It's full steam ahead for SS Badger

It's full steam ahead for SS Badger | The Detroit News
After nearly 60 years of hauling families and their cars across the lake during the summer months, the Badger’s run appeared last year to be ending.
Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had targeted the operation for its production of coal ash — material that is dumped into the water during each crossing.

Prepare to bend over again, folks. Turning political baloney into more bucks for their hack cronies......Michigan bill requires 2 license plates on vehicles

Michigan bill requires 2 license plates on vehicles | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"Legislation has been introduced in Lansing to require that license plates be on the front and back of every vehicle registered in Michigan.

Sen. Tupac Hunter said this week he proposed the bill after a former law enforcement officer suggested it as a way to prevent crime.

The Detroit Democrat says license plates provide a reflective surface on the front of vehicles and warn drivers when an oncoming car's headlights are off.
He also argues front license plates help police track down suspects on the run.
.....The additional cost may raise concerns."
Yeah, right....

BIG! ------Israel issues warning on report on Iran bomb

Israel issues warning on report on Iran bomb:
""We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror," Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defense minister told USA TODAY."

Soooo, you spent ALL the money and now things suck. And you're SURPRISED?-----Detroit police chief: Financial woes affect safety

Detroit police chief: Financial woes affect safety | Crain's Detroit Business:
"Detroit's new police chief says the city's financial woes have hobbled his department and threatened the safety of officers, residents and visitors.
....He says officers blame pay cuts and 12-hour shifts brought on by money problems."

Union riot alert!--------Banker: Goes without saying Detroit must cut pensions

Banker: Goes without saying Detroit must cut pensions:
"Cuts to Detroit's public pensions and retiree healthcare were inevitable given the city's sagging finances, a top consultant for the city testified on Friday during the third day of a trial to determine whether the city is eligible for bankruptcy."

Who is that girl? The mysterious face of Healthcare.gov

Who is that girl? The mysterious face of Healthcare.gov | Fox News:
"Her star turn as a cover girl was called the "worst modeling gig ever" on Twitter, where she's even earned a fake account.
She's been called "Glitch Girl."
And that's the milder stuff."

Moronic, luddite democrats (a redundancy, I admit) prefer DarkAges "science free" food markets (and punish consumers at the same time!) -Washington State vs. GMO Foods

Blog: Washington State vs. GMO Foods:

The fundamental illogic of the measure is best explained by analogy. Suppose someone were to propose the following initiative:

All residents of the State of Washington will be required to wear and prominently display badges stating that they are not policemen. Only active policemen will be exempt from this requirement.

You would conclude that the proposer either had a paranoid fixation about policemen or was in the business of selling badges. 
The sensible alternative would be for policemen to be the only ones who need to wear badges.

I-522 has the same sort of upside-down logic. 
Instead of allowing GMO-free foods to carry special labels -- as is the current procedure for organic and gluten-free foods -- I-522 would require that everyone else be compelled to attach special labels to their products, thereby forcing them to incur extra expense and liability. 
Obviously, the real objective of the I-522 sponsors is to harass and penalize producers of GMO-containing foods -- at a considerable cost to the public in increased food prices and taxes.

Such a measure might be permissible for ingredients that are known to be toxic, like mercury in seafood. However, the proposers have not cited a single case where a GMO-containing food has been shown to have a harmful effect on consumers. 
Moreover, the use of GMO-containing foods has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. 
So why all the fuss?

Teachers' Unions Put Sex Offenders Before Students

Teachers' Unions Put Sex Offenders Before Students:
"The unions are also playing the race card in fighting the legislation:
The bill has run into objections from major teachers' unions like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.
In letters to lawmakers, their criticisms included concerns that the measure might jeopardize workers' protections under union contracts.
In addition, the NEA wrote that criminal background checks "often have a huge, racially disparate impact" — a reference to critics' complaints that minorities make up a disproportionately high proportion of people convicted of crimes."

Lots of hilarious PC links here today-“Not Stupidly” Week at College Insurrection

College | political correctness | affirmative action:

America Turns To Welfare As Obamanomics Rots The Economy

America Turns To Welfare As Obamanomics Rots The Economy - Investors.com:
"A Senate report earlier this year noted that, based on Congressional Budget Office projections, welfare spending will rise 80% over the next 10 years. 
That's $11 trillion in welfare spending over that time. Just cutting that growth to 60%, the report found, would save taxpayers $1 trillion.
But, as we've seen, that won't happen.

Yet, surely all this money must be making a dent in all the poverty. 
Nope. 
Today, 46.5 million Americans live in poverty and more than 70% of all federal spending goes to dependency programs, like Social Security and Medicare.
At the same time, nearly half of all Americans no longer pay any federal income tax at all.

This nation was was once filled with proud workers and businesses eager to hire them.
But, as noted here Wednesday, a record 90.6 million Americans of working age are no longer in the labor force.
Logic tells us they have to be supported by (1) their own savings, (2) working children or spouses or (3) welfare."

The best (most depressing) column of the day-Obamacare’s Magical Thinkers

Obamacare’s Magical Thinkers | National Review Online:
"If Obama thinks nothing of tapping Angela Merkel’s cell phone (as she had cause to complain to him on Wednesday, in what was said to be a “cool” conversation, and not in the hepcat sense), why would he extend any greater privacy rights to your Auntie Mabel?"

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate was Obamacare website builder

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate was Obamacare website builder | The Daily Caller:
"First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov. "

A Tale of Two Charts: Are We 2007 America Or 2006 Zimbabwe?

Guest Post: A Tale of Two Charts: Are We 2007 America Or 2006 Zimbabwe? | Zero Hedge:
"Then the market proceeded to run up to 4,000,000.
What happened?
The country ran its printing press flat-out and inflated away its currency, so the price of pretty much every tangible asset, when measured in Zimbabwean dollars, went parabolic.
Since equities represent part ownership of companies, and most non-financial companies own tangible assets, their value went up as well.
Not enough to increase in real terms (versus gold, for instance) but enough to make shorting that market a really bad idea.
So are we 2007 America or 2006 Zimbabwe?
A lot is riding on the answer."

And how'd that work out for you last time........Mortgage lenders are starting to accept lower credit scores and smaller down payments.

Home loans become a little easier to get:
"The bank's minimum down payment is now 5%, down from 10%, for primary homes and 10%, instead of 20% for second homes in those states."

Al Gore Invests in Fracking Company

Doh! This one is bogus-Al Gore Invests in Fracking Company - The Daily Currant:
I got caught in a humor site...... well the science of blogging certainly is settled!
Sure seemed like something he'd do.
Al Jazeera and all that....

"Former U.S. Vice President and environment advocate Al Gore has closed a deal to make a multi-million dollar investment in a natural gas producer that specializes in fracking.
In a statement to shareholders, Canada-based PetroBakken Resources announced that Gore and his investment partners would be pumping $200 million into the company in return for a 15 percent stake. "

Ya think? Blackstone pro sees signs of market speculation

Blackstone pro sees signs of market speculation:
"Wein added: "The feeling is that we're OK for a while and everyone thinks they're smart enough to know when the music is going to stop.""

4 Teens Charged in Death of WWII Veteran, Hot Tamale King

4 Teens Charged in Death of WWII Veteran, Hot Tamale King | CNS News:

Delusional democrat desciples of Obamacare religion blame Republicans for ObamaCare fiasco

Dean: No, really, Republicans are to blame for ObamaCare fiasco « Hot Air:

Who’s to blame for the ObamaCare debacle?
“First off all, in fairness,” Howard Dean told the Morning Joe crew earlier today, you have to blame Republicans for some of this because they delayed everything they possibly could.”
First we have to blame the party that (a) didn’t cast a single vote in favor of the ACA and (b) had no control over its 42-month rollout?
At which stage in the process do we hold responsible the people who spent $400 million in three and a half years, and who assured everyone all along the way that things were going swimmingly?

(via Andrew Johnson at The Corner):

Dean went on to blame the Republican governors who wisely decided not to tempt fate with their own exchange systems:

“The problem is they shouldn’t have done a single-size-fits-all for the 36 states,” he continued. “Partly, I have to say, they had to do that because the Republican governors refused to accept exchanges.”

Dean went on to downplay the problems facing the websites, saying the glitches are “not big.”

Dean suggests that the White House should have built regional systems rather than national systems in order to make the process less complicated.  How exactly would that have helped? HHS couldn’t even build one system that connects the consumers to the insurers and the IRS properly, but they could have built four or five simultaneously?  That sounds like the kind of thinking that went into the Obama administration’s reform policies and managerial efforts on ObamaCare all along.

Their brains must hurt! This a very popular cartoon among the left's self-described "intelliginsia".

Chilling: Reporter's confidential notes seized in firearms raid by Feds

Blog: Chilling: Reporter's confidential notes seized in firearms raid by Feds:
"But it's what wasn't in the search warrant but was seized anyway were the reporter's confidential notes that revealed sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and elsewhere in government."

"No One Is Responsible". With government, no one EVER is ...........

Belmont Club » No One Is Responsible:
"The New York Times describes a high level meeting aimed at getting to the bottom of the disastrous failure of the Obamacare website.
The mystery deepened when it emerged that none of the contractors was in the slightest degree responsible for its non-function.

Contractors that built President Obama’s health insurance marketplace point fingers at one another and at the government, but each insists that it is not responsible for the problems that infuriated millions of Americans trying to buy insurance on the Web site, according to testimony prepared for a Congressional hearing on Thursday. …"

Hopeless and Changed-----25 Stats That Prove That The American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed |

25 Stats That Prove That The American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed 

Read 'em all:

4. Total consumer credit has risen by a whopping 22 percent over the past three years.

5. Student loans are up by an astounding 61 percent over the past three years.

6. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.

7. Right now the middle class is taking home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before.

8. Ordinary Americans are being priced out of the housing market.  Today, nearly half of all home purchases are all-cash deals.

9. The homeownership rate in the United States is now at the lowest level it has been in nearly 18 years.

10. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high.

11. U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

FRAUD! If you did it, you'd go to jail!------New HealthCare.gov feature "miscalculates" plan prices

New HealthCare.gov feature miscalculates plan prices | The Daily Caller:
"But CBS News reports that the projected costs are disingenuous, almost always ending up significantly less than what consumers will eventually pay.
Jonathan Wu, an industry analyst, told CBS the feature is “incredibly misleading for people that are trying to get a sense of what they’re paying.”"

Imagine if "White House" was the Bush administration.......White House admits it was behind rumor that GOP leader told Obama 'I cannot even stand to look at you' during tense government shutdown meeting

White House admits it was behind rumor that GOP leader told Obama 'I cannot even stand to look at you' during tense government shutdown meeting | Mail Online:
"Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip, claimed in a Facebook post on Sunday that an unnamed GOP lawmaker had delivered the verbal slap in Obama's face, but everyone involved with the story now says it never happened."

Obama's immigration bill charges $5000 Penalty for Hiring Citizens over illegals!

In the "old" America this wouldn't even be a concept. With this guy...who knows?------Was President Barack Obama’s fainting lady a fake?

"A conspiracy theorist has released a convincing video which questions President Barack Obama’s motives during an ObamaCare press conference earlier this week.

During the presser at The White House on Monday, a pregnant woman, Karmel Allison, was caught by the President moments before she fainted on stage.

“I got you. You’re OK,” Mr Obama told her. “This is what happens when I talk too long.”

But in a persuasive twist, a YouTube user who goes by the username Lady Patriots has released close-up footage of the incident, suggesting it was all a con to lift Obama’s approval ratings."

OMG! They've lost CBS "This Morning"!------CBS: Insurers Canceling Coverage for Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Because of Obamacare

CBS: Insurers Canceling Coverage for Hundreds of Thousands of Americans Because of Obamacare | Washington Free Beacon:
"Insurers are canceling coverage for hundreds of thousands of Americans because of Obamacare, forcing them to buy new policies despite President Obama’s promises to the contrary, CBS This Morning reported Friday.
However, O’Donnell reported, it’s not happening the way Obama “explained it.” One California citizen, Natalie Willis, said her insurance had gotten worse and more expensive.
“Before, I had a plan where I had a $1,500 deductible,” she said.
”I paid $199 a month.
The most similar plan that I would have available to me would be $278 per month,
my deductible would be $6,500 and all of my care after that point would only be covered 70 percent.”"

I thought you guys were broke. So who paid for the 800 T-shirts?......... 'The Big Crunch': Schools in Muskegon County, others in Michigan combine to reclaim apple-eating record

'The Big Crunch': Schools in Muskegon County, others in Michigan combine to reclaim apple-eating record | MLive.com:
"The nearly 800 participants, who were all dressed in red shirts with a “W” on the front and “All in” on the back,"
And there used to be the reedin', ritin', ritmetick thing too. What happened tot hat stuff......

They're diggin' into EVERY pocket you got...digitally!----Judge orders Inkster to cut water rates, refund overcharges

Judge orders Inkster to cut water rates, refund overcharges | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"Inkster residents and businesses will be receiving refunds for overcharges on their water bills after a judge ruled that the rates were too high and ordered the city to reduce them.
Byron Nolen, the attorney for plaintiff Terrance Trahey, said retired Wayne County Circuit Judge Paul Teranes, who presided over the bench trial last week, ordered a reduction in water rates from $15.30 per unit to $11.96.
The lawsuit was led by Trahey, who received a $6,000 water bill last fall.
He argued that new digital water meters were not working properly and the city’s sharply higher water rates were in violation of the state constitution and city charter.
Trahey’s $6,000 water bill was eliminated by the judge, Nolen said.
“He said every citizen will get a credit on their account,” Nolen said. “I was a little surprised.”
City officials didn’t return calls seeking comment Thursday."