Month: August 2013

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Our Daily Thread 8-2-13

Good Morning!

It’s Friday! 🙂

On this day in 1776 members of the Continental Congress began adding their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.

In 1790 the first US Census was conducted.

In 1858 in Boston and New York City the first mailboxes were installed along streets.

In 1921 eight White Sox players were acquitted of throwing the 1919 World Series.

In 1939 Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the U.S. to have an atomic weapons research program.

 Also in 1939, President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act. The act prohibited civil service employees from taking an active part in political campaigns.

In 1943 the U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, sank after being attacked by a Japanese destroyer. The boat was under the command of Lt. John F. Kennedy.

And in 1990 Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait.

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Quote of the Day

“Those who believe in nothing are very, very jealous and angry at those who believe in something.”

Dennis Prager

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Andrew Gold has a birthday today.

It’s Kathy Lennon’s too. So here’s some really old Lennon Sisters.

🙂 🙂

And also, Garth Hudson, keyboard/sax player for The Band has a birthday today too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 8-2-13

Who can we pray for today?

Psalm 139

1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

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News/Politics 8-2-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up today, an ObamaCare update.

From SavannahNow  “Georgia may not start its Obamacare health exchange Oct. 1 when the rest of the country does because the state issued an emergency request late Monday for a delay.

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens asked U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for another 30 days beyond tomorrow’s deadline to approve the health plans submitted by seven insurance companies wanting to do business in the state.

He said some rates were 198 percent higher than current plans available in the state.”

Ouch.

Meanwhile, the IRS chief says no thanks to ObamaCare.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “”Mr. Werfel, last week your employees who are a member of the National Treasury Employee’s Union sent a form letter for union members to send in to ask they be exempt from the exchanges,” a congressman asked. “Why are your employees trying to exempt themselves from the very law that you’re tasked to enforce?”

“I don’t want to speak for the NTEU, but I’ll offer a perspective as a federal employee myself and a federal employee at the IRS,” said the IRS chief. “And that is, we have right now as employees of the government, of the IRS, affordable health care coverage. I think the ACA was designed to provide an option or an alternative for individuals that do not. And all else being equal, I think if you’re an individual who is satisfied with your health care coverage, you’re probably in a better position to stick with that coverage than go through the change of moving into a different environment and going through that process. So I think for a federal employee, I think more likely, and I would — can speak for myself, I would prefer to stay with the current policy that I’m pleased with rather than go through a change if I don’t need to go through that change.””

So would a lot of folks, but if they can’t, why should you be allowed too? Finding out the President lied stinks huh?

Next up, an update on the Obama admin and schools getting together in their propaganda efforts. They insist there’s no concerted efforts to do so, yet some schools seem more than happy to do their part. Let me guess….. “It’s for the kids!…..” right? 🙄

From Politico  “Supporters of the health law see back-to-school season as a natural time for  Obamacare outreach, a chance to find young families who could benefit from new  health coverage options. But weeks before the school bells start ringing in  parts of the country, there’s no concerted effort to reach parents at the  schoolhouse door. It’s yet another sign of how the undying controversy could  overshadow attempts to get people enrolled.”

“And the big sign-up campaign from Enroll America, an organization of  Obamacare allies and health law stakeholders, hasn’t focused on schools, at  least not as of now.

States or school districts can act on their own; Los Angeles, for instance,  is training some high school juniors and seniors how to be Obamacare messengers  to their families and communities. But the lack of a national strategy is just  one more sign of how hard it is for the administration and its allies to focus  on health benefits, not health politics, as Obamacare enrollment nears. And the  Republicans have made it clear that they don’t want the schools to go anywhere  near the controversial health law.

“What authority does the Department of Education have to disseminate  information and assist with the implementation of the president’s health care  law?” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former Education secretary, and other  GOP senators wrote Duncan in July. “How do the Department of Education’s  activities further the education of our nation’s students?””

OOOOO, OOOOO, I know! I know this one!….  They don’t. 🙄

But even if all the schools don’t help out, we still have 21 govt. agencies doing their part in the propaganda efforts. It’s becoming painfully obvious why they recently rescinded anti-propaganda law and regulations huh? Yeah……

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Thirty-nine Republican senators want to know who the 21 federal agencies helping to implement Obamacare are and what those agencies are doing to promote the program.

A leaked April 2013 slideshow from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said 21 federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture and Education, are working on an educational program to implement Obamacare.

That reference prompted the senators’ curiosity.

“At a time federal agency budgets have been tightened by the sequester and the White House has warned of cuts to basic programs, I would like to know how 21 agencies, such as those overseeing agriculture and education, would have the taxpayer dollars to implement and promote the new health care law — an activity outside of their missions and an expense not authorized by Congress,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said.”

Yeah…..

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Next we have a “Phony Scandal” update. I posted a story months ago about the embassy in Benghazi being a CIA arms shipment operation to arm Syrian rebels. This will feed that idea, that’s for sure.

From CNN  “Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.

CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.”

“Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the U.S. agencies operating in Benghazi were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.”

Hmmmmmmmmmm………………….

Oh, and US Embassies and consulates throughout the muslim world will close Sunday due to threats. Nice.

From TheAP  “The United States is shuttering its embassies and consulates throughout the Muslim world on Sunday after receiving an unspecified threat, officials said.”

“Spokeswoman Marie Harf cited information indicating a threat to U.S. facilities overseas and said some diplomatic offices may stay closed for more than a day.”

And in other terrorism  work-place violence news……

From FoxNews  “On the eve of his military trial, accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan  released seven pages of handwritten and typed documents to Fox News in which he  appears to renounce his U.S. citizenship, abandons his military oath as a  commissioned officer, and explains his relationship with radical cleric Anwar  al-Awlaki — the first American targeted for death by the CIA.

Most of the documents also include the acronym “SoA,” which is considered  shorthand for “Soldier of Allah.”  Hasan’s business card, also bearing  “SoA,” was found in his Texas apartment after the shooting.”

“”The government has tried to deny that this was an act of terrorism. I think  that, I hope that if people hear the words from Hasan’s own mouth that they will  understand that this was an act of terrorism,” Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning, who was  shot six times at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, told Fox News.”

“In the only document bearing a date — Oct. 18, 2012 — Hasan  writes: “I, Nidal Malik Hasan, am compelled to renounce any oaths of  allegiances that require me to support/defend (any – sic) man made constitution  (like the constitution of the United States) over the commandments mandated in  Islam … I therefore formally renounce my oath of office … this includes my  oath of U.S. citizenship.”

It’s time the Obama admin gives up on this charade and grants these soldiers and their families what they are rightfully due. This was terrorism. Stop lying and admit it.

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Next we have some union stories, irony, and bad behavior.

From TheFreeBeacon  “A judge ordered one of Chicago’s most politically powerful labor unions to suspend picketing against 16 funeral homes last week after receiving reports that striking Teamsters had, among other things, disturbed a child’s funeral.

SCI Illinois Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest funeral home chains, asked a district court to intervene after striking funeral directors and drivers with Teamsters Local 727 allegedly harassed grieving families.

“We are grateful that the court agreed to issue this temporary restraining order, and we are hopeful that it will help protect grieving families who are experiencing the most difficult times of their lives,” Larry Michael, managing director for SCI Illinois Services, Inc., said in a release. “While we recognize and respect the Teamsters’ right to lawfully picket, we have been shocked and saddened by their attempts to make grieving families the target of the cruel and outrageous attacks.”

You won’t get much sympathy to your cause acting like jerks at children’s funerals. Seriously un-cool.

Next, the irony… Considering the way the ACLU uses the threat of litigation and lawsuits to stifle those they disagree with, it’s ironic that they would whine about extortion tactics when someone uses the press against them for a change.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Did you know that the clerical and other support staff for the American Civil Liberties Union is, well, unionized? Well, they are and that is causing ACLU executive director Anthony Romero some serious heartburn.

Romero told the Village Voice in a July 25 interview that the workers’ union, United Auto Workers Local 2110, was engaging in a “subtle form of extortion” by criticizing the ACLU to the press.

“[The union] is using the press to embarrass us and back us into a corner to make concessions that are not in keeping with the market and not in keeping with other employers,” Romero said. He was responding to a Village Voice piece the previous day titled: “The ACLU Is Going After Its Own Union Workers’ Contracts.””

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And in another waste of taxpayer money….  and govt. employees acting stupidly…… Someone illegally possessing a baby dear? Send the SWAT team in to kill Bambi. Sorry. It’s the law.

From WISN.com  “WISN 12 News investigates an operation raising questions about the use of  government resources and the state policy that meant a death sentence for a fawn.”

“Two weeks ago, Schulze was  working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis on the Kenosha-Illinois border when a swarm of squad cars arrived and officers unloaded with a search  warrant.

“(There were) nine DNR  agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” Schulze  said.”

“The focus of their search was a baby fawn brought there by an Illinois family  worried she had been abandoned by her mother.”

Stand back folks! That’s weapons-grade stupid right there. Dangerous stuff. 🙄

That one got me thinking of another story I read, so I went and found it. Related? You decide.

From TheAP  “Small-town police departments across the country have been gobbling up tons of equipment discarded by a downsizing military — bicycles, bed sheets, bowling pins, French horns, dog collars, even a colonoscopy machine — regardless of whether the items are needed or will ever be used.

In the tiny farming community of Morven, Ga., the police chief has grabbed three boats, scuba gear, rescue rafts and a couple of dozen life preservers. The town’s deepest body of water: an ankle-deep creek.”

“An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department program, originally aimed at helping local law enforcement fight terrorism and drug trafficking, found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 has been obtained by police departments and sheriff’s offices in rural areas with few officers and little crime.”

“Sometimes he doesn’t get exactly what he’s requested, like the time he asked for a handheld laser range finder for a gun and instead got a $28,000 range finder from the nose of an A-10 Warthog tank-busting jet aircraft.”

Like I said, weapons-grade… 

I really need a face-palm smiley. Talk about waste, fraud, and abuse…..

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Our Daily Thread 8-1-13

Good Morning!

I can’t believe it’s August already?

On this day in 1801, during the First Barbary War, the American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.

In 1876 Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.

In 1907 the start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island began. It was the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.

In 1957 the United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

And in 1981 MTV began broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.

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Quote of the Day

“Then, in that hour of deliverance, my heart spoke. Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?”

Francis Scott Key

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First up today, it’s Adam Duritz’s birthday. He’s the front man.

It’s also Robert Cray’s, and the man can play.

And since videos pretty much started with this one…

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 8-1-13

Who has a request or praise to share today?

Psalm 138

1 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.

5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.

6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

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News/Politics 8-1-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, as always.

First up, hey, it’s only a million… What’s to worry about?

From TheWashingtonTimes  “The Homeland Security Department has lost track of more than 1 million people  who it knows arrived in the U.S. but who it cannot prove left the country,  according to an audit Tuesday that also found the department probably won’t meet  its own goals for deploying an entry-exit system.

The findings were revealed as Congress debates an immigration bill, and the Government  Accountability Office’s report could throw up another hurdle because  lawmakers in the House and Senate have said that  any final deal must include a workable system to track entries and exits and cut  down on so-called visa overstays.”

I’m sure none of them are terrorists, or anyone else we should be concerned about. 🙄

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Next we have a “Phony Scandal” update.

From NationalReview  “Embattled Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner and an attorney in the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel’s office appear to have twice colluded to influence the record before the FEC’s vote in the case of a conservative non-profit organization, according to e-mails unearthed by the House Ways and Means Committee and obtained exclusively by National Review Online. The correspondence suggests the discrimination of conservative groups extended beyond the IRS and into the FEC, where an attorney from the agency’s enforcement division in at least one case sought and received tax information about the status of a conservative group, the American Future Fund, before recommending that the commission prosecute it for violations of campaign-finance law. Lerner, the former head of the IRS’s exempt-organizations division, worked at the FEC from 1986 to 1995, and was known for aggressive investigation of conservative groups during her tenure there, too.”

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We have a George Zimmerman update too. One that’s sure to make race-baiters, guilty feeling white liberals, and media personalities lose their minds. 🙂 Bonus!

From TMZ  “George Zimmerman is still armed and theoretically dangerous …  he was stopped by cops for speeding and revealed he had a gun in his glove  compartment.

Zimmerman was speeding in Forney, Texas on Sunday, just  after noon, when he was stopped by police.  Zimmerman told cops he was  headed “nowhere in particular,” and informed them he had a firearm in his glove  compartment.

Zimmerman was given a warning, after cops determined he was  free of warrants.  He was sent on his way with a polite goodbye, “Have a  safe trip.””

No ticket, and he got to keep his gun. Holder will not be pleased. 🙂 Double Bonus! 🙂

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Here’s another feel good story out of the great state of Texas.

From TheNewAmerican  “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) appears to be losing its intimidating touch as it goes about its business of trying to stop people from praying and expressing their faith in public. The atheist group’s latest attack has come against the city council of League City, Texas, which has included prayer by local clergy in its regular government meetings since the early 1960s.

In a July 15 letter to Mayor Tim Paulissen and the League City Council, the FFRF went through its customary paces in attempting to browbeat the city fathers into submission. Appealing to the First Amendment’s supposed “separation of state and church,” the godless group’s staff attorney, Elizabeth Cavell, called the city’s tradition of allowing both local residents and government officials to open the meetings in prayer of “dubious legality,” insisting that such prayers are “unnecessary, inappropriate, and divisive.”

Cavell advised that while government officials “are free to pray privately or to worship on their own time in their own way,” they “do not need to worship on taxpayers’ time.” Cavell complained that inviting council members and locals to offer invocations at the government meetings “is coercive and beyond the authority of any government.””

“As it happened, Mayor Paulissen and the city council appeared to be disinclined to follow the FFRF’s self-serving advice. Paulissen told the Houston Chronicle that he and the other city fathers had no plans to drop the 52-year tradition of opening council meetings with an invocation.”

Finally someone stands up to the atheist bullies. Good. 🙂

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Next up, some ObamaCare news….

First, from YahooNews  “President Barack Obama’s decision to delay implementation of part of his healthcare reform law will cost $12 billion and leave a million fewer Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance in 2014, congressional researchers said Tuesday.”

Liberal activists are claiming thousands will die….. unless they get their dream of single-payer. 🙄

From CNSNews  ““Thousands of people will die every year” and “costs will continue to go out of control” under Obamacare, says Public Citizen President Robert Weissman.

The only solution is to nationalize health care through a single-payer system, Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Public Citizen argued outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.”

And then, The Dishonor System – A user’s guide to committing fraud on the Obama­care exchanges.

From TheWeeklyStandard  “Let me stipulate that I do not condone fraud in any form. Moreover, I assume all Weekly Standard readers are law-abiding citizens who would neither commit fraud themselves nor encourage others to do so. My purpose is to inform such readers just how tempting fraud on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges will be in light of the recently announced delays in employer reporting and employer mandates.

There are three types of fraud worth considering, each reflecting different motivations and degrees of risk tolerance among the hypothetical individuals considered.”

And then they break it down for ya’.

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And this is the last I have for you today. We’ve always known Hollywood was full of narcissists and selfish people. But now it seems their need for hang-over remedies and beauty treatments is adversely affecting the lives of pre-mature children as well.

From WTOP.com  ” It sounds like a Third World problem: Hospitals are rationing,  bartering and hoarding critical nutrients that premature infants need to survive.  But it’s a problem that’s  happening in the  Washington area and in other major cities across the country.”

“This is a national emergency, this is a public  health crisis and the government isn’t doing anything about it,” Robbins says.”

“”So essentially, premature babies are suffering because they can’t get access to  the same nutrients that some celebrities are using to pretty-up before a photo  shoot,” says Robbins, who adds that people are also using the drugs for a hangover  cure. 

Why are celebrities getting the drugs, and not the infants in critical  condition?”

More on it here.

From TheWashingtonian 

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