An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for September 2011
Attacking Israel
Egypt: Protesters Tear Down Embassy Wall, Remove Israeli Flag
Just a short while after it was put up, hundreds of Egyptian protesters tore down on Friday the security wall that had recently been put up near the entrance of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
The Associated Press reported that Egyptian security forces did not intervene as crowds climbed the embassy security wall, pummeled it with hammers and tore away large sections of the barrier.
(…)
Channel 10 noted that the Egyptian security forces let the protesters do as they please after being pelted with stones when they tried to stop them. There were varying reports as to how many people were injured in the clashes that broke out and the numbers were ranging from 55 injuries to as many as 187. No Israelis, however, were injured.
Please note, half way through the video comes the shouts of “allah hu akbar”. Is this ‘what democracy looks like’? Well, to the Obama administration, it might, but to those who remember what liberty really is, it does not. It appears the Muslim Brotherhood is pretty much in charge, or at least those of their ilk. You know…the murderous pedophile worshipers. Islam and democracy do NOT mesh. It never has, it never will. They are contrary to each other, and anyone who actually believed that the “Arab Spring” was going to bring more liberty to the people of the various countries that have participated, are finding they sadly mistaken. The calls for murder of certain people isn’t exactly an indication of the hopes of democracy, is it? I don’t think so, but then, I might be a tad biased.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood cleric Dr. Salah Sultan has called to murder Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt, Yitzchak Lebanon, Arutz Sheva’s Dalit Halevy reports. Last week Sultan declared that all Israelis in Egypt should be murdered.
Could it be any more plain? No civilized country would consciously allow such animals to settle in their neighborhoods, would they? Well, sadly, it is happening. How long before we see such actions right here in the U.S.? It’s already happening in Great Britain. I would hope they are rethinking their open door to Muslims, and find a way to eject them. Now, if we could only get people on this side of the ocean to wake up to the dangers being posed by the increased “immigration” of those from nations who are anti-democracy.
Update From Rep Blackburn
Friends,
Many of you have been watching with interest the situation with Gibson Guitar. As you know, I was honored Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz came as my guest to President Obama’s jobs speech. President Obama could take a lesson from business leaders like Henry and recognize that businesses like Gibson Guitar are key to getting our nation’s economic engine running again.
Currently, Gibson Guitar’s workers are not manufacturing guitars. I wanted to let you know that I committed to seeing this injustice righted and so are my friends on the Energy and Commerce Committee. I wanted to share with you the latest news from the Committee. We are continuing to work to cut back some of the out-of-control regulations and hold the Obama Administration accountable for selectively enforcing rules that are hindering job growth and killing small businesses.
Please continue to let me know your thoughts on this and all issues. You can email me, find me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
My Best,
Marsha
Recovery Envy
It’s been a fairly bad 3 days. So, I haven’t had myself glued to either the TV news, or the computer. Why? I didn’t feel like it. 
Well, truth be told, it all started Tuesday morning. I was having some back pain, and as the day progressed, it seemed to get worse. Luckily, physical therapy didn’t bother me too much, but by bedtime, not only was my back killing me, but I was having shooting pains coming around the left side, to what felt like a fiery explosion from the left side of my abdomen. That’s the only way I can describe it. So, after spending sleepless night of complete agony, I finally decided ENOUGH…and let the Mr take me to the ER. What fun, eh? The pain just kept increasing, and honestly, I think I’d rather give birth and have a root canal, sans Novocaine, at the same time, than ever feel that horror again. It was bad, ok?
When I finally got into see the doc (there apparently were multiple emergencies going on in our little Podunk county), they sucked a bit of blood, made me tinkle in a tiny cup, whisked me off for a cat scan, and stuck an IV up my arm, after blowing one vein in the other. sigh… The results came back. They have NO idea. Initially, they thought it might be kidney stones, but that didn’t show on the CT, so now….I get to go for a consult with the same guy that the Mr saw last December, that started THAT lovely path of invasion. UGH! Ok, I’m not going worry about that….yet. I don’t have a gall bladder. I don’t have an appendix. And there are a couple of other things I don’t have, so those were all ruled out.
Yep…still in pain, but some meds they gave me is keeping it at a dull roar, and hopefully, I’ll survive till Tuesday when I go in for the consult. After seeing the knee doc yesterday, my attitude improved a bit. He is quite pleased with my progress. 
And since I apparently ‘enjoy’ getting the crap beat out of me by the rehab de Sade triplets, he wants me to continue for another couple of weeks. Hmmm… Well, it’s good for me….I think.
I had PT this afternoon, and since I was feeling a bit better….well, at least functional, I thought I’d pop over to my friend’s house before my appointment, and see how she was holding up after having BOTH her knees replaced. 
I will freely admit it… I have a MAJOR case of recovery envy! Two weeks, and that woman is walking around like nothing happened. Ok, yes, she’s waddling a bit, but not even using a walker? No cane? And going up the stairs???? UGH! How??? I know it’s wrong to envy, but still…. It’s been two months since my ONE surgery, and she’s functioning better than I am. Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration, but not by much. Yep….recovery envy! 
And after my PT this afternoon, I am even more envious. I’ma hurtin’!! All swollen up, and yes I ‘iced’.
So, between the odd pain, and the knee pain, I haven’t much felt like posting a whole lot. And now, with the Mr up in Wisconsin for Volksfest, I think maybe I’ll play catch up with what’s going on in the world, or….just ignore the world completely. I haven’t decided yet. Heh.
“Hey Rocky! Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Outta My Hat!”*
More ‘Stimulus’ from President Obama
The Foundry
By most accounts, President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” bill that was passed in February 2009 with the promise of keeping unemployment below 8 percent was an absolute failure. However, last night in a speech to a joint session of Congress, the President demanded that it spend another $450 billion on more of the same “stimulus” that has left America with zero job growth and continued economic stagnation. But don’t worry. His top economic adviser Gene Sperling told NBC that this one would likely get us down to 8 percent.
Despite Sperling’s predictions, there are a lot of problems with the broad outlines in the President’s proposal, not the least of which is the fact that President Obama is insisting Congress immediately pass a bill that doesn’t exist. No legislative details have been offered; nothing has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office; there has been no debate or negotiation; and there is no accompanying plan on how to pay for it. President Obama only promised he would talk about paying for it in the weeks to come, and that onus likely will fall on the congressional “super committee” that was supposed to be focused on reducing our debt.
“Minor” details such as the lack of an actual bill or money to pay for it aside (or the fact that $450 billion in one year is more than twice as costly as the annual sticker price of Obama’s last foray into stimulus spending), there are serious substantive problems with the ideas the President proposed. Last night, Heritage’s experts provided their reactions to some of those proposals:
Da Speech
If you didn’t waste your time watching the Pretender give his campaign speech last night, and I’m one of those who didn’t, you can read the whole thing right here. I’ve read it. I’m no more impressed than before I read it. I think Karl Rove sums it up rather nicely:
Presumptuous: He demanded – 17 times – that Congress immediately pass a bill no one has seen.
Tired: The speech contained little new, just mostly recycled ideas or extensions of current programs that haven’t worked.
Small: Its proposals, while expensive, offer little hope of really jump-starting the economy.
Mind-boggling: Mr. Obama wants to drains hundreds of billions from Social Security for another stimulus.
Slippery: It will all be paid for, the president said, but it’s up to a Congressional committee to figure out how.
Misleading: These were just GOP ideas. Really? Republicans have proposed another $450 billion stimulus bill, Mr. Obama?
Arrogant: He refused to consult in advance with anyone on the Hill, even refusing a meeting request from the House Speaker and Majority Leader.
Self-centered: The only job he’s really concerned about is his own. If he really wanted a bipartisan package, he would have worked with Republicans to come up with one.
Unnecessary: The president would have been better off traveling the country this week to lay out proposals, surrounded by people he could claim would might benefit.
Completely political: Before he spoke, Mr. Obama sent supporters an email titled “Before I head to the Capitol” that ended with “You should donate today.”
Hyper-partisan: This speech – especially its angry tone – was aimed at setting up the Republicans for blame next fall. Then he’ll say the economy would be better if the GOP has just done what I ordered them to do.
Misguided: Mr. Obama is betting his re-elect on a massive spending bill.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln enjoyed the show.
Get Out Of Our Way!
Five Ways to Create New Jobs in America
The Foundry
Two years ago, President Barack Obama was bold in his optimism for job growth in America, promising that his stimulus spending plans would create 3 million jobs by the end of 2010. It didn’t work, the Obama jobs deficit now stands at 6.7 million jobs, and tonight the President will present a jobs plan chock full of new promises. Unfortunately, that plan appears to be a retread of the same policies that have blocked job growth in America.
The good news is that there is another way, and there are things the President can do to pave the way for businesses to create new jobs.
Couldn’t Resist
I took my dad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes (he is 66).
We decided to get something to eat at the food court. I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him.
The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors – green, red, orange, and blue. My dad kept staring at her.
The teenager kept looking and would find my dad staring every time.
When the teenager had had enough, she sarcastically asked: “What’s the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?”
Knowing my Dad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on his response; I knew he would have a good one!
In classic style he responded without batting an eyelid ….
“I got stoned once and had sex with a parrot. I was just wondering if you might be my kid.”
Shared by my brother in law.
Ann on The Liberals Cause du Jour
Amanda Knox: The New Mumia!
by Ann Coulter
Despite liberals’ desperate need for Europeans to like them, the American media have enraged the entire nation of Italy with their bald-faced lies about a heinous murder in Perugia committed by a fresh-faced American girl, Amanda Knox?.
The facts aren’t elusive: In December 2009, the Italian court released a 400-plus page report detailing the mountains of evidence that led the judges and jury to conclude that Knox, along with her Italian beau, Raffaele Sollecito, and a petty thief of her acquaintance, Rudy Guede, had murdered Knox’s English roommate, Meredith Kercher?, on the evening of Nov. 1, 2007.
Now liberals are howling that the DNA evidence was “contaminated,” but they always say that. It wasn’t. And the DNA was already thoroughly vetted at trial.
NY’s Head Weasel
‘Don’t call it Ground Zero anymore’:
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urges Americans to move past the moniker linked to twin towers’ destruction
People should stop calling the site of the September 11 attacks ‘Ground Zero,’ New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today, urging Americans to move past a term long linked with the World Trade Center’s twin towers destruction.
‘We will never forget the devastation of the area that came to be known as ground zero. Never. But the time has come to call those 16 acres what they are: The World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum,’ Bloomberg said in a speech on the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.
Mr Bloomberg, feel free to kiss my RED, WHITE and BLUE hind end!
American Showdown
Obama – The Giant Job Killer!
Four Ways Obama Has Blocked Job Growth
The Foundry
Wonder who’s to blame for today’s stagnant economy? Look no further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to see where the buck ought to stop. Though President Barack Obama constantly points fingers at others for America’s economic woes, his policies are to blame for preventing the U.S. economy from getting back on track. Before you watch President Obama present his latest jobs planin his speech on Thursday, be sure you know the four major measures he has taken to prevent job growth in America:
1) Obama’s Overregulation
During President Obama’s first 26 months in office, his Administration imposed 75 new major regulations, with reported costs to the private sector exceeding $40 billion, as The Heritage Foundation’s James Gattuso and Diane Katz document in ”Red Tape Rising: A 2011 Mid-Year Report.” That’s more than any comparable period on record. The annual cost of regulation–$1.75 trillion by one frequently cited estimate–represents twice the amount of individual income taxes collected last year. Katz and Gattuso write that there are even more regulations in the pipeline, as well.
That’s bad news for job growth, and you don’t just have to take our word for it. Ask the people who create jobs in America. John Schiller, chairman and CEO of Energy XXI, told CNBC that “if the government would get out of the way, from a regulation standpoint, and let us do what we do good, you’ll see us continue to hire and grow this economy.”
Union Of The Clueless
While doing a bit of snooping around Facebook, I came across this comment that was left on the AFL-CIO page. No, I didn’t “like” ‘em, but sometimes, you can read what is on certain pages. Since this was a big UNION page, obviously, there are union folks. However, there are others who hit ‘like’ just so they can comment, and hopefully, set a few folks straight. Evidently, some folks just can’t be taught. This fellow, for instance (copied & pasted, verbatim):
GOP has controlled congress now for a couple years,so why haven’t they created any jobs? They don’t have any interest in creating jobs.All there after is making PRESIDENT OBAMA look bad until the next election. How is this helping one without a job? Shameful,politics is more important than the unemloyed! I think people must realize what is going on and the radical rightwing has to go!
I guess this guy isn’t aware that the Democrats were the majority in both the House and the Senate from 2006 to 2010. They were in total control, gaining the White House, from 2008 to 2010. One thing that stands out from his comment, other than spelling issues, is the fact he isn’t aware that the Congress does NOT create jobs. No one has bothered to inform Obama of this fact either, since he keeps using it as a talking point. No one is making Obama “look bad” except Obama himself. His policies have pushed this nation farther into debt, stifling any new business with absurd regulations, causing anyone who would like to hire, or expand their business a bad case of the jitters. No confidence in the future prevents those who actually do create jobs from taking risks. Why should they?
Now, for that “radical rightwing” nonsense. How radical is it for the everyday people to insist that their government actually follow the Constitution? I am going to step out on a limb, and say this guy has probably never read the whole document. It’s only 4 pages long, and isn’t really that hard to understand. It limits the government, not the people. Limiting what the government can take from your paycheck is radical? Expecting the government to do the job it was designed to do, like keep our borders secure, is radical? It really isn’t that complicated, yet if you listen to the media, and union bosses, you’d think we are sitting outside someone’s house, just waiting to take ‘em down. No, that isn’t us. That would be those union members who seem to enjoy threatening the lives of elected officials, or destroy property, etc.
Honestly, I feel quite sorry for people like this guy, and sadly there are way too many like him who believes they are informed, but yet, know little to nothing about the workings of the U.S. Government. Try to educate such people, and you get shouted down with words like “terrorist”, “racist”, “barbarians”, and numerous threats. Great debate there folks. But when you have nothing to back up your “facts”, I guess that’s the best we can expect from the uneducated.
Debbie Does Doofus
And she does it so well. The lies that continue to spew from the left just boggles the mind. For your information Mzzzzzzzz Wasserman-Schultz, ALL Tea Partiers condemn the vitriol the few times it has turned up at any rally. You might want to try looking at FACTS once in a while, instead of taking your talking points from MSNBC.
26,000,000
Real Unemployment Rate Rose in August to 16.2% — 26 Million People
The real unemployment rate actually rose in August, according to the Department of Labor, belying the fact that the official unemployment rate, 9.1 percent, remained flat while the economy did not create any new jobs on net last month.
According to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real unemployment rose to 16.2 percent in August, up from 16.1 percent in July and tying the 2011 record set in June.
The real unemployment rate is comprised of three different measures of the labor force that more accurately reflect who is really unemployed, as opposed to the official unemployment rate, which merely measures those who told the government they were unemployed and looking for work in the past month.
What we have here are numbers that reflect “Great Depression” unemployment, yet aren’t we continuously told that the economy is on the way to recovery? Really? Perhaps in the Obama administration fantasy world, but those who are living in the real world see things much differently than those who squat inside the DC beltway.
Gub’mint….To Infinity and Beyond……
Big Government Rising?
The Foundry
How does a trillion dollars in more federal government spending sound to you? For most Americans, the idea of growing government at a time when deficits are sky high might seem preposterous. But for many on the left, it’s the only way they can think of to get the economy moving again, and they think some sort of new New Deal should be included in President Obama’s much-touted jobs speech on Thursday. Their end goal? The continued rise of big government.
Case in point: Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA). On Sunday’s Meet the Press, she unveiled her prescription for pulling the U.S. economy out of its slump, and it carries an incredibly high price tag. “I’m talking about a jobs program of a trillion dollars or more,” she said. “We’ve got to put Americans to work. That’s the only way to revitalize this economy.”
Now one might write off Waters’ call for a trillion in additional spending as hyperbole (after all, she had some choice words for the Tea Party last month), but the amped-up rhetoric demanding bigger government is becoming pervasive on the left, despite a seemingly endless stalemate this summer over the debt ceiling, whether the government should borrow even more money, and what spending could be cut. Now, though, it’s clear that liberals are ready to keep up the fight for big government, whether it’s Teamsters president James P. Hoffa calling for a war on the Tea Party or Vice President Joe Biden applauding the AFL-CIO for keeping the “barbarians from the gates” — that is, their political opponents.
