SEARCH BLOG: HEALTH CARE
Universal health care insurance brought to you by Obamacare. One critical flaw. Read this.
SEARCH BLOG: HOLIDAYS
If you are traveling for the 4th or anytime this summer and don't have a GPS unit like Garmin or Tom-Tom, here is something that rivals those that you can get at no cost and works great on your smart phone. I've been using it for quite awhile on my iPhone and it keeps getting better. On a recent trip to San Francisco, it routed me all over the city and avoided traffic problems with ease.
I found that by applying a Velcro strip on the dashboard where the phone could be seen and then placing a strip on the back of the phone... or getting an inexpensive plastic case from the Apple store on which the other piece of Velcro can be attached, you have an effective navigation screen. This app also has voice directions and is very good at prompting for turns. I found that keeping the phone plugged into the car's power port/cigarette lighter is a good idea since the phone uses quite a bit of power to run this app.
Happy traveling.
SEARCH BLOG: HEALTH CARE and MILITARY
In case you had any doubts about the ultimate effect of Obamacare on those who pay the bills ... you... this should be a good indication. Via Pat Dollard:
President Obama’s most recent budget proposal includes billions of dollars in higher fees for members of TRICARE, the military health care system, and is part of the administration’s plan to cut nearly $500 billion from the Pentagon’s budget. [more]You are a soldier... until you need medical care. Then you are just another patient who needs to pony up more for your medical treatment. As Commander-In-Chief, does that apply to Barack Obama as well? Heh.
SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS
SEARCH BLOG: ELECTIONS
Now that Obamacare has cleared the courts, the next big obstacle will be the implementation. Now that Obama has administratively circumvented immigration laws, the next big obstacle will be implementation.
What does that mean? Simply that there are only five months remaining until it is determined which philosophy will run the country beyond 2012. If Republicans gain control of Congress and the White House, Obamacare and and the administrative "free pass" to illegals will not be implemented.
What does that mean? The biggest hint is the Department of Justice effort to prevent states from requiring voter identification. If the Obama-run DOJ is successful in allowing "mystery" voters to register and vote, then Obama will be re-elected and the Democratic Party will enjoy gains in Congress. Simple as that.
Waiting for more details, but what was reported on the radio a few minutes ago was that Obamacare survived with the "Individual Mandate" interpreted as a new tax and the Commerce Clause argument sidestepped.
This sets the stage for the government takeover of the U.S. health care system and a huge escalation of personal health care costs with an attendant reduction of healthcare for the elderly.
Welcome to the socialist vision of the future.
UPDATE:
If Obamacare individual mandates are to be paid for by a "tax"... who pays this tax? Everyone? The ruling implies only those who can afford health insurance, but do not have it. The reality is that there will be significant cost increases with corresponding decreases in available treatment as doctors are forced into a federalized system that is inefficient and administratively burdensome.
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA
It would be laughable if it were not so pathetic. Our lightweight President once again demonstrates why he should spend more time on the golf course and less in his official capacity.
SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE
From The Wall Street Journal:
A federal appeals court backed the Obama administration's campaign to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, in a blow to the coal industry and other companies that say regulators acted without a scientific basis and are stifling job creation.
The court in Washington, D.C., gave the Environmental Protection Agency almost everything it wanted in the 82-page ruling on Tuesday. A three-judge panel unanimously upheld the EPA's central 2009 finding that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide endanger public health and likely have been responsible for global warming over the past half century.Given that lawyers and judges can now determine what is science and what is not, a panel of climate scientists has been established to review legislation to determine what is constitutional and what is not.
SEARCH BLOG: FOOTBALL
The NCAA announced that starting in 2014 there will be a four team playoff for the national championship.
Many college football fans have been clamoring for a playoff for years, and the BCS has been a constant target for criticism. Lawmakers have railed against it. A political action committee was formed, dedicated to its destruction. The Justice Department looked into whether it broke antitrust laws. Even President Obama said he wanted a playoff.
Now it's a reality.
No. 1 will play No. 4, and No. 2 will play No. 3 on Dec. 31 and/or Jan. 1. The sites of those games will rotate among the four current BCS bowls - Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar - and two more to be determined. One of the new sites will likely be wherever the newly formed bowl created by the SEC and Big 12 is played, Slive said.
...
There are still some details to work out - such as who will be on the committee and what new bowls will be involved in the semifinal rotation - but all the decision-makers are on board. [source]I'd like to see a graphic of the system. Back in January, I posted this:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 07, 2012
Bowled Over
SEARCH BLOG: EDUCATION
[UPDATED] New data show that Michigan’s public schools received more revenue per pupil in 2011 than ever before, according to analysis conducted by Michael Van Beek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center. Taxpayers supplied a total of $19.5 billion — $13,405 per pupil — to schools through federal, state and local revenues. An updated online database maintained by the Mackinac Center contains this district-level fiscal data.Spending per pupil seems to be the measure of whether or not the students are getting a good education. However, like Medicare or Veterans Administration spending, the amount of money spent doesn't necessarily reflect the amount of waste or ineffective spending.
SEARCH BLOG: HOLOCAUST
Everyone, except some Turks, acknowledges the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. But between those events came another mass killing that has been conveniently hidden or ignored for 8 decades: the Holodomor.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has rebuffed Ukraine’s efforts to have the famine of the 1930s recognised solely as a tragedy of the Ukrainian people. The body says the event was an international tragedy.
Moscow’s representative to PACE has reaffirmed Russia’s position that other nations were affected by the famine.
Holodomor, or the Great Famine, was one of the largest catastrophes to hit Ukraine during the Soviet era. Joseph Stalin's agricultural reforms affected all the grain-growing regions of the Soviet Union, such as the Urals and Kazakhstan. However, Ukraine bore the heaviest toll.
Ukrainian historians say up to ten million people died during the famine in the early 1930s.
The famine is thought to have been instigated by Stalin's campaign to force peasants to give up their land and join collective farms. Ukrainian wheat was shipped out of the country leaving millions without food.
In order to survive, many resorted to cannibalism.
The Ukrainian leadership believes the Communist regime of the time is to blame for the disaster and continues to call on Russia and other nations to recognise the event as genocide.
“Should we act like the communists did for the last 85 years, erasing the facts from our memory?” President Viktor Yushchenko asked.
“I don’t want my children, my family and my people to be deprived of the truth. In the village where I was born, out of 5,000 people one third didn’t survive because of the famine. We’ll be a crippled nation if we reject our history,” he said.
Russia admits the famine was artificially engineered by the Soviet rulers and treats the actions taken by authorities at the time as criminal. However, it denies it was an early attempt at ethic cleansing. [source]Sure, it wasn't genocide, it was just bad central planning. Speaking of death panels....
SEARCH BLOG: IMMIGRATION
SEARCH BLOG: LEISURE
Summer is boring. The NBA Finals are over; golf's U.S. Open is over, baseball... who cares? Sure, the weather is great and the outdoor grill gets a workout. Yes, the water in the lake is refreshing on a hot day. Okay, fireworks go off every night since they were legalized in Michigan. And the kids seem to have more energy and less colds. But summer is boring in the world. Nothing happens; everyone goes on vacation.
SEARCH BLOG: EGYPT
The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi has been declared the winner of Egypt's presidential election run-off.
He won 51.73% of the vote, beating former PM Ahmed Shafiq, the Higher Presidential Election Commission said.
The head of the panel of judges, Farouq Sultan, said it had upheld some of the 466 complaints by the candidates, but that the election result still stood.
The announcement prompted scenes of jubilation in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where Mr Mursi's supporters gathered. [full story]Now that Egypt is moving into its 'Arab Winter', it should be interesting to see how long it takes for diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt to go back to pre-1978 conditions.
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA
Brought to my attention at RightMichigan. Enjoy the show.
SEARCH BLOG: CRIME
Norwegian prosecutors are trying to be oh-so-civilized in their prosecution of mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik. BBC reports:
Prosecutors in Norway have called for self-confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik to be considered insane in their closing argument at his trial.
Prosecutor Svein Holden said there were still doubts about his insanity but he should be placed in psychiatric care, not sent to prison.
Judges in the trial in Oslo are due to deliver their verdict in the trial in July or August.
Breivik killed 77 people and injured 242 on 22 July of last year.
He bombed government buildings in Oslo before shooting young Labour Party supporters at an island camp.
Breivik, who insists he is sane, sought to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.Is he "normal?" No. Does that make him insane? Apparently in the eyes of the government. But one has to wonder why the government would be so anxious to brand his actions as "insane" and send him off for "treatment" rather than prison. Could there be another motive not related to "justice?" Think about it.
SEARCH BLOG: WEATHER
The summer solstice was officially yesterday, June 20. Here in Michigan, we marked the occasion with temperatures in the low 90s. After 3 weeks in California, I marked the occasion by giving our garden a soaking that it needed.
Summer is our busy season with a lot of traveling and a lot of visitors. We'll cover over 6,000 miles in trips and have family come in from Florida to California. It's when we cram in as much activity as the sunlight will allow. Last night, we docked the boat at sunset... a spectacular red sunset.
SEARCH BLOG: HOLDER
From Rep. Mark Walberg (R-MI)
Washington, D.C.—House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Rep Tim Walberg released the following statement regarding the Committee’s approval of a resolution to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for his refusal to turn over documents related to the Fast & Furious operation:
“Today’s vote is part of the Committee’s pursuit and my personal commitment to provide the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, a native of Michigan, with answers on why their son was killed by guns in Operation Fast & Furious that had been allowed to “walk” into the hands of criminals. It gives me no excitement or joy, but after a series of accommodations made by the Committee, the Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice continue to stonewall a Congressional investigation.
Despite being contrary to the Constitution and a century of case law, the Department of Justice thinks they can decide what documents we need and which ones we don’t. Attorney General Holder refuses to comply with a Congressional subpoena and won’t even give the Committee a list of the documents he is withholding. Frankly, we don’t know what we don’t know.
Next week, the House will continue its pursuit of the truth by considering this contempt resolution on the House floor. It is my hope that Attorney General Holder and the Obama Administration will realize the gravity of this matter and being complying with the subpoena so that we can bring clarity and justice to the family of Brian Terry.”.
SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS
During the middle of Congressional contempt hearings against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, President Barack Obama declared...
From USA Today:
"The president's assertion of executive privilege creates more questions," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "That brings into question whether Eric Holder knew about it and how much the president knew about it."
The White House made the move after Issa and Holder met late Tuesday evening for about 20 minutes in an unsuccessful, last-minute effort to head off today's hearing to consider whether to hold Holder in contempt. Holder told reporters following the meeting that he offered to provide the documents on the condition that Issa gave his assurance that doing so would satisfy two committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute.
Issa is particularly interested in seeing documents that shed light on why the Department of Justice decided to withdraw a February 2011 letter sent to Congress denying allegations of gunwalking.RELATED:
SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT
Congress is flexing its muscles. While this may be a partisan theater, its genesis is the Executive Branch's general disregard ... contempt? ... for the role of Congress and the laws passed by Congress.
SEARCH BLOG: LOGIC
"The term “skeptic” derives from a Greek noun, skepsis, which means examination, inquiry, consideration." [source]It doesn't mean that a skeptic struggles to hold a position. It simply means that a skeptic is slow to accept what others may quickly believe. Skeptics are from Missouri. They want more than one point of view to examine. They want all voices heard. They want to know both the strengths and weaknesses of your belief system.
SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY
June 16, 2012
Options for Europe
June 13, 2012Why not admit it? No one really has an answer that will satisfy a majority of those directly involved nor will the world come close to figuring out why the French are so keen on taxing millionaires when they've driven most of them out. Let's face it, countries tied to the Euro are engaged in one giant cluster-[vulgarity] and have lost their collective economic minds. They are pointing out the blame with one hand while reaching for an handout with the other.
Contractionary Fiscal Contraction, Quantified: European Edition [you have to love the title]
SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS
Earlier this week the story of Dr. Nickolas Drapela broke. Dr. Drapela was fired from Oregon State University after being a thorn in the politics of the climate agenda at OSU.
Oregon State University Fires Scientist For Being An UnbelieverNow, Anthony Watts reports an even more egregious firing of a 35-year university professor at UCLA.
Another skeptical university professor fired – related to CARB’s PM2.5 air pollution regulation scandal
“The facts of this case are astounding,” said David French, senior counsel for the ACLJ. “UCLA terminated a professor after 35 years of service simply because he exposed the truth about an activist scientific agenda that was not only based in fraud but violated California law for the sake of imposing expensive new environmental regulations on California businesses.”
French said, “UCLA’s actions were so extreme that its own Academic Freedom Committee unanimously expressed its concern about the case.” [read the whole story at the link above]Other than a couple of professors who had their careers ruined, what's the problem? Well, how about billions of taxpayer dollars being funneled into onerous and unnecessary special interests?
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA
SEARCH BLOG: GOLF
SEARCH BLOG: OBAMA
Just as the Obama administration has ignored the will of Congress regarding immigration laws ["Dream Act"] and rejection of cap and trade to kill coal, we can look forward to the Obama administration circumventing the Supreme Court if the decision comes down to kill the "Affordable Health Care" legislation or its individual mandate.
SEARCH BLOG: IMMIGRATION
The Obama administration is hoping that their newest side-step on immigration law will bring a landslide of Hispanic voters out in November. From the BBC:
US to stop young migrant deportations
The US is to end deportations of illegal immigrants who came to the US as children and to offer the chance to apply for work permits.
Under a new plan, those aged between 16 and 30 who have lived in the US continuously for five years would be eligible to stay in the US.
The plan, which goes into effect immediately, is expected to affect as many as 800,000 people.
The move is seen as addressing a key Latino concern in an election year.[more]Only one question remains then: what happens to the older folks that were brought to the U.S. by these children and young adults?
The Federal Reserve sees no need to cut interest rates in the light of adverse recent economic data, Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.
The Fed chairman said ”to date, the incoming data have supported the view that the current stance of policy is likely to foster sustainable economic growth and a gradual ebbing in core inflation”.July 21, 2007 My guess is that if there is an interest rate change, a cut is more likely than an increase. The key variables to be watching at this point are real estate prices and the inventory of unsold homes.
"Should the elevated turbulence persist, it would increase the possibility of further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses," he said.December 11, 2007 Somehow the Fed misses the obvious."Uncertainties about the economic outlook are unusually high right now," he said. "These uncertainties require flexible and pragmatic policymaking -- nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago."
http://www.reuters.com/
December 13, 2007 [from The Christian Science Monitor]
[Image from: CNNMoney.com]
"The odds of a recession are now above 50 percent," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We are right on the edge of a recession in part because of the Fed's reluctance to reduce interest rates more aggressively." [see my comments of September 11]January 7, 2008 The real problem now is that consumers can't rescue the economy and manufacturing, which is already weakening, will continue to weaken. We've gutted the forces that could avoid a downturn. The question is not whether there will be a recession, but can it be dampened sufficiently so that it is very short.
“The question is not whether we will have a recession, but how deep and prolonged it will be,” said David Rosenberg, the chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch. “Even if the Fed’s moves are going to work, it will not show up until the later part of 2008 or 2009.”January 17, 2008 A few days ago, Anna Schwartz, nonagenarian economist, implicated the Federal Reserve as the cause of the present lending crisis [from the Telegraph - UK]:
The high priestess of US monetarism - a revered figure at the Fed - says the central bank is itself the chief cause of the credit bubble, and now seems stunned as the consequences of its own actions engulf the financial system. "The new group at the Fed is not equal to the problem that faces it," she says, daring to utter a thought that fellow critics mostly utter sotto voce.January 22, 2008 The cut has become infected and a limb is in danger. Ben Bernanke is panicking and the Fed has its emergency triage team cutting rates... this time by 3/4%. ...
Individuals and businesses need stability in their financial cost structures so that they can plan effectively and keep their ships afloat. Wildly fluctuating rates... regardless of what the absolute levels are... create problems. Either too much spending or too much fear. It's just not that difficult to comprehend. Why has it been so difficult for the Fed?
Current Activity
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| | "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams"An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight." - Thomas Jefferson
As of Sept. 15, the current solar minimum ranks third all-time in the amount of spotless days with 717 since 2004. There have been 206 spotless days in 2009, which is 14th all-time. But there are still more than 100 days left in the year, and Perry expects that number to climb. Perry, who studies sunspots and solar activity in his spare time, received an undergraduate degree in physics at Kansas State University and a Ph.D in physics and astronomy at The University of Kansas. He also has spent time as a meteorologist.
From Icecap
