A unique book club—all women and one football player

A mouse in the house

Our cat is 16 years old, somewhat arthritic, and sleeps most of the day--but she was back to her roots protecting us last night, stalking and running--apparently a mouse is in the house. We live in a wooded area, and this time of year they sneak in when they can. The cheese was removed from the trap, but it didn't spring. We're not sure who ate it--the cat or the mouse. Sort of like watching politics, isn't it?

Americans do come together, but . . .

If it is something that binds Americans together, the liberals/progressives are protesting it, suing it, fighting it and smearing it on social media. The Star Spangled Banner, the Pledge of Allegiance, a common language, an American flag on a locker in a police station or on a t-shirt, a motto on our money, prayer before community meetings, a local celebration based on our religious traditions. They say they want inclusiveness, but really, they want more people to think they are victims and to exclude God.

 

 

 

 

His word is worthless—even when made to Democrats

Another promise and more laws broken--"absolutely no abortion coverage under [my plan] Obamacare. Our president, Sept. 9, 2009.

If he hadn't lied through his teeth, there would be no Obamacare. A law, an executive order, and a very explicit promise. Worthless. Leftists never change--do it now, ask later. Remember, he controlled both houses then--the promises were made to pro-life Democrats. http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/boehner-gao-report-confirms-taxpayers-fund-abortions-through-obamacare

The Taliban 5 swap was illegal

President Obama’s decision to exchange captive Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Guantanamo Bay detainees violated federal law, according to a legal opinion the Government Accountability Office sent to Congress Thursday. That’s because the administration failed to notify Congress at least 30 days before the transfer, as required under a law passed in February. The Pentagon notified Congress of the deal on May 31, the same day the transfer was made. And because Congress did not authorize spending for the exchange, it also violated the Antideficiency Act, a law intended to protect Congress’s power of the purse. The Department of Defense spent $988,400 on the transfer, the Pentagon told the GAO. An intentional violation of the Antideficiency Act is a crime punishable by up to two years in prison, but those criminal penalties are rarely enforced. -

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/21/bowe-bergdahl-release-illegal-legal-opinion/14408807/

This is not “news,” but a refresher.  I wonder if the beheadings had happened first, if the Bergdahl swap would have happened. I don’t know if the 5 will go to ISIS, but if they don’t, there are 999 other groups to recruit them.

Allen West on fighting Ebola (from Facebook)

“Listening to Obama’s speech on attacking the virus Ebola. Just kinda wish he had been this proactive and energetic about confronting another virus, ISIS, back in January. Islamic jihadism is a virus that is already in America, guess that is cool with Barack Hussein Obama. I would rather send 3000 tough hard combat troops to fight ISIS and ensure the epidemic of Christian and religious minority genocide ceased. The world needs to step up against Islamo-fascism but I suppose fighting Ebola is easier for a faux Commander-in-Chief than to fight a real enemy of America. Nice optics there Barack, good try to change the subject, and make yourself seem like a leader fighting a really bad flu bug -- all the while you dismiss the cockroaches who behead Americans.”

I don’t know how many people die of Ebola, but it’s probably not as high as the flu in the USA.

A new analysis of the past 31 flu seasons, put out by the CDC this afternoon, shows that 36K might have been a third too high. It's more like 23,607 per year, on average. But it all depends on how you slice the data. NPR

The War on Poverty—a failure, now 50 years old

Abstract

In his January 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed, “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” In the 50 years since that time, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Adjusted for inflation, this spending (which does not include Social Security or Medicare) is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution. Yet progress against poverty, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, has been minimal, and in terms of President Johnson’s main goal of reducing the “causes” rather than the mere “consequences” of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed completely. In fact, a significant portion of the population is now less capable of self-sufficiency than it was when the War on Poverty began.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/09/the-war-on-poverty-after-50-years

Hydraulic fracturing is not contaminating wells

There are many studies to confirm that hydraulic fracturing is safe and our road to independence from the middle east, but this won't calm the voices of unreason because it is a political, not a scientific issue, much like global climate change.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/15/4153640_duke-scientists-fracking-didnt.html?rh=1

The findings of the Duke researchers, based on 133 drinking water wells in Texas and Pennsylvania, corroborate claims by the energy industry that the fracturing process alone is not likely to imperil drinking water.

“We’re saying to the industry, the good news is we don’t think it’s actually from the hydraulic fracturing itself,” said Avner Vengosh, Duke professor of geochemistry and water quality.

“So far we can say pretty categorically that we have not seen escape of the gas from the shale formation into the overlying aquifers,” Vengosh said.

The Duke scientists say their findings apply only to the 113 wells in Pennsylvania and the 20 in Texas they have sampled, but they are likely to also be true for the thousands of other wells that have been horizontally drilled and hydraulically fracked all over the country.

The great divide

If it is something that binds Americans together, the liberals/progressives are protesting it, suing it, fighting it and smearing it on social media. The Star Spangled Banner, the Pledge of Allegiance, a common language, an American flag on a locker in a police station or on a t-shirt, a motto on our money, prayer before community meetings, a local celebration based on our religious traditions. They say they want inclusiveness, but really, they want more people to think they are victims and to exclude God.

Worship the King

Over the shoulder

Cool mornings ahead

Lows in the 40s and lower 50s and highs in the upper 60s and lower 70s.

Darn that global warming.

Crickets and crow

Bush/Cheney haters should be eating some crow right now. Bush took a few moments to gather his thoughts during a visit to a school classroom after the 9/11 disaster and they ridiculed him.  Obama dawdled and hesitated for months not only in Iraq in 2009, but more recently for 9 months about ISIS, and it's crickets from the Bush haters. Kerry calls bombing ISIS counter terrorism and WH Chief of Staff calls it war, and Obama calls it time out and goes to the golf course.

Bush went to Congress to get support and enlisted many international allies; Obama will apparently move forward on the force of his charisma and personality. In the late 1990s most Democrats in Congress including Kerry, Edwards, Kennedy, Lieberman,  Feinstein, Milulski, and Daschle all warned the country and President Clinton about WMD citing good sources of intelligence. But it was Bush's fault when they weren't found.  Yet Obama was using the excuse of chemical weapons (aka WMD) by Assad for supporting Syrian rebels and drawing lines and tough talk, even though it hasn't been proven and we've been fooled before.

http://www.cfr.org/iraq/iraq-justifying-war/p7689

http://www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/if-the-bush-administration-lied-about-wmd-so-did-these-people-version-3-0/

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/343870/why-did-we-invade-iraq-victor-davis-hanson/page/0/1?splash=

Blood on Hillary’s hands

Our ambassador was in Libya to facilitate arms shipments to Syrian rebels. No wonder it had to be covered up. Blood on Mrs. Clinton's hands.

“The U.S. special mission in Benghazi and the nearby CIA annex were utilized in part to coordinate arms shipments to the jihadist rebels fighting the Syrian regime, with Ambassador Christopher Stevens playing a central role, documents an explosive new book released today [Sept. 9]. The activities, which included a separate, unprecedented multi-million-dollar weapons collection effort from Libyan militias who did not want to give up their weapons, may have prompted the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, charges the new book. The findings and more are revealed in the new work by radio host and WND reporter Aaron Klein, “The REAL Benghazi Story: What the White House and Hillary Don’t Want You to Know.” -

 http://kleinonline.wnd.com/2014/09/09/finally-revealed-what-ambassador-in-benghazi-was-really-doing-operating-under-orders-of-obama-hillary-clinton-on-secret-mission/#sthash.i6HAEkZ5.lCjK8q4N.dpuf

Glenn Beck reported this in September 2012.

Immediately after Stevens’ death there were photos of his torture and sexual abuse on the internet, which quickly disappeared.  Sending an openly gay man to a country very hostile to gays was not the best plan.

Getting married? Or divorced? Understand the economics.

Much of the cost and animosity involved in divorce is due to government heavy handed regulation of marriage and the divorce industry, says this author. http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-economics-of-marriage-and-divorce

“Married couples’ "wealth increases on average 16 percent for each year of marriage. Divorced respondents’ wealth starts falling four years before divorce and they experience an average wealth drop of 77 percent.” In terms of percentage, women were more likely than men to be harmed by divorce, but the absolute difference between the two was “relatively small.” More recent research supports Zagorsky's basic insights. 

Two factors contribute heavily to the financial decline surrounding divorce: losing the inherent wealth-creation aspects of marriage, and State-imposed costs such as alimony and “the divorce industry.” The divorce industry consists of the laws and state agencies that regulate the terms of a divorce, as well as the professionals, such as lawyers and social workers, who make it function.”

Filtering hate

I don't understand it. With so much material at our fingertips, why lie, filter or exaggerate what the left or right says, writes and believes? We don't need ugly cartoons, absurd names, f-words, and not funny comedy routines. It just detracts and keeps the sheeple uninformed. Yesterday I read a ridiculous piece about what Michelle Obama said in a speech to new immigrants. First, she doesn't write her speeches--she has trained staff; second, she didn't say what the headlines reported (screamed) she said. That's called "click bait" so the website can bring the gullible right wingers to the website to please the advertisers who don't care about right, left or wrong--just money. And the same thing happens on the other side—The Daily Beast and Huffington Post seem middle of the road compared to some really ugly leftist sites. I even see it in my blog comments, some of which are so outrageous they can’t be posted.  Even the hostile ones that I let through I do to show that if people, left or right, want to twist or distort, they will.

The BBC guide to rebel groups in Syria

The BBC said that there are believed to be as many as 1,000 armed opposition groups in Syria, commanding an estimated 100,000 fighters. I wonder how any western leader could have decided who to back in the fight against Assad?  They certainly did have good intelligence or good guessing about this group.

Ten months ago among the numerous descriptions in the guide was ISIS or ISIL.

The creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in April 2013 was rejected by the al-Nusra Front. ISI's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, known as Abu Dua, nevertheless pressed ahead with expanding its operations into Syria. In August 2013, US intelligence assessed that he was based in Syria and commanded as many 5,000 fighters, many of them foreign jihadists. The group is active mostly in northern and eastern provinces of Syria. It has assumed joint control of municipalities in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqqa provinces. Isis has taken part in a number of major rebel operations, including by carrying out suicide bombings that helped capture two military bases. But it has also had tense relationships with other rebel groups, including those considered Islamist. Its fighters reportedly recently killed a prominent member Ahrar al-Sham, and have clashed with those from Ahfad al-Rasoul in Raqqa and the Northern Storm Brigade in Azaz. They have also targeted Shia and Alawite civilians.

Happy Birthday 9/12 movement

I enjoyed watching the 5th anniversary of the birth of the 9/12 movement on Glenn Beck. While liberals roar about the influence of the Koch Brothers, no amount of money could have gotten these folks off their couches and out of their homes. These people are unfunded, grass roots patriots who have never been political and have formed book groups, run for school boards and party committees, joined community organizations and resolved to stop letting the liberals and progressives take over all our traditions and values, renaming them for their purposes. Each group is independent--there's no central organization, but there are 9 principles and 12 values that supports each group.

The 9 Principles

1. America Is Good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
   God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
   Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
   Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
   Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
   Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
   Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
   On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
   Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson

The 12 Values

• Honesty
• Reverence
• Hope
• Thrift
• Humility
• Charity
• Sincerity
• Moderation
• Hard Work
• Courage
• Personal Responsibility
• Gratitude

 http://www.the912-project.com/about/the-9-principles-12-values/

Glenn Beck after presenting the founding principals and values, has no role in the organization.  He planned the original gathering in Washington, D.C. on September 12, 2009. There were other anti-taxation events going on at the same time.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB125276685577405975?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/14/hot-button-18902351/?feat=home_columns

Charcoal portrait by Chris Rees

Robin Williams portrait by my great nephew, Chris Rees.

New fall line up for Glenn Beck

More detailed news, author interviews, in depth studies of current events, and an interesting panel. Subscription costs about $1 a week. Glenn is a former Catholic, current Mormon, a libertarian, father of four, recovering alcoholic, whose mother committed suicide and really a pretty humble guy with a great staff of all faiths and ethnicities who also interject their opinions.