This and That...

[Warph]

          Bye, Bye Twinkies - 18,000 Jobs Will Also Disappear.

   Where was Obuma when America needed him on this on?

           

A bakers' union strike has killed Hostess Brands.  This week the nation's largest bakery goods company that has been in business since 1930 had warned the union that a strike would financially wound the company, which was already struggling to keep from going under.

The BCTGM union didn't care.  The striking union workers didn't care.

After shutting down three plants earlier this week, now Hostess is going out of business, and thousands of employees across the country will be out of work.

They took a huge knife to the metaphorical golden goose and stabbed it until it bled dry.

Good going, union.

[Warph]

Farewell, Ron Paul: After Serving More Than Three Decades, Texas Congressman Says Goodbye in Congress, States Internet Will "Provide Alternative to Government Media Complex" That Controls the News

A man with more energy, passion, and good old-fashioned "horse sense" than many people half his age, former obstetrician-gynecologist Congressman Ron Paul, at age 77, gave a farewell speech yesterday after serving as a US House representative for Texas for more than three decades. An impressive twelve terms in office.

Paul is a three-time candidate for President of the United States and has a deeply devoted following. Last year, he had announced that he would not seek re-election to the House. Rep. Paul has been in the forefront for years as one of America's leading voices for limited, constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, returning to the gold standard, and returning to a pro-America foreign policy.

While I may not have agreed with all of Rep. Paul's stances, I've always respected his convictions, his intelligence, his heart, his tenacity, his conservative values and principles, and his love of America and the Constitution.

God bless him. Even though he's retiring from the US House, I find it highly doubtful that he will be silent during his political retirement.

In this portion of his congressional farewell speech, Rep. Paul made this assertion about the Internet and its ability to skirt around the controlling "government media complex" to add to the flow of information and free political speech:



During part one of his farewell speech to Congress, Rep. Ron Paul insisted that the internet remain free, as it is an important alternative to the "government media complex."

"The internet will provide the alternative to the government media complex that controls the news and most political propaganda," Paul stated. "This is why it's essential that the Internet remains free of government regulation."
                           

[redcliffsw]

Ron Paul was right.

The Republicans didn't want the votes of the American conservatives.  Their interests are elsewhere
and they lost to Obama.
   

[Warph]

                   

The Top 10 Most Disturbing Statistics From Mark Steyn's "After America: Get Ready for Armageddon"

By John Hawkins

http://www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/the-top-10-most-disturbing-statistics-from-mark-steyns-after-america-get-ready-for-Armageddon/

Mark Steyn's After America: Get Ready for Armageddon is one of the best books I've read in a long time. In fact, it was so good that there was no way I could do it justice in a single article.

So, instead I'm going to do two articles. The first is the top 10 most disturbing quotations from After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. Then tomorrow, that will be followed up with the 10 best quotations from the book.

Enjoy!

10) Indeed, since 1970 overall public school employment has increased ten times faster than public school enrollment — with no discernible benefit to student performance. — P.148


9) Government accounting is a joke. In one year (2009), Medicare handed out $98 billion in improper or erroneous payments. A tenth of a trillion? Ha! Rounding error. Look for it in the line items under "Miscellaneous." For an accounting fraud of $567 million, Enron's executives went to jail, and its head guy died there. For an accounting fraud 10 times that size, the two Democrat hacks who headed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick, walked away with a combined taxpayer-funded payout of $116.4 million. Fannie and Freddie are two of the largest businesses in America, but they're exempt from SEC disclosure rules and Sarbanes-Oxley "corporate governance." burdens, and so in 2008, unlike Enron, WorldCom, or any of the other reviled private-sector bogeymen, they came close to taking down the entire global economy. What then is the point of the SEC? By 2005, the costs of federal regulatory compliance alone (that is, not including state or local red tape) were up to $1.13 trillion — or approaching 10 percent of GDP. In much of America, it takes far more paperwork to start a business than to go on welfare. — P.85


In the fifties, one in twenty members of the workforce needed government permission in order to do his job. Today it's one in three. — P.49


7) The United Auto Workers is the AARP in an Edsel; it has three times as many retirees and widows as "workers" (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people. How do you make that math add up? Not by selling cars: Honda and Nissan were making a pretax operating profit per vehicle of around $1600; Ford, Chrysler, and GM a loss of $500 to $1500. That's to say, they lose money on every vehicle they sell. — P.218


6) In 2009, the average civilian employee of the United States government earned $81,258 in salary plus $41,791 in benefits. Total $123,049. The average Americans employed in the private sector earned $50,462 in salary plus $10,589 in benefits. Total: $61,051. So the federal worker earns more than twice as much as the private sector worker. Plus he has greater job security: he's harder to fire, or even to persuade to take a small pay cut. — P.75


5) As Congressman Paul Ryan pointed out, by 2004, 20 percent of U.S. households were getting about 75 percent of their income from the federal government. As a matter of practical politics, how receptive would they be to a pitch for lower taxes, which they don't pay, or lower government spending, of which they are such fortunate beneficiaries? How receptive would another fifth of households, who receive about 40 percent of their income from the feds, be to such a pitch? — P.73


4) By 2015 or so, the People's Liberation Army, which is the largest employer on the planet, bigger even than the U.S. Department of Community-Organizer Grant Applications, will be entirely funded by U.S taxpayers. — P.6


3) The CBO numbers foresee net interest payments rising from 9 percent of revenue to 36 percent in 2030, then to 58 percent in 2040, and up to 85 percent in 2050. If that trajectory holds, we'll be spending more than the planet's entire military budget on debt interest. But forget mid-century because, unless something changes, whatever goes by the name of "America" under those conditions isn't worth talking about. — P.5


2) John Kichen of the U.S. Treasury and Menzie Chinn of the University of Wisconsin published a study in 2010 entitled:

Financing U.S. Debt: Is There Enough Money in the World — and At What Cost?

The fact that sane men are even asking this question ought to be deeply disturbing. As to the answer, foreign official holdings of U.S. Treasury securities have usually been less than 5 percent of the rest of the world's GDP. By 2009, they were up to 7 percent. By 2020, Kitchen and Chinn project them to rise to 19 percent of the rest of the world's GDP, which they say is....do-able. Whether the rest of the world will want to do it is another matter. A future that presumes the rest of the planet will sink a fifth of its GDP into U.S. Treasuries is no future at all. But on Big Government's streetcar named Desire we have come to depend on the kindness of strangers. — P.10


1) Within a decade, the United States will be spending more of the federal budget on its interest payments than on its military. You read that right: more on debt service than on the armed services. According to the CBO's 2010 long-term budget outlook, by 2020 the government will be paying between 15 and 20 percent of its revenues in debt interest. Whereas defense spending will be down between 14 and 16 percent. — P.5

[Warph]

Could this be....

New Possible Signs That The World Is Coming To An End!? (Dead Species, Global Warming, Strange Sounds Being Heard + More)

Something is going on out there in La La Land!

                                   

[Warph]

December 21, 2012 is about upon us.  Is this the END???  Are We Goners.... Kaput... Fini???

THE FOUR FINAL DESTINATION MAIN DISASTERS

[Warph]

2012 SIGNS- WORLD ENDING on DEC. 21, 2012

We are one day closer! As predicted by the Mayans, on December 21st, 2012, the Earth will line up with the Sun which will be in line with the black hole at the center of our galaxy. No one knows for sure what will happen but people love to talk about it. Very hot subject.

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS globally are predicting and expecting that 3 years from now, all life on Earth may well come to an end. Some are saying it'll be we humans that would set it off. Others believe that a natural disasterous phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who would press the stop and restart button. The following are some likely arguments as to why the world would end by the year 2012.

Reason one: Mayan calendar
The first to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things — building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and sacrificing virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well.


Reason two: Sun storms
Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery. Our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the earth with lot of radiation energy. It's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.


Reason three: The atom smasher
Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically, its a 27 km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.


Reason four: The Bible says it
If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough, religious folks are getting in on the act as well. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between good an evil, has been set for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese Book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.


Reason five: Super volcano
Yellowstone National Park in United States is famous for its thermal springs and old faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple — it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we're many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.


Reason six: The physicists
This one's case of bog — simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berkely University have been crunching the numbers. They've determined that the earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they're claiming that their calculations prove that we're all going to die, very soon. They are also saying that their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 per cent; and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

Reason seven: Earth's magnetic field
We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that shields us from most of the sun's radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call North and South have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so — and right now we're about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30 kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is under way, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

Ouch.... That has gotta hurt!

[Warph]

When you realize how many political careers and reputations have been destroyed because of sex scandals over the past several years, it's truly mind-boggling.  David Petraeus is just the latest in a long line that goes back at least as far as John Kennedy and includes the likes of Gary Hart, Bob Packwood, Wilbur Mills, Ted Kennedy, Mark Sanford, Anthony Weiner, John Edwards and Bill Clinton.  Frankly, it's a wonder that any of these guys ever got any work done.

It's probably not that much of a shock when you consider that most politicians were formerly lawyers.  And if it's true that the ranks of dentists and psychiatrists are filled with would-be doctors who found they couldn't stand the sight of blood, it's probably fair to assume that politicians were lawyers who couldn't stand the thought of working for a living.

But I think the bigger message we can take away from the rise and fall of Mr. Petraeus is that we would all do well to stop making heroes out of people we don't really know.  It's bad enough when teenagers glom onto entertainers and athletes, but at least one can hope they'll eventually grow out of wanting to emulate the likes of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Michael Vick, Lance Armstrong and Elmo.

There's nothing wrong with admiring someone's accomplishments, but if you're looking for heroes, you should probably start looking closer to home.  Find people whose honesty and character you're actually in a position to vouch for.  Maybe it's your mom or dad, perhaps even a sibling.  If you're fortunate enough, you might even see one in your mirror.  Just keep in mind that just about everyone you see in the movies, on TV, in the stadium or arena or read about in newspapers and magazines, has a publicity person on salary whose job is to promote their image.  Nobody ever hired a flack to make them look bad.  Therefore, when you read about some famous person who finally gets caught misbehaving, it's safe to assume you don't know the half of it.

In the aftermath of the election, it has occurred to me that it is foolish to discuss the Catholic vote.  When you realize that Obuma received the bulk of Hispanic votes in spite of his endorsement of abortion and same-sex marriages, and his war on the Church over birth control pills for Church employees, it's obvious that religion is a goofy basis upon which to base their identity.  It's just as foolish as believing that religion plays any role in the way that Jews vote.  The fact of the matter is that the huge majority of orthodox Jews vote for conservatives.  It's secular Jews who overwhelmingly support liberal candidates.  But pollsters continue to group them together and to then refer to the Jewish vote as if it's monolithic and has anything to do with Judaism.

If I'm not mistaken, the slide in decorum began, not too surprisingly, with Bill Clinton.  Before him, about the most embarrassing things that occurred during presidential campaigns, was seeing the candidates don Indian war bonnets, kissing babies and chowing down on such ethnic, vote-getting, delicacies as pizzas, strudel and knishes.  While it's true that Nixon, generally the stodgiest of politicians, went on Laugh-In and in a futile attempt to seem like a regular guy, said "Sock it to me!" ...it took Clinton going on MTV and telling the world whether he wore jockey shorts or boxers to place the presidential limbo pole at ground level.  Monica Lewinsky was merely the inevitable result of electing the horny oaf to the highest office in the land.

Therefore, it was no big surprise to see Obuma during the campaign popping up to chitchat with the tawdry likes of Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Lazaro Mendez, the radio host who bills himself as the Pimp with a Limp.

Speaking of he who should be back in Chicago, it's not certain, as I sit here, whether Barack Obuma will nominate U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State.  My question, though, is: How is it that Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Mrs. Clinton and now, possibly, Ms. Rice, have all been deemed fit for the job?

Just when was it decided that a position that had been held by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, Daniel Webster, William Jennings Bryan, George Marshall and John Foster Dulles, would become nothing more than the final rung on the ladder of affirmative action?

In 20 short years, it's gone from being a tough job for tough-minded people to being a really bad joke.  Sort of like the presidency, itself, now that I think of it.

[Warph]

As we approach the "fiscal cliff" of punitive taxation and draconian spending cuts it might be time to suggest that Congress consider that we change our National Emblem to the Ostrich.

                                     

Shortly after World War II, Churchill and Truman were riding a train to Fulton Missouri to give speeches. Churchill gave his, now famous, "Iron Curtain" speech; and no one can remember what Truman said.  During the train ride Truman was eager to show Winston Churchill the new National emblem that Truman had modified. The eagle no longer looked toward the arrows in the left talon of the eagle but had shifted its gaze toward the olive branch in its right talon. Churchill was quoted as saying that perhaps the head should be on a swivel so that it could look either the right or the left as was needed at the time. Truman was not amused.

Now more than sixty years later it seems that we need a new inspirational emblem as we approach the "fiscal cliff."  Yet, a lack of leadership seems to indicate that neither political party has the will to find a totem to make the hard decisions that loom before us in either spending or taxation. So many politicians either seem confused or scared to the point of paralysis on this impending doom.

The results of the recent election are to blame, some say. The voters left in place a Republican House and a Democrat in the Presidency. The eagle does not know whether to look left or right.  A two headed eagle was the emblem of Tsarist Russia, it looked both ways at the same time but that government did not work out so well.

Given that no one in either party is stepping up to take a stand on the numbers game which we call the budget process, its clear that an eagle is not the right emblem. The head in the sand mentality had taken hold of so many in Washington, so clearly the solution is to adopt the Ostrich as our national emblem. We can't seem to face our fiscal problems at home nor our foreign problems of a nuclear Iran. We would rather pretend that none of these problems exist and just stick our heads in the sand.  So it seems that the Ostrich is perfect for the new national emblem.

However, considering that we are rushing toward the fiscal cliff with speed and enthusiasm, perhaps we should consider the lemming as a notional emblem as well.

[Warph]

CLIPS AND SNIPS
GOP would have lost election even with Hispanic vote.


Some promises are meant to be kept

"I swear by Allah, won't do such a thing again" (Allah kasam dubara aisi galti nahi karunga), were the last words uttered by Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving terrorist, proved guilty in 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Kasab was hanged till death and buried immediately inside Yerwada jail on Wednesday morning.


Who's up for a combo platter of Muslims and Green Energy?

There are about a thousand things that Obama hates. Like guns, bibles, coal, movies about Mohammed and cameras that don't capture his good side. But there are only two things he really loves. Green energy and Muslims. And finally he's found a way to put both together at the same time. And it will only cost us 6 billion dollars.

Obama is funneling money to Muslim countries so that they'll buy Green Energy tech from his eco-crony capitalist donors. The shell game is that these companies are on the brink of bankruptcy and Obama is trying to use foreign aid to bail them out.


Twinkies Aren't the only Fattening Things Around
The Bakers' Union (BCTGM) has 58 employees. 29 of them make more than $100,000 a year. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union has 8 Vice Presidents. (One is an Executive Vice-President). BCTGM also has 12 representatives who make between $100,000 and $150,000. Its highest paid organizer makes $148,851.


THE MEDIA'S BARK IS WORSE THAN ITS BITE
Like Pavlov's dogs, reporters reflexively reduce the Middle East to a conflict between Israel and the Arabs, Jews and Muslims, the people that they hate and the people that they like. Asking them to cover anything more complicated than that is also asking them to do too much.


PEACE HAS NO FUTURE
According to a survey conducted by the Palpress Arabic-language website, the Palestinians are itching for another fight with Israel, less than a day after the Jewish state agreed to prematurely halt its campaign to eliminate the Gaza missile threat.
The Palpress survey, which was actually an Internet referendum, showed that 64 percent of Palestinian Arabs oppose a long-term ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

....Dan Greenfield