Presidents of Davenport, Hope among highest-compensated private college leaders in Michigan, survey shows

Presidents of Davenport, Hope among highest-compensated private college leaders in Michigan, survey shows | MLive.com:
"Davenport President Richard Pappas received $645,480 in total compensation between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. That’s up from $581,564 the previous year."

A lot of GOPers would like to return this "gift"........

It is impossible to be an honest person and support Obamacare. Unless you are a moron. Usually both...... -5 Things Obamacare Teaches You About Liberals

5 Things Obamacare Teaches You About Liberals - John Hawkins

1) It's inherently dishonest: In many ways, Obamacare is a typical liberal program. .......it's a standard liberal program that makes promises it never intends to keep and does more damage than good. 

2) Results are irrelevant: Barack Obama promised that if you like your insurance, you can keep it. He said the same thing about your doctor. He claimed Obamacare would REDUCE the cost of health care, save the average person money and provide universal coverage. Not only are all of those promises untrue, but it's hard to miss the fact that no one on the Left SEEMS TO CARE. 
.......whether a liberal supports a program doesn't have anything to do with whether it works or not.

3) It penalizes success: So, in order to help a relatively small number of people, liberals are perfectly willing to penalize Americans -- who worked hard, played by the rules and took care of themselves -- with much higher costs and lost plans. This is standard operating procedure for liberals who act as if doing well enough to live your life free of welfare, food stamps and government nannies is "cheating."

4) It doesn't work: .....You think a billing dispute with an insurance company is unpleasant? Wait until you're hashing it out with the IRS. You don't like to deal with your insurance company? Wait until you have a problem with your insurance and can't get it corrected until you get approval from a government agent. Our government is slow, stupid, arrogant and generally unfriendly to consumers. The more government you have in your life, the more unpleasant your life is likely to be.

5) There are no trade-offs: Liberals seem to be incapable of mentally comprehending trade-offs. So instead, they present Utopian visions of how life would look in a perfect world and offer that up as a political alternative to the messy, oftentimes unpleasant reality we live in. That would be fantastic if Santa Claus, Star Trek replicators, and genies were real, but when you seek heaven on earth, you're more likely to start wandering towards hell.

I'm thinkin' they're gettin' a D-..... but prolly not.....Prof corrects minority students' capitalization, is accused of racism

Prof corrects minority students' capitalization, is accused of racism | The Daily Caller:
"Racial tensions are inflamed at the University of California at Los Angeles following several incidents — most notably, one where a professor corrected the grammar, punctuation and capitalization in minority students’ assignments.

The act of correcting a black student was “micro-aggression,” according to the members of the student group “Call 2 Action: Graduate Students of Color,” which launched a sit-in during a subsequent meeting of the class.

“A hostile campus climate has been the norm for Students of Color in this class throughout the quarter as our epistemological and methodological commitments have been repeatedly questioned by our classmates and our instructor,” wrote the group in a statement to the college.
“[The] barrage of questions by white colleagues and the grammar ‘lessons’ by the professor have contributed to a hostile class climate.”"

Holy crapoli! We're gonna need a bigger....furnace! November 2013 Sunspots: Trends

November 2013 Sunspots: Trends | Inform The Pundits!:
"The latest solar data from this month reinforces the belief that our sun is headed into a long-term period of low solar activity.

As time goes on a link between decreasing solar activity and the halt in global warming 17 years ago becomes harder and harder to deny."

Why are the healthfood junkies always sick? ...Multivitamins won't boost health, waste of money: Researchers

Multivitamins won't boost health, waste of money: Researchers - CBS News:
"“Enough” with the multivitamins already.

That’s the message from doctors behind three new studies and an editorial that tackled an oft-debated question in medicine: Do daily multivitamins make you healthier?

After reviewing the available evidence and conducting new trials, the authors have come to a conclusion of “no.”

“We believe that the case is closed -- supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful,” concluded the authors of the editorial summarizing the new research papers, published Dec. 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention.
Enough is enough.”

They went on to urge consumers to not “waste” their money on multivitamins."

And we sit back waiting for them to assimilate? Ain't gonna happen folks. Gonna be us be assimilatin' Europe: Islamic Fundamentalism is Widespread

Europe: Islamic Fundamentalism is Widespread :: Gatestone Institute:

A discussion paper published by the Germany-based Gustav Stresemann Foundation -- a think tank dedicated to the preservation and advancement of liberal democracy in Europe -- warns that national and international Islamic organizations are increasingly putting pressure on Western politicians gradually to criminalize any critique of Islam.
In a commentary on the study, the German newspaper Die Welt says the findings cast serious doubt on the unbridled optimism of European multiculturalists, who argue that Muslim citizens will eventually internalize the mindset of Western democracies.

The majority of Muslims in Europe believe Islamic Sharia law should take precedence over the secular constitutions and laws of their European host countries, according to a new study, which warns that Islamic fundamentalism is widespread and rising sharply in Western Europe.

The "Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey"—a five-year study of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Sweden—was published on December 11 by theWZB Berlin Social Science Center, one of the largest social science research institutes in Europe.

According to the study (German and English), which was funded by the German government, two thirds (65%) of the Muslims interviewed say Islamic Sharia law is more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live.

Three quarters (75%) of the respondents hold the opinion that there is only one legitimate interpretation of the Koran, which should apply to all Muslims, and nearly 60% of Muslims believe their community should return to "Islamic roots."

Amazon does Obama- Pulls Access to Purchased Christmas Videos During Christmas

"If you like your movies, you can keep your movies!"
Well..... not all your movies.......
Amazon Pulls Access to Purchased Christmas Videos During Christmas | TorrentFreak:
"Disney has decided to pull access to several purchased Christmas videos from Amazon during the holiday season, as the movie studio wants its TV-channel to have the content exclusively.

Affected customers have seen their videos disappear from their online libraries, showing once again that not everything you buy is actually yours to keep."

Everyone is generous .... with someone else's moolah........Will Walmart shoppers support "Every Day High Wages?"

"Romney voters....."
Hilarious!

▶ Will Walmart shoppers support "Every Day High Wages?" - YouTube: "

Dude, where's my brain? ....Chronic marijuana use may alter brain structure, study finds

Chronic marijuana use may alter brain structure, study finds | Fox News:
"Heavy marijuana users may have abnormal brain structures which can lead to poor memory, Nature World News reported.

In a new study, researchers from Northwestern Medicine used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyze the brains of 67 former marijuana users.
The participants had begun their drug use when they were 16 to 17 years old, but they had all been marijuana free for an average of two years at the time of the study.

The imaging scans revealed that participants’ chronic marijuana use was associated with poor growth in the brain’s deep subcortical gray matter – a region linked with memories.
The researchers also found that the brain structures of the marijuana users closely resembled the brains of schizophrenia patients."

Today in history

Chase's Calendar of Events:
110 years ago, in 1903, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first documented successful powered airplane flight.

These guys are making the Mafia look like "America's Dumbest Criminals" in comparison. ===The Environmental Movement: How Corrupt Is It?

The Environmental Movement: How Corrupt Is It? | Power Line:
"We have written mostly about the corruption of Greens in America, where Al Gore has become a standing joke.
But the Daily Mail has performed the valuable service of exposing the corruption that is rampant among British environmentalists; specifically, global warming alarmists:

The Mail on Sunday today reveals the extraordinary web of political and financial interests creating dozens of eco-millionaires from green levies on household energy bills.

A three-month investigation shows that some of the most outspoken campaigners who demand that consumers pay the colossal price of shifting to renewable energy are also getting rich from their efforts."

One is tempted to ask why anyone should be surprised by this, but of course, many people had no idea that the environmental movement is a cesspool of corruption.

Enquiries by this newspaper have revealed:

* Four of the nine-person Climate Change Committee, the official watchdog that dictates green energy policy, are, or were until very recently, being paid by firms that benefit from committee decisions.

* A new breed of lucrative green investment funds, which were set up to expand windfarm energy, are in practice a means of taking green levies paid by hard-pressed consumers and handing them to City investors and financiers.

* £3.8 billion of taxpayers’ money funds the new Green Investment Bank, set up by the Department of Business and Skills. One of its biggest deals involved energy giant SSE selling windfarms to one of the new green funds, Greencoat Wind. The Green Investment Bank’s chairman, Lord Smith of Kelvin, is also chairman of SSE. The bank says it ‘provided expertise’ to enable BIS to take a £50 million stake in Greencoat, which helped fund the SSE sale.

* The same bank’s chief executive, Shaun Kingsbury, is one of the UK’s highest-paid public sector employees. His £325,000 salary is more than twice the Prime Minister’s.

WeMOG for Wed Dec.18 1:00PM

Meet at the Picnic Shelter/Cross Country Ski Trails, Hoffmaster State Park @ 12:55.  Skis meet trail at 1:00 sharp.  

Plan to ski for about 2 hrs.  

May want to put boots in car, in case conditions change by Weds.  

Skiing was wonderful today and more snow is expected.  

YES!!!!!

Great video! Send it to your kids! NOW...before it's too late! ---Why Opt Out of Obamacare?

Why Opt Out of Obamacare?:
"FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS SIGN UP FOR A BAD DEAL!
Good news! 
You are not required to purchase health insurance through an Obamacare exchange! 
There are cheaper, better options for young people.

Sign our petition and declare that you will opt-out of Obamacare.
Add your voice to those young Americans who know the truth about Obamacare.
The more who sign the petition the greater our voice.
Opt out!"

They're not so good at weather. Awful at climate. So why are we (borrowing from the Chinese) paying them so dang much? ---------Climate alarmists' search for proof going cold

Mark Landsbaum: Climate alarmists' search for proof going cold | warming, global, temperature - Opinion - The Orange County Register:
"Recall global warming hysteria’s halcyon days?
Just 13 years ago, Dr. David Viner, senior scientist at Britain’s University of East Anglia’s climatic research unit, confidently predicted that, within a few years, winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event.”
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.

Of course, that doesn’t mesh with what happened.
This past October, the UK Express headlined, “Worst winter for decades: Record-breaking snow predicted for November.”"

Less than 3 minutes. Well worth your time-Merry Christmas-------Good News! (In a Scale) | Adventures of a Music Teacher

Good News! (In a Scale) | Adventures of a Music Teacher

In a nation full of shocking scandals, this ought to be at the top our our collective outrage. ....... It's not----------The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder

The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder - NYTimes.com:
"He noted that recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the diagnosis had been made in 15 percent of high school-age children, and that the number of children on medication for the disorder had soared to 3.5 million from 600,000 in 1990.
He questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.”

“The numbers make it look like an epidemic.
Well, it’s not.
It’s preposterous,” Dr. Conners, a psychologist and professor emeritus at Duke University, said in a subsequent interview.
“This is a concoction to justify the giving out of medication at unprecedented and unjustifiable levels.”

38 Test Answers That Are 100% Wrong But Totally Genius At The Same Time

38 Test Answers That Are 100% Wrong But Totally Genius At The Same Time | Distractify

You'll get what we allow you to get!-------------------If You Like Your Checking Account, You Can Keep Your Checking Account

If You Like Your Checking Account, You Can Keep Your Checking Account | National Review Online

Looks like the government may have found a way to pay down all that debt:

Shannon Bruner of Indianola logged on to her checking account Monday morning, and found she was almost 800 dollars in the negative.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘I got screwed,’” she said.

The Bruners enrolled for insurance on the Washington Healthplanfinder website, last October. They say they selected the bill pay date to be December 24th. Instead the Washington Healthplanfinder drafted the 835 dollar premium Monday.

But don’t worry, the government is in full compliance with its requirement to give them advance notice of the early seizure:

Washington Healthplanfinder emailed the Bruners a few days ago telling them to log in to view their invoice, something they couldn’t do because the website has been down. The Bruners haven’t been able to get through on the helpline either. They finally contacted Healthplanfinder administrators by posting a message on their Facebook page.

Read the "if"s and cry for those who need their first job-----------George F. Will: Raise the minimum wage? It’s iffy.

George F. Will: Raise the minimum wage? It’s iffy. - The Washington Post:
"Liberals’ love of recycling extends to their ideas, one of which illustrates the miniaturization of Barack Obama’s presidency.
He fervently favors a minor measure that would have mostly small, mostly injurious effects on a small number of people.
Nevertheless, raising the minimum hourly wage for the 23rd time since 1938, from today’s $7.25 to $10.10, is a nifty idea, if:"

Which state has the worst drivers?

Which state has the worst drivers? | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:
"For its worst drivers rankings, the website compiles data on fatality rates per 100 million miles traveled, citations for failure to obey traffic signals and seat belt laws, DUI infractions, and tickets for speeding and careless driving.
It collects data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Motorists Association and MADD.

And the winner is - drumroll, please - Louisiana."

Hollywood celebrity hypocrites of 2013

Hollywood celebrity hypocrites of 2013 | Fox News:
"I'm annoyed that so many Hollywood celebrities hate the system that made them rich.
Actor/comedian Russell Brand told the BBC he wants "a socialist, egalitarian system based on the massive redistribution of wealth." 
Director George Lucas got rich not just from movies but also by selling Star Wars merchandise.
Yet he says he believes in democracy but "not capitalist democracy.""

We don't "manufacture" anything? Think again---------Charts of the day, world manufacturing output, 2012

Charts of the day, world manufacturing output, 2012 | AEIdeas:

13 Year Old Arrested After Burping In Class

13 Year Old Arrested After Burping In Class // Mr. Conservative:
"It’s hard to envision a 13 year old doing something bad enough to get arrested for.
That didn’t stop New Mexico police from arresting a 7th grader for burping during gym class.
You read that right.
The unnamed boy was arrested after he “burped audibly” in gym class in which the school viewed as, “interfering with public education.”"

Quantitative Easing Explained

Hey kids, you're gonna love this little surprise from your friends at Medicaid------Expanded Medicaid’s fine print holds surprise: ‘payback’ from estate after death

Expanded Medicaid’s fine print holds surprise: ‘payback’ from estate after death | Local News | The Seattle Times:
"It was the fine print.
As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program.
As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.
She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses."

ATF Used Mentally Disabled and Felons to Run Storefront Stings

Controversies - ATF Used Mentally Disabled and Felons to Run Storefront Stings - AllGov - News
"As part of its undercover operations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) repeatedly used mentally disabled people, and in at least one instance a convicted felon.
Further, ATF arrested some of the mentally disabled individuals lured into the stings."

READ THIS and be afraid. Very afraid---------IRS Targeting, Round Two

Kim Strassel: IRS Targeting, Round Two - WSJ.com

President Obama keeps claiming that he had no knowledge of the Internal Revenue Service's abusive muzzling of conservative groups. That line is hard to swallow given that his Treasury and IRS are back at it—this time in broad daylight.

In the media blackout of Thanksgiving week, the Treasury Department dumped a new proposal to govern the political activity of 501(c)(4) groups. The administration claims this rule is needed to clarify confusing tax laws. Hardly. The rule is the IRS's new targeting program—only this time systematic, more effective, and with the force of law.

That this rule was meant to crack down on the White House's political opponents was never in doubt. What is new is the growing concern by House Ways and Means Committee investigators that the regulation was reverse-engineered—designed to isolate and shut down the same tea party groups victimized in the first targeting round. Treasury appears to have combed through those tea party applications, compiled all the groups' main activities, and then restricted those activities in the new rule.

Here's how it works. 
To get or keep tax-exempt status, 501(c)(4) organizations must devote a majority of their work to their "primary" social-welfare purpose. Most tea party groups were set up with a primary purpose of educating Americans on pressing problems—the size of government, the erosion of the Constitution—and did so mainly via nonpartisan voter guides, speakers forums, pamphlets or voter-registration drives."The committee has reviewed thousands of tax exempt applications," says House Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp. "The new regulation so closely mirrors the abused tea-party group applications, it leads me to question if this new proposed regulation is simply another form of targeting."

What the proposed Treasury/IRS regulation would do is to re-categorize all these efforts as "political activity"—thereby making it all but impossible for tea party groups to qualify for 501(c)(4) status. Say an outfit's primary purpose is educating voters on our unsustainable debt, which it does mainly with a guide explaining the problem and politicians' voting records. Under the new rule, that guide is now "political activity" (rather than "social welfare"), which likely loses the group tax-exempt status.

The rule, in other words, is not designed to provide helpful "guidance" on allowable activities. It was designed, rather, as Mr. Camp explains, "to put tea party groups out of business."

What makes this targeting more obvious is that the Obama Treasury rule only applies to 501(c)(4) groups. The ultra-liberal League of Women Voters Education Fund is registered as a 501(c)(3)—one of those "charities" supposedly held to the strictest IRS standards on politicking. Yet it brags on its website that it holds "candidate debates and forums," and that its "educational activities" include "understanding candidate views and ballot initiatives."

The League will continue to be able to do its voter guides and registrations and candidate forums. Yet under this new rule, any conservative social-welfare organization that attempts to do the same will likely lose its tax-exempt status. Nor does the new rule apply the biggest spenders of all in politics—unions, which are registered as 501(c)(5)s. The only category muzzled is the one recently flooded by conservative groups that Democrats fear in the 2014 election.

Consider the timing. This "proposed guidance"—while technically pending public comment—puts conservative groups on immediate notice that it could be enforced at any moment. It is clearly designed to have a chilling effect on any group gearing up for next year's midterms, just as the first round of targeting was designed to dampen conservative participation in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Democrats are daily directing government against their political opponents—via Congress, the SEC, the FEC. Yet IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel wants Americans to think this latest IRS rule is just about providing "clarity." And the White House continues to insist that it was unaware of the previous targeting.

The political insult is that President Obama is using his new targeting rule to wiggle out of liability for the last round. The same president who in May was "outraged" by the IRS's actions now says it was all just some confusion over tax law (which his new rule fixes). He told Chris Matthews last week that the media had hyped what was a few poor IRS souls in Cincinnati who were "trying to streamline what is a difficult law to interpret . . . And they've got a list, and suddenly everybody's outraged."

Everybody was outraged to discover the IRS was secretly targeting the president's political opponents. They might be more outraged that the White House is now using the IRS to do the same thing in the brazen light of day.

Remember, you saw it here first-12/13/2013 - Investors.com

Michael Ramirez Political Cartoons 12/13/2013 - Investors.com:

They've created a monster that WILL bankrupt us all----------------What every investor has to prepare for this week

And what do you bet that you and me will be the last to know.
What every investor has to prepare for this week:
"This week, the Federal Reserve will announce its plans for the future of quantitative easing, its $85 billion monthly bond-buying program. 
And traders are warning that if the Fed announces a reduction, or "tapering," of asset purchases, the market reaction could be negative and violent"