Post Scripts

Posted by Jack

Nearly a week after three Oklahoma teenagers allegedly murdered Australian baseball player Chris Lane, President Barack Obama appears to have broken his silence. He, or more properly those who write his Twitter feed on his behalf, tweeted the following.

Predictably, the president is blaming the weapon for the choices made by those who chose to wield it.

The facts of the case do not support any gun control measure short of full confiscation of all firearms in the United States. All three of the accused are underage, so firearm ownership is illegal for them in most circumstances. They cannot legally purchase a firearm without assistance from someone over the age of 18. The shotgun that was recovered from the car that the boys used had its serial numbers filed off, which is a felony. Current gun laws against possession of guns by minors, and against filing off serial numbers, did not stop the boys from doing either one, just as laws against gang activity did not stop the boys from self-identifying with the Crips gang. Laws against murder did not stop them from murdering.

The president had the chance to deplore rap and gang culture which appear to have heavily influenced the boys. That would have been a unifying gesture that might have saved untold numbers of lives. Instead, he chose to blame guns, which will accomplish nothing.

From http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/08/21/is-this-obamas-reaction-to-the-murder-of-chris-lane/

Posted by Tina

Jack and I have both been pretty busy as the events in Egypt have taken place. It’s likely many of you are more up to date than I am but I will give it a shot so that those who wish to discuss the situation can weigh in. I’ll try to hit the highlights; if I miss something please hold forth.

Moderate Muslims in Egypt had high hopes that a new leader would bring greater freedom and tolerance and better serve them. Unfortunately, even with democratic elections, it didn’t turn out as they had hoped. The Muslim Brotherhood backed Mursi was put in office following elections and immediately began to take over private concerns, ruling as a dictator and imposing extremist positions. People began to protest in the streets and in the clashes that followed Morsi was removed from office by the military.

CS Monitor reports over 900 deaths have occurred in just the last few days causing the European Union to consider withholding aid:

The European Union has thrown delivery of billions of aid dollars into question as it meets “urgently” to coordinate a response to Egypt in the aftermath of a crackdown there that has killed almost 900 people in five days. Violence has skyrocketed since the military-backed interim government cleared two camps of supporters of ousted leader Mohammed Morsi in Cairo on Aug. 14.

Ahead of the meeting today, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, released a statement saying the EU is “firmly engaged in efforts to promote an end to violence, resumption of political dialogue, and return to a democratic process.”
“The EU has been at Egypt’s side in the last two years while it has moved towards democracy. We have met frequently and engaged actively Egypt’s leaders and the new political forces that have emerged. The calls for democracy and fundamental freedoms from the Egyptian population cannot be disregarded, much less washed away in blood,” it read.

I notice the language used by the EU expresses support for Egypt rather than any faction as well as support for freedom and democracy as called for by the Egyptian people. Diplomacy done well in my mind.

Coptic Christian Churches have been burned and desecrated…Coptic Christians terrorized and brutalized:

Sixteen Coptic churches had been torched by pro-Morsi mobs, including several ancient ones, the Egyptian blogger “Big Pharoah” wrote in a Twitter post.

Brotherhood supporters blame the Copts for toppling former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi because Coptic Pope Tawadros II backed the military’s July 3 move to oust him.

Coptic priests and laymen have been killed, churches have been burned or scrawled with anti-Christian graffiti by Islamic militants across Egypt in the past month.

Voices of moderation and reason occasionally emerge. A military chief has vowed to rebuild the Coptic Churches, referring to the minority Christians as brothers and recognizing their place in Egypt’s history:

The Egyptian defense minister has ordered the repair and reconstruction of all churches that suffered damage in the country’s violent demonstrations since the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power last month.

Defense minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi intends to fix the damage to Coptic churches at Rabaa Adaweya and Nahda squares, according to a report by the Mid-East Christian News. …

… The Egyptian defense minister ordered the engineering department of the armed forces to swiftly repair all the affected churches, in recognition of the historical and national role played by our Coptic brothers,” read a statement that aired on Egyptian television.

Both President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton have been vocal in their support for the Muslim Brotherhood following Mursi’s victory which has now placed the President in an awkward position. Reports show that many Egyptians are very angry with President Obama for engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood:

In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, blood-red letters on a white banner read: “Obama Supports The Dictator Mursi.” A sign on the speakers’ platform adds: “Down with Mursi, America’s agent.” … “People are frustrated here, full of anger, especially youngsters,” said Anwar Sadat, the nephew of the Egyptian president assassinated in 1981 and the leader of a minor opposition party. “The truth is we are in trouble.” … A Gallup survey released March 13 showed Egyptians disapprove of U.S. leadership by a 62 percent to 17 percent margin.

While vacationing on Martha’s Vinyard the President cancelled scheduled joint military exercises with Egypt’s military”

President Obama on Thursday canceled joint military maneuvers between U.S. and Egyptian troops scheduled for next month as he seeks to find levers the U.S. can use to quell deadly clashes in the North African nation and force both sides back into negotiations.

The death toll in Egypt climbed past 600 as the military-appointed government continued its bloody attack on supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, which vowed to fight until it had defeated the generals. The Brotherhood implored its backers to take to the streets in defiance of a newly imposed state of emergency.

The government, which appears to have set its sights on destroying the political viability of the Brotherhood, said it would intensify its counterattacks and would use live-fire ammunition to fight the protesters.

Scores of Christian churches were attacked, police were gunned down and government buildings in Giza were set ablaze as the violence expanded.

The bloodshed drew condemnation from all sides, and Mr. Obama — taking a short break from his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard — said Egypt is now on “a more dangerous path.”

The Presidents position makes the question of American aid to Egypt difficult. But he has apparently chosen a typical path, according to a report in the Daily Beast:

The U.S. government has decided privately to act as if the military takeover of Egypt was a coup, temporarily suspending most forms of military aid, despite deciding not to announce publicly a coup determination one way or the other, according to a leading U.S. senator.

In the latest example of its poorly understood Egypt policy, the Obama administration has decided to temporarily suspend the disbursement of most direct military aid, the delivery of weapons to the Egyptian military, and some forms of economic aid to the Egyptian government while it conducts a broad review of the relationship. The administration won’t publicly acknowledge all aspects of the aid suspension and maintains its rhetorical line that no official coup determination has been made, but behind the scenes, extensive measures to treat the military takeover of Egypt last month as a coup are being implemented on a temporary basis.

The office of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the head of the Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, told The Daily Beast on Monday that military aid to Egypt has been temporarily cut off.
“[Senator Leahy’s] understanding is that aid to the Egyptian military has been halted, as required by law,” said David Carle, a spokesman for Leahy.

The administration’s public message is that $585 million of promised aid to the Egyptian military in fiscal 2013 is not officially on hold, as technically it is not due until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and no final decisions have been made.

“After sequestration withholding, approximately $585 million remains unobligated. So, that is the amount that is unobligated,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday. “But it would be inaccurate to say that a policy decision has been made with respect to the remaining assistance funding.”

Whatever!

If it’s possible to vote present on this issue I’m confident our president will find a way.

Any thoughts?

Posted by Tina

According to Breitbart Big Journalism the Presidents hometown paper, The Chicago Tribune, is throwing in the towel on the unaffordable care act, AKA Obamacare:

Bottom line: Let’s delay and rewrite this ill-conceived law. Congress need not start from scratch. Lawmakers can build on what all of us have learned from three years of painful trial and error. Three years of attempting, but failing, to make this clumsy monstrosity work for the American people.

They had a few choice words to describe the painful trial and error:

Democrats strong-armed Obamacare into law three years ago. Now they’re busy flouting it.
The mandate that employers provide insurance next year or pay a penalty, as the law requires? Delayed for at least a year.

The law’s dictate that people applying for federal subsidies to buy insurance provide proof that they’re eligible for the government aid? Scaled back.

Sharp limits on Americans’ out-of-pocket costs for health care? Suspended for a year.

Providing members of Congress and more than 10,000 staff members with federal health care subsidies that the law does not allow? Done, via a deal brokered by President Barack Obama.

And on and on.

Republicans have been saying, “Repeal and Replace” since the beginning. They knew this law was a pig in a poke. Would anybody on the Dem side listen…No!

A rewrite would be more painful than helpful and result in another monstrosity.

Grab what is smart and useful…like precondition acceptance requirements…insurance sales across state lines…and scrap the crap. Chalk it all up to an expensive but valuable lesson…then scrap the idiots that wrote and passed the da*n thing.

by Jack

I think I’ve only been to two hardtop races in my life, and last Friday night was the second time.   Took the Grandson and it was better than expected. I sat there for almost 3 and a half hours and never had a dull moment. Compared to watching a movie for $8.50, the $11 entry was better spent… in my never to be humble opinion.  Just one warning for large familes on a small budget, it will cost you $9 for a hot dog and soda,  COSTCO sells the same thing for $1.50.  So a word to the wise, make sure everbody eats before they arrive, you will save a lot of money if you do.  

In the begining it was hard for me to figure out who was winning because the cars spread out on the 1/4 mile track until the lead car is behind the tail end car and they’re all going 100 mph lap after lap, it was dizzying.   By the last couple of heats we almost knew what we were watching, but whatever confusion we had it didn’t take away from the fun of watching.

Aside from sliding around the track at lightspeed, there were at least dozen fairly minor crashes (thankfully) and at one point, while the cars slowed at the finish line under a yellow caution flag, one reckless driver with a heavy foot tried to bust through the pack and clipped a car in front of him.  It was a dumb move.   This lead to a fist fight (nobody was hurt) and as a result the officials ended this particular heat, even though there was about 3 laps left to run.   Yep, it was great, MMA and car racing, all at the same time and it was right in front of us!

Oh, another word of warning if you are thinking about going…wouldn’t hurt to bring ear protection.

Next races are the big boys, Gold Cup racing!  Yeah, I’m going…way too much fun to miss it.

Posted by Tina

You won’t hear this in the news so I thought I’d share. Tom Blumer of PJ Media recently visited the offices of two Republican Senators; both were at home in their hometown digs. The purpose of his sojourn was to observe protesters of the newly formed Organizing for Action, the team that was formerly Obama’s campaign support system. This group laughingly insists it is an independent organization. (Why will they not proudly claim their intent? Oh yeah…tax free status!) Their mission on this day was to confront the Republican Congressmen about their green credentials and deliver a punch to the stomach!

Blumer found a tiny remnant of the organization; a couple of dozen people showed up late in one office and only one college student showed in the other:

Keep in mind that on any given business day, 60,000 people are working in downtown Cincinnati, a large plurality of whom could easily have taken an hour-long lunch to be on hand for such a momentous occasion, and who would still have had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat before getting back to work. …

…Massie’s OFA visitor was a know-it-all college student who arrived ten minutes early and gave the congressman’s district director a small, insulting “Climate Deniers Trophy.” The kid surely thought he had delivered a body blow to an oil-guzzling Neanderthal.

Turns out, Congressman Massie’s footprint is of a size to envy for any climate change freak…compared to Al Gore he’s an enviro saint!

I know it’s early yet, but it isn’t looking good for Obama’s supporter efforts. Something has gone very wrong in the organizers favorite organization. And Hillary is counting on these people to plow a path for her presidential bid in the coming months, too. There have been several organized events to support the Democrat agenda lately but attendance has been a complete joke at all of them (links are provided in the Blumer article linked above).

Point of information from the article for our friend Chris:

Unfortunately for Team Obama, the climate hasn’t been cooperating with their corrupted “science” for quite some time. Despite attempts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to spin it as yet another disastrous year for warming, calendar 2012 was among the coolest so far this century. More importantly, the warmists’ meme, which is that most of the warmest years since records have been kept have occurred since the turn of the century, is more than a little suspect. NOAA, in a possible move to increase the credibility of future results, is closing 600 “hot” weather stations, many of which were apparently placed in locations deliberately designed to generate artificially high temperatures to rig overall results.

OFA insists that “97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real.” What a crock. In February, James Taylor at Forbes pointed to a peer-reviewed study which showed, in Taylor’s words, that “only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis.”

A word to our readers; climate “deniers” are just ordinary citizens (and politicians) with a few reasonable expectations:

1. A science community that works and reports as scientists did when Einstein was alive…with integrity, honor, and a commitment to discovery (NO TRICKS).

2. Government policy that is balanced; policy that will support the discovery and use of viable alternative energy sources without killing the economy, businesses, and jobs.

3. Conserve the environment without stomping on the rights of private citizens…including property rights.

4.Take an “all of the above approach” and let the private sector choose the winners.

5. Quit blowing smoke!

The citizens of this free country have done a great job picking winners and losers when they have been allowed to participate freely and without manipulative and oppressive overreaching by the big government animals in Washington. The time is ripe: to reclaim that right and our freedom, to restore a vibrant private sector and an abundance of jobs, and to reset our government on a (minimal) path of service to the people!

We will do it if the people have had it with transformers, organizers, and destroyers.

OFA is, at least for now, very weak. 2014 is almost here. Time to get rolling, citizens!

Warning:  This video is not yet rated for liberals, watch at your own risk.  Conservatives will find it rewarding. 

http://www.greatamericans.com/video/Portraits-of-Valor-Roy-Benavide

by Jack Lee

While the liberals dream up clever ways to take away guns from law abiding citizens, Chico racks up it’s 33rd stabbing since January 1st. This latest knifing happened in a nice residential area called Verbeena Fields. This is neighborhood park that starts at the intersection of Verbeena Avenue and East First Avenue. And like several other recent stabbings, this one was done by a transient hitting on somebody for their spare change. When the victim refused – out came the knife. Stab, stab, stab and off the bum runs off, just like the stabbing in the Raley’s Parking lot, remember that one?

Verbeena Fields park is basically an open field with a split rail fence around it. This dry, sticker infested ground, is supposed to attract dog owners, bicycle riders, and kids, but it’s also been a magnet for bums looking for a place to camp… out of view of the cops. During the day the bums create hidden campsites among the cottonwood trees nearby and at night they are free to roam. This area is better than Bidwell Park for several reasons, first, too many people use Bidwell park and the bum camps are too quickly discovered thanks to the toilet paper all over and the stink, plus the cops patrol that area, unlike Verbeena Fields that is more off the beaten path. Verbeena Fields is also good because at night when it’s time to prowl they’re already right in the middle of nice homes.  The dry creek provides a good escape path to the east and west.

Not long ago (I believe within the last 60 days), a transient man and woman were busted for possession of stolen property after they broke into several parked vehicles in my general area or so I was advised by my neighbors. In their last caper they looted what they could carry from an expensive motor home near Volombrosa and sometime later the cops got a tip where they could be found with this stolen property. They were busted for possession, but not before most of the stolen items had been sold off.

I believe I’ve seen this filthy grungy looking pair riding their mountain bikes around my neighborhood just a few day ago. And prior to this, I’ve notice the same pair poking around in garbage bins looking for aluminum cans. Because of the frequency that I have seen them I figured they were camping somewhere in upper park, which is only a few minutes away from Veerbeena Fields. Upper park has been a popular camping area too, despite the city ordinance against it.

The answer to this problem is to build daycare centers and another new homeless shelter or so says our Homeless Task Force.    If we will only build these things peace will be restored and like a 1930’s Disney cartoon, the birds will come out to sing,  our bums will all play nice and life will be good.    Then our liberals can feel really good, and they will have created new monuments (the new bum dormitories) as a testament to their caring and generosity even though they did it with your money.  And no, the new no rules (anything goes0 wet-shelter and the two daycare centers will not attract more bums… or so we are told.

by Jack

Silver’s ETF, symbol SLV, continued it’s dramatic climb upward off the low of the year and has just hit $22 a share.   SLV tries to closes match the spot price of silver.  Today’s gain was over a $1 and that’s amazing for a precious metal.  Remember, you were told that silver was ready to take off right here on PS just days before it did.  We spotted the signals and made the call…the right call.   Another reason to say informed here.

Posted by Tina

Certain economists and others have lamented that working Americans have been losing economic ground and are not as well of today as they have been in days gone by. Using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a guide they insist that median incomes for working Americans have dropped by 2% since 1973. This has, no doubt, been behind recent union demands for a change in minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. But James Sherk, writing at The Foundry blog at The Heritage Foundation, cites a different measure, the measure preferred by the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve, that shows median household incomes have risen by 20% since 1973.

The CPI does not account for the fact that people change their buying habits when prices change—for example, Americans bought more smartphones when they became less expensive. Consequently, it overestimates the amount Americans spend on more expensive products.

The CPI also uses surveys that overestimate the amount Americans spend on rent, gas, and utilities—regularly recurring purchases easily remembered in interviews. The prices of these goods have grown faster than overall inflation. These problems artificially inflate the CPI.

The Department of Commerce uses a different methodology free from these problems to calculate the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index. Both the Federal Reserve and the Congressional Budget Office prefer the PCE. PCE-estimated inflation typically grows about 0.4 percentage points slower than CPI estimates. Over short periods of time, this hardly matters. Over long periods, it matters a lot.
Adjusting for inflation with the CPI shows median real household incomes stagnating, falling 2 percent between 1973 and 2011. The PCE paints a completely different picture.

The Commerce Department just revised the PCE to improve its accuracy. The old PCE showed median household incomes rising 17 percent between 1973 and 2011. The updated figures show median household income growing even more—up 20 percent.

Taking other changes into account—such as the growth of non-cash benefits and the drop in average household size—would show even larger gains. Researchers accounting for such factors find median incomes rising by 30-50 percent over the past generation. These findings accord with recent research showing that, contrary to popular belief, employees’ compensation has risen in tandem with their productivity. Middle-class households produce more and enjoy substantially higher standards of living today than they did four decades ago.

Sadly the PCE also shows that since 2007 median incomes have fallen by 7%. Still, overall this revelation is fantastic news. It offers a ray of hope, in this dismal Obama economy, that if policies in Washington were more business friendly (repeal and replace Obamacare-adopt smart tax policies), businesses and investors would celebrate and go for the gold again…the economy would take off! History indicates that instead of the part time low wage jobs created under Obama’s redistribution policies we would see a return to the robust expansion that always results in good paying jobs and a multitude of opportunity!
Democrats, always up to the same dirty tricks, have been telling Americans that capitalism is only for the rich and that working class Americans have been losing ground. Americans have been losing ground dramatically following this administrations redistribution, job killing policies, but it has not been true through the mostly positive decades under Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.

Creating the perception that the rich got rich while the middle class lost ground and the poor got poorer was necessary to sell the American people on redistribution politics. The recession and the economic melt down offered radical Democrats a perfect crisis, a launching pad, to push this economic fallacy. The politically arranged Occupy Wall Street provided visual theatrics that were a constant reminder and was just part of the rich vs. poor theme. And didn’t the media oblige them with 24/7 coverage of the theme.

There is no denying that during this period wealthy people were able to increase their wealth. It is only logical that when conditions are favorable people with money to invest will realize great returns. Democrats shamefully pretend that this gain in wealth was money stolen and hidden away so that wages for working stiffs remained stagnant; it’s all a big deception of perceptions. Don’t be fooled.

Radical Democrats do politics this way because they cannot claim historical success for their economic policies. They do politics like this because Marxist redistribution, when presented truthfully and without theatrics and tricks is anti-American, a tough sell with voters. Since 1973 the policies Democrats prefer always lead to economic stagnation. Carter created the great malaise, Reagan created millions of jobs and a robust economy. Clinton did well only after cooperating with Republicans in the House. GHW Bush was roundly condemned for raising taxes after pledging, “No knew taxes”. George W. Bush erred by spending too much and failing to inspire Congress to enact changes that would have prevented the financial crisis. When policies that were consistent with conservative principles were in play Americans thrived. See here and here.

There are a number of big changes that need to take place to restore our nation to its founding principles and God knows, we support implementation of those changes. It is also apparent that both of the major political parties have serious problems. Both parties are guilty of promising what cannot be delivered, spending too much, and forgetting that the federal government was constituionally charged only to do a few basic things. These problems are separate issues that will require long term efforts by the electorate and a lot of education and pressure, to change. The economy, however, which represents the well-being of every American family is something else again. It is vitally important that we elect representatives and Congressmen that will work to enact policies that support business and the American worker and investor.

Please pay attention in the coming year and vote wisely, pilgrims!