Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies

Senators load financial overhaul with irrelevancies
"Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., wants the government to finish building the 700-mile fence between the U.S. and Mexico.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., wants to end the health insurance industry's antitrust protection.

West Virginia's two senators want help with mine and oil rig safety.

They all want to add these things to the financial regulatory overhaul bill that's moving through the Senate, even though their ideas have little or nothing to do with oversight of financial markets."

Graph of the Day for May 18, 2010

American Thinker Blog: Graph of the Day for May 18, 2010
CEOs' Rankings of States for Business in 2010"

Arizona passes law banning multilingual requirement for businesses

American Thinker Blog: Arizona passes law banning multilingual requirement for businesses
"Arizona did it again!

Fresh from signing a law that reinforces a federal law giving police the right to ask a person stopped by police for an unrelated matter to produce papers proving the right to be legally in the US, followed by a law banning schools from teaching minority/ethnic studies courses advocating separatism, group superiority and subversion of this country, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed legislation affirming that nothing in state law requires businesses to provide 'trained and competent' interpreters when a customer comes in speaking a language other than English. Assistant Attorney General Michael Walker said that has probably always been the law.


If it was always the law, why the need for this law?

Because of a lawsuit of course.

A unilingual Spanish speaking woman in Arizona was treated by a unilingual English speaking optometrist in his Arizona office.

The woman's underage 12 year old daughter offered to be the interpreter; fearing legal, insurance and medical problems if the child misunderstood the optometrist refused, asking the mother and child to return with an English speaker over 18 or alternatively, visit some Spanish speaking optometrists.

Instead, the Spanish speaker, whether legally in this country or not, understood enough of this country to file a discrimination suit against the English speaking optometrist.

Refusing to settle, the optometrist finally won after the Arizona Attorney General took a year to decide no laws had been broken."

TILTING AT WINDMILLS

TILTING AT WINDMILLS
“On eight separate occasions, President Barack Obama has referred to the ‘green economy’ policies enacted by Spain as being the model for what he envisioned for America…

But today’s leaked document reveals that even the socialist Spanish government now acknowledges the ruinous effects of green economic policy.”
Posted by Ed Driscoll at 3:33 pm"

College campuses embrace coed dorm rooms

College campuses embrace coed dorm rooms Philadelphia Inquirer
"Swarthmore juniors Jen Crick and her boyfriend, Omer Ikizler, didn't set out to live together this semester, but after failing to find single rooms on the same hall, they found the next best thing: a dorm room they could share.

Not just a coed dormitory, or coed hallway, but the very same room.

Across the nation's campuses, a small but growing number of students are signing up to live with the opposite sex, with 50-plus colleges and universities offering coed suites and coed rooms."

Isn't that nice.....

Lucianne.com News Forum - four_and_a_half_painful_minutes_

Lucianne.com News Forum - four_and_a_half_painful_minutes_

FOXNews.com - Miss USA Skunked Again Courtesy of Liberal Hollywood

FOXNews.com - Miss USA Skunked Again Courtesy of Liberal Hollywood: "In a nutshell here's how it worked on Sunday at the Miss USA pageant: Conservative answer = Points lost. Liberal Answer = Brownie points."

CBS Skips Any Mention of Dem Senate Candidate's Military Scandal, NBC Avoids Party ID | NewsBusters.org

CBS Skips Any Mention of Dem Senate Candidate's Military Scandal, NBC Avoids Party ID NewsBusters.org: "CBS's Early Show on Tuesday completely ignored the front page New York Times story on Democratic senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal and his claims to have 'served in Vietnam,' despite having never done so."

Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race

Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal 14 May 2010
"Here are the crime data that the Times doesn’t want its readers to know:

blacks committed 66 percent of all violent crimes in the first half of 2009 (though they were only 55 percent of all stops and only 23 percent of the city’s population).
Blacks committed 80 percent of all shootings in the first half of 2009.

Together, blacks and Hispanics committed 98 percent of all shootings.

Blacks committed nearly 70 percent of all robberies.

Whites, by contrast, committed 5 percent of all violent crimes in the first half of 2009, though they are 35 percent of the city’s population (and were 10 percent of all stops).

They committed 1.8 percent of all shootings and less than 5 percent of all robberies.

The face of violent crime in New York, in other words, like in every other large American city, is almost exclusively black and brown.

Any given violent crime is 13 times more likely to be committed by a black than by a white perpetrator—a fact that would have been useful to include in the Times’s lead, which stated that “Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped.”

These crime data are not some artifact that the police devise out of their skewed racial mindset.

They are what the victims of those crimes—the vast majority of whom are minority themselves—report to the police."

Look for more of this type of "reporting" in your local news reportagers.....yeah right....

Napolitano Hasn't Reviewed 'In Detail' the Arizona Immigration Law She's Criticized

Napolitano Hasn't Reviewed 'In Detail' the Arizona Immigration Law She's Criticized
"Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who has been a vocal critic of the new Arizona immigration law, told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Monday that she had not reviewed the law in detail, but nevertheless repeated criticism she made in April on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the law is a “bad law enforcement law.”"

Do what Obama, Holter and Mommy-janet haven't done, read the 10 page bill!

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

And see their lies!

Newaygo County board meetings to go online

Newaygo County board meetings to go online
"WHITE CLOUD — Due to recent upgrades in the Newaygo County Board of Commissioners Room, meetings will now be available for viewing online."

Seriously, when Newaygo is ahead of Muskegon in tech, what does that say about the "leadership" of Muskegon county?

Short-run tax hikes being used to fill gaps

Short-run tax hikes being used to fill gaps - USATODAY.com
"Many states and cities coping with hard times are asking residents to open their wallets for the latest fashion in taxation — the temporary tax.

Governments are raising taxes for a specific period of time and promising the hikes will go away when good times return."

And that bridge in Brooklyn is still for sale.

Indiana Rep. Souder says he'll resign over affair

Indiana Rep. Souder says he'll resign over affair
"Indiana Republican Rep. Mark Souder announced Tuesday he would resign from Congress, effective Friday, because he had an affair with a staffer."

Be gone, you scumbag!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam; Update: “Hit job”?

Hot Air » Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam; Update: “Hit job”?
"Not just any Democratic Senate candidate, either.

It’s Richard Blumenthal, current attorney general of Connecticut, whom Chris Dodd made way for by retiring earlier this year.

He’s been leading all Republican challengers by upwards of 20 points in the polls and was considered a mortal lock to win the seat in November.

Until now."

BIG!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Tea Party Group Moving from Protests to Election Action [Mackinac Center]

Tea Party Group Moving from Protests to Election Action [Mackinac Center]: "Hoping to progess past protests and impact elections, Joan Fabiano has launched what is being called a tea party 'strike force' for conservative candidates.
Fabiano, the Holt tea party activist who founded Grassroots in Michigan (http://grassrootsmichigan.com/), held her first meeting last week for the Mobile Action Patriot Strikeforce that's goal is to educate and mobilize tea party voters.
'It is time to put down the tea party signs and pick up the tools necessary to help your constitutional conservative candidate win,' Fabiano said.
Here's how it will work:"

Spartans poised to live up to latest No. 1 rankings

Spartans poised to live up to latest No. 1 rankings detnews.com
"East Lansing -- Tom Izzo knows he has something special going on in East Lansing.
And, it seems like everyone else knows it, as well.

Michigan State is ranked No. 1 by Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News going into the 2010-11 season.

The same can be said for Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com."

We're doomed.....heh......

AP IMPACT: Fed'l inspections on rig not as claimed

AP IMPACT: Fed'l inspections on rig not as claimed - Yahoo! News
"The federal agency responsible for ensuring that the Deepwater Horizon was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that the rig be inspected at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows."

Merkel insists financial transaction tax must be universal

Merkel insists financial transaction tax must be universal - Monsters and Critics
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that a tax on financial transactions would only work if it were introduced globally - but expressed little hope of the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies agreeing to this.

She was speaking ahead of a crunch meeting on the so-called Tobin Tax by European Union finance ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.

If trade unions were able to persuade G20 leaders to introduce such a tax, aimed at curbing speculation 'then I will not oppose it,' Merkel added."

A global tax on everyone in the developed world, collected by every bank in the world and fed to unions to increase public employee pay and benefits.

Not yet but they are pushing for it.

Be ever alert!

Creature comfort: the British 'safari jet' that transforms into a plush viewing platform

Creature comfort: the British 'safari jet' that transforms into a plush viewing platform
"The four-engined Avro Business Jet Explorer Four has been designed to land on short runways and uneven landing strips, delivering its wealthy passengers directly into wildlife areas"

Dumpster diving with purpose: Grand Rapids Freegans make political statement by searching through trash

Dumpster diving with purpose: Grand Rapids Freegans make political statement by searching through trash
"Freegans, a combination of “free” and “vegans” — people who avoid all animal products — are a slowly growing group of anti-consumerists who try to use as few resources as possible."

Ummm, have they considered traveling to Africa.....central America.....Asia, S America...E Europe....?

: "Progressive" Campaigns Inc (PCI) Hired for Fake Tea Party Petition

OutsideLansing.com:: Zarko Exclusive Follow-up: "Progressive" Campaigns Inc (PCI) Hired for Fake Tea Party Petition
"Progressive (inset photo is of Michigan field operator Rob Grocholski) has been funded by Soros, the Michigan Democratic Party"

Saturday, May 15, 2010

US faces one of biggest budget crunches in world

US faces one of biggest budget crunches in world – IMF – Telegraph Blogs
"Compare it with the UK, which is often pinpointed as a Greece in the making.


As you can see, gross debt increases sharply, but not by anything like the same degree."

Palin in the Mainstream

Palin in the Mainstream.  The Weekly Standard
"As I listened to the speech, I was struck by how Palin's positions are widely shared.

She opposes the health care law -- so does the public.

She's concerned about the federal deficit -- so is the public (see question 10b).

She supports the Arizona illegal immigration law -- so does the public.

She supports the right to life -- and the public is moving toward her.

She supports the Afghanistan surge and the current course in Iraq -- both Obama administration policies."

I'm thinkin' that's what bugs the eastern socialist elites.
She's had a real life and connects with what real Americans want for their country and their children.

Armed Forces Day-Today!

Armed Forces Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"In the United States, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May.

It marks the end of Armed Forces Week, which begins on the second Saturday of May and ends on the third Sunday of May.

The day was created in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard – following the consolidation of the military services in the Department of Defense.

It was intended to replace the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Days, but observance of these days, especially within each particular service, continues to this day.[11]

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions and air shows.

The United States' longest running city-sponsored Armed Forces Day Parade is held in Bremerton, WA.
In 2009, Bremerton celebrated the 61st Armed Forces Day Parade([12]).

Because of their unique training schedules, National Guard and Reserve units may celebrate Armed Forces Day/Week over any period in May."

Celebrate and revere our protectors!

The Looming Obama Debt Disaster

Power Line - The Looming Obama Debt Disaster
"Is the United States Greece?
The short answer is: not yet, but it will be if the Democrats remain in control in Washington for two more election cycles.

In the Telegraph, Edmund Conway summarizes a lengthy report by the International Monetary Fund on sovereign debt that came out today:

[T]he really interesting stuff is the detail, and what leaps out again and again is how much of a hill the US has to climb.

Exhibit a is the fact that under the Obama administration's current fiscal plans, the national debt in the US (on a gross basis) will climb to above 100pc of GDP by 2015 - a far steeper increase than almost any other country.

This graphic tells the story.

Note what happened after the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007:"

Seventh Rangers (Mechanized): The art of special delivery . . sniper

Seventh Rangers (Mechanized): The art of special delivery . . sniper

Your Saturday happy video of the weekend!

(HT privacky)

Boeing Debuts Its 'Phantom Ray' Unmanned Spy Plane

Boeing Debuts Its 'Phantom Ray' Unmanned Spy Plane
"On Monday, Boeing revealed its newest unmanned spy plane, a boomerang-shaped, drool-inducing object that looks straight out of a Michael Bay film.

The sleek Phantom Ray is 36-feet long with a 50-foot wingspan, and takes off this December.

This bad boy can hit 614 mph while hovering around 40,000 feet, but its purpose seems a bit obscure."

Up in the air: Great Lakes Kite Festival could fill skies over Grand Haven State Park

Up in the air: Great Lakes Kite Festival could fill skies over Grand Haven State Park
"The sky will dance with color when virtually hundreds of kites take flight over Grand Haven State Park during the 20th annual Great Lakes Kite Festival May 21-23."

This sounds like fun!

Non-partisan group questions timing behind ads attacking Pete

Non-partisan group questions timing behind ads attacking Pete Hoekstra
"Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled organizations like Americans for Job Security would be required to disclose their funders, but Michigan hasn't enforced that ruling, Robinson said."

Interesting article but it misses the bigger point.
Why is our state NOT enforcing federal law and a supreme court ruling!

Alinsky's Star Pupil Uses 'Rules' As A Manual For 'Social Surgery'

Alinsky's Star Pupil Uses 'Rules' As A Manual For 'Social Surgery'
"Obama has also used the tactic to dismiss charges that he's pushing a 'socialist' agenda, arguing that critics will next accuse him of 'being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.'"