Shinseki: US will fix broken VA disability system

Shinseki: US will fix broken VA disability system
"Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he's making it a top priority this year to tackle the backlog of disability claims that has veterans waiting months - even years - to get financial compensation for their injuries."

Remember, these are the folks who want to EXPAND their control over your health care.

Think about it, if they won't do right by our injured military.......our American heroes!

What do you think they're gonna do to you and your family?

Oh yeah.... and the VA is broke too.

Tea Party Nation: On the Movement's Rapid Rise, Protests - TIME

Tea Party Nation: On the Movement's Rapid Rise, Protests - TIME
"Small Is Beautiful
Now those people have a sort of political home.
Across the country, from Muskegon, Mich., to Wetumpka, Ala., Tea Party meetings are being convened in restaurants and living rooms and libraries and office buildings — and online."

And we meet tonight to get Muskegon Patriots revved up again!

Works and Days » Where Did Our Real Wealth Go?

Works and Days » Where Did Our Real Wealth Go?
"(A citizen who believes by birthright that he is to be taken care of by the state always hates the state that can never do enough, in the fashion that the country who is taken care of militarily always hates its protector.)"

(HT AL)

BILL O’REILLY SUPPORTS GUN CONFISCATION DURING WEATHER EMERGENCIES? That’s funny. O’Reilly calls t…

BILL O’REILLY SUPPORTS GUN CONFISCATION DURING WEATHER EMERGENCIES?

That’s funny.
O’Reilly calls the opposing position “extreme,” but such gun confiscation is illegal under federal statute, and as a matter of constitutional law; in fact, the city of New Orleans lost a lawsuit over gun confiscation during Katrina.
But then, O’Reilly’s no libertarian, to put things mildly.
And he’s consistently weak on the law, also to put things mildly.
Still, he should have been better briefed for this show, as he came across looking like a fool, and making his “extreme” guest look sober and well-informed by comparison.

UPDATE:
How radically anti-gun is Bill O’Reilly here?
Even Barack Obama voted the other way. (Thanks to reader John Stober for the link).
Posted at by Glenn Reynolds at 9:47 pm"

Smelly Passenger Kicked Off Plane: Odor Disturbed Others on Flight

Smelly Passenger Kicked Off Plane: Odor Disturbed Others on Flight
"'People were just mumbling and staring at him,' Walsh told the Prince Edward Island Guardian, describing the man as unkempt.
'The guy next to me said, 'It's brutal.''"

Obama's federal government can weatherize your home for only $57,362

Obama's federal government can weatherize your home for only $57,362

State auditors report pension debt

State auditors report pension debt
"The state's five pension systems are collectively under funded by more than $62 billion, according to a new financial report released Tuesday by state auditors.
That liability was $8 billion more than the previous year, an increase of 14.7 percent."

Sarah Palin and the Politics of Grievance - WSJ.com

Dorothy Rabinowitz: Sarah Palin and the Politics of Grievance
"Though it hasn't attracted wide attention, nothing Mrs. Palin has done recently has been worthier of notice than her endorsement of Rand Paul, now running in Kentucky's GOP senate primary.
Dr. Paul, an opthamologist and radical libertarian, holds views on national security and defense that have much in common with those of the far left.
Not to mention those of the considerable body of conspiracy theorists, antigovernment zealots, 9/11 truthers, and assorted other cadres of the obsessed and deranged who flocked to the presidential candidacy of his father Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas."

Napolitano Meets with Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Napolitano Meets with Muslim Brotherhood Leaders
"Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations.
Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood."

Report: Barry violated city contract law - Washington Times

Report: Barry violated city contract law
"In addition, the report says Mr. Barry, 73, on several occasions delivered checks to Ms. Brighthaupt, accompanied her to the bank to cash the checks and then made her give him some of the money.
Ms. Brighthaupt said she gave Mr. Barry several hundred to thousands of dollars, according to the report.
Mr. Barry has said he insisted on being repaid for money he gave Ms. Brighthaupt to help her with a mortgage, car repairs and other bills."

Class Warfare's Next Target: 401(k) Savings

Class Warfare's Next Target: 401(k) Savings
"You did the responsible thing. You saved in your IRA or 401(k) to support your retirement, when you could have spent that money on another vacation, or an upscale car, or fancier clothes and jewelry.

But now Washington is developing plans for your retirement savings.

BusinessWeek reports that the Treasury and Labor departments are asking for public comment on 'the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams.'

In plain English, the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years."

Michael Moore in Muskegon

I despise Mike Moore's anti-American rhetoric and fervently believe his movies are offensive distortions of the truth. His damage to our country's reputation and our system of capitalism will be long lasting.

But I was at the $75 gig last night at Hagar's and it was pretty cool.

And Mike was almost humble and very down to earth. And very likeable.

There were about 40 people, more if you count the volunteers providing food and a band.

And his short talk to the adoring crowd was strong on "support the arts" and wonder at the "big empty building down the road" (Sappi) and the Frauenthal. "Is that really your downtown?" he said almost hoping it wasn't.

He prattled on about the mess that Flint/Muskegon is today but threw no big stones.

He seemed to think a "non-profit" theatre was somehow better than a for-profit theatre.

But on the whole I came away with the feeling he was kind of a good guy.

I even got a photo of my man Mike and me!

I imagine I'd have felt the same way after a fun night with Bernie Maddoff.

His movies are Goebbels style propaganda but if he helps The Harbor, why not?

I love going into the belly of the beast.

CNN Celebrates Obama Stimulus With a Birthday Cake

CNN Celebrates Obama Stimulus With a Birthday Cake
"Over at the most trusted name in news, they sure know how to party when it's called for.
That was evident this afternoon on CNN Newsroom when anchor Ali Velshi gushed:
Happy birthday, dear stimulus.
Our producer Ben Tinker (ph) baked this cake.
It is a stimulus happy birthday -- first birthday cake, which is also a pie chart.
It is the birthday of the stimulus. It is actually very --"

This... is ....CNN.. how pathetic!

Lucianne.com News Forum - top_100_conservative_blogs

Lucianne.com News Forum - top_100_conservative_blogs

Michigan Home-Care Providers File Class Action Suit Challenging Union Boss/Granholm Unionization Scheme

Michigan Home-Care Providers File Class Action Suit Challenging Union Boss/Granholm Unionization Scheme
"With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a group of Michigan home-based day-care providers have filed a class action federal lawsuit against government union officials and Governor Granholm's Administration for illegally forcing them to pay union dues."

The good guys are fighting back!

(HT to Paula)

John Stossel on Forced Unionization : Whose Business is It Anyways 2/10/10

John Stossel on Forced Unionization : Whose Business is It Anyways 2/10/10

These scumbags will be in Muskegon at the Holiday Inn today at 6:00PM

Obama Envoy Vouched for Convicted Terrorist?

Obama Envoy Vouched for Convicted Terrorist?

Fox News – doing what the Obama-approved outlets won’t — takes a look at the newest Obama envoy. The report tells us:
President Obama’s new envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, is at the center of a controversy over remarks attributed to him defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group.
.......Well, this seems like it’s worth looking into.
A helpful profile on Al-Arian is here.

But let’s not be coy here.
Hussain is the designated man to continue the suck-uppery to the “Muslim World,” which Obama was personally conducting in Cairo and via his televised addressed to the Iranian Supreme Leader at the start of his presidency."

Thank God for FoxNews and the internet!

Cell phone ban in school speed zones in effect, under radar

Cell phone ban in school speed zones in effect, under radar
"School districts and police officials are using e-mails, letters and warnings to publicize a new state law that has taken many parents by surprise because it prohibits the use of a hand-held cell phone while driving in a school zone.

Since the law took effect Jan. 1, officials have scrambled to inform parents who dial away while performing the daily rite of dropping off or picking up their children amid a thicket of cars, buses and darting pedestrians.
Many find the law confusing, and even some police officials complain that it will be difficult to enforce.

'Personally, I think the police have better things to do than sit in the parking lot of schools and watch for people talking on the phone,'"

Hazelwood man dies after 10 calls to 911 over two days

Hazelwood man dies after 10 calls to 911 over two days
"In his first call to 911, Curtis Mitchell sounded calm, explaining to dispatchers that his 'entire stomach [was] in pain.'

By the time his longtime girlfriend made a 10th call nearly 30 hours later, she was frantic.
He wasn't breathing.
He was cold to the touch.

'Oh God, oh God,' Sharon Edge sobbed to dispatchers.
'I've been trying to get an ambulance over here for three days.'

Paramedics arrived at their Hazelwood home as Ms. Edge tried to resuscitate the 50-year-old, but it was too late.

'I sat up here with him, watching him die,' Ms. Edge said Tuesday, after city officials apologized to her and pledged immediate changes in emergency response after Mr. Mitchell's death on Feb. 7.

'They didn't do their jobs like they were supposed to.'"

But government run health care is way less complicated and would be run much better than this.

Foreigners cut Treasury stakes; rates could rise - Yahoo! Finance

Foreigners cut Treasury stakes; rates could rise - Yahoo! Finance: "A record drop in foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bills in December sent a reminder that the government might have to pay higher interest rates on its debt to continue to attract investors.
China reduced its stake and lost the position it's held for more than a year as the largest foreign holder of Treasury debt. Japan retook the top spot as it boosted its Treasury holdings.
The Treasury Department said foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bills fell by a record $53 billion in December. That topped the previous record drop of $44.5 billion in April 2009.
Private analysts, though, were split over the significance of the decline. Some doubted that the drop in foreign holdings of short-term Treasuries signified growing unease about holding U.S. debt. They noted that net purchases of longer-term Treasury debt rose in December by $70 billion.
But other economists saw the decline as a warning signal. They fear that foreigners, especially the Chinese, have begun to worry about record-high U.S. budget deficits and are looking to diversify their holdings."

American Thinker Blog: Tea Party truths

American Thinker Blog: Tea Party truths: "Tea Party truths
Russ Vaughn

Glenn Reynolds, better known to bloggers of our persuasion as Instapundit, absolutely nailed it in his WSJ article this past weekend entitled, What I Saw at the Tea Party Convention. What is so effective is the way Reynolds sets the stage with his lead paragraph and the two following:


There were promises of transparency and of a new kind of collaborative politics where establishment figures listened to ordinary Americans. We were going to see net spending cuts, tax cuts for nearly all Americans, an end to earmarks, legislation posted online for the public to review before it is signed into law, and a line-by-line review of the federal budget to remove wasteful programs.

These weren't the tea-party platforms I heard discussed in Nashville last weekend. They were the campaign promises of Barack Obama in 2008.

Mr. Obama made those promises because the ideas they represented were popular with average Americans. So popular, it turns out, that average Americans are organizing themselves in pursuit of the kind of good government Mr. Obama promised, but has not delivered. And that, in a nutshell, was the feel of the National Tea Party Convention. The political elites have failed, and citizens are stepping in to pick up the slack.


Well that's a nutshell that foaming-mouthed liberals like Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow and the Puffington Host will be gagging on."

52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012

CNN poll: 52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012
"52 percent of Americans said President Barack Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012, according to a new poll."

Well, record setting unemployment isn't a great reelection strategery.

Lone voice warns of debt threat to Fed

Lone voice warns of debt threat to Fed
"The US must fix its growing debt problems or risk a new financial crisis, Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, warned on Tuesday, adding a mounting deficit could spur inflation.

Mr Hoenig said that rising debt was infringing on the central bank’s ability to fulfil its goals of maintaining price stability and long-term economic growth.
“Stunning” deficit projections were putting political pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates low, infringing on its independence at the risk of inflation, he said.
“Without pre-emptive action, the US risks its next crisis,” Mr Hoenig said in a speech at the Pew-Peterson Commission on Budget Reform."

Seriously.
This is a major "DUH".
Spending like drunken Kennedys will lead to bankruptcy?
What a concept!

Bad Behavior Leaves Cox Open to Extortion

Bad Behavior Leaves Cox Open to Extortion
"That’s not the case here in Michigan, where one of our state’s most famous philanderers is still taken seriously.
In January, The Oakland Press named Michigan gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox one of their “Top 10 Cheaters” of the decade.
In 2005, Cox held a press conference to announce that he had taken part in an extramarital affair in 2003, while serving as the state’s Attorney General.
Cox only went public with the affair after trial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger allegedly threatened to expose it if Cox did not drop an investigation into Fieger’s alleged campaign finance violations.
One can only wonder what other secrets leave Mike Cox vulnerable to extortion"

This seems to be a hit-site set up by Cox opponents but it does ask legitimate, unanswered questions.

Last year, I asked the Cox campaign how he would handle the uncomfortable questions that surely would be asked by the media and his political opponents.

They dodged and tried to "shout" me down, even calling me at home and calling my political friends to shut me up.

Now it appears to be coming out again.

And Cox has yet to address the political problem.

How will he do in a statewide debate?

Will Michigan Business Taxpayers Be Subsidizing Batteries for 'Free' Golf Carts?

Will Michigan Business Taxpayers Be Subsidizing Batteries for 'Free' Golf Carts?
"While many Michigan taxpayers may be laughing or angry at the revelation by Fox News' John Stossel that he obtained a 'free' golf cart using special tax breaks and giveaways for electric cars [video], very few may realize that Michigan's lawmakers have been altering this state's business tax code to provide special credits and giveaways for the industry that creates these cars.

Most recently, on Dec. 31, 2009, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law House Bill 5469, which expands a taxpayer subsidy for makers of electric car batteries.
Two weeks earlier, overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate voted to approve the bill — only nine lawmakers out of 148 voted 'no.'"

More "business as usual" for our Michigan legislators.
We will have a chance to see real change in the August primaries.
Do we have the cojones to stand up to the forces of fiscal evil?

‘Oddball’ portrait of Amy Bishop emerges

‘Oddball’ portrait of Amy Bishop emerges
"A family source said Bishop, a mother of four children - the youngest a third-grade boy - was a far-left political extremist who was “obsessed” with President Obama to the point of being off-putting."

Too much of a good thing?

Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men

PLoS ONE: Optimal Waist-to-Hip Ratios in Women Activate Neural Reward Centers in Men
"Secondary sexual characteristics convey information about reproductive potential.
In the same way that facial symmetry and masculinity, and shoulder-to-hip ratio convey information about reproductive/genetic quality in males, waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) is a phenotypic cue to fertility, fecundity, neurodevelopmental resources in offspring, and overall health, and is indicative of “good genes” in women."

"Fecundity"?
I always thought it was tits and ass...... hooters and hips.

Am I still single cuz I never understood fecundity?

Vancouver’s quick descent from high ground

James Lawton: Vancouver’s quick descent from high ground
"Kumaritashvili had just 26 practice runs, as opposed to the 200 for the Canadians"

Great Olympic comebacks by Wescott, Miller & Vonn

Great Olympic comebacks by Wescott, Miller & Vonn
"The speedskating event was delayed because both Zambonis were busted, leaving the machines in need of repair and the ice in need of cleaning."

The Zambonis were "busted"?

Is this a drug thing?

Heh....

Gary Berdinski, Muskegon County sheriff's marine officer, retires after 37 years

Gary Berdinski, Muskegon County sheriff's marine officer, retires after 37 years
“I’m the guy with the cool job,” he likes to say.
“The coolest job ever.”"

A great guy!

A skinny guy!

Enjoy your retirement Sheriff Gary!