Monday, March 31, 2014

Stamp Recall

This second grader’s revenge against Common Core math will make your day!

Yahoo/Daily Caller ^ | Mar 30, 2014
The litany of frighteningly stupid Common Core math worksheets never ends. Perhaps now, though, kids are starting to fight back in satisfyingly creative ways. An alert reader sent The Daily Caller this image of her seven-year-old son’s perfectly reasonable homework answer. The boy attends a public elementary school in San Jose, Calif. He is in the second grade. The math curriculum used by the school is GO Math! The publisher of GO Math! is produced by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The parent who sent the homework question to TheDC noted that the curriculum aligns with the Common Core math standards. “If you look closely under the math question, you will be able to see the Common Core standards in a blue-colored print that aligns to that particular question,” she explained. The constantly burgeoning inventory of sad and hideous Common Core math problems is very long.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

When Barack Obama Stands Firm

American Thinker ^ | 3/31/2014 | Karl Ushanka
In times past, both Presidents Truman and Reagan took principled stands that resulted in global stability and lives saved. Specificlally, two determined anti-communist presidents confronted the Soviet Union in such an aggressive manner that it disturbed even their closest advisors. The Berlin Airlift looked impossible in 1948, as did the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983. Nearly everybody – opponents, advisors, the media and the public – thought these policies were beyond the nation’s capabilities. And they were proved wrong.(snip)While president, Obama has not yet stood apart from his party or advisors. To find an example of daring leadership on the part of Obama, you have to go back to his days in the Illinois State Senate.(snip)Illinois Senate Bill 1095 was named the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (BAIPA). It was modeled after the federal version that was introduced in 2000. The BAIPA legislation was triggered by the 1999 revelation by Jill Stanek, a labor and delivery nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, that infants born alive after failed abortions were being “shelved” and left to die. Ms. Stanek, who had witnessed this procedure, was terminated in 2001 for going public. After her termination, Christ Hospital continued the shelving procedure.(snip)This is where Illinois Senator Obama’s fearless three-year stand on principle began. Illinois Senate Bill 1095 was introduced in February 2001. Senator Obama, sitting on the Judiciary Committee, voted “No,” and the bill later failed to pass the Democrat-controlled House. "We at Planned Parenthood view those as leadership votes," said the abortion company's Illinois president and CEO, Pam Sutherland.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

Plato Lays Into Obama Administration

Reaganite Republican ^ | 31 March 2014 | Reaganite Republican
Or he would if here to witness this debacle...
The price of apathy in public affairs is to be ruled by evil men
Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men
Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws
Only the dead have seen the end of war
Justice means minding one's own business and
not meddling with other men's concerns
Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil
The measure of a man is what he does with power
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs;
when he first appears he is a protector
He who is not a good servant will not be a good master
Your silence gives consent
He was a wise man who invented beer...

The Parable of the Mashed Potato Police

Politico Magazine ^ | Thursday, March 27, 2014 | Jason Edward Harrington
I recently had a bad flashback. I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep when I was hit with a vivid memory from my time as a Transportation Security Administration officer at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. It was 2008, and I was conducting a bag check when three of my TSA colleagues got into an argument with a passenger at the checkpoint. Things got pretty heated. The subject of debate? Whether mashed potatoes were a liquid or a solid. In the end, of course, the TSA agents had the last word: Since the potatoes took the shape of their container, they were determined to be a liquid—specifically, a gel. That’s the official TSA line. “Liquids, aerosols and gels over 3.4 ounces cannot be brought through security.” The potatoes were forcibly surrendered. If you’re anything like me, you may have thought, “Well, mashed potatoes are technically gelatinous, so…”—which sends one down the rabbit hole of bureaucratic absurdity that ends with a passenger looking a TSA officer in the eye and saying, “Do you really think my mashed potatoes are a terrorist threat?” And the officer, if he or she is just an all-around tool, saying: “Ma’am, possibly. Rules are rules.” I’ve had a lot of flashbacks lately—nearly buried memories that have come flooding back ever since Politico Magazine published “Dear America, I Saw You Naked,” my first-person account of working for the TSA and anonymously blogging about my adventures in airport security.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...

Comfort

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Obama Voter Fraud Convict

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YIKES!

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TRAIN WRECK!

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Thank You!

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Criminals

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CHOP CHOP!

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Had Enough Yet?

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ObamaCare Numbers

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In order to afford ObamaCare!

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To Russia

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HALT!

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ADVICE!

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STOP!

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TYRANNY

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FAILED!

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Bereft of ideas!

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Peasants

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Held Accountable

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Out of money?

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Get This Straight

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The Internet, too?

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JOLLY!

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Freedom of speech?

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Liberal Hypocrisy

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Party of the rich? In Congress, it's the Democrats [6 richest Congressional districts all voted Dem]

Associated Press ^ | March 31, 2014 | STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Republicans are the party of the rich, right? It's a label that has stuck for decades, and you're hearing it again as Democrats complain about GOP opposition to raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment benefits.  But in Congress, the wealthiest among us are more likely to be represented by a Democrat than a Republican. Of the 10 richest House districts, only two have Republican congressmen. Democrats claim the top six, sprinkled along the East and West coasts. Most are in overwhelmingly Democratic states like New York and California.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Seattle’s political establishment seems to be following the lead of a socialist!

Socialist Alternative ^ | 3/27/14 | Patrick Ayers
“Onto the ballot – into the streets.” That’s the headline for the next big moment for 15 Now – a conference on April 26 to kick-off a mass campaign in Seattle to collect 50,000 signatures for a robust $15 minimum wage ballot initiative. Whether or not 15 Now will file those signatures in June, triggering a popular vote on November 4, depends on whether the City Council passes a real $15 minimum wage ordinance and will be decided by a democratic 15 Now conference in June. The credible threat of a winnable ballot initiative is the best tool – under the current conditions of a weak union movement and a historically low level of strikes – that working people have to push back attempts by big business and politicians to dramatically water down any effort for a $15/hr minimum wage. The April 26 Conference aims to launch dozens of new local 15 Now Action Groups as the basis for a powerful mass movement to, if necessary, overcome the millions big business will pour in to defeat a ballot initiative. Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s Socialist Alternative city councilmember, used the recent “March for $15 on March 15” to help mobilize for the April 26 Conference and put forward a new proposal for winning $15 in Seattle this year. Below is the thinking and strategy of Socialist Alternative.
(Excerpt) Read more at socialistalternative.org ...

Some right-wing business leaders are still openly opposing any increase in the minimum wage and loudly complaining that Seattle’s political establishment seems to be following the lead of a socialist!Sounds about right!

This Is How You’ll Feel When the GOP Wins the Senate!

Moyers and Company ^ | March 25, 2014 | Professor Marty Kaplan
It’s the morning after. You stayed up late watching election results on TV. By the time you went to bed, the Republicans had won five of the six Senate seats they needed to take control of both houses of Congress. As the networks called each state for the GOP, it felt like a trap door had opened beneath your feet, like a Munch scream, like a nightmare — a nauseating, slow-motion wreck you were powerless to prevent. Too rattled to sleep, you reached for the melatonin. Then, when you wake up in a sweat, the real nightmare begins. Republicans are jubilant. Their campaign was all about getting even. Now it’s time for some traffic problems in Fort Barack. It doesn’t cushion the blow when you find out how hollow their mandate is: Fewer than 20 percent of registered voters voted for them. This, in a country where 33 percent reject the idea of evolution. It only infuriates you more when you learn that the electorate was older and whiter than the country. And that the combined population of states where Republican senators ousted Democrats was less than the population of California. And that some victory margins were under a thousand votes. They won. It turned out not to matter that fact-checkers and satirists called Pinocchio, pants-on-fire and bullsh*t on their ads. Or that the economy is improving, millions of previously uncovered Americans now have health insurance and we haven’t gone to war in Syria, Ukraine or anywhere else neocons have been itching to entangle us. All that will matter is that the Senate Republican majority will be even more obstructionist than the Senate Republican minority, and they will have the House Republican majority as enablers. They will repeatedly repeal the Affordable Care Act. They’ll strip the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of staff and powers. They’ll outlaw abortion, gut food stamps even further, block a path to citizenship for 12 million immigrants and cut taxes on the 1 percent. The only thing stopping them will be Democratic filibusters. But fear of losing the next election will be on many minority minds, so a united opposition is not a given, and Democratic caving, depicted as high-minded bipartisanship, will no doubt send some odious Acts to the Oval Office. Which the president will veto, and which one hopes will lack the two-thirds required to override. The result — the most optimistic scenario — will be epic gridlock. White House initiatives will be dead on arrival in Congress, and Republican laws will be interred in the Rose Garden. This will be particularly good news for the plutocrats whose billions are now funding the 2014 national disinformation campaign; stasis is their friend. Last week, President Obama anticipated getting “clobbered” in the midterm elections. On Sunday, Nate Silver changed his Senate forecast from a tossup to a slight Republican advantage. Maybe these predictions will terrify enough Democratic donors to cough up now and enough Democratic voters to turn out in November. But are dystopian prophecies, including mine, ever really a deterrent? I’m afraid that not even the declaration by Oklahoma Republican Jim (The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future) Inhofe that he’ll be in charge of the Senate environment committee if they win; or the thought of Chuck (“There are a lot more Scalias and Thomases that we’d love to put on the bench“) Grassley chairing the judiciary committee, or of armed services and foreign relations manned up by Lindsey Graham and John McCain — won’t be enough to energize Democrats. The only way to increase the turnout of the base is to speak to its heartbreak. Drones. Spying. No tax on carbon pollution. No immigration reform. No gun control. No public option. No campaign finance reform. No bankers behind bars. Every Obama supporter has a list of disappointments with the administration, and a list of excuses for them — the Republican House, the NRA, political reality — that don’t cut it. Democrats won’t hold the Senate by getting a percent or two more of swing voters than Republicans, because it’s supporters, not undecideds, who turn out for midterm elections. Their only hope is to increase their passion. The young, the women, the blacks and Latinos who vaulted the president into the White House in 2008, and who had nowhere else to go in 2012, will not be rushing to the polls in 2014 unless President Obama gives them — gives us all — big reasons to fight for him, not just against them. Insiders tell me, “Just wait until after the mid-terms, he’ll be free to pull out all the stops.” But why should a full-throated Obama who’ll get nothing from a future Republican Congress be more appealing than an Obama who gets nothing from Congress now? In his 2014 State of the Union, he said he was going to act “with or without Congress.” What’s he waiting for? I’m sure someone has a spreadsheet showing that Democrats have a better chance of holding the Senate if Obama waits until after the election to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline. Surely some operative has numbers saying that approving the Keystone XL now is his only hope of holding on to seats in Alaska, Louisiana, Montana and West Virginia. But polls about hypothetical presidential actions can’t forecast passion very well. Political wildfire is still, thankfully, unpredictable. I’d rather wake up on Nov. 5 sick at losing the Senate, but proud that Obama and the Democrats did all they could to make climate change, gun control, immigration and big money big issues, instead of losing because they were too afraid of losing to win.

Smokin’ Joe Biden: Higher Wages Are Good for Business!

PoliticusUSA ^ | March 29, 2014 | Sarah Jones
Vice President Joe Biden said Congress should raise the minimum wage because it’s good for people, business, women, and the economy. He thinks you ought to call your do-nothing representative and ask why they’re not passing a raise for the people. Smokin’ Joe also burned a certain Speaker by saying that Congress ought to do it because it’s what the people want. But I’m sure Joe knows that Speaker Boehner (R-OH) can’t be bothered with what the people want. After all, he’s got an itty bitty circus tent full of extremists’ egos to stroke in an election year, since they’re the only people who vote Republican anymore besides the party’s actual base — the top 1%. Republicans are very busy obstructing the economy to get back at President Obama for winning again. The Vice President got right down to business, “There’s no reason in the world why an American working 40 hours a week has to live in poverty. But right now a worker earning the federal minimum wage makes about $14,500 a year. And you all know that’s incredibly hard for an individual to live on, let alone raise a family on.” Preach it, Joe. Biden laid out why raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would be good for the worker – they’d be making “$20,200 a year—and with existing tax credits would earn enough to bring that family or a family of four out of poverty. ” But heck, it’s not just the workers who would benefit. Nope. Business too. Joe pierced Republican hearts by pointing out that actually, fair wages are good for business, “There’s clear data that shows fair wages generate loyalty of workers to their employers, which has the benefit of increasing productivity and leading to less turn over. It’s really good for the economy as a whole because raising the minimum wage would generate an additional $19 billion in additional income for people who need it the most.” But… But… Maybe the entire American workforce are just bad negotiators, like Republicans say women are. So it’s their fault and too bad for them! Joe wasn’t having that either because it’s not just the workers. It’s the economy, stupid. “The big difference between giving a raise in the minimum wage instead of a tax break to the very wealthy is the minimum wage worker will go out and spend every penny of it because they’re living on the edge. They’ll spend it in the local economy. They need it to pay their electric bill, put gas in their automobile, to buy fundamental necessities. And this generates economic growth in their communities.” This is no fun. Now Republicans can’t justify punishing the hardworking American populace, pretending they’re unworthy of a living wage. In case Republicans need to hear it from those who are ostensibly their own kind, “And I’m not the only one who recognizes these benefits. Companies big and small recognize it as well. I was recently in Atlanta, Georgia, and met the owner of a small advertising company, a guy named Darien. He independently raised the wages of his workers to $10.10 an hour. But large companies, as well, Costco and the Gap—they’re choosing to pay their employees higher starting wages.” Then Biden pointed out that governors were doing this on their own — a cooperative, regional initiative the governors started as a go-around the do-nothing Republican-led House. Joe summed it up for the slow House, “It’s good for business. It’s helpful to the overall economy. And there’s one more important benefit. Right now women make up more than half of the workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage. Folks, a low minimum wage is one of the reasons why women in America make only 77 cents on a dollar that every man makes. But by raising the minimum wage, we can close that gap by 5 percent. And it matters. It matters to a lot of hardworking families, particularly moms raising families on the minimum wage.” Well, okay, we all know that talking about helping struggling moms is only going to make Republicans hate this idea more. Republicans have made it clear that women shouldn’t be working, so this is really their own fault. And since they think single mothers are the bane of America’s existence, the thing to do is ignore and punish both them and their offspring. But also, no contraception will be covered, thanks so much. Oh, wait. “And one more thing, folks—it’s what the American people want to do. Three out of four Americans support raising the minimum wage… ” Joe thinks you should ask your representatives what gives, “So ask your representatives who oppose raising the federal minimum wage—why do they oppose it? How can we look at the men and women providing basic services to us all, like cleaning our offices, caring for our children, serving in our restaurants and so many other areas—how can we say they don’t deserve enough pay to take them out of poverty?” Yes, do it. DO IT. Raising the minimum wage makes sense, it’s good for business good for people good for women and good for the economy. Call your do-nothing representative, write your local paper, tweet, and ask WHY NOT. Joe’s work here is done for today.

SSN

Amnesty

Poverty Plantation

The Devil!

FAILURE!

PSSST...

Le Peeuu!

COVERED

Works?

Like a ROCK!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Obama’s Deportation Numbers are Bogus (Surprise, Surprise)

March 21, 2014 | Matthew Burke
Appearing on FOX News with Neil Cavuto, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known to many as the “toughest sheriff in America,” explained why Obama’s claim that 2 million illegal aliens have been deported under his administration is not true. Sheriff Joe says that there is clear evidence, based on his experience and a survey he commissioned You can play around with statistics. I always had a feeling that a lot of these people put on hold, turned over to I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), really were not being deported. I did a survey the last three months and found out that (out of) over 1,200 illegal aliens in our jails, one-third, about 400 that were released in the past had criminal records and they’re still being booked back into the jail–six, seven, eight times, keep coming back. How come they’re not deported? That’s why they should be. They’re high-level violators. So that’s a question I have regarding this situation. Arpaio then goes on to explain to Cavuto that the Obama administration’s accounting methods for calculating deportations are fraudulent and testimony from the new head of Homeland Security is evidence: According the the testimony of the new Homeland Security guy, he admitted that when they come across the border, they just dump them back, but they’re claimed in the deportations, when under the Bush administration and others never including them in the deportations statistic.

Obama Has Made the World a More Dangerous Place!

PatriotUpdate ^ | March 22, 2014 | Sean Aland
Once again President Obama has proven who the world leader is and who is the pansy in mom jeans. Obama loves all the tough talk and rhetoric but he is really upset with Vladimir Putin for running Russia the way Obama would like to run the United States: as a dictator with a spine. Comparing Obama and Putin you get Pee Wee Herman on a bike (Obama) versus a strong, tough leader on a horse (Putin). What happened to this president saying he was going to restore respect for the United States in the International community? Instead we see another example of how the Obama apology tour failed to impress world leaders and was perceived as a sign of weakness and lack of leadership. The ineptness of this president has caused the stature of the United States to slip further into the outhouse. If Obama really wanted to get Putin’s attention he would threaten to leave Joe Biden and John Kerry in Moscow and sign Putin up for Obamacare. For all the religious quoting of this administration and its talking heads they missed the Golden rule which states “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” This is sound advice to live by. Instead they want to treat others their way and remain exempt from retribution. Watching the Obama administration respond to receiving the same treatment that they have been giving the American people is entertaining. The administration was upset with Putin forcing his will on the country of Ukraine, calling it “,,,unfair and not listening to the people.” That’s rich. The very issues they are complaining about were just fine with them until the shoe was on the other foot. Bullying, intimidation, spying, reckless spending, forcing their will on people instead of listening to them; these are all actions the administration has complained about recently but had no problem inflicting on the American people. The only time they seem to take issue with bullying is when someone is doing it to them. Senator Diane Feinstein is right to complain about the CIA spying on the Senate but she had no problem with the US o live by. shoe was on the other f government’s warrantless spying on the American people. Lois Lerner had no problem stomping on the US Constitution as she used the IRS to go after the Obama administration’s perceived enemies, but was quick to hide behind her constitutional rights when going before Congress. The administration is decrying Putin’s intimidation of opponents but had no problem with the IRS intimidating Americans. The State Department is complaining about the ballot used in the election to see if Crimea should succeed from the Ukraine having no option for a No vote, but the administration saw no problem forcing Obamacare on the American people and sees no problem with the president using his “pen and phone” to force new rules and regulations on the American people without no vote. The unilateral decision making regarding which laws to enforce and what new rules to impose has brought us closer to the national legalization of pot, the destruction of the traditional family, and the moral decay of our military as well as the destruction of morale among our troops. About two years ago the DNC Chairperson called for The Republican National Committee Chair, Reince Priebus, to apologize for his remarks on Meet the Press, where he compared President Obama to the Italian cruise ship captain who abandoned his ship rather than stay with it and lead the people to safety after the tragic accident. The Left felt his comments were insensitive, but I guess the truth hurts as today the comments seem prophetic. The RNC Chair’s words were more accurate than even he realized as the President has effectively taken our world standing which was pretty sound, the economy that was ailing, our credit rating which was good, and our healthcare that needed some adjustments and scuttled it all by running it upon the rocks. Sadly all the missteps have been fueled by his massive ego coupled with a complete lack of leadership ability. To make matters worse, just like the captain who ran away after the incident, instead of leading by making some tough decisions Obama prefers to be on vacation, on the golf course, campaigning, or anywhere else instead of being in Washington where he can be held responsible for his incompetence. What is important to Obama is golfing, fundraising, vacationing and watching movies instead being in the National Security briefs or doing his job. His slothfulness and desire for celebrity, while hosting multiple and White House parties, is overshadowed by his cries of “income inequality” while millions of Americans are still out of work. Is it then a coincidence that Obama’s actions send the world financial markets down but Putin’s comments ignoring US sanctions settled the markets? What is sure is that Obama has been successful in undoing 200+ years of world leadership and sending this nation into a downhill slide. His celebrity life free of leadership, responsibility, with no international respect is filled with hollow threats for our adversaries, and has reignited the Cold War, making this world a much more dangerous place.

Souped-up ground game could be GOP's key to winning Senate

The Washington Examiner ^ | March 21, 2014 | David M. Drucker
If Republicans win control of the Senate in November, they could owe their victory to a bunch of computer geeks and data nerds holed up in two offices 2,800 miles apart. The Republicans need to flip six seats to wrest the Senate majority from the Democrats on a playing field that is expanding in the GOP's favor. Up to a dozen Democratic-held seats could be up for grabs -- more than half of them in red states -- as voters continue to sour on President Obama's leadership, health care law and stewardship of the economy. Only two Republican seats threaten to be competitive. The battle could go down to a photo-finish in a half-dozen races to determine which party runs the chamber during Obama’s final two years in office — and the parties' voter-turnout operations could be the difference. Enter the Republican National Committee's newly hired geeks. Working out of RNC headquarters in Washington and a recently opened annex in San Mateo, in California's Silicon Valley, a growing staff of 40 has been working since last summer to bring the GOP's antiquated ground game into the digital age. Their goal: catch and surpass the Democrats who -- bolstered by the groundbreaking innovations of Obama's two presidential campaigns -- had a 10-year head start. The RNC believes its effort has turned a corner. “We committed ourselves to a permanent, coast-to-coast, year-round ground game,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said during a roundtable with reporters. “We've invested in new predictive analytics that are revolutionizing how our campaigns are targeting voters.” Color the Democrats skeptical. After all, the Republicans are trying to copy an operation that the Democrats have been building, perfecting and training on for 10 years, ever since the party was outflanked by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election. Even if the RNC develops advanced digital tools in time for this year’s campaign, the committee has to teach a new crop of volunteers to use them, not to mention convince longtime strategists to embrace them. But the Democrats aren't taking any chances. The party's turnout tends to suffer in midterm elections, a factor that could be magnified by voters' disaffection with Obama in the sixth year of his presidency. The party's Senate campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is promising to spend $60 million on its own get-out-the-vote operation, an investment that is both unorthodox and substantial for a congressional campaign committee. Democrats contend that the program and the superior quality of their candidates and individual campaigns will compensate for any improvements the GOP makes on the ground and the political headwinds the party is facing across the country. “People don’t tend to vote for their senators based on the national mood,” said a Democratic strategist, who added: “The Republicans are light years behind us in field and data.” The RNC credits its improved field and digital programs for David Jolly's win over Democrat Alex Sink in a special election for Florida's 13th congressional district, and the party is counting on the overhauled operation to boost its November candidates as well. Republicans expect to easily win open Senate seats in South Dakota and West Virginia, where the two incumbent Democrats are retiring. They also feel confident about their prospects in the red states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Montana, and like their chances in Alaska and North Carolina. The open seat in Michigan, currently held by the Democrats, also appears competitive. And now with former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., poised to challenge Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, the Republicans believe another race might be on the board. The Democrats are on offense in Georgia, where Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, is vying to turn a Republican-held open seat. In Kentucky, Clinton family friend and state Secretary of State Alison Lundergan grimes is locked in a tight race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is angling to become the majority leader. In the Florida special election, the RNC deployed several new capabilities that it did not have in the 2012 election cycle, beginning with permanent field staff who live in the community and are familiar with local voters. Priebus boasts that the RNC has recruited more than 12,000 locally based precinct captains, each with a team of volunteers, who have been building relationships with voters, particularly in states with targeted Senate races. On the digital side, the Republicans were able to gather and share voter data at unprecedented levels. That meant they had more information on each voter, allowing them to make more immediate, accurate decisions on which voters to target and how to appeal to them. It also meant that all Republicans working on the campaign operated from the same data, which helped ensure strategic unity and prevent different GOP entities from undermining each other. The RNC has pledged that come Nov. 4, its operation will be even more advanced — and available to Republicans in every competitive Senate race. “We can’t, as a national committee, get to becoming a better presidential party unless I can build the tools, the data, the infrastructure, right now, in 2014, [and] test what we’re doing in a broad fashion,” Priebus said.

Deaths

Still Missing

Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson

A Million Bucks

Outta Cash!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

How a Watchdog Blew the Lid Off the GM Recall Scandal [Obama Motors recall delay killed 12 people]

yahoo.com ^ | March 20, 2014 | Eric Pianin
The alarm bells first went off at the Center for Auto Safety on Feb. 13, when General Motors announced a recall of more than 780,000 model year 2005-2007 Cobalts and Pontiac G5s with faulty ignition switches.  Those ignition switches were so sensitive that even a slight jostle or heavy key ring could immediately shut down the vehicle’s power steering and brakes and prevent air bags from inflating to protect the driver and front seat passenger in case of a crash.  What really caught the auto safety watchdog’s eye was GM’s disclosure that six people had died in crashes related to the ignition problem. “I said, ‘Six deaths? That’s a lot,’” Clarence Ditlow, the long-time executive director of the center, recalled this week. “The average recall doesn’t have a single death let alone six.”Two weeks later, GM added 842,000 Ion compacts (model years 2003-2007), and Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars (2006-2007) to the list of cars being recalled for the ignition switch problem. Now GM was saying the number of fatalities had been revised upward to 12. By then, Ditlow and his colleagues at the Washington-based auto safety center that had been co-founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader were on the case. The revelation of GM’s extraordinarily lengthy delay in recalling the faulty cars had the whiff of scandal to it, according to Ditlow, who is no stranger to high-profile auto industry controversies and cover-ups.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

ObamaCare Mess Continues to Pile Up

Rightwingpatriot.com ^ | March 21, 2014 | Rightwingerpatriot
Contrary to the thoughts of liberals, the ObamaCare mess continues to pile up. Every measurable yardstick that would spell failure in the private sector is being touted as a success in the pubic sector. If any business acted in the manner that the federal government has, they would be sued mightily and face prison time. Since it's only taxpayer dollars being wasted and our liberties curtailed, then it's just the new normal as the mainstream media turns a blind eye to what Obama and his cronies have been doing. One of the key cons of the ObamaCare mess is that healthy young people need to sign up to subsidize older people. The problem is that they're not doing it at all. As of March 1st, a grand total of 4.2 million had signed up on the ObamaCare website (still no numbers of how many actually paid and became real customers). Of that number, only 25% were between the ages of 18 and 35 (a total of 1.076 million). That does not bode well for the entire ponzi scheme that the Affordable Care Act is. It's estimated that over 55% of new enrollees (and there had be millions of them) are needed to stabilize the system. That's why you see Obama going on the dopey Between Two Ferns on the Funny or Die website or appearing on Ellen. His administration is desperate to get more young people enrolled for something they do not need. Why should young people sign up if they're carried by their parents until they're 26? They have other priorities during that time such as chasing the opposite sex and having fun with their friends. Another bit of bad news for ObamaCare is that insurance premiums are going to skyrocket before the midterm elections. Obama has done everything possible to mitigate the negative effects of his policy by delaying it almost thirty times. Insurance industry analysts predict a rise of a double or triple increase in premiums right before the November 4th elections. (Wonder why Democrats are always pushing early voting? I expect that they would push for early voting now so as to fleece the public.) This rise in premiums contradicts what Kathleen Sebelius said, but that's understandable as I would verify the fact that the sun was shining or that it was raining if she told me so. The price of ObamaCare has hit a tentative $2.6 trillion over the next ten years, and I'm sure that number will go up. In other news, the American Medical Association has been panicking over part of the Affordable Care Act that could leave medical institutions and doctors on the hook for patients who do not pay. Currently the ACA allows a 90 day grace period for patients who are not paying their premiums to keep their coverage. The first 30 days are paid for by those evil insurance companies but the remaining 60 days are all on the medical practitioners. I find this hilarious as the American Medical Association put all its weight behind ObamaCare, but now that they're getting stuck with part of the tab, they're freaking out. Hypocrites. Our last facet of the ObamaCare mess takes place in Oregon. Their state website to sign up enrollees for ObamaCare has not signed up single person, despite receiving 300 million taxpayer dollars. That's a new level of government inefficiency, of which I'm sure bonuses and promotions will be tossed out like confetti for a job well done.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Of the Viet Cong and Radical Feminist Nuns

WDTPRS ^ | 3/20/2014 | Fr John Zuhlsdorf
I’ll bet that some of you younger readers don’t know who the Viet Cong were and what they did. They started as a tiny groups or cadres of committed Communists, insurgents, in the south of Vietnam, after the end of the Indo-China War in 1954. Communist front-groups formed, such as the Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee, the Executive Committee of the Fatherland Front, the Vietnam-Cambodian Buddhist Association, the Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces. These front groups gave cover for and organized Communist insurgents and guerrillas, masking the activities of their community organizers. The Viet Cong was the conglomeration of groups would be called, became the military arm of the National Liberation Front. The VCs embarked in savage assassination campaigns, committed horrible atrocities to intimidate opposition, developed a political branch, opened up the Ho Chi Minh Trail, etc. Their various units wore no insignia. They were ideological guerrillas, insurgents, terrorists.The Viet Cong are fascinating. They are yet another of history’s examples of how small groups engaged in unrestricted asymetrical tactics can bring a large and well-supplied organized military machine to a grinding blood-stained halt.What’s this about?The other day I posted How tiny liberal loon crank groups provide cover and distraction for larger, more dangerous initiatives.In that post I pointed out how someone whom, for good reason, no one has heard of (Patricia Miller), editor of something no one has heard of (“Conscience magazine, the leading journal of pro-choice Catholic thought”), put out a blog opinion piece about an obscure group of weird radical nuns (the National Coalition of American Nuns – NCAN -which campaigns for women’s ordination, headed up by abortion-promotress Sr. Donna Quinn of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, who makes parody redundant).NCAN supports the Obama administration’s efforts to impose the pro-contraception, pro-abortion HHS Mandate on religious institutions such as the Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby.NCAN says openly what the leaders of the LCWR can’t say openly. Consider NCAN a front group.Now I see that the Ho Chi Minh Trail of cable news, MSNBC, picked up the story.Somebody no one has ever heard of, Irin Carmon picked up in the insignificant news about the nun splinter group. What are the other things Irin has written about?
  • Anita Hill answers your questions
  • Inside the newest faction of the anti-abortion movement
  • California’s quiet reproductive rights revolution
  • Meet the rebels of the anti-abortion movement
  • Big leap for morning after pill access? Not so fast
  • Should it be easier to get emergency contraception?
  • Women in 2014: Eloise Gomez Reyes
  • Hillary Clinton counts on women’s rights
  • Do you think Wendy Davis’s abortion comments hurt her campaign?
  • Wendy Davis falls into abortion question trap
Irin seems to be obsessed with abortion and others matters uterine.So, from Irin at MSNBC we find:
Nuns take sides as contraception fight heads to the Supreme Court[...]The Catholic Church formally opposes contraception, ["formally? What does that mean? That the Church can then "formally" change its position, as if opposition is a mere "policy"? "Formally" as in the Church turns a blind eye? ] and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in particular has taken an active role in criticizing the contraceptive coverage mandate in Obamacare. ["taken an active role".... and... so? No, wait. The point is, no one is permitted to critize what Obama does, much less be a ring-leader in criticism. But there's more...] But this isn’t the first time nuns have shown independence on an issue. [Hurray! Nuns showing "independence" is a good thing! "Independence" is good, right?] In 2012, a Vatican group rebuked [LOL! The CDF is a "Vatican group", now. The ignorance here is a hoot. And, remember, "rebuking" is bad, especially when women are the rebuke-ees.] the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for espousing ”radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” [More on the LCWR and NCAN, below.]That prompted one commentator to reach for the b-word [This is misdirection... read on.] in a rather different context. ”Women are not capable, in the Vatican’s mind, ["the Vatican's mind"?!? Who's writing this garbage?] of governing others or even themselves,” wrote Gary Wills [Him again? Embittered anti-Catholic.] in the New York Review of Books. “Is it any wonder so many nuns have left the orders or avoided joining them? Who wants to be bullied?” [That's the "b-word" Irin meant, not the other one. And women are joining communities of traditional sisters, communities which don't belong to the LCWR or subscribe to its radical feminist tenets.]Supporters of the contraceptive coverage provisions plan to rally outside the Court on March 25, the day oral arguments are heard in the Hobby Lobby case. [That's an advertisement, btw.]
As I watch this unfold, what pops into my head are Alinsky-style Chicago-based community organizers, the Viet Cong and the Ho Chi Minh Trail.Again, as I wrote the other day, liberals have coalitions of myriad groups. They front for other, much larger groups. The small groups provide cover and distraction and coordination for what the larger groups are really up to. This is a common feature of the Left’s activity. They work together, cover each other’s tracks, carry each other’s water, present a united front.


Not from an opening ceremony of an LCWR meeting.

City with 36% Unemployment Rate Now has Highest Minimum Wage in California!

Frontpage Mag ^ | 03/20/2013 | Daniel Greenfield
I don’t see how this plan could possibly fail unless economics is real.
A San Francisco Bay Area city is on track to have the highest minimum wage in California. The Richmond City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday in favor of an ordinance that would raise minimum hourly pay in the city to $12.30 an hour by 2017.
Richmond’s unemployment rate is somewhere between 11 and 14 percent. Its unemployment rate for black men is 36%.It’s the third most dangerous city in California and its 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th top employers are all the government. And it has a huge gang problem. So clearly the thing to do is make the city as unattractive as possible to small businesses while eliminating lower end jobs in order to help the gangs expand.But that just means more opportunities for scenes like these.
A bloody fistfight broke out among rival gang members at Richmond City Hall on Friday, according to police.Seven men from different parts of the city brawled in a third-floor suite that houses the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety around 12:30 p.m. Friday, department director Devone Boggan said.He said all of the men involved in the melee are enrolled in the office’s “Operation Peacemaker” fellowship and happened to show up at the office at Richmond’s Civic Center at the same time unexpectedly.The ONS director said he sees the unarmed brawl as a sign of progress, since the young men involved all have a history of gun violence.“They decided to pick their fists up instead of a gun,” Boggan said.
Things are looking bright for Richmond indeed.

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