Obama Approval Among Women Goes From 70 Percent to 41 Percent

Yet another demographic Obama loses support from:

Women:

Barack Obama defeated Sen. John McCain 56 percent to 43 percent among female voters in the 2008 presidential election, according to the network exit poll, and Obama’s job performance as president won the support of 70 percent of women early in his tenure.

But Gallup polling last week showed that only 41 percent of women now say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president. That is an all-time low--down from the previous low of 43 percent, which is what Obama’s approval had been among women in each of the previous three weeks.

Obama’s approval has dropped 11 points among women over the past three months. In the last week of May, according to the Gallup poll, the president’s approval among females was at 52 percent.

Obama’s approval among women peaked at 70 percent in the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2009, his first full week in office.

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It is called "Buyer's remorse" and almost every Demographic is suffering from it as a new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012. (Source)

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'Suspicious Package' Sends 3 To Hospital; Hazmat Crews Are At Scott Air Force Base

From the Scott Air Force Base website:

8/31/2011 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- -- Scott AFB is responding to a suspicious package at building 1650, the official mail center. The building has been evacuated and 3 people have been transported to Memorial Hospital as a result of possible chemical exposure. Another 13 people are being decontaminated on site.

The education center, bowling alley, Information Tickets and Tours office, Airman Family Readiness Center are closed until further notice. First responders are on scene. All areas have been evacuated.

There is no immediate threat to the community. Direct call to main public affairs office at 618-256-4241.

CBS St. Louis reports Hazmat crews are on the scene.

“Currently we’re responding to a suspicious package that occurred at the official mail center (Building 1650),” SAFB spokesman Lt. Benjamin Garland tells KMOX News.

He said they’re not releasing any further information about the “suspicious package” or what it may have contained at this time. However the package reportedly emitted a sulphur-like smell.

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Warren Buffett Firm Owes Backtaxes From 2002 Forward

Flashback- Billionaire Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed in the New York Times saying that the Government should stop coddling the super rich, like him, and make them pay more in taxes. It was all the rage on Liberal websites throughout the blogosphere and media outlets with conservative sites posting the address to the Bureau of the Public Debt for Buffett and like-minded super rich people to voluntarily feel free to mail in donations and/or use a handy online form, to donate to the cause.

Today we see that Buffett owns a firm called Berkshire Hathaway that openly admits that it owes backtaxes since as long ago as 2002.

“We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years ... within the next 12 months,” the firm’s annual report says.

It also cites outstanding tax issues for 2005 through 2009.

Not bad enough that Buffett is a hypocrite though, the same article shows him for a liar as well about how "coddled" he and others are.

Start, for example, with his grossly disingenuous recent claim that, as he wrote in The New York Times, he paid only 17 percent of his income last year to the government -- even as many working stiffs who make far less than him coughed up higher percentages.

Fact is, unlike most other folks, Warren Buffett gets most of his income from dividends and capital gains, which are nominally taxed at 15 percent.

Left unsaid is that much of that is taxed at 35 percent (via the corporate income tax) before he even gets his hands on it. So in effect, he’s paying taxes twice (that is, when his companies actually pay, anyway).

FYI: Donations can be made to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

.. or visit:

https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFormId=23779454

Silence from the Liberals that jumped on Buffett's op-ed bandwagon regarding his extreme hypocrisy and lies.

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If You Ever Wondered How Sick British Society Is, This Proves It!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

I have enjoyed British Comedy for many decades.  The hilarious satire of Monty Python, Benny Hill and Dave Allen has brought me out of the blues.  Mr. Bean and The Black Adder have got me laughing.  Most British Humor is funny, some in bad taste, but nothing offensive.  Until now.

A controversial film about Muslim suicide bombers is to be screened as part of a season of programmes to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 on Channel 4.

It will show Four Lions by comedian Chris Morris days before memorials take place for the terrorist outrages in New York.

Insiders at the broadcaster say Morris wanted to air the 2010 film on the anniversary itself, but bosses refused.

In the comedy, a group of British terrorists bungle a plan to kill thousands of people at the London Marathon in a terror attack.

Channel 4 will premiere it alongside documentaries about heroes from the emergency services and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The plans were revealed at the Edinburgh Television Festival by chief creative officer Jay Hunt.

Speaking at a session called No Risk Please, We’re Prime Time, she said: “I’ve just had a robust conversation with Chris Morris about Four Lions and the scheduling of that and how close it is to 9/11. I think we should absolutely continue to push those boundaries.

“It is going out in the next week and a half or so. It is not going out on 9/11 itself. But it is around then because it speaks to that issue.”

Referring to Morris, who presented a paedophile special for TV satire Brass Eye that received a record number of complaints, she said: “He felt strongly that it was an important flavour in the mix, and I think it is.” - Daily Mail

Source

This is so sick, in such bad taste that words cannot describe the feelings I have.  It reminds me of when The Daily Kos decided that this bit of humor was appropriate on 9/11:

I wonder how the  British would feel if we Americans did a comedy skit in bad taste about 7/7?  Or Princess Diana's Death?  Or any tragedy that they have experienced?

It would be in bad taste and show our utter contempt for the British people.  Just as the British people are showing towards us.

Is The Mainstream Liberal Media Dumb?

The Politico has a very unimpressive five-page piece asking a question about Rick Perry "Is he dumb — or just “misunderestimated?”

Another Texas governor who drops his “g’s” and scorns elites is running for president and the whispers are the same: lightweight, incurious, instinctual.

Strip away the euphemisms and Rick Perry is confronting an unavoidable question: Is he dumb — or just “misunderestimated?”

Perry has an accent, went to a regular college versus an Ivy League college, he doesn't read "policy-heavy books late into the night," and OMG, he listens to advisers and colleagues before forming certain opinions.

That is just some of the blather from the first page of The Politico piece.

In the meantime, they causally mention Perry "ranks as the longest-serving governor in Texas history," without worthy mention that in that time the state has had the largest growth and has been responsible for over seven times the amount of private sector job growth than any other state in the country.

A must read reaction to this idiocy over at The Politico is from William Teach over at Pirate's Cove who is waiting (with much snark) for other profile pieces like:

We’re still waiting for his other pieces “Is Maxine Waters Insane?” and “Is Obama a complete failure?” Also “How do we know Obama’s brilliant when we’ve never seen any school transcripts or papers?” I hear he’s planning on releasing his article “Why does everything the Smartest Man In The World™ touches turn to poop?” very soon. Of course, those others are based on reality, rather than a liberal attack job on a guy who is leading the GOP primary field

Teach continues on about Perry:

....But, there’s no doubt that he Gets Things Done. And his state seems to be doing a whole hell of a lot better than Democrat run states like, say, California, which sees its businesses streaming into Texas. Perry is, in fact, a leader, someone who knows how to get things that work in the real word done around him. And, we don’t necessarily need “idea men”: we need leaders who solicit the ideas from the professionals, then makes it happen, and generally convinces people that this is the best thing to do.

In reading discussions regarding The Politico piece I saw that Hot Air provides the "dumb" memes the media has thrown at just about every Republican presidential candidate, yet they rarely if ever bother mentioning , especially not in a five-page piece, the "dumb" factor from Obama's own record.

Via Hot Air:

Notice that these memes never get applied on the other side of the aisle, either. Did any media question Obama’s intelligence when during the campaign when he made these whoppers?

• The Selma March in 1965 did not contribute to his birth in 1961.
• Kansas tornadoes in May 2007 killed 12 people, not “ten thousand”.
• Afghans do not speak Arabic.
• Within 24 hours, Obama reversed his assertion that Iran did not pose a “serious threat” to the US to an assertion that the threat is “grave”.
• “On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”
• 57 states

No, they didn’t. Why? Because the media only uses the weird, scary, and idiot memes for Republican candidates, that’s why.

Is it any wonder why the majority of Americans believe there is media bias and why 2 to 1 they believe the media favors liberals/Democrats and make no effort to hide their bias anymore?

While some wonder why the media isn't asking the "dumb" question about Barack Obama, I believe the more appropriate question is why they aren't looking into the mirror and tagging their own forehead with a "DUMB" sticker?

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Political Cartoon-a-mania Sunday

One of my favorite political sites is Townhall and their political cartoon page is one of my Sunday entertainment sources, so, without further ado, some of my favorites from today's browsing.

By Robert Ariail

By Lisa Benson

By Henry Payne

By Henry Payne

By Gary McCoy

By Glenn McCoy

By Ken Catalino

By Robert Ariail

There are many more but these were my favorite for this week.. enjoy!!!

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Goshen College In Indiana Bans Star Spangled Banner As Being Too Violent- Contact Info Provided

Update below post with a list of board of directors names and contact info for the board chair. Have at them.

Goshen College
1700 South Main Street
Goshen, Indiana 46526

Toll free: 1 (800) 348-7422
Local: (574) 535-7000
E-mail: info@goshen.edu

Dean’s Office
Phone: (574) 535-7503
Fax: (574) 535-7060
Email: dean@goshen.edu

Other contact info here.

NBC Washington reports:

Tiny Goshen College in Indiana has banned the "The Star Spangled Banner: at all sporting events because the Mennonite school's president considers the National Anthem's words to be too violent.

The 1,000-student school had already banned the words last year, but the band could still play the music for patriots in attendance. Now, the school has banned the song entirely, according to NBC Sports.

The school’s board of directors told college President Jim Brenneman to “find an alternative to playing the National Anthem that fits with sports tradition, that honors country and that resonates with Goshen College’s core values and respects the views of diverse constituencies.”

The words were already banned, but now the music is unacceptable to this school as well.

The Star Spangled Banner is considered the national anthem of the United States of America.It was accepted as such by public demand for the next century or so, but became even more accepted as the national anthem during the World Series of Baseball in 1917 when it was sung in honor of the brave armed forces fighting in the Great War. The World Series performance moved everyone in attendance, and after that it was repeated for every game. Finally, on March 3, 1931, the American Congress proclaimed it as the national anthem, 116 years after it was first written.

Yet the music alone is too "violent" for the clowns running the show at Goshen College.


Lyrics found here.

I say patriotic Americans should let the idiots of Goshen College know what they think of this.

[Update] Since the order came from the board of directors, perhaps that contact information should be available as well.

Please direct any correspondence to Rick Stiffney, Board Chair, at rick@mhsonline.org

List of board of directors and upcoming meetings.

• Paul Bast

  Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

• Philip E. Bontrager, vice chair

  Archbold, Ohio

• Miriam F. Book

  Henderson, Neb.

• Conrad Clemens

  Tucson, Ariz.

• Calenthia Dowdy

  Philadelphia, Pa.

• Rose Gillin

  Goshen, Ind.

• Felipe Hinojosa

  College Station, Texas

• Ken Hochstetler

  Souderton, Pa.

• Ivorie G. Lowe

  Markham, Ill.

• Timothy Oyer

  Boston, Mass.

• Faith Penner

  Harper, Kan.

• Rick Stiffney, chair

  Goshen, Ind.

• Karen Maxam Weaver

  Edwardsburg, Mich.

Upcoming board meetings:

2011
October 14-15

2012
February 17-18
June 1-2
October 12-13

Do You Ever See Tea Party Or Conservative Protesters Doing This Crap?

620 WTMJ reports "Locks superglued prior to protests of Governor Walker at local school"

MILWAUKEE - Protesters crowded the street outside Messmer Preparatory School in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood as Governor Walker visited the school Friday to read to children.

The protests came just hours after someone vandalized the school ahead of the Governor's visit.

"Some of these folks super glued our front doors at the prep school," said Br. Bob Smith, OFM, the president of Messmer Catholic Schools, about the school on the corner of North Fratney and East Burleigh Streets.

He told Newsradio 620 WTMJ that a woman was walking in front of the school Thursday, asking people to protest.

According to Br. Smith, one protester said " 'Get ready for a riot,' because they were going to disrupt the visit."

Br. Smith said that, in his opinion, the Republican governor's visit to read to students there on Friday was not about political overtones connected to protests that have been happening all year in the state regarding the rollback of collective bargaining rights for many public workers.

"People ought to start acting like adults," said Br. Smith.

"You've got little kids who have no clue what you're even talking about, and you make something political when it isn't, that's just flat-out wrong."

Video here.

These people are sickening.

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Tea Party Express Launch TODAY!

Via an email from the Tea Party Express:

Dear Patriots,

The Tea Party Express national tour kicks off today with rallies in California & Nevada, and we're working hard to make this the best tour ever! Please join us in celebrating the launch of our fifth national bus tour and with conservative rallies in Napa, CA and Reno, NV.

The tour is expected to draw tens of thousands of participants as it visits 30 cities nationwide in a tour we call "Reclaiming America." We have some incredible guest speakers and entertainers you don't want to miss - so take a look at the full schedule and find the rally nearest you!

Here are details on the rallies today!

Napa, CA "Super Rally":

WHEN: Saturday August 27th from 10am - 2pm
WHERE: Napa Valley Expo in Napa, CA
WHAT: Conservative speakers, singers, & entertainment. Food & drink vendors and wine tasting will be available on site. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and bring a blanket or lawn-chair and sunscreen.

Reno, NV Rally:

WHEN: Saturday August 27th from 5pm - 6:30pm
WHERE: Victorian Square Amphitheater, 900 Victorian Ave, Sparks, NV
WHAT: Conservative speakers, singers, & entertainment. Speakers include Republican nominee for Senate Sharron Angle and former State Senator Maurice Washington.

Then on Sunday, the tour stops in Elko, NV and Salt Lake City, UT! Please check the full "Reclaiming America" tour schedule to find more details on how you can be a part of this fantastic effort! The full schedule is available online right here!

Rick Perry Favored By Republicans And Tea Party Supporters

Gallup's new numbers are out and Rick Perry seems to at the front of the pack still, among Republicans who identify "government spending and power" as the set of issues most important to them as well as a smaller lead against Romney among Republicans who say "business and the economy" is their top issue.

Findings also show that Perry is more popular among Tea Party supporters than any other candidate as well.

Rick Perry's candidacy has attracted strong initial support from Republicans who identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement. Perry leads by 21 percentage points over the closest contenders among this group, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. Among Republicans who say they do not support the Tea Party movement, Romney and Perry are essentially tied.

These results are based on an Aug. 17-21 Gallup poll, which showed Perry overtaking Romney as the front-runner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination among all Republicans nationwide.

The poll finds that 58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement, with 36% saying they do not consider themselves supporters. Included among the group of Tea Party supporters is a smaller group -- representing 12% of Republicans -- who say they are "strong" supporters of the movement. Among this smaller group, Perry's lead is even greater, 46% to 16%, over Bachmann, with all other candidates in single digits.

In Gallup's July measurement of Republicans' nomination preferences, before Perry officially entered the race, Romney held a slight edge over Bachmann among Tea Party supporters, 29% to 23%. Romney led Paul by 25% to 16% among nonsupporters.

The breakdown is explained over at Gallup on the lead Perry holds over Romney on the Government spending and business and economy issues, but there is no doubt that 3 weeks into his official campaign, Perry has slid into the candidate of choice for many.

NRO explains why Perry is popular with those that recognize his name already and why he will become more popular as more match him up against Romney and others.

• As “America’s jobs governor,” Perry is a one-man antidote to Obama’s venomous policies, which have held unemployment above 9 percent for 25 of the last 27 months. Across all 50 states, between June 2009 and June 2011, the Dallas Federal Reserve calculates that 49.9 percent of America’s net new jobs arose in Texas. July was its eleventh straight month of payroll expansion, with 29,300 Texans finding work. Nearly eleven years into Perry’s governorship, Texas inarguably is No. 1 in job growth.

During Romney’s single four-year term, however, the U.S. Labor Department ranked Massachusetts No. 47 in job growth. Employment increased just 0.9 percent between January 2003 and January 2007. At that time, U.S. job growth was roughly 5 percent, reports WSJ.com’s Brett Arends. Romney did keep Massachusetts ahead of Ohio and Michigan — two Rust Belt job sieves — and Louisiana, crushed by Katrina.

Read the whole thing.

Job growth and the economy are going to be two of the most important issues for the 2012 GOP nomination and for the 2012 presidential election and Perry stands far above all other GOP candidates as well as above Barack Obama on records alone.

Unless unemployment is drastically reduced and/or the economy grows at an impossible rate over the next year, Obama has nothing to campaign on except his speeches which are nothing like those he charmed voters with in 2008, because now there is a record behind him and it is ugly.

Obama's signature issue, Obamacare is still opposed by the majority of Americans and his unprecedented spending spending spree and deficit increases in the last two and half years have failed to stimulate the economy or produce the job growth promised with unemployment still over 9.0 percent.

No doubt as more Americans, especially Independents, learn more and are able to compare Perry's record with everyone else in the field of candidates and Obama, Perry's national lead will increase.

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East Coast Braces For Hurricane Irene

Projected path of Irene as of Thursday morning from The Weather Channel
Irene is projected to be a category 4 hurricane and along the coast line states are watching and preparing.

The Weather channel also has pages for current information with winds, pressure and direction the hurricane is moving, a threat level page showing low, med, high, extreme and catastrophic levels of threat to specific areas of the coast,

Hurricane Irene will be a very dangerous hurricane as it tracks towards the East Coast this weekend. Anyone in the corridor from eastern North Carolina to the Northeast U.S. should be preparing for a hurricane!

As of Thursday morning, the first tropical storm and hurricane watches have been posted for the U.S.

Interactive map: Hurricane Irene interactive projected path

Photo above from NASA Earth Observatory

The National Hurricane Center is also tracking Irene closely and provides links to a variety of information including wind speed probabilities, interactive maps, 5 day forecasts and the information is constantly updated with changes.

Nasa provides the image of Irene from above.

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Multiple Polls Put Rick Perry As GOP Frontrunner And Other Perry News

While there is still over a year to go before the 2012 presidential election and preliminary polling is just that, patterns and trends are key to see which candidates are rising and which are falling behind.

FiveThirtyEight (leans Dem) shows Governor Rick Perry has risen above every other GOP candidate in the race to see who will be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Perry has done this in a matter of two weeks since he has declared his candidacy while his name recognition is still shy of Mitt Romney's.

This finding is consistent among multiple polls from a variety of polling organizations.

Primary polls can be erratic, so the rule is not to get too worked up about any one set of numbers. But now there have been five surveys conducted since Rick Perry announced his presidential campaign — one each from Gallup, Rasmussen Reports and Public Policy Polling, and two from YouGov. Each shows Mr. Perry having vaulted into a lead over Mitt Romney.

On average, Mr. Perry gets 26 percent of the vote in the new surveys, as compared to 16 percent for Mr. Romney. By comparison, in polls conducted in the month prior to Mr. Perry’s announcement, he averaged 14 percent to Mr. Romney’s 21 percent.

David Limbaugh, tweets an image of a younger Barack Obama compared to a younger Rick Perry .. Via The Politico

Since we are on the topic of Perry, among many many others writing about Perry, head over to Daily Beast for a very entertaining endorsement for Perry by one of his former opponents for Governor, by Kinky Friedman.

Teaser:

So would I support Rick Perry for president? Hell, yes! As the last nail that hasn’t been hammered down in this country, I agree with Rick that there are already too damn many laws, taxes, regulations, panels, committees, and bureaucrats. While Obama is busy putting the hyphen between “anal” and “retentive” Rick will be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.

A still, small voice within keeps telling me that Rick Perry’s best day may yet be ahead of him, and so too, hopefully, will be America’s.

Yet another article pertaining to Perry's candidacy shows that Perry's rise has struck fear into Team Obama as well if their latest email blast to Texas supporters is any indication. They want dirt, they want complaints against Perry to use against him and they even set up an online form for people to use to that purpose.

Last (for now) but not least, Perry told Laura Ingraham on her radio show that "Mitt is finally recognizing that the Massachusetts healthcare plan he passed is a huge problem for him."

He is right, that is one issue conservative voters and many many independent voters will not forget, especially since Obamacare is so similar to Romney's Mass. healthcare law and the majority of Americans are still opposed to that.

YouTube clip below is the the audio of that interview:



The headlines are focusing on Perry's comments about Romneycare, but in the interview above, Ingraham and Perry discuss many other issues, so if you have the time, listen to the whole thing.

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Happy Birthday Gilad Shalit

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

On August 28 Gilad Shalit will turn 25.  He has been held without outside contact for 5 years.  A Prisoner of War without the rights of a POW under the Geneva Conventions of War.  The International Red Cross has been complacent in this horror by refusing to impose sanctions on Hamas until they are allowed to see Gilad.  The world applauds this action.  After all to the world at large Jews have no rights.  And Gilad sits in a prison cell without hope.

Stand With Us has a petition directed to the International Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the United Nations demanding that Gilad be released.  Reminding them that we have not forgotten him.  We haven't.  Please sign it here. 

On August 28th light a candle for Gilad, pray for his release and don't forget him.  Let everyone know who he is and why he matters.  There can be no peace in the Middle East until he is returned to Israel safe and unharmed.

The Right To Rape Children

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

In the near future your child will be walking home from school, a car pulls up, the man inside grabs your child and for days the child is sexually molested.  The police find both, but the man gets to keep the child and you are placed in jail for the crime of denying a Pedophile his right to rape children.

You feel this can never happen.  Yet recently members of the American Psychiatric Association attended a conference that proposed that pedophilia be accepted as a "lifestyle choice".

A group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals say it's time to change the way society views individuals who have physical attractions to children.

The organization, which calls itself B4U-Act, is lobbying for changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, the guideline of standards on mental health that's put together by the American Psychiatric Association.

The group says its mission is to help pedophiles before they create a crisis, and to do so by offering a less critical view of the disorder.

"Stigmatizing and stereotyping minor-attracted people inflames the fears of minor-attracted people, mental health professionals and the public, without contributing to an understanding of minor-attracted people or the issue of child sexual abuse," reads the organization's website.

B4U-Act said that 38 individuals attended a symposium in Baltimore last week, including researchers from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and the universities of Illinois and Louisville. According to the group, which said to not endorse every point of view expressed, the speakers in attendance concluded that "minor-attracted" individuals are largely misunderstood and should not be criminalized even as their actions should be discouraged.

Speakers also argued that people who are sexually attracted to children should have input into the decision about how pedophilia is defined in the DSM, which they said is supposed to be a guide to promote “mental health vs. social control.”

The American Psychiatric Association did not participate in the conference, and evidently does not condone the group's message.

"An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act and this is never considered normal or socially acceptable behavior," the APA wrote in a 2003 position statement.

Critics of the effort also note that the movement likens its fight for pedophilia acceptance to society's more recent embrace of homosexuality. They warn of a slippery slope to a time when pedophilia is "just another lifestyle choice" that won't warrant criminal charges—and will leave young children at risk.

Guess what none of the members of the American Psychiatric Association didn't do?  Yep condemn this idea out right.  Guess what they will be working to do instead?  Yep make it legal for your child, your grandchild to be molested legally.

Speakers also argued that people who are sexually attracted to children should have input into the decision about how pedophilia is defined in the DSM.

How about listening to the victims instead.  They are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of the actions of the APA and their sick views.

You can contact the APA here.
You can contact B4U-ACT here.

Let them know that in no uncertain terms you will ever accept Pedophilia will NEVER be acceptable to you and to US society.

VIDEO: The Obama Economy Is Killing Jobs, Restaurant CEO Explains

Video below via Heritage of Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants explaining how Obama's policies are bad for job growth:

CKE, which owns and franchises 3,182 restaurants in 42 states and 23 foreign countries under the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s brand names, employs about 70,000 people in the United States. As Puzder explains, his company is “a job creation machine,” but he fears that Obamacare, or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will be the wrench that grinds it to a halt.

Listen to the 2:39 minute video, then read the whole Heritage piece which covers Mr. Puzder's statement to Congress as well as detailing his points.

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Rick Perry Is A Liberal's Nightmare

The New Republic has a two-page piece out that is a must read if you are a conservative and want a good laugh for the day.

The headline pretty much covers it with "Rick Perry: The God-Fearing, Know-Nothing, Pistol-Packing Embodiment of Liberals’ Worst Nightmares."

Go read, have a good laugh, then notice that just as they did with Sarah Palin, Liberals are guaranteeing that Rick Perry, who declared his candidacy for President less than a month ago, is already becoming a household name, known far better because Liberals cannot resist talking about him non-stop.

After tossing his hat into the ring just two weeks ago, Perry has taken a double digit lead in the GOP field and is already tied with Obama according to Gallup surveying registered voters and Rasmussen has him only three points behind Obama.

Other Perry headlines to note today include but are not limited to;

Rick Perry's Sophisticated Campaign Machine

Rick Perry signs Susan B. Anthony List pledge.

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Magnitude 5.8 - 6.0 Earthquake Hits Virginia Aug. 23, 2011

Adding updates as they come out below post.A link to history of VA earthquakes for those who are interested is down below as well.

USGS has the details and will have an update on their Preliminary magnitude which is 5.8 for the earthquake that hit Virginia. [Update] USGS now calling it a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.
[Update] Now news is reporting USGS has just downgraded the quake again to a 5.8, but the USGS site isn't showing that change as of yet.

Reuters is reporting it as a 6.0 and saying it struck the U.S. East Coast from Virginia to Boston.

The Daily Caller says it was felt in Washington, New York City, North Carolina.

Trivia- History of earthquakes that have hit Virginia. More Virginia earthquake information at USGS.

[Update] Wapo reports that this might just be "foreshock," and more possibly to come:

Minutes after the quake, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Marcia McNutt -- who watched objects falling from the shelves in her office -- cautioned that the shaking might not be over.

“What the concern is, of course, is that this is a foreshock. If it’s a foreshock, then the worse is yet to come.”

Fox:

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was 3.7 miles deep and struck near Mineral, Va., a city 83 miles from Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other buildings were evacuated. Pictures in the Capitol building reportedly fell from the walls. Buildings in New York City shook briefly Tuesday afternoon.

The Eric Holder, the attorney general, has been evacuated from the Department of Justice.

[Update] NewsNet 5 is saying it was felt in Ohio.

There are reports coming in after a Virginia-based earthquake was felt in Northeast Ohio on Tuesday.

The quake happened just before 2 p.m. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.9 earthquake happened near Mineral, Va., and was felt in Washington, New York City, North Carolina.

In downtown Cleveland, the ground shook at the WEWS studios, causing lights to sway.

Television news is reporting that two nuclear reactors close to quake site have been taken offline and calling it standard operating procedure. [Update] Link added

[Update] Local ABC (New York) is providing live coverage, via video feed.

[Updates] Reports of some minor damage to buildings, many evacuations and questions of structural damage to buildings not built for this type of event.

[Update] Cell services are crashing due to an influx of non-emergency calls.

[Update] More on the nuclear power plants from WSJ and CNN.

CNN:

Tuesday's Virginia earthquake triggered the shutdown of a nearby nuclear power plant and alerts at nine others across the East Coast, U.S. authorities reported.

Dominion Virginia Power said both reactors at its North Anna plant, less than 20 miles from the epicenter of the magnitude-5.9 quake, shut down after the first tremors. Amanda Reidelbach, an emergency management spokeswoman for Louisa County, said the plant venting steam, but there was no release of radioactive material.

David Heacock, the utility's chief nuclear officer, said the plant was operating on emergency power and the units were safely deactivated.

"The plants are designed for this kind of a seismic event," Heacock said. "There is no apparent damage to anything at the plant right now."

WSJ:

The North Anna Power Station, which has two nuclear reactors, is now using four diesel generators to maintain cooling operations. The plant automatically shut down in the wake of the earthquake.

"As far as we know, everything is safe," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre.

Nine nuclear plants have declared "unusual events" today, which is the lowest of four emergency situations, the NRC said.

The plants are located in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Side Note: I didn't see this amount of attention given to the earthquake in Colorado yesterday.

The largest natural earthquake in Colorado in more than a century struck Monday night in the state’s southeast corner, but there had been no reports of damage or injuries.

(Headline change to reflect reporting of conflicting magnitudes)

Dem Pollster Puts Rick Perry In The Lead In Iowa

Public Policy Polling (Democratic) has released their Iowa poll findings which puts Governor Rick Perry in the lead of the GOP pack of candidates.

The race is pretty close four ways in Iowa but Rick Perry is the new favorite among Republican voters in the state. Among announced candidates he's at 22% to 19% for Mitt Romney, 18% for Michele Bachmann, and 16% for Ron Paul. Further back are Herman Cain at 7%, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum at 5%, and Jon Huntsman at 3%.

If you throw Sarah Palin into the mix the numbers are pretty similar with Perry at 21%, Romney at 18%, Bachmann at 15%, Paul at 12%, and Palin registering at only 10%.

Hot Air points to PPP's Twitter feed which states:

11:34 (CT): Our national GOP poll, out tomorrow, is better for Perry even than the Iowa one. Double digit lead.

Bachmann did win the Iowa Ames straw poll on the same day as Perry declared which means that he received votes in that poll from write-ins but his name was not listed, so this latest PPP poll would imply that as of Perry's entry the good people of Iowa has taken a good look at him and like what they see so far.

Democrats And Obama' s Specific Spending Excesses

The first headline I saw this morning was from CBS News titled "National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama."

The latest posting by the Treasury Department shows the national debt has now increased $4 trillion on President Obama's watch.

The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.

It's the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. president.

The national debt increased $4.9 trillion during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. The debt now is rising at a pace to surpass that amount during Mr. Obama's four-year term.

The very next headline I saw was "Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit" from Byron York at Campaign 2012 who breaks down the 2011 projected deficit, separating the expenses associated with the economic downturn from the specific spending excesses of Obama and the Democrats, showing that half the projected deficit is a "down payment on the Obama domestic agenda."

York starts by showing the stark contrast from 2007 to 2011:

There's no doubt federal spending has exploded in recent years. In fiscal 2007, the last year before things went haywire, the government took in $2.568 trillion in revenues and spent $2.728 trillion, for a deficit of $160 billion. In 2011, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the government will take in $2.230 trillion and spend $3.629 trillion, for a deficit of $1.399 trillion.

He goes on to explain how we went from a $160 billion deficit in 2007 to the nearly $1.4 trillion projected for 2011.

But how, precisely, did that happen? Was there a steep rise in entitlement spending? Did everyone suddenly turn 65 and begin collecting Social Security and using Medicare? No: The deficits are largely the result not of entitlements but of an explosion in spending related to the economic downturn and the rise of Democrats to power in Washington. While entitlements must be controlled in the long run, Washington's current spending problem lies elsewhere.

York fairly shows that half of those figures can be directly related to the economic downturn and posits that certain spending would have had to be done whether it was a Democrat or a Republicans in control of the White House.

Then he shows the other half of the problem, and that lies directly at Obama's feet.

That's a deficit increase that would have happened in an economic crisis whether Republicans or Democrats controlled Washington. But it was the specific spending excesses of President Obama and the Democrats that shot the deficit into the stratosphere.

There is no line in the federal budget that says "stimulus," but Obama's massive $814 billion stimulus increased spending in virtually every part of the federal government. "It's spread all through the budget," says former Congressional Budget Office chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "It was essentially a down payment on the Obama domestic agenda." Green jobs, infrastructure, health information technology, aid to states -- it's all in there, billions in increased spending.

As for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP -- it has no specific line in the budget, either, but that is because it was anticipated to pay nearly all of its own cost, which it has.

Spending for Social Security and Medicare did go up in this period -- $162 billion and $119 billion, respectively -- but by incremental and predictable amounts that weren't big problems in previous years. "We're getting older one year at a time, and health care costs grow at 7 or 8 percent a year," says Holtz-Eakin. If Social Security and Medicare were the sole source of the current deficit, it would be a lot smaller than it is.

The bottom line is that with baby boomers aging, entitlements will one day be a major budget problem. But today's deficit crisis is not one of entitlements. It was created by out-of-control spending on everything other than entitlements. The recent debt-ceiling agreement is supposed to put the brakes on that kind of spending, but leaders have so far been maddeningly vague on how they'll do it.

Read the entire piece for actual dollar amounts.

The issues above along with job creation and growth are going to be central to the 2012 elections, presidential and senatorial, and are issues that need to be hammered home, relentlessly.

Obama inherited a troublesome economy but under his hand, his guidance, and his first two years a House and Senate completely controlled by Democrats, that economy spiraled downward in a free fall and Obama would tell you it is simply "bad luck."

American voters should keep an old expression in their minds over the next 15 months:

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

Then in November 2012, they should vote accordingly.

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New Yorkers As Angry With Obama As The Rest Of Us Are

The New York Times piece explaining how even in New York, one of the most blue states around, people are as angry at Barack Obama as the rest of us are.

But it was there that Dale Weiss, a 64-year-old Democrat, approached the Republican running for Congress in a special election and, without provocation, blasted the president for failing to tame runaway federal spending. “We need to cut Medicaid,” she declared, “but he won’t do that.” She shook her head in disgust. “He is a moron.”

New York donors are also backing a different candidate than they did in 2008.... hint, it isn't Obama!!

New York isn't the only blue state that is becoming disillusioned with Obama, his Pennsylvania numbers have dropped to 35 percent approval as well.

This is a litany being heard around the country as Obama's disapproval ratings rise to new highs and his approval ratings sink lower and lower on most issues.

Some are suggesting Obama walk away, resign, and not to even bother to run for reelection in 2012.

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Majority NABE Economists Believe Spending Cuts Are The Solution To Deficit Problem

CNBC:

The majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics believe that the federal deficit should be reduced only or primarily through spending cuts.

The survey out Monday found that 56 percent of the NABE members surveyed felt that way, while 37 percent said they favor equal parts spending cuts and tax increases. The remaining 7 percent believe it should be done only or mostly through tax increases.

Read it all and pass it along because you can be assured that Liberals and the majority of media won't be highlighting it for their readers.

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Former CEO of American Express On Raising Taxes On The Rich: 'After all, I did earn it'

Harvey Golub is a former chairman and CEO of American Express and he has a message for the MSM, Warren Buffet, Barack Obama and every liberal Democrat that wants even more of his money.

WSJ:

Over the years, I have paid a significant portion of my income to the various federal, state and local jurisdictions in which I have lived, and I deeply resent that President Obama has decided that I don't need all the money I've not paid in taxes over the years, or that I should leave less for my children and grandchildren and give more to him to spend as he thinks fit. I also resent that Warren Buffett and others who have created massive wealth for themselves think I'm "coddled" because they believe they should pay more in taxes. I certainly don't feel "coddled" because these various governments have not imposed a higher income tax. After all, I did earn it.

It is about time time someone said it and thank you Mr. Golub for finally being the one to do so.

He earned his money and liberal Democrats and Barack Obama want to take more from him than they already do. He explains exactly how much they already take from him.

Now that I'm 72 years old, I can look forward to paying a significant portion of my accumulated wealth in estate taxes to the federal government and, depending on the state I live in at the time, to that state government as well. Of my current income this year, I expect to pay 80%-90% in federal income taxes, state income taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and federal and state estate taxes. Isn't that enough?

"Here's my message: Before you "ask" for more tax money from me and others, raise the $2.2 trillion you already collect each year more fairly and spend it more wisely. Then you'll need less of my money."---- Harvey Golub

Read the whole thing.

Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters likens the the spending problem the government has to a drug addiction:

Going back to the illicit drug analogy, we currently have a government hooked on spending. The Left claims the solution is to give it more money.

Isn't that like claiming you can cure a junky's problem by giving him more heroin?

Why yes it is. Also as any drug addict will do, they will go to any length. They will lie, they will cheat and they will steal to get their next fix.

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There Is A Reason Ron Paul Is Ignored: His 2008 Online Supporters

I see headlines today speaking to how the media is ignoring Ron Paul, asking why he managed to come in second in the Iowa Ames Straw Poll, 152 votes behind Michele Bachmann, the same day Rick Perry declared he is running for president in 2012, yet other than quick mentions, Pauls placement was basically ignored.

His candidacy is mentioned far less than any other candidate.

Paul has some decent ideas and others some like, some do not.

The general public, most who do not read online blogs, diaries or Internet media, but mostly obtain their news from the nightly half hour or hour cable or local news shows, might not remember this, but those of us with blogs, or media outlets that provide comment sections on their Internet based articles will remember and remember well the over-the-top shenanigans from Paul's online supporters back in 2007 and 2008.

Unless it was a completely pro-Paul piece with absolutely no balance, Paul's 2008 online supporters made a mess of every comment section across the Internet. They spammed comment sections with copy-n-paste replies, half of which had nothing to do with the subject matter of the article itself. They generally made a nuisance of themselves to the point where some were forced to ban any mention of Ron Paul.

Flashback: June 2007: RE: Comment Spam from the Ron Paul Crowd, via RightWingRock

The Ron Paul campaign has it all wrong.

They somehow are running with the notion that hitting every blog post that takes a position critical of Ron Paul with nasty comment after nasty comment. Somehow they figure this is going to get their candidate elected. All it's really doing is exposing the Paul campaign and its supporters for the nutjobs that they are.

First, let's make it very clear that I have no problem with Ron Paul. In fact, I posted my recent piece with the intention of proving him to be the most conservative candidate among the three I was analyzing, and even said so (proof that these comment spammers didn't read my post before throwing around their nasty comments).

October 2007: RE: Ron Paul Illegal Bot Net Voters

Now here is the amusing part... some of these illegal spamming emails are being used by those that spam our comment section and the comment sections of other blogs..... they are copying these illegal spam emails and pasting them directly in the comments.

December 2007: RE: When supporters hurt their candidate

I have often said that although I dislike Ron Paul, it was his supporters that do him the most damage by spamming emails, hate filled comments on blogs and forums and acting like crazy lunatics by doing constant Ron Paul searches then flooding every site that mentions him with the exact same comments as they left on the site before that, (No denials, the proof of this is in my own comment section and sitemeter showing where they were referred from)

January 2008: RE: References to the onslaught in comment sections

Captain's Quarters: (Ed Morrissey from CQ now writes at Hot Air)

Almost like clockwork, any time a blogger posts anything remotely critical about Ron Paul, it attracts hundreds of comments, most of them refusing to deal with the substance of the criticism.

My own blog mention of Paul supporters that same day:

I have proven, and shown, on a few posts, using the IP's listed from sitemeter and haloscan in conjunction with the haloscan referral tab, that Ron Paul supporters generally do tons of searches on technorati, google, yahoo, AOL and every other type of search engine, to see who is talking about Ron Paul and then they proceed to click all the results and copy and paste the same "shill" answers into each and every blog that mentions him.

It was constant, consistent and while many might claim "but they were loyal", no one is arguing they are not, but cheating online polls, spamming comment sections and generally making a pain in the ass of themselves, could very well be the reason why today, media and blogs, simply do not wish to deal with their antics again.

Instead of complaining that Paul "got shafted" or blaming it on media "arrogance", or even claiming Paul doesn't fit the "media script", or casting blame on any one of the different "ignoring Paul" narratives out there, Paul and his supporters should realize that his 2008 online supporters might very well be to blame for the fact that no one wants to bother with him anymore.

The pity of it for Paul's 2011 supporters is they do not seem to be as irrational as the ones referred to above, but not many online media forums, MSM nor blogs, are willing to revisit the insanity of 2008.

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Perry Vs Obama: Putting America Back To Work

Back to work

Since Rick Perry's South Carolina speech declaring his intention to run for president in 2012, his main focal point has been getting Americans back to work. In every speech he has mentioned it. He has put his plan out there.

It has been one of his most used expressions at every stop, in every conversation.

Today I see Barack Obama thinks it is a good expression, one that resonates with the public, so his weekly address is even titled "Getting America Back to Work."

Nice thought, but who is the public going to give more credence to when it comes to jobs and job growth?

The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who has presided over a state that is responsible for approximately 37 percent of all the nations jobs created or the man, Barack Obama, that has presided over a country that hasn't seen unemployment under 9 percent since his first year in office?

No-brainer!

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Confidence In Obama Declines And He May Lose Pennsylvania

Yesterday, Friday August 19, 2011, was a very bad news day for Barack Obama as headline after headline screamed out failure, Democrats losing confidence in his job performance and future, unemployment rising in 28 states for July, he lost 36 percentage points in the Hispanic demographic since he took office, mortgage rates hit a 50 year low, stocks plunged, etc..... all headlines for one day.

Today is not much better as we see that polling in the very blue state of Pennsylvania, a state almost everyone agrees Obama will need badly to win reelection in 2012, is being called "dismal" for Obama.

President Barack Obama, who political experts say will need a win in Pennsylvania to retain the White House, dipped to 35 percent approval among the state's registered voters, according to a Muhlenberg College poll released Friday.

The results come on the heels of a bad week in polls for Obama that showed him first dropping to 39 percent nationwide in Gallup's daily tracking poll. Then another set of Gallup results Thursday showed only 26 percent of Americans approve of how Obama is handling the economy.

These numbers are a huge blow to Obama who won the state handily in 2008, and a significant drop in just a few weeks from when Quinnipiac University polled Pennsylvania voters and found the president with 43 percent job approval.

It isn't just PA where Obama is seeing news like this, it is across the country and across the demographic board where he is suffering a horrendous steady decline in support.

The trend for all 27 groups has been negative. And although the margins of error on this calculation (represented by the red bars in the chart) are fairly high, the decline has been statistically significant in 24 of 27 cases.

Three groups in particular stand out for having especially large declines. First is what Gallup terms “pure independent” voters, among whom Mr. Obama’s approval rating has dropped by 10 points since the start of the year. These pure independents are true swing voters; Gallup defines the category to exclude the many voters who call themselves independent but in fact lean toward one or another party and behave like partisans.

Is Obama "doomed" yet?

I do not think anyone can be 100% sure, but what is sure is that if something doesn't happen to change the pattern being seen of an Obama free fall in polls, steadily heading downward, if the economy doesn't completely turn around in the next six months, if unemployment continues to rise, then any slightly right of the middle GOP candidate can wipe him out in the 2012 election.

(Cartoon above by Nate Beeler, via Townhall)

Video- Sarah Palin's Iowa Passion

Video below:



Via The Hill.

Video- Palin Backs Perry's Bernanke Remarks

Video below:

PALIN: [Perry] called it like he saw it and I always respect people for doing so. What Governor Perry is voicing concern about is something I wrote about on Facebook pages about ten months ago, this quantitative easing or monetizing our debt, essentially printing money out of thin air, which will eventually devalue our dollar and, I think, lead to inflation, in order to make it look like our debt isn’t as bad as it really is, and Governor Perry was voicing great concerns that many of us share. He just used some more candid terms, I think, than some of us would have used.

DOBBS: Even you?

PALIN: Well, yeah, that’s a good point. Perhaps I would have used similar terms. But I do share his concern though.

H/T Think Progress.

Bad News Friday For Barack Obama: Linkfest

Headlines today are enough to make any sitting president want to go hide on an Island somewhere and pray it all just goes away.

The Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary from the Depart of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics issued it's press release showing that 28 states and the District of Columbia logged increases in their unemployment rates in July, nine decreased and 13 stayed the same.

Democrats, even Democratic Congressmen and women are speaking out against their party leader and president and predicting Obama's road to reelection will be tough. They are losing faith in his abilities, which they seemed surprised about but shouldn't be since they nominated a man with no experience to begin with.

Since Obama took office in 2009 he lost 36 percent in approval points from Hispanics, bringing his number from a high of 85 percent to 49 percent now.

Mortgage rates have hit a 50 year low.

Stock prices plunged in a broad sell-off Thursday.

All three major stock indexes more than wiped out their gains from earlier this week. For the year, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 5 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is down 9 percent and the Nasdaq composite index is down 10 percent.

The sell-off continued in Asian markets Friday. Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 index ended its morning session down 2.15 percent, and stocks dropped sharply in Seoul, Sydney and Hong Kong.

“I think the risk now is that we fall into another recession,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. “I think the risks have just changed very dramatically in the last couple of months. People are spooked.”

Headlines such as "The Obama Collapse Accelerates" from Business Insider explains that the political collapse has reached the Jimmy Carter zone, never something a president wants to see, hear or acknowledge.

All the links above are just one days worth of nightmare news for Barack Obama.

Is it any wonder Obama and family are hightailing it to Martha's Vinyard (the Island he is hiding on this weekend), probably hoping that something extraordinarily big will happen to make all those headlines just go away?

Talk about a bad news day for Obama.

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Another Earthquake Hits Japan: August 19, 2011

According to USGS a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Japan today Near The East Coast Of Honshu.

An hour ago, Reuters reported an event as a 6.8 magnitude:

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted northeastern Japan off Fukushima prefecture on Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, although no damage was reported and a tsunami advisory for the area was lifted after no waves were sighted.

Washington Post reports a 6.5 and says this is one of the biggest in a month and that Japan's northeastern coast has been the site of more than 1,000 aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 or higher since March.

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