Month: August 2014

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Our Daily Thread 8-27-14

Good Morning!

On this day in 1660 the books of John Milton were burned in London due to his attacks on King Charles II. 

In 1889 boxer Jack “Nonpareil” Dempsey was defeated for the first time of his career by George LaBlanche. 

In 1892 the original Metropolitan Opera House in New York was seriously damaged by fire.

In 1939 Nazi Germany demanded the Polish corridor and Danzig. 

And in 1972 North Vietnam’s major port at Haiphong saw the first bombings from U.S. warplanes. 

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Quote of the Day

“If the American people don’t love me, their descendants will.”

Lyndon B. Johnson

I guess it depends on who you ask…. 🙂

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 Today is Carter Stanley’s birthday.

And it’s Megan Garrett’s too.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 8-27-14

It’s Wednesday, so don’t forget to pray for the Gambia.

Anyone else have something to share?

Psalm 59

¹Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.

2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.

4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.

5 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

8 But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.

9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.

10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.

11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.

13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.

14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.

16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

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News/Politics 8-27-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. While much of the world focuses on ISIS, Boko Haram continues their bloody rampage.

From PressTV   “Boko Haram Takfiri militants have taken control of more Nigerian towns as they press ahead with their attacks in the African country.

A Cameroonian police source said on Tuesday that Boko Haram militants moved into the Nigerian town of Ashigashyia overnight Monday, where they killed three people in front of a church, after soldiers sent there fled to take refuge across the border in nearby Cameroon.

Nearly 500 Nigerian soldiers escaped from the border towns of Ashigashyia and Kerawa over the weekend to take refuge from Boko Haram Takfiris on Cameroonian territory.”

“According to residents, the militants now control at least the town of Buni Yadi in Yobe state as well as Gwoza and Gamboru Ngala in neighboring Borno state.

In the northeastern state of Adamawa, which has been under a state of emergency along with Borno and Yobe states since May last year, local government officials said scores of gunmen attacked the town of Madagali on Saturday, forcing out soldiers and taking over government buildings.”

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2. Liberals have a new boogeyman. And of course they’ll blame greed and not the high tax policies that caused it.

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “The major fast food chain Burger King is in talks to merge with the Canadian donut and coffee chain Tim Hortons and move its headquarters to Canada.

Burger King would be one of the largest and most well-known companies to seek to leave the U.S. in a so-called corporate inversion, in which a U.S. company buys a smaller foreign company in a lower-tax jurisdiction and then places its headquarters in the foreign country to lower its tax bill. Its departure will likely heighten concerns about inversions eroding the American tax base.

In a press release announcing the discussions, Burger King and Tim Hortons said that they were pursuing the deal for business reasons and to accelerate Tim Hortons’ international growth. But the new company’s headquarters would be located in Canada, which has lower corporate taxes than the U.S.

President Obama has criticized companies attempting to move headquarters to lower-tax countries as “corporate deserters.” The Treasury Department is preparing options to prevent tax inversions through tax rules.

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to tighten the rules to prevent companies from fleeing the domestic tax base, but Republicans have opposed such measures, saying that they do not address the underlying problem of the U.S. tax code’s lack of competitiveness internationally.”

And some of it’s being financed by Obama’s pal Buffett, who already owes millions in back taxes. He must not have gotten the “economic patriotism” memo.

From CNBC  “Burger King on Tuesday confirmed plans to acquire Ontario-based Tim Hortons for about $11 billion—creating a new company to be based in Canada with combined sales of $23 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett is helping to fund the deal by committing $3 billion of preferred equity financing. The news release on the deal did not disclose the terms for Berkshire, which is only a financing source and will not have any participation in the management and operation of the business.”

“Amid speculation that the deal was motivated to save taxes by moving a U.S. company’s headquarters to a foreign country, sources said the U.S. would receive at least as much in taxes, not less, because of the way the deal is structured. Those sources did not elaborate. Locating the new company’s base in Canada was seen as a way to garner support from Canadian regulators, which tend to take a dim view of foreign acquirers, the sources said.”

Here comes the new boogeyman…

From TheDailyBeast  “To help business grow in America, taxpayers have funded public infrastructure, workforce training, and incentives to encourage R&D and capital investment,” Brown thundered. “Runaway corporations benefited from those policies but want U.S. companies to pay their share of the tab.”

Sen. Carl Levin, who has long been a champion for closing corporate tax loopholes, warned the company that the blowback from the American consumer could swamp any tax benefits it receives from leaving the United States. He was speaking before the deal was confirmed on Tuesday.”

“So could Levin and Brown be onto something? Burger King’s Facebook wall has been inundated with threats from customers over a possible boycott should their corporate operations move to Canada. An advertisement for their Mushroom and Swiss burger became a key venting ground for Americans frustrated about the potential deal.

“If you attempt to buy Tim Horton’s for the purposes of evading US Taxes, I will NEVER step foot in another Burger King again…Don’t do it,” read the most ‘liked’ comment on the post. Others called them “tax cheats,” “freeloaders,” “tax dodgers”—and many others threatened boycotts. The same fate befell the company’s Facebook advertisement for cookies.”

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3. Obama spoke to veterans yesterday in a speech to The American Legion. The response was as you’d expect.

From TheDailyMail  “President Barack Obama faced a tough crowd on Tuesday – American military veterans – and fell flat on his applause lines as he failed to win over the American Legion’s convention-goers.

His 35-minute speech seemed to have reminded the audience of the stark divide between the White House’s policy choices and the feelings of the men and women often called on to carry them out.

A Virginia legionnaire who served in the U.S. Marine Corps told MailOnline that ‘a small group of Obama’s admirers – and there are some here – sat near the front and tried to generate applause for him about 10 times.’

‘They didn’t get much pickup,’ the retired lieutenant colonel said of the ‘instigators’ gathered at the Charlotte, North Carolina event, but ‘they were persistent. You could tell when the applause was genuine and when it wasn’t. It was obvious to everyone here.’

Most of the veterans sat on their hands, leaving awkward silences where White House speechwriters expected ovations.”

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4. I’m starting to think this global warming thing might be a scam. 🙂

From Breitbart  “The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has been caught red-handed manipulating temperature data to show “global warming” where none actually exists.

At Amberley, Queensland, for example, the data at a weather station showing 1 degree Celsius cooling per century was “homogenized” (adjusted) by the Bureau so that it instead showed a 2.5 degrees warming per century.

At Rutherglen, Victoria, a cooling trend of -0.35 degrees C per century was magically transformed at the stroke of an Australian meteorologist’s pen into a warming trend of 1.73 degrees C per century.

Last year, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology made headlines in the liberal media by claiming that 2013 was Australia’s hottest year on record. This prompted Australia’s alarmist-in-chief Tim Flannery – an English literature graduate who later went on to earn his scientific credentials with a PhD in palaeontology, digging up ancient kangaroo bones – to observe that global warming in Australia was “like climate change on steroids.”

But we now know, thanks to research by Australian scientist Jennifer Marohasy, that the hysteria this story generated was based on fabrications and lies.”

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5. Donna mentioned later yesterday that it was National Dog Day. So in honor of our furry friends, Hero dogs: Tales of bravery and sacrifice.

From MSNNews  “Aug. 26 is National Dog Day. To mark the occasion, we look at heroic dogs and the way they saved people and fellow canines.”

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Our Daily Thread 8-26-14

Good Morning!

The picture below is from Cheryl. For some reason I can’t get it to upload into the header, so I’m posting it this way. It’s a good one. 🙂

cheryl-2-friends.jpg

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On this day in 55 B.C. Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar. 

In 1842 the first fiscal year was established by Congress to start on July 1st. 

In 1945 Japanese officials were given surrender instructions on the U.S. battleship Missouri at the end of World War II. 

And in 1961 the International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto. 

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Quote of the Day

“To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth—all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” – 1957

Lee de Forest   🙂

That’s not the only quote he totally blew it on. Here’s another…. 🙂

“So I repeat that while theoretically and technically television may be feasible, yet commercially and financially, I consider it an impossibility; a development of which we need not waste little time in dreaming.” – 1926

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 Today is Cliff Young’s birthday, so Caedmon’s Call covering Rich Mullins. 🙂

And on this day in 1964 this song was released in the US.

I have no idea what happened there at the end. Television was weird in the old days. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

Here’s one…  Do you have a favorite TV show?

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Prayer Requests 8-26-14

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

Psalm 57

¹Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.

10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.

11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

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News/Politics 8-26-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. It looks like another defeat for Obama’s “Smart Diplomacy,” and yet another victory for radical Islam.

From HotAir  “It was the conflict which gave birth to the infamous and orphaned Obama doctrine of “leading from behind.” The coalition air war over Libya, a response to Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal efforts to suppress the Arab Spring rebellions in that country, was once touted by the administration as one of the president’s signature foreign policy achievements.

“After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise,” Obama said in a prepared statement delivered on October 23, 2011.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed the president and noted that Libya had been set on a path toward democracy. “The transitional authorities can build on this movement by promoting reconciliation and respect for human rights across Libyan society, while helping to prevent reprisals and ensuring the justice and due process that the Libyan people expect and deserve,” she said at the time.

“From Tripoli to Misurata to Benghazi — today, Libya is free,” Obama said in speech delivered before the United Nations. “This is how the international community is supposed to work — nations standing together for the sake of peace and security, and individuals claiming their rights.””

“These celebrations were shown to be premature when a sophisticated terrorist attack against American diplomatic and CIA outposts in Benghazi resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. It was not until today, though, when the country’s capital fell to Islamist militants that the administration’s post-campaign Libya policy was exposed as utter folly.”

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2. The White House says Obama’s constitutional responsibility to protect Americans trumps the law.

From TruthRevolt  “A defiant White House rejected the Government Accountability Office’s determination that the administration broke the law in its highly controversial swap of U.S. Army Sgt. Bow Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders, saying that the president’s “constitutional responsibility to protect the lives of Americans” trumped the law.  

When asked about the GAO’s conclusions released Thursday, administration spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Friday that the they “strongly” disagree with the GAO’s legal argument:

“It’s not going to surprise you to know that we strongly disagree with GAO’s conclusion and we reject the implication that the administration acted unlawfully. The president has the constitutional responsibility to protect the lives of Americans abroad and specifically to protect U.S. service members. It’s important for everyone here to understand that the GAO report expressly does not address the lawfulness of the administration’s actions as a matter of constitutional law.”

Schultz argued that President Obama is committed to protecting U.S. military personnel and will prioritize that “bedrock principle” over legal “caveats”:”

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3. Here’s yet another case where the so-called “constitutional scholar” and his Democrat minions ignore the rule of law. I guess they feel he has an obligation to ignore the rule of law for illegal immigrants too. Hey it’s only 5 million, right?

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4. Gee, I wonder why this hasn’t gotten more press? 🙄

From IJReview  “There are few political subjects that can bring the likes of Roseanne Barr, Sarah Silverman, Kelsey Grammer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger together, but through a group called Creative Community for Peace, these artists and nearly 200 other Hollywood stars and executives joined together to condemn Hamas.

The group recognizes that the only free society in the Middle East, the one that supports intellectual and artistic freedom, is Israel. Deadline reports:

“When you talk to artists like Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar, you have to think, ‘Where do you think your movies are being watched in the Middle East? They can’t be watched anywhere else but in Israel. When you are on the ground, you realize that you are in a very free and progressive society, and it’s a region where people can’t pay to see the product that we’re making other than in Israel.”

The Hollywood actors who supported the statement can be read below, via the Creative Community for Peace website. The celebrities endorsing it include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Roseanne Barr, Bill Maher, and Sylvester Stallone, among many others.”

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5. A victory in California for 2nd Amendment supporters.

From NationalReview  “A big Second Amendment victory in California. Per the Calguns Foundation:

California’s 10-day waiting period for gun purchases was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge this morning in a significant victory for Second Amendment civil rights. The laws were challenged by California gun owners Jeffrey Silvester and Brandon Combs, as well as two gun rights groups, The Calguns Foundation and Second Amendment Foundation.

In the decision released this morning, Federal Eastern District of California Senior Judge Anthony W. Ishii, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, found that “the 10-day waiting periods of Penal Code [sections 26815(a) and 27540(a)] violate the Second Amendment” as applied to members of certain classifications, like Silvester and Combs, and “burdens the Second Amendment rights of the Plaintiffs.”

And the victory provides a foundation to challenge other unconstitutional restrictions that California has placed on firearms.

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Our Daily Thread 8-25-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Peter.

Oh, and 2000!

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On this day in 1718 hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana.

In 1814 the U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces. 

In 1875 Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours. 

In 1920 the first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome.

And in 1944 Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation. 

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Quote of the Day

“Is that your final answer?”

Regis Philbin

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 Today is Leonard Bernstein’s birthday. This will wake you up. 🙂

Today is also Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus’. AKA, the other Elvis. And since I like weird stuff, with Diana Krall, and Willie Nelson, singing a song Patsy Cline made famous that was written by Willie.

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Anyone have a QoD?

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Prayer Requests 8-25-14

Anyone have a request or praise they’d like to share today?

Psalm 56

¹Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.

2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.

6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.

8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?

9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

10 In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.

11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.

13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

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Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks- Week 1

You asked for it (well, Chas did, at least), and here it is: The Weekly NCAA College Football Challenge. Or as it was dubbed last year: Peter’s Pack of Pickled Pigskin Picks. So, you know the rules. You pick the winner of nine D-1 gridiron contests, as well as the winner and score in the tiebreaker game, which will be the game involving Arizona each week, unless they have a bye. Or maybe this year we’ll do a rotating tie breaker, letting the weekly winners pick which game it will be. Yeah, something different this time.

 So, without any further ado or reckless rambling, here are the games for Week 1 8/28 – 9/1. (Numbers are the ranking in the AP Top 25 poll.)

  1. #21 Texas A&M @ #9 South Carolina

  2. Boise State vs. #18 Ole Miss

  3. #5 Ohio State @ Navy

  4. West Virginia vs. #2 Alabama

  5. Arkansas @ #6 Auburn

  6. #16 Clemson @ #12 Georgia

  7. Idaho @ Florida

  8. #1 Florida State vs. Oklahoma State

  9. #14 Wisconsin vs. #13 LSU

       10. TB UNLV @ Arizona – Guess winner and score.

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News/Politics 8-25-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Joint Chiefs Chair: ‘Open Borders and Immigration Issues’ Make ISIL ‘Immediate Threat’

From CNSNews  “Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon press briefing yesterday that “because of open borders and immigration issues,” the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is an “immediate threat.”

In the context of this ISIL threat, Dempsey said he had had conversations with his European colleagues “about their southern flank.” He did not specifically mention the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the southern flank of the United States.”

“Well, the immediacy is in the number of Europeans and other nationalities who have come to the region to become part of that ideology,” said Dempsey. “And those folks can go home at some point. It’s why I have conversations with my European colleagues about their southern flank of NATO, which I think is actually more threatened in the near term than we are.

“Nevertheless,” Dempsey continued, “because of open borders and immigration issues, it’s an immediate threat. That is to say, the fighters who may leave the current fight and migrate home.”

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2. What a bunch of hypocrites. If this was the Koch brothers they’d be whining endlessly about money in politics.

From NationalJournal  “Super PACs spent July beefing up for the fall campaign. Many groups filed new disclosure reports this week, leaving a paper trail littered with big checks from big names.

Democrats dominate the list of notable July donors, as there have simply been more Democratic dollars flowing to that type of outside group this year. There’s still plenty of conservative money out there; it’s just that more of it is going toward nonprofits, which don’t have to disclose their donors. Here are a handful of July super PAC donations that stood out.

 STEYER: Climate-change activist Tom Steyer gave the biggest super PAC donation in this month’s reports: $7.5 million to his own group, NextGen Climate. Steyer, who made his fortune as a successful hedge-fund manager, also spread some of that money around. NextGen gave a half-million dollars to Senate Majority PAC, the biggest Senate Democratic super PAC, and $150,000 to the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, another environmental group.

BLOOMBERG: Michael Bloomberg is staying plenty active in his post-mayoral days. Aside from funding his gun-control-focused super PAC, Bloomberg has written checks to Senate Majority PAC and super PACs that backed GOP Sens. Thad Cochran and Lindsey Graham during their primary battles. Most recently, the former New York City mayor donated $2 million to Women Vote!—the largest contribution the EMILY’s List super PAC has ever received. Only Steyer has given more money to super PACs this election season.

SOROS: Democratic financier George Soros’s checkbook has been active this summer: The prolific donor gave $500,000 apiece to House Majority PAC and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund. But that million dollars wasn’t his family’s only big outlay so far this summer. Soros’s daughter, Andrea Soros Colombel, gave $250,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes.”

And the list goes on and on.

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3. Of course he is. He knows that come November the political landscape will be changing.

From TheHill  “Groups that closely follow regulations are expecting the Obama administration to continue issuing controversial rules through the midterm elections, despite the political risk it could pose for Democrats.

With time running out on President Obama’s second term, federal agencies are hitting the gas on a number of regulatory initiatives that are central to the White House’s “go-it-alone” agenda.

The pace of rulemaking is a stark contrast from the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election, when the flow of rules came screeching to a near halt.

The expectation that the gears of the regulatory process will keep moving highlights how the president’s desire for a second-term legacy sometimes conflicts with the short-term political considerations of congressional Democrats.”

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4. Good enough?

From TheWashingtonExaminer  “Under new rules released Friday, the Obama administration said for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby can avoid paying for their employees’ birth control costs through the same Obamacare exemption given to religious groups.

The Obama administration unveiled the policy shift after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that closely held corporations should not be forced to pay for their workers’ contraception if they have religious objections.

As outlined by the administration, the companies and religious groups would notify the government of their objections to covering birth control for their employees. The insurance companies would then pick up the cost of contraception before being reimbursed by the federal government.”

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5. According to the GAO food stamp fraud is rampant.

From FoxNews  “Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing and cash, according to a new federal report that investigates fraud in the nation’s largest nutrition support program.

Complicating the situation is the fact states around the country are having trouble tracking and prosecuting the crimes because their enforcement budgets have been slashed despite the rapidly-rising number of food stamp recipients, according to the Government Accountability Office report.

Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, 47 million people have been awarded $76 billion in benefits. State agencies are responsible for addressing SNAP recipient fraud under the guidance and monitoring of the Food and Nutrition Service.

“Such rapid program growth can increase the potential for fraud unless appropriate agency controls are in place to help minimize these risks,” the investigators said in their report.”

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