Mike Huckabee on the lack of common sense

Chalk up some another victim of our school officials’ zero common sense policies. In Cobb County, Georgia, 17-year-old Cody Chitwood was charged with bringing weapons into a school zone. It all started when drug-sniffing dogs detected gun powder from his ...car. That turned out to be residue from a firecracker that had been in the car since the Fourth of July. That suspicion led to a search that uncovered knives. You see, Cody is an avid fisherman, and out in his locked, parked car, he had his tackle box, which had fishing knives in it. He’s now facing a felony charge that could send him to prison for up to 10 years and destroy his hopes of joining the Air Force. A similar arrest happened to another senior at a nearby school. Luckily, this was so over-the-top, state legislators are finally considering changing the laws to restore some common sense to school weapons policies. It will leave me with fewer idiotic news stories to comment on, but I guess if it stops the destruction of kids’ lives for no good reason, then that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. From the FaceBook site of Mike Huckabee.

Shame on the President for his pettiness

Shame on the President for denying death benefits to our soldiers killed since Oct. 1. He never did like the military and from declaring Ft. Hood "work place violence" to keeping his military base golf course open during the shutdown to blocking WWII vets at the Washington Mall to see the memorial to denying these benefits he's flying the flag, "Mission Accomplished."

A private foundation, Fisher House Foundation, has stepped forward to cover death benefits for the families of troops who've been killed in combat after the Pentagon confirmed the payments have been suspended as a result of the partial government shutdown. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced Tuesday that the Maryland-based Fisher House Foundation has offered to cover the $100,000 payments that the government typically pays out to families within three days of a soldier's death.

These government functions are still going during shutdown—Michelle’s web page

#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this "government shutdown".

#2 Approximately 1,350,000 "essential" federal employees will continue to work during this "government shutdown".

#3 Overall, 63 percent of the federal workforce will continue to work during this "government shutdown".

#4 The U.S. Postal Service will continue to deliver our mail.

#5 U.S. military personnel will remain on duty and will continue to get paid.

#6 Social Security recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#7 Medicare recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#8 Medicaid recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#9 Food stamp recipients will continue to get their benefits.

#10 Those on unemployment will continue to get their benefits.

#11 Federal retirees will continue to get their pensions.

#12 The federal school lunch program has enough money to go through at least the end of this month.

#13 Public schools all over the country will continue to stay open.

#14 Almost all federal law enforcement officials will continue working.

#15 The Federal Reserve will remain "completely functional".

#16 The Supreme Court will continue to operate normally and federal courts have enough money to keep going for at least two weeks.

#17 TSA employees will continue to molest travelers at our airports.

#18 Air traffic controllers will continue to monitor traffic at our airports.

#19 Hopelessly outmanned border patrol agents will continue to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration.

#20 Visas and passports will continue to be issued by the State Department.

#21 The Veterans Administration will continue to offer substandard medical services, and it will be able to continue processing benefit payments at least for now.

#22 The Obama administration apparently has plenty of money to spend on closing open-air memorials that are usually open to the public 24 hours a day.

#23 The Department of Defense announced the awarding of 94 new contracts worth a combined total of more than 5 billion dollars on September 30th - the day right before the "government shutdown".

#24 The "government shutdown" has not prevented the new two billion dollar NSA spy center from opening up.

#25 Federal prisons will continue to operate normally.

#26 Amtrak trains will continue to run.

#27 The Patent and Trademark Office will be open.

#28 The Consumer Product Safety Commission will continue to issue product recalls if the products "create an immediate threat to the safety of human life".

#29 The National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center will continue to track weather patterns.

#30 If the federal government needs to respond to a natural disaster, this "shutdown" will not affect that. #31 NASA will continue to support the Mars Rover and the two American astronauts up on the International Space Station.

#32 All city employees of the D.C. government have been deemed "essential" and will continue to go to work.

#33 Even though the Obamacare exchanges are not working properly, people will still be able to access them.

#34 The IRS will continue to collect taxes, but it will be suspending punitive audits of conservative organizations.

#35 Barack Obama will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown".

#36 The U.S. Congress will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown". -

 http://www.worldviewweekend.com/news/article/government-shutdown-36-facts-which-prove-almost-everything-still-running#sthash.yVwdl8GF.dpuf

Congress’ gym is open, but there’s no towel service. What a shame.

Leadership Failure is his legacy

Home of the Redskins (athletic team name)

About 99% Native American (Navajo).

Red Mesa High School is a high school in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. It is one of two high schools under the jurisdiction of the Red Mesa Unified School District, along with Red Valley/Cove High School. It operates an FM radio station, KRMH 89.7.

http://www.rmusd.net/education/components/sectionlist/default.php?sectiondetailid=86&

Tax legislation has to originate in the House; the health-care law didn’t.

"[The Supreme court ruled] Obamacare could be upheld only as a tax. Not that Obamacare is necessarily a legitimate tax. To be a legitimate tax measure, Obamacare would have to have complied with all the Constitution’s conditions for the imposition of taxes. Because Democrats stubbornly maintained that their unilateral handiwork was not a tax, its legitimacy vel non as a tax has not been explored. Indeed, it is because Obamacare’s enactment was induced by fraud — a massive confiscation masquerading as ordinary regulatory legislation so Democrats could pretend not to be raising taxes — that the chief justice was wrong to rebrand it post facto and thus become a participant in the fraud." Tax bills must originate in the House, but Obamacare originated in the Senate.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/360460/obamacares-unconstitutional-origins-andrew-c-mccarthy#!

New words in our political vocabulary

New words coined in October 2013--both developed from the pettiness and meanness of Barack Obama. 1) Barry-cades, those obstacles placed to keep elderly veterans in wheelchairs away from privately funded memorials in the mall, the same mall that is open to SEIU immigration demonstration, 2) Spite House, a house the people own and the president and his family temporarily live there, now a symbol of Chicago thuggery instead of freedom.

Is the spending spree over?

“Government spending is taxation, now or later, and cuts in government spending are pro-growth tax cuts. Beyond the essentials of our government—roads, courts, schools, police and fire services, our military—government spending doesn’t create productive resources, especially when it comes on top of the $3.8 trillion a year already spent. The federal government’s main activity now is to redistribute resources, mostly from producers to non-producers. When the money the government takes from workers and producers is used to pay people and companies not to work—food stamps, unemployment benefits, bailouts, Solyndras, Obamacare health subsidies—it’s a double-whammy. Raising taxes on workers and increasing payments to non-workers is why we had the Great Recession and the lousy recovery in the first place.”

From American Spectator, October 2013

To an accusation about not being caring and noble

I was reading a medical newsletter, Medpage “Gupta Guide,” on how the shutdown was affecting medical conferences, and found out the government had actually called people back who were to speak at or attend a medical conference—flights, hotels, registration already paid for.  Burning up bucks to save a penny.  The comments at the article got pretty heated as some thought others too progressive, who in turn thought conservatives were not being caring  and noble.

I already get one viewpoint and one viewpoint only from all of the mainstream media, Hollywood, TV, movies, "comedy shows", academia... the "progressive" socialist/communist left-wing viewpoint. I am so sick of it. I should be able to read medical related articles without the indoctrination continuing ad nauseum. They redistribute tax dollars in exchange for votes, which is the farthest thing from "caring and noble".

They send billions of dollars and 20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks to Muslim Brotherhood terrorists in Egypt. Sent billions of dollars and were running guns to the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya and got 4 Americans killed there and many injured. And now this Presidential Administration is giving arms, weapons, and US military support and our blood and treasure boots on the ground to Al Qaeda Muslim terrorists in Syria. And purposely leaving our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, hung out to dry and be annihilated. It is insane. None of that is "caring and noble".

They use it to fund wasteful, corrupt, power-hungry government agencies (IRS, EPA, OIG, OSHA, etc.) and the President told them to use their tax-payer-funded POWER to target, attack, and destroy their political opponent American citizens using mob gangster terror tactics. Not American...not noble or caring. . . 

It is not caring or noble to indoctrinate and teach people that they are not capable of being responsible for themselves and that big daddy government must step in and be their father or husband at the expense of the tax-payer who can't afford anything but peanut butter and is working their rear off.

Beckoning illegal aliens to come here with ads and billboards in Mexico in order to get them on welfare and GET THEIR VOTE is not caring and noble for those of us who are picking up the bill, but can't afford to pay for our kid's college. So don't lecture others about not being caring if they do not subscribe to your "progressive" viewpoint, because you have had the wool pulled over your eyes.

Whose budget—guest blogger Nancy Junker

The US House and US Senate are suppose to pass a budget bill. The Senate, under Harry Reid, has not done so since Obama took office. Why is this? I can only imagine that it is because with the spending levels they want, and the economy in the tank producing lower tax revenue, it would be sooooo out of balance. The progressives do not want the voters hearing about this.

Bills may be initiated in either chamber, but spending bills originate in the House. We have not had a budget in 5 years, so it is difficult to put any spending bills in perspective. Just rack them up!

Bills that originate in one chamber and are passed go to the other chamber. That chamber either takes it up as is, or creates its own bill on the same subject. When this bill passes, a conference committee consisting of members of both chambers meet to negotiate the differences. A compromise version then goes to both chambers for a vote. Almost every bill that the House has passed in the last 5 years has been dead on arrival at the Senate. They simply do not take it up. Harry Reid demands that the House send him a bill that only contains items that he agrees with. There are no votes on the Senate floor. There are no conference committees to negotiate differences. It is his way or nothing.

This is what is being done with the CR and the Debt Ceiling. The Democrats are not willing to negotiate at all. They know full well that if and when the Republicans cave, there will be no bargaining chips left for them in the budgeting process.

But why have we been funding the federal government with CR’s for the last 5 years anyway? Remember the good ole days when we had appropriation bills for each department of the government? There would always be a scurry near year end to get them all done. Many would end up being combined in the haste. When the Republicans had control, the Democrats would berate them for not getting the business of the government done in a timely fashion. Now the Democratic Senate won’t consider an appropriation bill from the House is it is not in total agreement with it and we don’t have conference committees to negotiate differences, we just pass continuing resolutions to keep spending levels the same with I would assume the automatic percentage increases that are always included in the”baseline” budgeting process. And that baseline has increased enormously over the last 5 years. Remember all the stimulus money that was added?

This is no way to run the government.

Ashley’s response to Chad (the Obamacare poster boy)

My name is Ashley Dionne and I’m a 26-year-old recent graduate from Michigan.

The phony Obamacare signup poster boy [Chad Henderson] made me want to send a message about how Obamacare is really affecting people....

I graduated from The University of Michigan in 2009. In my state, this used to mean something, but even with a bachelor’s I was told I was too educated and wouldn’t stay. I watched as kids with GEDs and high school diploma’s took the low-paying jobs for which I applied.

I went back to school and got a second degree and finally found work at a gym. I work nights and only get 32 hours a week for eight dollars an hour. I’m unable to find a second job at this time.

I have asthma, ulcers, and mild cerebral palsy. Obamacare takes my monthly rate from $75 a month for full coverage on my “Young Adult Plan,” to $319 a month. After $6,000 in deductibles, of course.

Liberals claimed this law would help the poor. I am the poor, the working poor, and I can’t afford to support myself, let alone older generations and people not willing to work at all.

This law has raped my future.

It will keep me and kids my age from having a future at all.

This is the real face of Obamacare and it isn’t pretty

Obama Bucks

Don’t read or buy this book

I thought it was just me that had a problem with "The Great Controversy, past, present, future; how it will end." Don't bother to buy it, or even accept it as a gift.  It's being advertised on Glenn Beck.  First, it's so anti-Catholic, Martin Luther could have written chapter 3, "An era of spiritual darkness,"; second, it was written by a 7th Day Adventist woman, Ellen G. White,  in the 19th century, which isn't a good sign considering the number of Christian cults founded by women; third, some sources say large sections are plagiarized (although what difference that would make I don't know); fourth, Christians squabble over several different millennial theories and I think this is post-tribulation historical with 7th day accoutrements ending with guidelines from an 1880s newspaper, since White is one of the founders.  I'm not into that stuff myself, believing Jesus is coming back.  Period.

Have they found the reason for Colony Collapse Disorder?

“. . . in recent years, an alarming number of bee colonies across North America and Europe have begun to collapse. As part of the phenomenon, formally known as Colony Collapse Disorder, worker bees fail to return to the hive after their pollen-collecting trips nearby. We still don’t fully understand what’s driving this trend, but the list of culprits likely includes pesticides, viral infections, intensive agriculture and perhaps even the practice of feeding bees high fructose corn syrup in place of the honey we take from them.

New research, though, suggests there may be an overlooked problem: the exhaust fumes produced by diesel-powered engines. As described in a study published today in Scientific Reports, a group of researchers from the UK’s University of Southampton found that the pollution produced by diesel combustion reduces bees’ ability to recognize the scent of various flowers—a key sense they use in navigating and finding food sources.”

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/10/are-diesel-exhaust-fumes-to-blame-for-honeybee-colony-collapse/

White House talking points on NBC Meet the Press

Rand Paul does a good job of setting her straight on how power of the purse works, still, her bias is aggravating. He has to explain how representation works.  70% in his state don’t want Obamacare, so why should he try to save it?  She gives new meaning to lapdog media.

Harry says—a book you’ll enjoy

Do you know a boss (not yours) well enough to need a stocking stuffer for Christmas? This is only $9.95--"Harry says; boss talk without the warm fuzzies," edited by Bruce Feldman. (Blue Point Books, 2006, isbn-13: 978-1-883423-12-4).  I received a review copy and have had quite a chuckle reading it. You can read the whole book on your coffee break--very brief. I cite the page number and that's the only thing on the page.

"Judge people by what you have seen them do, not by what they say they did. And never confuse, "I can do it," with, "I have done it." One is confidence talking. The other is experience." p.22

"Doing it over is not quality control." p.40

"Count on the boss being the only one who knows that landing the plane near the airport isn't good enough. Either a job is done right or it isn't." p. 43

This one sort of reminds me of some of the government's War on Poverty programs that have spent billions, and the final report says it hasn't worked in 40 years, so Obama orders up more money (Head Start). "My employees don't mind making mistakes as long as they get paid for fixing them."  p.54

If you've ever been forced to work on a team: "Working together is a way to carry around a lot of weight if it's evenly distributed. Otherwise, it's a way to start a lot of trouble."  p. 58

Another first for Obama

According to the House Committee on Natural Resources, the Obama administration has taken the unusual step of shutting down only the most popular tourist memorials in the nation’s capital, including the World War II Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the National Mall. Other, lesser-visited sites, have been left open.

"Via William Jacobson, NBC's affiliate in Washington, D.C. reports that police ordered tourists and Vietnam war veterans who were visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to leave the memorial at one point on Friday.

After one group of veterans went around the barricade, "the park ranger told them the wall was closed," NBC's Mark Seagraves reported. "Later another group of vets showed up and moved the barricades. At that point, the memorial filled with vets and tourists. That's when police came and moved everyone out."

Now THAT’s a love letter!

October 5, 1780
"I have told you, and I told you truly that I love you too much. You engross my thoughts too intirely to allow me to think of any thing else. You not only employ my mind all day; but you intrude upon my sleep. I meet you in every dream-and when I wake I cannot close my eyes again for ruminating on your sweetnesses. 'Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized, by a little nut-brown maid like you-and from a statesman and a soldier metamorphosed into a puny lover. I believe in my soul you are an inchantress."

Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler, October 5, 1780, two months before their wedding

Banned Books Week

Oh darn.  I missed Banned Books Week.  It was last week and I was in the hospital (briefly) and paying attention to bigger issues. Yes, BBW is a hoax. You can get these books anywhere. What the American Library Association calls a ban really means someone complained about a book--it wasn't banned or burned. No American author in the USA was threatened--that's for Europe and the Middle East. We have the right to complain, too. It's covered in the First Amendment.  We pay for our public libraries and schools--should we be thrilled with every selection? Can we say, "Why so many Martha Stewart?" What about poor quality binding or illustrations? Is that OK to complain about? Or price? Or disrespect toward a race, gender or religion? Or new books on the occult outnumbering new titles for a religion a bit more common in the neighborhood, for instance, Christianity? Banning of sorts does exist, but it starts in the back room where decisions are made on what to buy. And the library field is overwhelmingly liberal.

Who opposes Obamacare? Most Americans.

I went to the polls directly to see what was said. The story that accompanies the USA Today-Pew Poll blames the Republicans for a misinformed public and that of the 19% without insurance, only about 40% know they are mandated to get insurance. This does not surprise me; they are young, or poor or non-political--millions could have had insurance either through Medicaid or their employer, but just didn't sign on. This was completely unnecessary legislation.