Where Are My Keys?

You've almost reached your goal, Lefties..

All you need is 50% of the households, plus one more.  At that point, you'll never have someone vote against reducing benefits, changing the requirements to get on aid, putting in limits on how long you can be on aid, etc. 

Right now, we are at 49.1%.  If Obama gets re-elected, that percentage will surely go up.  If Romney wins, look for it to drop a bit.

This Country does hang in the balance.

Don't misunderstand me here.  I'm not making the claim that the day after Obama retakes the White HOuse, the Country implodes.  Not even close to suggesting that.  The steps are already in place, all that remains is for his designs to play out.  We've seen a few extra dollars leave our paycheck every two weeks since the Obamacare mandates went into effect.  The Government is collecting monies, with no dollars being paid out.  That continues for a few years, and then reality sets in.

A program that costs significantly more than was projected, lower revenues than expected coming in, and employers being more than willing to no longer cover their employees.

The example of Greece has ben staring us in the face, and the US population largely chooses to ignore it.  As long as there is a new iPhone coming, a bigger TV, and a new Transformers movie in the works, we're happy.

At some point, folks will begin to notice what is happening around them.  Detroit turning off the lights.  California issuing IOUs earlier and earlier each year.  Something that can't go on forever, won't.

The sad thing is that the folks on the Left that think we are moving towards Utopia won't realize what they've voted for all these years until it's too late.

My daughter is reading several grades above her class level..

You know, in private school.  How are the reading scores in the Florida Public School System?

Nearly half of Florida high school students failed the reading portion of the state's new toughened standardized test, education officials said on Friday.

Results this year from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test showed 52 percent of freshman students and 50 percent of sophomores scored at their grade levels.

Students in the 10th grade must pass the exam in order to eventually graduate but can retake it if they fail.

The results came days after the Florida State Board of Education voted to lower the standards needed to pass the writing part of the test, known as FCAT. The test is administered in public elementary, middle and high schools.

The board took the action in an emergency meeting when preliminary results indicated only about one-third of Florida students would have passed this year.

Did you catch that (if you were educated in the Florida School System, you may have missed it)? 

Half the students passed the test only after they lowered the standards!  Had they not lowered them, only a third would have passed.

What a great message we are teaching our kids.  Don't like the results?  Move the goalposts!

I wish the Real World operated like that.  Didn't get the Henderson deal at work?  Maybe your boss will accept you almost getting the lesser-lucrative Johnson deal done as being "good enough", and hand you that commission check anyway.

Weren't able to put out the fire in that five-story building?  Maybe the City can pass an ordinance that fireman don't have to fight fires in structures over three stories tall from now on.

Life is hard.  School is hard.  We aren't helping these kids by making the test easier, we are helping to under prepare them for reality once they get out of school.  Don't lower the standards, raise the expectation on the teachers.  And if the kids aren't pulling their weight, putting in the time and effort required to learn?

 

Stop talking with forked tongue, Ms. Warren..

This issue isn’t going away until Ms. Warren either makes this statement or offers verifiable proof of her claim. Fessing up is the best option for a campaign that is presently on life support. I can with certainty say that dozens of genealogists are going to take a very close look at any new evidence offered up by the Warren campaign. Based on the results of their previous efforts to offer “corroborating evidence,” who knows where that may lead?

Read the whole thing.

Thanks for making this an accepted practice, Nancy..

The Republican Majority in the House is using Nancy Pelosi-approved tactics to advance the Ryan Budget:

House Republican leaders used an arcane legislative maneuver to enforce Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s financial blueprint Tuesday, highlighting how quickly a procedure maligned when in the minority can become a useful tool when in control of the gavel — and vice versa.

Despite cries of hypocrisy from Democrats, Republicans used the self-executing rule — informally known as “deem and pass” — to tack the Wisconsin Republican’s budget onto an easily passable bill, the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act.

The term might sound familiar. In the last Congress, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) considered using the procedure to pass the sweeping health care reform law.

Pelosi eventually decided against using the procedure, but not before Republicans cried foul, giving it nicknames such as “demon pass” and “scheme and plot.”

Pelosi also used the process in 2010 to deem budget numbers without actually passing a budget, a process to which Ryan and then-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) objected. But on Tuesday, the nicknames came from the other side of the aisle.

I do know one Leftie that is behind this tactic 100%!  He knows a move like this won't bring down the Constitution.  He recognizes that when a Party not in power does nothing to advance legislation, measures must be taken.  He sees a lack of bipartisan solutions, and recognizes what must be done. 

As a side note, did those massive savings ever materialize?  What does the CBO say today, I wonder?

For the record, I don't like the Republicans continuing along the path that Nancy Pelosi forged.  Didn't like it when the Dems did it, don't like it when the Republicans try it.

The politicians from both sides of the aisle need to act like adults, and do their jobs without having to resort to tricks. 

When will a Network journalist seek out Richard Jewell?

I know it's a long shot, but I'd love to see an intrepid reporter track down Richard Jewell (you remember him, right Tom Brokaw?), and get his two cents on the Martin-Zimmerman "evolving" coverage.

Han shot first..

And that's a good thing:

 

Blaming the victim..

Here in Denver, we had a dramatic rescue the other day.  A dog fell through some ice on a local lake, and couldn't get out.  Fire and Rescue showed up, and was able to pluck the pooch from the icy water.  The local NBC affiliate, 9 News, had the owner, the pooch, and the fireman that rescued him on the morning news yesterday to celebrate the happy ending.

As the anchor got out of her chair, kneeling on the floor next to the dog, she got up in his face a little, and got a bite to her face.  The fireman jumped right in, gave her first aid, and got her to the hospital.  She had surgery, and is recovering from a bite to the lip.

 

The owner of the dog was then cited for not having the dog on a leash, and the dog is now quarantined for 10 days to observe for any signs of rabies.

This poor dog was obviously still traumatized by the initial incident, and is then placed in a television studio, a place full of unfamiliar sights and sounds.  Then a stranger gets too close, and he reacts in defense.

And now the owner gets a citation, and loses his dog for 10 days.  The dog, still recovering from a terrible experience in a frozen lake, is now forced to be away from home and his owner for 10 days, probably scared and confused as to what is happening around him.

I feel for the anchor getting bit, but doesn't every parent teach their child to use caution around strange animals?

Your tax dollars, wasted..

One of the recipients of Obama Stimulus money was McPherson Park, which got a check for $400,000 for renovations.  Here is a photo of what it looked like after rnovations, and before the #Occupy folks moved in:

I know you won't be surprised when you see some "after" photos:

How many other public parks have similar type of damage?

"Unexpected", I'm sure..

Should we really be surprised this will happen, based on our lack of a claerly defined mission from our Commander in Chief?

The U.S. military said in a secret report the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, raising the prospect of a major failure of western policy after a costly war.

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported by Britain's Times newspaper and the BBC. But he said it was not a strategic study.

"The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis."

Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, now dragging into its eleventh year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power.

It could also be seen as an admission of defeat and could reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that they should not negotiate with the United States and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a position of strength.

Yet another failure Barack Obama can add to his Presidential resume.

The final nail in Holder's coffin?

If the over/under on Holder is making to the end of Obama's first term, I'll take the "under":

Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice dumped documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on congressional officials late Friday night. Central to this document dump is a series of emails showing Holder was informed of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder on the day it happened – December 15, 2010.

An email from one official, whose name has been redacted from the document, to now-former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke reads: “On December 14, 2010, a BORTAC agent working in the Nogales, AZ AOR was shot. The agent was conducting Border Patrol operations 18 miles north of the international boundary when he encountered [redacted word] unidentified subjects. Shots were exchanged resulting in the agent being shot. At this time, the agent is being transported to an area where he can be air lifted to an emergency medical center.”

That email was sent at 2:31 a.m. on the day Terry was shot. One hour later, a follow-up email read: “Our agent has passed away.”

Burke forwarded those two emails to Holder’s then-deputy chief of staff Monty Wilkinson later that morning, adding that the incident was “not good” because it happened “18 miles w/in” the border.

Wilkinson responded to Burke shortly thereafter and said the incident was “tragic.” “I’ve alerted the AG [Holder], the Acting DAG, Lisa, etc.”

Then, later that day, Burke followed up with Wilkinson after Burke discovered from officials whose names are redacted that the guns used to kill Terry were from Fast and Furious. “The guns found in the desert near the murder BP officer connect back to the investigation we were going to talk about – they were AK-47s purchased at a Phoenix gun store,” Burke wrote to Wilkinson.

“I’ll call tomorrow,” Wilkinson responded.

You'll remember of course that Holder revealed to a Congressional panel that he first learned about Fast & Furious "a few weeks" before his testimony on May 3, 2011.  He then later amended that to be "a few months".

Holder has a date with another panel on February 2nd.  I wonder what they will talk about?