The "BigEducation" scam on our children is falling apart. With results that hurt everyone. Just like EVERY other Ponzi scheme----Housing market recovery hamstrung by buyers' crippling student loan debt

Unintended consequences.... who'd of thunk?
Housing market recovery hamstrung by buyers' crippling student loan debt | The Daily Caller:
"High school seniors — and the parents encouraging them to attend college on borrowed money — may find the American dream of owning a home out of their reach after the bill for their student loans comes due.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, loan applications for new homes fell a staggering 20 percent in the past four months. 
Meanwhile, student loan debt in the fourth quarter of 2013 rose five percent above the last quarter — outpacing mortgage debt, which rose only two percent in the same quarter."

Federal audit calls new school lunch rules a failure

Federal audit calls new school lunch rules a failure - Washington Times:

"The federal government’s changes to school lunch menus have been disastrous, causing problems for cafeterias trying to comply with the rules and leaving the menu so expensive or unpalatable that more than 1 million students have stopped buying lunch, according to a government audit released Thursday.

One school district told federal investigators that it had to add unhealthy pudding and potato chips to its menu to meet the government’s minimum calorie requirements.

Other school districts removed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from their elementary school menus.

Old story, but it fits with the Arizona Law. I guess...

Sara Casm - Old story, but it fits with the Arizona Law. I guess...:
LESBIAN IN NEED OF A HAIRCUT PICKS AN ALL MALE MUSLIM BARBERSHOP GETS THE BOOT…….

Old story, but it fits with the Arizona Law.

I guess it is okay to force Muslims to bake a pork roast and serve champagne for a gay wedding reception as well?

That stupid lesbian cake story has gone way too far out of hand and turned everybody nuts.

They promote laws to attack Christians to get support from the media and the left, but I am sure there are provisions for every other religion.

Chick-Fil-A refuses to serve customers on Sunday. How long until they are attacked and forced to open their doors rather than deny food to non-Christians that want to do business on Sunday?

I own a business and I will happily take the money of any member of any religion, sexual preference or even felons if I think they will pay and not try to hurt my employees. But, I only service septic tanks and I don't have to take part in your wedding or religious ceremonies. But if I wanted to reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, I should be able to.

If I want to be an ignorant bigot and refuse service to people born on Tuesdays, I should have the right. I am only shooting myself in the foot by doing that, but it is still legal to refuse money, isn't it?

When I don't want customers, it is usually because they are liars, jerks or non-payers. I don't start an argument and tell them why I don't want their business because that is asking for a lawsuit and I don't like throwing money at lawyers. I simply charge them 1000% over the going rate and when they don't want to pay, it was their decision, not mine. A few times they took us up on the offer, so we just got to make a serious profit off of their obnoxious attitude.

Just call it a "Putting up with your crap fee" and it is legal. 

UPDATE!!!-------Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Invasion, Considers State Of Emergency After Masked Gunmen Occupy Two Crimean Airports

Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Invasion, Considers State Of Emergency After Masked Gunmen Occupy Two Crimean Airports | Zero Hedge:

"The bizarre events in the Crimea continued overnight, after unidentified masked men but dressed like those who took over the parliament in Simferopol yesterday, took over two airports by blockading one near the Russian naval base in Sevastopol and another in the capital of Simferopol.

This prompted the Ukraine's interior minister Arsen Avakov, to accuse Moscow's military of blockading the airports, and in a Facebook post, he called the seizure of the Belbek international airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol a "military invasion and occupation." "

Choosing a Secure Password

Choosing a Secure Password - Boing Boing:
"So if you want your password to be hard to guess, you should choose something that this process will miss. My advice is to take a sentence and turn it into a password. 
Something like "This little piggy went to market" might become "tlpWENT2m".
That nine-character password won't be in anyone's dictionary.
Of course, don't use this one, because I've written about it.
Choose your own sentence -- something personal.
 Here are some examples:

 WIw7,mstmsritt... = When I was seven, my sister threw my stuffed rabbit in the toilet.

 Wow...doestcst = Wow, does that couch smell terrible.

Ltime@go-inag~faaa! = Long time ago in a galaxy not far away at all.

 uTVM,TPw55:utvm,tpwstillsecure = Until this very moment, these passwords were still secure."

The "Ukraine Situation" Explained In One Map

Bumped, again.
Amazing, and sad, the US media never mentions the real reason behind Putin's takeover of a sovereign country, energy.
Natural gas pipelines.
A national security issue for some countries.
And some leaders.
Buy clearly, an issue not important to Barrack Hussein Obama.
Or his acolytes in the media.

The "Ukraine Situation" Explained In One Map | Zero Hedge:

"Sadly, everything you need to know about the crisis in Ukraine in one worrisome map which summarizes all the relevant "red lines"."



"Given this - is there any doubt this will not end with peaceful resolution."

This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood

This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood - Wired Science:
"Phlebotomy.
Even the word sounds archaic—and that’s nothing compared to the slow, expensive, and inefficient reality of drawing blood and having it tested.
As a college sophomore, Elizabeth Holmes envisioned a way to reinvent old-fashioned phlebotomy and, in the process, usher in an era of comprehensive superfast diagnosis and preventive medicine. That was a decade ago.
Holmes, now 30, dropped out of Stanford and founded a company called Theranos with her tuition money.
Last fall it finally introduced its radical blood-testing service in a Walgreens pharmacy near the company headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
 (The plan is to roll out testing centers nationwide.)
Instead of vials of blood—one for every test needed—Theranos requires only a pinprick and a drop of blood. 
With that they can perform hundreds of tests, from standard cholesterol checks to sophisticated genetic analyses.
The results are faster, more accurate, and far cheaper than conventional methods. The implications are mind-blowing."

What could possibly go wrong........Detroit mayor looking to create city's own auto insurance agency: D-Insurance

Detroit mayor looking to create city's own auto insurance agency: D-Insurance | MLive.com:
"DETROIT, MI -- Mayor Mike Duggan in his State of the City address on Wednesday announced plans to work toward creating Detroit's own auto insurance agency.
 Residents of the city pay notoriously high auto insurance rates and the idea of creating a new provider has long been discussed.
Duggan announced the formation of a team to study the matter and even gave the proposed entity a name: D-Insurance."

History for February 28

History for February 28 - On-This-Day.com
Birth anniversaries of comic strip artist Milton Caniff (1907-88), journalist and screenwriter Ben Hecht (1894-1964),

Happy Birthday! Mario Andretti, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune, 

1854 - The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI. About 50 slavery opponents began the new political group. 


1885 - AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) was incorporated. The company was capitalized on only $100,000 and provided long distance service for American Bell. 


1900 - In South Africa, British troops relieved Ladysmith, which had been under siege since November 2, 1899. 


1940 - The first televised basketball game was shown. The game featured Fordham University and the University of Pittsburgh from Madison Square Gardens in New York. 


1953 - In a Cambridge University laboratory, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. 


1979 - Mr. Ed, the talking horse from the TV show "Mr. Ed", died.
 

1983 - "M*A*S*H" became the most watched television program in history when the final episode aired. 


1986 - Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated in Stockholm.
 

1993 - U.S. Federal agents raided the compound of an armed religious cult in Waco, TX. The ATF had planned to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on federal firearms charges. Four agents and six Davidians were killed and a 51-day standoff followed. 

Mormon Church reveals people do NOT get their own planets in the afterlife | Mail Online

 "Mormon Church reveals people do NOT get their own planets in the afterlife... despite what The Book of Mormon claims"

The Mormon Church is pushing back against the notion that members of the faith are taught they'll get their own planet in the afterlife, a misconception popularized in pop culture most recently by the Broadway show 'The Book of Mormon.'

New nutritional labels on packages will highlight added sugars while reflecting more realistic portion sizes | Mail Online

New nutritional labels on packages will highlight added sugars while reflecting more realistic portion sizes | Mail Online:

New 'Nutrition Facts' labels on packages will let families know whether their food has added sugars for the first time while reflecting more realistic portion sizes.

Calorie counts will also be in larger, bolder type under the label changes being proposed by the Food and Drug Administration, which were announced by Michelle Obama on Tuesday.

Report: NKorea Fires Four Short-Range Missiles

Report: NKorea Fires Four Short-Range Missiles | The Weekly Standard:
The South Koreans are reporting that North Korea fired off four short-range missiles today. 
"South Korea says North Korea has fired four suspected short-range missiles into its eastern waters," reports the Associated Press. 

Girl, 11, shoots cougar that was following her brother in Washington State | Mail Online

Girl, 11, shoots cougar that was following her brother in Washington State | Mail Online: "'She wasn't scared a bit': How girl ELEVEN grabbed gun and shot dead cougar that was stalking her brother, 13, outside their house"

When Thomas White spotted a cougar approaching his teenage son outside their home in rural Washington state last week, there was only one thing to do - hand a gun to his 11-year-old daughter.  

Without a moment's hesitation, Shelby White killed the female cougar, and wildlife officials suggested that the animal may have been sick.

The mountain cat was 4 years old and weighed about 50lbs, which is about half of what an animal that age should weigh.

Hillary pulls into passing lane on ObamaCare | Fox News

Hillary pulls into passing lane on ObamaCare | Fox News:



Democratic 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton nudged the accelerator in her effort to get past the problems with ObamaCare bedeviling the president and their party. Talking to a gathering of health information specialists in Florida, Clinton sounded more than open to substantial changes to President Obama’s signature law.

Obama aiming for ‘unilateral disarmament’

Obama aiming for ‘unilateral disarmament’

"“The fact is, this administration still does not have a strategy for how to defeat radical Islam,” he said. “They don’t even talk about it. They took us out of Iraq, and what do we find? We find now that the Iraqis are buying weapons from the Iranians. That is a very disturbing thing. We fundamentally turned Iraq over to the Iranian sphere of influence. I’m afraid we’re going to do the same thing in Afghanistan, and still no strategy for defeating radical Islam.

“They are going to let Iran, in the next two or three years, become a nuclear power. I’m very disturbed with depleting not only our Army but also our Air Force and Navy and the Marine Corps. As I’ve said, we are fundamentally, unilaterally disarming,” he said.

McInerney’s comments ring close to concerns over manpower and readiness voiced Monday by retired U.S. Army Gen Jack Keane on the Fox News Channel.

“The fact of the matter is, today, the Army has very few units that are ready to fight today. And that’s the truth of it,” Keane said.

McInerney said that analysis is spot on, and much deeper cuts would only make things worse."

Give them power? They WILL abuse it!--------------------Spies at GCHQ intercept saucy webcam pics rather than hunting terrorists

CREEPY British spies have been busy intercepting webcam images from around the world rather than hunting terrorists.

OPTIC NERVE: The British spy agency GCHQ has gathered millions of private webcam images [REUTERS]

The private images were gathered from millions of Yahoo users with sexually explicit images among those gathered by spy agency GCHQ.
Internet giant Yahoo has denied any knowledge of the programme and has described the revelations from the Guardian as a "completely unacceptable" privacy violation.
In a statement GCHQ said all of its actions were in accordance with the law.
The operation, named Optic Nerve, was aided by the powerful US National Security Agency (NSA) and is said to have stored images transmitted between 2008 and 2010.

Blast from the past! Mystery surrounds the Russian spy ship docked in Havana with no explanation as US warns Moscow over war games in Ukraine

Blast from the past! Mystery surrounds the Russian spy ship docked in Havana with no explanation as US warns Moscow over war games in Ukraine | Mail Online:
 "A Russian spy ship docked in Havana on Wednesday, and neither Cuba nor Russia offered any mention or explanation of the mysterious visit that is reminiscent of the Cold War.
AFP reported that the Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, that measures 300 feet long and 47.5 feet wide, appeared in the section of Havana's port usually used by cruise ships.
The intelligence vessel bristles with electronic eavesdropping equipment and weaponry, including AK-630 rapid-fire cannons and surface-to-air missiles."

He doesn't like cheap electricity or gasoline. She doesn't want you to eat meat------Cattle Rise to Record, Hogs Gain on Shrinking Meat Supply

Cattle Rise to Record, Hogs Gain on Shrinking Meat Supply - Bloomberg:
"Cattle futures rose to a record as ranchers struggle to boost the U.S. herd from a 63-year low, and hogs climbed to a 34-month high after a virus that kills piglets spread, spurring concerns that meat supplies will shrink.
Beef output in the U.S., the world’s top producer, will fall 5.3 percent this year to 24.35 billion pounds (11.04 million metric tons), the lowest since 1994, the Department of Agriculture has forecast.
At the start of this year, the cattle herd fell to 87.7 million head, the lowest since 1951, following drought and high feed costs. "

Is that a long cylindrical object covered with a sock in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?------Gary Rough jailed over robbery bid with cucumber

BBC News - Gary Rough jailed over robbery bid with cucumber:
"Gary Rough brandished the vegetable, which was covered in a sock, at a female worker at the Ladbrokes shop in Shettleston and demanded cash.
 Shortly after she refused, the 28-year-old was pinned to the ground by an off-duty police officer and arrested.
Rough was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow after admitting a charge of assault with intent to rob.
The court heard that the bookmakers was busy when Rough carried out the raid.
Prosecutor Sheena Fraser said Rough was armed with a "long cylindrical object covered in a black sock" when he went to the counter for cash. 
Worker Andrea McIntosh thought it may be a gun - but refused to give him money."

Some Idiot Sold A WW2 Rifle at a Police Gun Buyback For $200 Gift Card (VIDEO)

Some Idiot Sold A WW2 Rifle at a Police Gun Buyback For $200 Gift Card (VIDEO) | The Libertarian Republic:

Some Idiot Sold A WW2 Rifle at a Police Gun Buyback For A $200 Gift Card (VIDEO)

THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

StG-44 Sold At California Gun Buyback For $200

LOS ANGELES, CA - A gun buyback program in Los Angeles, California turned up a person willing to sell a World War 2 $30,000 Sturmgewehr 44 for a $200 gift card. The StG-44 was the first modern assault rifle built by the Nazis, who would have likely been big fans of the LAPD’s tactics.

The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia

The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia | Ars Technica:
" Finally, at 9:12 Eastern Time, re-entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain gave the terrible order that had only been uttered once before, 17 years earlier when Challenger broke apart at launch: "Lock the doors."

It was an acknowledgement that the worst had happened; the mission was now in "contingency" mode. Mission Control was sealed off, and each flight controller began carefully preserving his or her console's data.

Columbia was gone, and all seven of its crew had been killed. NASA refers to this most rare and catastrophic of events as an LOCV—"Loss of Crew and Vehicle.""

Survey ranks Detroit on 'Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi' list

Survey ranks Detroit on 'Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi' list | The Detroit News:
Detroit can’t catch a break finding itself on yet another poll hating on the Motor City.

With reports out of Sochi of stray dogs, discolored drinking water and unfinished hotel rooms, Misstravel.com, a travel dating website, asked more than 3,000 customers what other travel locations were as bad.
 And, deservedly or not, Detroit ranked No. 4 on the “Top 8 Most Unpleasant Cities Rivaling Sochi” list.

The least desirable cities included:
1. Dhaka, Bangladesh
2. New Delhi, India
3. Algiers, Algeria
4. Detroit
5. Youngstown, Ohio
6. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
7. Guadalajara, México
8. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

MissTravel said the survey-takers based their decisions on factors such as lodging, amenities, cleanliness and customer service."

Tax is "shared responsibility payment"?!!!!!!-----------------Americans for Tax Reform : IRS Warns: Obamacare Tax Must Be Paid with Tax Return

Americans for Tax Reform : IRS Warns: Obamacare Tax Must Be Paid with Tax Return:
"President Obama’s Internal Revenue Service today quietly released a series of Obamacare “Health Care Tax Tips” warning Americans that they must obtain “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by the federal government – or face a “shared responsibility payment” when filing their tax returns in 2015. "

Harvard writer: Abolish free speech

Harvard writer: Abolish free speech:
 "“This woman has just written a column about it at Harvard with what appears to be an extreme view of eliminating the First Amendment as a way of silencing opposition.
But she’s very honest. 
The First Amendment, free speech, ‘threatens liberalism,’ meaning liberalism cannot thrive in an open society. 
Liberalism is totalitarianism. 
Liberalism is statism. 
It is authoritarianism. 
It is all of the horrible Isms, and it cannot thrive when there is open debate. 
It cannot survive challenges.”"

Your tax dollars at work-----------An Entire College Course on Beyonce at Rutgers University!

But "gay marriage" and a gay football player dominate USA news-----GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS SEIZED IN UKRAINE'S CRIMEA

News from The Associated Press:

"SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) -- Dozens of heavily armed pro-Russia gunmen seized control of local government buildings in Ukraine's Crimea region early Thursday, escalating tensions in a peninsula that's become a flashpoint in the east-west divide that threatens to rip apart a country engulfed in political and economic turmoil."

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage

Ukraine and Our Useless Outrage | National Review Online:

"Although the U.S. alone seems to honor its promised deadlines of withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq, the world’s aggressors sense that the Obama administration’s bluster will be followed by more bluster.

Therefore, they have decided to risk aggrandizements while they can.

In the mind of Vladimir Putin, today Ukraine, tomorrow the Baltic States or Eastern Europe. 

In the minds of the Iranian theocrats, if chemical WMD are okay in Syria, why not nuclear WMD in Iran? 

In China’s view, when Japan backs off, why shouldn’t Taiwan, South Korea, or the Philippines? 

Such a seemingly insignificant loss of deterrence is how wars often start — when an aggressive nation bets that loud words signal that consequences will never follow. 

So it is emboldened to up the ante to try something even riskier.

 America’s step-over line/deadline/red line outrage is long past monotonous and empty — and the result has been an ever scarier world."

Obama tellin' Putin how it is........RUSSIA WAR GAMES OVER UKRAINE PROMPT US WARNING

News from The Associated Press:

"KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake."

 Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding."

And how did "Pre-WW II cuts" work out in 1941?-----------------Pentagon plans to shrink US Army to pre-WWII level

Pentagon plans to shrink US Army to pre-WWII level - Yahoo News:
"Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon plans to scale back the US Army by more than an eighth to its lowest level since before World War II, signaling a shift after more than a decade of ground wars.

• Budget cuts to slash U.S. Army to smallest since before World War Two Reuters
• Pentagon Signals the End of American Nation Building The Fiscal Times
• Hagel says US military must shrink to face new era Associated Press
• Hagel proposes big cuts in Army in 2015 budget Associated Press
• Saying it was time to "reset" for a new era, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recommended shrinking American forces from 520,000 active duty troops to between 440,000 and 450,000."

Photo of the Day: The Catastrophe in Syria

Photo of the Day: The Catastrophe in Syria | Power Line:

 "The Obama administration’s Syria policy has been a fiasco. 

I don’t think anyone seriously tries to defend it.

That said, the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding in that country is not the responsibility of the U.S. government. It is the fault of Bashar Assad and his minions, and al Qaeda and other radical Muslims who have forcibly taken over the opposition to Assad.

 The human catastrophe in Syria is almost beyond reckoning. 

You can look up the numbers, but what stunned me was this photograph, taken late last month.

The scene is Yarmouk, a district of Damascus that is populated largely by Palestinian “refugees” and has been the scene of heavy fighting. "