It seems that the absolute volume of outrageous trash generated by our government is growing by the day. It has been said that our current administration has adopted it as a strategy to throw out such a volume of government intrusion that the public cannot possibly recognize, much less combat, it all.  What is frightening is not so much that we have to deal with it but that our children and grandchildren might be forced to grow up in a world in which this is considered “normal.” We will be long gone and the stench of what our government left behind will linger for decades. Here are a few bags of trash for today.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a growing national trend of parents actually going to jail because they are trying to enroll their kids in better school systems.

From the article: “An African-American mother of two, Ms. Williams-Bolar last year used her father’s address to enroll her two daughters in a better public school outside of their neighborhood. After spending nine days behind bars charged with grand theft, the single mother was convicted of two felony counts. Not only did this stain her spotless record, but it threatened her ability to earn the teacher’s license she had been working on.” And this: “From California to Massachusetts, districts are hiring special investigators to follow children from school to their homes to determine their true residences and decide if they “belong” at high-achieving public schools.” And hang on to your hats for this: “Other school districts use services like VerifyResidence.com, which provides “the latest in covert video technology and digital photographic equipment to photograph, videotape, and document” children going from their house to school. School districts can enroll in the company’s rewards program, which awards anonymous tipsters $250 checks for reporting out-of-district students.” The full article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903285704576557610352019804.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Our second bag of trash is filled with Obamacare. If you remember the “debate” over the bill just before it was rammed through, a major stumbling block was whether or not the bill would fund abortions. President Obama said he would issue an executive order so that no taxpayer money would pay for abortions and Democratic members of Congress insisted that abortions would not be covered. How’s that working out?

The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing the new regulation which would fully implement Obamacare. According to CSNS News, it includes a requirement for “preventive services” such that “all private health plans in the United States cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives–including those that cause abortions—without charging any fees or co-pay.” While touting the new regulation at a fundraiser in St. Louis this week, President Obama had an exchange with an audience member that went like this:

Obama: “Think about what that means for families all across America.  Think about what it means for women.” 

Audience member: “Birth control.”

Obama: “Absolutely. You’re stealing my line,… No longer can insurance companies discriminate against women just because you guys are the ones who have to give birth.”

Audience member: “Darn right!”

Obama: “Darn tooting,…..(laughter) they have to cover things like mammograms and contraception as preventive care, no more out-of-pocket costs.”

That sounds like a great deal. Fifty year old men have to be covered for mammograms, sterilization, and birth control whether they like it or not. A little further checking will tell you that they must be covered for psychological counseling, drug rehab, and so must their children up to 26 years old. Do you think it’s possible that you could buy cheaper coverage without all those benefits you don’t want or need? Sorry, that’s not allowed. Buy it, pay a fine, or go to jail. Oh, and by the way, part of your premium that you must pay is going toward free abortions.

Our final bag of trash comes from Charlotte, NC, the soon-to-be home of the Democratic National Convention. A small businessman selling commercial audio equipment on a busy thoroughfare in that city received a notice of zoning violation this week. The violation was for two recycling bins located outside his store. He was told that his dumpsters needed to be fully enclosed by a wall or a fence so that they could not be seen from the street. Hmmmm.

“I think the timing definitely has something to do with the DNC,” said the owner. “Why hadn’t I seen this before if I’ve been in violation of some sort of city ordinance?” His business (dumpsters and all) has been there since 2007. The owner has gotten estimates to build the fence/wall ranging from $1000-$3800. Since he can’t afford that he’s getting rid of the dumpsters resulting in lost business for the recycling company and whatever environmental effects there might be from less recycling.

It turns out that this particular business is not alone. According to the local CBS News affiliate (WBTV), at least 100 businesses have received similar notifications in the last couple of months. One wonders whether the business lost by recycling companies (and others) will count as jobs “obliterated or destroyed.”

Here are a few “brainsnacks” for a Sunday morning:

1. This past Wednesday scientists at the CERN particle research facility in Geneva claimed that they have found a particle traveling faster than the speed of light. If this is verified it would mean that all of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (and almost all of modern physics) is wrong.

Here’s the full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8782895/CERN-scientists-break-the-speed-of-light.html

2. A materials scientist from SINTEF, a research organization in Norway, has published a new model offering his explanation of what actually caused the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11th. His model includes explosions caused by a chemical reaction between water from the sprinkler systems and melted aluminum from the airplane fuselages.

Pretty interesting stuff: http://news.yahoo.com/twin-tower-collapse-model-could-squash-9-11-201204097.html?cache=clear

3. Quick! Think of a Brontosaurus. In your mind do you see that giant long-necked beast that was the logo for Texaco? Well, it never existed. Seems there was a mixup. Something about placing the wrong head on a skeleton from several miles away. The error was discovered and the “thunder lizard” is no longer a member of the dinosaur family.

Full article at: http://www.unmuseum.org/dinobront.htm

4. When you get on an airplane what makes you confident that the giant aluminum beast in which you are seated can get off the ground? Most of us probably remember that science-class illustration showing an airplane wing with arrows flowing over the top and under the bottom. We were told that the “Bernoulli principle” provided lift to the wing because the air flowing underneath went faster than the air going over the top. Oops. Turns out it’s a bit more complicated than that. Seems you need calculus (Newton) rather than arithmetic (Bernoulli) to explain this one.

NASA has an explanation here: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/bernnew.html

5. And, finally, more news rocking the scientific world is coming out of the CERN collider. All that you have been taught (and much you haven’t) about atoms, electrons, protons, and all those strangely named particles are based on formulas that have assumed the existence of a particle which could never be seen. This particle, the “Higgs boson,” is often referred to as the “god particle” because it is an article of faith. The facilities at CERN were built, in large part, to be able to detect this particle and cement together our understanding of physics. Oops again. It seems that the “god particle” might not exist at all. Scientists are now 95% certain that it isn’t there. If confirmed, everything you were taught (and most of what you weren’t) about physics collapses. The standard model of particle physics is very close to becoming “flat-earth” theory.

Full article at: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/cern-higgs-boson-god-particle-likely-does-not-exist/ 

These few “snacks” should tell you something about anyone even daring to utter the words “settled science” about anything.

For the last couple of weeks you may have been hearing lots of stories about the failure of Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar panel company who managed to get the government to part with $535 million of your tax dollars. You will be hearing a lot more as both the election season and the story itself unfold. There will be lots of spin but here are ten facts:

1. Although you may have already heard the administration’s spin that “the loan process actually began during the Bush administration,” the loan application was denied by the Bush Department of Energy on January 9, 2009.

2. By the company’s own records they had lost $400 million over the previous three years.

3. The company’s own internal auditors had provided an opinion that the company was not viable.

4. Energy Department emails indicated that the credit rating agency predicted that Solyndra would run out of cash in September 2011. Check your calendar.

5. There was consideration given to closing the doors in January of 2010. One staffer at OMB said in an email, “If Solyndra defaults down the road the optics will arguably be worse than they would be today,” because “additional funds [will] have been put at risk, recovery may be lower and questions will be asked as to why the administration made a bad investment, not just once … but twice.” His advice was ignored and the taxpayers lost an additional $168 million.

6. One of the chief investors in Solyndra was George Kaiser, a huge campaign fundraiser for President Obama.

7. George Kaiser has visited the White House 16 times including meetings with Obama’s key advisor Valerie Jarrett, the then chief White House economist Austin Goolsbee, and Obama’s chief of staff just prior to the loan’s approval.

8. In February the loan was restructured to put Kaiser and his co-investors ahead of taxpayers in line for any assets should the company go under. (For those of you who remember, this smacks of the Chrysler takeover in which the unions were put in line ahead of preferred bond investors who, according to all previous bankruptcy law, should have been first in line for any assets).

9. Peter Lynch, a New York-based solar energy analyst, spoke to ABC news about Solyndra’s business model: “It’s very difficult to perceive a company with a model that says, well, I can build something for six dollars and sell it for three dollars. Those numbers don’t generally work. You don’t want to lose three dollars for every unit you make.”

10. The investors planned to cash out all along by offering what they knew to be nearly worthless stock to the public and leaving taxpayers holding the half a billion dollar bag. At least they would get their money. According to the Wall Street Journal,“There was a perceived halo around the loan,” said an investor with knowledge of the company. “If we get the loan, then we can definitely go public and cash out.” Solyndra actually began the process of issuing stock (cashing out) in December 2009. When it became apparent that they could get no interest from real investors they canceled the offering in June 2010.

Draw your own conclusions folks but this is just beginning.

The laughing stock website, “Attackwatch.com,” mentioned in yesterday’s post is providing some great material for you comedians out there. The website asks Americans to sign up and report “falsehoods and fabrications” about President Obama. Of course, they plan to correct them with their “truth.” Here’s a sampling of tweets submitted to the tattletale website, courtesy of The American Spectator’s Ross Kaminsky:

From DrFreeLance: “I saw a werewolf drinkin a pina colada at Trader Vic’s, and his hair was perfect.”

From chuckdevore (Republican state legislator in California): “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean a big majority of us isn’t out to get you…”

From EddieRobbins: “My neighbor removed his Obama bumper sticker. I think he’s a racist.”

From DickMeyers: “Bless me #AttackWatch for I have sinned. I have muttered naughty words about our Dear Leader 9 times & have doubted his divinity a few times”

From joaniekensil: “Ate refried beans & chips for breakfast which is sort of racist foodist – Carbon emissions to follow.”

From PoliticalGravity: “Saw a kid with a lemonade stand and she didn’t have a permit.”

From thorninaz: “Hey #attackwatch, I saw 6 ATM’s in an alley, killing a Job. It looked like a hate crime!”

These were alll in a two minute monitoring of Twitter done by Mr. Kaminsky. If you happen to be on Twitter check it out for yourself. The overriding tone is ridicule.

There’s also this cartoon on “…ology: http://www.ology.com/politics/obama-administration-launches-online-thought-police-%E2%80%9Cattack-watch%E2%80%9D

As usual, the Obama machine reaps unintended consequences….an unforeseen epic fail.

 Back in the early ’70’s Sly and the Family Stone recorded a song entitled “Somebody’s Watching You” with an eerie sort of tone and lyrics that reminded you that you are being watched. Here are a couple of “big brother” developments you may have missed that have come to my attention over the last couple of days which reminded me of that old classic song.

The first came about due to a computer problem I was unfortunately saddled with. It was a software issue so my computer itself was not damaged but I was forced to wipe the hard drives clean and reinstall Windows, reinstall all the programs, and reset all the preferences. Not fun at all.

It was in the process of doing this that I discovered an interesting thing. In my newly loaded web browser there was something in my preloaded “Favorites” list that was not there before. There are preloaded links to “Websites for United States.” One is for the English version and one is for the Spanish version and both take you to “USA.gov.” USA.gov has been used as a gateway in the past to tout the administration’s talking points in the sale of first the stimulus (epic fail) and then Obamacare (economic disaster) to the public. Nice to know that our young first-time computer users, and the rest of us for that matter, get a direct link to government propaganda central whether we ask for it or not.

The second development was today’s news stories on the new Obama campaign website “Attackwatch.com” This website has been created to supposedly fight the “smears” and “lies” being circulated about President Obama. They want you to join something call “Attackwire” and report incidents of these “smears” and “lies” so they can respond with their “truth.” One response was classic. One woman asked if this would be available in the original German. According to ABC news another said, “There’s a new Twitter account making President Obama look like a creepy, authoritarian nutjob.” In just one day this has already become a laughing stock across the internet but the concept that the President’s own campaign staff wants American citizens to inform on their neighbors is a bit frightening and distinctly “German” in an unflattering sense of the word. What next? Will teachers be filing online reports that little Johnny shared that his parents said an unflattering thing about President Obama?

If it were not for the fact that I would have to give them my email address to reply (possibly bringing the black SUV’s of the Gibson guitar police to my door) I would love to report a couple of lies and/or smears. How about if we start with this one:

President Obama said, during the negotiations on raising the debt limit, that there might not be funds to send out the next round of Social Security checks if he didn’t get authority to borrow more money.  That, ladies and gentlemen, was a bald-faced whopper of a LIE and he knew it as the words left his lips.

OK. One of you liberals out there do your duty and report that lie.

Today, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we pause to remember all those innocent civilians and heroic firefighters, policemen, and other responders who perished on that day that forever changed the world. They should forever be honored and never forgotten.

As the events of that day are remembered, it is natural to focus on the best of human nature; the bravery, the determination, and the selflessness of New Yorkers, of those at the Pentagon, and the passengers and crew of flight 93. Often, the finest side of our imperfection comes out when we are stressed beyond what we thought were our limits. This was one of those moments.

We must not forget, however, the shock and horror moments, the “burn or jump” decisions forced on human beings, or those incinerated or crushed as the towers burned and then collapsed. Things took place ten years ago today that we would rather not focus on. Things that we file away deep in our memory for our own protection. We probably should not take out those particular memories to look at very often but we should always remember what brought them to our shores; evil. Pure hatred-filled, evil. We should always remember that evil and, in the name of those who died, have the courage to face it, name it, and defeat it. The enemy is radical Islamic terrorism and we cannot wish it away by not speaking its name. We must not turn away.

In preparation for today’s memorials across the country, the White House issued guidelines for those holding services. The guidelines said they wished to make the point that we have not been alone in experiencing the evil of terrorism. A noble viewpoint. In part it said, “As we commemorate the citizens of over 90 countries who perished in the 9/11 attacks, we honor all victims of terrorism, in every nation around the world,” …… “We honor and celebrate the resilience of individuals, families, and communities on every continent, whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London.” A list of cities hard hit by terrorism for sure. Please allow me to add a bit to the list:

May 27, 2002 – A grandmother and her infant granddaughter were killed and 37 people were injured, some seriously, when a suicide bomber detonated himself near an ice cream parlor outside a shopping mall in Petah Tikva. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

June 5, 2002 – 17 people were killed and 38 injured when a car packed with a large quantity of explosives struck Egged bus No. 830 traveling from Tel-Aviv to Tiberias at the Megiddo junction near Afula. The bus, which burst into flames, was completely destroyed. The terrorist was killed in the blast. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

June 18, 2002 – 19 people were killed and 74 injured – six seriously – in a suicide bombing at the Patt junction in Egged bus no. 32A traveling from Gilo to the center of Jerusalem. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was carrying many students on their way to school. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Jan 5, 2003 – Twenty-two people were killed and about 120 wounded in a double suicide bombing near the old Central Bus Station in Tel-Aviv.

Aug 31, 2004 – Sixteen people were killed and 100 wounded in two suicide bombings within minutes of each other on two Beersheba city buses, on route nos. 6 and 12.

Apr 17, 2006 – Eleven people were killed and over 60 wounded in a suicide bombing during the Passover holiday near the old central bus station in Tel Aviv, at the Rosh Ha’ir shawarma restaurant, site of the Jan 19 bombing. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mar 6, 2008 – Eight students of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem were killed when a terrorist armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle infiltrated the yeshiva and opened fire in the library where about 80 people were gathered, mostly teenagers. Eleven others were wounded, three critically. The terrorist, a resident of East Jerusalem, was killed by an IDF officer.

According to the White House….”we honor all victims of terrorism, in every nation around the world?” Really? What about these victims and the hundreds of others killed and maimed for decades in the one nation not mentioned? The one nation whose eradication is a stated objective for terrorists? The one nation which has arguably suffered the most at the hands of terrorism and you dare not speak their name? SHAME ON YOU. 

Today, as we remember the largest single display of terrorist evil let us also remember those killed and the bravery displayed by those in Israel. Somebody has to say it.

   For those of you not old enough to remember, there was a character in the original Popeye cartoons named Wimpy. Wimpy absolutely loved hamburgers but never seemed to have any money. He would periodically show up and say to Popeye “I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

President Obama’s Thursday night speech was classic Wimpy. He asked for (more like demanded) a $450 billion “hamburger” and offered to pay for it on “Tuesday.” He promised that it would be 100% paid for. He’s just going to tell the super commission on debt reduction that they will have to find $450 billion more in savings sometime before Christmas (I wonder, is Christmas on a Tuesday this year?) Hey, that was easy. That’s as good as done.

Sorry Mr. President, but we’ve been down this road before. We don’t want another bill similar to Obamacare that, as Nancy Pelosi said, we “have to pass to find out what’s in it.” If you want the hamburger today show us the money today.  Not Tuesday. Not after a commission submits their report (even if they are super). Not Christmas. Today.

It’s very simple. Have someone draft a bill that includes everything. Bring it before our representatives in Congress, they’ll discuss it and take a vote. Disregarding the fact that it sure sounds like “epic fail stimulus redux,” we want to know now exactly what is in it.

No more burgers on credit.

   You began treatment with Dr. Obama on January 20th of 2009. As you sat in his waiting room on that day you had a fever of 104, some numbness in your legs, and you had not been able to work for three weeks running. He said your blood volume was low and this was leading to a deficiency of hemojobulin. In order to increase your blood volume (and the hemojobulin) he prescribed “stimulative transfusions.” This involved taking blood from sites all over your body and transfusing it all into your left arm.

  He also put you on massive doses of “regulatin.” This drug includes custom made amounts of the wonder-enzymes EPA, NLRB, SEC, FAA, IRS, and others too numerous to name here. Dr. Obama administered a dose of regulatin whenever he felt it necessary to limit blood flow to an undesirable area of the body. For example, the oil glands, the colon (coal-un), or the free speech center in the brain.

    Over the two and a half years of your treatment it became more and more obvious that this was a bad idea. At first, the treatments seemed to have some effect. Your temperature dropped from 104 to 101 and you were able to work one or two days a month. Unfortunately, things seem to have plateaued there and have not improved at all since March of 2010; the very same month he started you on Obamacaratene. As a matter of fact, some nasty complications have developed. 

Although your left arm is healthier now than its ever been, the rest of your body’s hemojobulin levels have tanked so badly that your overall levels are dangerously low. Last year your blood flow got so low that you actually had to have a couple of toes amputated. The regulatin is confusing your heart signals to the point it is barely beating enough to keep you alive and the Obamacaratene has actually produced near total paralysis. Work is out of the question. You are in deep, deep trouble.

All of this has prompted you to seek several second opinions. It seems that there are two schools. Many of the doctors you’ve consulted recommend taking you off the Obamacaratene immediately and easing off the regulatin. This would be much less taxing on the heart as well as removing the confusion in the heart signals. Studies by such famous doctors as Kennedy, Reagan, and Bush have shown that in cases like this the body will actually heal itself if these harmful treatments are removed in favor of a regimen less taxing on the heart. They also suggest that you stop the so-called “stimulative transfusions” as merely moving blood from an “unfavored” location to a “favored” location (the left arm) accomplishes nothing other than to increase the doctor’s billing.

Dr. Obama and his group have told you that this is nonsense. According to them, the only reason your hemojobulin levels have not responded is that they did not remove enough blood the first time. They need to take more. They suggest that, in order to protect against the possible need to amputate any more toes, they should just amputate both feet. They have, however, promised you lifetime prosthetic benefits as part of their treatment. They insist that the regulatin is necessary even though it dangerously lowers your heart rate. Finally, they insist that the Obamacaratene is the wave of the future and that you should just learn to live with the paralysis as the “new normal.”

In a television interview yesterday regarding your now famous case, Dr. Obama again reminded everyone what a difficult case he inherited two and a half years ago. He also said those other doctors must be willing to compromise: “There are things we can do right now to help this patient. The only thing standing in the way is the refusal of those other doctors to put appearing to care about the patient before medicine.”

Dr. Obama went on to say that he would be willing to compromise and work with the other doctors’ group. He said he would be agreeable to only amputating one foot if the other doctors would be willing to agree to further medications that would increase the tax load on the heart. All else, paralysis included, would remain the same.

How could you argue with a deal like that? Remember, he’s got a no-cut contract until November 2012.

Yesterday President Obama gave a speech to his union supporters in Detroit. His warm-up act, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., outrageously called for union members to “take the sons of bitches out,” referring to Republicans and/or Tea Party members. Both gave passionate speeches praising the virtues of union labor and collective bargaining. When it was all over I was left with one nagging question.

With whom will you “collectively bargain” when there are finally no employers left?