February 2012 Archives

Anybody surprised?

Tea Party chapters around the nation are blasting the Internal Revenue Service after the federal agency sent them letters demanding information about their politics, contributors and even family members.

In letters sent from IRS offices in Cincinnati earlier this month, chapters including the Waco (Texas) Tea Party and the Ohio Liberty Council were asked to provide a list of donors, identify volunteers, financial support for and relationships with political candidates and parties, and even printed copies of their Facebook pages.

"Some of what they (the IRS) asked was reasonable, but there were some requests on there that were strange," Toby Marie Walker, president of the Waco Tea Party told FoxNews.com. "It makes you wonder if they do this to groups like ACORN or other left-leaning groups."

Call me paranoid, but I wouldn't be surprised if this comes from the Harasser-in-Chief himself. He can't stand to be opposed.

Unbelievable. Obama is apologizing for America again. Most Americans, unfortunately, don't know the details of this incident, and they sure aren't going to get the whole truth from the Obamedia.

We have officially lost our minds.

The New York Times reports that President Obama has sent a formal letter of apology to Afghanistan's ingrate president, Hamid Karzai, for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. The only upside of the apology is that it appears (based on the Times account) to be couched as coming personally from our blindly Islamophilic president -- "I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident. . . . I extend to you and the Afghani people my sincere apologies." It is not couched as an apology from the American people, whose frame of mind will be outrage, not contrition, as the facts become more widely known.

The facts are that the Korans were seized at a jail because jihadists imprisoned there were using them not for prayer but to communicate incendiary messages. The soldiers dispatched to burn refuse from the jail were not the officials who had seized the books, had no idea they were burning Korans, and tried desperately to retrieve the books when the situation was brought to their attention.

We have GOT to beat this man in November.

Even on less than $15,000 a year, 56% of 18-24 year olds have Smart Phones.

Among 18- to 24-year-olds, more than half of respondents who make less than $15,000 each year said they own a smartphone. This might be explained if the parents of many college-age students are footing their children's phone bills. 

Still, even in the next oldest, post-college age group, the percentage of those in the same income bracket who own a smartphone was a mere 13% lower. Making less than $15,000 in a year doesn't stop 43% of these 25- to 34-year-old mobile customers from paying for a smartphone. Meanwhile, fewer than 20% of respondents older than 45 who make less than $15,000 said they owned a smartphone."

They are *entitled* to a Smart Phone, don't you see. Heck, *I* don't have a Smart Phone, and I work 12-14 hours a day. My husband and I have pay-as-you-go TracFones to save money. I don't need to take pictures and check my email when I'm in my car, I just need to be able to make and receive phone calls. Sure, it would be fun to have an expensive toy, but my husband and I are still paying for two college educations - and we don't expect our fellow taxpayers to do it for us. I know you've seen teenagers with their phones - heck, I've seen them at the gym texting while they're on the exercise bike. Come on, get a grip. The bottom line is that so many of our young people are not being taught that you have to earn expensive toys like Smart Phones. Delayed gratification is becoming a foreign concept.

It's amazing that people still take what the media says as gospel. They fudge the numbers however they have to in order to make their guy look good. Here's the truth:

Sure, the jobless rate is falling. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, we are going through the longest stretch of high unemployment since the Depression. The rate has been higher than 8% since February 2009, the month after Obama took office.

And, says the CBO, it is expected to stay above 8% through 2014.

Even worse for an administration straining to make the case that it deserves to be around for another four years is the real unemployment rate. It's not 8.3%, but closer to 15%, a figure that reflects those who "would like to work but have not searched for a job in the past four weeks as well as those who are working part time but would prefer full-time work," says the CBO.

Do you see that reported anywhere other than conservative blogs and maybe Fox News? Nope. They'll squeal about what a turnaround we're in, but everyone out here in the real world who does not have Obama blinders on knows better. This economy is a mess, and it's going to get worse if Obama is re-elected. We can't let that happen.

Okay, you and I know who is responsible for our economy's slide. I just wish Mr. & Mrs. Average Citizen would take the time to dig a little deeper than the mainstream media's soundbites. Yes, I know, some of them are slowly waking up. But there are still far too many who take Obama and the Democrats at their word, as if their word is worth anything. This chart tells the story:

Well, I guess you'll have to follow the link to see the chart. When I try to paste it here, it comes out bigger than Obama's ego.

I have already blogged about this today over at jensgyrations.blogspot.com, but it just bugs me so much I'm gonna do it here, too. The government doesn't even think we're capable of feeding our children correctly. This kind of thing just makes me nuts!

In recent weeks, the first lady has been touring the country on campaign stops celebrating the two-year anniversary of the Let's Move Campaign. She's bragged about the Obama administration's so-called victories over childhood obesity including making school lunches "healthy" (never mind that no one appears willing to eat these new lunches), strong-arming grocery stores to change the very recipes for their house-brand products (even though many of these "healthy" new recipes aren't selling), and requiring restaurants to post calorie information on their menus (even though this information is largely ignored).

Congrats!

The administration has also done wonders for the child-parent relationship by managing to remove thousands of parents from the role of feeding their children by automatically enrolling low-income children in school-run feeding programs. And just yesterday, news broke of a perfect example of this creepy, big-brother overreach. 

In North Carolina, a state lunch inspector (what's that?) declared one elementary-school child's home-packed lunch of a turkey-and-cheese sandwich, banana, chips, and apple juice to be in violation of -- wait for it -- government nutrition standards. So, what healthy item did they offer this young child in place of her mother's lovingly packed lunch. I kid you not: chicken nuggets!

Really? The kid ate three chicken nuggets instead of her turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, chips, and apple juice. Oh right, that's MUCH better. But...that's not the point. It is none of the government's business what you feed your kids This is crazy, and it has to be stopped. Get the morons in power now OUT.

What a colossal insult to the American people. To look us in the face and lie through his teeth like this. This is what Washington has become with Democrats in power.

White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew on Sunday defended Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision not to hold a vote on a budget by falsely claiming it would be filibustered by Republicans.

Lew, who previously served as the director of President Obama's Office of Management and Budget, surely knows that a budget merely needs a simply majority to pass.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Candy Crowley asked Lew about Reid's unwillingness to hold a budget vote. Lew started off by offering Reid's standard defense -- that it isn't necessary to pass a non-binding budget resolution because last year's debt limit deal already set spending levels.

"He's not saying that they shouldn't pass a budget," Lew continued. "But we also need to be honest. You can't pass a budget in the Senate of the United States without 60 votes and you can't get 60 votes without bipartisan support."

Yet as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities explains, a budget resolution "requires only a majority vote to pass, and its consideration is one of the few actions that cannot be filibustered in the Senate."

Of course he knows it. He also knows most Americans don't know it, and he's counting on that. What a worm.

Iran is to make a "Major Nuclear Announcement" soon. We shouldn't have let him have the chance. This petty little thug should have been taken out a long time ago. I know, I know, diplomacy, world opinion, blah blah blah. Obama is making a laughingstock of this country.

Iran will soon unveil "big new" nuclear achievements, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday while reiterating Tehran's readiness to revive talks with the West over the country's controversial nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad spoke at a rally in Tehran as tens of thousands of Iranians marked the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power.

Yeah, how's that workin' out? Your country is a toilet, but you're doing okay, aren't you Mahmoud?

Santorum scored a three-fer last night with wins in Missouri, Mississippi, and Colorado.  Of the candidates remaining, he is certainly my pick. He is far and away the most conservative of the three (I don't count Ron Paul). I like what he had to say:

Santorum, though, said Tuesday night in Missouri that he wasn't looking to be the alternative to Romney.

"I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama," Santorum said.

We have to be careful to attack the real enemy, Barack Obama and the Democrats. This country can't afford another four years of them. On to Maine!

I'll have to echo Jim's post below. Work, my own blog, life circumstances, etc. have kept me from blogging here as much as I'd like. This blog is where I learned to like blogging, and Jim's great writing examples have helped me get better at it. I'm going to try to be more regular because I want this blog to succeed and get more popular. Jim's entries are always worth reading, but one thing I've learned when blogging is you have to be persistent/consistent.

Well, what did you think of the Super Bowl? I went to bed at halftime, and admittedly, wasn't watching the first half anyway. Mark was, of course. I like Eli Manning, so I'm glad the Giants won. The Patriots seem to be one of those "love 'em or hate 'em" teams. I heard the halftime show was something to see. I can't get past Madonna's sordid actions in the past. I think she's a repulsive human being, therefore I can't enjoy anything she does.

Well, work calls. Have a great day, and come back and check in often!