Monthly Archives: February 2012

Let’s Tax the Rich at 80%

Sure, why not? Heck, a candidate in France wants to tax the rich at 75% and surely we will not want Frenchies to best us? Oh wait, now Obama will think like I do and come out with my plan! LOL

(BBC) — The Socialist favourite in France’s presidential election, Francois Hollande, has said top earners should pay 75% of their income in tax.

“Above 1m euros [£847,000; $1.3m], the tax rate should be 75% because it’s not possible to have that level of income,” he said.

Speaking on prime time TV, he promised that if elected, he would undo tax breaks enacted by Nicolas Sarkozy.

The tax proposal was condemned by his political opponents.

Opinion polls suggest the gap between the Socialist candidate and Mr Sarkozy has narrowed.

The two are tipped to reach the run-off on 6 May, after eliminating other rivals on 22 April.

Mr Hollande himself renewed his call on Tuesday, saying the 75% rate on people earning more than one million euros a year was “a patriotic act”.

“It’s a signal that has been sent, a message of social cohesion, there is an effort to be made,” he explained.

“It is patriotic to agree to pay a supplementary tax to get the country back on its feet.”

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(The Hill) — House Democrats went after Rush Limbaugh Wednesday for his attacks on a university student who recently testified before Congress on women’s reproductive health.

Limbaugh on Wednesday called Georgetown Law Center student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” for her support of the Obama administration’s new birth-control mandate.

Behind House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the Democrats said Limbaugh’s remarks were uncivilized and misogynistic. They’re asking Republican leaders to denounce the popular conservative radio host.

Limbaugh’s attacks, the Democrats said, “are outside the circle of civilized discussion and …  unmask the strong disrespect for women held by some in this country.”

“We call upon the Republican leaders in the House to condemn these vicious attacks on Ms. Fluke, which are in response to her testimony to the Congress,” they added.

Fluke has become something of an unwitting celebrity on Capitol Hill this month after Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee denied the Democrats’ request to have her testify on Obama’s new birth control mandate. Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) argued that the policy concerns religious freedom, not reproductive health.

Democrats pounced, hoping to portray the Republicans as out-of-touch with women’s healthcare needs. To highlight the saga, Democratic leaders had Fluke discuss the issue last week before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

That testimony led Limbaugh to claim Wednesday that Fluke “wants to be paid to have sex.”

“What does it say about the college co-ed Susan [sic] Fluke who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her?” Limbaugh asked. “It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute.

“She wants to be paid to have sex,” he added. “She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.”

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Hatch: Obama Traded ‘Hardhat’ For ‘Hipster Fedora’ and ‘Double Skim Latte’

Tornado damage in hard-hit Harrisburg, IL — before and after.

At least 12 dead, many injured across multiple states after massive storm system produces tornadoes as strong as EF4.

5 Amazing Performances From Actors Who Weren’t Acting.

Mother, Child Both Born on Leap Days.

Giant stick insects presumed extinct found on tiny, remote island.

Graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging violate free speech, judge rules.

Son of Transportation Secretary, other Americans barred from exiting Egypt allowed to leave.

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Betty White and Slash together at last in a series of surprisingly informative promo spots for the LA Zoo’s new LAIR (Living Amphibians, Invertebrates and Reptiles) exhibit.

Check out the rest here.

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And as I shut everything down and go to bed, I leave you with this:

 

Time Marches On

“What they didn’t expect was the complete ineptness of this president!” A great many have made something close to this statement over the last three years. Stating that voters did not expect the complete ineptness of Obama is a very dangerous and misguided assertion to make. Conservative pundits almost overwhelmingly make this incorrect assumption in every critique of the administration. These pundits could not possibly be more wrong.  I contend that there is absolutely nothing inept about this president. He is quite capable.

Each and every action taken by Obama is but a step in a grand plan that marches towards achieving an ultimate, unstated, goal. Each step taken by this administration is very carefully planned and is executed with breathtaking efficiency. Underestimating Obama by thinking him “inept” is to invite not only disaster but the destruction of the very foundations of this country and western civilization.

Was the government seizing control of 1/5 of the entire U.S. economy (healthcare) in defiance of the Constitution and against the overwhelming objection of the people an inept misstep?

Was more than doubling an already onerous national debt while continuously demanding, and receiving, more money a simple mistake?

Was making recess appointments while Congress was in session a simple administrative error?

Was appointing demonstrably radical individuals to numerous advisory and regulatory positions simple politics?

Is mandating by executive fiat something as bizarre as requiring that religious organizations provide employees [of all things] “free” contraception simply an inept decision?

Continue HERE.

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Obama is my shepherd; I shall not work.
He keepeth jobs out of the hands of the people,
Which leadeth the country to class warfare and polarization.
He encourageth sloth; he leadeth the government to new heights in deficit spending.
Yea, though I walk in the shadow of Economic collapse,
I shall fear no depression: for Obama is with me.
His handouts and monetary indiscretion supplement my income.
He maintainest spending increases in the presence of insurmountable debt;
He punisheth businesses with excessive regulations;
And givith the hard-earned fruits of labor to the unproductive.
Surely, handouts and stimulus payments shall follow all the days of his administration;
And I will stay unemployed forever.

—-Anonymous

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From HERE.

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A Florida woman was arrested yesterday for burning down the fifth oldest tree in the world while smoking meth inside of it.

The iconic 118-foot Seminole County cypress tree known as The Senator, estimated to be some 3,500 years old, burned to the ground in January following what police believed to be an arson attack.

But a Crimeline tip led investigators to 26-year-old Sarah Barnes, who confessed to setting it alight while smoking meth with a friend inside the tree.

“I can’t believe I burned down a tree older than Jesus,” Barnes allegedly told friend while showing them photos of the burning tree she snapped with her cellphone.

Barnes was booked into Seminole County Jail on a felony charge of intentional burning of land, as well as drug charges.

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Kids today!

From HERE.

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Then auto-correct, which has always and will always create problems.

Two schools in Georgia were on lockdown for two hours today after an autocorrected message sent to the wrong person led police to suspect a shooter may be looking to harm students.

“Gunman be at west hall today,” read the text, referencing West Hall middle and high schools.

Tracing the message back to its sender, police quickly learned that autocorrect was to blame for the threat. The unidentified person was merely informing the recipient that they were “gunna” be at the school today.

The word “gunna” was autocorrected to “gunman,” and the text was sent to the wrong person, triggering a call to police.

“While this event caused a great deal of anxiety among students, staff and parents,” said Hall Superintendent Will Schofield in a statement, “be assured that we will always err on the side of caution when it comes to the safety of our boys and girls.”

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In other words, he thinks they’re racist (which he’s stated before).

(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Eric Holder defended the Justice Department’s litigation against states to stop voter ID laws, while testifying Tuesday to a House subcommittee.

The Supreme Court upheld the states’ right to require photo ID to vote in a 2008 case involving an Indiana statute. Nevertheless, the Justice Department has found other legal grounds to challenge the statutes passed by more than a dozen states.

Rep. Robert Aberholdt (R-Ala.) inquired about the action against his state’s voter ID law, and said he was puzzled as to why the federal government would oppose voter ID law, since most people frequently need photo ID to write a check or use a credit card.

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Two things here: One is that they are our friends, just ask Biden. And two the Afghans are more enraged by Korans being burnt.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban took the four men to the main bazaar in a southern Afghanistan district at evening prayer on Sunday, regional government officials said, denounced them as government spies because they were carrying satellite phones, then beheaded them in front of local residents who had been summoned to watch.

Three days later, on Wednesday morning, the director of a relatively progressive radio station in eastern Afghanistan was found stabbed to death in his car. His back, stomach and chest had been slashed, and his throat slit, according to the man’s brother, who said his head had been nearly severed from his body.

The local police chief, Daulat Khan Zadran, said the victim, Sadeem Khan Bahader Zoi, had been totally beheaded. “We still don’t know the cause” of the killing, Mr. Zadran said, but the method was consistent with the Taliban.

A Taliban spokesman for eastern Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, strongly condemned Mr. Zoi’s killing and in a telephone interview denied that the Taliban had been involved. The Taliban spokesman responsible for southern Afghanistan could not be reached for comment on the beheadings there.

This quick spate of grisly killings occurred despite recent attempts by the Taliban leadership to project a softer, more accepting image, to win the support of ordinary Afghans and convince the United States that it is a reasonable negotiating partner.

Its efforts are helping to drive a campaign by the Afghan government and the international coalition to begin peace talks with the Taliban that could lead to a power-sharing arrangement.

Beheadings by the Taliban are not new, but they have not been seen for a while, and five such gruesome deaths in a few days suggest that the Taliban may be operating with increasing impunity in some regions.

To Afghans, they are a frightening reminder of the brutal extremes of Taliban law — an authority that may soon have greater official sway over the country — and they raise questions about the sincerity of the Taliban in the peace negotiations.

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Keep him testifying, then have him explain himself in a real court of law!

Daily Caller:

A visibly frustrated Attorney General Eric Holder slammed the table when responding to a question about Operation Fast and Furious during a Tuesday budget hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies.

“That was a fundamentally flawed program, fundamentally flawed,” Holder said of Fast and Furious. “And, I think that I can agree with some of my harshest critics that there are legitimate issues that need to be explored with regard in which the way Fast and Furious was carried out.”

“But, I think one thing that also has to be understood is that once this was brought to my attention” — Holder said before slamming his hand on the committee room table he was sitting at — “I stopped it. I stopped it.”

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Freedom of speech in this country is used by idiots like this to say what they will, but not used if someone speaks against them.

(New York, NY, February 28, 2012) — Minister Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic and racist leader of the Nation of Islam, delivered yet another anti-Semitic diatribe to followers in Chicago this past weekend, turning his annual Saviours’ Day address into what the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) characterized as “a textbook example” of the continuing potency in some circles of anti-Semitism in America.

Minister Farrakhan’s address to the Saviours’ Day convention in Chicago included accusations of Jewish control over government, media, finance and entertainment, and repeated many of the past anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have made Farrakhan one of the nation’s foremost promoters of anti-Semitism to a legion of followers.

The following are selected examples of anti-Semitic statements made by Farrakhan during his four-and-½ hour speech during the 2012 Saviours’ Day conference at the United Center Arena in Chicago on February 26:

•Listen good now, no matter what president Obama has said or done to show Israel his commitment, somehow or another he is failing on some aspect of they desire him to do. He is invaded into every country the neocons have told him to do. He went and got the stimulus plan to bail out Wall Street. There is nothing that he has not done for Israel but they are still not happy.

•Some of these Zionists are trying to re-write the Koran. You didn’t hear me! And they got some Muslims going along with it!

•Did you know that the Koran says that Jews are the most violent of people? I didn’t write it, but I’m living to see it.

•The government of the United States has made an agreement with hell and a covenant with death. You have locked on to the Zionist control your government, your media, and you’re afraid to stand up because if you do they’ll tell you won’t be re-elected.

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Think about this.

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He really is in another world of his own!

(ABC News) — President Obama said his formal apology to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of Korans by U.S. troops last week has “calmed things down” after the incident sparked an outbreak of violence across the country.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Obama said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Bob Woodruff at the White House. “But my criteria in any decision I make, getting recommendations from folks who are actually on the ground, is what is going to best protect our folks and make sure that they can accomplish their mission.”

The president’s comments came just hours before a formal White House dinner to honor Iraq War veterans, some of whom have also served in Afghanistan and may be redeploying there to assist ongoing U.S. military operations. Woodruff was the only journalist invited to attend the dinner.

Obama said his letter to Karzai aimed to curb further danger to U.S. troops on the ground. It reportedly expressed regret for the apparently inadvertent burning of the Korans, the sacred text of Islam, on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Still, the president’s critics and some members of the military have questioned the appropriateness of the move, given the subsequent murder of two U.S. military officers at the hands of an Afghan inside one of the capital’s secure ministry buildings.

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Team Obama Can’t Even Spell Biden’s Name Correctly Funny, send out invites that have a typo!

U.S. Bunker Buster Bombs Could Destroy Iran’s Underground Nuke Sites Heck, we got better bombs that will eliminate Iran for good.

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The Fate of Our Wind Chime

Today has been windy, still windy, I mean very damn windy! And all this wind sealed the fate of our wind chime. Yes, right outside the door, dinging away quite loudly. Always has since I put it up last year. Can’t count the times I had to carefully unwind the darn thing because the wind whipped it around. And today, it was banging away, but all messed up and I looked at it and thought that there was no way I could separate everything and maybe I should just throw the thing away. Well, wife says to me as she is going out the door “that wind chime is history! I will get the broom handle and knock it down”. So, I just yanked the wind chime from it’s hook (surprisingly, the hook stayed) and threw it away. And before I could ask, wife said no, we will not get another wind chime! Now all is quiet outside the door. Except for the howling wind.

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Here’s Your Diploma

A grandmother was pushing her grandchild around Wal-Mart in a buggy.

Each time she put something in the basket, she would say, “And here’s something for you, Diploma” or, “This will make a cute little outfit for you, Diploma” and so on.

Eventually, a bewildered shopper who had heard all this, finally asked, “Why do you keep calling your grandchild Diploma?”

The grandmother replied, “I sent my daughter to college and this is what she came home with!”

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I think he’s confusing Occupiers with Tea Partiers.

Via Daily Caller:

Liberal billionaire and CNN founder Ted Turner accuses “the tea party people” in a new magazine profile of him of being “mean-spirited.”

“It’s so heartbreaking to have [them] say that global warming is a hoax,” Turner says in a new Hollywood Reporter profile.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he admits to driving a Prius and supporting President Obama.

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Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler told The Daily Caller that he resigned his leadership position with the grassroots organization last week out of frustration with how money is being spent and how closely the group has aligned itself with Republicans.

Tea Party Patriots (TPP) officials say they’re a coalition of more than 3,400 local tea party groups made up of more than 15 million members.

In an interview, Meckler — a well-known figure in the movement — cited, as an example, how Tea Party Patriots spent $250,000 to sponsor the Southern Republican Leadership Conference presidential debate in South Carolina this year.

“That bothered me on a lot of levels,” he said.

In an email obtained by TheDC, Meckler told the group’s board of directors last week that the expenditure was “a colossal waste, which served to foster the narrative that TPP is a tool of the Republican Party, while providing minimal [public relations] value at best.”

Speaking by phone from California this week, Meckler said he fought against spending the money on the GOP debate during the conference in Charleston for several reasons, including a poll that says 40 percent of people who self-identify as part of the tea party movement do not consider themselves Republicans.

Read more:

(agreed, the tea party took a turn for the worse when they aligned with the republican party)

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One Million Moms, the conservative group which previously targeted JCPenney for hiring Ellen as their new spokesperson and Clorox for its “sexual” Liquid-Plumr ad, has extended its not-quite-one-million talons in the direction of Toys R Us, calling for a boycott of the chain over its stocking of an Archie comic featuring the same-sex marriage of character Kevin Keller.

The American Family Association-affiliated organization published the following statement on their website:

Unfortunately, children are now being exposed to same-sex marriage in a toy store. This is the last place a parent would expect to be confronted with questions from their children on topics that are too complicated for them to understand. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon, which is becoming extremely common and unnecessary.

Archie Comics CEO John Goldwater quickly issued a retort, saying, in part:

As I’ve said before, Riverdale is a safe, welcoming place that does not judge anyone. It’s an idealized version of America that will hopefully become reality someday. We’re sorry the American Family Association/OneMillionMoms.com feels so negatively about our product, but they have every right to their opinion, just like we have the right to stand by ours. Kevin Keller will forever be a part of Riverdale, and he will live a happy, long life free of prejudice, hate and narrow-minded people.

Toys R Us has yet to comment.

(geesh, another organization that is too far out there)

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Official List Of Words Feds Monitor On Social Networking Sites

The Feds have been forced to release their social network monitoring manual, which contains the list of words the government watches on social media and news sites.

Earlier the Huffington Post reported on the Feds have been forced to give up their list of words they monitor on Facebook, Twitter, and comments being posted on news articles, so I compiled that list below.

Homeland Security Manual Lists Government Key Words For Monitoring Social Media, News

Ever complain on Facebook that you were feeling “sick?” Told your friends to “watch” a certain TV show? Left a comment on a media website about government “pork?”

If you did any of those things, or tweeted about your recent vacation in “Mexico” or a shopping trip to “Target,” the Department of Homeland Security may have noticed.

In the latest revelation of how the federal government is monitoring social media and online news outlets, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has posted online a 2011 Department of Homeland Security manual that includes hundreds of key words (such as those above) and search terms used to detect possible terrorism, unfolding natural disasters and public health threats. The center, a privacy watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then sued to obtain the release of the documents.

The 39-page “Analyst’s Desktop Binder” used by the department’s National Operations Center includes no-brainer words like “”attack,” “epidemic” and “Al Qaeda” (with various spellings). But the list also includes words that can be interpreted as either menacing or innocent depending on the context, such as “exercise,” “drill,” “wave,” “initiative,” “relief” and “organization.”

Read it all HERE, including all the words, of which there are too damn many that are normal words one would use daily.

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Confirmed: Nestle has officially teamed up with the Girl Scouts of America to produce a line of candy bars combining the famous flavors of both entities.

“We are thrilled with the positive response to the Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bar,” said Girl Scouts rep Joshua Ackley. “The product photo is a retail sales sample and not available for sale at this time. Look forward to some very exciting news in June.”

No word at this time on which additional flavors will be part of the line, but you should probably start making room in your belly right about now.

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Ok. As we are literally days away from the global financial meltdown just look at what is being broadcast on MAINSTREAM media!

Geithner Is A Criminal! So How Is It He COULD Face Criminal Charges?
http://youtu.be/QXO5bElqnqg

This adds serious credibility to Ben Fulford who wrote last week that Geithner was arrested and released. Before this broadcast even I was skeptical of the Fulford report but now it all seems very possible if not likely.

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Damn, our venture capitalist president made the wrong bet yet again!

(ABC News) — Another recipient of Energy Department loan funds has run into financial trouble.

Colorado-based Abound Solar announced this week it has been forced to lay off 180 of its 400 workers as it tries to retool to produce a more efficient type of solar panel in order to keep a technological edge on Chinese manufacturers who are flooding the market with less expensive models. Abound received approval in 2010 for a $400 million government loan.

“As you know the solar market has been extremely difficult for all manufacturers,” said Craig Witsoe, the CEO of Abound Solar, in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday. “To continue to make the panel we make today, to have to sell it below cost, it’s a tough environment to operate in.”

It is one of four companies that have been issued a combined $1.3 billion in loans by the Obama administration to operate in the highly competitive field of solar manufacturing. Solyndra, the best-known of those recipients, filed for bankruptcy last year, touching off a wave of controversy about the role of government money in backing high-risk start-up firms in the alternative energy field, and an investigation by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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