This and That...

[Warph]

The Kansas law allows teachers and staff carry weapons in schools to protect children and prevent mass shootings.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/07/kan-law-thrusts-iowa-insurer-into-gun-debate/2495815/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomNation-TopStories+%28News+-+Nation+-+Top+Stories%29

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A new Kansas law allowing gun owners to carry weapons in public buildings, including schools, has thrust a major Des Moines-based insurer into the national gun control debate.

The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew coverage for schools that permit teachers and custodians to carry concealed firearms on their campuses under the new law, which took effect July 1. It's not a political decision, but a financial one based on the riskier climate it estimates would be created, the insurer said.

"We've been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers," said Mick Lovell, EMC's vice president for business development. "Our guidelines have not recently changed."

The Kansas Legislature passed the law after the fatal shootings of 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., in December.

The law is similar to one in Utah. Around the country, firearms groups have called on schools to let teachers and staff carry weapons to protect children and prevent mass shootings.

A smaller Des Moines-area insurer — Continental Western Group, based in Urbandale — has followed EMC's lead with a similar position in response to the new law, according to the Kansas Association of School Boards' insurance program.

So has Wright Specialty Insurance, based in New York.

As of Saturday, no Kansas school districts had adopted a policy of allowing people with concealed carry permits on their campuses as permitted under the new law, said David Shriver, director of the Kansas school board association's insurance program.

Bob Skow, chief executive officer of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa, said he's not surprised by the companies' decisions. Insurance is all about risk and about pricing the cost of coverage in a way that correctly reflects it. That's one of the reasons many schools have gotten rid of their trampolines, he said.

"It's one thing to have a trained peace officer with a gun in school; it's a completely different situation when you have a custodian or a teacher with a gun," Skow said. "That changes the risk of insuring a school and magnifies it considerably."

Insurers simply don't know how to price the added risk yet, he said, but they know it's there.

While a trampoline can hurt one person, modern weapons have the potential to kill many people very quickly, he said, in a reference to Newtown. Adam Lanza, 20, fatally shot 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School there Dec. 14 before taking his own life.

Other shootings at schools include the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School, which caused 15 deaths and 21 injuries, and a 2007 shooting spree at Virginia Tech, which produced 33 deaths and 23 injuries. Mass shootings have claimed 934 lives in 146 shootings over the past seven years, according to a study by USA TODAY.

After the Newtown shootings, the National Rifle Association and its political allies called for an armed officer in every school. As stated on the NRA's website, the organization blames "Gun-Free School Zones" for turning American schools into the "safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."

NRA opponents have called for stricter gun control to reduce the availability of firearms. Ladd Everitt, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said he wasn't surprised that EMC and other insurers were balking at covering the risk of the new Kansas law.

"This is a logical response from insurers to a risk nightmare," Everitt said. "Putting a teacher or an administrator with little firearms training in a school with a loaded weapon is clearly a threat to everyone, including the kids."

Forrest Knox, the Kansas state senator who is the chief advocate of the new gun law, maintains that having legal guns in schools and other government buildings could prevent injuries. He's been pushing the legislation for years.

Knox said that local governments are free to opt out of the law allowing weapons in public buildings, but only 300 of the 3,000 counties and municipalities in Kansas have sent letters to the state attorney general seeking exemptions.

He said three community colleges in and around his district in Altoona, Kan., have found an insurer who will work with them. Shriver, the Kansas school board group insurance director, identified the company as IMA, or Insurance Management Association, which he described as a brokerage that would market the coverage to different companies.

He identified the schools as Independence Community College, Labette Community College and Neosho County Community College.

"I'm not an insurance expert, but it's hard for me to believe that if schools and other public buildings allow law-abiding citizens to carry that that increases risk — it's news to me," Knox said. "Law enforcement responds better (to school shootings now), but it still takes a few minutes, and a lot of damage can be done in a few minutes."

[Warph]

Kenyan Cardinal to Obama:
U.S. Society Already 'Ruined'

Kenyan Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi and president of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference, joined other African leaders last week in open dismissal of President Obama's urging to accept same-sex marriage.

(Amazing how 3rd world african countries have values more aligned with ours... from 50 years ago... before the Lib Progressives began their insidious destruction of our civil society.  Obuma the Emperor has had no clothes for quite a while now.  Lemmings, all)


Via Breitbart:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/07/06/Kenyan-Cardinal-To-Obama-U-S-Society-Already-Ruined

Kenyan Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi and president of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference, joined other African leaders last week in open dismissal of President Obama's urging to accept same-sex marriage.

"Those people who have already ruined their society...let them not become our teachers to tell us where to go," said Njue in response to Obama's statements promoting same-sex marriage. "I think we need to act according to our own traditions and our faiths."

On June 28th, Obama started a tour of three countries in Africa by praising the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions iregarding same-sex marriage, then criticizing his host nations for not accepting it. According to LifeSiteNews, homosexuality is illegal in 38 African nations, including Senegal.

"My basic view is that regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of gender, regardless of sexual orientation, when it comes to the law, people should be treated equally," Obama said in Senegal. "And that's a principle that I think applies universally."

Obama's comments were followed by a rebuke from Kenya's Deputy President, William Ruto. Speaking at a Catholic Church, Ruto said, "Those who believe in other things, that is their business...We believe in God."

"This nation, the nation of Kenya [is] sovereign and God-fearing," Ruto added.
"America has made tremendous contribution to Kenya's well-being and we are very grateful and as a government we are ready to receive any help from America that will improve the lives of our people," Ruto remarked. "But for these other things we hear, it is none of our business as it goes against our customs and traditions."

[Warph]

McRINO Outraged Muslim Brotherhood Regime Ousted In Coup, Calls For Suspending All U.S. Aid To Egypt

(Hey John... I'm all for cutting aid to Egypt... along with every other Islamic craphole that hates our guts... but not because they overthrew Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, if anything we should have cut it when they elected the Islamist cavemen into power)


Via TPM:
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mccain-us-should-suspend-aid-to-egypts-military

Sen. John McCain urged the US government to suspend financial aid to the Egyptian army Friday evening, Al Jazeera reported.

"We cannot repeat the same mistakes that we made in other times of our history by supporting removal of freely elected governments," McCain said.

Since 1979, US has routinely granted financial aid to Egypt, and the country receives the second-highest amount of American financial assistance after Israel, according to Al Jazeera.

[Warph]

Channel fined for Islamic scholar's 'duty to kill' speech

British TV Channel Airs Speech By Islamic Cleric Saying Muslims Have A "Duty To Kill" Anyone Who Insults The "Prophet" Mohammed

(They don't have a prophet... Just a Pedophile psychotic!)

Via ITV News:
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-07-05/tv-channel-fined-for-islamic-scholars-duty-to-kill-speech/

A television channel has been hit with a large fine after broadcasting a speech by an Islamic scholar who said Muslims had "a duty to kill" anyone who insulted the prophet.

The watchdog Ofcom levied the fine, totalling £105,000, after it found DM Digital had twice breached the broadcasting code.

Ofcom's report cited a programme called Rehmatul Lil Alameen which was broadcast on October 9 2011, and which featured a live lecture which it said was "likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder".

Ofcom fined the channel £85,000 and ordered them not to repeat the broadcast.

[Warph]

White House vetoes public seeing Obama's thanks to librarians

Obuma Tapes Thank You Video To Librarians For Agreeing To Sell Obamacare, White House Bans Public From Seeing It

(Whaaa.. top secret, you POS?)

Via Washington Examiner:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/white-house-vetoes-public-seeing-obamas-thanks-to-librarians/article/2532672

White House officials vetoed all public airing of a video of President Obama thanking the American Library Association Sunday for helping inform the public about Obamacare.

"We were specifically told by the White House to only show it [the video] once to conference attendees, and [the] White House said we aren't able to send it out," Jazzy Wright, Press Officer for ALA's Washington, D.C. office, told the Washington Examiner.

The ALA, which is a tax-exempt 501(C)(3) foundation, agreed last weekend during its annual meeting in Chicago to help the president get the word out about Obamacare.

As a result of the partnership between Obama and the group, librarians across the country will be "navigators" handing out White House-approved information about the new government health insurance program.

In the video, the chief executive thanked conference attendees "for helping enroll for health insurance as part of the Affordable Care Act," according to the ALA's blog.

[Warph]

Mohamed ElBaradei Named PM Of Egypt

Whoops... Update: Not So Fast, Looks Like They Changed Their Minds

Via Ahram:
A presidential source said on Saturday evening that Mohamed ElBaradei, the general coordinator of the National Salvation Front, has already been assigned the post of prime minister. "He accepted and will be shortly sworn in," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Ahram Online.

According to an official source, the choice of ElBaradei came after the military failed to convince Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez to accept the job. Farouk El-Oqda, Ramez' predecessor, also declined the job.

A graduate of the faculty of law at Cairo University, ElBaradei joined the Foreign Service before he launched his international career.



Update:
Looks like after it was announced that ElBaradei was the nominee for PM, some of the folks in the new government coalition flipped their wigs and said "no way". So, just a bit embarrassing that they are now walking this back.

[Warph]

Ted Cruz's Father, Rafael Cruz, Delivers Epic Patriotic Speech:
"If We Lose Our Freedoms Here, Where Are We Going To Go?"

(Now you see where Ted gets it from... although Glenn Beck doesn't quite make John The Baptist)

[Warph]

Obamanomics: 54 Straight Months Of Unemployment At 7.5% Or Higher

(And the jobs that are being created are crappy low-paying and part time work)

(CNSNews.com) –
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/54-months-record-stretch-75-unemployment-continues

Since January 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, the United States has seen 54 straight months with the unemployment rate at 7.5 percent or higher, which is the longest stretch of unemployment at or above that rate since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started calculating the national unemployment rate.

Today, BLS reported that the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate for June was 7.6 percent, the same it was in May.

In December 2008, the month after Obama was first elected and the month before he was inaugurated, unemployment was 7.3 percent. In January 2009, it climbed to 7.8 percent. In February, the month Obama signed what the Congressional Budget Office would later determine was an $830 billion economic stimulus law, the unemployment rate climbed to 8.3 percent.

In the Obama era, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent in October 2010. It did not dip below 9 percent until October 2011, when it hit 8.9 percent.  From August to September 2012, it dropped from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent—the first time during Obama's tenure it went under 8 percent.

[Warph]

Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker Signs Pro-Life Bill Requiring Women Receive An Ultrasound Before Killing Their Baby

(Awesome news!)

Via The Hill:
http://weaselzippers.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sonogram-500x352.jpg

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has signed into law a bill restricting abortion in Wisconsin.

The law require that women receive ultrasounds before they're allowed to have abortions, with technicians required to point out to the women fetuses' visibile features, and ban doctors who don't have admitting priveleges at nearby hospitals from performing the procedures.

Walker is a highly controversial figure in his home state and nationally after pushing through laws stripping unions of their power, and is said to be seriously looking at a run for president. His support of the law is likely to give him a big lift with social conservatives and could help him in a presidential primary, though it's unclear whether the stand would help or hurt him in a general election.

The law could severely limit abortion in the state. Two of Wisconsin's abortion clinics will be forced to close while a third will have to cut its services in half, according to the clinics' heads. Abortion rights advocates have already announced plans to fight the law in court.

[Warph]

And then we have this TWEET:

Hollywood Moonbat Sarah Silverman: "I'd Very Much Like To Anally Probe" WI Gov. Scott Walker For Signing Pro-Life Bill

(Very progressive from a lousy actress/comedienne POS)