Month: November 2013

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Our Daily Thread 11-27-13

Good Morning!

On this day in 1779 the College of Pennsylvania became the University of Pennsylvania. It was the first legally recognized university in America. 

In 1901 The Army War College was established in Washington, DC. 

In 1910 New York’s Pennsylvania Station opened. 

In 1973 the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president after the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew. 

And in 1980 Dave Williams (Chicago Bears) became the first player in NFL history to return a kick for touchdown in overtime.

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Quote of the Day

“Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage?”

Tim Pawlenty

Good question.

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Since it’s Thanksgiving Eve, I thought this was appropriate.

And today would have been Eddie Rabbit’s birthday. From BransonMusicFactory

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QoD?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So what are you thankful for this year?

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Prayer Requests 11-27-13

Who has a request or praise to share?

Or if you prefer, share something you’re thankful to the Lord for.

And it’s Wednesday, so don’t forget the folks in Gambia. 🙂

Psalm 100

¹Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

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News/Politics 11-27-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Like a laser people! Again…

From TheHill  “The White House, for at least the fifth time this year, is seeking to pivot to the economy, this time in a bid to change the subject from the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare.

It’s a common play for the White House, which frequently seeks to refocus attention on its jobs and infrastructure agenda when facing political crises.

The move is so familiar that NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd has dubbed it the “déjà pivot.”

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2. Senator Sessions has taken the Obama admin to task for their lack of border enforcement and disregard for US laws. He also blasted “big business” for attempting to put their monetary interests ahead of what’s best for the country.

From TheDailyCaller  “Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions wants wealthy CEOs to butt out  of immigration policy.

“America is not an oligarchy… A Republic must answer to the people,” Sessions  said today, in a direct response to President Barack Obama’s latest effort to  get wealthy California CEOs to increase their support for his unpopular push for  increased immigration.

“Congressional leaders must forcefully reject the notion, evidently accepted  by the president, that a small cadre of CEOs can tailor the nation’s entire  immigration policy to suit their narrow interests,” Sessions declared in a  populist statement that contradicts the media’s image of Republican coziness  with CEOs.”

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3. Meanwhile our border agents who aren’t allowed to do their jobs are attacked by those who seem to think they are entitled to break our laws and just walk right in. I wonder where they got that idea? 🙄 

From NBCSanDiego  “A crowd of more than 100 people pelted Border Patrol agents  with rocks and bottles as they tried to cross into the U.S. illegally,  according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The incident happened Sunday in the Tijuana River channel,  near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to CBP, a Border Patrol agent ordered the Mexican  nationals to stop, but they continued walking into the U.S.”

““They had their phones out so this group was out to spark an incident. That’s  what they wanted to do, “ Border Patrol Union representative Gabriel Pacheco  said.”

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4. The wife of the American pastor held hostage in Iran is asking why the Obama admin didn’t push for her husband’s release while “negotiating” with them.

From FoxNews  “The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini says she and her family are devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program. 

 Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release. 

But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini’s status was not on the table during those talks. “

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5. Oh yeah, about that so-called “deal”……

From FarsNews  “The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called invalid a press release by the White House alleged to be the text of the nuclear agreement struck by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Geneva on Sunday.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action (the title of the Iran-powers deal), and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Tuesday.

She said that the four-page text under the name of the Joint Plan of Action (which has been released by the Iranian foreign ministry) was the result of the agreement reached during the Geneva talks and all of its sentences and words were chosen based on the considerations of all parties to the talks. In fact one of the reasons why negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 took so long pertained to the accuracy which was needed for choosing the words for the text of the agreement, Afkham said, explaining that the Iranian delegation was much rigid and laid much emphasis on the need for this accuracy.”

Amateur hour continues. 🙄

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6. It looks like someone is finally going to suffer some consequences for the Benghazi scandal that cost 4 American lives. 

Oh wait… Never mind, it’s a CBS reporter and not anyone at the White House or State Dept..

From NBCNews  “CBS correspondent Lara Logan has been ordered to take a leave of absence after an internal review found her discredited “60 Minutes” segment on the Benghazi consulate attack was poorly vetted, the network said in a memo to staff.

The network also asked Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, to take a leave of absence. CBS did not specify a length for the leaves.

“As Executive Producer, I am responsible for what gets on the air,” CBS’ Jeff Fager said in the memo. “I pride myself in catching almost everything, but this deception got through and it shouldn’t have.”

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7. More no-bid ObamaCare contracts for friends of the Obama’s.  

From CapitolCityProject  “With the roll out of Obamacare being as disastrous as possible for the Obama administration, one group was given a $1 million grant to help lead a rebranding effort with hopes of salvaging the law in the eyes of the American people.

Families USA (FUSA) — an organization that describes itself as a “national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans” — was given a $1.1 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on October 4, 2013, to gather “success stories” of Americans dealing with Obamacare and distribute them to the media who often refer to them as an “independent” group. This is part of a greater upcoming effort to bolster the perception of the lowly health care law.

“The purpose is to bridge the information gap for people who can significantly benefit from the Affordable Care Act,” Ron Pollack, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Families USA, told TIME on October 25, 2013.

However, the organization is a far cry from “non-partisan” and is extremely close to the Obama Administration and Enroll America – the group leading the efforts to sign people up for Obamacare.”

Propaganda sure is expensive.

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8. These photo-ops to help the President sure are the “Kiss of Death” for participants healthcare plans.

Welcome to reality ladies.

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Our Daily Thread 11-26-13

Good Morning!

On this day in 1716 the first lion to be exhibited in America went on display in Boston, MA. 

In 1789  President Washington set aside this day to observe the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.

In 1922, in Egypt, Howard Carter peered into the tomb of King Tutankhamen.

In 1940 the Nazis forced 500,000 Jews of Warsaw, Poland to live within a walled ghetto.

In 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1939 Roosevelt had signed a bill that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November.

In 1943 the HMT Rohna was sunk by a guided missile. The German missile attack led to the death of 1,015 U.S. troops.

And in 1973 Rose Mary Woods told a federal court that she was responsible for the 18-1/2 minute gap in a key Watergate tape.  Woods was President Nixon’s personal secretary.

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Quote of the Day

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” 🙂

Charles M. Schulz

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Today is Michael Omartian’s birthday. I must confess ignorance here, I had no idea who he was. I must say, it’s certainly a unique style. 🙂

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Today would be Robert Gerard Goulet’s birthday.

The man can sing. His wife Vera Goulet has a channel devoted to his music if you’re interested.

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And I thought about playing this last week on the anniversary of it’s debut, but I didn’t because today was his birthday. Also, I figured I’d save it until this week because it reminds me of Thanksgiving even though it’s a Halloween special. 🙂

From PeanutsOnLine

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Anyone have a QoD for us today?

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Prayer Requests 11-26-13

Who has a request or praise they’d like to share?

Psalm 99

¹The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

2 The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.

3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.

4 The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.

7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.

8 Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.

9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.

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News/Politics 11-26-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Let’s hope this sends the message loud and clear that covering stuff like this up will not be tolerated.

From CNN  “A grand jury investigating the 2012 rape of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, has indicted four school employees, including the school superintendent, who faces felony charges, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Monday.

Steubenville City Schools Superintendent Michael McVey faces three felony counts: one charge of tampering with evidence and two counts of obstructing justice. He also is charged with making a false statement and obstructing official business, both misdemeanors, DeWine said.

Also indicted was elementary school principal Lynnett Gorman and wrestling coach Seth Fluharty, both of whom are charged with misdemeanor failure to report child abuse. Volunteer assistant Steubenville football coach Matt Belardine was charged with four misdemeanors: allowing underage drinking, obstructing official business, making a false statement and contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child.

This brings to six the number of people the grand jury has indicted after two students were convicted of rape, DeWine said. A school technology director and his daughter were indicted in October.”

And Anonymous deserves some credit here for shaming authorities into doing the right thing.

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2. This one doesn’t surprise me.

From TownHall  “The magnitude of this Obama administration’s “progressive” radicalism becomes more evident with each passing day. In recent months, there has been a drastic spike in acts of both anti-Christian and anti-conservative discrimination and intimidation on military bases across the country. This mounting harassment is not being carried out at the hands of regular enlisted folk but, rather, at the hands of high-ranking officials who, in their official capacity, are targeting Christian and conservative organizations and individuals in an effort to silence them.

It has long been suspected that the Obama administration is using propaganda circulated by the roundly discredited Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, a left-wing extremist group that, in recent years, has adopted two primary goals: 1) raising truckloads of money and 2) smearing as “domestic hate groups” dozens of mainstream Christian ministries like the Family Research Council, or FRC, and the American Family Association, or AFA.

This suspicion has now been verified.

The problem on military bases has gotten so bad, in fact, that the U.S. Congress is demanding answers from the Pentagon. Recently, the AFA-affiliated OneNewsNow.com newsgroup reported that “Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-Mississippi) is 1 of 38 members of Congress signing off on a letter to the Secretary of the Army – especially about an incident last month at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, in which the Tupelo-based American Family Association was labeled in Army training material as a ‘hate group.’ The Army initially claimed it was an isolated incident.”

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3. This one? Wow. Just wow.

From TheDailyCaller  “In a frank and stunning letter to parents, eight school principals from  around the state of New York have expressed deep concerns about the validity and  usefulness of new Common Core-aligned tests foisted on all public-school  children in grades three through eight.”

“We know that many children cried during or after testing, and others vomited  or lost control of their bowels or bladders. Others simply gave up. One teacher  reported that a student kept banging his head on the desk, and wrote, ‘This is  too hard,’ and ‘I can’t do this,’ throughout his test booklet.

The principals also observe that students are spending considerably more time  taking standardized tests this year. New York third-graders, for example, are  now spending 163 percent more time filling in bubbles thanks to Common Core.

In addition, the principals say the tests are too long and contain too many  experimental questions which don’t count toward a student’s score. “We know that  many students were unable to complete the tests in the allotted time,” they say.  They point out that it’s hard to know if students don’t know the answers to all  the scored questions, or if they just aren’t getting to them in time.”

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4. Some of the victims of Syria’s war are finding care in Israel. The Islamic rebels will not be pleased.

From BBCNews  “She had to be taken to a point inside Syria from where she could be seen by Israeli soldiers patrolling the fence that marks the old ceasefire line between the two countries that dates back decades. A military ambulance then took her to hospital – she made it on time.”

“The humanitarian chain that got the woman from her home village under heavy shellfire to the boundary fence and then to hospital links guides in Syria to Israeli Army paramedics on the frontier, to the doctors and nurses in Tzfat.”

“She was the 177th person to make the journey to the emergency room in what has become one of the most extraordinary subplots of Syria’s agonising civil war.

“And yet, since the first patients arrived around nine months ago, the informal system of patient transfer has become so well-established that some patients have even arrived with letters of referral written by doctors in Syria for their Israeli counterparts.”

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5. This one is quite lengthy and made it’s way around Facebook yesterday, so you may have read it. You don’t need to be an animal rights activist to think that this is wrong.  

From TheHollywoodReporter  “A year later, during the filming of another blockbuster, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 27 animals reportedly perished, including sheep and goats that died from dehydration and exhaustion or from drowning in water-filled gullies, during a hiatus in filming at an unmonitored New Zealand farm where they were being housed and trained. A trainer, John Smythe, tells THR that AHA’s management, which assigned a representative to the production, resisted investigating when he brought the issue to its attention in August 2012. First, according to an email Smythe shared with THR, an AHA official told him the lack of physical evidence would make it difficult to investigate. When he replied that he had buried the animals himself and knew their location, the official then told him that because the deaths had taken place during the hiatus, the AHA had no jurisdiction. The AHA eventually bestowed a carefully worded credit that noted it “monitored all of the significant animal action. No animals were harmed during such action.”

A THR investigation has found that, unbeknownst to the public, these incidents on Hollywood’s most prominent productions are but two of the troubling cases of animal injury and death that directly call into question the 136-year-old Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit’s assertion that “No Animals Were Harmed” on productions it monitors. Alarmingly, it turns out that audiences reassured by the organization’s famous disclaimer should not necessarily assume it is true. In fact, the AHA has awarded its “No Animals Were Harmed” credit to films and TV shows on which animals were injured during production. It justifies this on the grounds that the animals weren’t intentionally harmed or the incidents occurred while cameras weren’t rolling.”

“The full scope of animal injuries and deaths in entertainment productions cannot be known. But in multiple cases examined by THR, the AHA has not lived up to its professed role as stalwart defenders of animals — who, unlike their human counterparts, didn’t themselves sign up for such work. While the four horse deaths on HBO’s Luck made headlines last year, there are many extraordinary incidents that never bubble up to make news.”

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Our Daily Thread 11-25-13

Good Morning!

On this day in 1783, during the Revolutionary War, the British evacuated New York. New York was their last military position in the U.S.

In 1850 Texas relinquished one-third of its territory in exchange for $10 million from the U.S. to pay its public debts and settle border disputes.

In 1867 Alfred Nobel patented dynamite. 

In 1884 J.B. Meyenberg received the patent for evaporated milk.

In 1920 the first play-by-play broadcast of a football game was aired in College Station, TX. The game was between the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

And in 1986 President Reagan and Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to rebels in Nicaragua. National Security Advisor John Poindexter resigned and Oliver North was fired.

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Quote of the Day

“It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated… it is finished when it surrenders.”

Ben Stein

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Today is Amy Grant’s birthday, so here she is with Michael W. Smith.

It’s also Bev Bevan’s.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 11-25-13

Who has a request or praise to share today?

Psalm 98

¹O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.

6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.

7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together

9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

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News/Politics 11-25-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The President has made a deal with Iran. Israel is not pleased, and have pointed out that they are not bound by it and will do what they feel necessary.

From TheHill  “President Obama phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, promising to consult with him on ongoing efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Obama told Netanyahu that he wanted to begin consultations “immediately” on Iran, after diplomats struck a temporary deal in Geneva to begin placing limits on Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.”

“Netanyahu blasted that accord after it was struck, calling it a “horrible mistake.” He added that Israel would not be bound by it.”

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2. Will the Senate’s use of the “nuclear option” allow Obama to stack the IPAB (death panel)?

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3. More ObamaCare lawsuits are working their way through the courts.

From TheNYDailyNews  “The Obamacare rollout has been a debacle, with delays in the implementation  of mandates, technical glitches in the exchanges, cancelled individual policies  and more.

It’s about to get worse. The federal judiciary is currently hearing four  cases challenging decisions made by the Internal Revenue Service that could soon  deliver more major blows to the Affordable Care Act.

One such decision extended subsidies provided by Obamacare for lower-income  individuals and families (those making up to four times the poverty level) to  people in the 36 states served by the federally-operated exchange,  HealthCare.gov.

But the law spells out clearly that such federal subsidies will be granted  “through an exchange established by the state” – not that they can be granted by  the federal government.”

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4. Sticker shock.

From USAToday  “Sweeping differences in health care exchange pricing among states and counties is leading to sticker shock for some middle-class consumers and others who aren’t eligible for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

The average prices for the most popular plans are twice as high in the most expensive states as those with the lowest average prices, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data for 34 states using the federal health insurance exchange.

PPOs, the most popular type of health care plan, carry monthly premiums that range from an average of $819 a month in the most expensive state to $437 in the least expensive. Plans on the federal and state exchanges are grouped into four categories that cover 60% to 90% of out-of-pocket costs. USA TODAY looked at the pricing of PPOs and HMOs across these bronze, silver, gold and platinum categories.

The premiums for bronze-level plans are generally the least expensive, but  “the deductibles are simply not affordable,” says Laura Stack, a former financial analyst looking for full-time work and using her 401k to pay for health insurance. “Many will not be able to afford the per person deductibles before insurance begins to pay. What are you really paying for?”

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5. Next, who knew, and when did they know it?

From TheNYPost  “Let me be the first to ask: Did the White House know that employment reports were being falsified?

Last week I reported exclusively that someone at the Census Bureau’s Philadelphia region had been screwing around with employment data. And that person, after he was caught in 2010, claimed he was told to do so by a supervisor two levels up the chain of command.

On top of that, a reliable source whom I haven’t identified said the falsification of employment data by Census was widespread and ongoing, especially around the time of the 2012 election.”

“The chief of the Commerce Department usually oversees the Census, which determines how many congressional representatives and how much money each state gets for the next decade. But the Obama administration had decided — the story went — that Emanuel was a better guy for the job.”

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6. Told ya’. Now aren’t you glad the US didn’t do any more for them like the Obama admin wanted too? We shouldn’t have provided arms either, but Obama has a thing for doing that, arming people he shouldn’t. Like Fast and Furious, Egypt, and now Syria.

From TheJerusalemPost  “The six largest Islamist rebel factions in Syria declared a new Islamic Front on Thursday, forming the largest alliance of opposition fighters yet in the 2-1/2-year conflict.

Syria’s fractious rebel forces have tried many times to unify their ranks and failed. Islamist rebel commanders, in a video aired on al Jazeera, said their new union would not only seek to oust President Bashar Assad but establish an Islamic state.”

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Our Daily Thread 11-23-13

Good Morning!

It’s Saturday!

On this day in 1889 the first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon.

In 1936 the first edition of “Life” was published. 

In 1985 gunmen hijacked an Egyptian jetliner en route from Athens to Cairo. The plane was forced to land in Malta. 

In 1988 Wayne Gretzky scored his 600th National Hockey League (NHL) goal.

And in 2001 a crowd of 87,555 people watched the Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A&M Aggies 21-7. The crowd was the largest to see a football game in Texas history.

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Quote of the Day

“Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion.”

Franklin Pierce

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Today is the birthday of Tyler Simpson of Satellite Soul.

It’s also Bruce Hornsby’s. You’ve probably heard this song before. But on this one he has a little help, and it’s played in a different style and tempo.

And Satellite made me think of this. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?