So... no comments on yesterday's stand-alones, huh?
(That's ok... as long as you read 'em!)
How'bout yesterday's newsbites? Did you at least read the New York Times newsbite concerning Obama's FBI and Washington Times newsbite concerning Obama's NSA?
You people can stick your heads in the sand and refuse to believe that what is happening is truly happening. Hell... you can even applaud it! Many do! (Thus Obama being a second term president...)
Or... you can fight the hostile takeover of America by the Leftists and crony capitalist oligarchs (who are often one in the same)!
How do you fight? At a bare minimum you should be passing on the newsbites and stand-alones that you have read and found informative... or at least thought-provoking.
Folks... it's your country too! Most of you have kids. (And if you don't you certainly have nieces... nephews... young people in your lives whose futures you care about!)
If you only agree with me 10% of the time, then for God's sake, pass on that 10% of my efforts that you applaud!
Oh... by the way... you know how every other person seems to be ranting "Congress shouldn't get paid!" while the (partial) federal government shutdown is in effect? Uh... umm... er.... you (they!) might wanna check out...
(*SHRUG*)
8 comments:
http://nypost.com/2013/10/02/govt-shutdown-spreads-to-beaches-of-normandy/
Tourists traveling to Omaha Beach to pay their respects to the 9,387 military dead at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial will find it closed, a victim of the U.S. government’s partial shutdown.
The site overlooking the D-Day invasion beaches is one of 24 U.S. military cemeteries overseas that have closed to visitors since Monday.
* HOW MANY U.S. PERSONNEL ARE TYPICALLY AT THE NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL? HOW MANY ARE TYPICALLY AT THE OTHER 23 MILITARY CEMETERIES? ARE WE TALKING "GUARDS...???" IF SO, COULDN'T WE REQUEST THAT OUR FOREIGN HOSTS PROVIDE TEMPORARY SECURITY? (RHETORICAL QUESTION; OF COURSE WE COULD!)
The cemeteries are maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, set up after the First World War. Nearly 125,000 U.S. servicemen and women are buried at its cemeteries, and an additional 94,000 are commemorated on tablets of the missing.
* SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT AMERICAN SERVICEMEN AND SERVICEWOMAN DEPLOYED NEAR THESE CEMETERIES WOULD VOLUNTEER TO DO BASIC UPKEEP AND SECURITY.
* WHO IS PLAYING POLITICS HERE, FOLKS?
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/between-errands-april-thompson/2013/oct/3/shutdown-dramatics-pull-private-managers-public-la/
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tweeted pictures showing National Park Service (NPS) barricades closing off the bus turn-around near Mount Vernon, even though that site is privately owned and funded and is open during the shutdown.
* ...EVEN THOUGH THAT SITE IS PRIVATELY OWNED AND FUNDED AND IS OPEN DURING THE SHUTDOWN.
Blogger Stephen Gutowski of College Politico tweeted that Mount Vernon officials confirmed that the NPS shut down their parking lots (which are co-owned by Mount Vernon and the NPS) Tuesday morning. The NPS eventually reopened those lots after complaints from Mount Vernon officials.
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
Privately operated businesses on federal lands outside of the Washington area are also being affected.
Warren Meyer, an Arizona businessman who runs private campgrounds on federal land, posted a letter to his congressman and senators on his blog complaining that he has been ordered to shut down despite the fact that he is a tenant of the federal government and receives no funds from them.
* ...AND RECEIVES NO FUNDS FROM THEM.
Wednesday, Meyer wrote, “Yesterday, as in all past government shutdowns, the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service confirmed we would stay open during the government shutdown ... however, today, we have been told by senior member of the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Agriculture that people ‘above the department’, which I presume means the White House, plan to order the Forest Service to needlessly and illegally close all private operations.”
* LET'S KEEP AN EYE ON THIS, FOLKS... SEE IF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS...
The federal government owns almost 30% of the land in the United States according the National Atlas of the United States. However, in “A Tale of Two Parks,” Meyer notes that 30 years ago the federal government began allowing private management of public land, as the government sought to reduce costs of managing their vast land holdings. Writing for the Property and Environmental Research Center, he noted, “Today, more than 1,000 campgrounds and recreation areas are operated by private companies under the supervision of Forest Services.”
* YOU KNOW... THE WAY YOU OWN YOUR HOME BUT "UNDER THE SUPERVISION" OF BUILDING CODE OFFICIALS.
One of the benefits of these private management arrangements has been to insulate these public properties the uncertainties of politically distributed funding or unstable government budgets. They are maintained and sustained outside the political budgeting process, and can even add money into the treasury.
* BUT, HEY... WE'RE TALKING OBAMA... AND SO...
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm in McLean, Virginia has also been closed down because of its location on federally owned property. A notice on the farm’s website states, “In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm.”
* NO STAFF... NO RESOURCES...
Managing Director Anna Eberly wrote, “We have operated the Farm successfully for 32 years after the NPS cut the Farm from its budget in 1980..."
* 1980...!!!
"[We] are fully staffed and prepared to open today. But there are barricades at the Pavilions and entrance to the Farm.”
* BUT THERE ARE BARRICADES AT THE PAVILIONS AND ENTRANCE TO THE FARM...
* IS THIS YOUR AMERICA, FOLKS?
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Famous-City-Tavern-Closed-by-Government-Shutdown-226198441.html
An iconic Philadelphia restaurant has been forced to close its doors and turn away booked parties because of the government shutdown.
City Tavern at 3rd and Walnut Streets in the Old City section of the city has been told it must close until the U.S. Congress passes a spending bill.
The restaurant, which opened for the first time in 1773 and was frequented by the nation's founding fathers, sits inside Independence National Historical Park and the building is owned by the U.S. National Parks Service. Both have been shut down since Tuesday when the federal government began its new fiscal year without agreeing on how to fund non-essential agencies. Since the park is closed, officials told City Tavern operator Chef Water Staib on Wednesday the restaurant had to lock up as well.
* YA KNOW... THEY ALMOST HAD ME, HERE! I READ THE ABOVE AND SAID, "WELL... IF THE PARK IS CLOSED..."
* KEEP READING THOUGH...!!!
Restaurant public relations director Molly Yun said they were notified there was a possibility a closure might happen, but they were allowed to remain open during the last government shutdown 17 years ago.
* BUT THEY WEREN'T FORCED TO SHUT DOWN DURING THE LAST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN! BILL CLINTON DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO SHUT THEM DOWN. WHY DOES BARACK OBAMA...???
"We were somewhat shocked when we received the news today that we would have to close at 3 p.m.," she said. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to stay closed until the government re-opens; our hands are tied."
* BY OBAMA...
(*SHRUG*)
Yun says the restaurant was forced to cancel booked parties, including one serving 200 visitors from Japan on Wednesday night, for at least the next four days leaving patrons "angry" and "aggravated." Should the shutdown drag on, the restaurant stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars and its 80-100 member staff may need to find other work.
* AGAIN, FOLKS... IF CLINTON DIDN'T CLOSE 'EM DOWN WHY DOES OBAMA FEEL THE NEED...?
* ANSWER: OBAMA WILL PUNISH "WE THE PEOPLE" IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE A POLITICAL POINT. CLINTON... COMPARED TO BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA... WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON WAS A GREAT PRESIDENT!
http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/02/monuments-and-memorials-remained-open-during-previous-shutdown/
Although President Obama claims that he can’t avoid shutting down public sites and monuments...
* HE'S A LIAR. YOU KNOW IT. I KNOW IT.
...war memorials were in fact kept open during the 1995/1996 government shutdowns.
The administration’s decision to barricade the Lincoln Memorial marks the first time in its history the memorial has been totally off limits to visitors during a shutdown.
* THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY!
The administration has also balked at efforts by non-governmental groups to maintain access to public sites. (Related: RNC offers to pay to keep WWII memorial open)
(*SMIRK*)
[D]uring the Clinton-era shutdown, World War II veterans kept the Pearl Harbor memorial open. “Despite the federal government shutdown and an unrepaired sign that reads ‘Arizona Memorial closed,’ tourists are still getting expert commentary about the World War II memorial at Pearl Harbor,” wrote the Associated Press on January 1, 1996.
* BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IS A PIECE OF SHIT. HE'S A PIECE OF SHIT IN A WAY BUSH NEVER WAS... IN A WAY CLINTON NEVER WAS... NIXON NEVER WAS... LBJ NEVER WAS...
Barricades went up in national parks across Washington, D.C. Wednesday, including the Lincoln Memorial. This, too, was unprecedented.
It is not clear how much taxpayer money the Obama administration is paying to ensure that government sites and services remain shuttered to taxpayers. Popular Washington spots such as the World War II memorial are now guarded by more security personnel than they are during normal operations, while federal employees have been dispatched to put up barricades on capital bike paths and other public grounds that are not usually patrolled at all.
* DOES... THIS... MAKE... ANY... SENSE...?!?! NO! IT'S OBAMA PLAYING (DIRTY) POLITICS!
Obama’s team has also been caught deliberately punishing World War II veterans trying to visit their own memorial, with one administration official telling a veteran’s supporter, “It’s a government shutdown, what do you expect?” (The American people are currently paying for eight mounted cops to keep people out of the World War II memorial.)
Another unprecedented aspect of the current shutdown is that the president has until Wednesday evening refused any discussions with the opposition leadership. (In 1995 and 1996 President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich negotiated vigorously and struck several compromises, such as 75% funding plan that lasted more than a month.)
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323623304579061423122639430.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
A new wave of redistribution will arrive in America on Jan. 1, primarily thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
The president's health-insurance plan forces those who hire, work and produce to pay full price for health care, while creating generous discounts for practically everyone else.
This second redistributionist wave of the Obama era will follow a first wave of tax hikes, additional unemployment benefits, food-stamp expansions, waived work requirements for welfare benefits, etc.
These measures were supposed to be temporary, intended to help people cope with the recession. The recession officially ended in mid-2009, but many of the administration's measures continue.
Regardless of whether redistribution is achieved by collecting more taxes from families with high incomes, levying employment taxes on businesses, providing more subsidies to families with low incomes, or all of the above, an essential consequence is the same: a reduction in the reward for working.
* A REDUCTION IN THE RELATIVE REWARD FOR WORKING... PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANTLY A REDUCTION IN THE "PENALTY" FOR NOT WORKING.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
In a National Bureau of Economic Research paper issued in August, I quantify the combined effect of the two redistribution waves and higher payroll taxes on the financial reward for working:
The 2009-10 peak for marginal tax rates comes from various provisions of the "stimulus" programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks in some states. At the end of 2012, the marginal tax rate index reached its lowest value since 2008: 43.9%. A little over a year later (January 2014), the index will be close to 50%, driven up by the expiration of the payroll tax cut and multiple provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA employer penalty, delayed until 2015, adds more than a percentage point in that year alone, while other ACA provisions strengthen their disincentives for the various reasons cited above.
* I KNOW... I KNOW... YOUR EYES ARE GLAZING OVER. MINE TOO! BOTTOM LINE...
By 2016, the index exceeds 50%, which is at least 10 percentage points greater than it was in early 2007.
* MEANING THEY'RE TAKING MORE AND MORE OF OUR HARD-EARNED DOLLARS! (WHILE AT THE SAME TIME RACKING UP MORE AND MORE DEBT EACH YEAR BECAUSE EVEN WITH TAKING ALL THESE HARD-EARNED DOLLARS FROM US IT'S NEVER ENOUGH!!!)
The 50% rate is even higher than the rates that prevailed when the so-called Recovery and Reinvestment Act's redistribution was at its peak. Without new federal legislation and a departure from the strategy of forcing workers and employers to finance everyone else's health care, the new 50%+ rate will not be a peak, but rather a new normal for tax rates.
* SINCE TIME IMMOMORIAL GOD HIMSELF HAS ONLY ASKED FOR 10%!
To appreciate the added burden that the two redistribution waves put on the labor market, look at what people keep, on average, when they decide to retain or accept a job, or to take on a longer work schedule.
* I KNOW THIS IS "TEXTBOOK" JARGON RATHER THAN YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER, BUT PLEASE, BEAR WITH THE AUTHOR...
Before the recession, a decision to work would benefit public treasuries by an amount equal to 40% of the compensation from the job. The worker and his family got the other 60%.
In the years 2015 and beyond, full-time workers with median incomes will keep only half of the compensation created by their decisions, with the other half going to the government in the form of additional taxes and savings on subsidy payments. By keeping 50% rather than 60%, workers will find that the reward for holding a job will have fallen a damaging 17%.
Advocates of redistribution try to perpetuate the income-maximization fallacy that business continues as usual as long as tax rates are less than 100%, because receiving even 1% of your compensation is supposedly better than getting no compensation at all. But even if full confiscation were the only way that taxes would depress the labor market, recall that the nearby chart is just an average: The average rate rising to 50% and above involves millions of people with rates far higher.
America absolutely must have taxes and safety-net programs, even though they reduce the reward for working. But advocates for the recent program expansions have failed to acknowledge that redistribution necessarily increases marginal tax rates and contracts the labor market.
Don't be surprised if the second redistribution wave coincides with a recessionary double-dip.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-waives-ban-on-aiding-regimes-that-use-child-soldiers/article/2536609?custom_click=rss
President Obama determined that it is once again...
* I'LL COME BACK TO THIS!
...in the national interest of the United States to waive a provision of a law against aiding regimes that use child soldiers to provide non-lethal assistance and peace-keeping support to several African countries.
* IN ENGLISH: THERE'S A LAW AGAINST US AIDING REGIMES THAT FIELD CHILD SOLDIERS. FOR WHATEVER REASON CONGRESS GAVE PRESIDENTS WAIVER AUTHORITY. OBAMA HAS (MIS)USED THIS AUTHORITY IN THE PAST AND INTENDS UPON CONTINUING TO (MIS)USE THIS AUTHORITY.
Obama first waived the provision in 2010. Samantha Power, then the National Security Council senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights, promised "at the time that the waivers would not become a recurring event," as The Cable recalled.
* SHE LIED.
Power is now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
* OF COURSE SHE IS!
By law, the president has to notify Congress that he is waiving the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 within 45 days of making the decision. Obama's press team published the presidential determination on Monday afternoon, with Congress on the eve of a government shutdown.
* NICE...
* WHAT A GUY...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-03/training-al-qaeda-be-more-efficient-killers-now-essential-function-us-government
The U.S. government is shut down, which means only essential spending is permitted.
So what does the U.S. government, or rather its Central Intelligence Agency decide to spend precious, mission-critical taxpayer money on? Why arming the Qatari-supported Al-Qaeda "rebels" in Syria of course.
The Washington Post reports that the CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train "opposition fighters" in Syria...
So let's get this straight: 800,000 non-essential workers are furloughed, but the CIA, in its infinite wisdom, is now, when the government is shut down, doubling down on spending to make sure Al-Qaeda insurgents have even more lethal training (for that inevitable moment when they turn on their sponsor as they tend to do), and even better weapons?
The CIA effort was described as an "urgent" bid to bolster moderate Syrian militias, which have been unable to mount a serious challenge to Assad or match the growing strength of rival rebel factions that have hard-line Islamist agendas and, in some cases, ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Don't worry though: the U.S. is not providing Al-Qaeda with high-powered weapons such as rockets and anti-tank munitions. They have Qatar for that!
* READ ON...
Officials said the main CIA training effort does not involve instruction on using high-powered weapons such as rockets and antitank munitions, which are being supplied by countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, although the agency is involved in tracking those arms flows and vetting recipients.
Uhm, and where do Qatar and Saudi Arabia get their weapons from?
Luckily, the Government shutdown has removed all constrains on CIA resources to do what it does best: provide training and weapons to the very people who a few years down the road turn on the U.S., resulting in even more deaths, only this time of American citizens.
The CIA is “ramping up and expanding its effort,” said a U.S. official familiar with operations in Syria, because “it was clear that the opposition was losing, and not only losing tactically but on a more strategic level.”
The latest setback came last month, when 11 of the largest armed factions in Syria, including some backed by the United States, announced the formation of an alliance with a goal of creating an Islamic state. The alliance is led by Jabhat al-Nusra, a group that has sworn allegiance to the al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan.
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
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