History for February 1

History for February 1 - On-This-Day.com

National Black History Month begins. 2014 theme is “Civil Rights in America.” See www.asalh.org

Happy Birthday! Don Everly, Garrett Morris, Stuart Whitman

1884 - The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. 


1900 - Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera. 


1919 - The first Miss America was crowned in New York City. 


1920 - The first armored car was introduced. 



1958 - The United Arab Republic was formed by a union of Egypt and Syria. It was broken 1961.


1979 - Patty Hearst was released from prison after serving 22 months of a seven-year sentence for bank robbery. Her sentence had been commuted by U.S. President Carter. 


2003 - NASA's space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.

Bernanke’s printing only delayed the pain

Bernanke’s printing only delayed the pain | AgainstCronyCapitalism.org:
"The nature of poverty is ongoing struggle of course but when real wealth is created, when new businesses flourish, when organic economic growth occurs, more poor people are lifted out of poverty.
Under Bernanke those with assets already have done very well (for the time being) while those who would like to own assets have seen that dream slip away. 
The “underclass” we’ve heard so much of over the past couple of decades has truly become permanent.
1 in 6 people in this country are fed by the government, and the number continues to grow.

Debt burdens have shifted from consumer debt, to student debt as young people try to wait out the slow economy like the kids of the 60s tried to wait out the Vietnam War.
When the economic refugees are forced out into the real world these students often find that there are no jobs available which pay enough to enable them to pay back the piles of debt they’ve accrued..
A giant anchor hangs around the ankle of a generation."

Michigan Republican Chairman- Schostak Bros. plans $111 million, 16-story Detroit office tower

Schostak Bros. plans $111 million, 16-story Detroit office tower | Crain's Detroit Business

Livonia-based Schostak Bros. & Co. plans to build a $111-million, 16-story office building on Monroe Street downtown, the first new major office building construction in Detroit's central business district since construction on One Kennedy Square began in 2005.

The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority's nine-member board has reviewed a $27-million brownfield tax incentive plan for site preparation and infrastructure improvements for the building, which is expected to include first-floor retail space and a parking deck wrapping around Cadillac Tower facingCampus Martius.

.....A timeline for the building's construction is not known.

Calls to Schostak Bros. Director of Corporate Real Estate Services Jeff Schostak and David Johnes, vice president of the company's director of development and construction, were not immediately returned on Monday afternoon.

Michigan GOP Seeks to Eradicate 'Extreme' Members

Michigan GOP Seeks to Eradicate 'Extreme' Members:
"Mainstream activists in the Michigan Republican Party are going after what they call the "extremists" among them.
 In an opinion piece for The Detroit News, Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley reports Michigan Republicans are taking "aggressive steps" to boot out members who would turn the party into "a narrow club of narrow thinkers."
One of the first orders of business: to remove Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema from his post following remarks he made that were perceived to be anti-gay and anti-Muslim.
 Finley reports another group, Advance Michigan, has been formed to stop "far-right" candidates from winning primaries.
“We can sit on the sidelines or we can get involved and help get the right people nominated.
Our mission is to promote common sense conservatism," GOP strategist Paul Welday said, according to Finley.
“We’ve seen time and again Republicans nominating the wrong candidates for seats we should win, but we lose. We can be our own worst enemy.”"

Winter!

This higher resolution satellite photo from Tuesday January 28, 2014 shows ice along the western side of Lake Michigan.
 It also shows the point at which open water starts, the lake effect bands of snow form.
Space Science And Engineering Center- University of Wisconsin - Madison

Common sense for restaurant-menu labeling

THATCHER: Common sense for restaurant-menu labeling - Washington Times:

"One major problem with Obamacare that the president failed to mention in his State of the Union address is pending regulations that could make food more costly.

The law’s Section 4205 requires restaurants with 20 or more locations to list calorie-content information for each menu item on a board at every establishment. 

The costs of this intrusive regulation would be passed on to consumers in the"

Police Chief James Craig: More guns could equal less crime in Detroit

Police Chief James Craig: More guns could equal less crime in Detroit | MLive.com:

But first-year Police Chief James Craig takes a slightly different approach. 

He says in the hands of legal, law-abiding citizens, firearms "could be a deterrence to violent crime."

...........Craig in previous interviews said he changed his mind on gun laws -- from a more conservative stance -- after he became the chief in Portland, Me., a place he called "one of the safest places in America," and one with a high number of concealed weapon permits.

"I say that because of my experience now in my fourth city, seeing good Americans, good Detroiters that have CCWs and what effect that has had on deterring violent crime," Craig said Thursday responding to Hines. 

"Given what I saw coming into the door her in Detroit, the fact that the city has been (touted) as one of the most violent cities in America... we still have incident after incident where individuals like elderly people get dragged out of their cars at gunpoint."

‘U’ Students Want Crime Alerts To Avoid Using Racial Descriptions

‘U’ Students Want Crime Alerts To Avoid Using Racial Descriptions « CBS Minnesota:
"MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – School officials at the University of Minnesota are working with black student and facility organizations after they wrote a letter to the school’s president about the racial descriptions given in crime alerts."

Warmtroopers at the Super Bowl

Warmtroopers at the Super Bowl :: SteynOnline:
"So the message from Audi isn't "You are a free man. Don't bend to the statist bullies," but "Resistance is futile. You might as well get with the program."

Strange.
Not so long ago, car ads prioritized liberty. 
Your vehicle opened up new horizons: Gitcha motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure. . . .
To sell dull automobiles to people who lived in suburban cul de sacs, manufacturers showed them roaring round hairpin bends, deep into forests, splashing through rivers, across the desert plain, invariably coming to rest on the edge of a spectacular promontory on the roof of the world offering a dizzying view of half the planet.
Freedom!

But now Audi flogs you its vehicles on the basis that it's the most convenient way to submit to arbitrary state authority."

Black America: Stop The Insanity!

Articles: Black America: Stop The Insanity!:
As a commonsense-thinking black conservative, I offer the same clarion call to fellow black Americans: "Stop the insanity!"

Why do you continue sleeping with the enemy, voting for liberal Democrats whose policies imply that you are inferior, stupid, and culturally immoral?  
When the NAACP and Democrats claim that requiring a photo ID disenfranchises blacks, such implies we are stupid.  
For the life of me, I do not understand why millions of blacks are not highly insulted by this absurd claim.  
Do blacks fly?  
Do blacks drive cars?  
Do blacks cash checks?

When Democrats and liberals accept over 70% out-of-wedlock births and fatherless households as a cultural norm in the black community, I am offended.  
And yet, I am called a sellout.

......With the liberal mainstream media in the Democrats' back pocket as complicit liberal plantation gatekeepers, I will continue praying for divine intervention while pounding on the plantation masters' door.  
Let my people go!  
My fellow black Americans, it truly is time to stop the insanity.

Out of Control!-----CFPB HQ rehab to cost more than Trump Towers

CFPB HQ rehab to cost more than Trump Towers | WashingtonExaminer.com

Congress is warning Americans that the agency charged with safeguarding their wallet -- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- is orchestrating a huge taxpayer rip off, renovating their downtown headquarters for nearly as much as the building is worth.

“You are spending more per square foot than the Trump World Tower” cost to build, jabbed Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, at CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “You are spending more than the Bellagio Hotel and Casino” cost to build in Las Vegas, he added at a hearing this week.

...Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., long a critic of the rehab, told Secrets that he has just demanded an audit of the project which he said has soared to three times the initial $55 million estimate and is nearly as high as building’s total appraisal of $153 million.

The building isn’t new.
 It used to house the now defunct Office of Thrift Supervision.

Watch the Powerful Olympics Ad That Disappeared From the Internet Last Night

Watch the Powerful Olympics Ad That Disappeared From the Internet Last Night | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"This Olympic video was supposed to disappear from the airwaves today, but you can see the powerful story here.

 Two sisters, Lanny and Tracy Barnes, are twin Olympic biathletes (the sport that combines cross-country skiing and shooting) who have trained for years together side-by-side.

 But this year the girls pulled an old twin trick that no one would ever expect at the Olympics: they switched places for the Winter Games."

Classic example of government monopoly vs private business ------Muskegon post office parking issue solved by city commission with 30-minute parking order

This is a perfect example of the difference between the perception of the "customer" by a privately owned business and a government monopoly.

With private businesses, the owners make sure that employees and other non-customers do not use scarce parking that is necessary for customers.

Parking that would make it more convenient for customers and hopefully would lead to increased business.

But our post office not only allowed employees to monopolize the parking, it required the city commission to create a new law to protect citizens from a protected monopoly and management that saw "customers" merely as competitors for parking spots. 

Muskegon post office parking issue solved by city commission with 30-minute parking order | MLive.com:
"City Manager Frank Peterson said the city has had several complaints from post office patrons that they can never get a parking space on First Street in front of the post office because postal employees are parking there. 
Upon investigation, Peterson said the city found the complaints had merit.
To keep postal employees – and any downtown worker – from parking in prime, post office, on-street parking spots, the city traffic order limits the First Street parking to 30 minutes.
Peterson said signs will go up in the next week and the 30-minute restriction will be enforced."

WeMOG-Fri 1/31

Friday, Jan. 31 all activities commence at 1:30

Hike or snow shoe "Walk a Mile Trail"  at Hoffmaster State Park

Cannot park by trail.  Park at turn-around by Ranger Hut as you enter park.

Skiers meet

  at Hoffmaster

ski trail/picnic shelter parking lot, at 1:30 sharp.

ski led by Sandy

When finished proceed to the Elks at 513 Pontaluna Rd.

(Holiday Party location) for Happy Hour and dominoes.

You can enjoy either or both. 

 Drinks, snacks, hamburgs, hot dogs are reasonable

 and a chicken dinner is available for $6.50.

If you are not able or do not care to get any exercise, just meet at the Elks for socialization. 

 Outdoor enthusiasts should be there by 4:00 at the latest.

Come celebrate the end of January--a long, cold month

Domino Sharks----Please bring your dominoes!!!

"Climate disruption"?-------A Gathering Storm

A Gathering Storm | National Review Online:

‘The debate is settled,” said the president in his State of the Union address. 
“Climate change is a fact.” 
But of course there is no debate about whether climate change is a fact: The debate is now about whether human emissions of greenhouse gases cause weather events of unprecedented intensity. 
President Obama argued that stringent new limits on coal-fired power plants are urgently needed “because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought, and coastal cities dealing with floods.” 
So less coal-fired electrical generation will help us avoid droughts and floods? 
Heedless of the absurd stretch in his own argument, the president presses on.

Most amusing is the alarmists’ increasing preoccupation with “extreme weather events.” Members insisted that severe weather of any stripe proves that human activity is causing a “catastrophe unfolding before our eyes” and thus, aggressive government action is needed “with the fierce urgency of now.”
The president also now focuses on bad weather when imposing carbon chastity by executive action.
As he stated in his second inaugural address: “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but no one can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.”

In this conflation of weather and climate, the Left implicitly concedes that its speculative theory of dangerous warming is not as compelling as it once seemed.
Hence, it changes the nomenclature from “global warming” to “climate change” and now to “climate disruption.”
......U.S. government records from the last century show that tornados, storms, droughts, wildfires, etc. have been neither more intense nor more frequent in recent years. 

Dr. Judith Curry, chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Atmospheric Sciences, testified that the belief that recent extreme weather is unprecedented results from “weather amnesia.” She said: “In the U.S., most types of weather extremes were worse in the 1930s and even in the 1950s, while the weather was overall more benign in the 1970s. . . . The extremes of the 1930s and 1950s are not attributable to greenhouse warming and are associated with natural climate variability.”
.......These CO2 standards are the first direct regulation of CO2 since the EPA’s Endangerment Finding in late 2009 forced CO2 into the legal category of “pollutants” under the Clean Air Act by a wave of the administrative wand.
If the EPA’s CO2 rules for power plants foreshadow the EPA’s future CO2 agenda, expect energy scarcity in this country, of the kind that has already occurred in Germany: Der Spiegel reports that 700,000 households are now cut off from electricity, which is three times the average U.S. price. 
These families now burn wood pellets imported from the U.S. for home heating.

NYC school cuts popular gifted program over lack of diversity

NYC school cuts popular gifted program over lack of diversity: report - Washington Times

A popular gifted-student program at a New York City elementary school is getting the ax after school officials decided it lacked diversity.

PS 139 Principal Mary McDonald told parents in a letter Jan. 24 that Students of Academic Rigor, or SOAR, would no longer accept applications for incoming kindergartners, the New York Daily Newsreported.

“Our Kindergarten classes will be heterogeneously grouped to reflect the diversity of our student body and the community we live in,” Miss McDonald said in the letter posted on Flickr.com.

At least one parent described SOAR as largely white, while others disagreed, the report said.

The Rise of the Fun Police

The Rise of the Fun Police | RealClearPolitics
If you look around, you can see Debbie Downers—or, as I like to call them, the fun police—everywhere. They’ve banned Happy Meal Toys in San Francisco.
 They’ve banned large sodas in New York. In Los Angeles, they recently attempted to ban Frisbee playing on public beaches. 
In California as a whole, thanks to a law called Proposition 65, they slap vague and alarming warning labels on everything from hotels to cars.
 (On a recent trip to Santa Barbara, we decided to splurge on lunch at the Four Seasons, which is a lovely hotel overlooking the beach—and which also, as a large, prominent sign posted next to the hotel’s front doors helpfully informed me, may or may not have traces of hazardous and toxic chemicals buried deep inside its walls. It was very romantic.)

In the world of the fun police, there’s never enough oppression to go around, and there are never enough deadly-serious labels—gay, straight, half-white, half-black, one-quarter Cambodian, three-quarters Asian transgender student-athlete, and on and on—with which to dissect various injustices.

When I was in college, I always found it vaguely amusing to shout “OPPRESSION!” when there was something going on I didn’t like. 
Despite the insistence of some of my professors, I was, of course, nowhere near oppressed. 
None of my friends, of many races, colors, and creeds, were anywhere near oppressed, either, and even the most delusional among us knew that this was the case.

This is probably why none of us grew up to be producers for National Public Radio.

Liars on the left lie again-----Union leader says charters should be nixed because they might be teaching ‘creationism’

Union leader says charters should be nixed because they might be teaching ‘creationism’ - EAGnews.org powered by Education Action Group Foundation, Inc.:

CHICAGO – Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis will say just about anything in her never-ending fight for her union’s self interests.

Her latest big-mouth blunder came this week when she tried to scare the public into believing that some of the city’s charter schools could soon be teaching creationism.

Lewis was referring to hypothetical charter schools that could get rejected by their local school districts, but gain approval upon appeal to the Illinois Charter School Commission. Lewis contends schools in that situation would collect funding from the local school district, but would have “absolutely no oversight” and “could teach whatever they want,” DNAinfo.comreports.

“They could teach creationism,” Lewis said.

The horror!

Jeanne Nowaczewski, executive director of the charter school commission, essentially told the news site that Lewis is full of hot air.

“Whoever approves the school becomes the authorizer,” and the charter school commission would be responsible for oversight of the school. Nowaczewski said her commission uses an “extremely rigorous” accountability system, and that it’s illegal for government-funded schools in Illinois to teach creationism, DNAinfo.com reports.

Why the U.S. Has Lost Manufacturing Jobs

Why the U.S. Has Lost Manufacturing Jobs – LewRockwell.com:

"The basic story is that half the world had a labor force that was basically being thwarted by communist and similar repressive governments, and when the dam was burst and free market forces unleashed, giant equilibrating economic forces came into play.

 One result has been lower prices for products imported made overseas and imported into America.

Another result is that American workers have had to compete with Chinese workers."

......A true growth agenda for America and Americans need not even take these measures just mentioned, however. 
Any political candidate can assemble a list of measures that free up the American entrepreneurs and economy by focusing on individual industries and sectors and locating those costly regulations and measures that are impeding them. 
Such a list will not resemble at all the existing programs produced annually by Congress, which are aimed at votes, interest groups and not at improving the American economy. 
A political candidate who really intends to do something for Americans and their economy has to be willing to go over the heads of Congress and its entrenched interests, to go directly to the broad American public and rally them behind a new program and a new agenda for American growth.

History for January 31

History for January 31 - On-This-Day.com:

Birth anniversaries of Zane Grey (1872-1939), Jackie Robinson (1919-72) and Franz Schubert (1797-1828). 

Anniversary of Project Mercury space test (1961)—the first US recovery of a large animal from space (Ham the chimpanzee).

Happy Birthday! Ernie Banks, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), Jessica Walter

1606 - Guy Fawkes was executed after being convicted for his role in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I.


1865 - In America, General Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.


1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. It was ratified by the necessary number of states on December 6, 1865. The amendment abolished slavery in the United States.


1876 - All Native American Indians were ordered to move into reservations.


1893 - The trademark "Coca-Cola" was first registered in the United States Patent Office.


1929 - The USSR exiled Leon Trotsky. He found asylum in Mexico.


1940 - The first Social Security check was issued by the U.S. Government. to be executed for desertion.


1950 - U.S. President Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.



1958 - Explorer I was put into orbit around the earth. It was the first U.S. earth satellite.


1971 - Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon. 

1990 - McDonald's Corp. opened its first fast-food restaurant in Moscow, Russia.


1995 - U.S. President Clinton invoked presidential emergency authority to provide a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
2000 - An Alaska Airlines jet crashed into the ocean off Southern California. All 88 people on board were killed. 

Lie Witness News - State of the Union Edition

OMG Raise The Minimum Wage Already

The IRS stole an election, still stonewalls an investigation and the liberal media is.........? ------No shield from scrutiny for the IRS in Christine O'Donnell case

EDITORIAL: No shield from scrutiny for the IRS in Christine O'Donnell case - Washington Times:
"There’s no mystery about why the three letters IRS strike fear into every heart.
As far back as 1819, nearly a century before the income tax was imposed by Congress, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall observed that the power to tax is the power to destroy.

The IRS has perfected and refined the power.

Christine O'Donnell, a Republican, ran for the U.S. Senate in Delaware in 2010, and her campaign was fatally damaged early on by leaks that she had “IRS problems.”
Nearly four years later, Miss O'Donnell is still trying to find out how the IRS wrongly issued a tax lien against a house that was said to be hers, but wasn’t, just as her campaign began.

The lien was widely publicized and used by foes to discredit the Tea Party favorite, and it turned out to be a deliberate and dirty trick. 
Miss O'Donnell had once owned the house, but sold it in 2008.
The IRS blamed a convenient “computer glitch” and withdrew the lien, but only after the damage was done.

The House and Senate committees that oversee the IRS want answers, and they’re not getting them."

Obama's "77 Cents on the Dollar" Claim Debunked

Obama's "77 Cents on the Dollar" Claim Debunked | The American Spectator:
 "Rosin wrote:
The official Bureau of Labor Department statistics show that the median earnings of full-time female workers is 77 percent of the median earnings of full-time male workers. But that is very different than “77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men.”

The statistic does not mean that the female factory worker standing next to a male factory worker is only making $7.25 an hour while he makes $8.02:

Women congregate in different professions than men do, and the largely male professions tend to be higher-paying. If you account for those differences, and then compare a woman and a man doing the same job, the pay gap narrows to 91 percent. So, you could accurately say in that Obama ad that, “women get paid 91 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men.”

Many men tend to go into science and engineering fields which generally pay more. Women who stay at home with children are factored in as earning nothing. Therefore, the 77 cent stat is a misleading one."

Something smells here. Smells REAL Bad----DIA's $100M pledge to rescue fund helps clear path to bankruptcy resolution

$100 million from artsy-fartsies to bail out Detroit?
Yeah.
And I've got a sweet deal for you on a bridge in Mackinac.....
DIA's $100M pledge to rescue fund helps clear path to bankruptcy resolution | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
 "The DIA said today that its board of directors approved a $100-million fund-raising campaign over 20 years with donations coming from companies and individuals.
The pledge comes after more than six weeks of delicate negotiations concerning how much cash the museum was willing and able to contribute to the plan and eight months after the museum was put on notice by Orr that the DIA’s collection could be sold to help pay down some of the city’s debt.

A significant contribution from the DIA has been considered key to garnering political support in Lansing and to satisfying Orr, who said he believes that he won’t be able to get court approval for a final restructuring plan without accounting for the value of DIA art.
But the size of the museum’s contribution comes as a surprise.
In recent weeks, sources close to the negotiations told the Free Press that Orr considered $100 million over 20 years a reasonable target, but DIA officials had previously rejected this as impossible."

Congress, Who Do You Think Is Going to Pay Off The $17 Trillion Debt?

Congress, Who Do You Think Is Going to Pay Off The $17 Trillion Debt?:
"Our nation is $17 trillion in debt.
Each citizen’s share of the debt is $54,391.10.
 Based on my birthday, December 24, 1988, my lifetime share of the national debt is $600,800, according a personal debt calculator on the Senate Republicans’ Budget Committee website.  
A baby born December 24, 2013 has a $1,532,026 lifetime share of the national debt.

See how the picture gets increasingly grimmer for the children of today and future generations?
 To borrow a phrase from our liberal counterparts, that’s not fair!  
This has to stop."