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2 hours ago
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Food Stamp Receipt - Eats Better Than I Do
Maybe these people aren't really as needy as the lib-nuts claim. Probably just an anomaly.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Hospitals hunt substitutes as drug shortages rise
Makes you wonder if the Government is too involved. Usually, when there is a demand, the private sector rushes to fill it. That rush can be stopped in its tracks if the Government gets into it. It appears that there is a cost factor involved where the cost of production of these drugs, which may be generic, makes them not profitable. Evidently something is interfering with the "supply and demand" equation for determining price. Could that be the FDA? Anyway, let us hope this situation gets resolved without more FDA regulations, which may have unforeseen, and deadly, consequences.
Excerpt: A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses - from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest - has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.
"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply has tripled over the past five years, to a record 211 medications last year. While some of those have been resolved, another 89 drug shortages have occurred in the first three months of this year, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service. It tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
The shortage that's made the most headlines is a sedative used on death row. But on the health-care front, shortages are wide-ranging, including:
-Thiotepa, used with bone marrow transplants.
-A whole list of electrolytes, injectable nutrients crucial for certain premature infants and tube-feeding of the critically ill.
-Norepinephrine injections for septic shock.
-A cystic fibrosis drug named acetylcysteine.
-Injections used in the ER for certain types of cardiac arrest.
-Certain versions of pills for ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
-Some leuprolide hormone injections used in fertility treatment.
No one is tracking patient harm. But last fall, the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices said it had two reports of people who died from the wrong dose of a substitute painkiller during a morphine shortage.
"Every pharmacist in every hospital across the country is working to make sure those things don't happen, but shortages create the perfect storm for a medication error to happen," says University of Utah pharmacist Erin Fox, who oversees the shortage-tracking program.
Affected companies say they're working hard to eliminate backlogs. For instance, Hospira Inc., the largest maker of those injectable drugs, says it is increasing production capacity and working with FDA "to address shortage situations as quickly as possible and to help prevent recurrence."
But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association says some shortages are beyond industry control, such as FDA inspections or stockpiling that can exacerbate a shortage.
"Drug shortages of any kind are a complex problem that require broad-based solutions from all stakeholders," adds the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a fellow trade group.
Read full AP article here.
Excerpt: A growing shortage of medications for a host of illnesses - from cancer to cystic fibrosis to cardiac arrest - has hospitals scrambling for substitutes to avoid patient harm, and sometimes even delaying treatment.
"It's just a matter of time now before we call for a drug that we need to save a patient's life and we find out there isn't any," says Dr. Eric Lavonas of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The problem of scarce supplies or even completely unavailable medications isn't a new one but it's getting markedly worse. The number listed in short supply has tripled over the past five years, to a record 211 medications last year. While some of those have been resolved, another 89 drug shortages have occurred in the first three months of this year, according to the University of Utah's Drug Information Service. It tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
The shortage that's made the most headlines is a sedative used on death row. But on the health-care front, shortages are wide-ranging, including:
-Thiotepa, used with bone marrow transplants.
-A whole list of electrolytes, injectable nutrients crucial for certain premature infants and tube-feeding of the critically ill.
-Norepinephrine injections for septic shock.
-A cystic fibrosis drug named acetylcysteine.
-Injections used in the ER for certain types of cardiac arrest.
-Certain versions of pills for ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
-Some leuprolide hormone injections used in fertility treatment.
No one is tracking patient harm. But last fall, the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices said it had two reports of people who died from the wrong dose of a substitute painkiller during a morphine shortage.
"Every pharmacist in every hospital across the country is working to make sure those things don't happen, but shortages create the perfect storm for a medication error to happen," says University of Utah pharmacist Erin Fox, who oversees the shortage-tracking program.
Affected companies say they're working hard to eliminate backlogs. For instance, Hospira Inc., the largest maker of those injectable drugs, says it is increasing production capacity and working with FDA "to address shortage situations as quickly as possible and to help prevent recurrence."
But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association says some shortages are beyond industry control, such as FDA inspections or stockpiling that can exacerbate a shortage.
"Drug shortages of any kind are a complex problem that require broad-based solutions from all stakeholders," adds the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a fellow trade group.
Read full AP article here.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Shale Boom In Texas Will Help Move U.S. Closer To Energy Independence
The NYT article was entitled "Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output". I guess we can forgive them for being a little apprehensive since drilling here in the good old USA is anathema to their left leaning reporters and management. It is probably a toss up as to which headline will eventually be the right one, what with the Obama administration's outward hostility toward fossil fuels. I can see the roadblocks being erected as we speak.
Excerpt: Until last year, the 17-mile stretch of road between this forsaken South Texas village and the county seat of Carrizo Springs was a patchwork of derelict gasoline stations and rusting warehouses.
Now the region is in the hottest new oil play in the country, with giant oil terminals and sprawling RV parks replacing fields of mesquite. More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months.
The Texas field, known as the Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation’s oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska.
There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing, a method that uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and hazardous chemicals to blast through the rocks to release the oil inside.
The technique, also called fracking, has been widely used in the last decade to unlock vast new fields of natural gas, but drillers only recently figured out how to release large quantities of oil, which flows less easily through rock than gas. As evidence mounts that fracking poses risks to water supplies, the federal government and regulators in various states are considering tighter regulations on it.
The oil industry says any environmental concerns are far outweighed by the economic benefits of pumping previously inaccessible oil from fields that could collectively hold two or three times as much oil as Prudhoe Bay, the Alaskan field that was the last great onshore discovery. The companies estimate that the boom will create more than two million new jobs, directly or indirectly, and bring tens of billions of dollars to the states where the fields are located, which include traditional oil sites like Texas and Oklahoma, industrial stalwarts like Ohio and Michigan and even farm states like Kansas.
“It’s the one thing we have seen in our adult lives that could take us away from imported oil,” said Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, one of the most aggressive drillers. “What if we have found three of the world’s biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the U.S.? How transformative could that be for the U.S. economy?”
But unlike Pennsylvania and New York, where fracking for natural gas has produced organized opposition, the oil industry has been mostly welcomed in western and southern states.
Thanks to the drilling boom, the recession bypassed North Dakota entirely. Here in Dimmit County, Tex., the unemployment rate has fallen in half, and sales tax receipts are up 70 percent so far this year, allowing the county to hire more police officers and buy sanitation and road repair equipment.
Read full NYT article here.
Excerpt: Until last year, the 17-mile stretch of road between this forsaken South Texas village and the county seat of Carrizo Springs was a patchwork of derelict gasoline stations and rusting warehouses.
Now the region is in the hottest new oil play in the country, with giant oil terminals and sprawling RV parks replacing fields of mesquite. More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months.
The Texas field, known as the Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation’s oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska.
There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing, a method that uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and hazardous chemicals to blast through the rocks to release the oil inside.
The technique, also called fracking, has been widely used in the last decade to unlock vast new fields of natural gas, but drillers only recently figured out how to release large quantities of oil, which flows less easily through rock than gas. As evidence mounts that fracking poses risks to water supplies, the federal government and regulators in various states are considering tighter regulations on it.
The oil industry says any environmental concerns are far outweighed by the economic benefits of pumping previously inaccessible oil from fields that could collectively hold two or three times as much oil as Prudhoe Bay, the Alaskan field that was the last great onshore discovery. The companies estimate that the boom will create more than two million new jobs, directly or indirectly, and bring tens of billions of dollars to the states where the fields are located, which include traditional oil sites like Texas and Oklahoma, industrial stalwarts like Ohio and Michigan and even farm states like Kansas.
“It’s the one thing we have seen in our adult lives that could take us away from imported oil,” said Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, one of the most aggressive drillers. “What if we have found three of the world’s biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the U.S.? How transformative could that be for the U.S. economy?”
But unlike Pennsylvania and New York, where fracking for natural gas has produced organized opposition, the oil industry has been mostly welcomed in western and southern states.
Thanks to the drilling boom, the recession bypassed North Dakota entirely. Here in Dimmit County, Tex., the unemployment rate has fallen in half, and sales tax receipts are up 70 percent so far this year, allowing the county to hire more police officers and buy sanitation and road repair equipment.
Read full NYT article here.
Friday, May 27, 2011
MN voters back voter-ID amendment 76/18 - Blocked By Governor
The average American citizen needs a valid ID for many reasons, driving a car, getting on an airplane, opening a bank account and many others. Liberal Democrats who have no problems passing laws requiring ID's for their pet projects, are livid when it comes to ID's for voting. As this article states, photo ID's would make it more difficult to rig elections and make those Obama community organizers work harder to get him re-elected.
Excerpt: Governor Mark Dayton vetoed the voter ID bill saying it lacked “broad legislative bipartisan” support. …
According to our exclusive new SurveyUSA poll, 76% of Minnesotans say they’d vote in favor of voter ID. Only 18% oppose the idea.
Well, a 76% support level is hardly bipartisan, is it? Why, it’s only the crazed Tea Party wingnuts that really support voter ID requirements, right? Not exactly. Let’s take a look at the internals, shall we?
Age demographics – The lowest level of support in age groups comes from seniors, who back voter ID 69/23. The best support comes, surprisingly, from the youngest voters (18-34YOs) at 82/12.
Party affiliation – Yes, 92% of Republicans support voter ID. So do 76% of independents … and 59% of those wingnutty Democrats in Minnesota, too. Among Tea Party “members,” voter ID enjoys 93% support. And for those who don’t identify with the Tea Party, support plummets all the way to … 74%. Along ideological lines, liberals were least likely to support it — at 67%, the second-lowest level of support among all demographics.
Education – Surely, support must be coming from the mouthbreathers, right? High-school graduates give a 79% level of support, almost the same as the 78% among those with some college education. Those with degrees are a little more discerning … at 75%.
Income level – It won’t be much of a surprise to know that those making six figures support voter ID 73/25. It will be a surprise to Dayton to find that those making less than $50K per year support it even more, 78/14.
Region – Like all of the other demographics, there isn’t much difference between the Twin Cities demo (76/19) and the rural area of western Minnesota (81/15). In each region, support is at 75% or higher.
Dayton may think that voter ID doesn’t have broad bipartisan support, but that’s because Dayton doesn’t get out of the mansion much. All he knows is what he hears from the entrenched DFL party machine, which fears voter ID as an end to their opportunities to manipulate elections. After years of Election Day shenanigans, even two-thirds of self-described liberals have had enough.
Read full Hot Air article here.
Excerpt: Governor Mark Dayton vetoed the voter ID bill saying it lacked “broad legislative bipartisan” support. …
According to our exclusive new SurveyUSA poll, 76% of Minnesotans say they’d vote in favor of voter ID. Only 18% oppose the idea.
Well, a 76% support level is hardly bipartisan, is it? Why, it’s only the crazed Tea Party wingnuts that really support voter ID requirements, right? Not exactly. Let’s take a look at the internals, shall we?
Age demographics – The lowest level of support in age groups comes from seniors, who back voter ID 69/23. The best support comes, surprisingly, from the youngest voters (18-34YOs) at 82/12.
Party affiliation – Yes, 92% of Republicans support voter ID. So do 76% of independents … and 59% of those wingnutty Democrats in Minnesota, too. Among Tea Party “members,” voter ID enjoys 93% support. And for those who don’t identify with the Tea Party, support plummets all the way to … 74%. Along ideological lines, liberals were least likely to support it — at 67%, the second-lowest level of support among all demographics.
Education – Surely, support must be coming from the mouthbreathers, right? High-school graduates give a 79% level of support, almost the same as the 78% among those with some college education. Those with degrees are a little more discerning … at 75%.
Income level – It won’t be much of a surprise to know that those making six figures support voter ID 73/25. It will be a surprise to Dayton to find that those making less than $50K per year support it even more, 78/14.
Region – Like all of the other demographics, there isn’t much difference between the Twin Cities demo (76/19) and the rural area of western Minnesota (81/15). In each region, support is at 75% or higher.
Dayton may think that voter ID doesn’t have broad bipartisan support, but that’s because Dayton doesn’t get out of the mansion much. All he knows is what he hears from the entrenched DFL party machine, which fears voter ID as an end to their opportunities to manipulate elections. After years of Election Day shenanigans, even two-thirds of self-described liberals have had enough.
Read full Hot Air article here.
Thomas Jefferson's Warnings - Have We Lost Our Freedom?
Thomas Jefferson
This is amazing. There are two parts. Be sure to read the 2nd part (in RED).
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Thursday, May 26, 2011
Obama - A QUESTION OF ELIGIBILITY
I don't know whether I am a birther or not. However, the CPA, auditor in me says we don't have the proof yet and, if this is the true certificate, why the cover up for so long? WND is thought by many to be a lot far right and hard to believe, so I don't know whether or not the experts in this article can be taken at face value. It is an interesting read though.
Excerpt: The image has been challenged by a number of experts in the field, and the original, of course, has yet to be seen, much less analyzed.
The state of Hawaii said it inserted "safety paper" into a copy machine and copied onto the new paper the original image from its state records. However, state officials were unwilling to confirm to WND after the image was released that what was issued by the White House was, in fact, an accurate representation of their original records.
During their conversation, Trump told Corsi his own computer expert told him at the release that it was a computer-generated document.
That opinion has been repeated many times, and WND has reported on a few of the objections that have been raised by various experts:
Ivan Zatkovich, of Tampa-based eComp Consultants, for example, analyzed the various layers in the PDF file released by the White House, and concluded: "The content clearly indicates that the document was knowingly and explicitly edited and modified before it was placed on the web."
Read full report here.
Excerpt: The image has been challenged by a number of experts in the field, and the original, of course, has yet to be seen, much less analyzed.
The state of Hawaii said it inserted "safety paper" into a copy machine and copied onto the new paper the original image from its state records. However, state officials were unwilling to confirm to WND after the image was released that what was issued by the White House was, in fact, an accurate representation of their original records.
During their conversation, Trump told Corsi his own computer expert told him at the release that it was a computer-generated document.
That opinion has been repeated many times, and WND has reported on a few of the objections that have been raised by various experts:
Ivan Zatkovich, of Tampa-based eComp Consultants, for example, analyzed the various layers in the PDF file released by the White House, and concluded: "The content clearly indicates that the document was knowingly and explicitly edited and modified before it was placed on the web."
Read full report here.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June
Lengthly but informative article about Sarah Palin.
Excerpt: Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.
The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He'd make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million.
The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run.
Palin and her aides have appeared to recognize that despite some recent polls showing her near the top of the prospective Republican field, she still has substantial problems with independent voters and large swaths of the GOP. Even more daunting will be finding a way to explain persuasively just how it was that ethics complainers and liberal bloggers -- whom other politicians in her shoes might have largely dismissed as relatively minor nuisances -- succeeded in forcing her out of office.
But coming on the heels of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's decision not to join the fray, many grassroots conservatives are clamoring for a candidate who has both the stature and the sizzle to compete with President Obama.
If she does decide to run, "The Undefeated" will be the key element to her initial coming-out party. The film's impending release -- and the frenzied media attention that it is sure to generate -- will serve as a vivid wake-up call that despite the many obstacles in front of her, Palin's entry into the race would turn the campaign on its head in an instant, just as it did in 2008.
As she mulls her decision in the coming weeks, the other Republican candidates in the field will be left to prepare for a hibernating grizzly who appears poised to rise up once again.
Read full report here.
Excerpt: Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.
The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He'd make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million.
The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run.
Palin and her aides have appeared to recognize that despite some recent polls showing her near the top of the prospective Republican field, she still has substantial problems with independent voters and large swaths of the GOP. Even more daunting will be finding a way to explain persuasively just how it was that ethics complainers and liberal bloggers -- whom other politicians in her shoes might have largely dismissed as relatively minor nuisances -- succeeded in forcing her out of office.
But coming on the heels of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's decision not to join the fray, many grassroots conservatives are clamoring for a candidate who has both the stature and the sizzle to compete with President Obama.
If she does decide to run, "The Undefeated" will be the key element to her initial coming-out party. The film's impending release -- and the frenzied media attention that it is sure to generate -- will serve as a vivid wake-up call that despite the many obstacles in front of her, Palin's entry into the race would turn the campaign on its head in an instant, just as it did in 2008.
As she mulls her decision in the coming weeks, the other Republican candidates in the field will be left to prepare for a hibernating grizzly who appears poised to rise up once again.
Read full report here.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Dershowitz: Obama Torpedoed Peace Process
Another example of Obama bending over to favor Muslims, who hate the U.S. and infuriating a consistent ally with his naive recommendations.
Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s call for a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on the 1967 Israeli border dealt a serious blow to the peace process and damaged the global image of the United States, Israeli advocate and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax.TV.
Dershowitz was commenting on Obama’s Thursday address at the State Department in which he pressed Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians and set the 1967 border as it existed before the Six-Day War as a starting point. Obama’s position “hurt the peace process gravely,” he said, adding that the president’s declaring such a marker repeated a negotiating error that led to an earlier breakdown in talks when he insisted on a freeze of Israeli settlements in occupied territories.
“He made the same mistake again in this speech,” Dershowitz said. “He put himself ahead of the Palestinians. That is he insisted Israel go back to ’67 borders with land swaps, but he did not demand that the Palestinians give up the right of return.”
The tragedy is during the Obama administration the prospect of peace has gone further away than it’s ever been in recent years since Israel offered to give the Palestinians a state . . . He’s been ham-handed in how he has dealt with the issue of negotiations and the result is we’re further away than ever before from negotiated peace and that’s in large part the fault of President Obama and I think that’s the terrible tragedy of how he’s handled this process.”
Dershowitz also maintained the speech will damage the country’s image.
“I think also the speech was not particularly good for the United States,” he said. “It set us out in a way that showed naiveté and created a situation where neither side will be encouraged to move toward peace by what the president said. So I think on balance it was a net loss rather than a net gain. And I am disappointed because I favor a two-state solution, I voted for Obama and I was hoping he would have a more sophisticated and realistic approach to negotiations which he doesn’t seem to have. He has twice now set back the prospects for negations and a two state solution.”
Read full Dershowitz article here.
Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s call for a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on the 1967 Israeli border dealt a serious blow to the peace process and damaged the global image of the United States, Israeli advocate and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax.TV.
Dershowitz was commenting on Obama’s Thursday address at the State Department in which he pressed Israel to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians and set the 1967 border as it existed before the Six-Day War as a starting point. Obama’s position “hurt the peace process gravely,” he said, adding that the president’s declaring such a marker repeated a negotiating error that led to an earlier breakdown in talks when he insisted on a freeze of Israeli settlements in occupied territories.
“He made the same mistake again in this speech,” Dershowitz said. “He put himself ahead of the Palestinians. That is he insisted Israel go back to ’67 borders with land swaps, but he did not demand that the Palestinians give up the right of return.”
The tragedy is during the Obama administration the prospect of peace has gone further away than it’s ever been in recent years since Israel offered to give the Palestinians a state . . . He’s been ham-handed in how he has dealt with the issue of negotiations and the result is we’re further away than ever before from negotiated peace and that’s in large part the fault of President Obama and I think that’s the terrible tragedy of how he’s handled this process.”
Dershowitz also maintained the speech will damage the country’s image.
“I think also the speech was not particularly good for the United States,” he said. “It set us out in a way that showed naiveté and created a situation where neither side will be encouraged to move toward peace by what the president said. So I think on balance it was a net loss rather than a net gain. And I am disappointed because I favor a two-state solution, I voted for Obama and I was hoping he would have a more sophisticated and realistic approach to negotiations which he doesn’t seem to have. He has twice now set back the prospects for negations and a two state solution.”
Read full Dershowitz article here.
US CONGRESS WORKING AGAINST AMERICAN WORKERS
Thought this column was interesting:
By Frosty Wooldridge
May 23, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
After my latest column, “ILLUSION OF OBAMA AND CONGRESS EMPLOYING 15 MILLION UNEMPLOYED,” Barry McKenna, President of McKenna Service Company, spoke about the history of our massive unemployment problem.
Give us an idea of what our Congress and president are doing to the American worker Mr. McKenna:
“I have sold and serviced industrial equipment in the Mid-West since 1979 and witnessed manufacturing capability slip away to foreign countries,” said McKenna. “Politicians have always been more interested in “kickbacks” & “donations” to their campaign funds from multi-national corporations than National Security, our national defense, or our wealth. U.S. Super Power status is long past and just other illusion politicians put forth to the American people.
“Free trade policies were negotiated by political plants that have worked both sides of the table for their own gain. Forget the common good of the nation thus the conditions seen now.
“One of my customers, Brake Parts Mfg., was once based in the small town of Litchfield in central Illinois. The company started operation in 1905 and had manufactured brake components for every car ever made. My relationship with them spanned 33 years during which I had placed 85 CNC machine tools in that facility. The company employed about three thousand and it “was” the economic generator and job creator for that little town.
“Two years ago the company was purchased by a “multi-national” investment group named “The Affinia Group”. Affinia owned golf courses and hotels (but NO manufacturing facilities). Affinia decided to close Brake Parts and move all manufacturing to Mexico City, Mexico. All but four engineers were laid off as they were key to shifting the facility to Mexico. The reason for the move; Cheap Labor and no inbound tariffs to the U.S.A. from Mexico because of “Free Trade.”
“Years of working with people affords one the opportunity to get to know the employees on a “personal” level, i.e. their families, kids, grandkids, and etc. The people of Litchfield are what I call “Home Town America.”
“I called the engineering department shortly after the buy-out I found most of the employees had been let go. The “engineering secretary” (Vicki) then broke down crying as she told me the story of what was to transpire and everyone was losing everything. The plant is gone now as are the people and most of the town. This situation brings to mind scenes of Detroit, Michigan, which is also now a ghost town. Welcome to the New “Bill Clinton” America. When the government attempts to “fix” or “do business” it’s usually a disaster.
“Free Trade which was touted by politicians to bring jobs and wealth. It has done the opposite and statistics prove it. We gave away our technology to be used against us. The world is laughing at us.
“I visited the plant in Mexico City last year on a “service call”. Once at the airport I was told NOT to go out on the sidewalk at the airport or I would be kidnapped. I was met by two armed bodyguards who escorted me to an armored car and drove me to the new facility. Few people there spoke or could read English in that plant. Also, since all of the part drawings and blueprints were in ENGLISH, there were major problems producing the parts. Essentially all production was shut down.
“While there I spoke to a Mexican truck driver who picked up equipment in Litchfield, Illinois and brought it to the M/C plant. I learned that anything leaving Mexico to the U.S.A. was not tariffed or taxed. However; anything coming into Mexico was hit with an 18% tariff. Did I miss something about free trade?
“It is quite obvious that something is wrong and the U.S. negotiators are not working for the good of the U.S.A. Like all else I believe the problem is not correctable from our level. It takes “Superman” to fix this one….
“The only way to fix the problem is to have the problem affect everyone in the wallet. Then possibly we have a chance. Unfortunately, we are giving away all of our jobs, technology and talent to our competitors who are all too happy to take it. They know its value; we evidently do not, or have had it too good for too long to realize our prosperity.”
Go to website here.
By Frosty Wooldridge
May 23, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
After my latest column, “ILLUSION OF OBAMA AND CONGRESS EMPLOYING 15 MILLION UNEMPLOYED,” Barry McKenna, President of McKenna Service Company, spoke about the history of our massive unemployment problem.
Give us an idea of what our Congress and president are doing to the American worker Mr. McKenna:
“I have sold and serviced industrial equipment in the Mid-West since 1979 and witnessed manufacturing capability slip away to foreign countries,” said McKenna. “Politicians have always been more interested in “kickbacks” & “donations” to their campaign funds from multi-national corporations than National Security, our national defense, or our wealth. U.S. Super Power status is long past and just other illusion politicians put forth to the American people.
“Free trade policies were negotiated by political plants that have worked both sides of the table for their own gain. Forget the common good of the nation thus the conditions seen now.
“One of my customers, Brake Parts Mfg., was once based in the small town of Litchfield in central Illinois. The company started operation in 1905 and had manufactured brake components for every car ever made. My relationship with them spanned 33 years during which I had placed 85 CNC machine tools in that facility. The company employed about three thousand and it “was” the economic generator and job creator for that little town.
“Two years ago the company was purchased by a “multi-national” investment group named “The Affinia Group”. Affinia owned golf courses and hotels (but NO manufacturing facilities). Affinia decided to close Brake Parts and move all manufacturing to Mexico City, Mexico. All but four engineers were laid off as they were key to shifting the facility to Mexico. The reason for the move; Cheap Labor and no inbound tariffs to the U.S.A. from Mexico because of “Free Trade.”
“Years of working with people affords one the opportunity to get to know the employees on a “personal” level, i.e. their families, kids, grandkids, and etc. The people of Litchfield are what I call “Home Town America.”
“I called the engineering department shortly after the buy-out I found most of the employees had been let go. The “engineering secretary” (Vicki) then broke down crying as she told me the story of what was to transpire and everyone was losing everything. The plant is gone now as are the people and most of the town. This situation brings to mind scenes of Detroit, Michigan, which is also now a ghost town. Welcome to the New “Bill Clinton” America. When the government attempts to “fix” or “do business” it’s usually a disaster.
“Free Trade which was touted by politicians to bring jobs and wealth. It has done the opposite and statistics prove it. We gave away our technology to be used against us. The world is laughing at us.
“I visited the plant in Mexico City last year on a “service call”. Once at the airport I was told NOT to go out on the sidewalk at the airport or I would be kidnapped. I was met by two armed bodyguards who escorted me to an armored car and drove me to the new facility. Few people there spoke or could read English in that plant. Also, since all of the part drawings and blueprints were in ENGLISH, there were major problems producing the parts. Essentially all production was shut down.
“While there I spoke to a Mexican truck driver who picked up equipment in Litchfield, Illinois and brought it to the M/C plant. I learned that anything leaving Mexico to the U.S.A. was not tariffed or taxed. However; anything coming into Mexico was hit with an 18% tariff. Did I miss something about free trade?
“It is quite obvious that something is wrong and the U.S. negotiators are not working for the good of the U.S.A. Like all else I believe the problem is not correctable from our level. It takes “Superman” to fix this one….
“The only way to fix the problem is to have the problem affect everyone in the wallet. Then possibly we have a chance. Unfortunately, we are giving away all of our jobs, technology and talent to our competitors who are all too happy to take it. They know its value; we evidently do not, or have had it too good for too long to realize our prosperity.”
Go to website here.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Harlequin Novel, Updated.... 2011 Version:
Subject: Fwd: Harlequin Novel, Updated.... 2011 Version:
He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a
room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He
approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring
voice close to my ear.
"Just relax."
Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands
start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves,
slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat.
I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so
experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a
slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt
his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage.
And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled
sharply.
Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my
shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties.
Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and
expectant. This is a man, I thought. A man used to taking charge. A man not
used to taking 'No' for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted.
A man who would look into my soul and say . . . .
"Okay ma'am, you can board your flight now."
He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a
room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He
approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring
voice close to my ear.
"Just relax."
Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands
start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves,
slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat.
I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so
experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a
slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt
his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage.
And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled
sharply.
Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my
shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties.
Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and
expectant. This is a man, I thought. A man used to taking charge. A man not
used to taking 'No' for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted.
A man who would look into my soul and say . . . .
"Okay ma'am, you can board your flight now."
Saturday, May 14, 2011
You Have To Love This Lawyer
You have to love this lawyer.......
.A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.(Actual reply from FHA): "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response):"Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France, in 1803 the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus's expedition...Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world.
Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?
"The loan was immediately approved.
.A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.(Actual reply from FHA): "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response):"Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France, in 1803 the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus's expedition...Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world.
Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?
"The loan was immediately approved.
California Over The Top - Requiring Fitted Sheets In Hotels
They wonder why businesses are leaving the state.
BILL NUMBER: SB 432 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to add Section 6714 to the Labor Code, relating to
workplace safety.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 6714 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
6714. (a) The standards board shall, no later than September 1,
2012, adopt an occupational safety and health standard for lodging
establishment housekeeping. The standard shall apply to all hotels,
motels, and other lodging establishments in California. The standard
shall require all of the following:
(1) The use of a fitted sheet, instead of a flat sheet, as the
bottom sheet on all beds within the lodging establishment. For the
purpose of this section, a "fitted sheet" means a bed sheet
containing elastic or similar material sewn into each of the four
corners that allows the sheet to stay in place over the mattress.
(2) The use of long-handled tools such as mops or similar devices
in order to eliminate the practice by housekeepers of working in a
stooped, kneeling, or squatting position in order to clean bathroom
floors, walls, tubs, toilets, and other bathroom surfaces.
BILL NUMBER: SB 432 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to add Section 6714 to the Labor Code, relating to
workplace safety.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 6714 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
6714. (a) The standards board shall, no later than September 1,
2012, adopt an occupational safety and health standard for lodging
establishment housekeeping. The standard shall apply to all hotels,
motels, and other lodging establishments in California. The standard
shall require all of the following:
(1) The use of a fitted sheet, instead of a flat sheet, as the
bottom sheet on all beds within the lodging establishment. For the
purpose of this section, a "fitted sheet" means a bed sheet
containing elastic or similar material sewn into each of the four
corners that allows the sheet to stay in place over the mattress.
(2) The use of long-handled tools such as mops or similar devices
in order to eliminate the practice by housekeepers of working in a
stooped, kneeling, or squatting position in order to clean bathroom
floors, walls, tubs, toilets, and other bathroom surfaces.
Boeing vs. the NLRB: A Naked Power Grab by Radical Pro-Unionists
Obama is supporting groups that he knows best. Knowing nothing about capitalism, American business, or free enterprise, he falls back on his community organizer experience. Who is best at getting out the votes for the Democrats? It's the unions, who through intimidation, are able to rally the troops around a cause. If Obama's NLRB can't get rid of "right-to-work" states, then kill them by preventing companies relocating there. Obama is not the President of the United States, he is the President of special interests, unions and liberal voters. He could give a damn about the rest of us or the Constitution.
Excerpt: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) contends that President Obama’s chief of staff, Bill Daley, threatened and made coercive statements against Boeing employees.
You haven’t heard about these charges?
Daley was on Boeing’s board of directors when the company unanimously decided to open up a second assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner in Charleston, S.C. The NLRB argues this illegally violated the rights of Boeing’s unionized employees. The complaint against Boeing thus implicates Daley in any supposed wrongdoing — although the mainstream media has avoided mentioning this.
Of course, anyone familiar with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) will tell you that the NLRB’s charges have no merit. Daley would have never got past White House vetting otherwise.
In short, Boeing made a legal business decision that unions opposed, and the NLRB is using this as a pretext to unlawfully expand its power.
Boeing currently builds 787s in unionized Washington state, and its customers love the plane. Demand is so strong, the company needed to build a second assembly line. Boeing decided to locate this second line in South Carolina instead of Washington state.
This was a sound business decision. South Carolina offered Boeing $900 million in tax-incentives, has better tort laws, and is geographically closer to many suppliers. South Carolina is also a right-to-work state with few union members. Building in Charleston dramatically reduces the risk of strikes — a real benefit since the International Association of Machinists (IAM) regularly launches expensive strikes in Washington.
So Boeing decided to build its new plant in South Carolina — and the IAM objected. After a two-year wait, during which Boeing spent $2 billion, the NLRB recently filed a complaint. The NLRB contends that Boeing illegally “transferred work” from Washington in “retaliation” for the IAM’s strikes.
Contrary to the NLRB’s unsupported claims, the government cannot tell companies where they can and cannot create jobs. Even on their own terms, the NLRB’s dubious charges do not pass legal muster.
What is really going here is a direct frontal assault against right-to-work states being engineered by an out-of-control federal agency staffed by union activists. Federal law allows states to compete for new investment by implementing labor laws that prohibit workers from being forced to join unions. The NLRB has no authority to threaten business investment and job creation to benefit unions by forcing businesses to expand only in closed shop states.
Read full PajamasMedia article here.
Excerpt: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) contends that President Obama’s chief of staff, Bill Daley, threatened and made coercive statements against Boeing employees.
You haven’t heard about these charges?
Daley was on Boeing’s board of directors when the company unanimously decided to open up a second assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner in Charleston, S.C. The NLRB argues this illegally violated the rights of Boeing’s unionized employees. The complaint against Boeing thus implicates Daley in any supposed wrongdoing — although the mainstream media has avoided mentioning this.
Of course, anyone familiar with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) will tell you that the NLRB’s charges have no merit. Daley would have never got past White House vetting otherwise.
In short, Boeing made a legal business decision that unions opposed, and the NLRB is using this as a pretext to unlawfully expand its power.
Boeing currently builds 787s in unionized Washington state, and its customers love the plane. Demand is so strong, the company needed to build a second assembly line. Boeing decided to locate this second line in South Carolina instead of Washington state.
This was a sound business decision. South Carolina offered Boeing $900 million in tax-incentives, has better tort laws, and is geographically closer to many suppliers. South Carolina is also a right-to-work state with few union members. Building in Charleston dramatically reduces the risk of strikes — a real benefit since the International Association of Machinists (IAM) regularly launches expensive strikes in Washington.
So Boeing decided to build its new plant in South Carolina — and the IAM objected. After a two-year wait, during which Boeing spent $2 billion, the NLRB recently filed a complaint. The NLRB contends that Boeing illegally “transferred work” from Washington in “retaliation” for the IAM’s strikes.
Contrary to the NLRB’s unsupported claims, the government cannot tell companies where they can and cannot create jobs. Even on their own terms, the NLRB’s dubious charges do not pass legal muster.
What is really going here is a direct frontal assault against right-to-work states being engineered by an out-of-control federal agency staffed by union activists. Federal law allows states to compete for new investment by implementing labor laws that prohibit workers from being forced to join unions. The NLRB has no authority to threaten business investment and job creation to benefit unions by forcing businesses to expand only in closed shop states.
Read full PajamasMedia article here.
Colonel Lakin Freed Early For Good Behavior
Obama refused to show his birth certificate at the time of Lakin's trial which would have prevented this injustice to one of our honorable servicemen. For political purposes, when the electorate, egged on by Trump, was turning against him, Obama released the certificate. A Commander-in-Chief we can be proud of. (lol)
Excerpt: Dr. Terry Lakin was released today from Ft. Leavenworth, where he served almost six months of prison time for refusing orders over his doubts about Barack Obama's eligibility to be president, and told WND that he is going to focus on his family first, then his church and medical career.
In comments via telephone shortly after his release, Lakin, a lieutenant colonel in the military, told WND that he also remains dedicated to the Christian ideals on which the United States was founded.
Read full article here.
Excerpt: Dr. Terry Lakin was released today from Ft. Leavenworth, where he served almost six months of prison time for refusing orders over his doubts about Barack Obama's eligibility to be president, and told WND that he is going to focus on his family first, then his church and medical career.
In comments via telephone shortly after his release, Lakin, a lieutenant colonel in the military, told WND that he also remains dedicated to the Christian ideals on which the United States was founded.
Read full article here.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Average Gasoline Tax vs Exxon Profit, Per Gallon
Based on this chart, maybe it is not the oil companies that should be hauled before Congress, but Congress itself and the States for doing nothing to provide energy whereas Exxon does all the work. Who is the useless party here.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Why Don't We Hear About Soros' Ties to Over 30 Major News Organizations?
It is good to see someone investigating the ties that George Soros has with the liberal media. It appears that the conservative news sources are dwindling, thus forcing us to rely on internet sources to filter out the fiction from the truth.
Excerpt: When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets – including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.
Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
Why does it all matter? Journalists, we are constantly told, are neutral in their reporting. In almost the same breath, many bemoan the influence of money in politics. It is a maxim of both the left and many in the media that conservatives are bought and paid for by business interests. Yet where are the concerns about where their money comes from?
Fred Brown, who recently revised the book “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,” argues journalists need to be “transparent” about their connections and “be up front about your relationship” with those who fund you.
Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Amanpour’s biography page, for instance, talks about her lengthy career, her time at CNN and her many awards. It makes no mention of her affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity.
If journalists were more up front, they would have to admit numerous uncomfortable connections with groups that push a liberal agenda, many of them funded by the stridently liberal George Soros. So don’t expect that transparency any time soon.
Read full FOX News article here.
Excerpt: When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets – including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.
Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”
This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
Why does it all matter? Journalists, we are constantly told, are neutral in their reporting. In almost the same breath, many bemoan the influence of money in politics. It is a maxim of both the left and many in the media that conservatives are bought and paid for by business interests. Yet where are the concerns about where their money comes from?
Fred Brown, who recently revised the book “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,” argues journalists need to be “transparent” about their connections and “be up front about your relationship” with those who fund you.
Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Amanpour’s biography page, for instance, talks about her lengthy career, her time at CNN and her many awards. It makes no mention of her affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity.
If journalists were more up front, they would have to admit numerous uncomfortable connections with groups that push a liberal agenda, many of them funded by the stridently liberal George Soros. So don’t expect that transparency any time soon.
Read full FOX News article here.
Barack Obama Is Wrong: 18 Facts Which Prove That Illegal Immigration Is An Absolute Nightmare For The U.S. Economy
Great article about illegals.
Article: Barack Obama has declared that "immigration reform is an economic imperative", and is promising to do his best to get an immigration bill pushed through Congress this year. But will "legalizing" all of the illegal immigration that has taken place over the last several decades improve the struggling U.S. economy or will it actually make our economic problems worse? One of the favorite tricks of top politicians is to promise that the economy is going to improve if we just support what it is that they are currently pushing. Hopefully the Americans people will not buy the nonsense that Obama is spewing. The truth is that Barack Obama is wrong about the economic impact of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants don't do jobs that Americans "don't want" to do. A million Americans recently showed up to apply for a job at McDonald's. That is how desperate Americans are for work these days. Please don't try to tell me that there aren't millions of Americans out there that would not pick fruit for minimum wage. The millions upon millions of illegal immigrants in this country are stealing jobs, they are depressing wages in a whole host of industries and they are a huge factor in the erosion of the middle class. Millions of middle class American families can't afford to provide for their families anymore and are losing their homes, drowning in debt or going bankrupt. Rather than what Barack Obama is proposing (which is to essentially "legalize" illegal immigration), we need an immigration policy that makes sense and that protects American jobs.
Before we go any further, it is important for me to make a few points. It is not a bad thing that people want to come to this nation from another country. A lot of people that want to come to the United States are really hard working and have really solid character. This nation has a long tradition of immigrants arriving to build a better life here. At different times this country will need different levels of immigration, but we will always need new immigrants. People on one side of a border are not more "valuable" than people on another side of a border. There is a reason why our founding fathers believed that "all men are created equal". In every nation on earth there are really wonderful people. We should love all men, women and children no matter where they were born and no matter what they look like. God created us all and He loves us all dearly.
The reason I went into all that is because of the way politics is played in America in 2011. The moment that anyone suggests that there might be a problem with illegal immigration they are immediately branded with all kinds of horrible labels. To put a horrible label on someone that is completely and totally untrue just to score political points is absolutely despicable.
The funny thing is that some of the organizations that denounce others the loudest should actually be examining themselves. For example, one of the largest pro-illegal immigration organizations is called "La Raza", which literally means "The Race" (as if we all couldn't figure it out). Perhaps it is time for them to come up with a new name.
Look, we all have to start learning to love each other. If not, our society is going to continue to break down.
A majority of the American people (yes, that is what the polls show) are not against illegal immigration because they "hate" another group of people. Rather, they just want all immigrants to go through the "front door" and they want the government to be sensitive to changing economic conditions.
The sad truth is that the U.S. government has absolutely refused to secure the U.S. border with Mexico for decades, and this has allowed millions upon millions of criminals, drug dealers and gang members to cross freely into the United States. In addition, by refusing to secure the border we have allowed new diseases to spread unchecked into this country.
Meanwhile, the law abiding people that would like to get into this country legally are put through absolute hell. I used to practice law and I have filled out immigration forms. The process is a complete and total nightmare.
So we have been making it really easy for law breakers to sneak in the back door of our country and we have been making it really hard for law abiding people to get in the front door.
What in the world could be wrong about wanting to fix that?
Once many illegal immigrants arrive in the United States they either try to make a living legally (by directly competing with blue collar American workers for jobs and driving their wages down) or illegally by selling drugs or being involved in other kinds of criminal activity.
Apparently Barack Obama believes that this kind of behavior should be rewarded with a "path to citizenship".
The vast majority of illegal immigrants pay absolutely no federal or state income taxes and they never intend to. At the same time, they seem more than happy to take advantage of the free social services and benefits offered to them. In fact, stories of how "good" life in America is just encourages more and more immigrants to come to the United States illegally.
We need an immigration policy that insists that everyone come in through the front door.
Is there anyone out there that cannot agree with that?
We also need to set immigration levels that our economy can handle.
Right now our economy is struggling. Millions upon millions of Americans are out of work. 44 million Americans are on food stamps. 47 million Americans are living in poverty. We just can't take in a whole lot of extra workers right now.
You would think that would just be common sense.
But instead, Barack Obama wants to grant amnesty to all of the illegal immigrants that are already here and put them on a path to citizenship.
Wow - do you think that might embolden millions more illegal immigrants to come flooding in?
Barack Obama is against a border fence. He says we don't need it.
Meanwhile, thousands more illegal immigrants pour into this country every single day.
Barack Obama supports all of the "sanctuary cities" that have openly declared that they are not going to enforce our immigration laws.
So where do you think illegal immigrants are going to flock to? The truth is that word about these "sanctuary cities" gets around really fast. If you live in one of these cities, then you probably know all about it.
If Barack Obama gets his way, nobody will be breaking our immigration laws because essentially there will not be any more immigration laws.
Not that George W. Bush was any better. He was an absolute disaster on immigration as well.
The truth is that our immigration policy has been slowly eroding the U.S. middle class for many decades.
But according to Barack Obama, we desperately need to implement his "immigration reform" plan for the good of the middle class....
"One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else."
What a joke. The reality is that illegal immigration hurts that U.S. middle class and it is severely damaging to the U.S. economy. Because of illegal immigration, every single day wages are lost, taxes don't get collected, hospitals provide "free health care" for which they are never paid, huge criminal gangs of foreigners are roaming our streets and the cost of providing social services to illegal aliens is slowly bankrupting state and local governments.
The following are 18 facts which prove that illegal immigration is an absolute nightmare for the U.S. economy....
#1 Illegal immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. According to a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data, legal and illegal immigrants gained over a million additional jobs between 2008 and 2010 even as millions of American citizens were losing their jobs during that same time period.
#2 The majority of our immigrants now sneak in through the "back door" that the federal government purposely leaves open. Thanks to the negligence of the federal government, far more people move into the United States illegally than come in through the legal immigration process. This has got to change.
#3 Illegal immigrants generally don't pay taxes. The vast majority of illegal aliens would never even dream of paying income taxes, but Mexicans living in America send billions upon billions of dollars out of the United States and back to Mexico every single year.
#4 Although illegal aliens pay next to nothing in taxes, they have no problem receiving tens of billions of dollars worth of free education benefits, free health care benefits, free housing assistance and free food stamp benefits. Many communities in the United States now openly advertise that they will help illegal aliens with these things.
#5 The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants is staggering. It is estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $12,000,000,000 a year on primary and secondary school education for the children of illegal immigrants.
#6 Thanks to illegal immigration, California's overstretched health care system is on the verge of collapse. Dozens of California hospitals and emergency rooms have shut down over the last decade because they could not afford to stay open after being endlessly swamped by illegal immigrants who were simply not able to pay for the services that they were receiving. As a result, the remainder of the health care system in the state of California is now beyond overloaded. This had led to brutally long waits, diverted ambulances and even unnecessary patient deaths. Sadly, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.
#7 It was estimated that there were approximately 7.7 million illegal aliens employed by U.S. employers during 2008. How much better would our economy look if all of those jobs were being filled by American workers?
#8 The region along the U.S./Mexico border is now an open war zone. Just across the U.S. border, the city of Juarez, Mexico is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on the entire planet because of the brutal drug war being waged there. In fact, Juarez has now become the murder capital of the western hemisphere. Much of that violence has begun to spill over into areas of the southwestern United States.
For example, a while back NPR described one incident in the Juarez Valley that involved American citizens....
A couple of weeks ago, gunmen in the Juarez Valley killed the Mexican relative of a Fort Hancock high school student. When the student's family in Fort Hancock heard about it, they crossed the border at 10 a.m. to see the body, and took the student with them.
"By 10:30, they had stabbed the relatives that went with him, which included his grandparents, with an ice pick," says school superintendent Jose Franco. "My understanding is that the gentleman is like 90 years old, and they poked his eyes out with an ice pick. I believe those people are still in intensive care here in a hospital in the U.S."
#9 A substantial percentage of young illegal immigrants end up in gangs. U.S. authorities say that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the United States. According to federal statistics, these 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year. Latino gangs made up primarily of illegal aliens are responsible for much of this violence.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, some of the most notorious gangs in the country are made up almost entirely of illegal immigrants....
"Gang investigators in Virginia estimate that 90% of the members of MS-13, the most notorious immigrant gang, are illegal immigrants."
#10 The "18th Street Gang" is certainly giving MS-13 a run for their money. It is believed that the 18th Street Gang has thousands of members in the city of Los Angeles alone. In fact, the gang has become so notorious that there are even rumors that some police officers in Los Angeles simply will not venture into the areas most heavily controlled by the 18th Street gang.
The following is what Wikipedia says about the 18th Street Gang....
A US Justice Department report from 2009 estimates that the 18th Street gang has a membership of some 30,000 to 50,000 with 80% of them being illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America and is active in 44 cities in 20 states. Its main source of income is street-level distribution of cocaine and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, heroin and methamphetamine. Gang members also commit assault, auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, extortion, homicide, identification fraud, and robbery.
#11 The "drug war" in northern Mexico is one gigantic bloodbath. The Mexican government says that as many as 28,000 people have been slaughtered by the drug cartels since 2007. A very significant percentage of those deaths have happened in areas right along the U.S. border, and yet our federal government still sees no reason to get serious about border security.
#12 It is an open secret that Mexican drug cartels are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. The handful of border patrol agents that we have guarding the border are massively outgunned and outmanned.
One agent who patrols the border and who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News the following....
"To say that this area is out of control is an understatement."
A different federal agent put it this way in an email to Fox News....
"Every night we’re getting beaten like a pinata at a birthday party by drug, alien smugglers."
#13 Federal border officials say that Mexican drug cartels have not only set up shop on U.S. soil, but they are actually maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona. If you go to Arizona today, there are actually signs that have been put up by the federal government warning American citizens not to venture into certain wilderness routes that are used by Mexican drug cartels to bring in drugs.
#14 The drug war being waged on both sides of the border is so violent that it is almost unimaginable. For example, one very prominent Mexican assassin known as "the soupmaker" has confessed that he made approximately 300 bodies disappear by dissolving them in acid baths. But right now there is essentially nothing that is preventing the next "soupmaker" from crossing the U.S. border and moving into your neighborhood.
#15 Arizona police are being openly warned by the Mexican drug cartels that if they try to interfere with the drug traffic in their area that they will be "taken out" by drug cartel snipers.
#16 While the U.S. military endlessly hunts for "members of al-Qaeda" in the caves of Afghanistan and on the streets of Iraqi cities, a very real threat has been building just south of the border. Over the past 15 to 20 years, Hezbollah has set up operations all over Mexico, Central America and South America. Hezbollah is reportedly making a lot of money in the drug trade and in trafficking illegal aliens. Sadly, our government is largely ignoring this.
#17 Each year, it costs the states billions of dollars to incarcerate illegal immigrant criminals that should have never been allowed into the country in the first place. It is estimated that illegal aliens make up approximately 30 percent of the population in federal, state and local prisons and that the total cost of incarcerating them is more than $1.6 billion annually.
#18 The drug cartels and the gangs always seem to be a couple steps ahead of our agents along the border. Approximately 75 tunnels along the U.S. border with Mexico have been discovered by law enforcement authorities in the last four years alone.
How much do you think all of this crime, gang violence and drug cartel activity is costing our economy?
Why won't the federal government do what the Constitution requires and secure the border?
Oh, but Barack Obama says that he has a plan.
He says that he is going to save the day.
The following is how Barack Obama describes his plan...
"We are not going to ship back 12 million people, we're not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and that's not who we are, that's not what America is about. So what I've proposed... is you say we're going to bring these folks out of the shadows. We're going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line...but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years."
So how many illegal immigrants do you think are going to step forward to pay a fine?
One percent?
How many of them do you think are going to show up for English classes?
Who is going to make them do it?
Obama?
Are we going to have law enforcement officials running around trying to collect fines from illegal immigrants and trying to get them to attend their English lessons?
According to Obama, the millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that are in this country are going to be glad to willingly do the following....
1) Admit they broke the law
2) Pay back taxes and a fine
3) Learn English
4) Be willing to undergo background checks before starting the legalization process
Those four points are taken directly from Obama's plan.
So what are illegal immigrants going to do when this plan is passed?
99 percent of them are going to laugh and they are just going to keep on doing what they have been doing.
Large numbers of illegal immigrants are already enjoying the "high life" in the dozens of "sanctuary cities" across the United States.
The following is how the Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC defines sanctuary cities....
Generally, sanctuary policies instruct city employees not to notify the federal government of the presence of illegal aliens living in their communities. The policies also end the distinction between legal resident aliens and illegal aliens--so illegal aliens often benefit from taxpayer funded government services and programs too.
Sounds like a good deal to me.
Can I sign up for that plan?
After all, who wouldn't want to earn all income tax-free and yet enjoy unlimited government services?
Today we are being told that we need to make life as comfortable as possible for the waves of illegal immigrants that are coming in. In fact, Barack Obama says that all of us need to make sure that our kids are learning how to speak Spanish....
"I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only...Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with this. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they'll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish."
All of this is utter insanity.
The cold, hard reality of the matter is that we have tightly secured the border between South Korea and North Korea for over 50 years and we could secure our own borders if we really wanted to.
But instead, we continue to leave our border with Mexico completely wide open. Thousands of criminals, gang members and drug pushers continue to come in completely unchecked every single day.
Meanwhile, the rest of us have to subject ourselves to some of the most humiliating "security measures" imaginable before we are even allowed to get on to an airplane.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?
Go to original site here.
Article: Barack Obama has declared that "immigration reform is an economic imperative", and is promising to do his best to get an immigration bill pushed through Congress this year. But will "legalizing" all of the illegal immigration that has taken place over the last several decades improve the struggling U.S. economy or will it actually make our economic problems worse? One of the favorite tricks of top politicians is to promise that the economy is going to improve if we just support what it is that they are currently pushing. Hopefully the Americans people will not buy the nonsense that Obama is spewing. The truth is that Barack Obama is wrong about the economic impact of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants don't do jobs that Americans "don't want" to do. A million Americans recently showed up to apply for a job at McDonald's. That is how desperate Americans are for work these days. Please don't try to tell me that there aren't millions of Americans out there that would not pick fruit for minimum wage. The millions upon millions of illegal immigrants in this country are stealing jobs, they are depressing wages in a whole host of industries and they are a huge factor in the erosion of the middle class. Millions of middle class American families can't afford to provide for their families anymore and are losing their homes, drowning in debt or going bankrupt. Rather than what Barack Obama is proposing (which is to essentially "legalize" illegal immigration), we need an immigration policy that makes sense and that protects American jobs.
Before we go any further, it is important for me to make a few points. It is not a bad thing that people want to come to this nation from another country. A lot of people that want to come to the United States are really hard working and have really solid character. This nation has a long tradition of immigrants arriving to build a better life here. At different times this country will need different levels of immigration, but we will always need new immigrants. People on one side of a border are not more "valuable" than people on another side of a border. There is a reason why our founding fathers believed that "all men are created equal". In every nation on earth there are really wonderful people. We should love all men, women and children no matter where they were born and no matter what they look like. God created us all and He loves us all dearly.
The reason I went into all that is because of the way politics is played in America in 2011. The moment that anyone suggests that there might be a problem with illegal immigration they are immediately branded with all kinds of horrible labels. To put a horrible label on someone that is completely and totally untrue just to score political points is absolutely despicable.
The funny thing is that some of the organizations that denounce others the loudest should actually be examining themselves. For example, one of the largest pro-illegal immigration organizations is called "La Raza", which literally means "The Race" (as if we all couldn't figure it out). Perhaps it is time for them to come up with a new name.
Look, we all have to start learning to love each other. If not, our society is going to continue to break down.
A majority of the American people (yes, that is what the polls show) are not against illegal immigration because they "hate" another group of people. Rather, they just want all immigrants to go through the "front door" and they want the government to be sensitive to changing economic conditions.
The sad truth is that the U.S. government has absolutely refused to secure the U.S. border with Mexico for decades, and this has allowed millions upon millions of criminals, drug dealers and gang members to cross freely into the United States. In addition, by refusing to secure the border we have allowed new diseases to spread unchecked into this country.
Meanwhile, the law abiding people that would like to get into this country legally are put through absolute hell. I used to practice law and I have filled out immigration forms. The process is a complete and total nightmare.
So we have been making it really easy for law breakers to sneak in the back door of our country and we have been making it really hard for law abiding people to get in the front door.
What in the world could be wrong about wanting to fix that?
Once many illegal immigrants arrive in the United States they either try to make a living legally (by directly competing with blue collar American workers for jobs and driving their wages down) or illegally by selling drugs or being involved in other kinds of criminal activity.
Apparently Barack Obama believes that this kind of behavior should be rewarded with a "path to citizenship".
The vast majority of illegal immigrants pay absolutely no federal or state income taxes and they never intend to. At the same time, they seem more than happy to take advantage of the free social services and benefits offered to them. In fact, stories of how "good" life in America is just encourages more and more immigrants to come to the United States illegally.
We need an immigration policy that insists that everyone come in through the front door.
Is there anyone out there that cannot agree with that?
We also need to set immigration levels that our economy can handle.
Right now our economy is struggling. Millions upon millions of Americans are out of work. 44 million Americans are on food stamps. 47 million Americans are living in poverty. We just can't take in a whole lot of extra workers right now.
You would think that would just be common sense.
But instead, Barack Obama wants to grant amnesty to all of the illegal immigrants that are already here and put them on a path to citizenship.
Wow - do you think that might embolden millions more illegal immigrants to come flooding in?
Barack Obama is against a border fence. He says we don't need it.
Meanwhile, thousands more illegal immigrants pour into this country every single day.
Barack Obama supports all of the "sanctuary cities" that have openly declared that they are not going to enforce our immigration laws.
So where do you think illegal immigrants are going to flock to? The truth is that word about these "sanctuary cities" gets around really fast. If you live in one of these cities, then you probably know all about it.
If Barack Obama gets his way, nobody will be breaking our immigration laws because essentially there will not be any more immigration laws.
Not that George W. Bush was any better. He was an absolute disaster on immigration as well.
The truth is that our immigration policy has been slowly eroding the U.S. middle class for many decades.
But according to Barack Obama, we desperately need to implement his "immigration reform" plan for the good of the middle class....
"One way to strengthen the middle class in America is to reform the immigration system, so that there is no longer a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everybody else."
What a joke. The reality is that illegal immigration hurts that U.S. middle class and it is severely damaging to the U.S. economy. Because of illegal immigration, every single day wages are lost, taxes don't get collected, hospitals provide "free health care" for which they are never paid, huge criminal gangs of foreigners are roaming our streets and the cost of providing social services to illegal aliens is slowly bankrupting state and local governments.
The following are 18 facts which prove that illegal immigration is an absolute nightmare for the U.S. economy....
#1 Illegal immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. According to a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data, legal and illegal immigrants gained over a million additional jobs between 2008 and 2010 even as millions of American citizens were losing their jobs during that same time period.
#2 The majority of our immigrants now sneak in through the "back door" that the federal government purposely leaves open. Thanks to the negligence of the federal government, far more people move into the United States illegally than come in through the legal immigration process. This has got to change.
#3 Illegal immigrants generally don't pay taxes. The vast majority of illegal aliens would never even dream of paying income taxes, but Mexicans living in America send billions upon billions of dollars out of the United States and back to Mexico every single year.
#4 Although illegal aliens pay next to nothing in taxes, they have no problem receiving tens of billions of dollars worth of free education benefits, free health care benefits, free housing assistance and free food stamp benefits. Many communities in the United States now openly advertise that they will help illegal aliens with these things.
#5 The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants is staggering. It is estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $12,000,000,000 a year on primary and secondary school education for the children of illegal immigrants.
#6 Thanks to illegal immigration, California's overstretched health care system is on the verge of collapse. Dozens of California hospitals and emergency rooms have shut down over the last decade because they could not afford to stay open after being endlessly swamped by illegal immigrants who were simply not able to pay for the services that they were receiving. As a result, the remainder of the health care system in the state of California is now beyond overloaded. This had led to brutally long waits, diverted ambulances and even unnecessary patient deaths. Sadly, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.
#7 It was estimated that there were approximately 7.7 million illegal aliens employed by U.S. employers during 2008. How much better would our economy look if all of those jobs were being filled by American workers?
#8 The region along the U.S./Mexico border is now an open war zone. Just across the U.S. border, the city of Juarez, Mexico is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on the entire planet because of the brutal drug war being waged there. In fact, Juarez has now become the murder capital of the western hemisphere. Much of that violence has begun to spill over into areas of the southwestern United States.
For example, a while back NPR described one incident in the Juarez Valley that involved American citizens....
A couple of weeks ago, gunmen in the Juarez Valley killed the Mexican relative of a Fort Hancock high school student. When the student's family in Fort Hancock heard about it, they crossed the border at 10 a.m. to see the body, and took the student with them.
"By 10:30, they had stabbed the relatives that went with him, which included his grandparents, with an ice pick," says school superintendent Jose Franco. "My understanding is that the gentleman is like 90 years old, and they poked his eyes out with an ice pick. I believe those people are still in intensive care here in a hospital in the U.S."
#9 A substantial percentage of young illegal immigrants end up in gangs. U.S. authorities say that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the United States. According to federal statistics, these 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year. Latino gangs made up primarily of illegal aliens are responsible for much of this violence.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, some of the most notorious gangs in the country are made up almost entirely of illegal immigrants....
"Gang investigators in Virginia estimate that 90% of the members of MS-13, the most notorious immigrant gang, are illegal immigrants."
#10 The "18th Street Gang" is certainly giving MS-13 a run for their money. It is believed that the 18th Street Gang has thousands of members in the city of Los Angeles alone. In fact, the gang has become so notorious that there are even rumors that some police officers in Los Angeles simply will not venture into the areas most heavily controlled by the 18th Street gang.
The following is what Wikipedia says about the 18th Street Gang....
A US Justice Department report from 2009 estimates that the 18th Street gang has a membership of some 30,000 to 50,000 with 80% of them being illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America and is active in 44 cities in 20 states. Its main source of income is street-level distribution of cocaine and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, heroin and methamphetamine. Gang members also commit assault, auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, extortion, homicide, identification fraud, and robbery.
#11 The "drug war" in northern Mexico is one gigantic bloodbath. The Mexican government says that as many as 28,000 people have been slaughtered by the drug cartels since 2007. A very significant percentage of those deaths have happened in areas right along the U.S. border, and yet our federal government still sees no reason to get serious about border security.
#12 It is an open secret that Mexican drug cartels are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. The handful of border patrol agents that we have guarding the border are massively outgunned and outmanned.
One agent who patrols the border and who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News the following....
"To say that this area is out of control is an understatement."
A different federal agent put it this way in an email to Fox News....
"Every night we’re getting beaten like a pinata at a birthday party by drug, alien smugglers."
#13 Federal border officials say that Mexican drug cartels have not only set up shop on U.S. soil, but they are actually maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona. If you go to Arizona today, there are actually signs that have been put up by the federal government warning American citizens not to venture into certain wilderness routes that are used by Mexican drug cartels to bring in drugs.
#14 The drug war being waged on both sides of the border is so violent that it is almost unimaginable. For example, one very prominent Mexican assassin known as "the soupmaker" has confessed that he made approximately 300 bodies disappear by dissolving them in acid baths. But right now there is essentially nothing that is preventing the next "soupmaker" from crossing the U.S. border and moving into your neighborhood.
#15 Arizona police are being openly warned by the Mexican drug cartels that if they try to interfere with the drug traffic in their area that they will be "taken out" by drug cartel snipers.
#16 While the U.S. military endlessly hunts for "members of al-Qaeda" in the caves of Afghanistan and on the streets of Iraqi cities, a very real threat has been building just south of the border. Over the past 15 to 20 years, Hezbollah has set up operations all over Mexico, Central America and South America. Hezbollah is reportedly making a lot of money in the drug trade and in trafficking illegal aliens. Sadly, our government is largely ignoring this.
#17 Each year, it costs the states billions of dollars to incarcerate illegal immigrant criminals that should have never been allowed into the country in the first place. It is estimated that illegal aliens make up approximately 30 percent of the population in federal, state and local prisons and that the total cost of incarcerating them is more than $1.6 billion annually.
#18 The drug cartels and the gangs always seem to be a couple steps ahead of our agents along the border. Approximately 75 tunnels along the U.S. border with Mexico have been discovered by law enforcement authorities in the last four years alone.
How much do you think all of this crime, gang violence and drug cartel activity is costing our economy?
Why won't the federal government do what the Constitution requires and secure the border?
Oh, but Barack Obama says that he has a plan.
He says that he is going to save the day.
The following is how Barack Obama describes his plan...
"We are not going to ship back 12 million people, we're not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and that's not who we are, that's not what America is about. So what I've proposed... is you say we're going to bring these folks out of the shadows. We're going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line...but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years."
So how many illegal immigrants do you think are going to step forward to pay a fine?
One percent?
How many of them do you think are going to show up for English classes?
Who is going to make them do it?
Obama?
Are we going to have law enforcement officials running around trying to collect fines from illegal immigrants and trying to get them to attend their English lessons?
According to Obama, the millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that are in this country are going to be glad to willingly do the following....
1) Admit they broke the law
2) Pay back taxes and a fine
3) Learn English
4) Be willing to undergo background checks before starting the legalization process
Those four points are taken directly from Obama's plan.
So what are illegal immigrants going to do when this plan is passed?
99 percent of them are going to laugh and they are just going to keep on doing what they have been doing.
Large numbers of illegal immigrants are already enjoying the "high life" in the dozens of "sanctuary cities" across the United States.
The following is how the Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC defines sanctuary cities....
Generally, sanctuary policies instruct city employees not to notify the federal government of the presence of illegal aliens living in their communities. The policies also end the distinction between legal resident aliens and illegal aliens--so illegal aliens often benefit from taxpayer funded government services and programs too.
Sounds like a good deal to me.
Can I sign up for that plan?
After all, who wouldn't want to earn all income tax-free and yet enjoy unlimited government services?
Today we are being told that we need to make life as comfortable as possible for the waves of illegal immigrants that are coming in. In fact, Barack Obama says that all of us need to make sure that our kids are learning how to speak Spanish....
"I don't understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only...Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with this. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they'll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish."
All of this is utter insanity.
The cold, hard reality of the matter is that we have tightly secured the border between South Korea and North Korea for over 50 years and we could secure our own borders if we really wanted to.
But instead, we continue to leave our border with Mexico completely wide open. Thousands of criminals, gang members and drug pushers continue to come in completely unchecked every single day.
Meanwhile, the rest of us have to subject ourselves to some of the most humiliating "security measures" imaginable before we are even allowed to get on to an airplane.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?
Go to original site here.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
You Cut - Republicans Want Your Input
If you want to participate in the spending debate, this is a great place to have your ideas put before Congress.
Excerpt: Republicans will unveil Wednesday YouCut, the sequel, their newly-improved crowd-sourced spending cuts program that allows Americans to vote online for which bloated bureaucracy ought to get the ax.
Now, the stakes are real. The “winning” government program each week will more than likely actually get a House vote to cut its funding, sending the proposal over to the Senate, where Republicans hope public participation will spur action there.
“The biggest difference will be we’ll actually get a chance to get ‘em passed,” freshman GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney, one of three freshman hand-picked by Majority Leader Eric Cantor to coordinate the program, told The Daily Caller.
Cantor is handing over YouCut to the freshmen, giving them a place to channel the Tea Party energy that swept Republicans into power. Highlighting government’s embarrassing excesses could also give the GOP political momentum at key moments in the more important debt ceiling and appropriations debates.
Mulvaney of South Carolina, freshman class president Austin Scott of Georgia and Renee Ellmers of North Carolina are in charge. Each week they’ll coordinate which freshmen representative gets to choose three government programs from which online voters will decide what they’d like to see cut.
Voting lasts a week, unless Congress is in recess, and the freshman congressman choosing the programs to be voted on will introduce the legislation that would cut its funding.
Republicans also hope a revamped website that allows users to track the progress of each YouCut-inspired bill through Congress will attract participation, though even in the last Congress it was robust, with an average of 500,000 votes each round. This time Republicans would like to get 1 million votes each round.
“This updated version builds upon the success of the original YouCut program by allowing Americans to vote on a spending cut, and track the legislation in real-time, from introduction by a member of our freshman class, through the committee process, to a floor vote and ideally to enactment,” Cantor said.
Read more: here
Go to You Cut here.
Excerpt: Republicans will unveil Wednesday YouCut, the sequel, their newly-improved crowd-sourced spending cuts program that allows Americans to vote online for which bloated bureaucracy ought to get the ax.
Now, the stakes are real. The “winning” government program each week will more than likely actually get a House vote to cut its funding, sending the proposal over to the Senate, where Republicans hope public participation will spur action there.
“The biggest difference will be we’ll actually get a chance to get ‘em passed,” freshman GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney, one of three freshman hand-picked by Majority Leader Eric Cantor to coordinate the program, told The Daily Caller.
Cantor is handing over YouCut to the freshmen, giving them a place to channel the Tea Party energy that swept Republicans into power. Highlighting government’s embarrassing excesses could also give the GOP political momentum at key moments in the more important debt ceiling and appropriations debates.
Mulvaney of South Carolina, freshman class president Austin Scott of Georgia and Renee Ellmers of North Carolina are in charge. Each week they’ll coordinate which freshmen representative gets to choose three government programs from which online voters will decide what they’d like to see cut.
Voting lasts a week, unless Congress is in recess, and the freshman congressman choosing the programs to be voted on will introduce the legislation that would cut its funding.
Republicans also hope a revamped website that allows users to track the progress of each YouCut-inspired bill through Congress will attract participation, though even in the last Congress it was robust, with an average of 500,000 votes each round. This time Republicans would like to get 1 million votes each round.
“This updated version builds upon the success of the original YouCut program by allowing Americans to vote on a spending cut, and track the legislation in real-time, from introduction by a member of our freshman class, through the committee process, to a floor vote and ideally to enactment,” Cantor said.
Read more: here
Go to You Cut here.
This is Your Pawlenty Wake-Up Call
I don't know whether Pawlenty will be my candidate, but based on this analysis, he is someone to look at. So far, no one has broken out of a pack that has not yet been established. Time will tell if we have a candidate that will draw enough of the independents to claim victory over our "campaigner in chief".
Excerpt: Tim Pawlenty is a great candidate. It’s just plain nuts not to see this, emphasize it, and take advantage of it. Instead of pining away for Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, or Scott Walker to enter the race, why not wake up and recognize that Tim Pawlenty has already got everything the GOP is looking for — with two successful gubernatorial terms worth of experience to boot. What’s not to like?
Tim Pawlenty has already beaten the Democrats in a government shut-down battle. He’s defeated public-employee unions in a high-stakes strike. He was regularly rated as one of the most fiscally conservative governors in the nation. And he managed to do it all in a blue state. Pawlenty is Scott Walker with experience. It’s just that nobody knows it because Pawlenty’s clashes with his state’s public unions and big Democratic spenders happened some time ago. If anything, Pawlenty ought to be getting extra credit for having faced down public-employee unions and profligate Democratic legislators before it was cool. Are we really so dense — so utterly dependent on the latest news cycle — that we are going to let a major opportunity like Pawlenty slip away out of the misplaced worry that he’s got “no name recognition?”
That is a solvable problem. Just watch: “Hey, Tim Pawlenty was a great conservative two-term governor of Minnesota! He’s tough on defense, conservative on social issues, and well liked by people from both sides of the aisle. He’s faced down Democrats time and again and won. He’s got the biography of a lunch-bucket Democrat and the outlook of a fiscally conservative Republican. And he can win! Yes, Tim Pawlenty can beat Barack Obama in a head-to-head battle for the presidency of the United States. Wake up, Republicans! The answer to your prayers is already running. And if all the pundits would just stop fantasizing for a minute about everyone who’s not running, maybe they’d pay more attention to who actually is.”
Read National Review article here.
Excerpt: Tim Pawlenty is a great candidate. It’s just plain nuts not to see this, emphasize it, and take advantage of it. Instead of pining away for Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, or Scott Walker to enter the race, why not wake up and recognize that Tim Pawlenty has already got everything the GOP is looking for — with two successful gubernatorial terms worth of experience to boot. What’s not to like?
Tim Pawlenty has already beaten the Democrats in a government shut-down battle. He’s defeated public-employee unions in a high-stakes strike. He was regularly rated as one of the most fiscally conservative governors in the nation. And he managed to do it all in a blue state. Pawlenty is Scott Walker with experience. It’s just that nobody knows it because Pawlenty’s clashes with his state’s public unions and big Democratic spenders happened some time ago. If anything, Pawlenty ought to be getting extra credit for having faced down public-employee unions and profligate Democratic legislators before it was cool. Are we really so dense — so utterly dependent on the latest news cycle — that we are going to let a major opportunity like Pawlenty slip away out of the misplaced worry that he’s got “no name recognition?”
That is a solvable problem. Just watch: “Hey, Tim Pawlenty was a great conservative two-term governor of Minnesota! He’s tough on defense, conservative on social issues, and well liked by people from both sides of the aisle. He’s faced down Democrats time and again and won. He’s got the biography of a lunch-bucket Democrat and the outlook of a fiscally conservative Republican. And he can win! Yes, Tim Pawlenty can beat Barack Obama in a head-to-head battle for the presidency of the United States. Wake up, Republicans! The answer to your prayers is already running. And if all the pundits would just stop fantasizing for a minute about everyone who’s not running, maybe they’d pay more attention to who actually is.”
Read National Review article here.
The ‘Education’ Mantra
Our education system has been hijacked by the liberal progressive left, a minority faction that is intent on tearing down our capitalistic society and replacing it with their socialist dreamworld. All you have to do to determine whether Thomas Sowell is right, is to attend one of the graduation ceremonies of one of our elite universities. Our students are not prepared for the rigors of the meaningful university curriculum. The foreign students are.
Excerpt:
Unfortunately, an increasing proportion of American education, whether in K–12 schools or in colleges and universities, is closer to the baton-twirling end of the spectrum than toward the nuclear-physics end. Even reputable colleges are increasingly teaching things that students should have learned in high school.
We don’t have a backlog of serious students trying to take serious courses. If you look at the fields in which American students specialize in colleges and universities, those fields are heavily weighted toward the soft end of the spectrum.
When it comes to postgraduate study in tough fields such as math and science, you often find foreign students at American universities receiving more of those degrees than do Americans.
A recent headline in the Chronicle of Higher Education said: “Master’s in English: Will Mow Lawns.” It featured a man with that degree who has gone into the landscaping business because there is no great demand for people with master’s degrees in English.
Too many of the people coming out of even our most prestigious academic institutions graduate with neither the skills to be economically productive nor the intellectual development to make them discerning citizens and voters.
Students can graduate from some of the most prestigious institutions in the country without ever learning anything about science, mathematics, economics, or anything else that would make them either productive contributors to the economy or informed voters who can see through political rhetoric.
Such people have proven to be ideal targets for demagogues promoting polarization and strife. We in the United States are still in the early stages of that process. But you need only visit campuses where whole departments feature soft courses preaching a sense of victimhood and resentment, and see the consequences in racial and ethnic polarization on campus.
There are too many other soft courses that allow students to spend years in college without becoming educated in any real sense.
We don’t need more government “investment” to produce more of such “education.” Lofty words such as “investment” should not blind us to the ugly reality of political pork-barrel spending.
Read full Thomas Sowell article here.
Excerpt:
Unfortunately, an increasing proportion of American education, whether in K–12 schools or in colleges and universities, is closer to the baton-twirling end of the spectrum than toward the nuclear-physics end. Even reputable colleges are increasingly teaching things that students should have learned in high school.
We don’t have a backlog of serious students trying to take serious courses. If you look at the fields in which American students specialize in colleges and universities, those fields are heavily weighted toward the soft end of the spectrum.
When it comes to postgraduate study in tough fields such as math and science, you often find foreign students at American universities receiving more of those degrees than do Americans.
A recent headline in the Chronicle of Higher Education said: “Master’s in English: Will Mow Lawns.” It featured a man with that degree who has gone into the landscaping business because there is no great demand for people with master’s degrees in English.
Too many of the people coming out of even our most prestigious academic institutions graduate with neither the skills to be economically productive nor the intellectual development to make them discerning citizens and voters.
Students can graduate from some of the most prestigious institutions in the country without ever learning anything about science, mathematics, economics, or anything else that would make them either productive contributors to the economy or informed voters who can see through political rhetoric.
Such people have proven to be ideal targets for demagogues promoting polarization and strife. We in the United States are still in the early stages of that process. But you need only visit campuses where whole departments feature soft courses preaching a sense of victimhood and resentment, and see the consequences in racial and ethnic polarization on campus.
There are too many other soft courses that allow students to spend years in college without becoming educated in any real sense.
We don’t need more government “investment” to produce more of such “education.” Lofty words such as “investment” should not blind us to the ugly reality of political pork-barrel spending.
Read full Thomas Sowell article here.
Can Muslims Be Good Americans?
Received this email today. Knowing that Islam is not just a religion but also a governmental and legal framework for the Muslim way of life, this analysis appears valid. Our Constitution and our free society cannot survive unless our immigrants assimilate into the true American culture.
As Charles Krauthammer said in an article a few years ago, "The cure for excessive immigration is successful assimilation. The way to prevent European-like immigration catastrophes is to turn every immigrant -- and most surely his children -- into an American."
This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to finish.
Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities. Can a good Muslim be a good American?
This question was forwarded to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. The following is his reply:
Theologically - no. . . . Because his allegiance is to Allah, The moon God of Arabia.
Religiously - no.. . . Because no other religion is accepted by His Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)(Koran)
Scripturally - no. . . Because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.
Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially - no. . .. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically - no.. . . Because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual Leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America,The great Satan.
Domestically - no. .. . Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34)
Intellectually - no. . Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically - no. . . . Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran does not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually - no.. . . Because when we declare 'one nation under God,' the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 Excellent names.
Therefore, after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. - - - They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.
The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. ....
Footnote: The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within.
SO FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Ohio's controversial collective bargaining reform bill passes House
There are many people in Ohio that are union members that will rally with their leaders to overturn this law, and they believe they are right in trying to protect their hard won "rights". This bill covers public employee unions, which even that Liberal Progressive FDR believed should not be allowed the bargaining authority of private unions.
The people of Ohio would be well served to look at their unemployment rates, one of the highest in the country, and the fate of their once mighty manufacturing base to see the results of overzealous unionization. If they look at these realistically and vote accordingly, maybe Ohio can be turned around and they can once again be the economic force they once were.
Governor Kasich is on the right track. Give his policies a chance.
Excerpt: COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's controversial collective bargaining reform bill is now just a signature away from becoming law after the Ohio House approved the amended bill Wednesday afternoon by a 53-44 vote and the Senate approved the changes by the same 17-16 margin that sent the bill to the lower house.
"Both Bill [Batcheleder] and I and Tom Niehaus don't see this a celebratory moment," Governor John Kasich told Newsnet 5 Wednesday night. "There are a lot of people who are upset, we respect that."
"I think they're going to find out at the end of the day we'll have stronger communities. This is all part of a package to help them to deal with limited resources and to get us into a position to start growing jobs instead of losing jobs," said Kasich.
Beachwood Democrat and former house speaker Armond Budish said he was disappointed in the outcome "you should not be balancing the budget on the backs of working people, that's what senate bill 5 does," he said.
Opponents are vowing to begin immediately the process of collecting the 230,000 signatures needed to get the measure up for a vote of the people in the form of a statewide referendum.
If Governor Kasich signs the bill into law by April 6, which is now likely, the measure would go on this November's ballot. If it had been signed into law after that date opponents could choose to wait until November 2012 for a vote. That date would delay implementation of the bill for at the very least another year and put on the ballot with some of the very members who voted to pass it.
Read full NewsNet5 article here.
The people of Ohio would be well served to look at their unemployment rates, one of the highest in the country, and the fate of their once mighty manufacturing base to see the results of overzealous unionization. If they look at these realistically and vote accordingly, maybe Ohio can be turned around and they can once again be the economic force they once were.
Governor Kasich is on the right track. Give his policies a chance.
Excerpt: COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's controversial collective bargaining reform bill is now just a signature away from becoming law after the Ohio House approved the amended bill Wednesday afternoon by a 53-44 vote and the Senate approved the changes by the same 17-16 margin that sent the bill to the lower house.
"Both Bill [Batcheleder] and I and Tom Niehaus don't see this a celebratory moment," Governor John Kasich told Newsnet 5 Wednesday night. "There are a lot of people who are upset, we respect that."
"I think they're going to find out at the end of the day we'll have stronger communities. This is all part of a package to help them to deal with limited resources and to get us into a position to start growing jobs instead of losing jobs," said Kasich.
Beachwood Democrat and former house speaker Armond Budish said he was disappointed in the outcome "you should not be balancing the budget on the backs of working people, that's what senate bill 5 does," he said.
Opponents are vowing to begin immediately the process of collecting the 230,000 signatures needed to get the measure up for a vote of the people in the form of a statewide referendum.
If Governor Kasich signs the bill into law by April 6, which is now likely, the measure would go on this November's ballot. If it had been signed into law after that date opponents could choose to wait until November 2012 for a vote. That date would delay implementation of the bill for at the very least another year and put on the ballot with some of the very members who voted to pass it.
Read full NewsNet5 article here.
Obama's Change - Facts Show No Hope (For Him)
Received this email today.
For all those folks who voted for and continue to support all that "Hope and Change you can believe in," here's some of the "changes" caused in the past two years.
The man who did this research is Dr. Paul Eidelberg an American-born, raised, Jewish man, former university professor in the US, now a university professor in Israel who knows American politics as well as anyone on the planet.
Any high school grad should be able to connect the dots on this to know that the guy in the oval office is not anyone's friend.
Here's Your Change
After two years of Obama ...
January 2009 TODAY % chg Source
Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.44 84% 1
Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) $43..48 $99..02 127.7% 2
Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) $38..74 $91..38 135.9% 2
Gold: London (per troy oz.) $853.25 $1,369.50 60.5% 2
Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL $3.56 $6.33 78.1% 2
Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL $9.66 $13..75 42.3% 2
Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob $13..37 $35..39 164.7% 2
Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall 7.6% 9.4% 23.7% 3
Unemployment rate, blacks 12.6% 15.8% 25.4% 3
Number of unemployed 11,616,000 14,485,000 24.7% 3
Number of fed. Employees 2,779,000 2,840,000 2.2% 3
Real median household income $50,112 $49,777 -0.7% 4
Number of food stamp recipients 31,983,716 43,200,878 35.1% 5
Number of unemployment benefit recipients 7,526,598 9,193,838 22.2% 6
Number of long-term unemployed 2,600,000 6,400,000 146.2% 3
Poverty rate, individuals 13.2% 14.3% 8.3% 4
People in poverty in U.S. 39,800,000 43,600,000 9.5% 4
U.S. . Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings 5 9 n/a 10
Present Situation Index 29.9 23.5 -21.4% 11
Failed banks 140 164 17.1% 12
U.S. . Dollar versus Japanese yen rate 89.76 82.03 -8.6% 2
U.S. . Money supply, M1, in billions 1,575.1 1,865.7 18.4% 13
U.S. . Money supply, M2, in billions 8,310.9 8,852.3 6.5% 13
National debt, in trillions $10..627 $14..052 32.2% 14
Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history.
Over 27 times as fast. Metaphorically speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane.
27 times faster, it would be doing 7,555 MPH!
Sources:
(1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. Of Labor;
(7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundationand WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC;
(13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury
THE PRESIDENCY
What is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 24 months -- so you'll have one year and ten months to come up with an answer.
Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
For all those folks who voted for and continue to support all that "Hope and Change you can believe in," here's some of the "changes" caused in the past two years.
The man who did this research is Dr. Paul Eidelberg an American-born, raised, Jewish man, former university professor in the US, now a university professor in Israel who knows American politics as well as anyone on the planet.
Any high school grad should be able to connect the dots on this to know that the guy in the oval office is not anyone's friend.
Here's Your Change
After two years of Obama ...
January 2009 TODAY % chg Source
Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.44 84% 1
Crude oil, European Brent (barrel) $43..48 $99..02 127.7% 2
Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel) $38..74 $91..38 135.9% 2
Gold: London (per troy oz.) $853.25 $1,369.50 60.5% 2
Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL $3.56 $6.33 78.1% 2
Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL $9.66 $13..75 42.3% 2
Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob $13..37 $35..39 164.7% 2
Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall 7.6% 9.4% 23.7% 3
Unemployment rate, blacks 12.6% 15.8% 25.4% 3
Number of unemployed 11,616,000 14,485,000 24.7% 3
Number of fed. Employees 2,779,000 2,840,000 2.2% 3
Real median household income $50,112 $49,777 -0.7% 4
Number of food stamp recipients 31,983,716 43,200,878 35.1% 5
Number of unemployment benefit recipients 7,526,598 9,193,838 22.2% 6
Number of long-term unemployed 2,600,000 6,400,000 146.2% 3
Poverty rate, individuals 13.2% 14.3% 8.3% 4
People in poverty in U.S. 39,800,000 43,600,000 9.5% 4
U.S. . Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings 5 9 n/a 10
Present Situation Index 29.9 23.5 -21.4% 11
Failed banks 140 164 17.1% 12
U.S. . Dollar versus Japanese yen rate 89.76 82.03 -8.6% 2
U.S. . Money supply, M1, in billions 1,575.1 1,865.7 18.4% 13
U.S. . Money supply, M2, in billions 8,310.9 8,852.3 6.5% 13
National debt, in trillions $10..627 $14..052 32.2% 14
Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history.
Over 27 times as fast. Metaphorically speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane.
27 times faster, it would be doing 7,555 MPH!
Sources:
(1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. Of Labor;
(7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundationand WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC;
(13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury
THE PRESIDENCY
What is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 24 months -- so you'll have one year and ten months to come up with an answer.
Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Allen West Nation
For those of you who want to keep track of what Allen West is up to, this website the Allen West Nation is a good place to visit.
Schumer Calls For ‘Do Not Ride’ List For Amtrak
My comments on this article:
Didn’t take long for the Democrat/Liberal/Progressives to try to use the Bin Laden info to try to increase government control over our lives. Schumer is an idiot or possibly sly as a fox. It would be so easy to find a remote spot to blow up a track that it would be insane to use a suicide bomber for that purpose. If Congress falls for this blatant attempt to rob us of more of our freedoms, they should all be sent packing.
Let’s see, what do we have left? Boats, well the big ones are covered but we could check the rest of them. Cars and trucks still need Homeland Security coverage. Those could and have done some damage. Don’t think we have to worry about tractors. motorcycles, bicycles or golf carts, but I’m sure they are a topic of conversation in this administration.
If I were still living in NY, I would be embarrassed that Schumer is my Senator.
Excerpt: Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for better rail security now that the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound has turned up plans to attack trains in the U.S.
“Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked,” Schumer said. “So that’s why I’m calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains.”
Schumer is calling for increased funding for rail security in light of the new intelligence.
Read CBS report here.
Didn’t take long for the Democrat/Liberal/Progressives to try to use the Bin Laden info to try to increase government control over our lives. Schumer is an idiot or possibly sly as a fox. It would be so easy to find a remote spot to blow up a track that it would be insane to use a suicide bomber for that purpose. If Congress falls for this blatant attempt to rob us of more of our freedoms, they should all be sent packing.
Let’s see, what do we have left? Boats, well the big ones are covered but we could check the rest of them. Cars and trucks still need Homeland Security coverage. Those could and have done some damage. Don’t think we have to worry about tractors. motorcycles, bicycles or golf carts, but I’m sure they are a topic of conversation in this administration.
If I were still living in NY, I would be embarrassed that Schumer is my Senator.
Excerpt: Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for better rail security now that the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound has turned up plans to attack trains in the U.S.
“Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an Amtrak train without so much as a question asked,” Schumer said. “So that’s why I’m calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains.”
Schumer is calling for increased funding for rail security in light of the new intelligence.
Read CBS report here.
Mitch Daniels: The man who could reshape the Republican field
I felt early on that Mitch Daniels would be one of the more serious Republican candidates, and after his CPAC speech, many people jumped on board. His apparent failure to take on the public employee unions in Indiana is disturbing to me, but it may help him in any run against Obama.
Excerpt: Daniels is regarded (and regards himself) as a candidate of considerable gravity, willing to focus on making tough choices about the nation’s financial future even if that conversation is politically unpopular. (At a February speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, he said that “purity in martyrdom is for suicide bombers.”)
A Daniels candidacy probably would be taken as a sign that the games are over for the Republican Party, that it is time to buckle down and organize to beat President Obama.
“He will turn a race that is about less serious politics into a race about more serious policy,” argued Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant who is not aligned with any candidate heading into 2012. “Daniels is the adult in the room saying the party is over, it’s time to clean house. That contrast in maturity is how a Republican beats Obama.”
What Daniels decides may well serve as a telling signal of whether Republicans are ready to get serious about beating Obama.
Read full Washington Post article here.
Excerpt: Daniels is regarded (and regards himself) as a candidate of considerable gravity, willing to focus on making tough choices about the nation’s financial future even if that conversation is politically unpopular. (At a February speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, he said that “purity in martyrdom is for suicide bombers.”)
A Daniels candidacy probably would be taken as a sign that the games are over for the Republican Party, that it is time to buckle down and organize to beat President Obama.
“He will turn a race that is about less serious politics into a race about more serious policy,” argued Alex Castellanos, a Republican media consultant who is not aligned with any candidate heading into 2012. “Daniels is the adult in the room saying the party is over, it’s time to clean house. That contrast in maturity is how a Republican beats Obama.”
What Daniels decides may well serve as a telling signal of whether Republicans are ready to get serious about beating Obama.
Read full Washington Post article here.
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