What could possibly go wrong?!!------New parking system to roll out in Detroit

New parking system to roll out in Detroit | Crain's Detroit Business

6. The entire system is expected to be rolled out by June. So the change, whatever it is, is coming fast.

7. Brown told the DDP meeting that the new system will reduce the number of city employees dealing with parking violations from 50 to five. But, he said, no layoffs are coming; instead the 45 employees would be sent to other departments.

8. Finally, Brown said he hopes to reintroduce a reduced parking fine for those who pay within a certain period of time. Before former Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr jacked up parking tickets to $45 last February, most came with a $20 tab —or $10 if you paid them within 10 days.

Many small business owners in Detroit complain about the broken meters surrounding them and say specter of a $45 ticket prevents people from shopping in their businesses. Technically, you can be ticketed for parking at a broken meter. But because it’s broken —and in some cases every meter on the block is broken —you can’t pay. So as a patron you are forced to choose between supporting a local business and taking a $45 ticket. That’s an economic choice nobody wants to make.

More details to come as the city rolls them out.

Environmental Extremism Imperils Nation’s Freedom and Prosperity

Environmental Extremism Imperils Nation’s Freedom and Prosperity | Heartlander Magazine:
"Our American constitutional republic is in peril.
Having protected our God-given individual freedoms and our culture of free entrepreneurship that created the greatest economic miracle the world has ever known, these freedoms and this culture are now being markedly diminished by those who want to turn our country away from the principles of our Constitution and Bill of Rights and replace these principles with ubiquitous government control of literally every aspect of our lives.
This attack on our freedoms is being implemented in our local, state, and federal governments by unprincipled politicians and the bureaucracies they create. 
There is literally no aspect of our civilization that these miscreants are not moving to control and diminish. 
 One especially important aspect is our access to energy resources and our freedom to build energy industries to maintain and increase the quality, quantity, and length of human life."

Bobby Jindal: ‘We Don’t Need to Be Cheaper Liberal Democrats — We Need to Be Principled Conservatives’ | TheBlaze.com

Bobby Jindal: ‘We Don’t Need to Be Cheaper Liberal Democrats — We Need to Be Principled Conservatives’ | TheBlaze.com:

"Jindal hammered familiar GOP talking points: repeal Obamacare, repeal Common Core, fight the Islamic State aggressively.

He also played populist notes as he decried big government bureaucrats.

“They think we’re not smart enough to buy our own insurance, they think we’re not smart enough to buy guns, and if you live in New York City, they think we’re not smart enough to buy a Big Gulp,” Jindal said.

That’s also what the Common Core debate boils down to, Jindal said.

Of teachers’ unions, Jindal said, “They said, ‘Poor parents don’t have a clue when it comes to making choices for their kids."

Bigger question: How will THEY punish us if the monster tax increase fails-------Prop 1 ballot language for road funds approved

Prop 1 ballot language for road funds approved

Here's what voters will see on the May 5 ballot:

A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO INCREASE THE SALES/USE TAX FROM 6% TO 7%. TO REPLACE AND SUPPLEMENT REDUCED REVENUE TO THE SCHOOL AID FUND AND LOCAL UNITS OF GOVERNMENT CAUSED BY THE ELIMINATION OF THE SALES/USE TAX ON GASOLINE AND DIESEL FUEL FOR VEHICLES OPERATING ON PUBLIC ROADS, AND TO GIVE EFFECT TO LAWS THAT PROVIDE ADDITIONAL MONEY FOR ROADS AND OTHER TRANSPORTATION PURPOSES BY INCREASING THE GAS TAX AND VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES.

The proposed constitutional amendment would:

■ Eliminate sales / use taxes on gasoline / diesel fuel for vehicles on public roads.

■ Increase portion of use tax dedicated to School Aid Fund (SAF).

■ Expand use of SAF to community colleges and career / technical education, and prohibit use for 4-year colleges / universities.

■ Give effect to laws, including those that: Increase sales / use tax to 7%, as authorized by constitutional amendment; Increase gasoline / diesel fuel tax and adjust annually for inflation, increase vehicle registration fees, and dedicate revenue for roads and other transportation purposes; Expand competitive bidding and warranties for road projects; Increase earned income tax credit.

Should this proposal be adopted? Yes or No.

----

A yes vote on the proposal will raise the state sales tax. A no vote will turn that proposed increase down.

Giving out free computers will accomplish.... what?-----Men of Color Read promotes literacy in Muskegon Heights school district, donates 'more than 100' computers to Edgewood Elementary

Men of Color Read promotes literacy in Muskegon Heights school district, donates 'more than 100' computers to Edgewood Elementary | MLive.com:
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI - Communities are built on the backs of positive role models. And for Jon Covington, it's critical the building process starts early.

...More than a dozen black community leaders were in attendance Thursday, as each spent at least a half hour reading to various classrooms at Edgewood Elementary.

Covington continually stressed that the idea is "really basic and simple."

He said for black students to see men in the classroom "who look like them," it develops both community role models and promotes strong literacy habits for students at a young age.

"Black men, as it relates to teachers in this country, are somewhere in the area of 2 percent or less," he said, citing a 2010 figure by the Department of Education.
"So, kids in the classroom, particularly in urban communities, they do not see teachers that look like them.
They do not see black male teachers and it's very important for children to see black men and positive images of black men."

Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade "end up in jail or on welfare," according to the Write Express Corporation's literacy statistics. The same statistics indicate that 70 percent of America's inmates are unable to read above a fourth grade level...."

Delusional or just lying?------Dem Rep: We Need Food Stamps Because Dads Are In Jail

Dem Rep: We Need Food Stamps Because Dads Are In Jail | The Daily Caller:
"Democratic Georgia Rep. David Scott said that food stamps are necessary because of America’s “policy” of imprisoning families.
“First of all, the situation regarding employment and jobs, poverty, all of that. All of that has been structured into our economic, social policy over the last quarter-century,” Scott said at Wednesday’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing to review the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), talking about the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs before turning to the incarceration issue.
“Our policy of sending so many of our young eligible fathers to prison. Millions,” Scott said.
“Our prison population went from 300,000 in 1975 to over two million today.
These are providers who are not there.
This is why we have so many single female head of households.
I mean, so when you look at everything we have done, we’ve got to correct some of these things first.”
“Sometimes, it’s not getting the right answer that matters if we don’t set up the right problem to get to that right answer.
And I asked this question before.
Where are examples of the fraud? 
Where are the examples of the abuse?…I can’t find any answers on that. 
I want somebody to tell me, where is the waste? 
Where is the abuse? 
And where is the fraud…”"

FCC Approves Net Neutrality in Straight Party-Line Vote | TheBlaze.com

FCC Approves Net Neutrality in Straight Party-Line Vote | TheBlaze.com:

"In what one Republican called a “monumental shift toward government control of the Internet,” the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a proposal granting the federal government the authority to regulate Internet broadband providers under the same law as public utilities.

The five commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines in favor of the proposal known as net neutrality. The 317-page plan, which has not yet been publicly released, bans broadband providers from blocking, throttling or prioritizing certain Internet pages over others. The FCC has said the proposal will not seek to impose any new taxes or fees."

A Really Bad Week For The Supplements Industry

A Really Bad Week For The Supplements Industry
If the ingredients in your pills don’t really work, does it matter if they’re correct?
Well, yes.

Even if that echinacea pill doesn’t cure the common cold, if a supplement manufacturer sells you an echinacea pill, they have to put echinacea in it.
Supplement makers can and do make all kinds of claims about the health benefits of the stuff they’re selling you.

They claim that supplements can “boost your immune system,” relieve aches and pains, improve memory, and promote “wellness,” whatever the heck that means.

Most this is nonsense, but thanks to the manufacturers’ special friend in the U.S. Senate, Senator Orrin Hatch, the federal government has almost no power to regulate these claims. 

Over the years, the supplement companies have been very generous to Senator Hatch, and he has returned the favor by defending them (though of course he denies any quid pro quo).

Even supplement makers have limits: they can’t sell you ground-up house plants, or rice powder, claiming that it’s St. Johns Wort.

But as New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman revealed last week, that’s exactly what some of them have been doing.

Amazingly, 79% of the supplements tested did not contain the primary ingredient listed on the label. Many of them contained other plant material, including plants that might cause an allergic reaction in unsuspecting customers. [*Update 17 Feb: GNC has responded to the AG; see the bottom of this article for more.]

You see, as cheap as most supplements are (compared to real medicine, that is), rice powder is even cheaper.
Attorney General Schneiderman sent letters to four of the largest retailers of supplements in the country: Walmart, Walgreens, GNC, and Target, demanding them to immediately stop selling supplements that were falsely labelled, including echinacea, ginseng, St. John’s Wort, ginkgo biloba, and others.

What did Schneiderman’s office do?
Well, they conducted a scientific study, using DNA sequencing to test the ingredients in six types of herbal supplements, looking at different brands from multiple stores.
They tested each sample five times to ensure accuracy.
They collected 78 different samples and ran 390 tests in all.

Are we really this stupid? Really?

‘You Morons! You Useful Idiots!’: The Report That Made Glenn Beck Lose It on Radio | Video | TheBlaze.com

‘You Morons! You Useful Idiots!’: The Report That Made Glenn Beck Lose It on Radio | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Glenn Beck lost it on his radio program Thursday after his co-host Stu Burguiere read him a Politico report saying FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “made some last-minute revisions to his net neutrality plan” after Google, Free Press and New America’s Open Technology Institute “asked the commission to revise language they said could unintentionally allow Internet service providers to charge websites for sending content to consumers.”

“So they know the specific language of the bill,” Beck said. “And as American citizens, the ones who will be affected by this, we don’t know that language. We’re not allowed to see it! We can’t get the commissioner that we pay to go and testify on the contents of what’s in that proposal.”

History for February 27

History for February 27 - On-This-Day.com
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 - Poet, John Steinbeck 1902 - Writer ("The Grapes of Wrath"), Irwin Shaw (Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff) 1913 - Novelist ("The Young Lions") 


Elizabeth Taylor 1932 - Actress ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"), Howard Hesseman 1940 - Actor ("WKRP in Cincinnati"), Josh Groban 1981 - Singer


1827 - New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration. 


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


1883 - Oscar Hammerstein patented the first cigar-rolling machine. 


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



1974 - "People" magazine was first issued by Time-Life (later known as Time-Warner). 


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." 

Reports Identify ‘Jihadi John’ Behind Mask in Gruesome Beheading Videos | TheBlaze.com

Reports Identify ‘Jihadi John’ Behind Mask in Gruesome Beheading Videos | TheBlaze.com:

"Other reports with intelligence sources confirming Emwazi as Jihadi John include NBC News and ABC News. The Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at King’s College London, which closely tracks fighters in Syria, also said it believed the identification was correct.

The Post reported that Emwazi was born in Kuwait and grew up in a wealthy family living in London. He received a computer programming degree from the University of Westminster before he went to Syria a few years ago where it is thought he joined the Islamic State, according to the Post."

Republicans Cave on Everything - The Rush Limbaugh Show

Republicans Cave on Everything - The Rush Limbaugh Show:

"This is incredible!  The people that lost the election -- now, they still have the White House, I understand that.  But we have three separate coequal branches here, and one of them is just caving.  The legislative branch is just caving.  It began that process long before today, but Dingy Harry is out there saying (imitating Reid), "Okay, fine, fine, the Senate, okay, we'll take it, but we're not moving this, we're not moving this until Boehner caves.  You're not gonna get our love, you're not gonna get our respect because everybody knows this is what the Republicans want."

Inconveint truth----Rogue subcontractors undermine Virginia’s legal workforce

Rogue subcontractors undermine Virginia’s legal workforce « Watchdog.org:
"RICHMOND, Va. — On paper, Virginia’s laws against rogue contractors appear ironclad. In reality, the regulations look more like Swiss cheese — and taxpayers are losing out.
Spotty oversight of construction trades enables unlicensed subcontractors to exploit the cheap labor of illegal immigrants and undercut law-abiding builders, taking jobs from U.S. citizens. 
The results range from shoddy work to lost tax revenue.
Eric Olson, executive director of the Virginia Board for Contractors, acknowledged in an email “there is no statutory requirement” for state and local licensing agencies to share information or coordinate enforcement efforts.
Olson said this week that illegal and unlicensed subcontractors have been the subject of 599 disciplinary cases since 2003.
Contractors interviewed for this article say 599 is a drop in the bucket.
Indeed, more than 200 violations were found in the Lynchburg area alone."

This works GREAT!!---Stop Drudge Report (and all other sites) From Refreshing

Dave Lucas: Stop Drudge Report From Refreshing:
If you visit the Drudge Report often, you have probably noticed an extremely annoying feature on the site: excessive automatic page refreshing. 
Here's how to put a stop to The Drudge Report (Lucianne.com, Instapundit.com, etc) constantly refreshing. 
Answer this: 
Are you tech-savvy? 
A geek? 
Nerd? 
Supercomputerist? 
Click here: http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com/2014/09/stop-drudge-report-from-refreshing.html
# 2 Drudge's site relies upon JavaScript to reload the page. 
Chrome browser::: 
Add drudgereport.com to the exception list on chrome://settings/contentExceptions#javascript 
HINT : You must type out www.drudgereport.com ; not drudgereport.com to make it work.

Watch Trey Gowdy’s Warning to Dems on Immigration: ‘Be Careful What You Do…’ | TheBlaze.com

Watch Trey Gowdy’s Warning to Dems on Immigration: ‘Be Careful What You Do…’ | TheBlaze.com:

"Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on Wednesday warned Democrats and others that their support for President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration will only undermine the rule of law, potentially in ways they’ll regret years from now.

“You may benefit from the president’s failure to enforce the law today,” Gowdy said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Obama’s action."

LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM

LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM | RedFlagNews.com
It might look like an alphabet-soup spill, or something a guy with his jaw wired shut would say while trying to curse you out. But no, LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM is an actual acronym that exists in the real world populated by actual human beings that breathe the same air as we do.

Katherine Timpf, National Review:

Weslyan University in Connecticut is now offering “LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM” housing, because apparently “LGBT” — or even “LGBTTQQ” — wouldn’t have been inclusive enough. 

For the culturally ignorant among us, “LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM” stands for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, flexual, asexual, genderf***, polyamorous, bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism.”

Mall Reacts to Terror Threat by Demanding Shoppers Remain Unarmed

Mall Reacts to Terror Threat by Demanding Shoppers Remain Unarmed - Breitbart:
"Over the weekend, the Somalia terror group al-Shabaab released a video calling for attacks that included targeting Minnesota’s Mall of America (MOA). In response, MOA reminded shoppers that law-abiding citizens with concealed carry handgun permits are barred from carrying guns on their premises for self-defense.
MOA issued this reminder in response to a citizen named Sarah, who reacted to al-Shabaab’s threat by suggesting shoppers should “bust out the concealed carry permits” and go about their day as usual.
MOA then tweeted: “Hi Sarah. The mall bans all guns from the premises, you’ll note this clearly at each entrance door.”
Does MOA think terrorists’s intent on killing innocents will leave their guns in the car because a sign at the door says no guns allowed?"

Obama defies judge, forges ahead with amnesty

Obama defies judge, forges ahead with amnesty:

"President Obama’s amnesty juggernaut has taken another step forward despite a federal judge’s order to halt it in its tracks.

The president’s plan to delay the deportation of as many as 5 million illegal aliens through memos issued by appointees moved ahead Tuesday when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the extension of a program allowing spouses of certain visa holders to obtain work permits."