Monday, November 05, 2012

Showdown in America: Workers vs. the Welfare State

The 2012 presidential election is coming down to a contest between those who want the economy to succeed and those who want it to go on failing. Hope and Change is dead, at least the brand that depended on oratorical inspiration injected via teleprompter from between Greek columns taken out on loan before they were due back for an arena rock show. Anyone capable of balancing a checkbook has done the math, and come reluctantly to the conclusion that it’s a choice between Romney and ruin.

No one seriously believes that another four years of Obama will fix the economy, mend race relations or restore international relations. Those things didn’t happen in four years and they won’t happen in eight. But even with lowered expectations, few of those voters who walk into the booth and go for the zero even expect any of these three areas to stay at their current level after another four years. Most of them know that the economy will be worse, the racial pool will be more poisoned than ever and the world will be a more dangerous place. They aren’t stupid. What they are is selfish.

A mother's attempt to give her two-year-old son a better view of wild African dogs turned into a tragedy at the Pittsburgh Zoo after the boy fell into the exhibit and was killed by a pack of the animals as relatives and bystanders looked on.

Lt. Kevin Kraus of the Pittsburgh police said the attack happened at about 11:45 a.m. Sunday after the mother picked the child up and put him on top of a railing at the edge of a viewing deck. "Almost immediately after that he lost his balance, fell down off the railing into the pit, and he was immediately attacked by 11 dogs," Kraus said. "It was very horrific."

A medical examiner concluded that the toddler was killed by the animals, not by the fall, said Barbara Baker, CEO and president of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

Superstorm Sandy exposed the true nature of the people in its path, bringing out tales of hope and heroism - as well as stories of callous cruelty.

Looting, price gouging and misguided rage all compounded the unprecedented storm, and left many folks shaking their heads and wondering just how low people could sink. Gas was siphoned from cars, criminals posed as relief workers, cruel thieves picked through the unprotected possessions of neighbors who had lost nearly everything. Utility crews working around the clock to restore power to citizens were even assaulted by angry residents.

Experts say its an unfortunate, but common pattern in the wake of a disaster.

GLEN AVE CLOSING

Millsboro Man Wanted In Connection With Homicide, Millsboro

Location: 26270 Doc Frame Road (CR314), Millsboro, DE

Date of Occurrence: Monday November 5, 2012 at approximately 1:00 p.m.

Victim:

Clifford W. Paynter Jr., 46, Millsboro, DE

Suspect and Charges:

Cullen B. Phillips, 24, Millsboro, DE (Photo Attached)

Murder 1^st

Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony

Resume:

Millsboro, DE- The Delaware State Police Homicide Detectives are currently looking for Cullen B. Phillips in connection with the murder of his step-father.

Troopers responded to the Doc Frame Road (CR314) address around 1:00 p.m. this afternoon after 9-1-1 dispatchers received a call from a family member in the house stating Clifford W. Paynter Jr. had been shot by his step-son, Cullen Phillips. The incident occurred after the two had become involved in a verbal altercation. Phillips then left the house and retrieved a rifle from his vehicle only to return to the house where he shot Paynter one time in the chest. Phillips then fled the residence eastbound on foot.

Clifford W. Paynter Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene and was removed by the Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy will be performed.

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Cullen B. Phillips, they are urged to call 9-1-1 or Detective Ryde at 302-741-2730 or Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333. Information may also be provided via the internet at www.tipsubmit.com

Send an anonymous tip by text to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword "DSP."

40,000 HOMELESS & FREEZING IN NYC - FEMA FAILING MISERABLY

Keep thinking your government will protect you. Keep thinking your government will keep you safe. Keep thinking your government will feed, cloth and keep you warm. Government can’t manage its way out of a wet paper bag. It is bloated, slow, bureaucratic, inefficient, corrupt, unionized, and run by drones and incompetent fools who couldn’t make it in the real world.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg says up to 40,000 may need relocation

NEW YORK

Shivering victims of Superstorm Sandy went to church Sunday to pray for deliverance as cold weather settling in across the New York metropolitan region — and another powerful storm forecast for the middle of the week — added to their misfortunes and deepened the gloom.

With overnight temperatures sinking into the 30s and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still without electricity six days after Sandy howled through, people piled on layers of clothes, and New York City officials handed out blankets and urged victims to go to overnight shelters or daytime warming centers.

The best hope for a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff” may lie with the alternative minimum tax,an obscure provision of the tax code that is about to become alarmingly relevant to millions of middle-class taxpayers.

Unless Congress acts by the end of the year, more than 26 million households will for the first time face the AMT, which threatens to tack $3,700, on average, onto taxpayers’ bills for the current tax year. Because those people have never paid the AMT, they have no idea they are in its crosshairs — put there by a broader stalemate over tax policy that has kept Congress from limiting the AMT’s reach.

The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ended its remarkable career at sea on Sunday when it pulled into its home port for the final time after participating in every major conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

The USS Enterprise began shutting down its eight nuclear reactors almost as soon as it arrived at its pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, where thousands of cheering family members and friends welcomed the ship home from its 25th and final deployment after nearly eight months at sea. The ship will never move on its own power again and will eventually be scrapped in Washington state, making its final voyage a sentimental one for those who have sailed aboard "The Big E."

A Stunning Rebuke

When Gen. Colin Powell recently endorsed President Obama, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and the nation's most recognizable newspapers trumpeted the news. In what is a far more significant endorsement, those same media outlets virtually ignored the story below.

If President Obama is re-elected, it will be primarily because a shamefully-biased media shied away from stories that threatened his re-election. Most recently, the same newspapers, magazines and networks that sent 200 reporters to Alaska to dig up dirt on Sarah Palin and made Valerie Plame and Abu Ghraib household names have refused to give the same level of attention to the cover-up in Benghazi as it did to Watergate, Iran-Contra and other stories that damaged Republican presidents.

A STUNNING REBUKE OF THE

CURRENT COMMANDER IN CHIEF

November 4, 2012:

500 retired Generals, Admirals endorse Romney.

By 50-1, ex-commanders favor Romney over Obama.

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Screen-Shot-2012-11-04-at-10.05.24-PM-620x435

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On 'Speeding'

The government cares about revenue – and control. It posts speed limits accordingly.

At best – that is, assuming benevolent if condescending intent – they are posted based on the least common denominator: The abilities (rather, the lack thereof) of the most inept Clovers possessed of a license to drive. If one old lady can’t handle a curve without reducing her speed by 20 MPH – or execute a safe passing maneuver without needing an entire mile of perfectly straight road to do the deed – then everyone else must be compelled to operate at her level, rather than expect the old lady (and Clovers, generally) to up-rate their skills to an acceptable level.

The corollary of this dumbing-down of expectations is enforcement based not on actual harm done – or even plausibly threatened – bur rather on the fact of a statutory violation (as is true of 90 percent of law in this county today).

Thus people are routinely ticketed for no reason other than their having exceed an arbitrarily set – and often deliberately under-posted – speed limit.

Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) issued a demand that a special prosecutor be appointed and an investigation be conducted into the actions of Barack Obama's administration as they pertain to Benghazi and the cover-up that has followed.

SOS is the same Navy SEALS group that had its meme pulled down off Facebook last weekend. That meme highlighted the way Obama relied on the SEALS when it was convenient for him (when it came to killing Osama bin Laden), but he ignored their calls for backup when it wasn't (when the Benghazi consulate was being overrun).

With the release of a demand for an investigation today, SOS is upping the ante. The group of Special Ops is going so far as to suggest Obama's actions -- and inactions -- in Benghazi may constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors," and thus merit the pursuit of charges from the Congress of the United States.

Brigadier General Joe Stringham, USA (ret.), Special Forces/Ranger and Chairman of the Special Operations Speaks PAC put it thus:

It remains uncertain if the tragedy in Benghazi was caused or compounded by Obama's reckless inaction, gross negligence, or incompetent leadership. What is clear is that the deaths of Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, and Former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are on Obama's bloody hands.

I Love It

'Single Mom' Leaves Outrageous Note On Dinner Receipt

A photo of a receipt allegedly left by a single mother at a restaurant has gone viral after it was originally posted on Reddit. The bill shows a charge for a $138.35 meal with no additional tip. Instead, there's a note that reads "single mom sorry" -- implying that whoever signed the bill doesn't have enough money because it is expensive to raise kids alone.

Redditor PhoenixSongFawkes posted the photo and wrote, "I'm sure $140 could have gotten you and your kids a week worth of groceries, but instead you spend it one one meal?! For shame!"

The Secret Service appears to be playing politics by ignoring threats of riots and violence against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made by leftist filmmaker Michael Moore and the liberal group MoveOn.

The threat was made via a web ad video released earlier this week in which Moore and MoveOn hide behind elderly women who make scripted terrorist threats against Romney and the nation over the presidential election.

One woman is shown inciting riots if Romney defeats Democratic party President Barack Obama, “I want the Republican party to know, if your voter suppression throughout this beautiful country enables Romney to oust Barack Obama, we will burn this mother****** down!” (Expletive edited from original.)

It All Comes Down To You

Well, this is it. Two days till we know who wins. Two days till we know in which direction our country will travel – toward liberty and a constitutionally limited government, or further down the rabbit hole of a new normal where the president does an end zone dance on an uptick in the unemployment rate as if he’d cured cancer. It will be either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.

Personally, I prefer a nation where the president doesn’t sit fecklessly weighing options during a 7-hour attack on Americans overseas and turns a deaf ear to cries for help from people representing him in a hostile land. I choose to vote for leadership that isn’t afraid to stand up and call terrorism what it is, doesn’t want to be loved by our enemies and would never, ever tell heroes to “stand down” in the face of tyranny.

I am going to vote against four more years of an economy where the only drop in the unemployment rate has come because so many of my fellow Americans gave up hope of finding work. I choose a growing economy where risk-takers are rewarded, not punished, and jealously is not fostered from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

I reject a government that would sell weapons to drug cartels and not track them. I choose to support a government that doesn’t attempt to wipe the blood of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and hundreds of innocent Mexicans off their hands on a bogus claim of “Executive Privilege.”

Obama’s Army of Illegal Election Workers

Democrats have enlisted thousands of young illegal immigrants to drag their supporters to the polls on Election Day tomorrow.

These get-out-the-vote workers may or may not be breaking the law by helping with voter mobilization. Because the workers are already unlawfully present in the United States, presumably all employment they engage in –including electioneering— already violates laws against unauthorized employment.

It’s not like their patron, President Obama, would do anything about it anyway. This past summer Obama swept aside federal law in order to pander to this growing constituency. In a move more imperial than presidential, Obama bypassed Congress and partially implemented the so-called proposed DREAM Act which would have offered a path to U.S. citizenship for youthful illegals who served in the armed forces or attended college. Up to 1.4 million illegal aliens could benefit from the move.

Homeowners Impacted By Hurricane Sandy Could Get Some Mortgage Relief Soon

While one major problem facing many homeowners is dealing with insurance claims in the aftermath of Superstorm/Hurricane Sandy, there’s another long-term issue causing trouble for people whose homes have been damaged by the natural disaster — simply paying the mortgage. Relief is in sight for some borrowers as government agencies and other major lenders begin implementing programs to offer breaks on mortgage payments, among other forms of assistance.

CIA Timeline Confirms: Woods and Doherty Killed in Benghazi 7Hrs After WH Told of Attack; Commercial Airliner Can Fly From London to Libya and Back in That Time

What David Ignatius of The Washington Post describes as a “detailed CIA timeline” of the events that unfolded in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 (and in the early hours of Sept. 12), confirms that former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were not killed until seven hours after the State Department informed the White House—in writing--that the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi was under attack and that U.S. Amb. Chris Stevens was in Benghazi where the attack was taking place.

The attack started at 3:40 p.m Washington, D.C. time. The State Department sent the White House an email at 4:05 pm with this subject line: “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack.” The email said Amb. Stevens was in Benghazi.

NASA Calling

NASA is launching a new service to send Space Station alerts to your phone. Fans of space exploration can sign up for the service, which will send an email or text message when the International Space Station is visible overhead. The Space Station passes over more than 90 percent of the earth's population. And when it is visible, usually at dawn and dusk, it is the brightest object in the sky other than the moon.

Shock Report: Valerie Jarrett Leading Secret Talks With Iran

The face of the Obama administration’s outreach to Iran may have just been unmasked, and it’s allegedly Valerie Jarrett.

Last month, the New York Times informed America that the Obama administration has been running secret talks with Iran in order to facilitate a working relationship once tomorrow’s election is over. Official disavowals were not long in coming, even as off the record sources confirmed that the talks were taking place.

And thanks to YNetNews, we may now know who the administration’s designated voice is: Obama confidante and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. From the article:

More

USPS Countersues Northrop Grumman For Cost Overruns

Nearly six months ago, Northrop Grumman filed a $179 million lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service, alleging the agency delayed and disrupted its work on a multimillion-dollar contract to create and install high-tech mail sorters. Now, USPS has countered those claims, alleging the company actually owes it millions of dollars because the contract ran over schedule, according to documents obtained by Federal News Radio.

IRS Surrenders: Time For Churches to Get ‘Political’

The jig is up. The news is out. Pastors across America have called the left’s bluff. The empty words “separation of church and state” – a phrase found nowhere in the U.S. Constitution – have lost their sting.

Yes, “separation” still applies, but only insofar as it requires the state to remain separate from the church. That is to say, that government not interfere with the free exercise of either speech or religion.

For decades, hard-left anti-theist groups like the ACLU, People for the American Way (PFAW) and Barry Lynn’s Americans United (AU) have employed a cynical disinformation scheme intended to intimidate clergy into silence on issues of morality, culture and Christian civic involvement – issues that are not political so much as they have been politicized, issues that are inherently “religious.”

The Life, Death And Rebirth Of ACORN

It took 40 years to build ACORN, the national community organization which at its peak had more than half a million members. But it took just a few months to bring it down. Now, local organizers are trying to rebuild from the ground up, while not forgetting the lessons they learned. On this edition, the assassination of ACORN. And a look at how the groups’ absence is affecting elections, poverty, and the continuing housing crisis?

Special thanks to Demos, and to Race, Poverty & the Environment.

Gasoline Prices Post Biggest Fall In Nearly 4 Years: Survey

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The average U.S. price for a gallon of regular gasoline took its biggest drop since 2008 in the past two weeks, due to lower crude oil prices, a big price drop in pump prices in California and Hurricane Sandy, according to a widely followed survey released on Sunday.

Gasoline prices averaged $3.5454 per gallon on November 2, down 20.75 cents from October 19 when drivers were paying $3.7529 at the pump, Lundberg said.

The decline was the biggest two-week price drop since the survey recorded a 21.9 cents price decline December 5, 2008 due to a crash in petroleum demand during the global recession.

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Election Countdown 2012: Sandy's Effects Still Being Felt On The East Coast

This fragile earth, our island home. –Episopalian “Star Trek” liturgy

I’m going to devote tonight’s Campaign Countdown to news of Sandy’s impact on NJ (also known to Manhattanites as one of the “Outer Boroughs” or “the near abroad.” The mainstream coverage is what it is; and for whatever reason, there aren’t many bloggers blogging about it; and both #sandy and #Sandy don’t seem to have much — Readers, correct me in comments! I take that as a sign that WiFi and Internet are still down, and that in turn means that conditions are…. Not good, and possibly worse than the (pre-election?) picture that is being painted. On the other hand, I’m perhaps overly bearish. On the third hand, Sandy was a bear of a storm, and clawed New Jersey first and most deeply.

Let me start by quoting a slab from New Jersey-ite disemployed scientist Riverdaughter, who is blogging, from her “Life in post apocalyptic NJ” series:

So, I was going to talk a little bit about infrastructure. You don’t realize how bad American infrastructure is until you meet a visitor from Germany in the gas line saying, “This is incredible. I can’t believe how bad this is. Four days without electricity and everyone is cold!” Beside the antiquated rail system with its switching system that in the best of times failed on a regular basis (never try to make a matinee in NYC via NJ Transit during a rainstorm) to the levee system that dates back to King George III to the miles and miles of overhead power lines, it looks as if the northeast is in a time warp. I’ve always wondered why the cell service was so bad here. Just think, if the power, broadband and cell had recovered quickly, the frenzy over gas wouldn’t have been so severe. Most of us could have easily worked from home. But since that was impossible and getting paid meant being present, we had millions of people frantic to get to work this week in any way possible. Brooke says she saw the national guard today driving a little convoy of trucks marked “flammable”. I guess it really is that bad.

Maryland voters’ support for same-sex marriage slips

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. (Tribune Washington Bureau) — Maryland, which just a month ago appeared poised to become the first state in the country to back gay marriage by popular vote, is now reported to be deadlocked on the issue, in part because of a drop in support from religious blacks.

Only a few weeks ago, polls were suggesting that Marylanders were leaning toward supporting gay marriage, but as November approached, the numbers tightened.

The change appears to be partly driven by black pastors in Maryland urging their congregations to vote against the measure.

What Climate-Driven Hurricane Sandy Teaches About Cooperation

2012 may well be remembered as the year the climate crisis got real. Superstorm Sandy followed a summer of record-breaking heat, wildfires, and droughts, during which more than half of U.S. counties were declared disaster zones. We may at last be to a point where we can all agree that it's time to tackle the climate crisis.

But there’s another issue that Sandy raises. Climate models suggest we'll be facing similar disasters with increasing frequency. So will we, as neighbors and as a nation, come to the aid of those who lose their home, business, or farm because of flood, drought, fire, or other climate-related disaster? Are we a country that comes together in hard times, or do we come apart? In other words, when things get tough, do we turn to each other? Or do we turn on each other? The answer to these questions will define much about how we live together as we face increasing climate weirdness in coming decades.

First signs out of the hardest-hit areas are positive. As so often happens in disasters, ordinary people acted heroically when they saw a way to help. Belle Harbor residents grabbed surfboards to rescue themselves and neighbors from storm surges and a fire that flattened sections of their community. In lower Manhattan, a real estate broker kept his office open during the storm, with a generator and hot coffee so neighbors could charge their cell phones and first responders could get out of the wind and rain. A local pizza place served up free slices to cold and hungry customers the day after the storm. And families in Hoboken who still had electricity set out tables for neighbors , with coffee pots and power strips for cell phone charging.

A barrage of attention from the presidential candidates and the news media has been paid to "waitress moms," "Walmart women" and other exhibits of the female species this election, with pundits wondering whether the female gender gap, which works in the president's favor, will carry him over the top on Election Day.

But the focus might be better spent on men.

"The issue is not the women's vote, but the men's vote," Frank Newport, Gallup's editor-in-chief, told Yahoo News. The reason: Polls show male voters look much more likely to break from their 2008 voting patterns. If that happens, the men's vote could decide whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney becomes the next president.

Project Linus

Join us and help a neighbor on DelMarVa. Make blankets for children living in the most damaged areas of DelMarVa.
Make a Blanket Days
Thursday and Friday, November 15-16
10 am – 5 pm
Salem United Methodist Church
2nd & Walnut Streets
Pocomoke City MD 21851

If you can sew, kits have been made for simple blankets. Bring your sewing machine, scissors, neutral color thread and favorite supplies.
If you crochet or knit, bring your needles and scrap 4 ply yarn.
If you don’t knit , crochet or sew, please come and make No-sew fleece blankets.

Donations needed: fleece in 1 ½ - 2 yard pieces, 4 ply yarn
For more information call Donna at 410-713-9321
Salem UMC is handicapped accessible on the Walnut Street side.

Veterans Come to Shore For Hunting Trip

WYE MILLS - Three military veterans got the chance recently to relax and enjoy the great outdoors with a deer hunt.

"It was nothing short of amazing. It was great to see these guys and to see the enjoyment they had," said Jesse Haas, president of the Langshaw Hunting Club in Skipton, the group that arranged the trip.

Haas said the hunting club spent all summer trying to get some veterans to come for a hunting trip.

The club eventually got in touch with Operation 2nd Chance and a wing of the organization called No Person Left Behind, which operates out of the Howard County area and is mainly involved with hunting and fishing trips.

The Poem

Barack be nimble

Barack be quick

Barack be history

November 6

THE MOST DEVASTATING ANTI-OBAMA ELECTION VIDEO OF 2012? YOU DECIDE

A scathing video review of President Barack Obama’s first term is sweeping the internet less than two days before the most important presidential election in a generation. The video, titled “Conservatism Is Calling,” outlines Obama’s broken promise to bring “hope and change” to Washington D.C.

The video, which currently has more than 500,000 views on YouTube, also highlights a number of Obama’s empty pledges he made on the campaign trail in 2008. Obama can be seen promising to “fundamentally transform the United States of America,” pledging to cut the federal deficit in half, fix the economy and reign in unemployment in his first term. While he did make good on his promise to “transform” the nation, it wasn’t in the way that many had hoped.

He called the Bush administration “unpatriotic” for running up massive annual deficits. However, as the YouTube video points out, Obama’s deficit at $1.3 trillion in 2012 alone was more than four years under former President George W. Bush combined. The video also indicates that Obama missed his pledge to cut the deficit in half by 500 percent.

‘WHEN ARE WE GONNA GET SOME F**KING HELP?’: FURIOUS RESIDENTS CONFRONT BLOOMBERG

Furious New York City residents confronted Mayor Michael Bloomberg during an unannounced trip to the Rockaways on Sunday, demanding more aid for their storm-ravaged neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy.

“When are we going to get some help out here, seriously, when are we gonna get some help?” one woman screamed at the mayor in a confrontation caught on camera. “We’ve been out here f–king seven days! Seven f–king days…when are we gonna get some f–king help?”

“There’s old ladies in my building that got nothing. Nothing,” one man exploded.

Content warning — strong language

Where did all my _____ go?

OBAMA LANDS COVETED PEE WEE HERMAN ENDORSEMENT

Team Obama must be sighing in collective relief this weekend.

Pee Wee Herman, the alter ego of actor Paul Reubens, has endorsed President Barack Obama in a typically colorful column over at The Huffington Post.

For me, this election is like the choice between store-bought ice cream (maybe even diet Ice Milk), and mouth-watering, homemade, unbelievably delicious frozen custard. How did I arrive at this conclusion? This week President Obama was working hard alongside Governor Bruce Springsteen of New Jersey (boy, he sure has gained some weight) to help the people most in need.

It struck me that the choice I'll be making Tuesday is like going for store-bought ice cream when it's obvious what you really need is homemade frozen custard. President Obama is like the delicious frozen custard you'd get at Kohr's. President Obama has the 1.4 percent egg yolk solids needed to run this country.

Source

As Election Day Nears, Obama Supporters Step Up Riot Threats

A few weeks ago, Twitchy reported on Twitter users threatening to riot if President Obama loses to GOP rival Mitt Romney. With four days to go until Election Day, we decided this is a topic worth revisiting. The results of our Twitter searches are not pretty:

Attention

Monday, November 05, 2012

NYC Mayor Bloomberg says up to 40,000 may need relocation

Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) issued a demand that a special prosecutor be appointed and an investigation be conducted into the actions of Barack Obama's administration as they pertain to Benghazi and the cover-up that has followed.

The Secret Service appears to be playing politics by ignoring threats of riots and violence against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made by leftist filmmaker Michael Moore and the liberal group MoveOn.

Team Obama must be sighing in collective relief this weekend.