Toledo Tea Party meets tonight!

The Toledo Tea Party is now meeting on the second Monday of each month.  Please stop by and learn what fellow conservatives are doing in Toledo and NW Ohio to restore conservative values to our community governments.
We need your help, and you needs ours.
You're invited to Toledo Tea Party Monthly Meeting to learn about conservative issues, and more importantly, what you can do to participate and make a difference.
September 8th, 2014  7p.m.
Ramada Inn
3536 Secor Rd
Toledo, OH 43606
(Secor Rd near I-475)

School Choice is the topic.

Fracking moves westward toward Canton, Akron

About its Utica-specific company, Aubrey calls it extraordinary. "In our view, pound per pound, it's the best gas rock in the U.S.." #ADConf
— HART ENERGY EVENTS (@HartEnergyConf) September 4, 2014

Actually Aubrey McClendon called the Utica "extraordinary" at the Hart Energy Conference in Dallas but the pound per pound verbiage will probably follow him for some time. He probably won't mind.
While the Utica has grabbed all the energy news in Ohio for the past 3 years at least one energy driller is looking to find profits in the Clinton sandstone formation in Stark County. EnerVest Ltd., based in Houston, has drilled several miniaturized horizontal wells, mostly around Louisville and Alliance in northeast Stark County, to test the potential profitability of the sandstone. Stark County is one of 23 Ohio counties that sit atop the Clinton. Drilling for oil and gas in the Clinton is not new. Stark county's first well was drilled in 1900. For that matter, fracking in the Clinton isn't new either. Years ago drillers used dynamite to "shoot" wells, cracking the hard stone to allow the oil and gas to escape. EnerVest is drilling mini horizontal wells with a depth of about 4000 feet and a lateral of 1500 feet and while production will never match that of the Utica the cost per well is a fraction of an Utica well. So far EnerVest has drilled 7 wells and it will be another 90 days before it will know if the Clinton can be profitable once again.
Another group that is exploring Clinton in Ohio is the Energy Cooperative, a Newark, Ohio, cooperative of several local utilities. The cooperative bored about 3,800 feet into Coshocton County, then horizontally another 2,800 feet.
We shall see.

Obama--tearful & in pain--sought solace at the golf course after beheading revelation

  Outrage of the day.
  Having brilliantly intuited after the brouhaha over the press conference where he publicly lamented the beheading of an American and seven (7) minutes later appeared on the golf course grinning like a hyena, Obama tried today to "fix" his "optics" problem by claiming--you probably didn't know this--he had been tearful and "heartbroken" over the whole beheading thing and how bad he felt for the family. 
  The Hill reports that Obama on MTP has declared that one of the reasons he was off kilter was because he was on vacation:

“It is always a challenge when you’re supposed to be on vacation...."

  And just in case we missed the whole tearful Obama part, let's go over it again.

"There's no doubt that — after having talked to the families, where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through, after the statement that I made, that you know, I should've anticipated the optics....That's part of the job."

  He's listening to the family's "pain" on the phone, shortly thereafter appears in front of the camera to make the obligatory perfunctory presidential statement, then scuttles over to the golf course seven (7) minutes later, even though he felt really really bad about the whole beheading thing. Like this:

  And like this, courtesy Political Clown Parade:

    Can't you sense his pain over their pain? He's just oozing pain and tears.

  But, seriously, anybody who really knows Obama knows, even though there will always be "tough news" to deal with, as he says, that he takes "all this stuff in" (like the beheadings stuff) because it's "serious business" (the beheadings are) and "you care very deeply about it," oddly avoiding the first person.

  Oh, and this, ROTFLMYO statement from WaPo:

"Part of this job is also the theater of it," Obama said, adding that "it's not something that always comes naturally to me.  But it matters."

   I just, I just can't even crack on that line, so obviously fabricated to cover his original insouciance.
  The part about the theater not coming naturally to him. 
  The part about his not being able to even fake sincerity. Like, the part about who are you gonna believe me or.
  I just can't even quip on that.
  Probably because of the whole beheadings stuff.
  It kinda throws me off kilter.
  Maybe I need to head to the golf course so I could feel a little more detached.
  That's where I do my best thinking, after all.
Update: Conservative Treehouse breaks down the politics and lies of the MTP interview.

Dr. David Pitts: Ivory Tower Occupant & Poster Boy for Wacky Academics

  Hey, kids, let's put on a show! 
  Remember that Mickey Rooney trope?
  The twenty first century version of that appears to be Let's burn up the town!
  Just imagine spending years of your life attaining higher degrees. Undergraduate, master's degree and then a PhD in 2005.
  You spend years writing important stuff. 
  You know. Stuff about diversity, LGBT causes, education.
  You're so successful in your career that you win honors and prizes from various groups.
  You're a Google scholar and your themes are always inclusion, race, sexual orientation and its impact on education, workplace diversity, leadership and empowerment in federal organizations.
  Your opinions are widely sought from federal, local and state authorities. You are on numerous editorial boards, because your opinion matters.

   In fact, you are:

.... a public management and policy scholar with a primary focus on workforce diversity and representative bureaucracy. His research examines how diversity among public officials can alter policy design and implementation, particularly when those policy changes affect target population outcomes and organizational performance. His research focuses on diversity in public schools, on how racial/ethnic diversity among school board members and teachers can affect student achievement and discipline outcomes. Pitts received the 2009 Robert Bailey Award for the Best Paper in LGBT Politics and the 2006 Leonard White Award for the Best Dissertation in Public Administration, both from the American Political Science Association

Pitts has provided technical assistance to organizations at the federal, state, and local levels, particularly on human capital issues, and serves as PhD program student development coordinator for the Department of Public Administration and Policy

  Then one day, a day when you've achieved the utmost at 37 years of age and have become the chair of your department at a prestigious university, you get arrested.
  For what?
  Burglary.
  Setting fires.
  Oh, and there was that illegal entry into a pharmacy and, one might imagine, therein will lie the justification for Dr. David Pitts's behavior. 
  Because he undoubtedly could not help his behavior. Because it's not his fault he's an _____ **addict**whisper**
  Because he was "disoriented," the Washington Post reports factually and without astonishment, Dr. Pitts:

According to an arrest affidavit, about 1 a.m. Thursday, Montgomery officers saw Pitts set a chair on fire near a guard shack at his apartment complex’s parking garage. Then, the documents state, he lit a newspaper on fire in front of a Starbucks and then set a fire in the woods off Embassy Park Drive. Police said they then saw Pitts force his way into the mall, giving him access to a pharmacy, bank and several doctors’ offices. The officers called D.C. police, and Pitts was arrested after a brief chase from the third level of the mall into the parking garage.

  Investigating his apartment, officers discovered " 5,431 prescription pills, including 2,310 Cialis pills, sedatives to treat insomnia and oxycodone."
  That's a lot of Cialis. 
  So why should this case interest the public, in addition to its remarkably bizarre details?
  Having acquired higher degrees myself, I've noted repeatedly throughout my education that many so-called educators are completely out of touch with society in general. 
  Many are vain, solipsistic and so driven by ideology that they can never be truly successful in their teaching. 
  That lack of success, in their minds, is the hallmark of their success.
  The only "students" in which these "teachers" have any interest are the easily persuadable. Those who accept their "teachers" as divinity and mirror their opinions, particularly politically.
  Pitts is an excellent example of a person who has so surrounded himself with his own propaganda in the vaunted Ivory Tower that he cannot or will not relate to the real world around him. 
  Of course, I'm painting with a broad brush.
  The problem is that we've seen this pattern among university employees over and over; it's not hard to anticipate Pitts's defense: he will have excuses for his behavior, shrouded in poor me rhetoric and evidence that someone somewhere treated him meanly because he's gay or something and, thus, he's turned to pills and illegal behavior to ventilate his tortured emotions.
   He'll appeal to the university for a suitable period of probation as long as he attends some sort of program to get himself clear of drugs and promise never to set a fire again.
   And he'll probably stay employed at this or another university because universities are very accepting of bombers, murderers, frauds and fantasists and slanderers.
  They accept everyone except political conservatives. 
  And Christians. Christians are terrible people, compared to Marxists and the anti-semitists.
  Universities are also tough on white males.
  But then there's that problem of Pitts's Twitter account and the conference he attended at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel where someone set several fires.
  What a thrill it was to see all those "political scientists in their nighties." 
  I remember looking at the lineup when I received my degree, thinking, "Geez, anybody can get a degree."

Obama, the president coward

  The craven political hack who runs this country visited Stone Henge at taxpayer expense we see, because he wanted to "knock it off his bucket list." Of course, getting "special access" to Stone Henge means getting a selfie behind the ropes.
  Daily Mail has numerous pictures of the POTUS who was eager "grinning" as the Daily Mail puts it to pose for pictures with a local family. After all, what is a day without a photo op?
 

  As you can see, the crowds are thronging to catch a glimpse of the rock star POTUS.
  He seemed to think that the crowds were all there to see only HIM at the NATO Summit too, as this picture can attest. 
  And, yes. He did it again.

  You'll note that his hand is blocking the unfortunate leader of "another" country, quite less important than the one whose hand is waving.
  And now we hear that Obama's putting off defiling the Constitution yet again until after the election.
  Because it's all political, ya know.
  Latino groups are acting all horrified and angry that Obama is not personally granting amnesty to the millions of illegals here eagerly waiting to vote Democrat without an ID in the next elections.
  But the truth is that it's all about politics. They know Obama will do what he can for them as soon as the elections are over, just like the whole gay marriage sham.
  Everything's about politics. It's not about what's right or wrong and what's good for the country or what's Constitutional.
  It's about what's good for Obama and whatever he deems important, which is usually retaining control of the sheeple through government handouts.
  Powerline and Truth Revolt have it all here in one video.
  This is President Coward. Too political and concerned about his own welfare to do the right thing at the right time.



  Duh. "They're special stones." Duh.
  How fortuitous that he's mic'ed and cameras are at several angles. And, oooh, that White House background music just makes me all tingly!

The new Philadelphia Story; stealing homes to pay police.

America should be pretty proud of the City of Brotherly Love. Mayor Michael Nutter signed a bill Wednesday, mandating a fine of up to $2,000 and other penalties for employers who do not provide clean non-bathroom space for a woman to pump breast milk. Philadelphia is fastidious in its concern for its most vulnerable citizens unless they own property. Between 2002 and 2012, Philadelphia stole 1,172 real estate properties through a government run racket called civil forfeiture.
Go pump your breasts out in the street, sister, we want your house.
Civil forfeitures is a national problem but Philadelphia takes the abuse of property rights to a new level notwithstanding the constitutional prohibition of depriving citizens of life, liberty, or property, without due process. Philly sues the property; not the property owner. And where do the proceeds go? The almost $6 million the city extracts from the proletariat each year goes to pay the cops and prosecutors who seize the property. The Institute of Justice, which has filed a class action lawsuit against the city where no mother should have to pump her breast in a dirty restroom, explains the process in the video below.



Moving from the hypothetical to a real life example, homeowner, Chris Sourovelis has never had any trouble with the law or been accused of any crime. But that hasn't stopped the City of Philadelphia from trying to take his home. His son was caught selling $40 worth of drugs outside of the home. With no previous arrests or a prior record, a court ordered him to attend rehab and the cops went after Sourovelis' home. In another instance a woman faces civil forfeiture of her home, which has been in her family for 17 years, because her estranged husband, unbeknownst to her, was dealing small amounts of marijuana. On the brighter side she is assured of a clean place to pump her breasts or the full might of Nutter's goon squad will crush her offending employer.

Democrats worry about hacked nude celeb pics and ignore hacking at healthcare.gov

In the wake of the nude celebrity hacking hijinks Senator Jay Rockefeller, who will be retiring at years end, is demanding that Apple brief his staff on the "security protocols in place for its cloud databases." before it releases its new iPhone 6.
"Apple is expected to introduce a new version of its iPhone that will enable, if not encourage, users to store more information with its cloud services, and I want to learn whether these focused, targeted attacks are symptomatic of wider, systemic vulnerabilities," the West Virginia Democrat said.
It is noble of the senator to look out for all the little people in Hollywood but posting nude pictures of one's self is voluntary albeit stupid. What is not voluntary in the country anymore is the right not to purchase health insurance thanks to Senator Rockefeller and his fellow Democrats. For many using the ill functioning healthcare.gov is not an option; it is mandatory yet the silence from Democrats has been deafening following the revelation that it has been hacked. And it is not as if HHS, both houses of congress and scotus himself have not been warned that the site was vulnerable to hacking.
Perhaps if one is serious about persevering the confidentiality of one's personal data when purchasing insurance he should attach a nude selfie and then Democratic senators would give a damn.

Obama hits new low in Gallup poll

Obama has hit a new low of 38% approval in the Gallup daily tracking poll.

Junk Science, Junk Law, Junk Journalism

We blogged about this case back in 2011 when I wrote;

This is the most incredible story I have come across in memory. It reads like a movie script in part because it has been made into a movie. It's a bit like Silkwood but with a crazy twist. The cast of characters naturally include a big oil company, an environmental scientist, and a lawyer. The twist, and I wish I could save this part for last, is the scientist, her company, and the lawyer, who is an old law school pal of Barack Obama's find themselves as defendants in a RICO case filed by the big oil company. The big oil company is Chevron that acquired Texaco in 2003. Texaco had drilled in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990 when it was taken over by the Ecuadorian government. At that time Texaco agreed to a clean up payment of $40 million. You know people have to be pretty sure of themselves when they allow a documentary film crew to witness their conspiracy but that is exactly what the defendants did. When Chevron got wind of the film, appropriately entitled Crude it sued and won access to the out takes as part of the discovery process.
Appearing in this video are Dr. Ann Maest is a managing scientist at Straus Consulting. She was recently reappointed to the National Academy of Sciences. Maest is in high demand as an expert for those looking to stop oil and mineral exploration. Straus Consulting is a long-term contractor with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is currently investigating the Deepwater Horizon mishap. The lawyer, Steven Donziger, had hoped to become a billionaire from this single lawsuit now he probably won't be able to probate a pauper's will.

So now we have a corrupt lawyer and a corrupt scientist what else works in the plot? How about a corrupt journalist? In a stellar opinion piece in the Miami Herald Glen Garvin chronicles how Donziger found a corrupt journalist in William Langewiesche of Vanity Fair. Donziger's wife just happened to work for Condé Nast, the magazine's publisher. Langewiesche did produce an article sympathetic to Donziger in what Donziger termed a “the kind of paradigm-shifting, breakthrough article that I think is going to change the entire case from here until it ends in a way that is favorable to us.”
The fact that Langewiesche allowed Donziger to all but co-author the article may have something to do with that. Langewiesche asked Donziger to prepare lists of dozens of questions to be asked of Chevron and asked Donziger to help him prepare arguments about why there’s no need for him to do face-to-face interviews with Chevron officials, as they’ve requested, even though he spent days meeting with Donziger and his legal staff. He even submitted emails to Donziger for approval before sending them to Chevron.
Donziger's ego tripped him up again. When Chevron got wind of the collaboration it subpoenaed the emails between the two. The same actors; lawyers, scientists, and journalists drive the debate on everything from childhood nutrition to global warming and while not all are corrupt the odds get longer by the day. They richly deserve all the criticism they get.

John Kerry: Muslim countries most vulnerable to climate change

  Why the long face, John Kerry?
  It seems like an endless 6 years so far with this administration but the last few weeks have been some of the longest, most humiliating in the history of the United States, with a leader who bumbles from one disaster to another, completely self-absorbed and utterly malevolently clueless.
  I don't think I can even express an opinion on our "president's" behavior in front of the Estonian people so, until I can collect my thoughts enough to return to ridiculing The Prince, I'm going to point out John Kerry's, um, stupendous performance as Secretary of State.
  There's the kiteboarding, a little different from the windsurfing to which the elitist Kerry usually treats America's eyes:

Courtesy Photo

  The kiteboarding bolstered the world's impression of an unserious Obama administration whose behavior on the Labor Day weekend when Obama went in front of his admirers to slam the most despicable people on the planet.....Republicans, who are worse than terrorists, according to Democrats.
  Kerry usually jets around the world spewing tons of carbon into the globe's atmosphere while looking down his sizable nose to nasally inform everyone that they're all going to die because of too much carbon. Now we know why the long face!
  From the verbally impaired--at least when it comes to the word "inextricably"-- Kerry, who apparently has become a devout believer in God and His commandments, we now learn that Americans have so much in common with Muslim countries because we're all so devout.
  Now it can now be revealed, Kerry tells us, that of all the countries in the world, "Muslim majority countries are among the most vulnerable"when it comes to climate change, presumably because they burn cow pies for warmth and their own oil fields for fun.
  Why Muslim majority countries are more vulnerable, we are not told, at least in the following clip, but it is a typical Democrat tactic to paint a targeted group as victims of ______ and that is why they should follow the omniscient wisdom of the Democrats and do as they say which is to ______.
  Mais oui! Onward, into the fire! One might inquire why Kerry seems to be picking bugs out of the air with his strange hand motions, if one wanted to know.

Which party is running on empty?

Not even Bill Clinton could fill the house for Governor Dan Malloy when he campaigned in New Haven.
"Former President Bill Clinton told Democratic loyalists in a barely half-full Omni Ballroom Tuesday that they “have a job to do”—reelecting Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in a tough rematch against Republican Tom Foley.
Malloy’s campaign sought to have Clinton’s star power, which still shines bright in New Haven, rub off on a campaign that’s behind in the polls and suffering from an apparent enthusiasm gap.
That gap was on display at the Omni event in downtown New Haven. Timed to launch the post-Labor Day launch of the main general-election campaign season, the event was billed as a “rally.” At times it felt more like the late-night post-dessert stale-coffee phase of a rubber-chicken dinner. The event violated the first rule of political event-staging: The campaign booked a room (already shrunken) that proved too big, not too small, for the several hundred politicos and Democrat diehards it could muster."- New Haven Independent
As the public has begun slowly tuning in to the midterms more this year, the disparity between Republican and Democratic interest has grown. In April, 37 percent of Republicans had given the midterms "some" or "quite a lot" of thought, a larger share than the 24 percent of Democrats who said the same thing. Now, the gap is 42 percent/27 percent in favor of Republicans.

Does Obama read his daily intelleigence reports?

Apparently President Barack does not even read his intelligence reports. A former Pentagon official says Obama has been given extensive intelligence on ISIS over the last year yet one wonders if he reads the daily reports or fails to comprehend them. The president has the option of a daily briefing or he may read the reports privately which Obama has opted to do. The official says Obama seldom requests clarifications or more information so one assumes he knows all he needs to know. Then again, with a competent national security team in the persons of Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes why would a president concern him self with the mundane affairs of state?

Alaskan Democratic candidate for governor pulls out of race

Things are not exactly going swimmingly for Alaskan Democrats. Just hours ago their nominee for governor, Byron Mallott, said he would withdraw and run instead for lieutenant governor alongside an independent candidate, Bill Walker. Yes, Alaskan politics is complicated. As part of a merged ticket Mr. Walker will resign his membership in the Republican Party, while Mr. Mallott will keep his Democratic Party membership. Walker lost in 2010 to Governor Sean Parnell in the Republican primary. It will be the first time since 1959 the Democrats have not had a candidate for governor on the ballot.
Looking to the senate race, Senator Mark Begich's campaign had to withdraw an offensive campaign ad that angered just about everyone. His campaign released a TV ad last week that pointed blame at Republican candidate Dan Sullivan, Alaska’s former attorney general, for the early release of a sex offender who has been charged in the murder of an elderly couple and the sexual assault of a child. Sullivan objected to the ad but when the child's family accused Begich of exploiting a minor child for political gain the ad was pulled.
“You are tearing this family apart to the point that your ad was so shocking to them they now want to permanently leave the state as quickly as possible," said the family's attorney.
A war on children?

Dick Durbin shows surprising weakness in recent polling

It's probably too early to book your hotel reservations to attend Jim Oberweis' victory party. Rolling a sitting senator is an uphill trudge even for a strong candidate which Oberweis is not, still Senator Dick Durbin is showing vulnerability. A poll conducted by We Ask America shows the exceeding bland, perennially unsuccessful officer seeker, Oberweis to be within 7 points of the exalted Durbin.. Axiomatically, weak parties produce weak candidates and the Illinois Republican Party is near moribund.
Governor Pat Quinn is losing to the Republican challenger, Bruce Rauner in the governor's race by 7 points in the Real Clear Politics average of polls so Durbin's survival depends upon massive ticket splitting. For my money Durbin is as exciting as a bucket of dry wall mud so if the race comes down to personalities it's a pure toss up. The is plenty of anecdotal evidence that Chicago voters, especially black Chicago voters, have had their fill of hope and change. They don't have to vote Republican for Oberweis to win. All they have to do is stay home.

Forget ISIS! Radical Islam is not a domestic threat.

Last week Britain and the civilized world were dumbstruck at the news that 1400 teenage girls were sexually exploited over 16 years while the police and child protective services did nothing. Actually they did worse than nothing. They blamed the victims. We are speaking of children; innocent children too young to know their world had become a Hobbesian Leviathan where the strong prey upon the weak, the manipulative upon the naive, and the evil upon the good. Their country had been debauched by a political party that invited in barbarians to change the culture and stood with the Taliban against the children.
Lest hauling the Pakistani pimps into court and jailing and deporting them should rock the boat of multiculturalism cowardly bureaucrats and police, who had sworn to uphold the law, flaunted the law, civic morality and common decency. In another time they would have been hanged instead of being allowed to retire with their precious pensions. The land of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton, of Watts, Priestly, and Newton, of Cromwell, Burke, and Churchill has become a third world cesspool and no place to raise children. William should have stayed in Normandy.
By week's end Andrew McCarthy authored a disturbing post at National Review Online based on intelligence obtained by Judicial Watch. The report said an attack on the Southern United States is imminent. It goes on to say that the commander of Fort Bliss, home of the 1st Armored Division, has been briefed that ISIS is operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices.
In recent weeks, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has stated in widely reported speeches that ISIS terrorists could have sneaked across the U.S.-Mexico border, but without offering proof that the Islamic group was actively operating in the border region.
In Great Britain Prime Minister David Cameron's government has raised the threat level of domestic violence to severe.
Andrew McCarthy is not Glenn Beck. He has been fighting terrorism since 1995 when as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York he prosecuted Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others. If he is worried, I'm worried. Chris Farrell, investigations director for Judicial Watch is standing by the report in spite of denials from Homeland Security and the White House.
In the context of the willful blindness of the politically correct and credible threats of immediate terror the jejune National Threat Assessment for Domestic Extremism by the FBI causes one to wonder if the authorship had not been outsourced to Code Pink. Nowhere in the report is radical Islam mentioned. Never mind the Fort Hood massacre and the Boston Marathon bombing they don't count. Forget that Major Nidal Hasan was emailing Anwar al-Awlaki that was about religious stuff. Forget that Russia warned the FBI about the brothers Tsarnaev and that they attended a mosque that was founded by by an imprisoned Al Qaeda financier. Forget that two Americans have died fighting for ISIS all that is international terrorism. No domestic threats here.
The report states that domestic extremists killed 43 people from 2003 to 2013 carried out by five categories of terrorists—abortion extremists, black separatists, sovereign citizens, white supremacists, and “others.” The 13 people killed at Fort Hood and the 3 killed in Boston which account for 37% of those fatalities come under the "other" label.
Even an attack on El Paso will not likely change this administration's thinking or what passes for rational thought. It will be treated as a matter for Eric Holder's incompetent Justice Department to deal with. Invaders no matter what nationality will be afforded their Miranda rights while their radical lawyers sneak messages back to Syria instead of being tried before a military tribunal and shot. Obama will tell the nation that we are a nation of laws not withstanding his flouting of the law was what made the attack possible.
The country cannot win the war on terror unless it first wins the war on political correctness.

Rich Democrats think concern "world falling apart" is funny

  Wow.
  We knew he was an ill informed Muslim Islamic terrorist sympathizer, unfocused and narcissistic but whew. (I should specify I believe Obama's sympathies lie with the "Arab Spring" that's pretty obviously evolving into an Islamic terrorist state uprising, something Obama referred to the other night as "the old order not working, but the new order not being born yet -- and it is a rocky road.")
  That a man who preens his peacock feathers routinely in front of admirers would reveal such a baseness of understanding of the threat matrix around us is, well, astounding.
  In the alternative media, Obama continues to be roasted about his behavior the last few months and especially the last week.
  As he embarks on yet another vacation weekend, he is, of course, oblivious and unconcerned about inconveniencing the 100% of people--millionaires & billionaires included--around him. From the NY Post:

“A flight restriction was issued banning operations in the NYC area due to the president’s visit on Friday for practically the whole weekend, causing major business losses and inconvenience for our passengers on the busiest weekend of the year. It is frustrating. We have had to move at least 10 flights and cancel a number of private charters, costing us thousands of dollars. We count on this weekend to get us through the quieter months of the year.

  The bizarre speech Obama gave the other day and then later that night reveals so much about him.
  Hardly ready to defend our foreign interests, Obama went back on the road begging for money and criticizing his fellow Americans for their "cynical genius" of disagreeing with his plan and, thus, screwing up his world, presumably because he's ignorant of what's going on globally :

President Barack Obama on Friday blamed dysfunction in Congress on a Republican Party he said is captive to an ideologically rigid, unproductive and cynical faction, urging like-minded Democrats to show up for November's midterm elections.

  As usual, the "messy world" he complains about is everyone else's fault, there's nothing we can do about it and, besides, it's the way the media is reporting it anyway.
  Plus Twitter.
  In an apparent complete disconnect from reality, Obama "reassured" Americans Democrats that now is the time that American leadership is so necessary. No, seriously, the guy who doesn't have a plan said this:

"If you watch the nightly news, it feels like the world is falling apart," Obama said, referring to crises from the Middle East to Europe. "The good news is that American leadership has never been more necessary."

  Yeah, we know.  
  We know.
  Then there's this: when he explains to his rich sycophant friends who can "afford his policies," they laugh at this:

"Second reason people are feeling anxious is that if you watch the nightly news, it feels like the world is falling apart. (Laughter.) 

  I think that's what gets to me most about all the chicanery in the last few days.
  "It feels like the world is falling apart" is a call for laughter among the rich, who move their patriotically businesses to Canada to benefit themselves while still criticizing people out here like us who just don't want to be taxed to death. 
  Mind you, I have no problem with Burger King buying Tim Horton's and moving to Canada. What I have a problem with is Warren Buffett, who has proclaimed many times that he wants to be taxed more, is adored by the Obamabots and then gets a pass for doing what he claimed he doesn't want all of us to do.
  I dunno.
  Like my friends, I am nauseated by the news this past week.
  It's repellant. Disgusting. Pukeworthy.
  So, honestly, I've had quite a problem even writing this post.
  There's much more to criticize about Obama and his party's behavior this past week. 
  There's much to be concerned about regarding ISIS, drug cartels, al Qaeda, rumors of an attack on a major US city and, yes, Obama's behavior regarding the safety of this country. 
  Though I'm not comparing Obama's behavior to ISIS, I am saying there are many reasons to be concerned about the security of this country with a man like this in charge of it.
   And rich Democrats live behind their walls, behind their bodyguards and their gates, laugh at concern out here that the "world is falling apart," unworried that any of their family will be hurt. 
  It's so reassuring to know that fat cat millionaire billionaire Democrats laugh at the world "falling apart."
  Ha. 
  Ha. 
  Ha.

Richard Mourdock resigns

Once again Richard Mourdock has made me proud that I did not endorse him in his successful race against Dick Lugar. My decision was made after seeing him fumble campaign after campaign in his bid for congress and watching him serve as a county commissioner. I reasoned he was not senatorial material and that he wasn't Tea Party material either. He proved me right on the first point by losing to Joe Donnelly and on the second point this evening by resigning as State Treasurer in order to lock in his state pension at a higher rate. This is the sort of self serving behavior the public has come to expect from its leaders who demand sacrifice from everyone but themselves. Good riddance!
Governor Mike Pence immediately appointed Daniel Huge, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Indiana Finance Authority, will serve as state treasurer on an interim basis until a longer-term replacement can be identified to finish the rest of Mourdock‘s term, set to end Dec. 31.

Democrats fear climate change more than ISIS

From Pew Research;
Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to see Islamic extremist groups, Iran’s nuclear program, China’s emergence as a world power and the Israel-Palestinian conflict as major threats to the U.S. On the other hand, global climate change registers for Democrats as among the greatest threats to the U.S. (68% major). By comparison, just 25% of Republicans see global climate change as a major threat to the U.S.
Strange. Democrats fear fantasy more than reality. I'm not looking forward to the 11th of next month but the Democrat's worst fear is generations out.

Obama intends to issue more green cards

Now we'll see who has the moral high ground on immigration. To date the Obama administration and its enablers have resorted lofty moralizing that has some appeal in the popular media. Yes, we must do right by Miguel and Rosa who have kept our pool clean and cooked for our children all these many years but there is more to the Obama immigration agenda than amnesty for illegals. The administration is also meeting with corporate lobbyist to expand the number of green card issued above the annual global limit of 366,000. As the Washington Post puts it "the administration also is weighing measures that would streamline the legal immigration system by reducing huge backlogs of foreigners hoping to obtain legal permanent residence."
So it's not only the illegals that are here who will be competing for American jobs it's future illegal immigrants and maybe up to 1 million per year legal immigrants. This is being done at the behest of mostly Silicon Valley companies. As the Valley has been the source of billions in campaign cash for Obama it now feels it is owed. Donors are now called stakeholders and treated with the same deference if not more than the La Raza crowd and infinitely more so than mere taxpayers.
Since the annual green card number is set in law the Obama administration hopes to apply it own interpretation. Under the law, 226,000 green cards are reserved for family reunification and 140,000 for employment in specialized fields, numbers that Congress established in 1990. The spouses and children of permanent U.S. residents and foreign workers have counted against the limits as well but under the proposed rule change only the holder would be counted. There is also a proposal to “recapture” unused worker visas from previous years. That change alone could allow for an estimated 200,000 additional visas for foreign high-tech workers.
At the center of of the lobbying effort is Compete America. Members include the usual suspect, Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce but also Analog Devices, Business Software Alliance, Cisco Systems, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Oracle, and Qualcomm.
This press release from Compete America's web site perhaps indicates Obama's strategy

“We welcome the news that the administration recognizes the positive impact highly skilled immigrants have on our economy. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced two proposed regulations that offer some hope. The first is a proposed rule to extend employment authorization to spouses of highly skilled immigrants while waiting for their green cards. These are taxpaying couples already living in America, raising their families, and contributing daily to U.S. job growth and our economy. The second is a proposal to enhance opportunities for certain groups of highly-skilled workers by removing obstacles to their remaining in the United States. Yet we know that much more must be done. As the Compete America Jobs Calculator has vividly demonstrated, the lack of highly skilled immigrants is costing us American jobs. We applaud the Administration for these proposed rules; but we urge Congress to act legislatively to enact immigration reform.”

If Republicans and the Tea Party can make the case to the public that the so called immigration reform is more about crony capitalism and corporate greed (which it is) it will be a cold November for Democrats.

Take them at their word

Maybe we could blame it on the Dog Days. It seems that the left and the Obama administration know that words have meaning, but things don't sound so very clever when they put pen to paper. Witness this breaking news from The Nation.

Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires. At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills.

And now the coup de grace. The Nation has obtained a secret recording that proves McConnell said essentially the same thing in private as he did in an interview with Politico.

What McConnell didn’t tell Politico was that two months ago, he made the same promise to a secret strategy conference of conservative millionaire and billionaire donors hosted by the Koch brothers.

Whatever happened to double talk? How can McConnell get away with saying publicly what he says in private? The post  goes on to say that McConnell is in a tight race that may cost a preposterous $100 million and the Koch Brothers have contributed $41,800. Yo, boys, banality is not a virtue. Read your own text.
Then there is the EPA that seems to be telling a court not to believe any of the hysteria it has whipped up about ocean acidification.

“There were no in situ field studies documenting adverse effects on the health of aquatic life populations in either state,” the EPA’s motion says. “Nor was there any other information documenting effects on indigenous populations of aquatic life in state waters indicating stressors attributable to ocean acidification. The only information available regarding aquatic life in ambient waters under natural conditions was inconclusive.”

Anthony Watts at Watts Up With That puts it his way. "If I have understood this ridiculous situation correctly, the EPA is now in a position in which it may have to admit in court that some of its previous official statements about ocean acidification were not supported by available evidence."

One hopes for Lois Lerner's sake this faux pas was accidental otherwise the IRS lawyers have tossed her and God knows who else under the bus.

Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel for the IRS, wrote in the declaration, part of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch against the IRS, that the Blackberry was “removed or wiped clean of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012.”

Let's hope Barry can afford a better lawyer at his impeachment hearing. Did not the IRS attorney admit under oath that Lois and others deliberately destroyed evidence? Lerner was already under investigation when she got her new Blackberry and the IRS lawyer thinks everyone will overlook this admission? Give it up, girl and get a public defender.