Meet the Second Most Powerful Man in the World

According to Forbes, here is the First:

 

 

 

 

Kremlin.ru

Forbes Criteria

1. Whether the candidate has power over lots of people.
2. The financial resources controlled by each person
3. Breadth of power "Multiple Spheres".
4. Use of power.

Runners Up

#3 Ji Xinping

#4 Pope Francis

#5 Angela Merkel

The rest can be found here. 

Do you agree? Disagree? And if so, why?

Why Does Business Support Immigration Reform

Cheap Labor

CBO: Economic Impact of S. 744

The Senate Immigration Reform Bill will:

Increase the size of the labor pool
Increase Unemployment
Decrease Wages
Boost Capital Investment
Raise Productivity
Increase Interest Rates

"new immigrants of working age would participate in the labor force at a higher rate, on average, than other people in that age range in the United States."

Translation: new immigrants will replace or exclude native citizens in the labor pool.

" Employment would increase as the labor force expanded, because the additional population would add to demand for goods and services and, in turn, to the demand for labor. However temporary imbalances in the skills and occupations demanded and supplied in the labor market, as well as other factors, would cause the unemployment rate to be slightly higher for several years"

Translation: Give up your job in construction, hope you enjoy working at McDonalds.

" the wages of lower and higher-skilled workers would tend to be pushed downward"

"The increase in the average wage would not occur for a dozen years."

"For roughly the first decade, the increase in the size of the labor force would make capital relatively scarce"

Translation: Good for Investors, Bad for Borrowers

"an increase in average wages of 12 percent for unauthorized workers who attain legal residency."

Translation: An increase in tax revenue

"Because the bill would increase the rate of growth of the labor force, average wages would be held down in the first decade after enactment by a reduction in the ratio of capital to labor, which would make workers less productive—and therefore lower their wages"

"Although the average wage would be lower than under current law over the first dozen years, the minimum wage would keep the wages of some less skilled workers from falling, dampening businesses’ demand for those workers"

Long Term Effects

Of course, I've cherry-picked the short term effects for the above section.  Long term, greater than 20 years there will be marginal economic improvement on the order of tenths of a percent, e.g. a 0.2% increase in GDP by 2033.

A Decent Joint 25c

From The Vienna Dioscurides 512 AD

I Never Thought I'd See the Day

The title of the post is what I saw on a large store sign outside a marijuana dispensary on US Highway 24.  Today it read "Bubble Hash Oil".  They used to sell chocolates there.  I pass two on the way to work each morning, the one with the sign is called the Eagle's Nest Wellness Center, the other just inside the city limits is called Total Health Care THC.  Never said pot heads didn't have a sense of humor.  For those who don't know, THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient in marijuana.

Mixed Reactions

So far, the biggest public complaints I have heard have come from adjacent businesses complaining about the pervasive odor of marijuana.  The greatest resistance so far has come not from the public but from our elected representatives.  The county that I live in has banned retail recreational marijuana despite county voter approval of Colorado Amendment 64 as well as 88% of the comments at the public hearing being in favor of allowing them.

The majority of city, town, and county governments seem to be taking a wait and see approach with moratoriums, although Denver approved recreational sales, while Colorado Springs has banned it.   While this affects the ability of retail outlets to conduct business, it does not affect the new Colorado law legalizing possession or use.  Over all, 35 communities in the state have elected to ban retail sales in what is turning out to be a patchwork quilt, for example, El Paso County has banned recreational sales while adjacent Pueblo County has approved them.  Reminds me of dry and wet counties in regards to alcohol sales.

More to Come

On this Novembers ballot voters will decide whether or not to impose a 25% combined excise/sales tax on recreational sales.  If medical sales are any indication this could be big business and big revenue for the state.  El Paso County had roughly 35M in medical sales alone while Denver approached 90M.  

Little Impact

So far, other than the news stories and the odd recreational or medical dispensary here and there, there seems to be little impact to the general public. The government promised debauchery has yet to appear:

We Won't Monitor Your Location

Jalopnik.com

Yeah, and the NSA won't monitor our phones, email, and twitter accounts either.

 

We've posted on this subject previously, but the initiative hasn't yet died out and has been subject to a recent article in the LA Times.

Jalopnik provides a list of what these devices currently record and points out that the data belongs to the owner of the car.  Of course that is data subject to court ordered warrants and insurance company policy provisions, and if you can't get insurance without consenting to provide the data... who really owns it, you or the insurance company?

The government wants this data, or a modified version of it, to tax each driver based on the miles driven.

"This is really a must for our nation"

"It is not something we might choose to do".   Said Hasan Ikhrata of the Southern Kalifornian Association of Governments.  Don't you love being lectured on what our nation must do by former Soviet Bureaucrats of the Moscow Metro?  Who according to multiple sources holds a Bachelor's from Moscow University and Bachelor's and Master's from Zoporozhye University. What's even worse is he a PhD Candidate at the University of Soviet California (USC).

OCR

SCAG.CA.GOV

So we are proud to present Hasan Ikhrata: 

 

 

 With the Western Hero Award

 

 

The True Welfare State

Is it a coincidence that Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate and one-time policy analyst for the GAO is Toni Townes-Whitley, Executive Vice President of the lead company for the Healthcare.gov website design? Daily Caller

According to a June report from the Government Accountability Office, a total of 55 contractors were retained to work on the rollout of the federal health-care marketplace. CGI Federal was the primary one, and had received $88 million out of the $394 million that had been spent at that point.  Washington Post

CGI and it's subsidiaries have a long history of government work:

Canadian Gun Registry: Failed
Hawaii Tax Dept IT: Failed
eHealth Ontario: Failed
Vermont Health Connect: Failed

Fox News 

This, is Normal

Despite many years of attempts at contract reform, the one constant in government contracting is that the government routinely gets screwed.  One can't place sole blame on the contractors though, as the government routinely backs into these things with its pants down around its firmly gripped ankles.

Many people think the movie Pentagon Wars is a fictitious comedy, take my word for it, it's not fiction and the only thing that makes it hilariously funny is the fact that most of what you see is true.  I highly recommend it, not because it is one of the great movies, but because it is highly educational.

And don't think I'm picking on the DoD, what you see is not limited to the Department of Defense but is found throughout our government.

 

One Republic

A couple of weeks ago we showcased a band from Viburnum's neck of the woods.  Here is one from ours - One Republic.

Counting Stars is from their latest album Native and  hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Went Top 10 in 9 countries and was #1 in the UK for two weeks.

Very Interesting

Consider the following statements:

The best way for the State to become less burdensome on taxpayers is to reduce dependency on it.

Reducing dependency should be a big part of the debate every time the Budget comes around. Instead, the debate is invariably dominated by what government handouts should be spared the knife or even meaningful reform.

Taxpayers never complain as loudly as the various interest groups who have become dependent on this or that welfare benefit

No one ever wants to cut anything. The instinct is always to spend more, to introduce some new benefit at the taxpayers' expense.

Politicians know that the single best way to buy votes is to fight cuts to benefits and, when they can, increase current benefits and introduce new ones.

This is exactly what helped get this country into its present mess. That and artificially inflating the property bubble. The last government, in common with other governments overseas, encouraged banks to lend and lend in order to inflate the economy, so they could raise more tax revenue, spend more and get into office again.

The pressure to grow the State is still enormous. Politicians love lashing out the money. It's easy to condemn anyone who isn't so fond of benefits as 'hard-hearted'. It's the most fantastic trick ever; at one and the same time you can spend other people's money and get to call yourself 'compassionate'.

The entire instinct in politics is to regard people who have private health coverage and private pensions and savings as 'rich'. They are there purely to be taxed and must be made to feel guilty that they have these things. How dare they?

State policy has to be aimed at reducing dependency, not increasing it. We cannot afford the State we have and therefore only those who must be dependent on it should be dependent on it.

You might be surprised

The excerpts above, and I've omitted a paragraph or two, and a word here and there so as to not give it away, came not from American news media or opinion but from the Irish Independent, Ireland's largest selling daily newspaper, not from an American columnist or commentator, but David Quinn, an Irish columnist.

The article is not talking about the American government but the Irish one, the commonality was striking.

Okay, so we're a little upside down today.

 Slainte!

IT'S DOT GOV

Lets go Phishing

More than 700 websites spoofing the Healthcare.gov website have been identified. More than 3000 people have already visited Obama-care.us. Washington Examiner

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Healthcare.com is a legitimate website that has been in operation since 1994.  Experts predict roughly 30% of the traffic intended for Healthcare.gov will inadvertently windup on Healthcare.com.  This is why websites generally register similar or related domain names to redirect customers to the correct site, and avoid domain names that could be easily confused.

 

An old story going back into the 90's is the one about Whitehouse.gov versus Whitehouse.com.  One belongs to the executive branch while the other is an, ahem, adult website.

The domain name peta.org was originally obtained by an organization People Eating Tasty Animals, much to the chagrin of those other, ethical people. Bitlaw

Caveat Emptor

Make sure you know who you're dealing with.

This has been a public service announcement by Western Hero.

???.ffe.ee.shared.header.learn???

 

Red Simon

True to Form

The first acclaimed internet president rolls out Obamacare about as well he can give a speech without a teleprompter. Also true to form, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney ducked out of a press conference after being unable to answer simple questions from reporters. "I'm not a computer expert, I don't build websites" he said in response to reporters questions... apparently he's not a very good press secretary either.

"If you like your health insurance, you can keep it" - NBC

Florida Blue sent out 300,000 cancellation notices, roughly 80% of it's individual policies in the state.  Kaiser Permanente sent out 160,000 cancellation notices, roughly half its individual business in California while Blue Shield sent out 120,000 cancellations, roughly 60% of its individual business.  Independence Blue Cross in Pennsylvania dropped 45% of it's policies. NBC News

A Total Fiasco - CBS

 

THIS PAGE CAN'T BE DISPLAYED: It's a Bust - ABC

"It was supposed to be an easy way for Americans to sign up for health care online. But this morning, the Department of Health and Human Services, which spent $500 million to build the site, is admitting it's a bust."

- Rebecca Jarvis on GMA

Anybody try to sign on or up?

The Killer Robots Are Here

Larry D. Moore

Okay, so that's not one of them... yet.

But you get the idea, artificial intelligence, no matter how primitive is  becoming ubiquitous.  From the Roomba to the toaster using fuzzy logic to ensure you get the perfect piece of toast, they are all around us.  Some of them are a lot meaner than the Roomba.

SWORDS

Meet SWORDS, equipable with everything from an M-16 to a 40mm grenade launcher or 66mm FLASH rocket launcher.  3 SWORDS devices were fielded in Iraq, but used in fixed positions and never given authorization to fire.  It is part of the TALON series of robots, one of which was used at ground zero on 9/11.  These devices were never intended to be fully autonomous and require interaction with a human operator.  The brochure for its successor can be found here: MAARS

 Meet the Phalanx

 

Capable of "autonomously performing its own search, detect, evaluation, track, engage and kill assessment functions" requires no human interaction whatsoever beyond turning it on.  There is a reason for autonomy, and that is that the human is the weak link in the chain for the threat Phalanx was designed to counter, high-speed anti-ship missiles.  You turn it on when there is a threat, if you wait for the actual attack, you're dead already.

The Three Laws of Robotics

Devised by Isaac Asimov in a short story in 1946 they are best summarized as follows:
 
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The UN

At a UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security side event Monday, mission delegates from Egypt, France, and Switzerland voiced an interest in regulating "killer robots" — completely autonomous weapon systems — in warfare.  They are some of the first international voices backing ideas that the Human Rights Watch and Campaign to Stop Killer Robots have been championing for about a year.  MSN

So, are we headed for the Terminator, or not?

Democrats are as Crazy and Extremist as Republicans

The latest District of Criminals brouhaha is over and the shameless borrowing of money continues. The GOP handed President Obama a rare victory, and he crushed them, but leftwing liberals continue their gestalt screaming and drum-circle beating about how crazy and extreme those Republican extremists and racist crazy right wing tea baggers are.

America’s leftwingers are an ungracious lot. At every victory, instead of celebrating, being of good cheer, and extending a hand to the vanquished, their anger gets angrier and their hate gets hatier.

The Real Agenda:  Keep the Monster Moving

The Democrat Party-Mainstream Media-US Government propaganda push to paint the GOP and conservatives (not the same thing) as crazy extremists is in fact a well-orchestrated smoke screen to mask the Democrats’ own madness on the left edge, and to preserve our bloated, progressive government.

Alex Castellanos has written a piece at CNN on just how crazy and extremist the Democrat party has become:

Bill Clinton's New Democrats are dead. This is not Hillary Clinton's Democratic Party. Today's Democratic Party belongs to Elizabeth Warren. It is the party that just nominated a Sandinista trainee who returned from Nicaraguawith "a vision of unfettered leftist government" for mayor of New York City, according to the New York Times.

And today's Democrats think this is a good thing.

This is the new new left: Aging former-rebels now protecting the creaking ancien regime. Talk about mixed up...

“While our world transforms itself through revolutions in energy, technology and communication, the ideologists of the left stagnate. Barack Obama's Democratic Party is intellectually exhausted. Their old Democratic Party has nothing up its sleeves but more of the same.”

Castellanos asks, Which party is more extreme?

A Republican Party divided between 180 mainstream House members and 40 Ted Cruz mini-me's? Or a Democratic Party united to preserve our fossilized, ineffective public sector?

A Republican Party advocating a path to fresh, natural, economic growth? Or a Democratic Party offering young voters the outdated economics of conformity, artificially imposed by Washington's elites? 

A Republican Party being driven to offer change? Or a Democratic Party united against it.

It is often said that all things must pass, and that is true. It is also a truism that, with apologies to the great singer-songwriter Roger Miller, Washington swings like a pendulum do. 2014 will be fun, and the leadup to 2016 will be outrageous entertainment as Barack Obama makes way for a pack of leftwink kooks who won’t be able to pull it off because they don’t have the BO Mojo.

Howard Dean may have screamed his way past the Democratic nomination in 2004, but the revolution he started has borne fruit. The 2016 nomination battle may be a fight between Elizabeth Warren, Governors Martin O'Malley and Deval Patrick, an unpolished pack of ideological duds and even a reinvigorated Dean, all vying to out-crazy each other and take the Democratic Party over a precipice. They'll make the troupe that sought the 2012 GOP nomination look like the committee awarding the Nobel Prize for Physics. (Castellanos)

I can’t wait.

Here's an opposing view: The Tea Party and the GOP Crackup

What do you think?

Into the Borg

Industrial man—a sentient reciprocating engine having a fluctuating output, coupled to an iron wheel revolving with uniform velocity. And then we wonder why this should be the golden age of revolution and mental derangement. -- Aldous Huxley

We are analog beings swimming against a digital deluge. Is technology to blame for an increase in “Zero Tolerance” policies and black-or-white thinking?

The Law is an Ass

This headline from the Daily Mail caught my eye:

Boy, 15, kills himself after 'facing expulsion and being put on sex offender registry' for streaking prank at high school football game

A school should punish a student for running across the field naked during a sporting event, but expulsion and placement on a sex offender registry? Common sense has flown the coop. Elvis has left the building.

An Abortion of Justice

Our laws are failing us. Three strikes and you’re out for stealing a pizza destroys far more lives than it saves. Same for draconian punishments for petty offenses like drug use, possession of small amounts of illegal substances, or violating school district boundaries in an attempt to give your child a better education.

More insidious, is how our “justice” system classifies as a sex offender anyone caught with their wiener or boobs hanging out. An underage girl or boy sends a naked selfie, and he or she and everyone involved get branded for life as child pornographers. How does that help anyone or advance society? This is not a miscarriage of justice; it is a purposeful abortion of it. Such kids need some instant punishment that teaches them a lesson, not an indelible brand that marks them for life.

Definitional Abuse Harms Society

This is also a definitional abuse that harms society. It is a collective madness to stupidly place misdemeanor violations in the same category as rapists and real child pornographers who do indeed merit harsh punishment for violating the body and humanity of another. How do we look at a sex offender registry and separate the streakers, boob flashers, and those caught pissing in the bushes from the pedophiles and the rapists?

If simple nudity is pornography, why aren’t art galleries shut down? What about artists who have painted their daughters in the nude? Are nudist retreats pornographic? Of course not, but the ever-expanding body of laws and rules fly in the face of common sense and reason as they obtrude upon our lives and crowd out common sense. Is it any wonder prudence is practically a lost virtue?

Where do I End and You Begin?

I think we are being pushed into a digital world where binary logic is inexorably replacing analog modes of thinking like common sense and reason. We are building our own prison--A homogenized world where our very selves are being subsumed into the collective. The result is that many of us retreat into our own little cultural corners, ideological niches and private worlds in a desperate struggle to hold on to our I’s, our selves, our core being, who we truly are and what makes us unique.

Technology is dehumanizing.  Is it taking over our mode of thinking?

Asinum Foveas

This one's for John Boehner

 

And this one's for Mitch McConnell

Hey is that a special cameo appearance by Mitch McConnell himself at 2:50?

A proposal to end the government shutdown and avoid default orchestrated by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Harry Reid includes a $2 billion earmark for a Kentucky project.

Language in a draft of the McConnell-Reid deal (see page 13, section 123) provided to WFPL News shows a provision that increases funding for the massive Olmsted Dam Lock in Louisville from $775 million to nearly $2. 9 billion.

 

Them Ain't Cheerios

And the Prize of the Week goes to House republicans, courtesy of Mitch McConnell.

 

A special Western Hero Kudos goes out to the first one to identify what they actually are.  Have fun.

 

 

 

By Wisdom a House is Built

From the Gospel according to St. Luke:

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, `This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Related:
The Tower Builder and the Warlord
Proverbs 24
Sun Tzu – The Art of War

It's All Fallen Apart

Glad to see Democrats being honest with themselves. Oh, she was talking about the Continuing Resolution, not the country... never mind then.

IDIOTS SHOULD BE SEEN, NOT HEARD

Gage Skidmore

In a moronic Catch-22 Sarah Palin was quoted as saying:

“Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense,” 

Really? If a congressman gets drunk and drives does the President get a DUI?  Given that it's the responsibility of Congress to pass a budget, the President only signs it or vetoes it... it's just another reason why the Right needs to make sure the only time her voice is heard it's muffled by a pillow, and if that doesn't give you nightmares, I don't know what will. 

Well at least in an attempt to be nice, she got it half right.

MR BISPITESANSHIP

  "Let us be clear: The House resolution will not pass the Senate" A furious Harry Reid was quoted.

Without reading it?  Hell why not! You passed the ACA without reading it.  

So, is it that a smile or is he just constipated? If you ask me that's the perfect picture for an Ex-Lax billboard.  Can't you see the caption now?  

WITHOUT EX-LAX, THIS MAN CAN'T PASS ANYTHING

You Could Hardly Notice

The Government is Shutdown

Or is it? I've been reading through articles listing the impacts of the government shutdown.

Air Traffic Controllers continue to control the air.
Airport Security continues to screen travelers.
Benefit Payments continue to be paid.
The State Department continues to process visas.
The Federal Courts continue to operate.
The NRC is still regulating.
The NWS is still forecasting.
The military is still defending.
Veterans still have the VA

So, exactly what is shut down?

With the exception of National Parks, it sees that major impacts are minor delays and inconveniences.  

Any one personally impacted by the shutdown?  

Columbus Day

Dióscoro Teófilo de la Puebla Tolin

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue. 
He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
 
He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way. 
A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.
 
Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.
Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.

Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.
October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!

"Indians!  Indians!"  Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.
But "India" the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.
 
The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.
Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he'd been told.
 
He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.
The first American?  No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Legally Dead

In 1994 in the Hancock County Probate Court, State of Ohio at a hearing requested by Robin Miller, Judge Allan Davis ruled that Donald Eugene Miller Jr. was legally dead eight years after he had disappeared.  This allowed Robin Miller and her two children to collect Social Security Benefits. 

Still Dead

On October 7th, 2013 in the Hancock County Probate Court, Judge Allan Davis ruled that Donald Eugene Miller Jr., who appeared in court and had requested the hearing, was still dead.  Donald Miller's request had come well after the three year limit for changing a death ruling and  Robin Miller had opposed the reversal ruling because she would be required to repay the Social Security benefits,

Solomon

"The three year limit on the death ruling is clear" Judge Davis said, "I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned"

Someone needs to tell Jesus, ain't no point in coming back. 

Source

We Don't Need No Water

 

Fire Water Burn - Bloodhound Gang

(WARNING - Explicit Lyrics)

 

This one's for Viburnum, 

the band is from his neck of the woods

 

Just like our Supreme Dictator in Chief (Yeah, Hugo Chavez was elected too), I've unanimously chosen an anthem for this government shutdown.

And... there will be no negotiation. 

If you need help with the lyrics, go here 

There will be a test. 

For you Statist Flunkies 

of Weak Constitution

The FCC Approved Version is Below

 

 

 

 

Default

Why it might be a good thing.

Today, there is a good chance that the U.S. government, like the state governments of the 1840s, will be forced to default on its explicit and implicit promises within the next few decades. Exactly how and when is less certain. But the fundamental and massive budgetary changes required to prevent a fiscal crisis are politically unimaginable. Perhaps only default can impose the necessary fiscal discipline.

 Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

Why China Scolds US on Currency Devaluation

If the dollar is no longer the pre-eminent reserve currency, then countries will dump much of their dollar holdings, pushing down its value in currency markets. A lower-valued dollar will cause exports to soar and imports to plummet, creating millions of new manufacturing jobs. Millions more jobs would be created in other sectors due to the multiplier effect. This could well bring us back to full employment -- a goal we may not otherwise achieve until the next decade.

 Dean Baker

 A Balanced Budget

When the government spends more than it takes in, it must borrow to cover the cost.  In times of national emergency, that ability to borrow on the nation's credit is a good thing.  The government can no more live perpetually on credit than you can and borrowing has become the defacto standard for operating our government.  It can not go on forever.

A default would increase the costs of borrowing money to operate the government.  While that isn't necessarily a good thing, it is better than the alternative of perpetual borrowing.  Sooner or later, having squandered the nation's credit away, the party must and will come to an end.  This end can come about in one of two ways. 

1. The government can balance it's budget, or maintain debt at a reasonable level of its own accord.

2. The lenders can either increase the cost of borrowing until it becomes unfeasible to do so, or stop lending (buying our debt).

Most would agree the former is greatly preferable to the latter, for if the latter arises the country would be unable to borrow in cases of national emergency.  One way or another the borrowing will come to an end.  The only question left now is how.  

Shutdown Follies

The District of Criminals is also a theater of the absurd. We have a graceless, feckless, ball-less "leader" who won't lead and thumb-up-their-asses legislators who won't legislate.

This is the result of an increasingly dictatorial government raking in more and more of our rights and our money and then doling them back out to us via complex bunko scams and vote-buying schemes.  A government that tries to do everything ends up screwing everything up.  Trying to impose one-size-fits-all solutions on a diverse nation is a sure recipe for chaos ad infinitum. 

Yes, Fools Obama Really did Shut Down Mount Rushmore

Foolish liberals bit hard on the e-mail hoax showing the photoshopped picture of helicopters dangling a giant sheet to block the view of Mount Rushmore. Yes, the humorless haters actually thought that the conservatives, or "tea baggers," really believed it.  We're so stupid dontcha know!  Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk!

While they were laughing and congratulating one another on how smart they all were, Obama actually did close Mount Rushmore, and despite what the Huff and Puff Postington says, a local South Dakota paper says they even coned off the pulloffs where drivers can stop and see it for free.

He also closed profit makers the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park. An American who would disagree with Michelle Obama about being proud of her country gives an eyewitness account of the gestapo-like tactics park visitors were subject to:

For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard.

The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest.

When finally allowed to leave, the bus was not allowed to halt at all along the 2.5-hour trip out of the park, not even to stop at private bathrooms that were open along the route.  (Eagle Tribune)

Welcome to the turd world...

We have all the intelligence and military might in the world, but we haven't won a war since 1945, so the dictatorial regime turns its instruments of oppression on the people.  The buffoonish klown kongress can't get its collective stuff together, so the immature, spiteful president decides to hurt as many people across this once-great land as he can.
 
Mark Steyn, on the government shutting down the WW II Memorial.  Please read it to the end.  What he says hits the bulls-eye:

Thus, they decided to close down an unfenced open-air site – which, oddly enough, requires more personnel to shut than it would to keep it open.

More...

The World War II Memorial exists thanks to some $200 million in private donations – plus $15 million or so from Washington: In other words, the feds paid for the grass.

But the thug usurpers of the bureaucracy want to send a message: In today’s America, everything is the gift of the government, and exists only at the government’s pleasure, whether it’s your health insurance, your religious liberty, or the monument to your fallen comrades.

Read the whole thing here, and weep for what your nation has become.

See also:
Government Website Shutdowns - Bafflingly Arbitrary
Government:  Powerful, Punitive, and Arbitrary

I Have Never Seen Anyone

Such a Load of Crap

As I witnessed President Obama shovel yesterday.  He is either the world's most consummate liar, or is so delusional that he actually believes what he is saying.

I found his driveling speech so pathetic that I honestly wanted to throw my coffee cup at the TV.  After watching today's performance all I can say in response is "Go #### yourself!"

SHUT THE WHOLE G-D THING DOWN

Tuesday's revolting... and I won't dignify it by calling it a press conference, a press conference would imply that the press was allowed to ask questions as opposed to being allowed to regurgitate pre-screened government talking points, so the President can go on with his lecture. It is the theater of the absurd... an hour long "press conference" and not one question on the American Circus Act (ACA), also known as 'Obamacare".  If the press had any cajones or even self-respect they wouldn't even  show up, rather than appear and give some semblance of credibility to this two-bit sideshow that is our current administration.  

That press fiasco utterly and completely has me so P.O'd that at this point I don't even care if we do go into default.  At least with lousy credit the ######'s can't borrow money to spend on programs we don't need and maybe in the aftermath we'll get people in the legislative and executive branch's who can actually do something constructive.

This current situation has vividly illustrated everything that is ugly and nasty about this administration...  WWII vets can't go to the WWII memorial, but La Raza can Rally on the Mall?  The American people are being spit on... nay pissed on, and are quite content to have the "President" get on National TV and tell them it's raining. 

The President, the President who once again called the Speaker of the House to reiterate the "he won't negotiate", has the balls to stand up on national TV and accuse the Republican party of "holding a gun to the head of the American people".  Every word that comes out of his lying mouth (credit to Joe Wilson) is an insult to the American people. I am sick and tired of being lied to, bullshitted, and stroked by this prissy Chicago political hack.  The gloves are off, I am done feigning respect and being polite.  I'll call it like I see it and if you don't like it... tough.

Okay, Done Venting

What did you think of yesterday's presidential soap opera?  Believe me... Day's of Our Lives had nothing on the overacted drama, innuendo, intrigue, and false tears of the president's "press conference".

 

And Now For Something Completely...

RIDICULOUS

My Safety Sign

The Weber Middle School in Port Washington Long Island out of concern for student safety has banned:

Footballs

Baseballs

Soccerballs

Lacrosse Balls

Tag

Cartwheels

This has come about due to a "rash of playground injuries"

So, in the future, children let out for recess will be chained to a pole and securely wrapped in bubble wrap.

Welcome to the New America!

And the Negotiations (Should) Begin

(c) Martin SoulStealer

Face It 

Democrats can't push anything through the House and Republicans can't push anything through the Senate, and Obama is sitting in the Oval Office all by himself playing with his veto stamp.

The Republican have passed and offered many compromises, all stubbornly refused by the Senate. Obama and Reid have reiterated that they don't want to negotiate, it's either their way, or no way at all.  Point noted.

Obama's approval rating has slipped 3 points to its lowest in two years, 41%, while his disapproval rating has climbed to 52%.       The Hill

78% of the American People disapprove of the job being done by congress. RCP  

It's Time for Someone to Man Up and Lead

But face it, I'm not holding my breath.  

Robert Hubert - Incendie à Rome

 

 

Anybody got any Marshmallow? 

I'm in the Mood for S'mores

Enjoy Your Day Off

ReubenInStt

The House and Senate Are!

Rank-and-file lawmakers are exhausted from a two-week, high-tension fight and leadership decided to send them home for at least a day.
  
CAN WE GET A GREAT BIG AWWW!!!!

For all our hard working elected representatives?

HERE'S MINE 

SRV

A few samples from the Blues Guitar Legend 

Stevie Ray Vaughan

The Pointless Tragedy of It All

How Many More People Must Die?

How many more crazy people armed with a ton and a half of sheet metal, plastic and glass have to attack our nations capitol before we wise up and realize that nowhere in the constitution are you guaranteed a right to transportation.

Sure sure, we've heard all the arguments before... Cars don't drive into barricades, drivers drive into barricades.  But anyone, even convicted felons can hop behind the wheel of 1, 2, even 3 ton metal projectiles free to wreak havoc upon innocents, all without so much as a background check.

Meanwhile...

9-year old Johnny Doe was expelled from Washington Elementary School for wearing an offensive T-Shirt...

 

In 2010 8,775 people were killed by firearms while more than 30,000, okay 32,885 were slaughtered by the dreaded automobile. Even worse... the majority of the guns used to kill those 8.775 people were purchased by people using DRIVER'S LICENSES as identification in the gun purchase... so indirectly, all 41,660 deaths were a result of our childish primitive fascination with shiny, wheely things. (Bear with me, I'm using liberal logic here).

NOW IS THE TIME TO DEMAND ACTION

We have to stop acting and living like it's the wild wild days of Route 66 and cast aside this monstrous metallic monster of mayhem like civilized people and start hoofing it.

Join us at the Armadillo Center for the Prevention of Automotive Violence and urge your elected representatives to ban these mid-life crisis bollard bashing behemoths from our public spaces.

STOP THE INSANITY

STOP THE EVIL