Month: March 2013

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News/Politics 3-14-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

There’s a lot to choose from today.

I guess we’ll start with the new Pope.

From TheWashingtonTimes

“Pope Francis is first Catholic pontiff from the  Americas; he is known as a humble intellectual.

As Argentine cardinal, he clashed with President  Cristina Fernandez over her liberal policies.

Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual  who modernized Argentina’s conservative Catholic church.”

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Next we have a not at all shocking update on ObamaCare.

From TheTaxProfBlog

“Following up on Tuesday’s post, House Holds Hearing Today on The Tax-Related Provisions in the President’s Health Care Law: Tax Foundation, Obamacare Tax Increases Will Impact Us All:

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released a 96 page report on the tax provisions associated with Affordable Care Act. The report  describes the 21 tax increases included in Obamacare, totaling $1.058  trillion – a steep increase from initial assessment. The summer 2012  estimate is nearly twice the $569 billion estimate produced at the time  of the passage of the law in March 2010. …

More from CNSNews

“The nation’s big health insurers say they expect premiums — or the cost for insurance coverage — to rise from 20 to 100 percent for millions of people due to changes that will occur when key provisions of the Affordable Care Act roll out in January 2014.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna Inc., one of the nation’s largest insurers, calls the price hikes “premium rate shock.”

“We’ve done all the math, we’ve shared it with all the regulators, we’ve shared it with all the people in Washington that need to see it, and I think it’s a big concern,” Bertolini said during the company’s annual meeting with investors in December.”

Nothing is as advertised. Not surprising, after all, nothing is free.

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Well we finally get a look at the Democrat’s budget proposal. As expected, lot’s of tax increases. As well as a 62% increase in govt. spending over the next decade. Also not surprising. Tax and spend is their solution to everything.

From TheWeeklyStandard

“Senator Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Budget Committee, finally released a budget today. Year over year, in this proposed budget, spending jumps dramatically.

For instance, from this year’s budget to next year’s proposed budget, spending would increase by $162 billion. This year, the federal government will spend $3.599 trillion; under Murray’s budget, the federal government would be on track to spend even more.

Over the next decade, spending under Murray’s budget would increase by 62 percent.”

From 3.6 trillion this year to over 5.7 trillion in 2023.

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Someone should tell Captain Obvious here that the suit needs to be back by 5, or he has to pay for another day’s rental.

From CNSNews

“The “Arab spring” has benefited Islamists rather than  democracy advocates, while political transitions and unrest in the  region have provided opportunities for terrorists to mount attacks  against U.S. interests, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper  told lawmakers Tuesday.

Delivering the intelligence community’s  annual report on threats facing the United   States, Clapper gave what  amounted to a downbeat assessment of the upheavals that many initially  viewed as a promising movement towards greater democracy in a region  dominated by long-ruling autocrats.

“Islamist actors have been  the chief electoral beneficiaries of the political openings, and  Islamist parties in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco will likely solidify  their influence in the coming year,” he told the Senate Select Committee  on Intelligence in a written statement.”

Wow, such brilliance. Like everyone didn’t already know this. And yes, this is exactly what many of us told these clowns would happen. It was never Democracy.

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I like this one, but liberals sure won’t. So yeah, Double Bonus!  🙂

Once again, Texas shows how it’s done.

From TheAmericanStatesman

“The Senate Education Committee this morning approved a bill to ban Planned Parenthood from providing sex education materials or instruction in public schools in a 6-2 vote, after little discussion.”

“Public school districts that opt to provide sex education must make all course materials available for public review and allow parents to exempt children from any portion of the course without penalty.”

“Supporters of the bill accused Planned Parenthood of placing an improper emphasis on sexual freedom and abortion rights that is inappropriate for school-age children. Opponents accused Paxton of attempting to place unneeded restrictions on local instruction that would force some school districts to drop sex education despite high rates of teen pregnancy.”

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Our Daily Thread 3-13-13

Good Morning!

A lot of big events in history happened today.

In 1639 – Harvard University was named for clergyman John Harvard.

In 1868 – The U.S. Senate began the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

1935 – Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.

And in 1941 – Adolf Hitler issued an edict calling for an invasion of the U.S.S.R.

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Quote of the Day

“Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most  virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country – and then declares itself puzzled that  America has lost trust in its politicians.”

Charles  Krauthammer

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Now, some music!

And you can save the jokes, thank you very much. 🙂

Trust me, I’ve heard them all. Several times in fact.  😕

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Who has a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 3-13-13

Who can we pray for today?

And it’s Wednesday, so please remember to pray for our friends and the other workers in Gambia today. They are reaching out to people who need it, and providing needed services, while in service to our Lord. I’m thankful for them, and their work.

Psalm 40:1-5

1 I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

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News/Politics 3-13-13

What’s interesting out there today?

How about the Dueling Budgets? I guess it’s only fair to start with the Senate proposal, since it’s the first in 5 years. Slackers. And not surprisingly, it calls for a trillion dollar tax increase. Oh wait, I’m sorry, the new term is “increased revenues”. My bad. 🙄

From Politico

“Sen. Patty Murray’s new budget plan calls for raising tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion while  cutting spending by roughly the same amount over the next decade, according to  people familiar with the proposal.

The Budget Committee chairwoman briefed fellow Democratic senators over the  new proposal in a closed-door lunch Tuesday that President Barack Obama also  attended. Committee deliberations will begin Wednesday, and the panel expects to  vote on the plan Thursday before floor debate next week.”

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The House plan, from Ryan, is nothing to get real excited about either. But at least it won’t increase taxes. Allegedly.

From TheWallStJournal

“America’s national debt is over $16 trillion. Yet Washington can’t figure out how to cut $85 billion—or just 2% of the federal budget—without resorting to arbitrary, across-the-board cuts. Clearly, the budget process is broken. In four of the past five years, the president has missed his budget deadline. Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget in over 1,400 days. By refusing to tackle the drivers of the nation’s debt—or simply to write a budget—Washington lurches from crisis to crisis.

House Republicans have a plan to change course. On Tuesday, we’re introducing a budget that balances in 10 years—without raising taxes. How do we do it? We stop spending money the government doesn’t have. Historically, Americans have paid a little less than one-fifth of their income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent more.”

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Meanwhile the White House finds time for more important things.  Who needs budgets anyway, when you can have “increased revenues”? I guess that’s how they plan on paying for increased entitlements.

From TheWashingtonExaminer

“President Obama policy aides attacked a Republican bill that would block the Department of Health and Human Services from waiving the work requirements associated with the 1996 welfare reform bill, even as the White House continued to deny that it had authorized such waivers.

“With respect to the provision in H.R. 890 to limit State flexibility to strengthen the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, the Administration notes that this flexibility was requested by Governors on both sides of the aisle to allow States to test new, more effective ways to place more people on a path to self-sufficiency,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a policy statement today. “The Administration is disappointed that the bill includes this unnecessary bar to innovative welfare-to-work strategies.”

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced the bill. “Nothing in current law prohibits a State from strengthening its work requirements and moving more individuals from welfare to work,” Camp said during a hearing last week.  “Instead, a waiver would only be needed to weaken the work requirements, as the Administration wishes to do, pure and simple.”

And paying for yet another needless Czar and his staff.

From JudicialWatch

“Keeping with his race-based ideology, President Obama has named the nation’s first African American education czar to focus on improving the academic performance of black students and countering the discrimination that persists in public schools around the country.

The official title is Executive Director of White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and the task is to reduce “racial isolation and resegregation of elementary and secondary schools.” Despite decades-old desegregation laws, “substantial obstacles” to equal educational opportunities still remain in America’s public school system, according to the president. Therefore the academic performance of black students has for decades lagged behind whites and other ethnic minorities.”

“So last summer the commander-in-chief issued an executive order to create a special White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The goal is to tackle a rampant crisis of perpetually low academic performance and high dropout rates among black students. African Americans lack equal access to highly effective teachers and principals, safe schools and challenging college-preparatory classes and they disproportionately experience school discipline and referrals to special education, according to the executive order.

President Obama also threw this often-cited statistic into his race-based educational excellence executive order: “African American males also experience disparate rates of incarceration.” Presumably, his new initiative will bring the numbers down. The effort includes the creation of a new President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans and a special “working group” consisting of senior officials from the departments of Justice, Education, Labor and White House Domestic Policy Council.”

I’m so glad we finally have a post-racial President. 🙄

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And Sharyl Attkisson asks a good question over at CBS.

“Six months later, where are the Benghazi survivors?”

“Today marks six months since the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya in which four Americans were killed, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Some watchdog groups, members of the media and Republican members of Congress are asking: Where are the more than two dozen U.S. personnel who survived the attack but haven’t been seen nor heard from in public since? There were also an undisclosed number of witnesses at the U.S. compounds in Tripoli but they also have not spoken publicly.

In a recent press report, Secretary of State John Kerry said he visited one survivor at “Bethesda hospital,” and referred to him a “remarkably courageous person who is doing very, very well.” Kerry added, “I’ve called his wife and talked to her.” But the identities, condition and testimony of the survivors and witnesses have been closely held from the public.

Republicans demanded more information about Benghazi in recent weeks before they would agree to allow Obama Administration nominees to move forward in the Senate. A source familiar with material turned over to the Senate Intelligence Committee by the Obama Administration in response tells CBS News that long sought-after FBI transcripts of some survivors were included but had been “blacked out” or redacted. Three Senate Republicans including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., say they want the survivors to be made available for interviews about what happened the night of the attacks.”

I guess the answer is “What difference does it make?”

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Our Daily Thread 3-12-13

Good Morning!

What should we talk about today?

Quote of the Day

“Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”

Thomas  Sowell

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How about some Marty Robbins  for music today?

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Who has a QoD for us?

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Prayer Requests 3-12-13

Who has a request, praise, or update to share?

Psalm 36:5-10

5 Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6 Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.

7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

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Life Matters 3-12-13

The State of Maryland is finally cracking down on violations at abortion clinics run by illegal late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham. Authorities have also discovered a second death. PA., N.J., and some other states have already suspended his license.

From Operation Rescue, via LifeSiteNews

“The Maryland Department of Health and Hygiene has suspended the licenses of three surgical abortion clinics affiliated with the notorious illegal late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham after inspections revealed violations that made the continued operation of the clinics unsafe.

The inspections were prompted by a letter from seventeen Maryland House Delegates raising concerns about abortion clinic safety after Jennifer Morbelli, a New York kindergarten teacher, died from complications to a 33-week abortion she received from LeRoy Carhart in Germantown on February 7, 2013. None of the clinics licensed under Maryland’s new abortion clinic licensing rules was ever inspected to verify safety compliance prior to Morbelli’s death.”

““Ignoring a health condition that might contraindicate abortion, one of Brigham’s shoddy abortionists proceeded with surgery at a residential condo unit without the necessary certification or emergency equipment required to treat the patient in the event a complication arose. Because of this negligence, he was unable to provide emergency care that could have saved her life. It is beyond belief that the State of Maryland would allow these dangerous Brigham affiliates to continue to operate in the state,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.”

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This one demonstrates why abortion supporters fight so hard against ultrasound laws. It’s because they work to reduce the number of abortions.

From LifeNews

“Texas has one of the strictest sonograms laws in the nation – and it’s working. The Houston Chronicle reports on a recent study from researchers at Ibis Reproductive Health, the University of Texas, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham:

Texas clinics have performed 10 percent to 15 percent fewer abortions since the state enacted strict requirements two years ago for women seeking the procedure.”

“Researchers actually credit the obstacles with the reduction in abortion and say it isn’t related to women changing their minds, but just to the difficulties they face in obtaining an abortion. However, a 24-hour waiting period and an ultrasound are hardly a massive requirement to obtain elective surgery, no matter what the abortion industry might argue. Rarely, if ever, does anyone have same-day surgery in this nation unless it’s emergency surgery, resulting from something like a ruptured appendix or the result of a critical car accident where the patient’s life is endangered.”

I’m not surprised they’d like you to think these are restrictive, and that’s the only reason they’re down. But waiting 3.7 days longer, and an extra visit doesn’t seem overly burdensome.  Seems like they just want to ignore the obvious.

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And speaking of ignoring the obvious…… Stem cells. One type is working, and one isn’t.

From LifeNews

“The forthcoming book, “The Healing Cell,” will be a welcomed addition to the literature demonstrating how successfully adult stem cells are being used in regenerative medicine.”

“Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are lethally extracted from the unborn, adult stem cells come from a host of unobjectionable sources and possess many intrinsic advantages.

For instance, adult stem cells can be isolated from numerous tissues, including bone marrow, muscle, fat, and umbilical cord blood, just to name a few.  And because the adult stem cells often come from the patient’s own body or a close relative, there is no need for drugs to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted tissues.”

“Bunderson wrote, “The success of adult stem cells has been so great that there is no reason to continue embryonic stem cell research, which necessarily involves the destruction of a human person, she argued, noting that there are 4,300 adult stem cell trials currently underway, but only 26 embryonic stem cell trials.””

Sadly, for ideological and financial reasons (campaign donations from abortion groups), this waste of time, resources, and life will continue for some time to come under our current leadership.

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News/Politics 3-12-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Let’s start with one that’s not really surprising to me. The message resonates.

From PJMedia

“This past Sunday the television industry felt the ground shake when the first installment of the History Channel’s five-part miniseries, The Bible, drew a whopping 14.3 million viewers.  To put that in perspective, those are higher ratings than American Idol drew on Fox in the same week.  Higher ratings than the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.  And it officially made The Bible the number one scripted cable broadcast of the year.

The news was apparently so astonishing it prompted Business Week to investigate exactly how the basic cable network pulled it off and inspired Time magazine’s resident T.V. critic, James Poniewozik, to ponder whether The Bible’s success will lead to further mainstream forays into religious-themed entertainment.

What’s more astonishing, given how often pro-faith productions put up massive numbers, is that major media outlets still feel the need to run shocked headlines about it.”

I expect the same “phenomenon” when this week’s ratings are released as well.

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Here’s one as a follow up to Chas’ link yesterday about making it illegal to feed the homeless. I can’t help but think some of this is to limit churches and their outreaches, and to force the homeless to rely on govt. for “charity” like this. I’m also sure many support it because they think it’ll get the homeless outta town.

From Reason.com

“Sometimes Elijah would bring hot food back to the table, not just for himself but also to share with me and with the one or two homeless men who spent much of the day (and, I suspect, the night) on park benches near where he set up shop.

I mention Elijah’s selflessness and generosity toward me and these two men for this startling reason: While Elijah’s act of sharing food with me would be legal virtually anywhere in this country, his decision to feed the homeless men who ate with us could be illegal in many cities today. The reason for this dramatic discrepancy boils down to this fact alone: I slept with a roof over my head, but the others slept under the stars.

Such illogic has led cities like New York City, Philadelphia, and Houston to ban residents from sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate. I called such laws “unconstitutional, discriminatory, and wrongheaded” in a column I wrote over the summer. They remain so.

But since I wrote that widely read column in June, I’ve noticed a welcome pattern emerging. These unjust laws are under attack.”

Good, they should be.

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Here’s one I believe DrivesGuy has linked to before. It seems it’s finally getting some “mainstream” coverage. So is it govt. preparing for the worst case scenario? Or is it a backdoor gun restriction attempt. There’s an ammo shortage nowadays. If the govt. buys it up, you can’t.

From Forbes

“The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice.  It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month.  Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years.  In America.

Add to this perplexing outré purchase of ammo, DHS now is showing off its acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation.  As observed by “paramilblogger” Ken Jorgustin last September.”

“Spending money this way is beyond absurd well into perverse.  According to the AP story a DHS spokesperson justifies this acquisition to “help the government get a low price for a big purchase.” Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center:  “The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.””

So that’s 100 years worth of ammo.

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Here’s another that’s a good followup to the Harvard Anti-Semitic story from last week. It’s OK for some leftys when Jews are the recipients. But if you dare mention any facts against Islam, you’re a racist bigot.

From PJMedia

“Every year, college campuses across the country hold a festival of hatred aimed at Jews and the Jewish state. Israeli Apartheid Week has become notorious for the targeted harassment of Jewish students, support for Hamas, and even physical violence.

This year the David Horowitz Freedom Center responded to Israeli Apartheid Week with Islamic Apartheid Week. Unlike Israeli Apartheid Week, which is based on a lie, Islamic Apartheid Week addresses the sexism, homophobia, and religious bigotry threatening minorities in the Muslim world.

To promote Islamic Apartheid Week, the Freedom Center attempted to place an advertisement in 40 college papers.”

“Yet instead of listening to their stories, the campus culture of political correctness drowned out their voices. Further, they felt the need to apologize for allowing our ad to run, for allowing their stories to be told.”

Let’s face it, some on the left will never stop being apologists for the barbarism when it’s motivated by Islam.

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The leftists and their enabling of this behavior is just as obvious at the UN, where the worst human rights violators hold sway on the Human Rights Council. Here’s an educational piece on the matter, from Prager University.

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Our Daily Thread 3-11-13

Good Morning!

I hope everyone has adjusted to the time change.

The amount of early morning bird noise has picked up considerably in the last few days. We saw Crocuses on our walk yesterday, and some other flowers starting to bloom as well. Spring is springing. 🙂

Quote of the Day

“I’m not an economist, and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good.”

Rupert Murdoch

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For music, we were just talking about him, and it is his birthday………

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Lawrence Welk and his orchestra. 🙂

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QoD

What was your Pastor’s sermon about yesterday?

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Prayer Requests 3-11-13

Who can we pray for today?

A friend of our family and member of our church named Jennifer  is in need of prayer. The prayer request is for her mother, Cynthia. She is starting treatment for a stage 2, isolated tumor on Mon, March 11.  The beginning and end of treatment will have chemotherapy.  She will have 7 weeks of radiation, 5 days a week. The prognosis is good, but as you all know, cancer and treatment for it can be very scary for the person with it, as well as their family.

If you could please keep Cynthia and her family in mind and in your prayers over the coming weeks, it would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Allen

Psalm 34:1-8

1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.