Monthly Archives: July 2012

Why Is The Obama Administration Closing Border Crossing Stations ?

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Yesterday PJ Media posted an article stating that the Obama Administration is closing nine border crossings in four states. Five of those border crossings are in Texas.

Just in case you need to be reminded of why securing the southern border is so critical, here is a link to a Washington Times article from February 2011.

The article at the Washington Times reports:

Three days after Ms. Napolitano spoke, the U.S. Border Patrol captured Said Jaziri, a radical Islamic cleric, hidden in the trunk of a car 50 miles east of San Diego. Mr. Jaziri, one of the imams who had called for the death of the Danish cartoonist behind the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, purportedly paid a Mexican human-trafficking cartel $5,000 to smuggle him into the country. The court set his bail at $25,000. There is little to prevent him from posting bail and disappearing into the countryside, where he most certainly will find refuge among sympathetic supporters.

Mr. Jaziri’s capture is merely the latest in a long string of other-than-Mexican (OTM) arrests going back several years. A couple of days before the imam’s capture, Border Patrol officers found a discarded Iranian book of martyrdom along a well-known smuggling route. For all of the so-called martyrs, the book provided biographies, letters addressed to their families, and, in some cases, their last wills and testaments. Though U.S. officials do not know who discarded the book or when, we do know that it is the latest example of radical Islamist paraphernalia that has been found along the border.

Closing these border crossing stations is a threat to our national security. I am not as concerned about illegal aliens who come to America to work (although they are taking jobs from Americans) as I am with jihadists who have found an easy way to get unto the country untraced for nefarious purposes.

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Which Way Did The Money Go ?

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The Washington Free Beacon posted a story today about the lifestyle of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas has allegedly deposited nearly $13 million in U.S. taxpayer aid into a secret bank account.

The article reports:

The Obama administration is not providing proper oversight for the $600 million in U.S. foreign aid to the P.A., Schanzer ( Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies) noted.

“Washington should simply acknowledge that there is a problem,” he said. “The staff at the U.S. Consulate General in East Jerusalem reportedly knows that Palestinians believe their ruling elites are corrupt. But for reasons that are not entirely clear, the State Department has yet to issue a clear statement to address the issue, or what it intends to do about it.”

Elliott Abrams, a former national security adviser for George W. Bush, recounted the behind-the-scenes talks he had with Arab leaders who refused to support the P.A.’s corrupt institutions.

“I can tell you from my own experience, as an American official seeking financial assistance for the P.A. from Gulf Arab governments, that I was often told, ‘Why should we give them money when their officials will just steal it?” said Abrams, who noted that 82 percent of Palestinians believe their government is unethical. “Corruption is an insidious destroyer not only of Palestinian public finances but of faith in the entire political system.”

It seems to me that cutting aid to the Palestinians might be a very easy way to cut some government spending. If Mr. Abbas chooses to take part in ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous,’ the least he can do is do it on his own dime–not the backs of American taxpayers.

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When Political Bias Overcomes Common Sense

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If you go to Wikipedia (not my favorite source, but sometimes a good source of basic information), you can find a list of aircraft hijackings from the 1940’s through June 2012. It’s a rather long list, and what is noteworthy on that list is the fact that during that time there has only been one successful hijacking of an El Al airlines airplane. If you understand that Israel is the target of numerous terrorist organizations, this is a somewhat amazing statistic. Obviously Israel understands some things about preventing terrorism that the rest of us need to learn. Well, that may be true, but don’t tell the Obama Administration.

Yesterday Breitbart.com reported that the Obama Administration launched the Global Counterterrorism Forum in September. The article mentions the film ‘Hear their Voices’, which tells the stories of eleven survivors of terrorist attacks from Pakistan, Jordan, Northern Ireland, Uganda, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Spain, Columbia, and the United States. When the plans for the Global Counterterrorism Forum were announced in June, there were some questions as to why Israel was not included (the supposition was that Israel was excluded at the request of Turkey). The Obama Administration promised that they would be included, then reneged on their word.

The article reports:

Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said: 

“What we’re seeing is a trend of Israel being left out of the global discussion on terrorism, while Israel was extremely helpful during the beginning stages of this conversation. The [Obama] administration is downplaying the struggle that Israel has been enduring. I believe to a certain extent, this is due to regional politics, and it’s disconcerting to see this change. It just looks like a quiet effort to downplay the issue.”

Maybe we need to look at who is doing the terrorist attacks to see if there is a pattern. Who is training the terrorists? Who is teaching the hatred that encourages terrorism? I’ll give you a hint–it’s not Israel. As I write this, Muslims are killing Christians in Nigeria, and Muslim jihadists are killing people in the Philippines. Since the fall of the government in Egypt, Coptic Christians are being routinely killed. There is a pattern here. The Obama Administration is working very hard to ignore that pattern. As Sun Tzu stated, “Know your enemy before going into battle.” The Obama Administration does not want to know their enemy and is taking the world down the same errant path. Any serious effort to fight terrorism would include Israel–they have suffered the highest number of terrorists attacks and have learned how to prevent many of them and how to deal with them when they happen. It is foolish to omit Israel from the community of nations attempting to fight terrorism.

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What Really Happened In Massachusetts

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On July 6, Mona Charen posted an article at Townhall.com explaining what happened in Massachusetts regarding healthcare and how Obamacare is different from Romneycare.

The article points out that before Mitt Romney became governor, Massachusetts had a number of laws that resulted in a very expensive healthcare system. Governor Romney was attempting to rein in those costs. Unfortunately, he was dealing with an 85 percent Democratic legislature that totally twisted his ideas and passed something very different than what he had envisioned.

The article points out:

Romney’s idea was to permit Massachusetts insurers to sell catastrophic plans. As Avik Roy explained in Forbes, “Shorn of the costly mandates and restrictions originating in earlier state laws, these plans, called ‘Commonwealth Care Basic,’ could cost much less. Romney also proposed merging the non-group and small-group markets, so as to give individuals access to the more cost-effective plans available to small businesses.” Romney’s plan would also have involved a degree of cost sharing so that those receiving subsidies would have an incentive to minimize their consumption.

This is very different from the plan that was eventually passed. The law was later changed under Governor Deval Patrick, requiring insurance companies to offer three tiers of coverage — all of them far beyond catastrophic care.

The article further reminds us:

Romney’s proposed reforms included fraud prevention measures for Medicaid, requiring the income of both parents to be considered in children’s Medicaid eligibility, medical malpractice tort reform, and giving individuals the same treatment as small businesses in the purchase of health plans. He envisioned a system of increased competition and choice.

Had the bill that Governor Romney wanted passed, healthcare in Massachusetts would be a good example for the nation. The plan the legislature passed and Governor Patrick modified is a nightmare for the sate and the nation.

 

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Leadership Matters

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There are two sources for this article–Inside Indiana Business and nwi.com. Both articles deal with what has happened in Indiana since 2005, when Governor Mitch Daniels took office. When Governor Daniels took office, the state had a deficit of $600 million.  Today, Indiana has a $1.3 billion budget surplus.

As interesting as the surplus is, it is also interesting to see how it will be used. Part of it will be refunded to the taxpayers and part of it will be used to pay for full-day kindergarten in the 2012-13 school year.

The article at nwi.com reports:

Based on the current budget surplus, Daniels said Hoosiers filing their income taxes in 2013 will be able to deduct about $70 from the taxes owed. That’s $140 off for a joint return. Individuals who owe no taxes still will receive the refund.

“At some point when budgets are balanced and reserves are full, the state should stop collecting money and leave it with the people who earned it,” Daniels said.

The article at Inside Indiana Business reports:

Compared to residents in other states, Hoosiers are enjoying relatively strong private-sector job growth, lower property taxes, an improved AAA credit rating and the fewest number of state employees per capita anywhere in the country. These developments are part of what has made Daniels popular among Indiana voters.

If the states are laboratories for the federal government, we need to take a very close look to see if what Mitch Daniels has done in Indiana can be applied to the federal government.

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The Cost Of Raising Taxes In Maryland

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Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley pushed through a millionaires tax that went into effect in 2007 and expired in 2010. Yesterday CNBC reported that during that time Maryland lost approximately $1.7 billion in lost tax revenues. The tax imposed a rate of 6.25 percent on incomes of more than $1 million a year. Approximately 31,000 residents left the state during the time the tax was in effect.

Obviously, there is no proof that the people who left the state left because of the additional tax, but if you look at population growth in various states, you find that statistically, states with the lowest tax rates are growing and states with the highest taxes are losing population (e.g. Californians are migrating to Texas). On December 19 of last year, I posted an article (rightwinggranny.com) about the migration of people from states with high taxes to states with low taxes.

The December article at rightwinggranny stated:

There are also some interesting statistics on what happened in Maryland after the state passed a millionaires’ tax in 2008–there was a 33 percent decline in tax returns from millionaire households. The article also reports that Maryland lost $1 billion of its net tax base in 2008 because of out-migration.

There is a point at which raising taxes is counterproductive. President Obama’s statement yesterday that he would keep the tax breaks for people making under $250,000 a year was interesting for a number of reasons. First, it contradicts his previous statement that it is unwise to raise taxes during a recession (technically we are no longer in a recession, but we currently have a very weak economy). Secondly, it changes the subject–instead of looking at the impact President Obama’s policies have had on the economy, this debate will stir up class envy and paint the Republicans as the party of the rich. This is getting old.

Raising taxes in a weak economy is economic suicide. The Obama Administration knows that and knows that the President will not win this debate, but as long as we are talking about raising taxes, we are not talking about the President’s record on the economy.

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James Pethokoukis On The Economy

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James Pethokoukis, columnist for American Enterprise institute, was on the Bill Bennett radio show this morning talking about the economy.

Some of his statements:

Last year the economy grew at a rate of 1.1 and we generated about 150,000 jobs a month. No one thought that was a good year. …If anything goes wrong, we do go back into recession. …I think it’s a pretty fragile situation. …This is a very, very weak recovery. …We should be adding 250,000, 300,000, 400,000 jobs a month, which we would be if the economy was growing faster.

A caller remarked:

If President Obama is trying so hard, why have we not had a budget?

The President talks about saving the automobile industry.  What about the bond holders that were swept under the rug and lost all their money because all the money was given to the unions?

Mr. Pethokoukis commented that the President will be coming out with a plan today to extend the Bush tax cuts on taxpayers earning less than $250,000. Mr. Pethokoukis pointed out that the plan the President is proposing represents a $70 billion tax increase on those earners, many of which are small business owners. There is no way that helps the economy.

Mr. Pethokoukis also reminded us that during the 1983 recovery from the Jimmy Carter recession, we have one month where the economy gained one million jobs.  A recovery after a severe recession should post that kind of numbers—not the numbers we are currently seeing.

Don’t be fooled by the campaign rhetoric—the Obama economic plans have not worked.

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Putting The Foxes In Charge Of The Henhouse

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CNS News is reporting today that Iran has been named to the “bureau” overseeing a month-long United Nations conference in New York aimed at finalizing a controversial global “arms trade treaty.

This is another reason to ask politely that the United Nations get out of New York and America get out of the United Nations.

The article reports:

Furthermore, according to an expert panel monitoring U.N. sanctions on Iran, Tehran continues to flout a Security Council ban on exporting its weaponry, with Syria the main recipient.

“This is like choosing Bernie Madoff to police fraud on the stock market,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental monitoring group based in Geneva, which drew attention to Iran’s elevation to the conference bureau.

UN Watch is urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to condemn the move:

“He should remind the conference that the Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its prohibited nuclear program, and that Iran continues to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments to the murderous Assad regime,” Neuer said.

Good grief! The article lists the leadership positions held by Iran in recent years–despite the fact that they are in total violation of the sanctions the U.N. has placed on them. This is the equivalent of punishing a teenager for a speeding ticket by giving them a Porsche.

 

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Beware Of Misleading Campaign Tweets

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The economy is struggling right now, and many people are looking for a place to put their anger and frustration at being unemployed or underemployed. The Obama presidential campaign is fully prepared to direct this anger anyplace other than the man who has been in charge of the country’s economy for the past three and a half years. It has gotten so bad that even the Washington Post (not a bastion of conservatism) is fact-checking what the Obama campaign says and awarding the appropriate number of Pinocchios.

Mitt Romney is rich. He has earned his money. (The advantage of having a rich president is that he and his family spend less taxpayer money on vacations.) The Obama campaign put out the following tweet:

“FACT: In 2010 and 2011, Romney paid less than 15% in taxes on $42.5 million in income—much less than what many middle-class families pay.” (awarded Three Pinocchios by the Washington Post)

This was specifically designed to stir up envy and class warfare among voters. The problem with the tweet is that it is not true. The Washington Post awarded it three Pinocchios.

The Washington Post reports the actual facts:

Romney released his 2010 tax return and an estimate of his 2011 return earlier this year. He earned a little more than $20 million each year, a good chunk of it in capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at a preferential rate as low as 15 percent.

But that’s not the only reason why Romney’s tax rate is at that level. He also donates about 14 percent of his income to charity, which gives him a pretty big tax deduction. (As we have noted, President Obama in 2010 also gave about 14 percent of his income to charity.)

Indeed, Romney gives about as much to charity — $3 million — as he pays in taxes. Those itemized deductions are counted against income that would ordinarily be taxed at a 35-percent rate. We figure that without those donations to charity, his effective tax rate would be at least 19 percent.

Just in case you are buying into the lie that the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the Washington Post also posted the following information:

Effective Tax Rates (taxes paid on tax return)

Bottom 20 percent (0-$17,000):         -5.8 percent

Second 20 Percent ($17,000-$33,500):  1.3 percent

Middle 20 percent ($33,500-59,500):  9.2 percent

Fourth 20 Percent ($59,000-$103,500): 12.9 percent

Top 20 Percent ($103,500+):  20.6 percent

 

Effective Tax Rates (also including payroll tax paid by employer)

Bottom 20 percent (0-$17,000):         1 percent

Second 20 Percent ($17,000-$33,500): 7.8 percent

Middle 20 percent ($33,500-59,500): 15.5 percent

Fourth 20 Percent ($59,000-$103,500): 18.7 percent

Top 20 Percent ($103,500+):  24.3 percent

We live in a country where almost 50% of the people do not pay taxes. Until this changes and all voters pay taxes, our tax system will probably not get fixed. Right now, the tax code is a tribute to special interests who have successfully lobbied Congress for tax breaks. The answer to the tax code is simplicity and transparency. It’s time to elect people who will make the necessary changes–not people who lie about what the tax code actually is.

 

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When Elected Officials Ignore The Wishes Of Their Constituents

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No, this is not an article about President Obama and healthcare–it is an article about the misuse of the cards given to welfare recipients. In Massachusetts we have what are called EBT cards, which allow people collecting welfare to purchase food for their families.

The Boston Herald is reporting today that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick vetoed the reforms of the EBT card laws.

The article reports:

While signing the state’s $32.5 billion budget yesterday, Patrick rejected an outside section containing the welfare benefits card reforms that had been hammered out with bi-partisan support in the House and Senate — an effort spearheaded by House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop).

The reforms would have banned EBT buys of guns, porn, tattoos, jewelry and manicures. He allowed the banning of EBT cards in tattoo parlors, gun shops, casinos, cruise ships, strip clubs and adult entertainment centers, saying the independent EBT Card Commission had ruled out the idea of banning specific products “for reasons of feasibility, enforceability (and) cost.”

The purpose of the EBT card is to allow people in need to provide food and necessities to themselves and their families. To allow these cards to be used for non-necessities is unfair to the taxpayers who may be going without these luxuries in order to pay their tax bills!

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Exactly The Wrong Solution

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It has been proven that when you tax an activity you get less of it. When you provide a tax break for an activity, you get more of it. We have seen over the past thirty years that when taxes on businesses are lowered the economy grows. When taxes and regulations are increased, the economy shrinks. Well, not everyone got the message.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the United Nations has suggested a global tax on developed countries to help underdeveloped countries. The taxes would include a carbon tax, currency taxes, and taxes on billionaires. What the article fails to mention is that in many countries (if not all) poverty is political–not economic. In countries that are free with freely elected governments and private property rights, there is generally prosperity. In countries with dictators (who generally live rather well) and no private property rights, there is generally massive poverty. If the UN truly wanted to fight poverty, they would encourage democracy and private property rights in countries that have neither. All they really want to do is take money from countries that have earned it and give it to dictators in countries where it will never reach those who desperately need it!

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If The States Can Do It, The Federal Government Can Do It Too

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Kate Hicks at Townhall.com posted an article today with some interesting statistics–all 17 states that elected Republican governors in 2010 have reduced their unemployment rates.

These are the numbers from some of these states:

CHANGING UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CHANGE
Kansas 6.9% to 6.1% decline of 0.8%
Maine 8.0% to 7.4% decline of 0.6%
Michigan 10.9% to 8.5% decline of 2.4%
New Mexico 7.7% to 6.7% decline of 1.0%
Oklahoma 6.2% to 4.8% decline of 1.4%
Pennsylvania 8.0% to 7.4% decline of 0.6%
Tennessee 9.5% to 7.9% decline of 1.6%
Wisconsin 7.7% to 6.8% decline of 0.9%
Wyoming 6.3% to 5.2% decline of 1.1%
Alabama 9.3% to 7.4% decline of 1.9%
Georgia 10.1% to 8.9% decline of 1.2%

If this can be done at the state level, it can be done at the federal level. 

 

 

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Fraud Or Incompetence ?

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Yesterday John Fund at the National Review posted an article about the recent Democrat primary election in New York City where Charlie Rangel was declared the winner. Initially, Congressman Rangel was said to have won by 2,300 votes, but later that number dwindled to 802 and now sits at 945.

The article reports:

Not surprisingly, Espaillat (state senator Adriano Espaillat, Rangel’s primary opponent) is even more enraged. He has gone before a judge demanding a new election, given the irregularities he has found. He conceded defeat on Election Night only to see his 10-percentage-point loss shrink to almost nothing in the next day or so. Espaillat calls the election “a phantom procedure” and doesn’t think everything was bumbling or an accident. He notes that the Board of Elections ordered many bilingual poll workers to man precincts with few Hispanics on voting day. He said some of his own relatives weren’t even listed as registered voters.

The election coming up in November is important. As Americans, we need to know that everyone’s vote counts once. It is time to clean up the voter roles to remove those people who are no longer living and to remove anyone who is not legally entitled to vote. America needs an honest election in November.

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Just A Short Rant (Well, Not So Short)

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I am a registered Republican. I am not always in agreement with the Republican party (particularly here in Massachusetts), but it’s the best I can do at this particular moment. I will be voting for Mitt Romney unless the October surprise from the Obama campaign is proof that Mitt Romney is an alien ax murderer sent from the planet Zenon to invade the earth. Then I might possible rethink my vote–but I doubt it. Anyway, I listen to talk radio and I listen to the people around me, and I hear a lot of comments about Governor Romney and the fact that he was Governor of Massachusetts when the Massachusetts healthcare law was passed. I am not a fan of Massachusetts healthcare. I will tell you why.

I have had cataract surgery twice. Both times I had good medical insurance through my husband’s workplace. The first surgery cost me $250 out of pocket, and the second surgery cost me $2450 out of pocket. What was the difference? In both cases the lens of my eye was replaced with a prescription lens–I have worn thick glasses since I was a small child. Before Massachusetts healthcare was passed, the prescription lens was included. After Massachusetts healthcare was passed, the prescription lens was optional–I could have had them put in a clear lens and it would have cost me $250, but if I wanted the best possible outcome–being able to see without glasses, it was extra. Think about this–the medical care I needed was available–the lens with the cataract was replaced, but if I wanted the best outcome, it was not covered by insurance. That is what government insurance does–it saves money by compromising on the quality of care.

Now, about Mitt Romney and Massachusetts healthcare. The people of Massachusetts (after all, this is Massachusetts) wanted universal health coverage. Universal coverage was going to pass the legislation. There was no way Mitt Romney could have stopped it. He did attempt to curb some of its provisions, but there was no way it was going to be stopped. I don’t blame Mitt Romney for Massachusetts healthcare–I blame the voters of Massachusetts who are content with a one-party state that allows corruption at a level where it is routine for the Speaker of the House to serve jail time for his actions as speaker. This has happened often enough so that it is almost routine. Don’t blame Romney–blame to voters!

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Why Obamacare Must Be Repealed

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The healthcare law that Congress passed in 2010  (“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy,” said Nancy Pelosi) was essentially a skeleton of a bill to be written later by the Department of Health and Human Services. No one really knew what was in the bill because the specifics of the bill had not actually been written yet. Well, it is now a work in progress.

Hot Air reported on Thursday that federal and state officials have already drafted 13,000 pages of rules and regulations for Obamacare.

The article concludes:

180 new bureaus/boards/commissions, hundreds of new employees, billions of dollars, who knows how many new rules to comply with… the mind reels. Make no mistake about it, whatever Team Obama says — this is a massive, unprecedented expansion of federal power. Nancy Pelosi said we had to pass it to know what’s in it, and we’re still not even done figuring out what’s in it. Awesome.

And it’s not as if all of these rules and regulations are just innocent little administrative instructions, either; the Catholic Church, for instance, isn’t too pleased with the rule decreeing that insurance plans need to cover contraception, regardless of religious affiliations. What other nefarious liberty-infringing, social-engineering surprises are going to come out of this legislative Pandora’s box?

The way the law is being set up, it will be enforced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Think about that for a minute. What is the IRS’s reputation for compassion and customer service? Do we really want them handling our healthcare?

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What Do You Do When Your State Runs Out Of Money ? Borrow More For A New Project !

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Breitbart.com reported today that California legislature has approved selling $4.5 billion in voter-approved bonds that includes $2.6 billion to build an initial 130-mile stretch of the high-speed rail line in the Central Valley. That will allow the state to collect another $3.2 billion in federal funding that could have been rescinded if lawmakers failed to act Friday. California received more federal aid than expected after Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin turned down the money.

Included in the article are the following statements:

Before Friday’s vote, at least half a dozen Democrats in the 40-member Senate remained opposed, skeptical or uncommitted. Some were concerned about how the vote would impact their political futures, while others were wary about financing and management of the massive project.

One dissenter, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, said public support had waned for the project, and there were too many questions about financing to complete it.

“Is there additional commitment of federal funds? There is not. Is there additional commitment of private funding? There is not. Is there a dedicated funding source that we can look to in the coming years? There is not,” Simitian said.

There is no financing to complete the problem–that is one of many reasons the other states turned it down! There is also the cultural element–this is California–the state with a massive highway system that exemplifies America’s love affair with the automobile. There is a cultural aspect of mass transportation that simply does not fit in with the California culture.

California has budget problems. It has had budget problems for many years. The public schools in California have cut art and music teachers from the curriculum in order to save money. To spend $4.5 billion on a high speed rail project that will need even more money to complete is simply not wise. Then there is the matter of whether or not the environmentalists will let it go forward even after construction has begun.

No wonder the state is going broke.

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Some Perspective On The Current Heat Wave

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One of my favorite websites is WattsUpWithThat.com. It is a bit scientific for me, but it has one of the most down-to-earth, practical views on global warming I can find. Yesterday WattsUpWithThat posted an article with their take on the current heat wave. The article included this picture:

The comment underneath the picture was blunt:

This is weather, not climate. It is caused by a persistent blocking high pressure pattern. In a day or two, that red splotch over the eastern USA will be gone.

Every summer temperatures climb. There may be climate change due to climate cycles that have been with us since the Earth was formed.,but we have had heat waves since I was a small child (back in the age of dinosaurs). There was a recent article noting that there has been global warming on Mars. If this is the case, I would tend to look at the sun as the culprit–not carbon dioxide or SUV‘s.

In case you are like charts better than pictures, this is the weather in June over the past 30 years or so:

I’m really not worried about global warming yet.

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Something To Be Aware Of On Your Computer

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My husband wrote this up for me because I have no idea exactly what it is about. I did, however, go to DCWG.org to make sure my computer was ok.

This is the story:

Over a year ago, the FBI discovered malicious software that redirected over a half-million computers through a specific DNS server. (A DNS server is used to resolve the meaning of web addresses you type into your browser.)

This malicious server captured information and began to use your computer without your knowledge. Rather than knocking many computers off the internet, the FBI substituted a “Clean” DNS server for the malicious server. Beginning Monday July 9, the FBI will shutdown the “Clean” server and anyone still infected will suddenly not be able to get to the internet.

To fix the problem the person will probably need to work with their internet provider to enter the correct DNS information.

To avoid the problem many places have be publicizing a website that will check your current DNS location.

Go to go to www.dns-ok.us or www.dcwg.org – they have quick check links to assure you are free of this malware.

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About That First Amendment Thing…

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On June 25th, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Brian Johnson, an evangelical Christian, would be allowed to hand out Bibles on Sunday at the annual Twin Cities Pride Festival.

The article reported:

Festival organizers’ attempts to ban Johnson from the park had resulted in a Minneapolis Park Board plan to restrict his Bible distribution to a booth on the edge of the festival. Two weeks ago, his request for an injunction against that ban was denied by a U.S. District Court judge.

But Johnson’s attorneys immediately filed an emergency appeal, saying the Park Board’s plan violated his constitutional right to free speech in a public place. They asked for a quick decision, one in time for the upcoming Pride Festival.

This is clearly a free speech issue. The festival is held on public property and is open to the public. Regardless of whether or not you agree with what Mr. Johnson stands for, he does have the same First Amendment rights as the rest of us. I am grateful for the lawyers willing to defend the First Amendment rights of all Americans.

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How Long Do You Keep Doing Something When It Isn’t Working ?

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New unemployment figures came out today. USA Today posted an article with the headline, “Obama: Jobs report ‘step in the right direction.'” Where is that step and what is the direction?

CNBC reported:

The U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent, reflecting continued slow growth in the economy with the presidential election just four months away.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said private payrolls increased 84,000, while the government lost 4,000 jobs. Economists expected job growth of about 100,000 and the unemployment rate to be unchanged, though many had increased their forecasts based on some recent indicators.

President Obama has been in office for 3 1/2 years. His two major legislative programs were passed by Congress–Obamacare and the 2009 stimulus, which was supposed to keep unemployment below 8 percent and reduce it to about 6 percent by now. It really is time to evaluate whether either of these major legislative initiatives has done anything to help employment in America. At the same time, we need to look and see if any other decisions by the White House have negatively affected employment in America. How many jobs were lost by the President’s opposition to the Keystone Pipeline? How many jobs have been lost because of the ‘permitorium’ on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? How many jobs have been lost by the uncertainty in the business community because a President and Congress have not passed a budget in three years?

Admittedly, President Obama inherited an economic mess when he took office. However, he asked to inherit that mess because he thought he could fix it. It is becoming extremely obvious that President Obama’s economic policies will not fix this mess. It is time to give someone else a chance to set things aright.

This can be turned around. Some of us are old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter Administration–high interest rates, high inflation, gas lines, declining influence abroad, etc. Those years were followed by some of the most rapid economic growth in American history due to the leadership skills of President Ronald Reagan. I am praying that Mitt Romney has those same leadership skills–we need them now!

 

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Keeping Your Doctor

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Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal posted an article by Dan Henninger entitled, “ObamaCare‘s Lost Tribe: Doctors.” The article quotes the promise President Obama made to the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in 2009. The President stated, “No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.”

Well, did anyone ask the doctors about this? Somehow lost in the discussions of the processing of healthcare claims, the demand that everyone must have health insurance, and the institutional representatives of hospitals, drug companies, and insurance companies, we have forgotten what healthcare actual boils down to–a relationship between a doctor and a patient.

The article in the Wall Street Journal reminds us:

A Wall Street Journal story the day after the Supreme Court ruling examined in detail its impact across the “health sector.” The words “doctor,” “physician” and “nurse” appeared nowhere in this report. The piece, however, did cite the view of one CEO who runs a chain of hospitals, explaining how they’d deal with the law’s expected $155 billion in compensation cuts. “We will make it up in volume,” he said.

Volume? Would that be another word for human beings? It is now. At Obama Memorial, docs won’t be treating patients. They’ll be processing “volume.” And then, with what time and energy remains in the day, they’ll be inputting medical data to comply with the law’s new Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), lodged in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

This may be good for the government, but it is not good for the patient. The article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal goes on to explain how the emphasis in Obamacare on volume will impact medical care in America. Healthcare needs to be reformed, but Obamacare is not the answer. 

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Sometimes Don’t You Wish Someone Would Just Admit They Made A Mistake

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Today The Blaze posted a story about a young Florida lifeguard, Tommy Lopez, who saved someone’s life on Monday and was fired for his efforts. Mr. Lopez rescued a person drowning on a part of the beach he was not hired to patrol. He was fired.

There is, however, an update to the story. It states:

“This event caught me by surprise just as much as it did everyone else,” Ellis said (Jeff Ellis, head of the lifeguard company involved). “We’re reviewing everything that has occurred, and we will either concur with that or we will override what happened based on what we find out.”

“If he left his chair and we had a beach full of people and they were left unprotected, that would be one thing,” he added. “If he left his beach and another guard immediately took over and covered so that the beach was protected, that would be an entirely different thing.”

This is the video from ABC News: 

I just have a simple question, “If he left his part of the beach and no one drowned during the time he left, is it more important to save the life of an actual drowning person or to stay at your post in case someone might drown?”

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