AmeriCorps at 20 is a wasteful flop: Column

AmeriCorps at 20 is a wasteful flop: Column:
"One part political slush fund, one part window dressing, youth service program failed to grow up.

...AmeriCorps consists of 75,000 members ( who collect up to $17,800 a year in salary and education benefits for laboring on social, environmental, education and other projects authorized by the agency headquarters. 
According to CEO Wendy Spencer, "For twenty years, AmeriCorps has been a powerful and proven solution to community needs across the nation." Many AmeriCorps recruits work hard and have helped their fellow Americans, but many of the agency's projects are spurred more by feelgood foolishness and political profiteering than by real community needs.

..AmeriCorps often sends its members to fill voids created by other government defaults. Thousands of AmeriCorps members are busy attempting to teach readingto young children -- a task for which public schools already spend billions. 
Thanks to Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative, AmeriCorps is partnering with the Justice Department to enroll and mentor "disconnected youth" -- the same task for which the Job Corps was created 50 years ago.
...Congress recently enacted a law prohibiting federally-funded food stamp recruiting but AmeriCorps continues paying scores of members to entice people onto the dole.
AmeriCorps, along with USDA, is bankrolling the National Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps whose primary goal is "increasing participation" in food stamps.
Joel Berg, the director of that program, pockets a six-figure salary while issuing apocalyptic statements about America's injustice to the poor.
...After 20 years, AmeriCorps continues to be little more than social work tinged with messianic delusions. 
It is time to draw the curtain on AmeriCorps' "body count" benevolence."

ISIS pens poem about 72 virgins to ignite base

ISIS pens poem about 72 virgins to ignite base | New York Post:
How do Islamic extremists fire up the troops?
Poems about virgins, of course.
During a investigation into home-grown terrorists, the FBI monitored communication between two Boston Muslims, Tarek Mehanna and Ahmad Abousamra.
Mehanna would be charged with aiding al Qaeda and given 17 years in prison, Abousamra fled the US before arrest, and is now serving as chief propagandist for ISIS.
Abousamra posts beheading videos to the Internet, and promotes them on social media.
He’s one of the FBI’s most wanted.
One of the messages between Mehanna and Abousamra was a 2008 poem written by Mehanna, describing the afterlife for a holy warrior.
The ode, which includes the promise of 72 virgins with “round and firm chests,” was distributed online.
It still pops up to recruit Westerns to the life of jihad.
It reads:

“Make Martyrdom What You Seek”
"....You drink so much you almost end up falling
Into the flowing current, then you hear voices calling,
You turn and behold! The voices are singing
Coming from Maidens so fair and enchanting,
These are the Hoorees with round and firm chests
Pure untouched virgins, they’re better than the best,
Seventy-two in all, with large eyes of dark hue
Each one created especially for you,....."

The Mathematics of Ebola Trigger Stark Warnings: Act Now or Regret It | WIRED

The Mathematics of Ebola Trigger Stark Warnings: Act Now or Regret It

The Ebola epidemic in Africa has continued to expand since I last wrote about it, and as of a week ago, has accounted for more than 4,200 cases and 2,200 deaths in five countries: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. That is extraordinary: Since the virus was discovered, no Ebola outbreak’s toll has risen above several hundred cases. This now truly is a type of epidemic that the world has never seen before. In light of that, several articles were published recently that are very worth reading.

The most arresting is a piece published last week in the journal Eurosurveillance, which is the peer-reviewed publication of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (the EU’s Stockholm-based version of the US CDC). The piece is an attempt to assess mathematically how the epidemic is growing, by using case reports to determine the “reproductive number.” (Note for non-epidemiology geeks: The basic reproductive number — usually shorted to R0 or “R-nought” — expresses how many cases of disease are likely to be caused by any one infected person. An R0 of less than 1 means an outbreak will die out; an R0 of more than 1 means an outbreak can be expected to increase. If you saw the movie, "Contagion" this is what Kate Winslet stood up and wrote on a whiteboard early in the film.)

The Eurosurveillance paper, by two researchers from the University of Tokyo and Arizona State University, attempts to derive what the reproductive rate has been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. (Note for actual epidemiology geeks: The calculation is for the effective reproductive number, pegged to a point in time, hence actually Rt.) They come up with an R of at least 1, and in some cases 2; that is, at certain points, sick persons have caused disease in two others.

You can see how that could quickly get out of hand, and in fact, that is what the researchers predict. Here is their stop-you-in-your-tracks assessment:

In a worst-case hypothetical scenario, should the outbreak continue with recent trends, the case burden could gain an additional 77,181 to 277,124 cases by the end of 2014.

That is a jaw-dropping number.

The epidemic curves of the Ebola epidemic; look especially at the line for Liberia. From Nishiura and Chowell; original here.

What should we do with information like this? At the end of last week, two public health experts published warnings that we need to act urgently in response.

First, Dr. Richard E. Besser: He is now the chief health editor of ABC News, but earlier was acting director of the US CDC, including during the 2009-10 pandemic of H1N1 flu; so, someone who understands what it takes to stand up a public-health response to an epidemic. In his piece in the Washington Post, “The world yawns as Ebola takes hold in West Africa,” he says bluntly: “I don’t think the world is getting the message.”

WHO still pushing to collect a global tobacco tax

WHO still pushing to collect a global tobacco tax « Hot Air:
The unelected and unaccountable sages at the World Health Organization (WHO) can’t seem to help themselves or resist the temptation to try to regulate the behavior of everyone on the planet. 
This is a shame, really, because a group like that could actually do some good if they stuck to trying to get basic supplies and medical care to people in remote, poverty stricken countries. 
But rather than devoting themselves to such laudable goals, they’re once again pushing to get every government on the planet to jack up sin taxes on tobacco.(This is something they’ve tried before, as I wrote about in 2012.) And the new proposal is a whopper.

The World Health Organization announced potential plans to institute a global tobacco tax, but economist Arthur Laffer expressed significant skepticism about the idea in a new study.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Raising taxes on tobacco in support of the reduction of tobacco consumption is a core element of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), an international treaty that entered into force in 2005 and has been endorsed by 178 Parties.”

“Raising taxes on tobacco is the most effective way to reduce use and save lives,” added WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. “Determined action on tobacco tax policy hits the industry where it hurts.”

Well, 616 is the area code for Ottawa county........The Devil's Number Is Not 666

The Devil's Number Is Not 666 - KnowledgeNuts:

In A Nutshell

“666,” the oft-quoted number of Satan, or perhaps his area code, is not the Mark of the Beast as most people believe. Though it’s less memorable and certainly not as cool-looking, the real number is 616, according to an ancient fragment of, you guessed it, the Bible. The fragment predates every other copy of Revelation, where John, the mysterious author, mentions the Mark of the Beast as the tattoo you’ll have to get if you want to conduct business in the new apocalyptic world.

The Whole Bushel

.......The mark itself can be any one of three things: a symbol, the beast’s name, or his number. And it’s here that the traditional number of “Six hundred threescore and six,” or 666, comes from.

However, back in 2005, the number was revised, or should have been, to 616 because of a discovery made in an ancient Egyptian dump just outside of Oxyrhynchus. A large collection of really old papers, most of them unreadable, were discovered. Among them was a piece of a third-century manuscript that just happened to be from the Book of Revelation. In this piece, as well, was the new number, 616, given as the number of the Beast.

This isn’t just some random number either. According to Professor David Parker, numbers were often used in ancient days to disguise the name of an enemy. In this case, 616 probably refers to Emperor Caligula of the Roman Empire, the non-Christian ruling power in the world at the time.

So 666 becoming 616 is significant to the interpretation of the Book of Revelation, lending more credibility to the idea that it’s not a prediction of an actual apocalypse yet to occur, but a political criticism of the Roman Empire, hidden in symbols and numbers to avoid an imperial response.

Show Me The Proof

Revelation! 666 is not the number of the beast (it’s a devilish 616)
Revelation 13:11-18 (King James Version)

Obama ALERT!!---------Plans to Turn ‘Politically Binding’ UN Climate Change Accord Into Federal Law

Plans to Turn ‘Politically Binding’ UN Climate Change Accord Into Federal Law | CNS News
“Obama’s statement acknowledges that he cannot get a new climate treaty past China or U.S. voters,” Horner told CNSNews.com.

But he added that environmental activists are already planning to employ the same collusive sue-and-settle strategy they have used in the past to impose draconian energy restrictions on all Americans even though there’s been no global warming for nearly 18 years.

(Source: Lord Christopher Monckton)

’It’s quite clear under Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution that after the president signs it, any binding international law agreement has to be ratified by the Senate,” Horner explained.

But he noted that “activist green groups, in conjunction with the New York attorney general’s office, have already developed plans to use the federal courts to force Americans to drastically reduce their energy consumption whether or not Obama signs a new climate change treaty in Paris next year” to replace the expired Kyoto Protocol.

Horner predicted the White House strategy in a 2009 paper published by the Federalist Society, in which he wrote: “It appears that Kyoto will be the subject of a controversial effort to sharply revise U.S. environmental treaty practice…. waiving the Constitution’s requirement of Senate ratification by reclassifying the product of talks as a congressional-Executive agreement, not a treaty.” (See Kyoto II ...Emerging Strategy.pdf)

Inside a Russian Billionaire's $300 Million Yacht-video

Inside a Russian Billionaire's $300 Million Yacht:
"The "A", designed by Philippe Starck, arrived in San Francisco earlier this week after making stops in Alaska and Seattle.
WSJ took an exclusive tour of Andrey Melnichenko's 394-foot mega-yacht in 2010."

History for September 14

History for September 14 - On-This-Day.com
Ivan Pavlov 1849, Margaret Sanger 1879, Joey Heatherton 1944 


Sam Neill 1947, John "Bowser" Bauman (Sha Na Na) 1947, Barry Cowsill (The Cowsills) 1954 


1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner," a poem originally known as "Defense of Fort McHenry," after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, MD, during the War of 1812. The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931. 


1866 - George K. Anderson patented the typewriter ribbon. 


1899 - In New York City, Henry Bliss became the first automobile fatality. 


1901 - U.S. President William McKinley died of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42, succeeded him. 


1938 - The VS-300 made its first flight. The craft was based on the helicopter technology patented by Igor Sikorsky. 


1940 - The Selective Service Act was passed by the U.S. Congress providing the first peacetime draft in the United States. 


1948 - In New York, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the site of the United Nations' world headquarters. 


1959 - Luna II, a Soviet space probe, became the first man-made object on the moon when it crashed on the surface. 


1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded. The core members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. 


1978 - "Mork & Mindy" premiered on ABC-TV. 

Yo, dudes. Guess the date of this brilliance-------Barack Obama - Op-Ed - My Plan for Iraq

Op-Ed Contributor - Barack Obama - Op-Ed - My Plan for Iraq - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
......In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. 
As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. 
We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. 
We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.

Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven.
Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been.
As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq.

As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan. 
We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there.
I would not hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq.

In this campaign, there are honest differences over Iraq, and we should discuss them with the thoroughness they deserve. 

Unlike Senator McCain, I would make it absolutely clear that we seek no presence in Iraq similar to our permanent bases in South Korea, and would redeploy our troops out of Iraq and focus on the broader security challenges that we face. 

But for far too long, those responsible for the greatest strategic blunder in the recent history of American foreign policy have ignored useful debate in favor of making false charges about flip-flops and surrender.

It’s not going to work this time.
It’s time to end this war.

Moderate Islam: A MYTH!

DC teacher has sixth-graders compare George Bush to Adolf Hitler | Fox News

DC teacher has sixth-graders compare George Bush to Adolf Hitler | Fox News:
"A public school teacher in Washington who instructed sixth-graders to compare former President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler has learned her own lesson, according to district officials, but critics wonder why she still has a job."

Politics: Obama uses Facebook to figure out ISIS strategy

Politics: Obama uses Facebook to figure out ISIS strategy | Best of Cain

Click to read the rest: http://www.caintv.com/obama-uses-facebook-to-figure

Ohio State: Students Must Agree on Why They Are Having Sex

Ohio State: Students Must Agree on Why They Are Having Sex - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
OSU agreed in the resolution to establish clear definitions of what constitutes consensual sex. It's not entirely obvious whether the definitions listed here are in line with the resolution yet, but they already seem troubling.
According to OSU, participants in sexual activities must agree "why" they are having sex:

• Effective consent can be given by words or actions so long as the words or actions create a mutual understanding between both parties regarding the conditions of the sexual activity--ask, "do both of us understand and agree regarding the who, what, where, when, why, and how this sexual activity will take place?"

That's absurd, as Hans Bader, a senior attorney at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a former OCR lawyer, writes:

At Ohio State University, to avoid being guilty of “sexual assault” or “sexual violence,” you and your partner now apparently have to agree on the reason WHY you are making out or having sex.  It’s not enough to agree to DO it, you have to agree on WHY: there has to be agreement “regarding the who, what, where, when, why, and how this sexual activity will take place.”

Ummm, the war is still on. Ain't it?------University paper publishes 9/11 editorial, claims USA needs to ‘get over’ terrorist attacks

University paper publishes 9/11 editorial, claims USA needs to ‘get over’ terrorist attacks - EAGnews.org:
LARAMIE, Wyo. – America “overdoses” on patriotism on September 11, according to an editorial authored by a University of Wyoming student.
Published on the 13-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a student at the University of Wyoming penned an editorial decrying the sense of “pride” Americans showcase on September 11. The student blames suburban families and public schools as being the worst culprits when it comes to patriotism.
“Pride is by far the most common response to the annual reminder of the attacks on our country, and this is the issue,” Jeremy Rowley, a sophomore at the university, wrote. “Suburban families erect their stars and stripes as public schools broadcast cliché images of bald eagles and American landmarks while blaring Lee Greenwood’s ‘Proud to be an American.’”
Instead, Rowley suggested that those who “may not be ready to move on” mourn quietly and humbly.
“Instead of celebrating our country and shunning all those who don’t fit in or agree, we, the United States of America, need to get over it,” he wrote.
Rowley turned the attention in his editorial to social issues, lightly referencing the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the alleged gender pay gap.
“Contrary to popular belief, America is not the best country in the world,” Rowley writes.
“We live in a country where unarmed people of color are shot to death without justification,” Rowley said.
“This same country still struggles with paying women a fair wage.
All the while, we neglect to give our children an internationally competitive education.
The list of injustices goes on and on, and yet we band together and celebrate our country at a time when pride is the least justifiable reaction.”

250K Virginians to Lose Health Care Due to Obamacare | The Weekly Standard

250K Virginians to Lose Health Care Due to Obamacare | The Weekly Standard:
"Says the reporter, "This goes back to that now heavily-criticized line we heared before Obamacare was put in place: 'If you like your plan, you can keep it.' Ultimately, that turned out not to be true for thousands of Virginians and companies in the commonwealth. ... Wednesday Virginia lawmakers on the health insurance reform commission met for the first time this year. Turns out, a staggering number of Virginians will need new plans this fall."

GM issues stop sales for two Corvette defects

GM issues stop sales for two Corvette defects | The Detroit News:
"Washington — General Motors Co. told its dealers to halt sales of about 2,800 new Chevrolet Corvettes for possible defects.
In recent months, GM has issued similar stop sales before issuing new recalls.
GM spokesman Alan Adler declined to confirm the Detroit automaker planned to recall the vehicles, but said very few of the 2,800 vehicles are in customer hands.

Adler said GM told Chevrolet dealers to stop delivery of about 2,000 2015 Corvettes to fix the driver’s airbag. GM also has temporarily stopped shipment of the cars from its assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky.
"The cars are being inspected for a suspect part that attaches the air bag to the steering wheel. Separately, another 800 Corvettes — most of them at dealerships — are on hold because they may have been built with only one of the rear parking brake cables fully seated and engaged. 
The part must be inspected to assure the parking brake is operating on both brake drums," Adler said.
GM has recalled a record 29.1 million vehicles in 65 recall campaigns for vehicles built by its North American unit this year. "

Our president is a moron. He appoints morons. Those morons pretend to protect America and our troops-------In Geographic Gaffe, Obama Official Misplaces Syria on Map

In Geographic Gaffe, Obama Official Misplaces Syria on Map

The senior Obama administration official, who was not identified by name under well-established rules, was speaking about 6 p.m. on a conference call with reporters about ISIS, also known as ISIL or the Islamic State, when he made the geographic gaffe. He said:

ISIL has been, I think, a galvanizing threat around the Sunni partners in the region. They view it as an existential threat to them. Saudi Arabia has an extensive border with Syria … So what we have here is a galvanizing threat from ISIL that is, I think, leading our Sunni partners in the region to join us along the range of potential capabilities that my colleague mentioned.

Commentary: What Obama Got Right—and Wrong—in His ISIS Speech

In fact,  Syria — home base for the brutal terrorist group — borders on five countries: Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey.

Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center, originally spotted the “extensive” blunder.

» “Global Warming” Advocates Plan March Amid Record Cold Temperatures

“Global Warming” Advocates Plan March Amid Record Cold Temperatures Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!:
"Later this month, activists are planning a march in New York City for “global warming awareness,” even though the northern U.S. is reeling from record cold temperatures.
Called the “largest climate march in history” by organizers, the “People’s Climate March” will occur on Sept. 21st, a few days before the United Nations will attempt to draft a “global warming” treaty on the same level as the controversial Kyoto Protocol.
“The Secretary-General has asked leaders to announce significant and substantial initiatives to help move the world toward a path that will limit global warming,” states a U.N. press release.
Yet, in contrast to that rhetoric, ice cold temperatures are shattering records across the U.S. and Antarctica’s sea ice is expanding at a record pace.
“Chicago seemingly switched from summer to fall overnight,” NBC Chicago reported yesterday. “Temperatures plunged from a high near 80 degrees on Wednesday to the mid-50s on Thursday, and by mid-day the area set a record low for high temps.”
“On this date in 1940, the coolest high temp was 61 degrees; on Thursday, O’Hare Airport recorded a high of 56 degrees.”"

Wide Partisan Differences Over the Issues That Matter in 2014

Wide Partisan Differences Over the Issues That Matter in 2014 | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: