My Blog

Category: Politics

  • Florida’s Bigoted New Education (Union) Standards

    Asian students should be the smartest, and teachers will expect the least from blacks.  That’s the case in Florida, at least, where the Board of Education has agreed to pass a revised plan that outlines new academic goals for students based on race.  …

    Under the approved strategic revision, 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of whites, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of blacks will be expected to read at or above their applicable reading grade levels in future tests. For math scores, they expect 92 percent of Asians, 80 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of blacks to excel, suggesting that some races warrant a lower bar than others.

    Patrick Franklin, president and CEO of the Urban League of Palm Beach County, opposes the revision, telling the Sun Sentinel, “All children should be held to high standards and for them to say that for African-Americans the goal is below other students is unacceptable.”

    via RT.

    What kind of nonsense is this?  Thank you Patrick Franklin for standing up and demanding equal educational expectations for African-American children.

    Did Florida just accept the premise of The Bell Curve?  Is that where we are today?

    Can you imagine someone said, well it’s ok to pay black people less than white people or Asian people?  Or that black people only need to work 6 or 7 hours a day instead of 8?

    We need to work on treating all peoples equally.  Isn’t the goal to try to ignore race — not call it out?  This goofiness is only going to set back race relations 20-30 years.

    It’s such a stupid idea that one has to wonder why it was put forth and passed…

    And while educators are hoping to have higher test scores coming in across the board, race and ethnicity play a deciding factor in what’s expected from Sunshine State students in the years to come.

    “Educators” for those that don’t know means “Union Teachers.”  These are the people who are fighting to limit any performance based evaluations.

    Florida’s Republican governor think this is a dumb idea:

    Schools’ expectations should be color blind.  As a nation, we have rejected police use of racial profiling on the streets, by what rational do we now accept it from educators in the classroom.

    Indeed Governor. Indeed.

    The take-away here is that Democrat Teachers’ Unions are racist.

  • MSM a/k/a The Ministry of Truth vs. Romney

    This (sadly) is not a spoof:
    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrB1-cD2Zc?rel=0]

  • The Fiscal Entitlement Cliff

    The U.S. Census Bureau says 108 million Americans live in households where at least one person participates in a means-tested program. We estimate that 80 million are the primary recipients….

    Since the president took office:

    • Medicaid is up from 46.9 million to 56 million people.

    • Disability beneficiaries are up from 7.5 million to 8.8 million.

    • The food stamp program has grown from 32 million Americans to 47 million.

    Add to that 80 million beneficiaries 40 million Americans age 65 or older on Social Security and Medicare (9 million of the 49 million on Medicare, including some under age 65, also receive means-tested benefits).

    That 120 million does not include the numerous smaller entitlement programs.

    Put them all together, and a number approaching half of the country participates in an entitlement program.

    Now add in the 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries, thanks to ObamaCare, plus an estimated 12 million people who enter the health insurance exchanges by 2014, where most will receive federal subsidies.

    The budget implications of these programs are huge. For fiscal 2012, America spent $2.2 trillion of its $3.7 trillion budget on entitlement programs — $400 billion less than the $2.6 trillion in gross annual revenues.

    Oh, and interest on the federal debt was $220 billion.

    Thus, the cost of entitlement programs plus interest on the debt are nearly equal to total federal revenues today.

    Virtually everything else the government does is with borrowed, or printed, money.

    via Investors.com.

    I realize that this is all a little hard to understand for a lot of people.  So to put it in easy to understand terms:

    This is like living on a credit card — spending 50% more money than you actually earn — and then dying and leaving the bill for your kids.

  • CTA Scam Sucks Millions in Taxpayer Funds

    It is after all the Chicago way.

    The CTA has potentially inflated by up to $150 million the federal taxpayer money it received since as far back as 1982 by “fraudulently over-reporting” the number of miles CTA buses travel while in service, according to a new report by a little-known watchdog group.

    In its report, titled “A bus tour of Chicago-style fraud,” Washington-based Cause of Action alleged that CTA officials reaped millions in extra federal money that the agency was not entitled to by improperly including “deadhead,” or out-of-service bus miles, along with funding-eligible revenue bus miles when applying for money from the Federal Transit Administration.  …

    But Cause of Action, which said it based its findings on “insider audit information” from six years ago, said the CTA likely continues to get away with its inaccurate mileage reporting, with the knowledge of the U.S. government, because of the transit agency’s political connections stretching from Chicago to Washington.

    It cited the clout of Valerie Jarrett, who is senior adviser to President Barack Obama and also a former chairwoman of the CTA (1995 to 2003), and Robert Rivkin, general counsel at the U.S. Department of Transportation. From 2001 to 2004, Rivkin was general counsel at the CTA.

    Officials at Cause of Action said they brought the matter to the attention of the U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, the U.S. attorney general and Congress, but no action was taken.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Surprise Surprise Surprise!!

    The good citizens of Chicago are naturally shocked and appalled that Valerie Jarrett and other stooges of The Machine have engaged in taxpayer fraud. Shocked and appalled.

    This sounds like a Qui Tam lawsuit in the making.  Someone going to get on that?

     

  • Bus-Only Lanes Hurt Everybody

    CTA super-express buses that will operate on 21-mile stretches of Ashland and Western avenues will have the benefit of using full-time bus-only lanes, under a still-evolving concept the transit agency and the city will present this week at three open houses, starting Tuesday.

    via  Chicago Tribune.

    This is just an extension of the ongoing war on vehicles & one of the dumbest ideas ever.  It makes no sense to make life more difficult for cars; which just so happen to be how most people get around.  Why punish the majority for the minority?  Some people literally must drive b/c they have to take children to school before work or otherwise travel on routes not covered by public transit.

    Damen in one lane.  Halsted is one lane.  California is one lane.  It makes no sense to destroy the only two North-South arteries.  Between the bike lanes and the center islands it is getting impossible for vehicles to get around.  This includes police, fire, and EMS vehicles as well.

    Lastly, what is the problem trying to be solved here?  That buses travel more slowly in traffic is not new.  It’s been that way since the invention of buses.  People on buses however can read, play with their phones, talk on the phone, send txt messages, and do all sorts of things that people in cars cannot (safely) do.  This is the advantage of taking the bus over the car… that, and the cost.

    Chicago can be a great great city.  Truly world class.  But it will not become so by declaring war on vehicles which the majority of people use to get around.

  • Obama Comments on Minaj vs. Carey; No Comment on Economic Outlook

    The President of the United States has weighed in on the greatest feud of our time. And by that we mean yes, Barack Obama has commented on the on-set tensions between “American Idol” hosts Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.  …

    Naturally, a feud of such magnitude was top of mind when the president called in to radio host Michael Yo’s “The Yo Show,” and in a display of diplomacy we’ve come to know well from Obama, the president does not take a clear side on the feud, but he’s optimistic everything will be OK in the end.

    via The Clicker (NBC Infotainment).

    This is insane.  It’s just plain unpresidential.  I used to like Barack Obama; sure we disagreed on things.  But I figured he was a lot like Bill Clinton.  Charming, intelligent, kind of a life of the party sorta guy.  But now I’m starting to think that he’s just a narcissistic boob.

  • U.S. Postal Service is Dying, Why You Should Care

    The USPS has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. A key reason was a 2006 law that required the postal service to make annual payments of about $5.5 billion for 10 years to pay for future retiree health benefits.  …

    In the three months that ended June 30, the agency reported net losses of $5.2 billion.

    via CNN.

    People like to point out why the post office is suffering a slow cancerous death.  eMail, electronic bill pay, faxes, etc.  But that’s all garbage.  The U.S.P.S. is dying because it failed to meet the realities of the marketplace and because it overpays it’s workers,  a/k/a  bad management.

    Compare the USPS which LOST $5.2 billion in the 2Q 2012 to UPS which made $1.12 billion in the same period.  Or FedEx which made $459 million in the 3 months ending 08/12.

    Years ago I read Jim Rogers‘ book Investment Biker.  In it he tells the story of being in the USSR and mailing some packages back to the UK.  Long story short, the communist government charged less to mail letters and package than it cost.  This was because it was popular with the people.  The people wanted to be able to send letters cheaply and the government obliged.  But it was but one example of several (cited in the book) showing how and why the USSR would fail.  A government cannot continue to offer services for less than what they cost.

    No entity can continue to offer services for less than their cost.  The USPS is not exception.  It must either figure out how to charge enough for the service it provides or get out of the business.  But right now the taxpayers are on the hook to massive amounts of USPS debt.  That’s not right.

    Lastly, you should care… greatly.  The government is now just starting to take over the nations health care.  It too will be run with the same level of efficiency and forward thinking as the USPS, or maybe the State of Illinois DMV.

    Health care in this country will follow the USPS in bankruptcy.  And that’s not going to be good for anyone.

  • Marines Guard Embassy … in Barbados

    When terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 of this year and killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, there were no U.S. Marines deployed in Libya to defend U.S. diplomats, diplomatic facilities and classified information and equipment.

    However, says the State Department, a Marine Security Detachment was deployed on that day to carry out those duties at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.

    “U.S. Marine Security Guards serve at the U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, and at other diplomatic missions around the world, to protect and safeguard American diplomacy,” Rebecca Ross, the U.S. Embassy to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Counselor for Public Affairs, said in a statement to CNSNews.com.

    via Hot Air Headlines.

    I’m speechless.

    Go on John Stewart… say something funny.

    Keep laughing Uncle Joe.  You only make yourself appear more foolish.

  • Benghazi Security Cut; Vienna Gets Chevy Volts

    While our consulate in Benghazi was guarded by unarmed Libyan contractors making $4 an hour, our embassy in Vienna received an expensive charging station for its new electric cars to help fight climate change.  …

    [There were] 230 security incidents in Libya between June 2011 and July 2012. With 48 taking place in Benghazi, two at the U.S. diplomatic compound where Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans were murdered on Sept. 11, 2012….

    According to Nordstrom, the State Department not only refused his requests for greater security, but also actually reduced the number of Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents assigned to foreign service officers based in Libya. Security was left to one DSS agent, four armed members of the 17th of February Martyrs Brigade and unarmed Libyan contractors employed by the British-based Blue Mountain Group.via Investors.com.

    This is a national embarrassment.

  • DNC, Obama Campaign: It’s “Okay” to Vote Twice

    When undercover reporters visited various [DNC] locations across the country they received the same response from Obama campaign staffers – that it’s basically okay to vote multiple times if you happen to be registered in two or more states.

    In Houston, Texas, for example, the Project Veritas reporter made her intentions known, and rather than being rebuffed for her planned illegal activity, she was provided assistance with obtaining the proper forms to be registered in two states and was told to say “I don’t know” if the double-voting ever became an issue.

    Similar situations unfolded at other DNC funded community organizations.

    via SHTFplan.com.

    Is anyone surprised??

    The MSM, a/k/a Ministry of Truth, asleep at the wheel.