We are privileged to be entertained by ads on television asking people to call Rep. Pat Tiberi and ask him why he wants people to die. The voice over is joined with cute, heart-wrenching and homey pictures of kids and the elderly that just make you want to run out and slap Tiberi for not supporting socialized medicine.
The ads are sponsored by the "Foundation of Patients Rights", a warm and fuzzy group otherwise known as the thugs from Service Employees International Union. It appears that when not beating people at Tea Party rallies, SEIU really really likes kids and old people, especially photogenic ones who will get more people to vote the way SEIU wants. That is, vote for more and more union (aka big government) and government control over society and the United States of America.
SEIU is part of a coalition, Change to Win, which is made up of members who broke away from the AFL-CIO because it was too conservative.
Some of CtW efforts are:
Make Work Pay: Make Work Pay is a general organizing campaign aimed at improving wages and working conditions for working people.
Justice at Smithfield: Organizes workers at Smithfield Foods pork-packing plants. Smithfield has been accused of human rights violations for its treatment of workers by international human rights group Human Rights Watch.
Ports Protection: Organizes truck drivers who move cargo from port facilities out to warehouses and businesses.
Wal-Mart Campaign: Organizes workers in Wal-Mart stores.
Driving Up Standards Together ([1]): Organizes school bus drivers employed by FirstGroup/FirstStudent. An international campaign coordinated with the UK's Transport and General Workers Union (now part of the United Kingdom trades union "Unite").
Uniform Justice: Organizes employees of Cintas, North America's most profitable uniform and laundry company.
Cure CVS: Organizes CVS/Pharmacy and criticize its practices.
Other warm and fuzzy members are:
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
United Farm Workers (UFW)
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
Funny how the Foundation of Patients Rights never brings up their affiliation with SEIU. They could run really cool video showing how government health care would cover all the people that SEIU members beat up because those people don't want more unions that want more unions that want more government.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Incredible Simulation Of Hudson River Landing
Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles sound collected and doing business. This is really amazing.
This is the main video and you can get more at Wired.
This is the main video and you can get more at Wired.
Irani Chairman Short Goes All Jihadi On Internet
Continuing on the path of holy devotion to God through bigotry, lies, hate and nuclear bullying, Iran now wants to go all jihadi on the Internet.Iran has formed a special unit to monitor Web sites and fight Internet crimes, in a clear attack on an opposition that relies almost exclusively on online means to broadcast its message, local newspapers reported Saturday.
Police Col. Mehrdad Omidi, who heads the Internet crime unit, said the committee will fight "insults and the spreading of lies," terms widely used by the judiciary to describe opposition activities.
Insults and lies, umm. So, they're going to get in a fight with themselves? Good, maybe they'll knock themselves out.
Lies, indeed, and insults? They insult their God, Muslims worldwide and all other sane and rational people everywhere.
Obama Kowtowing To The World
Reminds me of my first formal dance when I listened to my sisters who did not have my best interest at heart. As I bowed and kissed the hand of my date as I been told to do, my friends snickered uncontrollably and my blushing date decided that I was either a fool or making a fool of her. .
The dance did not go well.
.
Maybe I should have made the Saudi excuse and said that I dropped something.
.
Gateway Pundit noticed too.
Friday, November 13, 2009
The True Character Of Hasan & Terrorists
Major Nidal Hasan wore the Caduceus, symbol of the Medical Corps, on his lapel. As a doctor, Hasan was to have spoken and lived by this oath, which is quoted in part below:
The Hippocratic Oath (part)
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.
The media seems fixated on the "victim" meme, ignoring that the real victims were shot by Hasan. This same media ignores that besides the fact that Hasan did violence in the name of Allah, he also did violence against a sacred oath. Hasan decidedly violated one oath in which he would "do no harm" (not stated in the oath, but implied all through) to do great harm in the name of his religion against his oath as an officer of the United States military and his fellow man.
In his few moments of Islamofacist glory Hasan broke enough oaths to even make Allah doubt his veracity. There goes the whole 72 virgin offer.
Well, at least the heavenly offer, because it seems that the ever pious Hasan enjoyed the "pleasures of love" in strip joints just like the 9/11 murderers. Oops, another couple of oaths does the crapper.
Maybe right after prayers he was just unwinding from all the pressure of being a Muslim in America, from which a lap dance and a beer or two appears to relieve terrorists.
I guess Hasan was just a murderous slave to his impulses.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
World Council Of Churches To Warm Earth With Bell Ringing
Striking an object causes heat. When that object vibrates it causes heat. When a human exerts themself it causes heat.
When repeated numerous times at numerous sites around the globe, well, a kitten dies and a polar bear loses its home.
X(strike) x Y (sound wave) x Z(exertion) = A(heat)
A x B(350 times) x C(number of participating congregations) = G(global warming)
So, the WCC is causing global warming.
That's not very christian.
When repeated numerous times at numerous sites around the globe, well, a kitten dies and a polar bear loses its home.
X(strike) x Y (sound wave) x Z(exertion) = A(heat)
A x B(350 times) x C(number of participating congregations) = G(global warming)
So, the WCC is causing global warming.
That's not very christian.
Saint Mac Dara, Connemara, Ireland
Saint Mac Dara's Island
A report written by R.A.S. Macalister in 1895 for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
Arriving off Inis Mac Dara, we cast anchor near the shore, and rowed in our ship's boat to the rocks, landing close to the Saint's Church, and the adjoining antiquities.
The island comprises about sixty acres, mostly bare; the rock a reddish granite, with a coast strewn with huge blocks; there is a little grass land towards the centre affording food for a few sheep. There are no inhabitants on the island, and very few of the people of the district visit it unless on the Saint's two festivals, while strangers scarcely ever do so. The church is situated on the edge of the east shore of the island, in a gentle hollow sloping to the south, and close to the natural landing place, over-looking a low reef of rock called Illaunnamorlagh.
(read more)
I believe that the structure was restored approx. in 1975.
What is truly amazing is that this mortarless structure is built of hand cut stone made to fit on a sliver of land surrounded by water with no cover from the wind and weather.
There is faith and there is faith.
It is an amazing story.
A report written by R.A.S. Macalister in 1895 for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
Arriving off Inis Mac Dara, we cast anchor near the shore, and rowed in our ship's boat to the rocks, landing close to the Saint's Church, and the adjoining antiquities.
The island comprises about sixty acres, mostly bare; the rock a reddish granite, with a coast strewn with huge blocks; there is a little grass land towards the centre affording food for a few sheep. There are no inhabitants on the island, and very few of the people of the district visit it unless on the Saint's two festivals, while strangers scarcely ever do so. The church is situated on the edge of the east shore of the island, in a gentle hollow sloping to the south, and close to the natural landing place, over-looking a low reef of rock called Illaunnamorlagh.
(read more)I believe that the structure was restored approx. in 1975.
What is truly amazing is that this mortarless structure is built of hand cut stone made to fit on a sliver of land surrounded by water with no cover from the wind and weather.
There is faith and there is faith.
It is an amazing story.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veterans Day 2009
Today, on Veterans Day, we honor all veterans. Those that have and are fighting. Those that support those warriors. Those that protect us here at home. Today, we honor all that wear the uniform.
If all of you have not heard it enough, we also support you each and everyday. We support you and your mission.
God be with you.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Dear President Clinton
Dear President Clinton,
I read with great interest the paean written about you today on the Politico 44 site. It's nice that you are so revered by so many, even our current President Obama who obviously adores you. You must be a real comfort to him, especially in these, his difficult times.
I do have question about your statement, "The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning." Is this a triangulation of your hopes, the truth and the media to get what you want? Man, it's great having your own hopes, truth and printing press!
It must be comforting that upwards of a million people protested the Democrat health care "reform" in Washington, DC and millions more around the nation are not only protesting, but are also driving the number of people supporting this unconstitutional power-grab by a liberal government lower and lower. Is that winning? If so, who moved the goal posts again?
You also stated, "The point I want to make is: Just pass the bill, even if it's not exactly what you want. When you try and fail, the other guys write history.”
Are the other guys the American public and if any bill is better than no bill, is that because whatever legislation passes, it can be changed in the middle of the night to get what Obama really wants, at a later date? Is this winning or just a cheap and sleazy way to undermine the will of the people? You do realize that the people do have a will and they're not nearly as stupid as you and Obama think they are, right? Being a moderate and all, I am sure you are aware of this, I think.
Anyway, great article, I trust you were able to get it written just the way you wanted it in one draft. Give my best to Hillary and whoever else you are seeing these days.
Regards,
The people
P.S. I am sure you are much more aware of what the term "tea bagger" means than most people, especially conservatives, so maybe next time you use the term to describe a very large section of the population, you'll also give a definition when you use it. People always appreciate knowing what people, even presidents, think of them. It helps build confidence not only in themselves, but your cause.
I read with great interest the paean written about you today on the Politico 44 site. It's nice that you are so revered by so many, even our current President Obama who obviously adores you. You must be a real comfort to him, especially in these, his difficult times.
I do have question about your statement, "The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning." Is this a triangulation of your hopes, the truth and the media to get what you want? Man, it's great having your own hopes, truth and printing press!
It must be comforting that upwards of a million people protested the Democrat health care "reform" in Washington, DC and millions more around the nation are not only protesting, but are also driving the number of people supporting this unconstitutional power-grab by a liberal government lower and lower. Is that winning? If so, who moved the goal posts again?
You also stated, "The point I want to make is: Just pass the bill, even if it's not exactly what you want. When you try and fail, the other guys write history.”
Are the other guys the American public and if any bill is better than no bill, is that because whatever legislation passes, it can be changed in the middle of the night to get what Obama really wants, at a later date? Is this winning or just a cheap and sleazy way to undermine the will of the people? You do realize that the people do have a will and they're not nearly as stupid as you and Obama think they are, right? Being a moderate and all, I am sure you are aware of this, I think.
Anyway, great article, I trust you were able to get it written just the way you wanted it in one draft. Give my best to Hillary and whoever else you are seeing these days.
Regards,
The people
P.S. I am sure you are much more aware of what the term "tea bagger" means than most people, especially conservatives, so maybe next time you use the term to describe a very large section of the population, you'll also give a definition when you use it. People always appreciate knowing what people, even presidents, think of them. It helps build confidence not only in themselves, but your cause.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Time To Tear Some Walls Down
Reminds me of our Tea Party movement, but their movement had leaders.
9th November, 1989 : East Germany opened its borders today, allowing its citizens to freely cross into the West for the first time since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. Some Germans used hammers to chip away at the Berlin Wall for keepsakes or in their own small way try to destroy the infamous symbol of East-West division.
Despite the rain, crowds gathered at the Bornholm Bridge, the first checkpoint in the Berlin Wall to open the night of November 9, 1989.
The Wall stood for nearly three decades, dividing the city and Germany into East and West. But in the end, protests and peaceful revolutions, such as in Poland, and changes in Moscow brought it down. That led to the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War.
People wishing to be free and out from under the control of governments. Yes, it does remind me of the Tea Party movement here in America. The cool part is, just like in communist East Europe and Russia, many here in America have scoffed at the "people's movement" and made fun of them. Coming back to bite them in the butt, eh?
Sunday, November 08, 2009
How Much Space Did Zack Sell Pelosi?
Little Zack Space decided to vote against the will of his constituents. Zack, instead, voted with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the very liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives. Good job Zack.
Zack is helping bankrupt each and every voter in his district. Estimated added costs to households for just two of the bills that Congress is considering is:
Cap and Trade cost per household $1,761
Health care "reform" by household $4,000
Ohio
YES -Steve Driehaus, Marcia Fudge, Marcy Kaptur, Mary Jo Kilroy, Tim Ryan, Zachary Space, Betty Sutton, Charles Wilson
NO - Steve Austria, John Boccieri, John Boehner, Jim Jordan, Dennis Kucinich, Steven LaTourette, Robert Latta, Jean Schmidt, Pat Tiberi, Michael Turner
It will be interesting to find out, if possible, what Zack's price was to vote for ObamasCare. It is rumored that just to house the bureaucrats to work on this travesty the federal government will have to lease an additional one million square feet of office space and that's just for starters.
So, the real question is how much Space is now owned by Pelosi. Space is getting too expensive whether by the square foot or the member.
Zack is helping bankrupt each and every voter in his district. Estimated added costs to households for just two of the bills that Congress is considering is:
Cap and Trade cost per household $1,761
Health care "reform" by household $4,000
Ohio
YES -Steve Driehaus, Marcia Fudge, Marcy Kaptur, Mary Jo Kilroy, Tim Ryan, Zachary Space, Betty Sutton, Charles Wilson
NO - Steve Austria, John Boccieri, John Boehner, Jim Jordan, Dennis Kucinich, Steven LaTourette, Robert Latta, Jean Schmidt, Pat Tiberi, Michael Turner
It will be interesting to find out, if possible, what Zack's price was to vote for ObamasCare. It is rumored that just to house the bureaucrats to work on this travesty the federal government will have to lease an additional one million square feet of office space and that's just for starters.
So, the real question is how much Space is now owned by Pelosi. Space is getting too expensive whether by the square foot or the member.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
How Will Zack Space Vote?
It's a Saturday, so Congress must be hard at work, right? The leadership and the administration worked all night to get votes for today's scheduled vote on health care "reform."
What will Zachary T. Space do? He's got himself in a bad way and everyone is mad at him. Nobody to play with and everyone telling him what to do has Zachary all upset.
Will Zack succumb to the sweet whispering lies of Mother Pelosi, the threats to break his arm from Rahm Emanuel or will he show courage and vote as his constituents want him to. Depends who can hurt him more or reward him more.
We do know that Zack voted for a Democrat health care "reform" bill in committee.
We also have reports that Zack got a tad testy, even rude, with some constituents last week when they visited his office to state their opposition to the Democrat plan. Hey, at least he finally stopped hiding from his voters and met with a few of them. Maybe he couldn't schedule another $1,000 a plate luncheon fundraiser, in Cleveland, with Jabberin' Joe Biden.
What Will Little Zack Do?
Will Mommy Pelosi's sweet whispers, Rahm's punishment or the will of the people win out?
Only little Zack knows, er, well maybe. He might be still "getting there."
Poor Zach.
What will Zachary T. Space do? He's got himself in a bad way and everyone is mad at him. Nobody to play with and everyone telling him what to do has Zachary all upset.
Will Zack succumb to the sweet whispering lies of Mother Pelosi, the threats to break his arm from Rahm Emanuel or will he show courage and vote as his constituents want him to. Depends who can hurt him more or reward him more.
We do know that Zack voted for a Democrat health care "reform" bill in committee.
We also have reports that Zack got a tad testy, even rude, with some constituents last week when they visited his office to state their opposition to the Democrat plan. Hey, at least he finally stopped hiding from his voters and met with a few of them. Maybe he couldn't schedule another $1,000 a plate luncheon fundraiser, in Cleveland, with Jabberin' Joe Biden.
What Will Little Zack Do?
Will Mommy Pelosi's sweet whispers, Rahm's punishment or the will of the people win out?
Only little Zack knows, er, well maybe. He might be still "getting there."
Poor Zach.
Friday, November 06, 2009
PelosObama Care Or Jail
I still think this is unconstitutional, but that doesn't seem to matter.
Committee Confirms: Comply With Pelosi-Care Or Go To Jail
Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
Progressive politics, as witnessed through the payoffs to union with stolen companies and health care "reform" is wrong, probably unconstitutional and it's going to get uglier before it gets better.
I bet Pelosi can justify this travesty by saying something like, "At least they'll have health care in prision." She is that stupid.
Committee Confirms: Comply With Pelosi-Care Or Go To Jail
Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
Progressive politics, as witnessed through the payoffs to union with stolen companies and health care "reform" is wrong, probably unconstitutional and it's going to get uglier before it gets better.
I bet Pelosi can justify this travesty by saying something like, "At least they'll have health care in prision." She is that stupid.
Friday FUGLY: Why?
Heliotrop®
The rotating solar house Heliotrop® is based on the idea of erecting a building that comes up to the highest standards of architecture and environmental protection while at the same time offering its inhabitants exclusive living comfort without any annoying limitations.
The rotating solar house Heliotrop® is based on the idea of erecting a building that comes up to the highest standards of architecture and environmental protection while at the same time offering its inhabitants exclusive living comfort without any annoying limitations.
The Heliotrop® is not only a residential and office building of an exceptional architecture, above all, it stands for a concept whose procedure aims at preserving the natural resources in every way. For the very first time, the forward-looking standard of the Plusenergiehaus® has been arranged to achieve a unique experience of living.
"annoying limitations"? Well. at least annoying.
Zack Space Ignores Constituents To Represent CA-8
At a time when unemployment has reached 10.2% Zack Space wants Cap and Trade, the worst tax on every home in America and Space is also "getting there" to support the Democrat health care reform bill which is not only a power grab by Congress, but yet another huge tax on every American. Taxes kill jobs, but that doesn't bother Rep. Zack Space.
House Democrats Seek Allies for Health Care Vote
“They are trying to get you any way they can,” said Mr. Altmire, who also met for an hour on Thursday with conservative constituents who traveled to Washington to take part in the rally. “I am doing the best I can against competing interests.”
Others were also coming on board.
“I’m getting there,” said Representative Zack Space, an Ohio Democrat who won a Republican seat in the Democratic takeover of the House in 2006.
Zack Space got elected, not because he represents the values of his district, but because the Republican who held the seat before him forgot those values. Now his district, OH-18, is suffering and will suffer even more because of his allegiance to those who couldn't give a damn about Ohio or her people.
He represents, not Ohio, but the values of those who own multiple million dollar mansions on each coast, swanky vineyards who employ nonunion workers and believe Ohioans are the little people who should just shut up about what is good for them.
Zack Spaces new constituents favor federal funding of abortion, allowing illegal immigrants to do whatever they want, legalizing marijuana, loved handing over auto companies to unions as payloa for supporting Obama, are against balanced budgets, they refuse to allow drilling for oil here, love gay marriage and opposes all welfare reform. Oh, they also want socialized medicine, just like Zack Space.
Zack Space's new district is CA-8. It is unclear whether he will be staying in a guest room or the servant's quarters, but at least he won't have to be subjected to the health care reform that he is "getting there" on. He's a privileged member of Congress which has their own smorgasbord of preferential treatment and health plans.
Let CA-8 have him, they deserve him. OH-18 doesn't, but then, to Zack Space, now we have become just "fly-over" country and thus we should just shut up and do what we're told. By a California liberal.
UPDATE: Wow, Gordon Gekko at Taxman Blog has a good point. If true, which it may be, these guys are lower than pond scum and twice as smelly.
House Democrats Seek Allies for Health Care Vote
“They are trying to get you any way they can,” said Mr. Altmire, who also met for an hour on Thursday with conservative constituents who traveled to Washington to take part in the rally. “I am doing the best I can against competing interests.”
Others were also coming on board.
“I’m getting there,” said Representative Zack Space, an Ohio Democrat who won a Republican seat in the Democratic takeover of the House in 2006.
Zack Space got elected, not because he represents the values of his district, but because the Republican who held the seat before him forgot those values. Now his district, OH-18, is suffering and will suffer even more because of his allegiance to those who couldn't give a damn about Ohio or her people.
He represents, not Ohio, but the values of those who own multiple million dollar mansions on each coast, swanky vineyards who employ nonunion workers and believe Ohioans are the little people who should just shut up about what is good for them.
Zack Spaces new constituents favor federal funding of abortion, allowing illegal immigrants to do whatever they want, legalizing marijuana, loved handing over auto companies to unions as payloa for supporting Obama, are against balanced budgets, they refuse to allow drilling for oil here, love gay marriage and opposes all welfare reform. Oh, they also want socialized medicine, just like Zack Space.
Zack Space's new district is CA-8. It is unclear whether he will be staying in a guest room or the servant's quarters, but at least he won't have to be subjected to the health care reform that he is "getting there" on. He's a privileged member of Congress which has their own smorgasbord of preferential treatment and health plans.
Let CA-8 have him, they deserve him. OH-18 doesn't, but then, to Zack Space, now we have become just "fly-over" country and thus we should just shut up and do what we're told. By a California liberal.
UPDATE: Wow, Gordon Gekko at Taxman Blog has a good point. If true, which it may be, these guys are lower than pond scum and twice as smelly.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Recent Islam Convert Psychiatrist Army Officials In Ft Hood Murders
If true, all the information has yet to be confirmed, this news will cause rejoicing throughout the Middle East. That there are those here in America that still do not believe radical Islam, Islamofascism, is not a real danger is amazingly naive.
UPDATE: 12 dead in 2 attacks at Fort Hood
UPDATE at 5:09 p.m.: Officials say a shooting suspect at Fort Hood has been identified as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, who they say was an Army mental health professional, The Associated Press reported.
A law enforcement official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity says Hasan was a mental health professional - an Army psychologist or psychiatrist, The Associated Press reported.
It was not known whether he was treating people at the base.
Officials says it was not clear what Hasan's religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to the Islamic faith at some point, The Associated Press reported.
UPDATE at 4:53 p.m.: The Associated Press has confirmed what ABC first reported: the suspected shooter who has been killed is U.S. Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. He is said to be a convert to Islam.
This is a tragedy. It is a tragedy that will be witnessed more if we do not show once again a firm resolve to defeat Islamofascism everywhere including here in America. That large sections of the poor and prison inmates are being converted is worrisome enough, but that there are those in positions of influence who may be sympathetic or, worse yet, allied with terrorists, is even more worrisome.
Time to stop dithering and get serious.
UPDATE: A Col Lee who says that he worked with Major Hasan is on the news (FOX) saying that Hasan openly said that Muslims should rise up against America and American soldiers.
He is also wondering aloud why Hasan was transferred from Walter Reed to Fort Hood.
UPDATE: 12 dead in 2 attacks at Fort Hood
UPDATE at 5:09 p.m.: Officials say a shooting suspect at Fort Hood has been identified as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, who they say was an Army mental health professional, The Associated Press reported.
A law enforcement official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity says Hasan was a mental health professional - an Army psychologist or psychiatrist, The Associated Press reported.
It was not known whether he was treating people at the base.
Officials says it was not clear what Hasan's religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to the Islamic faith at some point, The Associated Press reported.
UPDATE at 4:53 p.m.: The Associated Press has confirmed what ABC first reported: the suspected shooter who has been killed is U.S. Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. He is said to be a convert to Islam.
This is a tragedy. It is a tragedy that will be witnessed more if we do not show once again a firm resolve to defeat Islamofascism everywhere including here in America. That large sections of the poor and prison inmates are being converted is worrisome enough, but that there are those in positions of influence who may be sympathetic or, worse yet, allied with terrorists, is even more worrisome.
Time to stop dithering and get serious.
UPDATE: A Col Lee who says that he worked with Major Hasan is on the news (FOX) saying that Hasan openly said that Muslims should rise up against America and American soldiers.
He is also wondering aloud why Hasan was transferred from Walter Reed to Fort Hood.
Barbara The Bully Boxer Passes Huge Tax Increase In Committee
Barbara Boxer, using loopholes that allowed her to completely ignore Republican committee members on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has gotten passed a global warming bill that hasn't a snow ball's chance in Hell of passing a vote of the Senate. Max Baucus voted against Boxer which will probably get him placed on the WH Hate List.
Senate Panel Approves Climate Change Bill Despite GOP Boycott
Boxer, never seen as a bright bulb, has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars to pass a committee bill that Republicans boycotted because it is so horrible and a Senate that doesn't want it to see the light of day.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who was prepared to push a host of changes, said she was “voting to bring this bill out of committee (anyway) because we need a signal to the world that America wants to be a leader” in combating global warming.
How about America being, not signaling, the world leader in business and freedom? Our dollar has been sabotaged by his administration and this new cap and trade tax, the largest ever, will sink us further.
What is the Democrat Party's real objective in destroying our economy?
Senate Panel Approves Climate Change Bill Despite GOP Boycott
Boxer, never seen as a bright bulb, has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars to pass a committee bill that Republicans boycotted because it is so horrible and a Senate that doesn't want it to see the light of day.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who was prepared to push a host of changes, said she was “voting to bring this bill out of committee (anyway) because we need a signal to the world that America wants to be a leader” in combating global warming.
How about America being, not signaling, the world leader in business and freedom? Our dollar has been sabotaged by his administration and this new cap and trade tax, the largest ever, will sink us further.
What is the Democrat Party's real objective in destroying our economy?
AARP Screws Grandma Again
In an effort to line their own pocket AARP, supposedly a nonpartisan and non-profit organization, is going to endorse Obama Care. The only windfall bigger for AARP and its immense insurance concern, would be if Obama and Pelosi offered up a Stimulus II that included billions for travel discounts and trinkets for AARP's members.
AARP, Key Retirees' Lobby, To Endorse Democrats' Health Bill
Approximately half of the over 50 crowd in America belong to AARP. Supposedly, according to AARP, their membership is evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and Independents, which sounds preposterous when looking at the senior vote history.
The Democrats have lobbied AARP hard, which means AARP got some hefty behind-door promises, in hopes of turning the tide in favor of the sinking ship known as health care reform.
I have never belonged to AARP and will not join in the future because the leadership of AARP has politicized the group to increase their profits and salaries while screwing its membership.
AARP, Key Retirees' Lobby, To Endorse Democrats' Health Bill
Approximately half of the over 50 crowd in America belong to AARP. Supposedly, according to AARP, their membership is evenly divided among Democrats, Republicans and Independents, which sounds preposterous when looking at the senior vote history.
The Democrats have lobbied AARP hard, which means AARP got some hefty behind-door promises, in hopes of turning the tide in favor of the sinking ship known as health care reform.
I have never belonged to AARP and will not join in the future because the leadership of AARP has politicized the group to increase their profits and salaries while screwing its membership.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Bokar Fort, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Dubrovnik City walls
The city of Dubrovnik is completely surrounded with walls and forts, including the Old Port. The history of the fortifications goes back to the early Middle Ages. No doubt the earliest urban settlement upon the islet of Laus was protected with walls. The fact that the city was able to resist the Saracens who besieged the city for 15months in the 9th century means that it was fortified well. The city first spread towards the uninhabited eastern part of the islet. The eastern section was included within the defence walls in the 9th and 10th century. When the sea channel separating the city from mainland was filled with earth in 11th century, the city merged with the settlement on land and soon a single wall was built around the area of the present-day city core. The whole city was enclosed in the 13th century, except for the Dominican monastery, which came under their protection not before the 14th century. The average thickness of the wall was 1.5 meters, and it was built of stone and lime. To increase the strength of the walls and ensure better defence, 15 square forts were built in the 14th century.
UPDATE: Many emails have asked whether I have visited Croatia. During my really active traveling for work days I was banned from entering most countries behind the Iron Curtain. Now that the iron veil of communism has been lifted I plan to visit Croatia and other countries in the area. My wife's family is from just across the Adriatic in the Abruzzi region of Italy, so, I hope to see this beautiful area soon. Friends have said that the people are as amazing as the country.
Election 2009 - Not A Good Day For Republicans Or Democrats
Yes, Republicans won in NJ and VA. Any day that signals the departure of a , albeit rich, dilettante who dabbles in areas in which only his thinking is less than his understanding is a good day. NJ is better for it.
Hoffman of NY-23 lost. Though not a Republican, he should have won and I need to study the results to understand why he did not. I will start by looking at the polls and speaking with pollsters in the area. They have some 'splainin to do. Ditto California 10.
So far a wash.
Here in Ohio, a quick look at local and statewide issues is very disheartening. Spend, spend, spend and more government everywhere. This is not good.
At a time which suggests that the Obama Administration is and will continue spending generations of money in mere months, more spending at the local level being approved by voters is curious. Local levies and other pure spending inputs and increases appear to have been approved all over the state. Why? Maybe locals feel that they better get some money in the pipeline now before what's left disappears, but where was the logical thinking that should have clearly stated, through the vote, that we already have too much spending by governments large and small? Again, more study at the local level and looking for regional and state patterns is needed.
Statewide, the 2009 election appeared to be a result in some welfare state instead of Ohio. Casinos? Who in Hell needs casinos? They are not a panacea, not even part of a solution, they are a societal cancer and the vote yesterday is an indicator that Ohio is sicker than previously thought.
Concerning Issue 2 I found the chatter from conservatives and liberals interesting. Is Issue 2 just another layer of unneeded government or a corporate conspiracy to wring more profit out of the local coven of comrades? Either way, voters heard "safer food" and saw signs supporting the issue in farmland where the here-to-fore trusted population of farmers ply their trade and voted for Issue 2.
All of this is more sobering when viewed through the progressive lens of Washington's current promise of a chicken in every pot and a Caddy in every garage. Terrifying, when viewed through the unruly and unfocused lens of a state governor and other state leaders flailing about like chickens with their heads cut off. Strickland and his cohorts, when faced with the realities of our economy, react with a misfeasance that is, at least to the logical, bordering on criminal.
I do not feel these results bode well for Republicans. Sure, a message was sent and moderate Democrats will heed that message in the upcoming votes on health reform and other pie in the sky claptrap that Pelosi, Reid and Obama will put up. These moderate moderate Democrats will heed that message until they are bribed the right amount of government largess for their district or until their political arms are twisted out of their sockets.
Yesterday exhibited pockets of resistance to be nutured and grown, but it also signaled a voting public so enured to the public teet that it signals more insanity that will accept an ever growing government in size and power, a savior in the chimera of an FDR, which, in the end, will bring us all down.
Not a good day for Republicans or Democrats. It was an even worse day for taxpayers who are going to have to pay for all of this waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. In all, we voted for a Potemkin village when we can't even pay for the paint to hide the cracks in its crumbling facade.
Hoffman of NY-23 lost. Though not a Republican, he should have won and I need to study the results to understand why he did not. I will start by looking at the polls and speaking with pollsters in the area. They have some 'splainin to do. Ditto California 10.
So far a wash.
Here in Ohio, a quick look at local and statewide issues is very disheartening. Spend, spend, spend and more government everywhere. This is not good.
At a time which suggests that the Obama Administration is and will continue spending generations of money in mere months, more spending at the local level being approved by voters is curious. Local levies and other pure spending inputs and increases appear to have been approved all over the state. Why? Maybe locals feel that they better get some money in the pipeline now before what's left disappears, but where was the logical thinking that should have clearly stated, through the vote, that we already have too much spending by governments large and small? Again, more study at the local level and looking for regional and state patterns is needed.
Statewide, the 2009 election appeared to be a result in some welfare state instead of Ohio. Casinos? Who in Hell needs casinos? They are not a panacea, not even part of a solution, they are a societal cancer and the vote yesterday is an indicator that Ohio is sicker than previously thought.
Concerning Issue 2 I found the chatter from conservatives and liberals interesting. Is Issue 2 just another layer of unneeded government or a corporate conspiracy to wring more profit out of the local coven of comrades? Either way, voters heard "safer food" and saw signs supporting the issue in farmland where the here-to-fore trusted population of farmers ply their trade and voted for Issue 2.
All of this is more sobering when viewed through the progressive lens of Washington's current promise of a chicken in every pot and a Caddy in every garage. Terrifying, when viewed through the unruly and unfocused lens of a state governor and other state leaders flailing about like chickens with their heads cut off. Strickland and his cohorts, when faced with the realities of our economy, react with a misfeasance that is, at least to the logical, bordering on criminal.
I do not feel these results bode well for Republicans. Sure, a message was sent and moderate Democrats will heed that message in the upcoming votes on health reform and other pie in the sky claptrap that Pelosi, Reid and Obama will put up. These moderate moderate Democrats will heed that message until they are bribed the right amount of government largess for their district or until their political arms are twisted out of their sockets.
Yesterday exhibited pockets of resistance to be nutured and grown, but it also signaled a voting public so enured to the public teet that it signals more insanity that will accept an ever growing government in size and power, a savior in the chimera of an FDR, which, in the end, will bring us all down.
Not a good day for Republicans or Democrats. It was an even worse day for taxpayers who are going to have to pay for all of this waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. In all, we voted for a Potemkin village when we can't even pay for the paint to hide the cracks in its crumbling facade.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Government Help Through Urban Renewal
I have seen Urban Renewal and its results, which were/are terrible. Its blight can still be viewed in cities all across America.Urban renewal is a typical big government answer to what it perceives as a problem. The cure only makes things worse.
These photographs are of Boston's West End .
The building in the lower right in the top picture, under the Lipton's Tea sign, can also be seen in the lower right in the picture below.
Boston should sue as well as all the other cities, larger and smaller, for what big government did to them.
Corzine Propping Up Daggett To Split 'R' Vote
Corzine has Obama, in-state unions and liberal groups as well as ACORN and related groups as well as associate groups from out of state pouring into New Jersey to prop up his fading candidacy.
Now Corzine and New Jersey's Democrat Party has enlisted, abetted and financially helped "Independent" Chris Daggett for a Corzine win.
Democrats admit paying for pro-Daggett call
Joe Cryan, Democrat State Chairman for New Jersey, stated when asked if the Democrats had anything to do with the calls:
"No. Zero. Nada. No," he said.
The press decided that Cryan must be telling the truth say that the calls source was in doubt:
NJ Republicans, Democrats dispute source of automated calls for independent ...
I guess we can add the media to the long list of in state and out of state liberal groups working for Corzine.
And then there is the outright voter fraud:
Will 'ACORN" Steal The Seat For Corzine?
If Corzine pulls this out, we know how he is trying, it will be trumpeted as an Obama victory since Obama has basically moved to New Jersey of late.
Now Corzine and New Jersey's Democrat Party has enlisted, abetted and financially helped "Independent" Chris Daggett for a Corzine win.
Democrats admit paying for pro-Daggett call
Joe Cryan, Democrat State Chairman for New Jersey, stated when asked if the Democrats had anything to do with the calls:
"No. Zero. Nada. No," he said.
The press decided that Cryan must be telling the truth say that the calls source was in doubt:
NJ Republicans, Democrats dispute source of automated calls for independent ...
I guess we can add the media to the long list of in state and out of state liberal groups working for Corzine.
And then there is the outright voter fraud:
Will 'ACORN" Steal The Seat For Corzine?
If Corzine pulls this out, we know how he is trying, it will be trumpeted as an Obama victory since Obama has basically moved to New Jersey of late.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Will 'ACORN" Steal The Seat For Corzine?
It is way too weird that the Chicago Mob is working over time in New Jersey to form a "Corruption for Corzine" committee. They have brought in fellow mob members from Pennsylvania and New York. Everybody knows they are there and why they are there.
Chris Christie's Next Case: Who Stole My Election?
Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey's gubernatorial election.
The New Jersey Democratic Party is pressuring county officials not to scrutinize mismatching signatures on any absentee ballot. Indeed, Democratic Party lawyer Paul Josephson wrote New Jersey's secretary of state asking for a ruling that would not allow county officials to throw out ballots with signatures that do not match because county clerks "may be overworked and are likely not trained in handwriting analysis." I presume that if Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn cast ballots where the signatures match that those ballots are valid in Democrat's eyes. That is, if they voted for Corzine.
Part of the whole "sanctity of the ballot" issue is that the New Jersey state government, under Corzine, and the federal government, under Obama, will guarantee the legality of the process.
No problem there, eh?
Chris Christie's Next Case: Who Stole My Election?
Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey's gubernatorial election.
The New Jersey Democratic Party is pressuring county officials not to scrutinize mismatching signatures on any absentee ballot. Indeed, Democratic Party lawyer Paul Josephson wrote New Jersey's secretary of state asking for a ruling that would not allow county officials to throw out ballots with signatures that do not match because county clerks "may be overworked and are likely not trained in handwriting analysis." I presume that if Daffy Duck and Foghorn Leghorn cast ballots where the signatures match that those ballots are valid in Democrat's eyes. That is, if they voted for Corzine.
Part of the whole "sanctity of the ballot" issue is that the New Jersey state government, under Corzine, and the federal government, under Obama, will guarantee the legality of the process.
No problem there, eh?
Sunday, November 01, 2009
NY-23 - Scozzafava Is One Bad Cup Of Scuzzy Java
Either she lied all along and is a Democrat or Scozzafava is a bitter hypocrite who should never again be in a position of power. Either way she made a fool of Newt Gingrich and the National Republican Congressional Committee who placed trust in her character and ethics if not her political positions.
GOP ex-candidate endorses Democrat in NY race
I hope she has energized the Republican base to come out in droves and crush the Democrat and any hope she may have of ever returning to politics.
People hate Benedict Arnolds and once labeled a turncoat never to be trusted, always a turncoat never to be trusted again. Of course, this wouldn't disallow her from officially joining the Democrat Party.
Goodbye Dede. Don't let the door hit you in the butt.
GOP ex-candidate endorses Democrat in NY race
I hope she has energized the Republican base to come out in droves and crush the Democrat and any hope she may have of ever returning to politics.
People hate Benedict Arnolds and once labeled a turncoat never to be trusted, always a turncoat never to be trusted again. Of course, this wouldn't disallow her from officially joining the Democrat Party.
Goodbye Dede. Don't let the door hit you in the butt.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Ohio Issues 1, 2 And 3
1 - soldiers, even those in support positions which are kinda really necessary for the people on the battlefield, have always been there for us. It is wrong for us not to be there for them. Vote YES.
2 - Fight a fear with more government bureaucracy? Permanent board, no accountability and more government is a really bad idea. Vote NO.
3 - Casino gambling in Ohio is a bad idea. Corruption, crime, family breakup, etc are all indicators that it should fail, but casino gambling won't help Ohio in the long run and 34,000 thousand added jobs won't make a dent in the Strickland (with Bob Taft's help) job exodus program currently in place. Vote NO.
2 - Fight a fear with more government bureaucracy? Permanent board, no accountability and more government is a really bad idea. Vote NO.
3 - Casino gambling in Ohio is a bad idea. Corruption, crime, family breakup, etc are all indicators that it should fail, but casino gambling won't help Ohio in the long run and 34,000 thousand added jobs won't make a dent in the Strickland (with Bob Taft's help) job exodus program currently in place. Vote NO.
Pelosi-Obama Care Will Deny More Claims
There is plenty of discussion about what insurance companies have done to claimants and most of that discussion is just scare tactics. On the other hand we have lots of discussion about how fair and good Medicare, government health care, is which is just hot air.
Medicare: Largest Denier Of Health Care Claims
Also, the monstrous insurance company CEOs, they're the ones that deny cute kids while sipping Martinis, and their companies really aren't as rich as their detractors make them out to be.
Now, mix in all the waste, fraud and abuse with the outright corruption and a government run health care system is a nightmare, especially since this fight isn't about helping sick people, it's about government power placed in the hands of a few.
Medicare: Largest Denier Of Health Care Claims
Also, the monstrous insurance company CEOs, they're the ones that deny cute kids while sipping Martinis, and their companies really aren't as rich as their detractors make them out to be.
Now, mix in all the waste, fraud and abuse with the outright corruption and a government run health care system is a nightmare, especially since this fight isn't about helping sick people, it's about government power placed in the hands of a few.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Ancient Stone Work
Karnak (click to enlarge)
An old photo of the huge hall of columns at Karnak, before restoration.The scale here is astounding - that is a man down there at the bottom.
Government Health Care As Brer Rabbit
Brer Rabbit's eyes got very large. "Oh please Brer Fox, whatever you do, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you," mused Brer Fox. "No, that's too much trouble. Maybe I'll hang you instead."
"Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"If I'm going to hang you, I'll need some string," said Brer Fox. "And I don't have any string handy. But the stream's not far away, so maybe I'll drown you instead."
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"The briar patch, eh?" said Brer Fox. "What a wonderful idea! You'll be torn into little pieces!"
From Rich Galen's Mullings:
According to Janet Adamy's coverage in the Wall Street Journal,
The bill requires most Americans to have health insurance by 2013, with fines as much as 2.5% of income if they don't. It would leave 96% of legal U.S. residents with health insurance by 2019, up from 83% today.
Also
Employers that don't offer health insurance face fines equal to 2% of their payroll in companies with minimum annual payrolls of $500,000 a year. The fines increase to 8% of payroll for employers whose annual payroll exceeds $750,000.
Firms with a payroll of less than $500,000 would be exempt.
I'm not certain, but let me work though this. If I had a firm with 20 employees making an average of $50,000 per year each, my payroll would be $1 million per year. If I were offering health insurance, my premiums would be, what about $400-500 per month per employee?
If I stopped offering health insurance, my one million dollar payroll would be subject to a tax of $80,000 per year - or $333.33 per month per employee which is probably less than what I'm paying now.
I might well be ahead of the game to turn the process over to the Feds, pay the tax, and get out of the health insurance business.
So, Mr Obama has promised that companies and individuals can keep the health insurance coverage they like. And, as people and employers heat up and say if this crap passes we'll throw you out of office, Obama and gang protests that they won't raise taxes nor force anyone to do that which they do not wish to do!
And when the people say that the Constitution doesn't give them the right or the power to do this?
The socialized medical gang pleads back that this isn't socialized medicine because we're not going to do any such thing as have a government takeover on medicine AND if it happens because private carriers can't compete with the government and everyone has to go with government socialized medical care, the whole gang will cry;
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
Right now, we appear dumber than Brer Fox as the caring little bunnies on the left smile like the Chesire Cat.
But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
"Maybe I should roast you over a fire and eat you," mused Brer Fox. "No, that's too much trouble. Maybe I'll hang you instead."
"Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"If I'm going to hang you, I'll need some string," said Brer Fox. "And I don't have any string handy. But the stream's not far away, so maybe I'll drown you instead."
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
"The briar patch, eh?" said Brer Fox. "What a wonderful idea! You'll be torn into little pieces!"
From Rich Galen's Mullings:
According to Janet Adamy's coverage in the Wall Street Journal,
The bill requires most Americans to have health insurance by 2013, with fines as much as 2.5% of income if they don't. It would leave 96% of legal U.S. residents with health insurance by 2019, up from 83% today.
Also
Employers that don't offer health insurance face fines equal to 2% of their payroll in companies with minimum annual payrolls of $500,000 a year. The fines increase to 8% of payroll for employers whose annual payroll exceeds $750,000.
Firms with a payroll of less than $500,000 would be exempt.
I'm not certain, but let me work though this. If I had a firm with 20 employees making an average of $50,000 per year each, my payroll would be $1 million per year. If I were offering health insurance, my premiums would be, what about $400-500 per month per employee?
If I stopped offering health insurance, my one million dollar payroll would be subject to a tax of $80,000 per year - or $333.33 per month per employee which is probably less than what I'm paying now.
I might well be ahead of the game to turn the process over to the Feds, pay the tax, and get out of the health insurance business.
So, Mr Obama has promised that companies and individuals can keep the health insurance coverage they like. And, as people and employers heat up and say if this crap passes we'll throw you out of office, Obama and gang protests that they won't raise taxes nor force anyone to do that which they do not wish to do!
And when the people say that the Constitution doesn't give them the right or the power to do this?
The socialized medical gang pleads back that this isn't socialized medicine because we're not going to do any such thing as have a government takeover on medicine AND if it happens because private carriers can't compete with the government and everyone has to go with government socialized medical care, the whole gang will cry;
"Drown me! Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit. "Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
Right now, we appear dumber than Brer Fox as the caring little bunnies on the left smile like the Chesire Cat.
But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Obama Campaign/DNC Loves Desecrated Flag
In a move so unsurprising it should spawn a yawn:
According to the Organizing for American Web site, the 20 finalists in the “Health Reform Video Challenge” were chosen by a panel of “qualified” Democratic National Committee “employee judges.”
This should win over some people, but the question is, which people and why would any group want them?
According to the Organizing for American Web site, the 20 finalists in the “Health Reform Video Challenge” were chosen by a panel of “qualified” Democratic National Committee “employee judges.”
This should win over some people, but the question is, which people and why would any group want them?
Obama, Instead of McChsrystal Light, Why Not McChrystal Heavy?
When someone comes to me and asks for a specific number of workers, my first question is why that number? I may continue with something along the lines of, is that number stated because you think I'll say fewer? Then I'd ask why not fifty percent more?
'McChrystal Light': Obama considering scaled-down war plan...
In the military it is not just dollars and cents (have we started using the Yen yet?), it is about success and lives. By going light, Obama is sending a clear message to our enemy and that enemy knows that now is the time to step up their attacks and cowardly terror acts used purposely to kill civilians. 'McChrystal Light' will kill more of our troops and fewer of the terrorists. It will win over fewer tribal leaders. They understand the basics of war which each day shows Obama and team have not a clue about. A potential tribal leader ally doesn't read polls. Obama and team do.
Obama should have asked General McChrytal about sending 60,000 troops. He should have asked if 20,000 troops over McChrystals request would make a major difference in terms of success of the over all mission.
McChrystal Light is a sissy's way out which will embolden our enemy in Afghanistan to be bigger neighborhood bullies to terrorize the tribes into believing that America is, once again, a sissy. No, not our troops, not our military leaders, but those in the White House sipping their cocktails, playing generals, politicos and poll parsing sissies.
I'd send a message to our troops, our citizens and our enemy with 60,000 soldiers. That would support the former two and crush the latter in deed and in spirit.
'McChrystal Light': Obama considering scaled-down war plan...
In the military it is not just dollars and cents (have we started using the Yen yet?), it is about success and lives. By going light, Obama is sending a clear message to our enemy and that enemy knows that now is the time to step up their attacks and cowardly terror acts used purposely to kill civilians. 'McChrystal Light' will kill more of our troops and fewer of the terrorists. It will win over fewer tribal leaders. They understand the basics of war which each day shows Obama and team have not a clue about. A potential tribal leader ally doesn't read polls. Obama and team do.
Obama should have asked General McChrytal about sending 60,000 troops. He should have asked if 20,000 troops over McChrystals request would make a major difference in terms of success of the over all mission.
McChrystal Light is a sissy's way out which will embolden our enemy in Afghanistan to be bigger neighborhood bullies to terrorize the tribes into believing that America is, once again, a sissy. No, not our troops, not our military leaders, but those in the White House sipping their cocktails, playing generals, politicos and poll parsing sissies.
I'd send a message to our troops, our citizens and our enemy with 60,000 soldiers. That would support the former two and crush the latter in deed and in spirit.
Excellent Advice On NY-23
I have long countered that 3rd parties are destructive to Republicans and dilute the power of the people. NY-23 is an example of the antithesis in that locals are sending a clear message that machine politics is wrong for Republicans.
Newt Gingrich has become embroiled in the hopes of retaining a unified Republican showing at the polls, which is laudable, but is also interference in local politics, which is not laudable.
Instapundit has some excellent advice which to me cuts the Gordian knot of this conundrum:
To my mind, it’s more important — that people not divide into permanently warring camps than that anything in particular happen in this election. The nice thing about NY-23 is that it’s an opportunity to send a message at low cost, but the cost won’t be low if it produces long-running enmity. Instead, it should be a spur for people to get involved in politics at the state and local level now, rather than complaining about the nominees later.
A Republican Party filled with activists that work together and ignore the petty politics of "my way is the only true way" will lead us back out of the nightmare that is Washington, DC today.
Newt Gingrich has become embroiled in the hopes of retaining a unified Republican showing at the polls, which is laudable, but is also interference in local politics, which is not laudable.
Instapundit has some excellent advice which to me cuts the Gordian knot of this conundrum:
To my mind, it’s more important — that people not divide into permanently warring camps than that anything in particular happen in this election. The nice thing about NY-23 is that it’s an opportunity to send a message at low cost, but the cost won’t be low if it produces long-running enmity. Instead, it should be a spur for people to get involved in politics at the state and local level now, rather than complaining about the nominees later.
A Republican Party filled with activists that work together and ignore the petty politics of "my way is the only true way" will lead us back out of the nightmare that is Washington, DC today.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Obama's Afghanistan Links
"By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe," Obama said in his speech here, which continued a theme he has outlined before: Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the centerpiece of the war on terrorism.Politico reports:
Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.
Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.
The Religion Of Peace
Remember, we must have a sharp focus on the most important war in Afghanistan. Iraq and other places were a waste, because all the terrorists and Sammy bin Laden are in Afghanistan.
28th October, 2001 : Islamic extremist gunmen burst into a church in eastern Pakistan killing 18 people including children who were at prayer.
If only those peskyterrorists criminals would just recognize borders. Have they no sense of place?
28th October, 2001 : Islamic extremist gunmen burst into a church in eastern Pakistan killing 18 people including children who were at prayer.
If only those pesky
Obama's DC Most Ethical Swamp EVAH!
Might be that Pelosi is running the drainage pumps in the wrong direction.
Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks
"The argument is not that I'm pristine, because I'm swimming in the same muddy water," Mr. Obama said during a campaign appearance. "The argument is that I know it's muddy, and I want to clean it up."
Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks
"The argument is not that I'm pristine, because I'm swimming in the same muddy water," Mr. Obama said during a campaign appearance. "The argument is that I know it's muddy, and I want to clean it up."
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
An Unmaking Of The American Quilt Party In Obama's WH
If Obama is the host, Rahm Emanuel and David Axlerod must be the hostesses to the Busy Bee Committee unquilting, piece by piece, the American Quilt that is America. The group is made up of not just celebrities, such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but also luminaries of the socialist world view like Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Henry Waxman, interim White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and a ever growing number of American czars. All hellbent on tearing America apart to be reshaped into their vision of what America should be. A nanny state that covers a iron fist with a velveteen glove of concern.
Square by square, the quilt is looked at by this group through a lens that views those who have built America as unAmerican. A view that America has basic faults that once exposed will be corrected by government intervention, guiding America back to what made it great, which to them is government control from cradle to grave. Never mind that this is the precise formula that our founding fathers abhorred and put their lives and fortunes on the block to fight and defeat to form a new country where king and government were cast aside for the creative force of economic and personal freedom.
Cap and Trade and health care reform have become the vanguard of this effort to fundamentally dumb down America.
Cap and Trade represents a huge tax on an elusive target that is much debated and rejected by the same taxpayers who don't want to pay for it. Health care is being reformed for a public that doesn't want the reform, especially in the way that the unquilting party is promising.
Cap and Trade and health care reform are just the tip of what Obama has not already done and what he wants to do, thus speed becomes Paramount. Paramont because his view is losing support quickly and each day brings more questions such as, has anyone even read what is in these plans and how will these things be paid for. That debt and dominance will be our future is becoming a very real fear to voters and that could be what brings down the Obama Administration. The administrations' fear of the voters is driving the frenetic pace with which the administration whips its people to offer more proof of the need for government intervention into the everyday lives of Americans.
That government intervention is a necessity can be witnessed by the faits accomplis, global warming, bank takeovers, driving insurance companies out of business, the taking of auto corporations and stimulus packages that stimulate nothing. The ying and yang of the need for a national police force and the wonder of a national youth service are extensions of the policies already enacted.
This American dream envisioned by Obama and his hard core leftist followers is a new quilt made of swaths of promises of a bigger pieces of the pie, more pay, less work and no responsibility. It is a quilt that will leave us unwarm on the cold night before reality brings a colder morning of poverty, no opportunity and no security on any front.
Congress will bring some form of the public option, ie government control, to health care reform because that is what they want. They will rename it a "consumer option", maybe a "competitive option" or they will say states will be able to "opt in" or "opt out" in hopes that people will think they will still control their own destiny, but however they try to fool the people, they will bring the take over of health care in America.
As Obama said, it may take 10 years, maybe 15 years, but the end of private health care and total government control of health care is the holy grail of these secular crusaders. It is because if they fail in the here and now, the rest of their goals will fail as well.
Health care reform is simply the mechanism on which they have hung their hat to complete their take over of the government which will control us. The constant campaign never seems to stop.
Square by square, the quilt is looked at by this group through a lens that views those who have built America as unAmerican. A view that America has basic faults that once exposed will be corrected by government intervention, guiding America back to what made it great, which to them is government control from cradle to grave. Never mind that this is the precise formula that our founding fathers abhorred and put their lives and fortunes on the block to fight and defeat to form a new country where king and government were cast aside for the creative force of economic and personal freedom.
Cap and Trade and health care reform have become the vanguard of this effort to fundamentally dumb down America.
Cap and Trade represents a huge tax on an elusive target that is much debated and rejected by the same taxpayers who don't want to pay for it. Health care is being reformed for a public that doesn't want the reform, especially in the way that the unquilting party is promising.
Cap and Trade and health care reform are just the tip of what Obama has not already done and what he wants to do, thus speed becomes Paramount. Paramont because his view is losing support quickly and each day brings more questions such as, has anyone even read what is in these plans and how will these things be paid for. That debt and dominance will be our future is becoming a very real fear to voters and that could be what brings down the Obama Administration. The administrations' fear of the voters is driving the frenetic pace with which the administration whips its people to offer more proof of the need for government intervention into the everyday lives of Americans.
That government intervention is a necessity can be witnessed by the faits accomplis, global warming, bank takeovers, driving insurance companies out of business, the taking of auto corporations and stimulus packages that stimulate nothing. The ying and yang of the need for a national police force and the wonder of a national youth service are extensions of the policies already enacted.
Now, in a classic yet never ending Obama campaign ploy to rejump start health care reform, we are bombarded with stories of flu epidemics, how women pay 50% more for health care, that 1/3 of those afflicted with AIDS are not even aware they have the disease, that Democrats have just realized that Medicare/Medicaid is in a state of crisis and that (insert this weeks' number) of Americans are without any health care. This is just at the national level and is classic divide and conquer by scaring the bejeebus out different groups. At the state and local level, that media, almost daily, there are stories of a 'crisis' that cries out for government help.
The forces aligned to further health care reform as 'good' for America now feel that finally they are now realizing what they have been promised for decades. Unions that have existed as well as newer unions that have serpentined into our schools and universities, government and even our security functions, leftists that feel disaffected by the necessities of living, leftist media and political functionaries, even artists, are demanding the due promised them by liberal/progressive/socialists in the Democratic Party. Again, it is classic Obama campaigning to gather those promised handouts as a 'right' with those who feel disaffected with leftists in the Democrat Party to organize. This is a coalition of the takers, fakers and breakers of the American Quilt that symbolizes the American Dream.
To this coalition, what is not to love about benevolent overlords helping citizens who are incapable of understanding a government that is a perpetual motion machine funded by an unending pool of money and is a modern model of governance far too complex for any one citizen to truly understand?
This American dream envisioned by Obama and his hard core leftist followers is a new quilt made of swaths of promises of a bigger pieces of the pie, more pay, less work and no responsibility. It is a quilt that will leave us unwarm on the cold night before reality brings a colder morning of poverty, no opportunity and no security on any front.
Congress will bring some form of the public option, ie government control, to health care reform because that is what they want. They will rename it a "consumer option", maybe a "competitive option" or they will say states will be able to "opt in" or "opt out" in hopes that people will think they will still control their own destiny, but however they try to fool the people, they will bring the take over of health care in America.
As Obama said, it may take 10 years, maybe 15 years, but the end of private health care and total government control of health care is the holy grail of these secular crusaders. It is because if they fail in the here and now, the rest of their goals will fail as well.
Health care reform is simply the mechanism on which they have hung their hat to complete their take over of the government which will control us. The constant campaign never seems to stop.
Monday, October 26, 2009
October 23
23rd October, 2002 :
Fifty Chechen rebels storm a Moscow Theatre taking 7,000 hostages. The rebels had explosives strapped to their bodies and were demanding the withdrawal of Soviet Forces from Chechnya. Three days later after the death of two of the hostages Russian Special Forces stormed the building and during the raid most of the terrorists and 120 hostages were killed during the raid.
23rd October, 1983 :
A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 military personnel.
Fifty Chechen rebels storm a Moscow Theatre taking 7,000 hostages. The rebels had explosives strapped to their bodies and were demanding the withdrawal of Soviet Forces from Chechnya. Three days later after the death of two of the hostages Russian Special Forces stormed the building and during the raid most of the terrorists and 120 hostages were killed during the raid.
23rd October, 1983 :
A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 military personnel.
EPA & Obama Newest Attacks on Coal - Zack Space Silent
Following his vote for the Cap and Trade energy tax on every house in America, Zack Space appears to have not lifted a finger to protect his constituents.
War on coal
While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would "bankrupt" anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven't materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected.
The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant "enhanced" review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia - a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the industry under the Obama administration.
Mr. Obama's opposition to coal has been apparent since January 2008 when he told the San Francisco Chronicle he would clamp down on miners by enacting a cap-and-trade system that would make it too expensive to stay in business. "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can," he said at the time. "It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."
Although his favored cap-and-trade bill hasn't yet been passed, West Virginia's Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin III, who supported Mr. Obama's candidacy, called the EPA moves part of a stealth campaign to stifle the industry.
"Right now, my belief is that they're trying to kill off surface mining through regulation what they cannot get done through legislation," Mr. Manchin told MetroNews Talkline, a West Virginia call-in radio program, earlier this month. In West Virginia, 23 permits are being held up, with other affected states being Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
War on coal
While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would "bankrupt" anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven't materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected.
The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant "enhanced" review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia - a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the industry under the Obama administration.
Mr. Obama's opposition to coal has been apparent since January 2008 when he told the San Francisco Chronicle he would clamp down on miners by enacting a cap-and-trade system that would make it too expensive to stay in business. "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can," he said at the time. "It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."
Although his favored cap-and-trade bill hasn't yet been passed, West Virginia's Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin III, who supported Mr. Obama's candidacy, called the EPA moves part of a stealth campaign to stifle the industry.
"Right now, my belief is that they're trying to kill off surface mining through regulation what they cannot get done through legislation," Mr. Manchin told MetroNews Talkline, a West Virginia call-in radio program, earlier this month. In West Virginia, 23 permits are being held up, with other affected states being Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday FUGLY: Kabul Poppy Palace
Believe it, this is a house. It looks a lot like the jukebox at Buttsies Bar & Grill, though not as pretty.
Pelosi Reads Her Own Constitution
Her's has nothing to do with our constitution, but her status as head of the rarefied strata of righteousness allows for such common discourtesy as fact.
CNSNews reported:
CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance–a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill–Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”
Pelosi’s press secretary later responded to written follow-up questions from CNSNews.com by emailing CNSNews.com a press release on the “Constitutionality of Health Insurance Reform,” that argues that Congress derives the authority to mandate that people purchase health insurance from its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.
The exchange with Speaker Pelosi on Thursday occurred as follows:
CNSNews.com: “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”
Pelosi: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”
CNSNews.com: “Yes, yes I am.”
Pelosi then shook her head before taking a question from another reporter.
The forced health care is in an amendment right after the abortion rights amendment and just before the so-called 'Wall' amendment which erects a wall between citizens and their rights to fire arms, religion and freedom of speech not designated in the Constitution of Pelosi (COP).
Nanna needs some more of her "mother's little helpers" and soon.
UPDATE: A great idea from a Hot Air commentor:
I just sent the following message to http://www.speaker.gov/contact/
Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?
Maybe if enough people ask, she’ll realize it’s a serious question.
malclave on October 23, 2009 at 3:28 PM
CNSNews reported:
CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance–a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill–Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”
Pelosi’s press secretary later responded to written follow-up questions from CNSNews.com by emailing CNSNews.com a press release on the “Constitutionality of Health Insurance Reform,” that argues that Congress derives the authority to mandate that people purchase health insurance from its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.
The exchange with Speaker Pelosi on Thursday occurred as follows:
CNSNews.com: “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”
Pelosi: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”
CNSNews.com: “Yes, yes I am.”
Pelosi then shook her head before taking a question from another reporter.
The forced health care is in an amendment right after the abortion rights amendment and just before the so-called 'Wall' amendment which erects a wall between citizens and their rights to fire arms, religion and freedom of speech not designated in the Constitution of Pelosi (COP).
Nanna needs some more of her "mother's little helpers" and soon.
UPDATE: A great idea from a Hot Air commentor:
I just sent the following message to http://www.speaker.gov/contact/
Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?
Maybe if enough people ask, she’ll realize it’s a serious question.
malclave on October 23, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Casinos And Increased Crime Go Hand In Hand
Gambling and Crime
Chad Hills (Originally written by Ron Reno)
Data from gambling communities across the country indicates that gambling does indeed foster a significant increase in crime.
Polls show that most Americans assume an association between gambling and increased criminal activity. The gambling industry offers hearty denials and various statistical manipulations attempting to counter this perception. Data from gambling communities across the country, however, indicates that gambling does indeed foster a significant increase in crime.
"In the most desperate phase of compulsive gambling, they will do anything to gamble," Schaff said. "They start stealing money from their spouses, family . . . they'll get money anyhow, anywhere. They'll do forgeries, embezzlements, thefts. It's mostly white-collar crime." -Counselor for the Dept. of Corrections in Wisconsin1
"We have studies that show for every dollar you bring in gambling revenue, you'll lose $1.90 in costs to the taxpayer," he said. It's as simple as ABC, "the addiction, the bankruptcy, the crime and corruption that you already have will just multiply with this expansion." … "If you're not fighting it, it's like cancer and will metastasize and take you over," said Tom Grey, President of National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. 2
"We arrest 450 to 500 people a year for various types of embezzlement crimes. About 40 percent are employees," Keith Copher, chief of enforcement for the Gaming Control Board in Nevada, validates.3
Tony Washington's addiction to gambling was so strong that he robbed to gamble. What began as a flirtation with gambling on weekends, soon suffocated him in unpaid bills. For Washington, a 40-year-old Wisconsin man, the compulsion to gamble led to life in prison. Washington is one of 250,000 compulsive gamblers in Wisconsin and about 8 million nationwide who claim gambling either led them into debt or trouble with their families or the law. Schaff counsels inmates on gambling for the Department of Corrections in Wisconsin.4
The number of purse snatchings, assaults, rapes, robberies and murders skyrocketed after the casinos opened. FBI statistics show the crime rate per 1,000 residents went from 134.3 in 1978 to a peak of 450.3 in 1988.5
In the first six years of casinos in Minnesota, the crime rate in counties with casinos increased more than twice as fast as in non-casino counties. According to an analysis by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the median crime rate in casino counties rose 39 percent during that period as compared to an 18 percent increase in non-casino counties.6
The total number of crimes within a 30-mile radius of Atlantic City increased by 107 percent in the nine years following the introduction of casinos to Atlantic City. 7
The Mississippi Gulf Coast experienced a 43 percent increase in crime in the four years after casinos arrived. Harrison County, where most of the Gulf Coast casinos are located, witnessed a 58 percent increase in total crimes between 1993 and 1996. 8
A U.S. News & World Report analysis found crime rates in casino communities to be 84 percent higher than the national average. Further, while crime rates nationally dropped by 2 percent in 1994, the 31 localities that introduced casinos in 1993 saw an increase in crime of 7.7 percent the following year.9
The number of court cases filed in Tunica County, Mississippi, went from 689 in 1991, the year before casinos began operating there, to 11,100 in 1996. 10
The annual number of calls to the Ledyard, Connecticut, police department jumped from 4,000 to 16,700 within five years after the opening of the nearby Foxwoods Casino. 11
University of Nevada-Las Vegas researchers concluded that the state of Wisconsin experiences an average of 5,300 additional major crimes a year due to the presence of casinos in that state. They also attributed an additional 17,100 arrests for less-serious crimes each year to the existence of casino gambling. 12
Nevada ranked first in crime rates among the fifty states in both 1995 and 1996, based on an analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. Further, the violent crime rate in Nevada increased by close to 40 percent from 1991 to 1996, a period in which the national violent crime rate dropped by approximately 10 percent. 13
The San Jose, California, police department reported significant increases in crime in the vicinity of a new cardroom in the year after its opening. Narcotics offenses increased by 200 percent, property crimes by 83 percent, petty thefts by 56 percent, auto thefts by 21 percent, and traffic accidents by 55 percent in a single year. 14
The number of police calls in Black Hawk, Colorado, increased from 25 a year before casinos to 15,000 annually after their introduction. In neighboring Central City, the number of arrests increased by 275 percent the year after casinos arrived. In Cripple Creek, Colorado, serious crime increased by 287 percent in the first three years after casinos. 15
The annual number of felony cases filed in Lawrence County, South Dakota, has increased by approximately 69 percent since the introduction of casinos to Deadwood.16
Half of Louisiana District Attorneys surveyed in 1995 noted gambling as a factor in rising crime rates in their jurisdictions.17
Endnotes:
1. Zahida Hafeez, "Compulsion to gamble led to bank robbery Robber's sister on a mission," Journal Sentinel (WI), 19 October 1998, News, p. 1.
2. Gordon Govier, "Doyle's gaming stance dismays clerics," Capital Times (Madison, WI), 3 March 2003.
3. Thomas J. Walsh and Sheila Gardner, "Harveys Tahoe pit boss, accomplice nabbed in embezzlement scheme," Reno Gazette-Journal, 10 July 2003, http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/07/10/46650.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=Umbrella&sp3=Umbrella (8 December 2003).
4. Zahida Hafeez, Journal Sentinel (WI), Ibid.
5. John Curran, "Mixed blessings in Atlantic City, N.J., a quarter-century after first casino opens it doors," The Associated Press, Domestic News, 13 May 2003.
6. Dennis J. McGrath and Chris Ison, “Gambling Spawns a New Breed of Criminal,” [Minneapolis] Star Tribune, December 4, 1995, p. A6.
7. Andrew J. Buck, Simon Hakim, and Uriel Spiegel, “Casinos, Crime and Real Estate Values: Do They Relate?,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, August 1991, p. 295.
8. Robert Waterbury, “1996 Mississippi Coast Crime Statistics,” Mississippi Coast Crime Commission, May 1997.
9. Joseph P. Shapiro, “America’s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News & World Report, January 15, 1996, pp. 58, 60.
10. Bartholomew Sullivan, “Once-Sleepy Tunica Awakens to Gambling-Inspired Crime,” [Memphis] Commercial Appeal, October 20, 1997, p. A5.
11. Mayor Wesley J. Johnson, Sr., “Fiscal Impacts of Foxwoods Casino on the Town of Ledyard, Connecticut,” April 1997.
12. William N. Thompson, Ricardo Gazel, Dan Rickman, “Casinos and Crime in Wisconsin: What’s the Connection?”, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Report, November 1996.
13. Ed Koch, “Nevada: Most Dangerous?” Las Vegas Sun, July 16, 1997, p. 1A.
14. Louis A. Cobarruviaz, City of San Jose Memorandum from the Chief of Police to the Mayor and City Council, October 27, 1995.
15. Colorado Division of Gaming, Criminal Activity, 24 February 2003, http://www.gaming.state.co.us/enforce.htm (24 February 2003); Ann Herda-Rapp, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology UW-Marathon County, A Review of the Sociological Literature on Gambling's Social Impacts, http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/news_and_events/casino_files/herda-rapp.pdf (22 February 2003); J. Joseph Curran, Jr., “The House Never Loses and Maryland Cannot Win: Why Casino Gaming Is a Bad Idea,” Report of Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., on the Impact of Casino Gaming on Crime, October 16, 1995, pp. 9, 12, 27 December 1999, (20 February 2003).
16. Information provided by the Eighth Circuit Court of South Dakota, November 12, 1997.
17. Greg Garland, “Crime Rising with Gambling: Bad Checks, Theft Show Biggest Gain,” [Baton Rouge, La.] Advocate, July 30, 1995, p. 1A.
Chad Hills (Originally written by Ron Reno)
Data from gambling communities across the country indicates that gambling does indeed foster a significant increase in crime.
Polls show that most Americans assume an association between gambling and increased criminal activity. The gambling industry offers hearty denials and various statistical manipulations attempting to counter this perception. Data from gambling communities across the country, however, indicates that gambling does indeed foster a significant increase in crime.
"In the most desperate phase of compulsive gambling, they will do anything to gamble," Schaff said. "They start stealing money from their spouses, family . . . they'll get money anyhow, anywhere. They'll do forgeries, embezzlements, thefts. It's mostly white-collar crime." -Counselor for the Dept. of Corrections in Wisconsin1
"We have studies that show for every dollar you bring in gambling revenue, you'll lose $1.90 in costs to the taxpayer," he said. It's as simple as ABC, "the addiction, the bankruptcy, the crime and corruption that you already have will just multiply with this expansion." … "If you're not fighting it, it's like cancer and will metastasize and take you over," said Tom Grey, President of National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. 2
"We arrest 450 to 500 people a year for various types of embezzlement crimes. About 40 percent are employees," Keith Copher, chief of enforcement for the Gaming Control Board in Nevada, validates.3
Tony Washington's addiction to gambling was so strong that he robbed to gamble. What began as a flirtation with gambling on weekends, soon suffocated him in unpaid bills. For Washington, a 40-year-old Wisconsin man, the compulsion to gamble led to life in prison. Washington is one of 250,000 compulsive gamblers in Wisconsin and about 8 million nationwide who claim gambling either led them into debt or trouble with their families or the law. Schaff counsels inmates on gambling for the Department of Corrections in Wisconsin.4
The number of purse snatchings, assaults, rapes, robberies and murders skyrocketed after the casinos opened. FBI statistics show the crime rate per 1,000 residents went from 134.3 in 1978 to a peak of 450.3 in 1988.5
In the first six years of casinos in Minnesota, the crime rate in counties with casinos increased more than twice as fast as in non-casino counties. According to an analysis by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the median crime rate in casino counties rose 39 percent during that period as compared to an 18 percent increase in non-casino counties.6
The total number of crimes within a 30-mile radius of Atlantic City increased by 107 percent in the nine years following the introduction of casinos to Atlantic City. 7
The Mississippi Gulf Coast experienced a 43 percent increase in crime in the four years after casinos arrived. Harrison County, where most of the Gulf Coast casinos are located, witnessed a 58 percent increase in total crimes between 1993 and 1996. 8
A U.S. News & World Report analysis found crime rates in casino communities to be 84 percent higher than the national average. Further, while crime rates nationally dropped by 2 percent in 1994, the 31 localities that introduced casinos in 1993 saw an increase in crime of 7.7 percent the following year.9
The number of court cases filed in Tunica County, Mississippi, went from 689 in 1991, the year before casinos began operating there, to 11,100 in 1996. 10
The annual number of calls to the Ledyard, Connecticut, police department jumped from 4,000 to 16,700 within five years after the opening of the nearby Foxwoods Casino. 11
University of Nevada-Las Vegas researchers concluded that the state of Wisconsin experiences an average of 5,300 additional major crimes a year due to the presence of casinos in that state. They also attributed an additional 17,100 arrests for less-serious crimes each year to the existence of casino gambling. 12
Nevada ranked first in crime rates among the fifty states in both 1995 and 1996, based on an analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. Further, the violent crime rate in Nevada increased by close to 40 percent from 1991 to 1996, a period in which the national violent crime rate dropped by approximately 10 percent. 13
The San Jose, California, police department reported significant increases in crime in the vicinity of a new cardroom in the year after its opening. Narcotics offenses increased by 200 percent, property crimes by 83 percent, petty thefts by 56 percent, auto thefts by 21 percent, and traffic accidents by 55 percent in a single year. 14
The number of police calls in Black Hawk, Colorado, increased from 25 a year before casinos to 15,000 annually after their introduction. In neighboring Central City, the number of arrests increased by 275 percent the year after casinos arrived. In Cripple Creek, Colorado, serious crime increased by 287 percent in the first three years after casinos. 15
The annual number of felony cases filed in Lawrence County, South Dakota, has increased by approximately 69 percent since the introduction of casinos to Deadwood.16
Half of Louisiana District Attorneys surveyed in 1995 noted gambling as a factor in rising crime rates in their jurisdictions.17
Endnotes:
1. Zahida Hafeez, "Compulsion to gamble led to bank robbery Robber's sister on a mission," Journal Sentinel (WI), 19 October 1998, News, p. 1.
2. Gordon Govier, "Doyle's gaming stance dismays clerics," Capital Times (Madison, WI), 3 March 2003.
3. Thomas J. Walsh and Sheila Gardner, "Harveys Tahoe pit boss, accomplice nabbed in embezzlement scheme," Reno Gazette-Journal, 10 July 2003, http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/07/10/46650.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=Umbrella&sp3=Umbrella (8 December 2003).
4. Zahida Hafeez, Journal Sentinel (WI), Ibid.
5. John Curran, "Mixed blessings in Atlantic City, N.J., a quarter-century after first casino opens it doors," The Associated Press, Domestic News, 13 May 2003.
6. Dennis J. McGrath and Chris Ison, “Gambling Spawns a New Breed of Criminal,” [Minneapolis] Star Tribune, December 4, 1995, p. A6.
7. Andrew J. Buck, Simon Hakim, and Uriel Spiegel, “Casinos, Crime and Real Estate Values: Do They Relate?,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, August 1991, p. 295.
8. Robert Waterbury, “1996 Mississippi Coast Crime Statistics,” Mississippi Coast Crime Commission, May 1997.
9. Joseph P. Shapiro, “America’s Gambling Fever,” U.S. News & World Report, January 15, 1996, pp. 58, 60.
10. Bartholomew Sullivan, “Once-Sleepy Tunica Awakens to Gambling-Inspired Crime,” [Memphis] Commercial Appeal, October 20, 1997, p. A5.
11. Mayor Wesley J. Johnson, Sr., “Fiscal Impacts of Foxwoods Casino on the Town of Ledyard, Connecticut,” April 1997.
12. William N. Thompson, Ricardo Gazel, Dan Rickman, “Casinos and Crime in Wisconsin: What’s the Connection?”, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Report, November 1996.
13. Ed Koch, “Nevada: Most Dangerous?” Las Vegas Sun, July 16, 1997, p. 1A.
14. Louis A. Cobarruviaz, City of San Jose Memorandum from the Chief of Police to the Mayor and City Council, October 27, 1995.
15. Colorado Division of Gaming, Criminal Activity, 24 February 2003, http://www.gaming.state.co.us/enforce.htm (24 February 2003); Ann Herda-Rapp, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology UW-Marathon County, A Review of the Sociological Literature on Gambling's Social Impacts, http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/news_and_events/casino_files/herda-rapp.pdf (22 February 2003); J. Joseph Curran, Jr., “The House Never Loses and Maryland Cannot Win: Why Casino Gaming Is a Bad Idea,” Report of Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., on the Impact of Casino Gaming on Crime, October 16, 1995, pp. 9, 12, 27 December 1999, (20 February 2003).
16. Information provided by the Eighth Circuit Court of South Dakota, November 12, 1997.
17. Greg Garland, “Crime Rising with Gambling: Bad Checks, Theft Show Biggest Gain,” [Baton Rouge, La.] Advocate, July 30, 1995, p. 1A.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Obama's Socialist Mop Problem
Speaking to the proletariat, Obama has repeatedly used a mop reference to try to point out what a mess President George W. Bush left him. Besides being able to blame somebody else, Obama just loves the imagery of a mop.
Obama finally got around to referring to a socialist mop, no doubt to really show his opponents how silly it is to refer to his controlling of large swaths of American business as a socialist idea, and so I decided to see what a Socialist mop might look like.
This example may explain why Obama's stimulus package isn't quite working out and how the whole GM/Chrysler buyout is tanking worse than the Cash for Clunkers fiasco.
I'd leave the mop imagery alone if I were Obama because the floor is dirtier now than before.
Obama finally got around to referring to a socialist mop, no doubt to really show his opponents how silly it is to refer to his controlling of large swaths of American business as a socialist idea, and so I decided to see what a Socialist mop might look like.This example may explain why Obama's stimulus package isn't quite working out and how the whole GM/Chrysler buyout is tanking worse than the Cash for Clunkers fiasco.
I'd leave the mop imagery alone if I were Obama because the floor is dirtier now than before.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Reid Says AMA Promised 27 Republican Traitors For Health Scam Vote
Punch happy Harry Reid ain't happy. The AMA, which has become the American Malpratice Association, told Reid they had 27 Republican senators in their pocket to help pass the latest mathematically challenged bandaid to help pass Health Reform.
Reid: AMA Promised Me GOP Healthcare Votes
The AMA allegedly promised Reid that it could deliver 27 Republican votes for the legislation, according to two Senate Democratic lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reid needs those GOP votes because at least five members of his party have vowed to vote against the doctors' fix.
Good for the 27 Republicans. I hope they stay with their Party against this medical atrocity. Their political life will be on life support if they vote with the Demos on this.
How about more governance and less government.
Reid: AMA Promised Me GOP Healthcare Votes
The AMA allegedly promised Reid that it could deliver 27 Republican votes for the legislation, according to two Senate Democratic lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Reid needs those GOP votes because at least five members of his party have vowed to vote against the doctors' fix.
Good for the 27 Republicans. I hope they stay with their Party against this medical atrocity. Their political life will be on life support if they vote with the Demos on this.
How about more governance and less government.
Republicans, Y'All' Do What You're Told
Presidential patois not withstanding, did he just tell us bois that we do what we're told?
I think the real question is how many Democrats will do what they're told on the health care vote?
I think the real question is how many Democrats will do what they're told on the health care vote?
Demo Plan: Go It Alone-All The Way Down
With the help of Pelosi and Reid, Axlerod, Rahm and Obama have given us change that will take generations to recover from and clean up. Well, we can still hope.
Mixed in with being mired down in a war they can't win, the admin has generated these headlines on the Drudge Report.
After Stimulus: 49 of 50 States Have Fewer Jobs!
*6 Million Jobs Shy of Administrations' Projections...
Obama trying to boost party money, morale...
RNC Beats DNC in Money Race...
Dems lock Republicans out of committee room: 'They don't know how to behave'...
HealthCare Propaganda On Govt. Website?
House Dems Want Medicare for Everyone...
Administration plans big pay cuts at bailout firms...
Salaries of top executives by 90%...
RASMUSSEN: Obama Ratings Sinking Again; Approval Index Nears All-Time Low...
Oprah goes rogue, invites Palin on show...
Bailout watchdog expects much to remain unrefunded...
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF 'ENEMIES LIST'...
'Street-brawling'...
Euro breaches $1.50...
Okay, maybe hope is down the crapper as well.
Mixed in with being mired down in a war they can't win, the admin has generated these headlines on the Drudge Report.
After Stimulus: 49 of 50 States Have Fewer Jobs!
*6 Million Jobs Shy of Administrations' Projections...
Obama trying to boost party money, morale...
RNC Beats DNC in Money Race...
Dems lock Republicans out of committee room: 'They don't know how to behave'...
HealthCare Propaganda On Govt. Website?
House Dems Want Medicare for Everyone...
Administration plans big pay cuts at bailout firms...
Salaries of top executives by 90%...
RASMUSSEN: Obama Ratings Sinking Again; Approval Index Nears All-Time Low...
Oprah goes rogue, invites Palin on show...
Bailout watchdog expects much to remain unrefunded...
SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF 'ENEMIES LIST'...
'Street-brawling'...
Euro breaches $1.50...
Okay, maybe hope is down the crapper as well.
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