlawed, you are an economic zombie, and perhaps also an economic idiot. Osavi Osar-Emokpae colorfully described debt:

And don’t tell me debt is not a big deal. Debt will cut off your legs and laugh at you as you grovel in the dirt begging for mercy. If you don’t need it, don’t get it. If you can’t afford it, don’t get it. If you’re already in debt, get out quickly. If you think you’ll never get out, you’re right, you won’t.

If you are using your credit cards as loans (i.e., you are not paying in full the balance each month) then you are zombie-qualified.

Economic zombies are not born. They are made. They choose their lifestyle. Behind every economic zombie is someone who believes he should live better than his abilities allow. That may work for a time. Then the Osar-Emokpae quote takes over.

The reality is that negative borrowing, saving, should be occurring every year. Man has a finite lifespan and a finite earning career. The latter is shorter than the former. Part of life is to be responsible enough to prepare for the future when income stops. Borrowing is a sign of immaturity and ignorance. Occasionally borrowing is necessary to meet an unforeseen emergency. If it is routine, then you are an economic zombie!

After a Democrat Praises Cuba, Marco Rubio Blasts Communism Like No U.S. Politician Since Reagan

After a Democrat Praises Cuba, Marco Rubio Blasts Communism Like No U.S. Politician Since Reagan | Independent Journal Review

Let me tell you what the Cubans are really good at, because they don’t know how to run their economy, they don’t know how to build, they don’t know how to govern a people. What they are really good at is repression.

He cited a poll, ‘More Americans want normal relations with Cuba.’ So do I — a democratic and free Cuba. But you want us to reach out and develop friendly relationships with a serial violator of human rights, who supports what’s going on in Venezuela and every other atrocity on the planet? On issue after issue, they are always on the side of the tyrants. Look it up. And this is who we should be opening up to? Why don’t they change? Why doesn’t the Cuban government change? Why doesn’t the Venezuelan government change?

But here’s the great news. I don’t know if they get C-SPAN in Cuba. I bet you the government people do. I hope you see that in America, we’re a free society. You’re allowed to come on the floor and you’re allowed to say and spread whatever you want. You think Cuba’s a paradise? You think it’s an example and a model that we should be following? You’re free to say that, here, in the press and anywhere you want. But we’re also free to come here and tell the truth. We’re also free to come here and denounce the violations of human rights and brutality.

History for February 26

History for February 26 - On-This-Day.com

Birth anniversaries of Johnny Cash (1932-2003), Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917), Levi Strauss (1829-1902).

Happy birthday, Fats Domino!

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Island of Elba. He then began his second conquest of France. 


1848 - The second French Republic was proclaimed.


1848 - The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, was published.


1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act. 


1870 - In New York City, the first pneumatic-powered subway line was opened to the public. 


1907 - The U.S. Congress raised their own pay to $7500. 


1919 - In Arizona, the Grand Canyon was established as a National Park with an act of the U.S. Congress. 


1929 - U.S. President Coolidge signed a bill creating the Grand Teton National Park. 


1930 - New York City installed traffic lights.
 

1934 - President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the creation of the Federal Communications Commission. It was established June 19, 1934 by Congress.


1945 - In the U.S., a nationwide midnight curfew went into effect. 


1987 - The U.S.S.R. conducted its first nuclear weapons test after a 19-month moratorium period. 


1993 - Six people were killed and more than a thousand injured when a van exploded in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. The bomb had been built by Islamic extremists. 


1998 - In Oregon, a health panel rules that taxpayers must help to pay for doctor-assisted suicides. 

Obamacare Skyrockets Cancer Patient's Meds to $14,000

Obamacare Skyrockets Cancer Patient's Meds to $14,000:
"In an emotional Sunday Wall Street Journal editorial, Ralston College President Stephen Blackwood wrote that Obamacare has made his mother's cancer battle a nightmare that will "accelerate her disease and death." He detailed how her Obamacare plan no longer covers the cost of her essential Sandostatin cancer medication, which totaled $14,000 since January 1 alone.

Blackwood said his mother, Catherine, had a "terrific" Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for almost 20 years until Obamacare canceled it. After navigating the "bureaucratic morass" of enrolling in Obamacare, Blackwood says his mother was informed that "the only way to find out in detail what was in the plan was to buy the plan."

What happened next, writes Blackwood, was shocking. "

Pressure mounts over Arizona bill opposed by gays - Yahoo News

"Pressure mounts over Arizona bill opposed by gays"



PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Gov. Jan Brewer faced intensifying pressure Monday from CEOs, politicians in Washington and state lawmakers in her own party to veto a bill that would allow business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to deny service to gays and lesbians

Great idea-----Detroit Tigers introduce dynamic ticket pricing for 2014 season

Detroit Tigers introduce dynamic ticket pricing for 2014 season | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"There is one week until Detroit Tigers’ individual game tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 1.

And new this season, the Tigers are introducing ‘dynamic ticket pricing,’ which will either increase or decrease prices due to the demand of the game.

As reported by the Free Press last week, the Tigers are planning to announce the ticket pricing system today.

“Dynamic pricing is based on consumer demand and generally affords fans who buy early to save more,” Duane McLean, executive vice president of business operations for the Tigers, said. “With dynamic pricing you could see the value of ticket prices increase and decrease based on demand. Season tickets are not affected by dynamic pricing and continue to offer the most significant savings whereas dynamic pricing more accurately prices tickets for individual games.”

Individual ticket prices range from $9-95, depending on the game. The lowest price seat last season was $12."

After The Floods: Why Did The Met Office Forecast A Dry Winter?

After The Floods: Why Did The Met Office Forecast A Dry Winter?

This winter, the UK has experienced some of the wettest and stormiest weather ever recorded.
These storms and floods raise the question about whether or not they are linked to climate change. Today, a more pertinent question has arisen:
Why did the Met Office actually forecast a dry winter with below average precipitation? 
To answer this question we need to recall the two very dry winters of 2011 and 2012.—Benny Peiser,The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 25 February 2014

Its predictions of a “barbecue summer” heralded one of the most miserable holiday seasons ever.
Now the Exeter-based Met Office is scrambling to reclaim its reputation after it was revealed that the agency predicted a “drier than usual” winter – ahead of one of the wettest, stormiest periods in living memory.

As Prime Minister David Cameron was urged to lead a revolution in flood planning by a panel of experts, the weather forecasters were explaining how they got it so very wrong.
“It’s a bit like the science-equivalent of factoring the odds on a horse race.”—Western Daily Press, 23 February 2014

The shocking truth is that these floods were not a natural disaster, but the result of deliberate policy… This was where November’s forecast came in, because it led the Environment Agency deliberately to flood Southlake Moor in the expectation of a dry winter. When those December and January rains poured down, this large expanse of water-sodden ground blocked the draining to the already horribly silted-up Parrett of a very much larger area of farmland to the east.—Christopher Booker, The Sunday Telegraph, 23 February 2014

PUSHBACK: Former Vice President Cheney calls Hagel’s proposed Army cuts ‘absolutely devastating.’ …

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

PUSHBACK: Former Vice President Cheney calls Hagel’s proposed Army cuts ‘absolutely devastating.’
Ridiculous. 
The world is at peace, and sure to remain so for the foreseeable future, under the steady hand of Smart Diplomacy^TM.

‘Divine intervention’ saves man from black mob

‘Divine intervention’ saves man from black mob

(Editor’s note: Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse. WND features these reports to counterbalance the virtual blackout by the rest of the media due to their concerns that reporting such incidents would be inflammatory or even racist. WND considers it racist not to report racial abuse solely because of the skin color of the perpetrators or victims.) Videos linked or embedded may contain foul language and violence.

Only the presence of a Bible over his heart saved the life of a Dayton, Ohio, bus driver who is in the hospital today with injuries suffered during a form of black mob violence called a “polar bear attack.”

Police say the bus driver is lucky to be alive after three black “teenagers” stabbed and shot him. A Bible over the bus driver’s heart stopped two bullets and allowed him to fight off a knife attack from his assailants.

One additional bullet struck him in the leg. The teens also stabbed him in the arm.

The attack came this morning at 5:30 when the driver stopped his bus because of mechanical difficulties.

“As he was outside of the bus assessing how to fix the problem, the three suspects came up to him and said they had to ‘shoot a polar bear,’” police told WHIO news.

Herkimer County men accused of sexually abusing cows

Herkimer County men accused of sexually abusing cows : News : CNYcentral.com:
 "HERKIMER CO. -- Two Herkimer County men are accused of sexually abusing cows.
35-year-old Michael Jones, of Cedarville Road in Ilion, and 31-year-old Reid Fontaine are charged with sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor.
 The owner of a local farm set up video surveillance in his barn, trying to figure out why his cows appeared anxious and were not producing normally.
The owner later contacted State Police after video revealed the cows were being sexually abused.
Police say their investigation found Jones agreed to videotape Fontaine as he tried to have sexual contact with several cows.
Both men were arrested and charged with sexual misconduct.
They were released on an appearance ticket."

Richard Berman: Why Unions Want a Higher Minimum Wage

Richard Berman: Why Unions Want a Higher Minimum Wage - WSJ.com

Organized labor's instantaneous support for President Obama's recent proposal to hike the minimum wage doesn't make much sense at first glance. The average private-sector union member—at least one who still has a job—earns $22 an hour according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a far cry from the current $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage, or the $9 per hour the president has proposed. Altruistic solidarity with lower-paid workers isn't the reason for organized labor's cheerleading, either.

The real reason is that some unions and their members directly benefit from minimum wage increases—even when nary a union member actually makes the minimum wage.

The Center for Union Facts analyzed collective-bargaining agreements obtained from the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards. The data indicate that a number of unions in the service, retail and hospitality industries peg their base-line wages to the minimum wage.

The Labor Department's collective-bargaining agreements file has a limited number of contracts available, so we were unable to determine how widespread the practice is. But the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union says that pegging its wages to the federal minimum is commonplace. On its website, the UFCW notes that "oftentimes, union contracts are triggered to implement wage hikes in the case of minimum wage increases." Such increases, the UFCW says, are "one of the many advantages of being a union member."

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Reuters

The labor contracts that we examined used a variety of methods to trigger the increases. The two most popular formulas were setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the state or federal minimum wage or mandating a flat wage premium above the minimum wage.

Other union contracts stipulate that, following a minimum-wage increase, the union and the employer reopen wage talks. The negotiations could pressure employers and unions to hammer out a new contract, regardless of how long their existing contracts last. Presumably the reopened negotiations could also prompt an employer's demand for union givebacks, but that possibility does not seem to scare the unions.

Minimum-wage hikes are beneficial to unions in other ways. The increases restrict the ability of businesses to hire low-skill workers who might gladly work for lower wages in order to gain experience. Union members thus face less competition from workers who might threaten union jobs.

This view is not speculation. A 2004 study in the Journal of Human Resources by economists William Wascher, Mark Schweitzer and David Neumark determined that lower-wage union workers typically see a boost in employment and earned income following a mandated wage hike. Never mind the corresponding drop in jobs and earned income for nonunion minimum-wage workers. They may have been priced out of the jobs they need, but that is not the union's concern—its members have landed higher wages and reduced competition for jobs.

Such considerations are worth keeping in mind when contemplating the president's wage proposal and the fervent Democratic support for similar and often more ambitious measures, such as Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's bill to raise the minimum wage to $9.80. Labor unions spent an estimated $174 million on the 2012 election, with 91% of the money going to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Now many union members could see their paychecks grow as the result of a Democrat-backed mandate—even though the overwhelming majority of scholarly evidence says that these wage increases have a negative effect on employment.

Mr. Berman is the executive director of the Center for Union Facts.

Watch: Ted Nugent Annoys CNN Host by Taking Credit for Getting Piers Morgan’s ‘A** Thrown Out’, Blasting Her Colleagues

Watch: Ted Nugent Annoys CNN Host by Taking Credit for Getting Piers Morgan’s ‘A** Thrown Out’, Blasting Her Colleagues | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Conservative rocker and NRA board member Ted Nugent took some credit for getting Piers Morgan’s CNN show cancelled during an interview with one of the network’s other anchors, Erin Burnett. His comments came after Burnett asked him if his apology for calling President Barack Obama a “sub-human mongrel” was sincere.
Nugent insisted his apology was serious and also defended himself against claims that his comments were racist in nature.
“We call bad people who are destroying our neighborhoods mongrels,” Nugent said, later adding, “I don’t have a racist bone in my body!”
“For anyone to claim that I’m a racist or it had racist overtones is the typical crap that the propaganda ministry and the media — particularly most of your co-workers there, even though I got Piers Morgan’s a** thrown out, and I’ll do the same with Don Lemon and Wolf Blitzer when I can,” he said."

Like going to a big party and dropping a turd in the punchbowl when leaving-----Almost Half of the Democrats Who Surrounded Obama as He Signed Obamacare Into Law Have Now Retired from Congress

Almost Half of the Democrats Who Surrounded Obama as He Signed Obamacare Into Law Have Now Retired from Congress

Drug Rationing for Seniors Begins

It happens in EVERY country that enforces government "healthcare".
Drug Rationing for Seniors Begins | The American Spectator:
"Buried beneath the avalanche of recent news reports about the latest Obamacare-mandated funding cuts to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program is a related but far more disturbing story — the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken a major step toward rationing medications to the elderly.
Since passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, seniors enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug program have been guaranteed access to “all or substantially all” of the drugs in several classes of pharmaceuticals.
President Obama’s health care bureaucrats, however, have proposed removing three of these classes from the “protected” list."

Top Google Engineer: 15 Years Until Computers Outsmart Humans

Top Google Engineer: 15 Years Until Computers Outsmart Humans | TheBlaze.com:
"Computers will know how to think, flirt and tell jokes within 15 years, and they may do it even better than humans, a famed artificial intelligence scientist is predicting."

See which school districts would receive more in security/technology millage than they contribute

See which school districts would receive more in security/technology millage than they contribute | MLive.com:

Taxes Paid vs. Proceeds Received Under Proposed School Millage

District	Millage that would be paid	Proceeds that would be received
Fruitport	$541,811	$469,467
Holton	$142,012	$146,880
Mona Shores	$792,035	$622,267
Montague	$332,583	$247,084
Muskegon	$505,635	$742,135
Muskegon Heights	$113,781	$0
North Muskegon	$139,679	$162,588
Oakridge	$169,682	$311,302
Orchard View	$304,478	$412,881
Ravenna	$162,855	$177,869
Reeths-Puffer	$599,068	$625,414
Whitehall	$456,441	$342,174

Vote or pay $43 MILLION MORE for .... who the heck knows ...... or cares?---------Vote today: 1-mill tax increase for Muskegon County school technology, security on ballot

You know the takers are well organized and will be out in force.
Last millage INCREASE passed with less than 8% of registered voters voting "YES".

Vote today: 1-mill tax increase for Muskegon County school technology, security on ballot | MLive.com: "MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI -- Today is election day for voters in the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District who will decide a tax request to fund technology and security improvements in local school districts.

The 1-mill property tax is for 10 years and would be distributed to 11 public school districts on a per-pupil basis.
 The millage is expected to collect $4.3 million per year. ($43 MILLION TOTAL ... and counting) Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m."

Iran breaks UN arms embargo with Iraq deal

Iran breaks UN arms embargo with Iraq deal - The Scotsman:
"Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth £117 million in a move that would break a UN embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.
 The agreement was reached at the end of November, documents showed, just weeks after Iraq’s prime minister Nouri al-Maliki returned from Washington, where he lobbied the Obama administration for extra weapons to fight al-Qaeda-linked militants.
 Some in Washington are nervous about providing sensitive US military equipment to a country they worry is becoming too close to Iran. Several Iraqi MPs said Mr Maliki had made the deal because he was fed up with delays to US arms deliveries."

Before you vote today----Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials

If you don't vote, you are giving $42 MILLION to the schools.
What will you get back from that $42 MILLION?
Commentary: Five Easy Questions to Ask School Officials [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
To help simplify what can often be an overly complex problem, here are five easy questions anyone can ask their school officials.
1.       Has your district’s overall spending increased over the past decade?
If the district claims to have “cut” by a certain amount, these “cuts” may be covered up by increased spending in other areas.

2.       How much money per pupil did the district receive 10 years ago?

3.       How much money per pupil does the district receive today?
For some districts, it may appear that spending has stagnated or even been cut. However, if a district has significantly fewer students today than in the past (see the example of Midland Public Schools above), overall funds may have decreased while per-pupil spending has risen.

4.       What are the district’s teachers paying toward their health care?

In 2009, public school teachers in 300 Michigan districts paid nothing to the costs of their own health insurance premiums. In fact, the average contribution for a teacher’s family plan is 4 percent, while the Michigan private-sector average is 21 percent, and the average for federal employees in Michigan is about 25 percent.

5.       What is the average salary of a teacher who has been employed by the district for 10 years or more?

Automatic step increases can bring significant pay raises very quickly. See:The Salary History of a Michigan Public School Employee.

Nearly all public school collective bargaining agreements have a “single salary schedule” (or “automatic step increases”) for teacher compensation. The schedule builds in automatic pay raises for employees based only on longevity of employment and the education degree-level achieved.According to Michael Van Beek, the director of education policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, “Essentially, this means that teachers would receive a pay increase for every year they remain employed by the district, regardless of their students' performance, the district's financial situation, or the conditions of the state's economy.”

Business operators’ right to choose

Business operators’ right to choose:
"Should Muslim cab drivers be entitled to refuse to carry passengers who are transporting alcohol? 
(Assume that the state has a legal rule that generally provides religious exemptions from generally applicable laws.)
I gave this as an example of a normal controversy religious exemption controversy, but a commenter disagreed:

The cabbie is voluntarily offering an accommodation to the general public, choosing to associate with them, knowing full well they are religiously diverse. 
They can’t subsequently rescind that offer of accommodation after applying a religious litmus test to the particular member of the public taking them up on their offer. 
To do that they need to limit their association to those who share their religious viewpoint; private car service with a strict [no alcohol] membership requirement or the like.
But offer the general public an accommodation, can’t then rescind the offer because the member of the public doesn’t conform to a religious belief they don’t share. 

I think this analysis is unsound, but I’ve found such arguments to be common enough that I thought I’d respond to them here."

This Ominous Video Shows Where The Military Is 'Really' Preparing To Fight

This Ominous Video Shows Where The Military Is 'Really' Preparing To Fight:
"On January 23, 2014, the U.S. Army opened a one-hundred million dollar urban warfare training facility—a so-called “fake city”—on the outskirts of Bowling Green, Virginia.
Despite U.S. Army press releases to the contrary, this is a replica of an American city, complete with American road signs.
According to insiders, the subway even has a logo of that used in Washington, D.C.
 The so-called “mosque” described in the press release is plainly an American church."