Saturday, February 28, 2009

Nationwide Ammunition Shortage Hits U.S.

Nationwide Ammunition Shortage Hits U.S.
"But what is causing our current ammunition shortages here in 2009?

Much of the demand comes from continued high law enforcement demand, the same demand that led to shortages two years ago.

Police agencies around the nation have become more militarized in recent years and two trends within this militarization have led to greater police ammunition demand.

An increase in the size and number of paramilitary police units"

Anti-Gun Deception On The Senate Floor

Anti-Gun Deception On The Senate Floor
"Anti-gun lawmakers swore up and down that once the 'assault weapon' ban expired, the murder rate would go through the roof. Well, the ban expired in 2004 and since then, the murder rate has gone down to a 43-year low."

The Incredible Bulk battles the Fat Cats | government, big, invest, everything, small

The Incredible Bulk battles the Fat Cats government, big, invest, everything, small
"If you find it hard to keep track of all these evolutions, the president in his address to Congress finally spilled the beans and unveiled our new hero in his final form:

the Incredible Bulk, Statezilla, Governmentuan, a colossus bestriding the land like a, er, colossus. What superpowers does he have? All of them! He can save the economy, he can reform health care, he can prevent foreclosures, he can federalize day care, he can cap the salary of his archenemies the sinister Fat Cats who 'pad their paychecks and buy fancy drapes.' No longer will the citizenry cower in fear of fancy drapes"

Steyn at his best!

MEXICAN DRUG GANGS MOVE NORTH

MEXICAN DRUG GANGS MOVE NORTH
"And, yes they are here. The Los Angeles Times has an interactive map (hint: click on 'unknown affiliation.')"

CARPE DIEM: Cartoon of the Day: Fiscal Child Abuse


How Obama And Biden Fought The Surge

How Obama And Biden Fought The Surge
As we have often noted before (see the related articles links below), Messrs Obama and Biden fought our winning strategy in Iraq – tooth and nail.
A fact you would never guess from Mr. Obama’s remarks yesterday at Camp Lejeune.
But here is another gentle reminder about their prescience, via YouTube:"

The Intellectual Redneck: Taxing the rich at 100% won't pay for Obama's budget

The Intellectual Redneck: Taxing the rich at 100% won't pay for Obama's budget
"The Wall Street Journal has reported that taxing the rich at 100% won't pay for Obama's budget. Barack Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 per year. Where is he going to get the money? The numbers indicate Obama will need to take 100% of the income of everyone making over $75,000."

Brutal February for Blue Chips

Brutal February for Blue Chips
"A late burst of selling sealed a dismal finish for the stock market, which hit a fresh 12-year low.

Great hope from the investment world for Prez B Hussein.

TWO AMERICAS

TWO AMERICAS
"Companies are cutting jobs by the tens of thousands.
State and local governments are penny-pinching, too.
So what about Uncle Sam?
Tough times for him as well?
Not exactly.
In fact the number of federal workers is on the rise.
That might seem strange to the 11 million people in the U.S. who are out of work - and the millions more who fear they soon will be. Shouldn't Washington pare down too?
But it is unlikely that President Barack Obama will put any of the nearly 2 million federal civil servants out in the street in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. His proposed $800-plus billion economic aid plan, which includes heavy spending on public works, is expected to increase the ranks of federal workers, although mostly at the state and local level."

McCain Backs Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Plan


McCain Backs Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Plan
"Sen. John McCain, who lost his White House bid to Barack Obama last fall, is supporting the president's new plan to pull most U.S. troops out of Iraq by the fall of 2010.


O my gosh!

Another reason to be glad McCrook ain't our Prez....

$25, 573.48 - what Barack Obama's budget will cost each taxpayer

$25, 573.48 - what Barack Obama's budget will cost each taxpayer
"So how much will President Barack Obama's budget cost us?
The projected 2010 budget of $3.552 trillion can be found on page 114 of the 'New Era of Responsibility' budget here.
......I'm an American taxpayer and the starkest figure is what this could cost me. The latest figure I could find for the number of US taxpayers is 138,893,908 returns in 2007 here.
By my reckoning, that's $25, 573.48 each."

Zero Tolerance, Zero Common Sense

Zero Tolerance, Zero Common Sense
"Her crime? She left three rifle shaped drill team props in the back of her car at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colo. Colorado law mandates expulsion for any student found with a 'dangerous weapon' on school grounds, which includes 'a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm.'

The non-operative rifle props are used during drill routines, where the facsimiles are spun and tossed. The props are made of wood and plastic, are heavily duct‑taped and, of course, cannot function and were never intended to. Morrow had brought them to school because she was preparing for a competition at the Air Force Academy in April and planned to attend a practice right after school."

Officials say MSU deaths isolated, no public risk

Officials say MSU deaths isolated, no public risk
Police department and Michigan State University Police say there is no reason for students or parents to be alarmed by two recent student deaths, even though they say they're not sure why the men died.
I can tell you that the public is not at risk," MSU Police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said, though she declined to release details in one of the cases."

Hep me here.... they promise there is no danger but they don't know what is killing the kids?

Why should anyone believe these prevaricators?

American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers'


American taste for soft toilet roll 'worse than driving Hummers'
"The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners.

At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom."


The enviro-loonies hate our bums?

Friday, February 27, 2009

RightMichigan.com || HUGE energy at Lansing Tea Party

HUGE energy at Lansing Tea Party

Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And More


Obama Declares War on Investors, Entrepreneurs, Businesses, And More
"Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget.
He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds."

"Muskegon Money" is Muskegonized!


Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce
"Due to circumstances beyond control of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce, Muskegon Money can no longer be redeemed. The provider of Muskegon Money Gift Certificates, Certifichecks, Inc. has abruptly ceased operations.

DO NOT ACCEPT, DEPOSIT OR GIVE ANY MUSKEGON MONEY CERTIFICATES!
* Notify your staff
* Remove all window & door decals
* Place a sign up at your business notifying customers you can no longer accept these certificates.

The Chamber will be contacting participating merchants with more details and information as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience."

The good news: They told us ASAP.

The bad news: They told us is was a good deal.

Crowd protests federal stimulus, bailouts at state Capitol


Crowd protests federal stimulus, bailouts at state Capitol
"Stefanie Huffaker of Lansing said she and her 9-year-old daughter Olivia attended because “I want the president and the Congress to know that they’re spending too much money. We don’t have it. It seems like there’s no end.
They need to slow down. I’m worried about my kids and my grandkids.”"

Michigan Man Pleads No Contest to Sex Act With Car Wash Vacuum


Michigan Man Pleads No Contest to Sex Act With Car Wash Vacuum
"SAGINAW, Mich. — A Saginaw County man has pleaded no contest to indecent exposure after police say he was arrested for performing a sex act with a car wash vacuum.
The Saginaw News reports 29-year-old Jason Leroy Savage of Swan Creek Township entered the plea Wednesday in Saginaw County Circuit Court."

Your Tea Party Invite


GRANHOLM - MI Recovery & Reinvestment Plan

GRANHOLM - MI Recovery & Reinvestment Plan

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dear Muskegon Chronicle

Dear Muskegon Chronicle Publisher and Editor Keep,

I have read that you offered a pay cut to columnist Tracy Lorenz and he has chosen to pass on your offer.

I've always enjoyed Tracy's columns but I understand that companies must make tough decisions during hard times if they expect to remain in business.

I've also read that you've imposed significant layoffs of staff, early retirements, cuts in pay and mass firings of school age newspaper delivery kids.

I can only assume that you and the top level staff of The Chronicle have endured similar pay and benefit cuts.

All of us in Muskegon understand (well, most of us) what President Obama and Governor Granholm have warned is to come.

More hard times.

Most of us in the real America are experiencing real pain and making some of the same tough choices that you and your company have made.

But not all of us.

Those on the public payroll.

Education union members, city, county and state union members all seem immune from that disease that plagues the rest of us in the real America.

There really are two Americas.

We who toil in the private sector and those who live off our hard work.

We cut back. They get guaranteed annual step-ups in pay.

We cut back. They get annual cost of living increases.

We see our retirement savings shrink. They see their retirements as guaranteed and larger every year.

We find we must work for more years than we had planned before we can retire. They concoct bogus schemes to increase their retirement income, retire earlier and tell us toilers that it will "increase jobs".

We make tough choices in our life insurance, accident insurance and health insurance plans. They demand guilt edged, low co-pay, low deductible plans that funnel money to their politically connected union bosses.

We see our companies get lean and mean (just like your company, Mr Keep). They tell us if we don't give them more of our money WE will suffer cuts in services like school roof repairs, road repairs and police protection.

Mr. Keep.

If you really do care about our community, please address the widening gap between our two Americas right here in Muskegon!

Our ever-decreasing incomes are stretched to the limit as the public sector demands more and more of our hard earned pay.

Isn't it time that your newspaper exposed the true disparity that is the cancer that may destroy our community?

You have made the tough decisions!

We are making the tough decisions!

Why are education unions and the public employee unions immune from joining us all in fixing our shared challenge.

Mr. Keep,

You and your newspaper are the only voice we, in the other America, have left.

Please help us now.

GordoMuskegon

UH OH: MIT Study Says Cellulosic Ethanol Could Have “Unintended” Environmental Consequences….

UH OH: MIT Study Says Cellulosic Ethanol Could Have “Unintended” Environmental Consequences….
"UH OH: MIT Study Says Cellulosic Ethanol Could Have “Unintended” Environmental Consequences."

We might as well face it.

The enviro-left just ain't fond of humans.

Idaho's first lady wears same dress twice. Is it frugality or fashion faux pas?

Idaho's first lady wears same dress twice. Is it frugality or fashion faux pas?
"Otter People's Money
Here's a story from the Idaho Statesman on how the other half lives:
Idaho's first lady wore the same dress twice--to the gala at Saint Al's Festival of Trees in November, below, and then again Sunday to the White House for a dinner with the nation's governors, the Obamas' first formal soiree, left.
Lori Otter bought the dress--a floor-length black Jovani gown--on sale at the local boutique Karen Louise in Downtown Boise, the governor's office said. The gown retails for about $700, but Otter got it for about $500.

This is news? Out here in the real America, not only do we wear the same clothes--even less expensive items like socks and underwear--dozens of times, but a whole industry has arisen providing equipment, detergents and services for washing clothes between uses. In Idaho, by contrast, apparently most people can afford to spend $500 on a disposable dress."

Rocky Mountain News closing after Friday edition

Rocky Mountain News closing after Friday edition
"The Rocky Mountain News will publish its last edition Friday.
Owner E.W. Scripps Co. announced on the newspaper's Web site Thursday that its search for a buyer for the paper was unsuccessful."

Is David Kolb The Chronicle's "new" Tracy Lorenz?

This David Kolb column is truly pathetic.

I'm not sure if he is the new Tracy Lorenz or he's had a medical problem.

Either way, he appears to be the "canary" in the Chronicle's cave......

Bummer dudes!
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/02/column_take_everything_you_hav.html
GordoM-knows-humor-and-commentary-and-that-ain't-either

Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending

Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending

Yo, Muskegon!

Where are you?

Tracy bids adieu to his Chronicle gig

Column: Tracy bids adieu to his Chronicle gig
"This is my final column for The Muskegon Chronicle."

It seems that The Chronicle made a list of all the good parts of the paper and decided to dump them all.

No worries.
The Chronicle has COLOR COMICS!

.... ba bye Chronicle......

UPDATE:
Tracy tells MLive that his last column was "tweaked" by the Great Leaders of The (dying) Chronicle:
"I didn't write those words. Send me an email toLorenzatlarge@aol.com and I'll send you what I actually wrote (which isn't even close to what they printed). I'd paste it here but they'd just delete it anyway."

UPDATE #2 "THE TRUTH!":


What they wrote (red)
This is my final column for The Muskegon Chronicle.
I's been a great six years, but they tell me that financial pressures at the newspaper have caused freelance compensation rates to be reduced and I can't live with what they want to pay me.

What I wrote (blue). I didn't bother to read what they wrote after I read their first paragraph. There may have been more changes.

"A month ago I received an email from The Chronicle saying they were going to cut my pay in half.

“Gee,” I thought, “Obama’s in office, I thought big bushel baskets full of money were supposed to fall from the sky!”

Well, apparently they aren’t falling on Muskegon. So when the paper offered me half I said “No.”

I’m not the one who recommended electing a president with ZERO experience and no plan, why should I pay the price?

So unless today's lunch meeting with the publisher turns out differently than I expect, this will be my last column.

I had a good run.

I got to do things I would never have done without the opportunity given to me by the paper. I got to be the hockey mascot Furious Fred, I hung out with rap artists, and played basketball with Nancy Wilson. I partied in Stepenwolf’s tour bus and I got to write columns about the jungles of Belize and the Alps of Switzerland. I judged talent shows, bikini contests, Christmas lights, chili cook offs, and, in one of the odder moments in an already odd life, shaved a woman’s head for charity. I got to speak at schools, speak at service clubs, and emcee events I had no business emceeing. If it wasn’t for this column I never would have luged.

And then there were the letters. Thousands and thousands of letters. Most of them nice, some of them not nice, but I did my best to answer every one. But it wasn’t all a giant candy farm. There were the threats, the calls to my house at two in the morning, there were mad hockey dad’s, mad soccer mom’s, and some really really mad Miss Michigan contestants.

I only had three times I actually thought violence was at hand…union members can get pretty grouchy.

I’d like to thank my friends and family for letting me put parts of their lives in print. I’d like to thank “The Helper Group” for, as a group, helping. And I’d like to thank the proof readers who told me when something was lame so I could punch it up prior to submission.

And let’s not forget the editors. I think I had seven of them over the years; each one had a different way of plucking humor from the written page and dropping it on the cutting room floor like a no-bake cookie.

Then again, I’m still here (for now) and alive (for now) so maybe they knew what they were doing after all.

But there’s one thing I want to make perfectly clear: I love Muskegon and I always will. I get very defensive whenever someone not from here says anything negative about this place. I think it’s a town with self esteem issues but that only adds to the allure.

Anyway, that’s where I sit, not knowing if there’ll be a column next week or not. If you open up the paper a week from today and you see my wretched picture you’ll know things worked out. If not, well, all I can say is the last six years were a very cool time to have happen in my life, and for that I’ll always be grateful."



States of panic

States of panic Salon News
"How much pain remains?
In the chart below, Salon groups the 50 states loosely by relative levels of distress, and then uses figures from the CBPP and the National Conference of State Legislatures to show the amount of red ink for each state and the amount of stimulus cash expected."

Michigan
FY2009 shortfall: $672 million
FY2010 shortfall: $1.6 billion

With its rusting industrial economy, Michigan has had budget shortfalls every year since 2001. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who will present her plan for discretionary spending in March, intends to use some stimulus funds to avoid planned cuts of $59 per pupil for public education and 3 percent to the higher education budget. But she may still need to make $670 million in cuts, lay off 1,500 government workers, and raise $230 million in new revenues.

Total projected stimulus funding to state: $7 billionFiscal Stabilization Fund: $1 billionMedicaid funds: $2.2 billion

Michigan is the 8th worst state.
We're #8!

Interesting that this article fails to mention out of control spending and the explosion of public employee pay and benefits.

"The Healthy Penis" is back


"The Healthy Penis" is back
'The Healthy Penis' is back
Move over Lou Seal, there's a new San Francisco mascot that will be appearing at parades, street fairs and other public events around the city over the coming year. It's the six-foot-fall Healthy Penis."