History for December 9

History for December 9 - On-This-Day.com
John Milton 1608, Clarence Birdseye 1886, Emmett Kelly 1898 


Kirk Douglas 1918 - Actor, Dick Van Patten 1928 - Actor ("Eight is Enough"), Dick Butkus (NFL) 1942 - Football player 


1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President. 


1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris was born. 


1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England. 


1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs. 


1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society. 


1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer, known as "Univac 1107." 


1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia," by David Lean had its world premiere in London. 


1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history. 


1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990. 

WATCH: This Fired Up Fox News Host Body Slams 'Racial Hatred' Obama In An Unforgettable Way

WATCH: This Fired Up Fox News Host Body Slams 'Racial Hatred' Obama In An Unforgettable Way:
"On her Fox News show, Judge Jeanine didn’t hide her feelings any more than Barack Obama hid his over the weekend. In an interview with Black Entertainment Television, Obama played directly to the frayed emotions of his audience, claiming that racism remains “deeply rooted” throughout the country."

Dems on ObamaCare: Was it worth it? | TheHill

Dems on ObamaCare: Was it worth it? | TheHill:

"Influential Democrats who have strongly defended Obama-Care for years are now publicly questioning whether the law was worth the political fallout.

Passage of the Affordable Care Act marked the start of a political unraveling for the Democratic Party, which lost huge majorities in Congress and control of a majority of state governorships in the last four and a half years."

19 Signs That You Live In A Country That Has Gone Completely Insane

19 Signs That You Live In A Country That Has Gone Completely Insane | The Daily Sheeple:
#1 When those occupying the highest offices in the land tell you that an $18,000,000,000,000 debt is “under control“, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.

#3 When the greatest dream in life for millions of your fellow citizens is to win the Powerball jackpot, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.

#4 When dressing up sex dolls in fashionable clothing and photographing them is considered to be art, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.

#6 When a boy can sue his high school for not letting him use the girls’ restrooms and win $75,000 in “damages”, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.

#7 When people that want to have sex with their own family members start demanding “equal rights”, you live in a country that has gone completely insane…

- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/19-signs-that-you-live-in-a-country-that-has-gone-completely-insane_122014#sthash.4bBsdP4x.dpuf

Loss of entry-level jobs a tragedy for American workforce

Loss of entry-level jobs a tragedy for American workforce « Watchdog.org:
"A whole generation isn’t learning the value of a dollar.
Entry-level jobs represent opportunities for young workers to learn basic skills as they climb the employment ladder, and it’s an opportunity that fewer are getting.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the youth employment rate — workers ages 16-24 — is in a state of serious decline.
In the mid to late 1980s, the percentage of employed youths ranged from 81 percent to 86 percent. In July, the month considered the peak for youth employment, only 51.9 percent had a job."

Eric Holder’s Racial Profiling Promises are the Same Promises He Made in 1999

Eric Holder’s Racial Profiling Promises are the Same Promises He Made in 1999:

"You see, Eric Holder’s promise that he will root-out racial profiling and recommit the federal Department of Justice to ensuring their version of justice sounds all well and good; however, the Attorney General has spent decades in the government and the inescapable fact is that this racial strife that is tearing this country apart has happened on his and President Obama’s watch."

Rolling Stone magazine brutally mocked by parody poster

Rolling Stone magazine brutally mocked by parody poster | TheBlaze.com

$466,642 Federal Study: Why Do Fat Girls Date Less and Risk More?

$466,642 Federal Study: Why Do Fat Girls Date Less and Risk More? | CNS News:
"The National Institutes of Health has awarded $466,642 in taxpayer dollars to Magee-Women’s Research Institute and Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pa., to study and compare the intimate relationships of obese and non-obese girls.
“Mounting evidence demonstrates that weight influences intimate (i.e., dating and sexual) relationship formation and sexual negotiations among adolescent girls.
Obese girls consistently report having fewer dating and sexual experiences, but more sexual risk behaviors (i.e., condom nonuse) once they are sexually active,” the grant abstract said.
 “No studies have actually examined whether the interpersonal skills and intimate relationships of obese and non-obese girls differ,” it said."

You are Entering the Government Pension Zone …

You are Entering the Government Pension Zone … [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"An alternative universe of finance and accounting practices

Most people don’t understand how government defined-benefit pension systems operate, which is one of many obstacles to reforming the deeply underfunded systems. 
Part of the problem is that the methods used in pension funding and accounting are very different from anything a regular person ever faces in their own personal finances.
For example, people rarely buy a product, including a financial product, without knowing its cost.
But projecting the cost of pension systems requires making various assumptions about the future to decide how much must be contributed to meet defined-benefit pension promises.
Making a wrong assumption can put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.
Complicating this, the incentives are strong for policymakers to make “rosy scenario” assumptions that let them get away with paying less now to prefund future benefits.
.....In the real world, individuals who don’t make required payments on their obligations face penalties. 
In the pension zone, the state continues to pay less into the school employee pension system than the amount its own actuarial accountants say is needed to cover future pension benefits without extra penalty.
All these factors have contributed to unfunded pension obligations growing so large they are diverting resources from other vital needs including road repairs and public safety.
Yet those who urge a common-sense reform like “stop digging a deeper hole” – close the systems to new employees and give them 401(k)s instead – are put off with false claims of excessive “transition costs.“"

New Law Lets Courts Decide If You Are a Sensitive Enough Parent

New Law Lets Courts Decide If You Are a Sensitive Enough Parent - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
"A new law in Great Britain could criminalize normal parenting—the kind practice by people who are not perfect every single second of every day.
The so-called "Cinderella Law" expands the definition of child cruelty to include any form of "emotional, psychological or intangible harm," writes barrister Jon Holbrook in SpikedOnline:
Under the amended offence it will be possible for a parent to be convicted of: smacking a child; not providing it with regular meals; leaving a crying baby alone on the petrol forecourt while visiting the station checkout; even ignoring teenage angst. 
Indeed, the wayward and emotionally fragile teenager, not to mention the teenager who dislikes his parents’ style of parenting, should have little difficulty making a case for his parents to be prosecuted. Defenders of the new law may guffaw at these examples, and claim that such prosecutions could never happen, but they are wrong."

Former Attorney General Explains How Republicans Can Fight Obama’s Executive Amnesty (and WIN)

Former Attorney General Explains How Republicans Can Fight Obama’s Executive Amnesty (and WIN):

"Former Attorney General of the United States Ed Meese served under President Ronald Reagan at a time when the rule of law meant something.

Meese recently joined fellow Heritage associate Mike Needham in a commentary piece detailing how the Republicans should counter President Obama’s unilateral amnesty declaration and, more importantly, how Republicans can win in this fight against a president who acts as an emperor."

AMERICA'S MILITARY: A force adrift

AMERICA'S MILITARY: A force adrift
A Military Times survey of 2,300 active-duty troops found morale indicators on the decline in nearly every aspect of military life.
Troops report significantly lower overall job satisfaction, diminished respect for their superiors, and a declining interest in re-enlistment now compared to just five years ago.
Today's service members say they feel underpaid, under-equipped and under-appreciated, the survey data show.
After 13 years of war, the all-volunteer military is entering an era fraught with uncertainty and a growing sense that the force has been left adrift.

The senior military leadership has my best interests at heart:
2009 – 53% agreed
2014 – 27% agreed

Not a parody

Not a parody | Power Line
Columbia Law School is permitting students claiming to be impaired due to the emotional impact of recent non-indictments in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner matters to postpone taking their final exams. Here is the text of a message from interim dean Robert Scott to the law school community:

The grand juries’ determinations to return non-indictments in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases have shaken the faith of some in the integrity of the grand jury system and in the law more generally. For some law students, particularly, though not only, students of color, this chain of events is all the more profound as it threatens to undermine a sense that the law is a fundamental pillar of society designed to protect fairness, due process and equality.

For these reasons, after consultation with students in the law school and with colleagues on the law faculty and in the administration, I am taking the following steps to assure our responsiveness and involvement in this particular moment:

- In recognition of the traumatic effects these events have had on some of the members of our community, Dean Greenberg-Kobrin and Yadira Ramos-Herbert, Director, Academic Counseling, have arranged to have Dr. Shirley Matthews, a trauma specialist, hold sessions next Monday and Wednesday for anyone interested in participating to discuss the trauma that recent events may have caused .

Detroit’s Bankruptcy and Its Painful Reforms

Detroit’s Bankruptcy and Its Painful Reforms - The American Interest:
The Malfeasance

Had Detroit never been in the defined benefit pension business, it probably would never have gone bankrupt. Even with the collapse of the auto industry, rising poverty, blight and crime, the white and black middle class’ flight to the suburbs, and a legendarily dysfunctional city government, bankruptcy was not inevitable. Federal law makes it extremely difficult for cities to enter bankruptcy by imposing a cash-flow insolvency test. Massive debt is not enough. A city must be literally running out of money in order to break its contractual debt obligations in court. This is one of the most important reasons why so few of America’s many distressed cities actually go bankrupt.

But Detroit was running out of money, and pensions were at the root of the problem. When Detroit filed for bankruptcy in June 2013, 60 percent of its $18 billion in obligations it listed, and 92 percent of its unsecured obligations, were somehow pension-related. The $3.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities was just the beginning. There was also the $5.7 billion owed for retiree health insurance. This benefit, known as “OPEB” (other post-employment benefits), is common throughout the state and local sector because of the prevalence of defined benefit pensions. Pension eligibility often begins 10 or more years before Medicare eligibility, creating pressure for government employers to continue to provide gap health coverage for the years between retirement and Medicare. (Many governments also supplement Medicare after it kicks in at 65.) Detroit owed another $1.7 billion from a spectacularly imprudent attempt to backfill its pension system with funds borrowed from capital markets.

Michigan Legislation Could Give Ride-Sharing an Uber Lift

Michigan Legislation Could Give Ride-Sharing an Uber Lift [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"State Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw, introduced legislation that would create state-based regulations for ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. 
At first glance, the regulations appear reasonable and have the support of these so-called transportation network companies themselves, as reported by MIRS News (subscription required).
Uber and Lyft have faced challenges trying to break into new markets around the country, as each city has its own unique regulations for taxi services.
City governments don’t quite know how to regulate these new ride-sharing services though, because they don’t fit neatly into pre-existing taxi laws.
Naturally, taxi companies are lobbying local governments to ban or severely limit these services, as they (justifiably) view them as an existential threat to their business."

Fresh Off His U.S. Senate Election, Republican Cassidy Vows to Fight Obama’s Policies | Video | TheBlaze.com

Fresh Off His U.S. Senate Election, Republican Cassidy Vows to Fight Obama’s Policies | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Cassidy defeated Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in Saturday’s runoff with 56 percent of the vote.

“It is the exclamation mark on the message the American people sent on November the fourth,” Cassidy said of his victory. “The American people do not like the agenda that Barack Obama has staked out for our country.”

‘I don’t understand what she meant’ – Democrat Jane Harman can’t defend Hillary’s ‘empathy’ comment

‘I don’t understand what she meant’ – Democrat Jane Harman can’t defend Hillary’s ‘empathy’ comment » The Right Scoop -:
"Hillary supporter and former U.S> Representative Jane Harman had a very tough time understanding Hillary Clinton’s insane remark about “empathizing” with our enemies, much less defending it."

The wind energy credit buried in the tax extender deal should get the ax

The wind energy credit buried in the tax extender deal should get the ax « Hot Air:
It continues to dish out billions of dollars in wind energy credits which are distorting the market and continuing to flush taxpayer money into technology which is allegedly standing on its own feet these days. Also, recent changes to the language of the credit open it to systemic abuse. The American Energy Alliance explains.

“The wind PTC was a bad idea yesterday, it’s a bad idea today, and it will be a bad idea tomorrow.

“Over twenty percent of this extenders deal, nearly $10 billion, is a handout to AWEA and its allies like the League of Conservation Voters who spent $75 million during the midterm elections in an effort to defeat Republicans. Now the House Republicans are prepared to reward them with a massive handout courtesy of the American taxpayer. This sweetheart deal will cost American families close to $100 per household, and will stick them with more expensive and less reliable electricity in the future.

“A vote for this deal is also an endorsement of President Obama’s climate agenda, as the PTC is integral to the administration’s costly climate action plan.

History for December 8

History for December 8 - On-This-Day.com
Horace 65 B.C., Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots) 1542, Diego Rivera 1886 


James Thurber 1894, Lee J. Cobb 1911, Sammy Davis, Jr. 1925 



1765 - Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, MA. Whitney invented the cotton gin and developed the concept of mass-production of interchangeable parts. 


1776 - George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. 


1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived. 


1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan. 


1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure. 


1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time. 


1987 - The "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began. 



1992 - Americans got to see live television coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. (Due to the time difference, it was December 9 in Somalia.) 


1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. 


1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation. 

Texas Legislator Introduces “Poptart Gun” Bill to Combat the Left’s Anti-Gun Hysteria

Texas Legislator Introduces “Poptart Gun” Bill to Combat the Left’s Anti-Gun Hysteria:

"The left’s anti-gun zealotry has reached an absolute absurd level. Under the flimsy pretense of trying to create a “safer” environment, liberals have relentlessly pushed upon children a stigmatization of firearms. Because of this irrational hatred and hoplophobia (a more-recent term coined to describe an irrational fear of all things firearm related), children are now missing class time due to in-school penalties incurred for having pointed their finger like a gun or, in a now-infamous example, eating a Poptart into a shape that vaguely resembles a firearm."

Think Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Was Outrageous? Check Out What He's Doing at the EPA.

Think Obama's Executive Action on Immigration Was Outrageous? Check Out What He's Doing at the EPA.:

"As an act of total desperation, the EPA is now playing the race card. The agency is adopting the theme that shutting down coal plants and other fossil fuel development is necessary to secure “climate justice for communities of color.” Ms. McCarthy pitched this gibberish in August: “Carbon pollution standards are an issue of justice. If we want to protect communities of color, we need to protect them from climate change.”

2014 on Course to be Hottest Year Ever (So Long as You Ignore All the Hotter Years)

2014 on Course to be Hottest Year Ever (So Long as You Ignore All the Hotter Years)

....Otherwise casual onlookers might begin to suspect that this whole "man-made global warming thing" was just a massive scam, cooked up by an unholy cabal of green activists, shyster politicians, grant-grubbing activist-scientists, rent-seeking corporatist greedsters, Hollywood luvvies and other professional charlatans. 

And then it would be game over for their entire sham industry.

So who are we to believe: the gatekeepers of the Mother Gaia's Holy Temple of Endlessly Rising Global Temperatures? 

Or reality?

Well, here's what reality tells us in the form of the most accurate records of global climate data - the satellite records from the UAH.