The infrastructure cry

If collapsing bridges weren’t so scary, I’d almost smile at the way the media are hyping the story about a bridge in Washington and the train accidents recently. Mix in a little global warning hype because of the Moore, OK tornado, and it’s perfect for pols.

Obama lured Americans with promises of money (mainly for union labor) for the “infrastructure” with the ARRA money.  Didn’t happen.  He hyped it again in a recent SOTU speech.  It’s only good for politicians who are trying to cover for something else. . . like an IRS scandal or snooping on journalists.

Over 100 years ago private companies built the subway system in New York.  The city took it over. It hasn’t been as efficient or as good since.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/13/politics/state-of-union-what-obama-said

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Subway_FAQ:_A_Brief_History_of_the_Subway

Senate Chaplain gives Sunday sermon at Lakeside

Usually the early church service at Lakeside is held on the east deck of the pavilion, but it was rather windy today, although the sun was brilliant.  So it was moved into Orchestra Hall (a movie theater with a stage).  Rev. Barry Black, chaplain of the Senate, who gave the sermon this morning at Lakeside Hoover service at 10:30,  joined us briefly at the relocated dockside service (8:30). He's had the position since 2003 and is a 7th Day Adventist. He told us there are weekly prayer breakfasts for the senators, and they hold hands when they pray. Democrats and Republicans holding hands and praying. It's a nice thought.

                

Lenoisms

I guess we know why his contract isn’t being renewed.  He stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.

Looks worthy of Hollywood

Ethics of Chicago mobsters

Friday Family Photo

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and honored the war dead of the Civil War with flowers on their graves. After WWI it became Memorial Day and honored all war dead, or even all deceased friends and family depending on your customs.

When I was very young, I sold paper red poppies with my siblings to raise money for the American Legion, of which my dad was a district commander in Illinois. When I was older I remember attending services at the band shell in Mt. Morris, where a senior student was chosen to recite the poem, "In Flanders' Field." First my grandparents would decorate my uncle's grave (died in China in 1944) at the Ashton, IL cemetery; then later my mom and aunt; and after they died, my father went to the cemetery with the flowers. Now they are all gone, but I hope there will be a few family members to go to the cemetery in Ashton and Mt. Morris to decorate and memorialize.

            

On how you deal with “Chicago”

Richard, a blogging friend writes: “ I can't get away from it. When I was barely legal, I drove a long haul truck for a little while. I never drove near Chicago but the company did, and it had a "regulation" that if you got pulled over by the police in the Chicago area, when you handed over your license and log book you wrapped the license in a twenty dollar bill. The police expected it, and didn't give the driver a ticket.

The news for the last few weeks has absolutely convinced me that I was correct in the previous election in the feeling that we had handed over our federal government to the heirs of the guys who set up the crookedness of the "then” Chicago police. We are being governed by a bunch of Chicago (not necessarily geographical) ward politicians. I hope we get past it without permanent damage to the nature of our country.”

Please do your own research.  Go online and look at the 28 categories for 501c organizations and read how vague the wording is.  It’s a law that is ripe for misuse regardless of who is in power.  But to connect this power to the health care law (woman who was in charge of exempt groups at IRS is now in charge of the IRS section of Obamacare) is Stalinesque. Truly, “Chicago” knew exactly what it was doing in creating this section of the new ACA.

The scandal timeline

Interesting program on Glenn Beck tonight. He developed a time line and let all the people involved in the scandals like Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, AP, Dept. of Justice and Dept. of State speak for themselves. Mainly they said, and I paraphrase, "I don't know, it wasn't me."

Getting out front a few years later

More revelations about our imperial presidency. See what happens when you elect a man for non-essential reasons—like slogans, skin color, and flowing rhetoric—things we used to say didn’t matter?

The Obama administration acknowledged Wednesday that it has killed four Americans in overseas counterterrorism operations since 2009, the first time it has publicly taken responsibility for the deaths, 3 in Yemen and 1 in Pakistan; one was only 16 years old. And why exactly should we believe it was 4 and not 40 or 400? Are they telling us now so we'll feel better about their overseas counterterrorism and less outraged by the terror Americans now feel about Obamacare with the IRS in charge? Washington Post, May 23

A review of recent history: "The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today." ABC News, May 16 .

And then yesterday

“Former IRS chief Doug Shulman told a congressional hearing this morning that he “absolutely” did not inform the White House of the IRS’s targeting operation and investigation.

Citing evidence that Shulman visited the White House 118 times between 2010 and 2011 and received information about IRS political targeting from 132 members of Congress, Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) asked whether Shulman had ever mentioned this information to White House officials.

“Absolutely not,” replied Shulman. “It would not have been appropriate.””

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349056/former-irs-chief-%E2%80%98absolutely%E2%80%99-never-mentioned-political-targeting-wh-ian-tuttle

I would have fired an employee (hard to do with Civil Service) if mischief, mayhem and malfeasance had been kept from me, because I knew I had to answer to my boss.  Obama doesn’t think he has a boss; certainly not us, not God.

Change—it’s time for a

Gutfeld has a way with words

Little guard dog

On May 20, 2013, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office posted this picture of a dog on their Twitter account "scared, but this little pup survived".  Then they found out the story behind the picture. The dog was standing guard over a deceased individual, possibly its owner, in Moore, OK,  following the tornado there. The dog was taken to a shelter and the deputy who found the pup, if possible, plans on adopting the dog. Man's best friend to the end.

Even liberals catch on. . .

Musing on the scandals—some of which I’m forgetting

Just a guess, of course, but I think Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter who has covered Benghazi and now thinks her computer may have been compromised, will probably not get the backing from CBS she is hoping for. After all, what's in it for CBS except the wrath of Obama?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/sharyl-attkissons-computers-compromised-164456.html

What a surprise. Lois the the Leaker, the director of the Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organizations division, Lois Lerner, is invoking the Fifth Amendment and will not appear before Congress to answer questions about the agency’s targeting of Tea Party and other conservative groups. She'll be subpoenaed. She knew a year ago (at least) what was going on.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348973/lerner-take-5th

What is so dangerous about a group of women who find people registered to vote who list empty parking lots as a residence? For starters, it's scary for Democrats to be held accountable. It's so scary, the founders need to be audited.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/20/group-fighting-voter-fraud-among-those-waiting-on-/

Steve Miller, the departing IRS acting head, has admitted his really bad idea to “leak” the story and bury it on a Friday afternoon. Last week he denied it—or maybe walked around it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/politics/senate-testimony-irs-scandal.html

Justice Department names a reporter (James Rosen) a criminal, read his private e-mails and tracked his whereabouts, right on the heels of the expose of the AP phones.  MSM reporters seem to be waking up to what he crook Obama is. But not Jay Carney.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/justice-departments-scrutiny-of-fox-news-reporter-james-rosen-in-leak-case-draws-fire/2013/05/20/c6289eba-c162-11e2-8bd8-2788030e6b44_story.html

Since when was being stupid better than being sneaky?

Obviously, I'm not a politician, but I can't understand why the Obama administration would use the excuse of being incompetent, stupid boobs whose top officials lied to the president about everything he should know and provided bad "customer service" rather than they were targeting political enemies. The IRS story and who knew what when, now has almost as many versions as the Benghazi story.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough and other senior officials knew of the general nature of the report but decided to keep the president in the dark about the report’s finding that the IRS had targeted conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny.  http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/300753-carney-white-house-officials-knew-of-irs-targeting-but-didnt-tell-obama#ixzz2TxLFp7OH

Exasperated senators questioned the truthfulness of former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, who led the agency from 2008 to 2012, and outgoing acting IRS chief Steven Miller. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah accused Miller of a "lie by omission." http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-usa-irs-idUSBRE94F10Y20130521

Steven T. Miller, the departing Internal Revenue Service chief, took responsibility on Tuesday for planting a question May 10 at a closed-door meeting with tax lawyers that prompted a top I.R.S. official to disclose that the agency had targeted conservative groups, an awkward move that prompted the inquiries now moving ahead on Capitol Hill.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/politics/senate-testimony-irs-scandal.html?_r=0

America has been at war with its doctors for a decade

“The fundamental paradox of the regulatory state in medicine is that physicians face constant impediments to the actual care of patients.”

“a cultural assault on [doctors’] their fundamental spirits of risk-taking, innovation, and professional autonomy.”

“a gross devaluation of the economic value of their work. Minimal pay from insurers – particularly Medicare and Medicaid – for life-or-death work is the new norm.”

“there is an army of non-physicians, now known as providers, waiting at the ashes of the battleground of America and its physicians.”

Mona Kotecha, MD

And from Bev, who is caring for her 90 something parents:

I have several stories to tell... Even if you have always been able to afford health insurance, the rules of the game have drastically changed in the last three years. If a specialist you have seen for 20 years does not take the new insurance the government forced you to buy you cannot pay out of pocket to stay with that provider. You must get a referral from your GP (if you have one that takes your insurance) and start all over with a new specialist.The GP must send a new referral every year to the specialist. I was told recently by a doctor that with all the insurance possibilities out there I was foolish for picking an HMO for my parents.  Apparently an HMO causes paperwork nightmares for that doctor's staff. When both parents are ninety and have ongoing health concerns you cannot shop around. Because of the government and insurance the doctor loses and the patient loses. It is a lose-lose situation.

Those of us who are considered seniors are a drain on the health system anyway according to the new health laws. I think I studied something about what ultimately happened to those who were found unfit and a drain to society in high school and college history classes. It has been a bad two weeks for me navigating our new improved insurance and medical system.

Another scandal

I’m losing track. They are like the Clinton era bimbo eruptions. Dennis Burke, former aide to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and former U.S. Attorney for Arizona, retaliated against  the whistleblower in the gunwalking fiasco called Fast and Furious. He leaked information, misleading his bosses and violating legal ethics during the “Fast and Furious” firearms-smuggling scandal according to a Justice Department IG report.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/05/report-faults-former-us-attorney-dennis-burke-for-164374.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/politics/dennis-k-burke-criticized-for-fast-and-furious-leak.html?_r=0

Is this still America?

True the Vote

“True the Vote” mission statement:  “True the Vote is an initiative developed by citizens for citizens, meant to inspire and equip volunteers for involvement at every stage of our electoral process. We promote ideas that actively protect the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party affiliation.”

“Legitimate voters.” “Regardless of political party affiliation.” Sounds reasonable enough. Founder Catherine Engelbrecht applied for nonprofit status for “True the Vote” and “King Street Patriots” in 2010.

To date, this is what Engelbrecht has endured says Paula Priesse: 1) An FBI visit & phone calls 2) A 3 day on-site IRS audit of both the family machine shop & personal returns 3) 5 IRS info requests over 2 years, including every Facebook post and tweet 4) 2 unscheduled ATF audits of the shop & 5) A visit from OSHA who levied 25K in fines Wow! The FBI, IRS, ATF & OSHA all at one time. What are the odds? And 3 years later, Engelbrecht still hasn’t received IRS approval.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/05/20/dojs-witch-hunt-against-true-the-vote-n1601527

Such terrible news coming from Oklahoma

Many children killed in Oklahoma tornado

Two elementary schools hit in Moore, Oklahoma.

Time for ghoulish political humor. “Daily Show” co-creator Lizz Winstead says it was aimed at conservatives in a tweet. Sicko.