Two "Stop the Violence" Organizers beat colleague into critical condition

From AP:

Two "Stop the Violence" organizers allegedly beat one of their colleagues so severely that he vomited blood and was left unconscious in critical condition.

Nikole Ardeno and Emanuel Velez, both 30, accused their former roommate of stealing their property, and allegedly punched and kicked him in the street until he had seizures. Arrested moments later, Ardeno was still wearing the same "Stop the Violence" T-shirt she had on the night before when she coordinated a march protesting two recent shootings, Washington Police Chief Chris Luppino said.

The victim, Joshua Magraff, also is a community organizer with the anti-violence group, and shared an apartment with the suspects until recently.

Online court records don't list lawyers for the defendants, who face a preliminary hearing Nov. 10 on charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, simple assault and disorderly conduct.

Local "Stop the Violence" leader Suzanne Kelley said she hopes to hear from Ardeno, and insisted that "we don't promote violence at all."

The victim is still unconscious and in critical condition.

 

CDC: Ebola is nothing to sneeze at, sort of

Well, it was factually correct yesterday. Getting the facts about Ebola is tantamount to unraveling the truth about Obamacare. Facts change daily. This fact sheet was taken off line, and a link that led to it a day before now sends viewers to a different page with a different message. At first the CDC said Ebola couldn't be spread by air then it said it could. Now it cannot.


The Obama administration currently has three different protocols to deal with  individuals traveling from the Ebola hot zone.

• Military-mandatory 21 day quarantine
• Health care workers- self monitor for 21 days
• Foreign nationals from West Africa- no medical protocol. Sign up for food stamps and await voter registration drive.

Good-bye Senator Landrieu

Can I help that the voters who elected me three times are racists?



I never cared much for Senator Mary Landrieu but up until now I respected her political instinct. In the best case scenario she survives Louisiana's jungle primary only to lose to Bill Cassidy in December and now it's to call the voters racists? It's like being down 1 run in the ninth with two outs and she takes an 3 & 0 pitch to the shortstop.
The latest poll, the USA Today Suffolk Poll has Landrieu trailing Cassidy by 7 points, 48% to 41%. Her approval rating is 38% and Obama's approval rating is 36% in her state and now it's time to piss off the voters? We'll miss her bright eyes and sweet smile.

Obama's embarrassingly stupid war on argon

President Obama has called for  “sensible, based in science”  measures to combat Ebola. It's too bad he doesn't demand as much from the EPA.


What were they thinking? Under proposed regulations argon, an inert gas and the third most common gas in the atmosphere will not longer be allowed in pesticides. By definition an inert gas cannot combine with any other element to form a compound toxic, or otherwise. This is embarrassing. It's almost like taking the water out of ice. By volume argon composes 1% of the atmosphere not the mere .03% CO2 level the agency and the Democratic Party are wring their hands over.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting public comment on a proposal to remove 72 chemicals from its list of substances approved for use as inert ingredients in pesticide products.
“We are taking action to ensure that these ingredients are not added to any pesticide products unless they have been fully vetted by EPA,” said Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “This is the first major step in our strategy to reduce risks from pesticides containing potentially hazardous inert ingredients.”
EPA is taking this action in response to petitions by the Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides, Physicians for Social Responsibility and others. These groups asked the agency to issue a rule requiring disclosure of 371 inert ingredients found in pesticide products. EPA developed an alternative strategy designed to reduce the risks posed by hazardous inert ingredients in pesticide products more effectively than by disclosure rulemaking. EPA outlined its strategy in a May 22, 2014 letter: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0558-0003 to the petitioners.

Many in the scientific community thought they were being spoofed when told of this regulation. Now they speculate that the EPA is allowing scientific illiterate NGO's to the write regulations which it rubber stamps.

Is Obama the source of the infamous "chickensh*t" comment?

  We've been wondering why the White House is so uninterested in finding the source of this comment, especially considering how many anonymous sources have been outed and per/prosecuted by this administration.
  Just wondering if the Pompous One is the source, considering the nature of our macho poseur in chief and his total lack of defending any democratic interests around the wall.
  The comment has caused quite a stir politically and those of us out here in the Heartland sniff a greater scandal than what's being actually reported by the Leftist media.

Is Obama stopping Keystone Pipeline to help Arab countries?

  I really don't see how anyone can observe the actions of our current POTUS Obama and not think that he is, at the very least, more sympathetic to the welfare of other countries--many run by Islamists--rather than the welfare of the people of the United States.
  The threat of bringing Ebola to this country through non-citizens and at a cost of half a million dollars per individual exemplifies the lack of concern this administration has evidenced. Sure, the Psaki flack claimed first that it didn't exist and then that some mid level flunkie wrote it and it's been tabled.
  Still, why would someone write this and circulate it in the first place? 
  From the beginning of Obama's apology tour, we can look back and see how he has kowtowed to Muslim leaders in deference rather than act like the leader of the greatest nation in the world.
  Every informed voter remembers this image:

  In fact, Obama routinely bows to other world leaders, in deference, one presumes, to the countries that are greater than the US.
  Time after time, we've seen our current POTUS Obama either ignore the aggressive actions of Muslim countries or acquiesce to their wishes.
  Who can forget the rioting young people screaming for freedom in Iran, even calling out Obama's name for help? And who can forget Obama's silence in the face of their demands for help?
  Meanwhile, courageous Muslims like the doctor who helped our current POTUS Obama locate Osama bin Laden--a major reelection selling point--- sit and rot in jail.
  There is very little loyalty in our current POTUS other than for cronies who further his cause and bow to him the way he bows to world leaders.
  Some wags have even labeled Obama's apologies for America as an intentional humiliation of a once great though now diminished country. ("We're arrogant," We've made wrong decisions," "we sought to dictate our terms," blah blah blah.)
  Now I might pose a question concerning Obama's intentional lowering of America's profile in the world and, certainly, his intentional lowering of our economic output by encouraging millions and millions of cheap laborers to illegally enter the country.
  So I ask this.
  Is Obama intentionally stopping completion of the Keystone Pipeline--not just to pacify his "environmentalist" extremist base--but in deference to the Saudis, who have repeatedly expressed concern that OPEC's grip on the oil market is weakening with American oil output?
  One might remember that American oil is just about the only business sector keeping the American economy afloat.
  Even (al) Reuters notes that the Saudis are worried about the increase in American output:

Saudi Arabia has privately told the oil market that it is willing to allow prices to slide as low as $80 for a year or two, in a move seen aimed at U.S. producers. Kuwait and Iran have since said that they have no plan to cut production. That is putting pressure on companies like Continental Resources and EOG Resources whose share prices are unraveling.

  You might notice gas prices decreasing; you can understand why when you read the above quote. Falling prices are intentional, an effort to squeeze out the burgeoning American market and prevent American independence.
  In 2013 in an article entitled "Top Saudi investor says US energy boom could doom kingdom's economy," the urgency of the coming Saudi bust was revealed:

Our country is facing a threat with the continuation of its near-complete reliance on oil, especially as 92 percent of the budget for this year depends on oil," wrote Alwaleed, who owns seven percent of the voting shares in News Corp, the former parent company of Fox News. "It is necessary to diversify sources of revenue, establish a clear vision for that and start implementing it immediately."

  We've often decried Obama's lack of leadership around the world which is why the whole globe is spinning off its axis with wars and rumors of wars.
  But in this, we must ask.
  Is Obama propping up Arab oil rather than let the American oil industry flourish?
  It's certainly not unreasonable, given his preference for global interests rather than American.

Shocking income inequality! Rep. Alan Grayson's wife on food stamps!

Peachy, a congressman worth $26 million has a wife on food stamps. Affable Congressman Alan Grayson who gained national attention with his speech claiming the the Republican's solution to health care was "die quickly" has been going through messy divorce and it seems there just isn't enough cash to feed his family so Mrs Grayson applied for and received an EBT card. Grayson claims he is a victim of bigamy. The dear wife never bothered to divorce her ex. After 29 years and 5 children he just now discovered the awful truth? Gimme a  break!

Kaci Hickox is a CDC plant

At first Kaci Hickox seemed to be a sympathetic character, a giving and selfless idealist caught up in a classic philological conflict between individual liberty and the public good. It appears now that she is nothing but a goddam plant from an administration that cannot be trusted. It gives the public cause not only to question the Obama administration's credibility and competence but also its ethics. What the hell does this administration think it's doing?
Kaci Hickox may be a nurse but she is a bit more. She is an employee of the CDC. According to her alma mater, University of Texas, Arlington she pursued a two-year postgraduate fellowship in applied epidemiology with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Las Vegas after she was rejected by Doctors Without Borders. Eventually she was accepted by Doctors Without Borders but as of late her Linkedin profile has been scrubbed as the web site Fire Andrea Mitchell discovered.


It is known that Hickox did teach a session called “Contact Investigation of Health Care Personnel Exposed to Maternal and Neonatal Tuberculosis in Clark County, Nevada in 2013 as this document proves.
Is her charade an attempt on the part of Obama, CDC, et al to undermine local quarantine regulations? Why? What else are we not being told? Such as the where abouts of our much heralded Ebola Czar, Ron Klain. Many in the media have noticed the absence of Dr. Tom Frieden since he lost all credibility but Klain has yet to utter a single sentence in public.
Was Hickox's entry into Newark airport chosen to set up a confrontation with Governor Chris Christie? Did Christie smell a rat and pass her off on Maine?

So who's next to bolt the Democrat plantation?

  Hoosierman posted this video a couple days ago; the statements of these men are both remarkable and courageous.
  Reports are claiming Black and Millenial are defecting from the loyal Democrat camp. I find some of this hard to believe.
  For example, there have been several instances of Black Democrats walking out of Obama speeches at Democrat rallies; yet they were AT the rallies. What does it mean? I'm guessing they will still vote for an all Democrat slate but have lost respect for Obama. Obama himself isn't on the ballot, though it's true his policies are. 
  Still. They were AT the rally and the walkouts do not look like intentional statements, other than "we're done with the liar."
  But let's be honest. Obama policies of swamping the economy with cheap immigrant labor and debilitating the job market will hurt Black families the most.
  This isn't the first tremor in the Democrat state. There've been others. For quite a few months.
   This Black grandmother is particularly interesting.

  I might make an anecdotal note here that all the radio programs I listen to have had more than the usual number of Black callers, supporting bolting the Democrat party.
  Then there's the case of the Rev. Corey Brooks who has bolted the plantation and was viciously threatened and robbed because of it.
  Considering that even architecture is now considered racist, maybe reasonable people of all skin colors are getting sick of it.
  Now to the Millenials. Well, they might be more interesting. Not too long ago, I spoke with a young man who graduated from college a couple years ago. Of his group, he said, only one friend was significantly employed. My young friend was a barista at a coffee house.
  Considering how many of them are living at home, just surviving, I'm thinking may be legitimately off the reservation.
  But you can't beat Democrats with a few extra votes. You have to get beyond the cheating margin.
  Hm.

Democrats sell their souls in hope of a few dishonest wins

    As we watch Democrats roll in the mud before the next election, cheating, lying, stealing and pushing illegals into the voting booth, we can be really glad when this whole mess is over.
    It's difficult watching what's happening, worrying about the consequences of the irresponsible and destructive behavior of the current wackadoodles in charge of running our government.
  Frankly, it's appalling to watch the voter fraud going on around the country. There are absolutely no boundaries in the Democrat party these days: pass out to illegal aliens locations of states that don't require IDs to vote? or photo IDs?
  No problem.
  Faulty voting machines that mysteriously flip over from R to D when people try to vote?
  No problem. Just a glitch. Or 50.
  This is Chicago. Of course!
  This is Maryland. Of course!
  Obama, who has a tendency to joke about real problems, says "I mean you can only vote once, this isn't Chicago now," laughing. Hahahaha! We should joke about the IRS too!!! HAHAHAHA!
  Let's even encourage eager activists to go fish through garbage in dorms in Colorado, to fill out the ballots and mail them in?
  Do it! It's patriotic!
  (I'm not even linking to the sources for most of these incidents: if you don't know this is happening, you're a low information voter and I'm not wasting my time on you.)
  The only way that I can justify in my mind this kind of behavior by any political party is that much of the country is going to hell (quite literally) and this is separating the chaff from wheat. 
  The really really nasty partisans who simply will not accept the truth of the motives behind actions like Obama's desire to overwhelm our systems with new Medicaid recipients, more racial animus, more welfare, foreign Ebola patients, more illegal aliens eligible for all public services, 34 million new workers who will drive down wages, demands that every neighborhood which does not have enough Black people in it (according to the last corrupt census Obama's people did) build public tenement housing, and drive our long term debt and obligations up and up and up....well, they can just keep on that road to hell.
  As I said, quite literally.
  As for me, I'm not.
P.S. About that housing issue, here's a quote from the NY Post:

After a delay, the administration’s final “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” regulation is now expected to be announced in December. Originally scheduled for finalization in October, the new Housing and Urban Development Department rules will force all cities and suburbs to accept subsidized housing in the name of racial diversity, superceding all local zoning ordinances.

  How this will be accomplished without input from any other entities than the Obama machine is unclear.
  And also unfair.

Top PAC donors for 2014

Open Secrets .org just released the names of the top PAC donors for the present election cycle. Hedge fund founder and environmental extremist Tom Steyer to the list followed by anti gun nut Michael Bloomberg. Paul Singer is a GOP PAC donor with nearly a third of his contributions going to American Unity PAC, a super PAC he founded to help elect Republicans who support gay rights. Singer also gave a combined $5 million to Crossroads and Ending Spending. Notice way down the list are Charles and David Koch, each donating $2 million.

Thomas F. Steyer	$73,725,000
Michael Bloomberg	$20,011,895
Paul Singer	$9,333,539
Robert Mercer	$8,070,000
Fred Eychaner	$7,900,000
Sheldon Adelson	$5,000,000
J. Joe Ricketts	$4,870,000
Richard E. Uihlein	$4,235,000
Robert C. McNair	$3,500,000
George Soros	$3,315,000
Warren A. Stephens/Stephens Inc.	$3,035,000
James H. Simons	$3,000,000
Kenneth C. Griffin	$2,825,000
Linda McMahon	$2,635,000
Joseph W. Craft III	$2,625,000
Seth A. Klarman	$2,600,000
B. Wayne Hughes Sr.	$2,500,000
Kenneth W. Davis Jr.	$2,458,911
Ronnie Cameron/Mountaire Corp.	$2,350,000
John W. Childs	$2,165,000
S. Donald Sussman	$2,025,000
Charles G. Koch	$2,000,000
David H. Koch	$2,000,000
Andrew Jerrold	$2,000,000
Amy Goldman Fowler	$1,999,760
Virginia James	$1,800,000
George M. Marcus	$1,750,000
Marlene Ricketts	$1,725,000
Herbert M. Sandler	$1,700,000
Jon L. Stryker	$1,625,000
Anne Getty Earhart	$1,600,000
Sean Fieler	$1,574,670
Ronald M. Firman	$1,476,620
Angelo Tsakopoulos	$1,347,000
Daniel S. Loeb	$1,250,000
Robert B. Rowling/TRT Holdings	$1,200,000
Sean Parker	$1,125,000
Ian M. Cumming	$1,025,000
Julian H. Robertson Jr.	$1,012,000
Diane Hendricks	$1,000,000
Meridee Moore	$1,000,000
Clarence L. Werner	$1,000,000

So how do the Koch brothers warrant so much attention? In the hilarious audio below  Mark Steyn calls it Democratic Tourette's where by compulsion Democrats spontaneously shout "Koch brothers funded".

Dangerous Joni Ernst

Joni Ernst is in an enviable position. Assuming that she wins the Iowa Senate seat she will have the entire GOP at her beck and call. As popular senator and woman in the state that is step one toward the presidential nomination it's certain that every Republican candidate will seek her endorsement. It also extremely probable that should she win next Tuesday Wednesday's opinion pages in the national press will begin weighing her Vice Presidential possibilities. Why not? She is a logical choice and would be a asset on anybody's ticket. Experience? By 2016 she will have the same level of experience Barack Obama had he began his quest for the presidency.
Like Sarah Palin she has the ability to make liberals bleed out through their eyeballs. She exudes steadfast, measured, down home, common sense and an aura of authenticity, except for maybe the hair. Should she decide to align herself with Ted Cruz and Rand Paul rather than John McCain and Lindsey Graham she could be the most exciting senator elected this fall.

Blacks revolt on the Chicago plantation

It's hard to know how wide this revolt will cut at the ballot box next Tuesday but it's something we have not seen. Somehow I think illegal immigration and the threat of amnesty is at the root of this insurrection.

Hillary: an economic buffoon

  Well, Hillary Clinton certainly disqualified herself from holding any public office with influence on the economy with her condescending, grumpy, bored and tired announcement last weekend that businesses don't create jobs.
  HUH???
  Here's the full quote:

“Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” former Secretary of State Clinton said in Boston. “You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly. One of the things my husband says when people say, ‘What did you bring to Washington?’ He says, ‘I brought arithmetic.’ ”

  This must be little girl math or something. 
  Maybe old Hillary thinks government creates jobs, which for sure is true but what do they do? 
  Government doesn't make anything.
  Government employs people to regulate and harass the taxpayers who pay their salary.
  Government pays people to set up systems that are proven to work inefficiently. 
  Like, for example, the whole Ebola mess.  And the IRS mess. And the Fast & Furious mess. And the funneling of solar energy money to lousy businesses who throw money back to Democrats.
  It's really interesting that every time Hillary's spiel gets tired and old, she hauls out old Bill and his administration.
  There is absolutely no doubt that Hillary will not triangulate or move to the center as her husband did; she'll be like Obama. Just remind yourself of the way she behaved during her own HillaryCare Debacle. There were a couple reasons she backed off: 1) the nation was outraged and flooded the Capitol with complaints  2) Bill is by nature a triangulator who wants to please people  3) Hillary was unelected at that time  4)  Obama has set a pattern of defiance and extreme unConstitutional behavior. Hillary won't pay any more attention to citizen complaints than Obama does.
  In fact:

When asked how was a small business mom and pop going to pay for healthcare she said if they could not afford it they should not be in business. From that moment on, my respect for her collapsed. She revealed herself as a real Marxist.

  But that she would claim that businesses do not create jobs is so spectacularly wrong that it will come back to haunt her.
  It's such a stupid comment that it's hard to believe she actually said it, even trying to get to the left of Elizabeth "You didn't build that" Warren. 
  Note to both Warren & Hillary: taxpayer dollars are earned elsewhere. All government dollars are derived from businesses, commerce and the wealth of corporations and individuals.
  Admittedly, she's already backtracking but why would she say this in the first place? 
  For sure, Obama's policies haven't created jobs and considering how many people have dropped out of the work force while he's been in office,
  Watch the video: she looks and sounds remarkably bad, n'est ce pas? 
  The truth is that Hillary is a spectacularly bad politician, prone to imperialism and gaffes. 
  But when France and the UK beat out the US as far as being the best countries to do business, we have problems coming in at the 19th.
  I mean, France!
  But Hillary!
  

The high cost of fuel efficiency and the decline of common sense

From the Hellava Job Brownie Department comes this assessment of ethanol additives from none other than the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a well known, right wing, global warming denier web site.
EIA has adjusted its estimates of the energy content of retail motor gasoline in the Monthly Energy Review (MER) to reflect its changing composition. Ethanol and other oxygenates, which have lower energy content than petroleum-based gasoline components, have seen their share of total gasoline volumes increase from 2% in 1993 to nearly 10% in 2013. As a result, EIA's estimate of motor gasoline's average energy content per gallon has declined by about 3% over this 20-year period.
In other words by decreasing the energy value of gasoline, at great cost to the taxpayers vis a vis ethanol subsidies and to motorists through higher prices at the pump by 10%, the all knowing, all caring, government in Washington has managed to decrease miles per gallon of gasoline by 3 %. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just water down your gasoline?

Chicago pastor forced into hiding after endorsing Bruce Rauner for governor

One would think this story would carry a dateline from the 1960's. A black minister and his family are threatened for his political activity. A black church is burglarized and vandalized. This is not Birmingham in 1963; it's Chicago in 2014. The Rev. Corey Brooks, pastor of the New Beginnings Church of Chicago, has broken ties with the Democratic Party and endorsed GOP candidate Bruce Rauner for governor. Since then he has had to move his family to a secret location following a series of threatening phone calls.

“We on you boy, we on you. And you ain’t got nobody that can stop us, nobody. Who you go [to] the deacons? They can’t stop us. We going to beat your fat a– in front of your mama congregation Sunday. Yeah we going to steal the sheep of the hypocrite. You’s a hypocrite we going to beat your fat a– in front of your own congregation. Who you got that…f— we going to beat their a– too. They can’t protect you. You sell out you Uncle Tom a– n—–. You token. You a puppet for Bruce Rauner you puppet n—– a–. P—- a– n—–,” the voice says on the recording.

On Saturday he was notified that his church had been burglarized and $8,000 stolen from a special glass offering box.

A coming oil glut? Part 2

As we can see from the above chart oil prices began a steep increase beginning in 2002 and while the observed data does not prove causation it certainly suggests a linkage between oil prices and the meltdown of 2008. Network television ran several stories wherein the the aggrieved subject had just purchased the dream home in the suburbs only to find the price of gasoline made driving to work a losing proposition yet practically no one pointed to rising oil prices as a danger to the economy. Instead higher gas prices could be offset by one more mindless Bush tax rebate. The mortgage meltdown is a scandal all to itself but let's sample the conventional wisdom of 2009 from none other than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
2/27/08 – Testimony before the Senate Banking Committee
I expect there will be some failures [among smaller regional banks]… Among the largest banks, the capital ratios remain good and I don’t anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large, internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system
4/2/08 – New York Times article after the collapse of Bear Stearns
“In separate comments, Mr. Bernanke went further than he had in the past, suggesting that the Fed would remain aggressive and vigilant to prevent a repetition of a collapse like that of Bear Stearns, though he said he saw no such problems on the horizon.”

6/10/08 – Remarks before a bankers’ conference in Chatham, Massachusetts
The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.
7/16/08 – Testimony before House Financial Services Committee
[Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are] adequately capitalized. They are in no danger of failing… [However,] the weakness in market confidence is having real effects as their stock prices fall, and it’s difficult for them to raise capital.

Only in America! In sane universe Mr. Bernanke would be doing hard labor in Leavenworth until he was 90 for failing to see the obvious but instead of a well deserved banishment to NPR or MSNBC where he could do no further harm to the economy President Obama deemed this imbecile to be essential to his plan to remake America and appointed him to a second 6 year term.
Okay competent government helps but it is limited to what it can accomplish in the face of rising oil prices. It can embark, as the Obama administration did, on a horrendous concatenation of pipe dreams of solar panels, high speed rail systems, electric cars, hydrogen highways, and a promised 1 million green jobs but they amount to little more than wasted money and wasted verbiage.
Harold Hamm is regarded as the father of the Bakken Shale oil discovery. While the Bakken is now only the third largest producer of crude oil in 2009 in was viewed as spectacular success and a giant step toward energy independence and national economic well being. An enthusiastic Harold Hamm met with Obama and with much pride and glee told the President that in the Green River formation alone the federal government could earn enough oil and gas royalties to pay down the entire national debt. He says that Obama talked about new battery technology and said that the country would soon be able to move away from fossil fuels. You can't fix stupid! It must be one hell of a battery!
Even with a president antagonistic toward energy and bereft of common sense the country finds itself on the edge of energy independence. What does that portend. In the near term it probably means some pain as oil production runs up against refining capacity. As stated yesterday it is not legal to export crude oil but it is legal to export refined oil products such as gasoline and aviation fuel but if refining capacity is inadequate expect the near term price of oil to plummet stopping almost all new drilling.

Fortunately the future of natural gas is brighter. Anticipating a domestic shortage of natural gas companies began constructing import terminal which can modified into export facilities. The Department of Energy has already approved two facilities one in Texas and another in Louisiana and so far has not shown any of the bureaucratic truculence endemic to the Obama administration.
In the long term and assuming competent leadership the United States has it within its reach to pay down the national debt and once again achieve a positive balance of trade, something that has not existed since 1975. The number one import has been crude oil and going to an economy where exports exceed imports would strengthen the dollar. The availability of cheap energy should give the US a competitive edge in manufacturing especially those products that require large amounts of energy to produce.
In late 2008 crude oil prices spiked at $148 per barrel. While countries in the Middle East have lower production costs than the US the fracking revolution has given the US for the first time the ability to set a cap on oil prices. The magic number of $70 per barrel at which domestic drilling will stop is also the point at which it will begin should OPEC attempt to push prices higher.

The partisan knowledge gap

The Pew Research quiz From ISIS to Unemployment: What Do Americans Know? is a real eye opener. If you would like test your knowledge stop reading and go here as this post will reveal the answers. The quiz scores come from a random sample of 1003 Americans who were interviewed by phone not the online questionnaire.

How charitable of Pew to call the partisan knowledge gap "modest". Less than half of the Democrats knew what Common Core is. Notice independents also did better than Democrats.
"Differences in news knowledge across partisan groups are relatively modest, though Republicans tend to do somewhat better than Democrats overall.
Republicans are 16 points more likely than Democrats to answer the Common Core question correctly (58% vs. 42%). And 57% of Republicans identify the oil industry as a primary driver of growth in North Dakota, compared with 42% of Democrats.
On other issues, such as the unemployment rate, there are hardly any differences in news knowledge between Republicans and Democrats. Just 38% of Republicans and 34% of Democrats know that the unemployment rate is currently closest to 6%. Many Americans overestimate the current unemployment rate: 27% say it is closest to 9%, while an additional 18% think the rate is closest to 12%."
No wonder the party is forever telling us we don't spend enough on education.

A coming oil glut? Part 1

The other day a post in the Intelligence Wheeling News-Register caught my attention. "Two geology professors do not expect to see a slowdown in Marcellus and Utica shale drilling just because the price of oil dropped from a recent high of $107 per barrel in May to $82.75 Monday." I agree with that conclusion although I'm not sure whether geologists have a better record than bloggers at predicting energy trends. One of the geologists makes the point that $70 per barrel oil might kill that boom and again I agree and would note that both bloggers and geologists have a better record than politicians in the area of energy trends. Governor John Kasich seems willing to bet the solvency of his state in the oil futures market. If only he can persuade enough Republicans to join him and his many friends from across the aisle to place a higher severance tax on oil and gas there will be tax cuts and Medicaid for all. Right now I would give him an outside chance of being rated as the best governor since Ted Strickland.
I have a sister who would line up behind Kasich to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Taxing oil companies more seems to be a panacea to cure any economic ill. But they have all that money! Yes, but they didn't get all that money by selling oil below their production costs and a severance tax only adds to the cost.
I have been bullish on Ohio's Utica Shale since before the first well was drilled but let's face it; it is expensive oil. It probably will not produce oil below $70 and we may find ourselves at that point sooner rather than later. Of course the wells will continue to pump but new drilling will decline. Currently the Utica is working 46 rigs and produces 40,000 barrels of oil per day. Let's look at the competition. Note-production figures are approximate.

Oil field	Working rigs Oct. 14	Barrels per day
Bakken	192	1.1 million
Eagle Ford	216	1.5 million
Permian Basin	568	1.7 million

The Permian Basin is located in West Texas and New Mexico and is larger than the entire state of Ohio. Production figures declined through 2007 and the basin was generally considered to be drilled out. With the advent of fracking and horizontal drilling it will make the United States energy independent in the very near future. Everyday sees a new production record and the Permian could double production in just 2 years. Here the $70 per barrel price becomes relevant as the country's oil production runs up against its refining capacity. Good luck getting a new refinery permitted by Obama's EPA and crude cannot be exported owing to legislation enacted in the golden age of Jimmy Carter. Drilling will not cease but only the most productive fields will see new drilling. Tar sand oil from Canada may not be competitive meaning that permission to begin construction of the Keystone pipeline may moot.
It's not that Obama's obdurate unwillingness to further the common good has not had some success. The lack of pipelines has hobbled production in North Dakota's Bakken and much of the oil must be shipped via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, a concern owned by Obama crony Warren Buffet. It should be noted that the EPA killed construction of a new refinery in North Dakota after delaying the permit for 5 years.


I'll explore the impact of cheap oil on Ohio and the nation in another post.
 

Oh good! Ebola victim was screened at JFK

Healthcare worker returned through JFK Airport on Oct. 17, participated in enhanced screening for all returning travelers from W. Africa.
— CDC (@CDCgov) October 24, 2014

Yes, that should show the doubting Thomases who claimed that the CDC's enhanced screening practice was just another feel good gimmick.
When coupled with a terrorist attack on two NYC police officers on the same day the latest Ebola case is truly terrifying. It should be noted that when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio held a televised news conference they were joined by CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden on the phone. Nowhere to be seen or heard was the newly minted Ebola czar, Ron Klain.
Hellava job, Ronny.
Americans should be excused for thinking Klain's appointment was also a feel good gimmick. It's just an unfortunate coincidence that when the nation needed reassurance he was MIA. Meanwhile the New York power elite tried to explain why a doctor returning from treating Ebola patients was so incredibly irresponsible that he made no attempt to isolate himself but took public transportation and even visited a bowling alley the night before he was admitted to Bellevue. In a rational world he would have been quarantined until after the elections.
Trust us we know exactly what to do. NYC cops who secured Dr. Spencer's apartment disposed of the tape and their masks in a trash can on the street.

Dealing with ISIS

Do you ever feel your world is falling apart?

Obama asserts executive privilege for Eric Holder's wife

Whatever else you may think of Obama give him credit for having brass. A more modest and more circumspect chief executive could never cultivate the effrontery to claim executive privilege for his attorney general's wife's email but that is just what the the President of the most transparent administration ever has done. This latest example of brazen lawlessness came to light in a FOIA lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch that seeks documents surrounding the Fast and Furious scandal.

The document details the Attorney General Holder’s personal involvement in managing the Justice Department’s strategy on media and Congressional investigations into the Fast and Furious scandal.  Notably, the document discloses that emails between Attorney General Holder and his wife Sharon Malone – as well as his mother – are being withheld under an extraordinary claim of executive privilege as well as a dubious claim of deliberative process privilege under the Freedom of Information Act.  The “First Lady of the Justice Department” is a physician and not a government employee.

Judicial Watch has not had time to review the massive document known as the Vaughn Index as it was not received until 8:34 PM yesterday, just hours ahead of the court ordered deadline. A cursory review finds:

• Numerous emails that detail Attorney General Holder’s direct involvement in crafting talking points, the timing of public disclosures, and handling Congressional inquiries in the Fast and Furious matter.

• President Obama has asserted executive privilege over nearly 20 email communications between Holder and his spouse Sharon Malone. The administration also claims that the records are also subject to withholding under the “deliberative process” exemption. This exemption ordinarily exempts from public disclosure records that could chill internal government deliberations.

• Numerous entries detail DOJ’s communications (including those of Eric Holder) concerning the White House about Fast and Furious.

• The scandal required the attention of virtually every top official of the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Communications to and from the United States Ambassador to Mexico about the Fast and Furious matter are also described.

• Many of the records are already publicly available such as letters from Congress, press clips, and typical agency communications. Ordinarily, these records would, in whole or part, be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.  Few of the records seem to even implicate presidential decision-making and advice that might be subject to President Obama’s broad and unprecedented executive privilege claim.

The Ambassador to Mexico! His boss would be Hillary Rodham Clinton? What difference does it make at this time?

CNN anchor Costello laughs at woman being beaten

  Wow.
  This is pretty incredible video.
  Carol Costello at CNN thinks it's really really funny to play audio of Bristol Palin's account of being assaulted.
  She finds it delicious dish to play audio of a sobbing young woman who is recounting her ordeal, finishing the segment with a smug "you can thank me later" for playing this clip, which she describes as "quite possible the best minute and a half of audio we've ever come across."
  I don't know what to say after watching this, other than wow.
  This isn't even prejudice anymore.
  It's vicious, mind blowing, full blown hate on display, most remarkably from a woman who expects to make her career in "journalism," which admittedly isn't anymore.
  It's pretty hard to believe these are the same people piously pursing their lips and pretending that the Republicans have a "war on women" while laughing at and ignoring violence against women, both in the US and abroad in Muslim states.
  Washington Examiner has commentary.
  I just don't want to hear another word about violence against women.
  I also want Costello fired.
  Meanwhile I'll wait for her to laugh at the next funny thing, like a disembowelment or the murder of thousands of Iraqi Christians.
  Yeah, that's the ticket.
  Shocking but, sadly, not surprising.

Yes we miss the oil slick

So that's the trouble with Obama's administration. It's still hobbled by the BP oil spill. It's odd that Senator Hagan should mention an event that happened in April of 2010 but then again it was Obama's first test of presidential leadership and a monumental failure at that. Obama, one supposes, should be grateful that she didn't mention Fast and Furious or the Benghazi attack. It would be interesting to see if Obama could out poll BP 4 years after the spill.

Classy Kay Hagan skips debate

It is not a good sign when a candidate's campaign hires a crisis management specialist 15 days before the election but that is what Senator Kay Hagan's team has done. I cannot remember another candidate skipping a scheduled one on one debate just prior to an election but the gentle lady from Greensboro did just that leaving her opponent Thom Tillis to debate an empty chair causing a clever wag at Twitchy to post "Eastwooding’ makes a comeback; Sen. Kay Hagan a no-show at debate".
It has been credibly reported that the Hagan family used stimulus funds, a bill that Hagan proudly voted for, to refurbish one of it many businesses, formed another company to do the work, and pocketed the savings instead of returning the unused funds to the government.
Now, rather than comment on the charges her supporter have elected to play the race card by distributing flyers depicting a lynching. That is real class! The North Carolina-based Fayetteville Observer reported on Monday that churchgoers in Cumberland County were appalled on Sunday when they were treated to an image of a Jim Crow-era lynching on a flyer warning of what may occur if Republicans take control of the Senate.


Yes, the Post-bellum South has many sins to for which to atone. Electing Kay Hagan is one of them.
It was too much for Rachel Maddow who skewered Hagan for throwing the debate and possibly the election.

Occupy occupies Ferguson

    Looks like CNN got the Fox treatment by the Occupy crowd, which has encamped itself in Ferguson. This video is quite remarkable. Littered with the F word, the "protesters" include in their "protestations" complaints about the way they were treated in places like Oakland, complaints about "Zionists" who apparently run the CNN News and general complaints about being misunderstood.
  It's pretty pathetic for these "adults" to spend their lives screaming invectives at reporters in hot spots around the country but here we are. 
  The general unrest, however,  in various cities is indicative of the trouble Occupy has tried to start for years while Obama is in office. Breitbart News notes that the main agitator is a "Pro-Palestinian activist" whose parents are Middle Eastern.
  Terrorism in a different form.

AP-GfK poll; Women prefer Republicans 44% to 42%

So how's that war on women working out for you, Mr. President?
"Women have moved in the GOP’s direction since September. In last month’s AP-GfK poll, 47 percent of female likely voters said they favored a Democratic-controlled Congress while 40 percent wanted the Republicans to capture control. In the new poll, the two parties are about even among women, 44 percent prefer the Republicans, 42 percent the Democrats."



Tina Brown is on point for once. When push come to shove, when war and disease threaten, women and men both vote for security. They worry about their safety and their children's safety. It should surprise no one that this same poll gives Republicans have a 22% advantage in the area of foreign affairs.

Income inequality is Fed policy

I was in my neighborhood butcher shop getting an estimate on a porterhouse when I perceived the strident chimes and hushed faux British accent that could only come from NPR. The subject chosen for analysis was income inequality and it was breathlessly reported that even the Grand Dame of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen had chosen to take up Occupy wall Street's and the Democratic Party's favorite talking point.
Even with the trappings of her official capacity it's hard for Yellen to sound eloquent owing to her harsh Jewish Brooklyn accent. One keeps waiting for her to do her Bugs Bunny impression.

“The wealthiest 5 percent of American households held 54 percent of all wealth reported in the 1989 survey. Their share rose to 61 percent in 2010 and reached 63 percent in 2013;
“The lower half of households by wealth, held just 3 percent of wealth in 1989 and only 1 percent in 2013. To put that in perspective…the average net worth of the lower half of the distribution, representing 62 million households, was $11,000 in 2013.”
“This $11,000 average is 50 percent lower than the average wealth of the lower half of families in 1989, adjusted for inflation."
"A bee a blee a blee that all folks"

As Chesterfield said, the posture is ridiculous. It is not unlike a surgeon inveighing against the high rate of morbidity in his own operating room. It's almost an Obamaesque, passive voiced "mistakes were made" non apology. Give us a break lady! It is you, not Glenn Beck, who is pumping $85 billion into the economy each and every month as you attempt to achieve prosperity through inflation. Note bene! The lower 50 percent did not have their wages cut in half since 1989 they had their purchasing power gutted by the very inflation that you champion. And now we have income inequality, the worst we've seen in a hundred years. Imagine that! Take a bow!
It is the Federal Reserve that has defended the Dow averages at the expense of the dollar. Following the Fed's, Obama's, and Yellen's logic when the Dow is at 50,000 and the dollar is worthless we all be happy in dream world of "inequality for everyone".
Here the Republican are really missing the boat by allowing themselves to be blamed for Obama's failed economic policies. Forget the poor. They are doing just fine with their Obama phones and food stamps. It is the middle class that is being hollowed out. Republicans should ignore the lofty sounding income inequality shtick and embrace the fight against the high cost of living. That phrase is honest, unpretentious, and understandable to middle class voters who pay as much 24% on credit card debt while receiving a measly 1% return on the bank savings. Even in Jimmy Carter's days savers at least got a toaster when they opened an account.
Simply put Republicans should make living cheaper. Government policies that drive up the cost of anything should be fought, be they farm price supports, sugar import quotas, ethanol mandates, automotive CAFE standards, appliance energy efficiency standards and student loans to name a few. They should demand a strong dollar and the protection of job opportunities from illegal immigrants. The Democrats have waged war on the middle class for decades. It's time they got the credit they deserve.

Immigrants have taken most US jobs since 2000

Just an addendum to my partner's post. Who should get the jobs as the economy recovers? Since 2000 most job growth has accrued to immigrants.



Finally.
The economy is starting to crank out new jobs.
But who should get those jobs?
Government data show nearly ALL job growth since 2000 has gone to new immigrant workers.
So, should Congress continue ADDING one million immigrants a year to compete for jobs?
Or should the jobs go to the millions of Americans and legal immigrants already here, still looking for work?
What do your Senators think?
Find out at numbersusa.com.
Paid for by NumbersUSA
The video is part of a 7 figure ad buy and will run in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

Obama's plan to devastate Black work force by importing 35 MILLION low paid workers

  We can call them the "gang who can't shoot straight" but this is worse than not "shooting straight.
  Obama's immigration plan will devastate minorities, their work force, their schools and perhaps even their health.
  Does anyone doubt that thousands of Haitians imported without a visa will descend on primarily minority communities?
  Does anyone doubt that importing millions, MILLIONS of low paid workers, will further devastate Black & Hispanic communities? Black communities who already chronically have double the unemployment rate of whites?
  Does anyone doubt that these immigrants, who currently are not subject to health checks that will prevent bringing diseases into these country, diseases for which these immigrants have developed immunity, will primarily affect minority communities?
  We already have illegal immigrants parading in front of the White House, at local restaurants, at state houses around the country with signs written in Spanish demanding higher pay for flipping burgers? 
  A pay increase that would put the burger flippers who don't speak English in a higher wage category than soldiers currently serving on the battlefield or in Africa as Ebola fighters?
  34 million passports, an increase of ten percent of the population, are scheduled to be issued by Democrats in the next five years, with the expectation that Obama will begin the "transformation" and Hillary will finish it.
  We already have a ruling Democrat party who has booted much of industry and manufacturing from this country. They don't like gas. They don't like oil. They don't like Walmart. They don' t like private businesses. They actively work against Christian businesses such as Hobby Lobby and Chick Fil-A. They've pushed for higher and higher wages to the point that much industry has moved overseas to avoid the union stranglehold of regular pay increases and federal regulations.
  So there's no border control at all; in fact, many suspect that Obama's people have been advertising in foreign countries in addition to Mexico to encourage the flooding of our country with cheap labor, diseases, dependent voters who will always, always, always vote for Democrats.
  Washington Times:

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday threw open the door to as many as 100,000 Haitians, who will now move into the United States without a visa. Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, rightly and accurately denounced enabling Haitians awaiting a U.S. visa to enter the country and legally apply for work permits as “an irresponsible overreach of the executive branch’s authority.”

That was just the beginning. The immigration agency earlier this month had solicited a printer able to handle a “surge” of 9 million green cards “to support possible future immigration-reform initiative requirements.” In an ordinary year, about 1 million green cards are issued, and over the life of this contract the company is expected to produce up to 34 million cards, a figure representing an increase of the population of the United States by 10 percent.

  Where are the Republicans on this issue?
  Most Americans do not want this. Legal and measured immigration, yes. Flooding the borders with cheap labor and diseased criminals, no.
  Where are the Republicans?
  Just remember. 
  If you get paid any of the millions  the government is paying to care for these newly immigrated children, you have to guarantee you'll give their size XL underpants extra helpings of food and you'll observe their religious holidays, even if your religious holidays are under attack.
  Wake up, minority Americans.
  Massive immigration isn't about you.
  It's about keeping the ruling class in power, with you supplicating at the throne to even kiss the ring.

Has anybody here seen my old friend, Vivek Murthy? Can you tell me where he's gone?

The next time you hear some media hack bemoaning the fact that the nation does not have a surgeon general you should light a votive candle for NRA President Jim Porter and cut a check to his organization. Yes, the reason Vivek Murthy is not embarrassing the country in the public media is because Porter announced the vote for his nomination would be scored on each senator's NRA rating. No arm twisting, just a subtle reminder to the senators that he would be taking names, was all Porter had to do to ice the career of the founder of Doctors for Obama.
There are two groups in Washington that politicians know they can only cross once; Right to Life and the NRA and when Obama attempted to reward a subservient lackey with a public platform that reality hit home. Harry Reid changed the Senate rule on the filibuster just so ideologues like Murthy could be confirmed without a single Republican vote. So why confirmation vote? It could be that Harry Reid values his own "B" lifetime NRA rating but more likely because it would further endanger the endangered careers of Senators Begich, Hagan, Landrieu, Pryor, Shaheen and Udall.
When the Senate begins work on next year's budget Republicans might consider that if the nation could survive an Ebola outbreak without a surgeon general it may be a that the position is a colossal waste of tax dollars that add to the nation's indebtedness with no tangible benefit to the population. Hats off to Jim Porter and the NRA for not burdening cable television viewers with one more ideologue prating inanities. It is because the Senate has allowed the administration to populate itself with political operatives that the federal government is neither competent nor credible. This is partisan gridlock; not bipartisan gridlock. Harry Reid and the Democrats own this failure but it is a harsh reflection on a president so bereft of vision and political talent that he would nominate a candidate his own party would not support.

Many walk out on Obama at Maryland rally

When you're hot you're hot. When you're not you're not. As Obama rose to speak at a political rally in  Maryland for Democratic candidate for governor Anthony Brown many in the crowd began to leave. The White House pool report described the mass exodus as “unusual”. Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason tweeted the exodus was both noticeable and noisy.

Steady stream of people leaving Maryland rally continues as Obama speaks. It's noticeable and noisy. They would have waited hours to get in.
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) October 19, 2014

Lots of people, at least up front near where journalists are sitting, appear to be leaving this rally now that Obama has started speaking.
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) October 19, 2014

Who says Democratic voters are dispirited?

Go Green! Fracking is more environmentally friendly than solar panels or wind turbines

Don't expect to read about this study in the Toledo Blade but a British study has found fracking to be less environmentally damaging than installing solar panels or offshore wind turbines.

The study conducted by the University of Manchester suggests that the production of panels and turbines result in a greater depletion of natural resources which have an impact on freshwater and marine organisms also heavy metals and other toxic elements used in the life cycle of solar panels and wind turbines give them a ‘human toxicity’ rating at least three times greater than for shale. The study also found that solar panels cause more damage to the ozone layer than shale gas because of the use of tetrafluoroethylene in the production of cells, furthermore the silver and tellurium used to produce silicon cells for panels and steel used in turbines mean these renewable energy sources score far worse for resource depletion.

The end of Alison Grimes

What a disastrous end game! Critics said Alison Lundergan Grimes should have been ready when a member of the Louisville Courier Journal editorial board asked her if he had voted for Obama. Grimes refused to answer the question then and for the benefit of all those who missed it repeated the error in a debate that was televised statewide. One might draw some consolation in the fact that she is not a fast talking lawyer; merely a lawyer. Following her double gaff the DSCC cut its loses and declined to buy more air time in Kentucky.



By Friday Rasmussen had released a poll showing Grimes to be behind by 8 points 52 percent to 44 percent. This is well out of the margin of error and with McConnell above 50 percent signals an easy GOP win in Kentucky.

You can't make carpenter out of a pile buck

It's a common joke in the building trades that you can take a carpenter and make a pile driver of him but you can't a pile driver and make him a carpenter. Dr. Thomas Freiden is evidence that you can take a doctor and make a political hack of him and Ron Klain is about to prove that you can't take a political hack and make a doctor of him. Somehow the public is to be reassured that by hearing from a hack who has no idea what he is talking about, who reports to someone who no one believes, Susan Rice, that it is receiving the best care that medical science can offer.
"Hmm, you seem to have contracted a case of nation malaise. There's a lot of that going around. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
Sadly, the world does not produce enough aspirin to to treat the headaches produced by the Obama administration. Dr. Freiden has taken a the CDC from an agency that enjoyed a 60% public approval rating just a year ago to one that is running just ahead of the Veterans Administration in a race to the bottom. This CBS poll shows the decline in public confidence in the past 18 months of governmental institutions.

Ratings of Government Agencies
(% who say Excellent or Good Job)

	Now	5/13 Gallup Poll
Federal Bureau of Investigation	51%	55%
Central Intelligence Agency	44%	40%
Dept. of Homeland Security	43%	46%
Environmental Protection Agency	39%	41%
Secret Service	38%	n/a
Centers for Disease Control	37%	60%
Food and Drug Admin	37%	45%
Internal Revenue Service	31%	27%
Veterans Administration	30%	n/a

There is one institution that still enjoys high public approval. The military rates a 73% approval rating but Obama is setting it up for a failure by sending it on a mission it is not equipped to complete. Only Obama could think paratroopers have the know how to build hospitals. Give me a break! The 101st has one of the most storied and glorious histories of any combat division. From the Battle of the Bulge in World War II to Hamburger Hill in Vietnam these men fought with a bravery most think went out of vogue a century ago but no where in its history is it recorded that anyone drove a single nail.
Yes, the know-it-alls, in the media will proclaim but they will be under the supervision of the Army Corp of Engineers. Great! The Army Corp of Engineers is for the most part a civilian agency whose chief responsibility is overseeing the construction of dams, bridges, locks and levees and keeping the country's navigable rivers navigable. They hire private companies to design the dams and bridges and hire other private companies to build them. They hire other companies to dredge the channels which means pumping sand from here to there. Necessary but not exactly high tech. Most of their work is on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers. Like the NASA they are purchasers of technology not technologists. This is not to say that they are dull witted people but they do not nor does any Army sector build anything. The agency's forte is the accumulation of congressional earmarks as the above mentioned rivers flow through scores of congressional districts.
The modern Army has subbed out most commissary and security functions on its stateside bases to keep more troops combat ready. Why would anyone with an ounce of sense tinker with combat readiness to achieve some sort of international public relations coup? Is the deployment to West Africa merely a ploy to drag to military's esteem down to the VA's level? Thank God the country still reveres the military but no one would want Alvin York or Audie Murphy to wire their homes even if they were resurrected for that sole purpose. You can't make carpenter out of a pile buck.

Obama expediting visas from Ebola infected countries

  Have you been wondering if Obama is an idiot? Incompetent? An America hater? 
  Well, let this information help you make up your mind:
  Doug Ross has the story of the Obama administration's DHS EXPEDITING VISAS from infected countries. Screw banning flights from the diseased populace. Instead BRING MORE in!
  They even have lawyers lined up to help sue to get in.
  Infected individuals such as Duncan can get their fees waived by the Obama administration. He was high risk but he received a visa anyway.
  Even other African countries have banned visitors from the afflicted nations, which is how places like Nigeria have kept their risks low.
  Overstaying visas is a chronic problem for Liberians, according to the Washington Post:

Vaughn also pointed out that Liberians have an extremely high rate of “visa overstays” — higher than all other countries except Cuba, Burundi, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2012, she said, the Department of Homeland Security reported to Congress that 148 visiting Liberians had remained in the U.S. illegally.

In the past five years, the number of Liberians issued U.S. visitors’ visas has risen sharply. Last year about 3,500 were granted to Liberians, and a total of about 13,500 were granted to people from the three ebola-stricken countries — Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

  So, yeah. Here we are, with the most incompetent, malevolent administration in our history damaging the country.

 

Does Whole Foods or Cracker Barrel Denote Democrat or Republican?

On the lighter, if not too scientific, side of politics David Wasserman at FiveThirtyEight has resurrected the Whole Foods - Cracker Barrel predictor of election outcomes. He shot down the Chick-Fil-A - Starbucks forecasting model noting that Chick-Fil-A has a store in New York's Greenwich and Starbucks has several locations in Salt Lake City.
Both Whole Foods and Cracker Barrel are adept at marketing a lifestyle, with an emphasis on “local” and “close to home.” They have similar reaches: Cracker Barrel counts restaurants in 42 states, while Whole Foods just hit its 43rd state.

In 2010, when Republicans regained control of the House, 82 percent of the 66 districts they flipped from Democratic control contained a Cracker Barrel; just 20 percent contained a Whole Foods.
The good news for Republicans in 2014 is that most of the top 12 competitive Senate races are playing out in Cracker Barrel country more than in Whole Foods country. In fact, just three of the 12 Senate races with less than a 95 percent certainty in the latest FiveThirtyEight Senate forecast are in states where more voters live in Whole Foods counties than Cracker Barrel counties.

I remain an agnostic on this theory. I have never set foot in a Whole Foods store and while Cracker Barrel is top shelf in the estimation of my down home in-laws I wince every time I remember the plate of undercooked chicken livers I was served years ago in Durham, North Carolina.

CDC director: Obama has "leaned forward" on dealing with Ebola crisis

  I made a note of this during the October 8 Frieden speech about the Ebola crisis.
  What I didn't realize on October 8 that others have noted the significance of using the phrase in previous instances, including September 30.
  Why did it bother me then and continues to bother me now?
  Because it indicates that Dr. Frieden is intent on using the occurrence of Ebola in the US as a political tool. 
  It indicates that Frieden is willing to politicize even this disease, placing politics over public health.

Obama: not MY decision to "end war in Iraq"

  This is pretty hilarious from the Washington Beacon. Wha-wha-what? Me to blame for creating the mess that is Iraq?

Democrats scramble to blame conservatives for Ebola crisis

  One of the first actions by Leftists when the Ebola crisis was exposed in Dallas was to crow that conservatives/Republicans should be thankful for the actions of big government.
  "I find it ironic", they said, "that the very people who hate big government are now begging for government to help."
  That line stood until the virus hit the fan and revealed how utterly conflicted and incompetent the CDC and federal government are in dealing with just about any crisis that doesn't involve raising taxes as remedy.
  Then the spin machine began to flutter, madly out of control.
  Well, no, no, it's because the "index patient" came to the red state of Texas. That's the problem. Red states can't handle anything.
  Well, well, that didn't go over so it's the fault of Republicans because they won't pass a Democrat loonie for Surgeon General.
  Yeah, that's the ticket.
  No? Lead balloon?
  Well, then, Republicans are fearmongers. There's nothing to this crisis, even though even the CDC website cautions that even tiny droplets can spread the virus.
  Uh, it was the NRA who was responsible for the Ebola crisis.
  Oh, that's really logical.
  So the Left is panicking, like a turtle on its back that can't right itself.
  Cue the Darth Vader breathing machine; can we haul in some wheelchairs for this ad to make it even more meaningful?
  No? 
  Ok, let's leave that to someone else to blame Republicans for everything something.
  Yeah, that's the ticket!
  We'll blame CUTS on people who want fiscal sanity for the nightmare of Ebola coming to our shores.
  Never mind all the stupid s--t we've spent money on at the CDC like: why lesbians are fat, which wives calm down quickly, what bus riders think of AIDS ads, how to flirt with greater finesse, not to mention the fancy fitness centers and CDC buildings worth millions of dollars.

  Um, given the comments below this video, I don't think this technique is working either.
  Better think of some other reason to blame Republicans.
  The CDC has already moved to blame the nurse herself who treated Duncan for catching Ebola by not following some kind of protocol.
  Why is it her fault?
  Well, because she just graduated 4 years ago and probably just didn't follow protocol.
  I don't know about you, but my personal observation is that people new in a field, particularly medical, tend to be more meticulous about following proper protocols because they're being watched, their training is more recent & thus familiar and they haven't acquired the laziness and overconfidence that often comes with "experience."
  Maybe it is her fault, but this is pretty shameful behavior by the CDC.
  Blame the health care provider.
  Yeah, that's the ticket.

Toledo Tea Party meeting tonight Oct. 13

Hear discussion on school levys that will appear on November Ballot (Springfield, Toledo, Perrysburg)
at Ramada Inn
Make plans for Dinner with Rep Jim Jordan

---

Toledo Tea Party
October 13, 2014
7:00-9:00 pm 

*Membership Information
*Introduce Representative from Toledo Public Schools
*Liberty Dinner (Oct 28th)
*Rex Fulk will discuss the Springfield School Levy
 
*Gun Raffle
*Common Core Petition/signs
*Introduce Candidates and allow 2-3 minutes for each to address the meeting

Action Items:

*Common Core Petition
*Contact the Common Core list again
*Fund Raiser for Drew Blaszik-Cock and Bull Thursday at 5 pm

Next Meeting:  Monday November 10th at 7 pm.  Tom Waniewski will talk about the Blight Commission in Toledo and we will begin collecting Toys for Tots
 

 

Senator Pat Roberts implicates Valerie Jarrett in IRS scandal

My main problem with Senator Pat Roberts is I always confuse him with either that fellow on the 700 Club or the host of Wheel of Fortune. Considering the time he spends in his home state one might imagine many Kansas voters face the same dilemma. Was this remark just a ploy to attract the attention of the Tea Party supporters who may not support him after his bitter primary fight with Milton Wolf? Why have we not heard it before? One would expect the Senator to provide some evidence in the weeks before the election. No one who has followed the IRS scandal thinks it was a creation of Lois Lerner and conspiring with Valerie Jarrett is certainly possible if not probable but whose side was Roberts on during the senate investigation? Were he not in a tight election would this alleged conspiracy ever have become public?

Democrats may pay dearly for Obama's low job approval

In a September 30 post I cited three election models that point to a Republican takeover of the senate and promised to revisit those data. In the original post the Washington Post's Election Lab gave the Republicans a 77% probability of capturing the senate. Today that probably has been raised to 95%. On September 30, the New York Times' LEO gave the GOP a 67% probability of winning the senate. Today it has backed off a bit to 65%. Five Thirty Eight dropped the GOP's chance from 61 to 57.8%. What do these movements portend? Probably nothing. Polling more than a month out has proven to be unreliable. It is useful to determine trends but overall not an accurate predictor of election day behavior. Many voters have not made up their minds and they cannot tell pollsters what they do not know.
Sean Trend at Real Clear Politics has an insightful post that pegs the chances of Republican candidates to Obama's job approval rating. The  polling data, from 2010,  used in the graphic were obtained from exit polling. Generally there is plenty of polling on the president's job approval at the national level but not so much at the state level. Notice no Democrat was able to run more than 4 points above Obama's approval rating. Mid term elections are referenda on the president. He is not on the ballot but his programs are and Obama was perfectly truthful and correct when he said as much.

• To save you the trouble of looking up the final results they are:
• Kentucky, Rand Paul, 55.8, Jack Conway 44.2
• Nevada, Harry Reid 50.2, Sharron Angle 44.6
• Indiana, Dan Coats, 54.6, Brad Ellsworth, 40
• Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, 51, Joe Sestak, 49
• Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, 55.1, Linda McMahon, 43.3
• Washington, Patty Murray, 51.9, Dino Rossi, 48.1
• Missouri, Roy Blunt, 54.3, Robin Carnahan, 40.6
• Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, 51.9, Russ Feingold, 47
• Arkansas, John Boozman, 58, Blanche Lincoln, 36.9
• Colorado, Michael Bennet, 47.7, Ken Buck, 46.8
• California, Barbara Boxer, 52.1, Carly Fiorina 42.3
• Ohio, Rob Portman, 57.3, Lee Fisher 39
• Illinoise, Mark Kirk, 48.2, Alexi Giannoulias, 46.3
• Hew Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte, 60.2, Paul Hodes, 36.7

Trend also provides the same data for the 2012 Senate races but with Obama on the ballot the Democrats were able to pick up 2 seats.
Now lets look at some Senate races that are competitive or may become competitive. The number of undecided voters is still very high. The Obama job approval numbers are taken from YouGov poll, a joint venture between CBS and the New York Times.

State	Democrat	Republican	Obama Job Approval
IL	Dick Durbin	Jim Oberweis	45%
MN	Al Franken	Mike McFadden	40%
NJ	Cory Booker	Jeff Bell	46%
NM	Tom Udall	Allen Weh	44%
OR	Jeff Merkley	Monica Wehby	44%
VA	Mark Warner	Ed Gillespie	43%
MI	Gary Peters	Terri Lynn Land	43%
NH	Jeanne Shaheen	Scott Brown	36%
AK	Mark Begich	Dan Sullivan	31%
AR	Mark Pryor	Tom Cotton	27%
CO	Mark Udall	Cory Gardner	42%
GA	Michelle Nunn	David Perdue	39%
IA	Bruce Braley	Joni Ernst	40%
KS	No Democrat	Pat Roberts	31%
KY	Alison Lundergan Grimes	Mitch McConnell	30%
LA	Mary Landrieu	Bill Cassidy	34%
NC	Kay Hagan	Thom Tillis	41%
MS	Travis Childers	Thad Cochran	36%
SD	Rick Weiland	Mike Rounds	36%
WV	Natalie Tennant	Shelley Moore Capito	24%

Obviously the Democrats have some heavy lifting to do but there are some caveats. As stated Obama job approval numbers broken down by state are hard to come by and relying on a single poll as I have done here would not be statistically defensible but that is the only data I could find. The alternative would be to use different polls for each state which would be even less precise. Trend indicates that in 2010 and 2012 no Democrat has run more than 10 points ahead of Obama's approval rating and 75% of the time has run within 5 points. Again the data he uses are derived from exit polls where there is no changing of minds and are conducted face to face.

" What I’m really interested in here, though, is that in the 31 competitive Senate races held in 2010 and 2012, the Democratic candidate has run within five points of the president’s job approval in 23 of them (75 percent). Additionally, no Democratic candidate in a competitive race has run more than 10 points ahead of the president’s job approval (or behind it)."

There are many events that could drive Obama's approval lower such as an ISIS attack on the United States, a serious outbreak of Ebola in the country or a sudden large drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average which is not that remote but few events that can lift his numbers significantly. This election could be the one that makes us forget 2010.

Bill Braley, Won't You Please Come Home

Michelle Obama repeatedly told an Iowa crowd to vote for the man she knows so well. Bruce Bailey. She must have confused him with Beetle Braley.

As long as we are on the subject here is how it's done.