EPIC Bumper Sticker

THIS one says it all - The Campaigner-In-Chief was too busy going to THE VIEW, David Letterman's show and fundraisers to do his job - Because of his negligence, good men died.  Obama is a disgrace and needs to go.  Dereliction of Duty is the charge and Obama is guilty along with Secretary Clinton.   She is equally responsible and needs to go also.

There can be no more serious issue than the defense of our embassies and the staff who work there.  Obama and Hillary Clinton have failed their responsibility and need to go.

The Choice is Clear

This sign is at the Intersection of M40 and Blue Star near Saugatuck, MI

Pretty much sums it up - The Choice IS Clear

A Businessman who generated BILLIONS or a POL who wasted TRILLIONS ????

 

Pretty Much Sums it up......

WILEY nails it again.....

Today's NON SEQUITUR Comic strip

Obama refers to death of US Ambassador & three other Americans as a " bumps in the road"

How clueless and moronic can this man get??? He is the PRESIDENT of our country and he has referred to the death of our Ambassador to Libya and three others ( including two former US NAVY SEALS) as a " bumps in the road.." - REALLY ???

This inept and careless POL needs to be voted out of office. Please - I implore you to vote him out as a nation cannot endure another 4 years of this level of ineptitude.

From Twitchy.com:

Callous: Obama refers to murdered Americans in Libya as “bumps in the road” September 24, 2012 by Twitchy Staff

Yep. That’s how unreality-based President Obama referred to the bloody mess in Libya and the American casualties of this administration’s deadly dereliction of duty on 60 Minutes earlier tonight.

Here's another quote from the Village Idiot of Chicago:

" But I was pretty certain and continue to be pretty certain that there are going to be bumps in the road because-- you know, in a lot of these places-- the one organizing principle-- has been Islam. The one part of society that hasn't been controlled completely by the government. There are strains of extremism, and anti-Americanism, and anti-Western sentiment."

My teenage daughter has a greater grasp of world affairs than this clueless half-wit.

Here's the link to a more indepth article on the Weekly Standard website:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-calls-recent-middle-east-violence-bumps-road_652971.html

Start your day off with a big bowl of GRONK FLAKES

It's Gronk's World - We're all just living in it....He is a character and beloved by all New England Patriots Fans. It just seems odd to sit down to a big bowl of GRONK FLAKES but what the heck??

Gronk Flakes hitting New England shelves September, 22, 2012 By Darren Rovell | ESPN.com

If you don't want to start your day with Wheaties, maybe you want a bowl full of Gronk.Gronk Flakes are made by the same company that produced Flutie Flakes. Gronk Flakes, a frosted corn flakes cereal endorsed by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, is hitting Stop & Shop supermarkets in the New England area this week.

"His dad Gordy came to us about a year and a half ago, wanting to do all three Gronkowski boys on a product," said Ty Ballou, president and CEO of PLB Sports, which has made a business out of selling athlete-endorsed food products. "But we really just focus on selling in one area, so we couldn't figure out how to do it. When Rob emerged in the way he did, things changed."

Ballou said the company's first run will be 64,800 boxes at $3.99 each, but he has high hopes for Gronkowski's marketability.

The company recently sold 155,000 boxes of Justin Verlander's Fastball Flakes in the Detroit area. Ballou said Gronkowski's cereal, which benefits the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation, should sell more.

The record for a PLB Sports product? Ballou's company sold 2.5 million boxes of Flutie Flakes from 1998 to 2001.

Despite his carefree and sometimes controversial partying ways, Gronkowski has endeared himself with many.

He has 328,000 followers on Twitter and recently signed endorsement deals with Dunkin' Donuts and BodyArmor Superdrink

Lying Liz Warren gets slammed by Senator Scott Brown in debate

It's about time Senator Scott Brown puts this pathetic liar and tool of the Libs away.

Fauxcahontas found out last night her lies will not carry her into office. Take a look at the picture from last night. Prof. " Blame America First" Warren who doesn't wear an American Flag on her lapel, just like her boss/mentor President Doofus.

Scott Brown charges out of gate, slams Liz Warren on ‘truthfulness’ By Hillary Chabot and Joe Battenfeld Friday, September 21, 2012 - Boston Herald

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown turned aggressor in his first debate clash with rival Elizabeth Warren, questioning her character for claiming to be Native American and scolding her for “scaring women” to win votes.

“She checked the box claiming she was a Native American, and clearly she’s not,” Brown said in the opening minute of the debate, referring to law school directories where Warren listed herself as a Native American minority.

“When you are a United States senator, you have to pass a test, and that’s one of character and honesty and truthfulness,” Brown said. “And I believe and others believe that she’s failed that test.”

Read the whole thing -

http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1061161946&position=1

I am calling BULLSH-T on all Airline Baggage Fees

IF this picture doesn't convince you that the Airlines are a bunch of conartists, I don't know what would - IF a 747 can do this, my extra bag is not even an issue. What a scam. Nice Picture of the Shuttle Endeavor heading out on it's last flight to California.

Been a busy week....new "4-legged children" in our home

www.petfinder.com

I have to apologize for not being able to post more often - Work and other tasks has taken me away from my blog - Not that it's an excuse, just the reality of things.

On a postive note, we have two new "4-legged children" who are keeping Mrs. MJ hopping - Breaking in new pups is not a easy task.

We adpoted these adorable girls through Petfinder.com, which posts pictures of animals in need of home from local shelters. Take a look and see if you can offer love and a home to a needy animal.

Pay No Attention to the Burning Flags, Stormed Consulates, and Dead Americans . . .

Pretty Much sums it up - " It's all Bush's Fault" - Obama is a complete failure domestically and on Foreign Policy

National Review -The Corner

Pay No Attention to the Burning Flags, Stormed Consulates, and Dead Americans . . . By Victor Davis Hanson - National Review September 14, 2012

One of the ways of understanding the strange nonchalant response of the administration to prior warnings of trouble in the Arab Spring countries, and its contextualization of the violence on the anniversary of 9/11, is its belief that it is somehow separated from the object of the violence. Raging crowds and Islamic wrath could not possibly be connected to the enlightened Obama administration or, more generally to a U.S. that has been “reset” on his watch — given the three years of laborious Muslim outreach and the long-ago departure of George Bush. So we are to think away all those burning flags, stormed consulates, and dead Americans, and instead remember that the violence “is a response,” a sort of cry of the heart against a couple of America-residing video makers — and has nothing much to do with any anger at well-meaning Americans per se.

Apparently no one in charge seems to grasp that this latest video pretext is simply yet another tool, in a long line of many, for premodern Islamists to manipulate and galvanize their fury against the United States, whose success and power obsess them no end — no matter what we do or who happens to be in the White House, soaring Cairo speech and “leading from behind” or not.

Cf., for example, Jay Carney’s latest and perhaps most embarrassing explication yet:

"We also need to understand that this is a fairly volatile situation and it is in response not to United States policy, and not to, obviously, the administration, or the American people, but it is in response to a video, a film that we have judged to be reprehensible and disgusting. That in no way justifies any violent reaction to it, but this is not a case of protests directed at the United States writ large or at U.S. policy, this is in response to a video that is offensive to Muslims."

Note to Mr. Carney: Radical Islamists really do not care whether “we” have judged some crackpot video “reprehensible and disgusting.” They have more important aims than distinguishing the Obama administration or its policies from the moronic Terry Jones.

If Jay Carney has any say at all in U.S. policy, then we are in real trouble.

Only vets need apply - Franchise Opportunity for VETS only is a great idea

This shows that one man with a good idea can make a difference for our Veterans

BRAVO ZULU ! ( Navy speak for " Job Well Done ! " )

Only vets need apply: New company offers franchises exclusively to ex-military By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

You might view Jerry Flanagan’s entrepreneurial vision for jobless veterans as junk economics. That’s fine. He certainly sees it that way.

The Army veteran has launched what he says is the first company to offer former service members — and only former service members — a chance to buy one of his fledgling franchises. The business: hauling away people’s unwanted appliances, furniture and other household rubbish. In crude terms, junk removal.

Before you trash his plan, listen to Flanagan’s strategy to tidy up the 10.9 percent unemployment rate that’s been dogging post-Sept. 11 veterans (as compared to the 8.1 percent rate afflicting the rest of the nation in August).

“Offering the franchises only to military veterans gives them the opportunity to know, ‘In this program, I don’t have to compete against this guy who has a college degree or against that guy who just went to business school.’ Right now, these people need a leg up,” said Flanagan, who served in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1989.

“So many veterans are going to be hitting the work force by 2014. I asked myself, ‘How can we put them back to work?’ They’ll be owning their own businesses and hopefully they’ll be hiring other veterans.”

He calls his enterprise JDog Junk Removal. The tasks, territorial duties, and even the logo are purposely intended to carry a military feel, a welcome-home gift, Flanagan said, for ambitious veterans with at least $15,000 to invest. That’s the cost to buy a franchise.

The fee — plus adequate credit to lease or finance a hauling trailer plus either a green H2 Hummer or Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (the only allowable vehicles, each painted with JDog’s trademarked bulldog emblem plus a local phone number) — puts veterans in the driver’s seat to self-employment, Flanagan said.

“I know there are these guys and women coming back, and if they’re jumping into a big, military-style vehicle, if they have some space, I think it helps with the transition,” Flanagan said.

Each franchisee will be assigned his or her own exclusive market — amid population pockets of at least 75,000 people — as well as a social networking push from corporate headquarters, local leads generated by the company website, and advice on peddling the service to area real estate firms, warehouses, commercial properties, churches and senior living facilities.

“There’s no office, no retail space to lease, and within 90 days, you’re booking jobs,” Flanagan said. “I’ve spent the past 17 months building his concept. But I also wanted to keep it simple. A lot of veterans are going to step right in and follow the system, just like they followed the system in the military every day. Veterans are the best qualified franchisees out there because they’re used to following orders.”

Flanagan saved one niche for disabled veterans: They can buy a franchise and hire one or two muscled-up pals to do the heavy lifting while the veterans run the businesses on their mobile devices.

“The cash flow is immediate because you’re paid on the spot. You go out and do four or five jobs that day, and you average $200 to $300 per job because I’ve structured the margins very well,” he added. “I started studying this (business sector) during the recession — junk removal was one of the few areas that did better after 2008. That’s what drew my attention. There’s junk in every state. There are military veterans in every state.

“We’re getting good feedback from the entire (salvage) industry that once veterans — and active duty members who are about to come home — get their heads around what I’m doing, we’re going to have a large turnout interested in franchises,” added Flanagan, who is based in Wayne, Pa. “I want 300 to 500 of these units up in 10 years. Of course, I could be underselling myself there. We could have 10 just in Long Island. We could have 50 in Texas." According to the International Franchise Association in Washington, D.C., the only other American franchisor that offers buy-in opportunities solely to former service members is an outfit called Veteran Tech Brigade, which supplies IT services. Kelly Crigger, co-founder and CEO of Veteran Tech Brigade said, however, that his company is aiming for an 80 percent veteran-owned franchise rate. (Veteran Tech Brigade currently is vetting its first potential franchisees — two veterans, both residing in Florida). The company mainly does government contracting and business-to-business IT consulting. “But that’s why we started this company — to put a dent in the unemployment rate for veterans,” said Crigger, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan. “We have 25 veterans now doing IT consulting. “Especially when you consider the immense responsibility levels many veterans had while in combat, you would think” scores of companies would be clamoring for their skills, Crigger said. “I remember one guy told me: ‘Over in Iraq, my responsibility was kicking doors in all day, looking for the enemy. But I get back here and I can’t even get a job laying cement’

US Navy SEAL from Massachusetts dies at US Consulate in Benghazi

REST EASY SHIPMATE - You will be missed - A Massachusetts Patriot and US NAVY SEAL

Former Navy SEAL identified as consulate attack victim - FoxNews.com

Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL from Massachusetts, was one of the victims of the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, a family friend confirmed to Fox News.

Doherty is the latest victim to be identified. The U.S. government earlier confirmed that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and Sean Smith, a foreign service information management officer, died in the attack.

The name of the fourth American who died in the attack has not been disclosed.

The Boston Globe first reported that Doherty was among the victims. His sister told the Globe that Doherty, 42, was working for a private company providing security at the time.

A former ski instructor in Utah, Doherty reportedly trained as a sniper and medical officer after joining the Navy SEALs. He served for seven years before leaving to work at the private security firm.

According to FOX5 in San Diego, Doherty lived in Encintas, Calif., after leaving the Navy. He worked at the CrossFIT/SEALFIT gym as well as security firms.

Based on an account of the Benghazi attack provided by senior administration officials, Doherty was one of two people who died while trying to take cover from gunfire in the annex near the main U.S. consulate building. At least three others were wounded in the attack.

DNC uses Russian ships at DNC Convention tribute to US Veterans

Clueless - Utterly Clueless - What we have come to expect from a Democratic Party that hasn't got a clue - Lead by the Clueless President.

Russian ships displayed at DNC tribute to vets By Sam Fellman - Staff writer - Navy Times Posted: Tuesday Sep 11, 2012 17:16:10 EDT

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee was not able to immediately comment Tuesday, saying he had to track down personnel to find out what had happened.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

“An immediate apology [from the committee] would be very nice,” Barker said. “Maybe acknowledge the fact that yes, they screwed up.”

The background — featured in the carefully choreographed hour leading up to the president’s Sept. 6 speech accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination — showed four ships with radar designs not used in the U.S. fleet.

For example, the ship in the foreground, on the far right, has a square radar antenna at the top of its masthead. That is the MR-700 Podberezovik 3-D early warning radar, commonly identified as “Flat Screen” for its appearance, a three-dimensional early warning radar mounted on the Kerch, said Eric Wertheim, editor of “Combat Fleets of the World.” But the fact they are Russian ships is not in doubt. In addition to the ship’s radar arrays and hulls, which are dissimilar from U.S. warships, the photo features one more give-away: a large white flag with a blue ‘X’ at the ships’ sterns.

Polmar, who authored “The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy,” recognized the blue ‘X’-mark: “The X is the Cross of St. Andrew’s, which is a Russian Navy symbol,” Polmar said. (An anchored U.S. warship, by contrast, flies the American flag on its stern.)

Based on this specific group of these ship types, one naval expert concluded that this was most likely a photo of the Black Sea Fleet.

September 11th - Remembering Michael Uliano

Michael Uliano was a star quarterback at Canton, MA High School, a budding Thespian and enjoyed fishing on Cape Cod. He was working on the 104th Floor of the North Tower at World Trade for Cantor Fitzgerald on 09/11/01. He was a good friend to many, left a wife Linda and many family behind.

Mike, we remember you today and always. Rest easy good friend.

"The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream."

Jennifer Rubin from the WAPO puts it succinctly - The DEMS haven't got a clue and we need ADULT LEADERSHIP, not a President who acts like a petulant teenager on a spending spree with our national credit card.

Whistling past the graveyard at the Democratic convention By Jennifer Rubin - Washington Post

If you had been dropped from outer space into the Democratic National Convention, you would have thought that we enjoyed full employment, reduced poverty and stared down Iran, leaving us with deeply important issues like paying for birth control for grown women. You would have thought that a large majority of Americans weren’t sympathetic to Israel and weren’t religious. You’d have thought that the federal government had money to burn and no looming debt crisis. You would never have thought that Obama had signed a “historic” health-care bill. And you’d have thought that the political heavyweight in the Obama household was Michelle. (Well, you might have been right about the last one.)

But knowing that the America of 2012 is so very different than the convention portrait, it’s worth asking how the Democrats’ convention became so divorced from reality.

We saw a party in which the inability to tackle the monumental problems of our time ( entitlement reform, fiscal crisis, endemic high unemployment, a nuclear-armed Iran) has left a large gaping hole where its core should be. As our problems have gotten bigger, the party has gotten smaller, angrier and less grown-up. The house is burning down, and the Democratic constituencies want free ice cream.

So, how does it happen that days are spent on abortion on demand (which we essentially have anyway until the Supreme Court decides differently) and contraception, while big-ticket items are ignored?

The answer is twofold, I think. The current state of the Democratic Party is both the natural consequences of a longtime trend and the reflection of a president who is tragically unequipped to do his job.

Constituent politics is nothing new to the Democratic Party, of course. Ever since FDR strung together an alliance of urban blacks, Southern whites, labor and immigrants, the Democratic Party has been collecting interest groups like a girl collects charms for her bracelet. The groups have multiplied (gays, Native Americans, public employees), but the concept has been the same for 70 years. In exchange for votes the Democratic Party will give you lots of “free” stuff. To get free stuff you have to pay a lot of taxes and idealize government as the font of good deeds, so that citizens won’t mind an increasingly intrusive and expensive government. The point is not to solve problems or even measure success; the point is to keep the swapping (votes for free stuff) going strong.

A lot of the big-ticket items have already been doled out. So now we’re down to the really small beans ( free contraception!). Whether the giveaways are small or large (e.g., unlimited health care for all, free college education) the idea is propounded that the measure of a decent, successful society is how much free stuff you give away.

This phenomenon has been amply documented (most recently by Jay Cost in in his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic). But usually the itty-bitty items and the atomized nature of a party strung together only by the common desire to get free stuff are not so obvious. Usually, there is an overarching purpose that takes center stage, while the interest group plate-spinners carry on along the sidelines. What was so startling at this year’s Democratic convention was that there is nothing else but the interest group beg-a-thon.

And this brings us to the current president. In 2008 Barack Obama had big themes and big ambitions that gave the party coherence. Having failed to do the big things (curb the debt, stop Iran, jump-start the economy), he chose to ignore the biggest issues of our time. My colleague Michael Gerson aptly put it: “Obama made almost no mention of the continuing jobs crisis. He offered nothing new or creative on a fiscal and debt crisis that undermines economic confidence. Much of Obama’s agenda — lowering tuition costs, recruiting math and science teachers, ‘long-lasting batteries’ — sounded like a seventh-year State of the Union address, a collection of policy leavings and leftovers.”

So then it wasn’t merely that Obama let loose the rent-seekers (and birth control-seekers and free-education-seekers). No, he needed them to fill up the space and the airwaves, to promise that no matter what (fiscal crisis, recession) he will still be there to cater to the whims and demands of the constituent groups. Sure the economy is bad, but who’s going to give you free college tuition?

It’s ludicrous, of course. If the economy doesn’t improve and we don’t avoid the fiscal cliff, we’ll be taking away, not handing out stuff. This is the “austerity” against which the liberals inveigh. In fact, they are driving us ever closer to the point where we will will have to quickly and severely cut out the handouts.

It is, as conservatives have said for so long, the Western European syndrome. As we spend and cater to the demanding crowd, we push ourselves closer and closer to the point where both the excessive demands and actual needs will go unmet.

It is interesting that on Friday major financial institutions sounded the alarm about the state of the economy. James Pethokoukis quoted JPMorgan’s economist Michael Feroli:

Labor market activity was disappointing again in Aug . . . The more comprehensive employment-to-population ratio ticked down to 58.3%; this measure is a mere 0.1% above its cycle trough, indicating that once one takes account of population growth there has been essentially no progress in repairing the labor market after the recent downturn. In fact, if you go through the details it’s hard to find any redeeming aspects to this jobs report. In terms of the broader economy, today’s numbers should check any enthusiasm that the economy was gaining momentum toward the end of the summer. Instead, the economy appears to remain stuck in the mud.

“Awful,” “dreary,” weak” and “dismaying.” He sounds like the town crier straining to wake up the town. But in Charlotte the Democrats had their fingers in their ears, as if blocking out the noise would make it go away, or at least muffle others’ hearing. What’s that? The economy is near a recession? Hmm. Did I mention we’ll give you free birth control?

I like to say that the first side in a campaign to raise social issues is losing on everything else. In this case, the campaign spending three days on wedge issues and statist trinkets is getting clobbered on everything else.

Maybe the Obama cynicism is right and the public is willing to be coddled and distracted. But somehow I think not. At some point voters want to fix the big things; they might even be willing to forgo a lot of free stuff

Sunrise in Afghanistan this morning

Beautiful Sunrise in Kandahar this morning

Kabul Press calls Massachusetts more corrupt than Afghanistan

My wife and I were discussing the issue of the "Government Critters" on both sides of the world, and that there really is no real difference as the Government at home and the Government here are inhabited by the same level of ineffective and overpaid staff. They aren't very effective and are highly overpaid for the work that they do. It doesn't matter if you are in Afghanistan or the USA, these fools have taken over the Government that is supposed to work for us. Instead they have made it all about themselves.

Here's a point-of-view from the AFGHN side where the local press in Kabul describes how they see the State of Massachusetts as corrupt (if not more so)than those in Afghanistan.

With DEVAL PATRICK in charge in the State of Massachusetts, I can kinda see this guy's point. Governor Patrick is the best buddy with the President, who is the epitome of ineffective, bloated, overpaid Government. They are a pair of inept frauds who scammed their way into elective office. We would be much better off with both of them out of office and going back to some other line of work.

Massachusetts Corruption Dwarfs Afghan Corruption

International corruption statistics are distorted to protect Western nations and China - Saturday 18 August 2012, by Matthew J. Nasuti - Kabul Press http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article120954

Government corruption in the United States is hundreds of times more pervasive and costly than in Afghanistan. Every day American newspapers recount the scandals. One day it involves U.S. Customs officials, the next day it is the Secret Service, then the General Services Administration, then the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Every month there are new scandals involving foreign aid and other funds administered by the U.S. Department of State, the latest involved the waste of billions of dollars in “global warming” funds squandered by Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones and her predecessor, Claudia A. McMurray. Despite the State Department being perhaps worst administered agency in the Federal Government, no one dares utter even a whisper of criticism at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, so the corruption continues.

While billions of dollars in domestic spending and foreign aid are misappropriated, corruptly awarded and mismanaged each year, that corruption is easier to conceal, because the U.S. is a wealthy country with many distractions. Despite the publicity, few members of the public seem able to grasp the size and scope of the cancer of corruption and nepotism that is eating away at the country.

Internationally, government corruption is ranked under a flawed system established by such groups as “Transparency International.” They rank corruption in countries like Afghanistan and the United States based on subjective “perceptions” of corruption. Because the rankings are not based on the actual volume of corruption, this system unfairly maligns developing countries. If the system were based on the dollar amount of corruption, it would list many Western, Arab and Far East nations as the most corrupt.

Supposedly non-profit groups such as Transparency International are anything but transparent. Its co-founder, Michael Hershman, is a former official with USAID and he is also the chairman of the Fairfax Group. Fairfax makes it profits from the corruption that Transparency International “discovers.” Fairfax holds itself out as an expert consultant on foreign government corruption and as a result it has been awarded numerous U.S. government anti-corruption contracts. Transparency International’s U.S. Board of Directors and Advisory Council is filled with former government officials, lawyers for major Washington, D.C. law firms, government consultants and other representatives of organizations affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. Many of these people make money from or advance their careers by pointing the corruption finger overseas, rather than where it belongs, which is at the Federal, State and local governments in the United States.

In the United States, the systemic government corruption is not limited to the loss of public funds and cronyism, but extends to a wide range of dishonest and illegal practices which shield those with political connections. American is literally a land of two peoples; those to whom the law applies and those who are above the law. The problem is too large for a single article to examine, so just one of America’s 50 states (Massachusetts) was chosen for this article and even for that state, there is only space to summarize a tiny percentage of its public corruption.

Timothy Murray Scandal: The current state government in Massachusetts is called the Patrick/Murray Administration after Governor Duval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray. On November 2, 2011, at 5:26 a.m. Murray was driving his State-owned Crown Victoria automobile in Sterling, Massachusetts, when he crashed the vehicle, completely destroying it. Murray told the police that he was driving at the legal speed limit of 55 miles per hour and lost control of the vehicle. He claimed to be on official business inspecting (in the dark) storm damage in the area. The police determined that he was driving at 108 miles per hour and fell asleep at the wheel. Every statement made to police by Murray was false. Despite that and Murray’s lack of remorse, local prosecutors refused to prosecute him for his false statements or for reckless endangerment. As a reward, Governor Patrick gave Murray a new $40,000.00 State automobile to replace the one he destroyed. Murray had previously been cited in 1992 and 2006 for speeding. Attempts by the Boston Herald to further investigate this scandal have been blocked by lawyers in the Governor’s Office, including E. Abim Thomas, who claims that the records are exempt from public release. ,br />
Chelsea Housing Authority Scandal: Massachusetts has 242 public housing authorities and some of the top jobs within these agencies have historically been patronage appointments, a system prone to abuse. For most of the past year, the Chelsea (Boston) Housing has been rocked by sandals. On June 15th of this year investigators questioned Lieutenant Governor Murray about allegations that Chelsea officials were illegally fundraising for him. Murray has refused to brief the people of Massachusetts regarding any of these allegations. Since then there have been no public updates. The concern is that this criminal investigation, like so many others, has been quietly dropped.

MBTA Scandal: On August 6, 2012, the Boston Globe reported that there were only two bidders on a $1 billion State MBTA transportation contract. Initially, 25 companies expressed an interest in bidding but except for the favored contractors (Mass Bay) and a little known French company, all the rest of the bidders ultimately declined to bid. The reason that 23 companies withdrew from the process is that there is a wide-spread belief that State officials had rigged the bidding in favor of Mass Bay. Governor Patrick has done nothing to dispel this apparently accurate assessment. Due to the lack of competition and in order to try and restore public confidence, Governor Patrick should withdraw bidding authority from MBTA General Manager Jonathan R. Davis, assign the bid evaluation to an independent panel and order that panel to rebid the work. This of course will never happen because the Governor seems quite content with the present corruption.

Deerfield River Levee Scandal: In the Fall of 2011, a group of wealthy agri-businesses in Deerfield, Massachusetts created several kilometers of sand levees along the Deerfield River in an attempt to prevent future flooding of their low-lying farm fields. The 10-15 foot levees, in some places push into tree-lines and right up to the river’s edge. The legal issue is that State law prohibits any construction work within 200 feet of a river without a permit, which the farmers failed to apply for. The Massachusetts River Protection Act is very clear and it mandates that the levees be removed. According to informed sources, inspectors for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommended in 2011 that enforcement action be commenced against the violators. A letter was sent on December 15, 2011 to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley from Cynthia M. Pepyne of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office requesting a State review of these potential environmental violations. To-date however nothing has happened. The reason is that the agri-businesses involved have close political ties to the Patrick-Murray Administration and party loyalty matters more to these State officials than the environment or the law. It is not clear who within Ms. Coakley’s office or the DEP quashed the enforcement action. The case is presently sitting on the desk of Brian Harrington, Assistant Administrator for DEP’s Western Region. It has been sidelined with the support of DEP attorney Kathleen Delaplain, but the real decision authorities may have been DEP Director Kenneth L. Kimmell and Western Regional Administrator Michael Gorski. In contacts with these officials, they claim that the enforcement action is still under “active consideration” but it is impossible to obtain the truth from any of these individuals.

Department of Revenue Scandal: An investigation in early 2012 revealed that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue has a new tactic that it is using against the poor. It is called the “desk audit.” For wealthy and corporate taxpayers, the Department will conduct field audits in which revenue agents travel to the home or place of business of the wealthy to review the taxpayer’s records. However, for indigent taxpayers, the Department misuses a device called the desk audit and it orders the taxpayer to copy all of his or her records for one or multiple years and mail all of them to the desk auditor. If the taxpayer cannot afford to do this, the Department labels them as “refusing to comply with the law” and rejects all their deductions, imposing large penalties on them. If the indigent taxpayer tries to appeal this unjust assessment, he or she is hit with the one-two punch by the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB). The ATB has ignored rulings from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and decided that it will not waive filing fees for the poor. As a result of this misconduct, some indigent taxpayers are barred from appealing State abuses. Even if the indigent could somehow obtain the required filing fees, the ATB requires that all hearings be held in Boston, a long trip for the elderly and in some cases an impossible trip for the poor. The ATB refuses to travel around the State in order to hear cases locally, however, the ATB will travel the circuit for wealthy parties who are contesting property tax assessments. It will hold court for property tax cases for the rich in such upscale western towns as Northampton, but it will not accommodate the poor by holding income tax hearings in Springfield or Greenfield. One of these indigent taxpayer cases is currently being prosecuted by Department of Revenue attorney John DeLosa. Commissioner of Revenue Amy Pitter and ATB Chairman Thomas W. Hammond, Jr. apparently are quite comfortable with these abuses, as they have done nothing to correct them. USDA - Massachusetts Scandal: There is an investigation currently underway by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and the FBI into the corrupt awarding of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Bill funds in Massachusetts. The case has been briefed to top officials in Tom Vilsack’s office. Mr. Vilsack is the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States. The evidence is that USDA officials in Massachusetts have been awarding grants primarily to friends, family members and to a small group of wealthy farmers with close ties to the Patrick/Murray Administration. The grants are under two programs called the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP). The public has not heard about this case and it will not be hearing about this case for a while because, unfortunately, the U.S. Attorney’s investigation appears to be on hold until after the November election, so as not to embarrass President Obama. Corruption at the Federal, State and local levels within the United States varies from agency to agency, from State to State and from town to town. Overall, the sheer magnitude of abuses outstrips anything present in Afghanistan. The American metrics far outpace Afghanistan on the dollar number of funds misappropriated, number of instances of corruption and number of people and companies who are immune from and above the law. This is not to condone the level of corruption within Afghanistan, which is believed to be considerable and unacceptable. Hypocracy has always been a staple of international diplomacy and therefore Afghanistan will have to live with the condescending arrogance of American diplomats who see corruption everywhere but in their own back yard

We Need Adult Leadership - FEDS warn citizens of 'zombie apocalypse' to urge better emergency plans

These idiots who have been put in Government Jobs in the Federal Government need to go. I am disgusted that at the same time we have people in Louisiana and other places w/o power or shelter, these FED Workers are wasting tax dollars and effort to publicize a " Zombie Apocalypse.

REALLY ? These idiots need to be replaced with someone who takes their responsibilities serious. When you see this and add in the orders placed by Social Security Administration and other agencies for thousands of rounds of hollow point bullets, you really wonder when the Adults that are supposed to be in charge of our Government left common sense behind.

The idiots in charge need to go and take their cronies with them. We need common sense if we are to get spending under control and get Goverment under control.

The Government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Obama and his ilk have forgotten that as they only care about themselves.

Seriously? Government warns citizens of 'zombie apocalypse' to urge better emergency plans By Alicia A. Caldwell, The Associated Press | Associated Press – 14 hrs ago.. .

WASHINGTON - "The zombies are coming!" the Homeland Security Department says.

Tongue firmly in cheek, the government urged citizens Thursday to prepare for a zombie apocalypse, part of a public health campaign to encourage better preparation for genuine disasters and emergencies. The theory: If you're prepared for a zombie attack, the same preparations will help during a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake or terrorist attack.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency hosted an online seminar for its Citizen Corps organization to help emergency planners better prepare their communities for disaster. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year first launched a zombie apocalypse social media campaign for the same purposes.

Emergency planners were encouraged to use the threat of zombies — the flesh-hungry, walking dead — to encourage citizens to prepare for disasters. Organizers also noted the relative proximity to Halloween.

A reminder for all - Return of the Fallen

A reminder to all - while you are safe at home, brave young men & women put themselves in harm's way to secure our freedoms and the freedom of others.

Read the whole thing - It is in rememberance that we honor those who gave the last full measure of their efforts for all of us.

Enclosed is one of 41 pictures contained at the enclosed link

Thanks for taking time to remember these fine young men and women from our military and from our allies who fight side by side with us.


http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/09/afghanistan-august-2012-return-of-the-fallen/100364/?google_editors_picks=true

Picture from a Politics Free Zone

PIC from the surface of MARS via Curosity - Many likley wish they could be there to escape the non-stop BS from the POLS....This is what the surface of another world looks like and we need to keep reaching for the stars, not letting the POLS kill off NASA.

Mother of a Fallen US Navy SEAL speaks about what is important to her while a self absorbed POL focuses on only on himself

Thanks to Gateway pundit for putting this video front and center. It needs to be seen by all those who care about our nation and those who swore the oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foriegn and domestic.

All our prayers and thoughts to Karen and Billy Vaughn. True Patriots, Shipmates in the US Navy and all others will never forget the sacrifice your son made and your sacrifice for giving us your son to defend our nation and way of life.

Empty words from politicians and a self absorbed President mean little to the Mother of this fine Patriot. To Obama, this warrior was one more political pawn.

To a grieving Mother and Father, this was their little boy, a son who was only theirs for a short and meaingful life, given freely to preserve our Nation.