Bluegrass Pundit

DCCC Chairman Rep. Steve Israel claims election will be about Medicare and Democrats are in a "much better place than anyone thought we would be”

2012-02-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

Democrats cut $500 billion from Medicare as part of Obamacare. I don't think Republicans are going to let voters forget that fact.

(The Hill) — The Democratic representative charged with taking back the House says the election will be about one issue — Medicare — and his party “is in a much better place than anyone thought we would be” to put Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker’s chair.

“This is going to be razor sharp,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said on C-Span’s Newsmakers, airing on Sunday. “We are ahead in the generic polls. . . it is a good indicator and right now we are up in every single generic ballot.” [...]
“We are in a much better place than anyone thought we would be,” he added. “Ads against Nancy Pelosi are irrelevant when you have to stand up in town meetings and explain why you voted to end Medicare in order to give tax breaks to big oil companies.”

Israel noted that the minority Democrats have so far out-raised the GOP but said the growth of GOP Super PACs “keeps me up at night.”

Keep on reading…

Expected: Romney Wins Nevada

2012-02-05T09:18:00.001-05:00

Mitt Romney won Nevada's Republican presidential caucuses on Saturday.

Las Vegas (CNN) -- Declaring victory in Nevada's Republican presidential caucuses on Saturday, Mitt Romney again turned away from his GOP rivals and toward President Barack Obama.

CNN projected that Mitt Romney will win the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses based on results and entrance polling.

With 43% of the vote in, Romney held about 43% of the vote while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 25% and Rep. Ron Paul had 19%. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who had largely bypassed the state, had 12% of the vote. Those numbers were gathered from vote counters at caucus sites across the state and the state's Republican Party.

Romney thanked supporters at his campaign headquarters in Las Vegas, telling them that, "This isn't the first time you gave me your vote of confidence, but this time I'm going to take it to the White House," alluding to his win in Nevada in 2008.

Priceless: Bill Maher Tells Occupy ‘Douchebags’ To ‘Get A Job’ (Video)

2012-02-04T19:39:00.000-05:00

The Occupy Movement has lost Bill Maher.

Occupy Movement - Get A Job!

Green Fail: Green urinals cause rivers of urine to run through a Boca Raton, Florida High School

2012-02-04T15:49:00.001-05:00

The damages caused by the waterless 'green' urinals will cost $500,000 to repair. Everything that is claimed to be 'green' isn't a good idea.

Via The Daily Mail:

Students step over ‘rivers of urine’ after green bathrooms plan for waterless urinals turns a high school yellow… and it will cost $500,000 to fix

Students at a high school in Boca Raton, Florida, must step over rivers of urine and endure the stench of rancid waste after a plan to bring ‘green’ waterless urinals into bathrooms backfired.

School officials at Spanish River High School thought they had found an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving solution for their bathrooms when they installed Falcon Waterfree urinals in their boys bathrooms.

But with no water moving through the school’s copper pipes to flush the urine into the sewer system, the waste produced noxious gases that ate through the metal, leaving leaky pipes that allowed urine to drip into walls and flow onto floors.

‘It was pretty disgusting,’ school board chairman Frank Barbieri told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

‘The girls had to step over a river of urine. I could smell it as soon as I walked into the hallway.’

Now, the school district, which was hoping to save $100 a year in water costs for each waterless urinal, must pay $500,000 to repair the damage and replace the appliances with the traditional flush variety in four high schools.

Video of the Day: Lunch Scholars

2012-02-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

This is too sad to be funny.

Via Free Republic:

A video created by two Olympia WA High School journalism students intended as a comedy sketch turned into a bigger lesson in the failure of the public school system than they bargained for.

Rasmussen finds Santorum competitive with Obama: Rick Santorum- 45%. President Obama- 44%

2012-02-04T12:24:00.002-05:00

If voters have been paying any attention the last three years, a lawn ornament could beat President Obama.

Via Rasmussen:

In a potential Election 2012 matchup, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is at 45% while President Obama earns 44%. This is the first time in any poll that Santorum has led the president. Several other GOP challengers have led the president a single time in the polls including Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich. Each man briefly held the lead while they were surging in the polls, only to fall quickly. It remains to be seen what will happen to Santorum’s support.

Santorum gets 78% of the Republican vote and leads by ten among those not affiliated with either major party. President Obama get 83% of the Democratic vote in that matchup. Santorum leads by 16 points among men but trails by 12 among women. As is typically the case in all matchups, the president leads among those under 40 while the GOP hopeful leads among those who are over 40.

Keep on reading. . .

It has been over 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget and Harry Reid won't offer one this year

2012-02-04T06:41:00.000-05:00

It has been over 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget and Harry Reid won't offer one this year. Senate Democrats lack of responsibility is appalling. They are the 'do nothing' Congress.

(Daily Caller) — Senate Democratic leaders do not plan to propose a budget this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Friday, saying that they had already done so with the debt-ceiling agreement.

“We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it’s done, we don’t need to do it,” Reid said, according to The Hill.

Democrats have said that the agreement reached to raise the debt ceiling set spending for Fiscal Year 2012.

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Budget Committee, has said he will mark up a budget resolution this year, per an agreement he made with Budget Committee ranking member and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions....

“It’s been more than 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget plan to the American people. Now, once again, the Senate’s ineffectual Democrat majority balks at the task of leadership,” said Sessions in a statement.

Keep on reading…

Military orders Chaplains not to read letter critical of Obama

2012-02-04T06:35:00.000-05:00

President Obama is setting himself up as a petty dictator. We no longer live in a free society.

Via Business Insider:

The emerging conflict between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration may have a new front: in the U.S. military itself.

The Catholic Church is fighting mad about an HHS ruling that would have them buy insurance for things they consider sinful–contraception, sterilization and abortion.

All the bishops in the country sent out a letter to be read in their parishes promising that the Church “cannot-and will not-comply with this unjust law.”

Even Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic military chaplains sent out the same letter.

But after he did, the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent out another communication forbidding Catholic priests to read the letter, in part because it seemed to encourage civil disobedience, and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in-Chief.

More than one Catholic chaplain who spoke to us off the record confirmed that many chaplains disobeyed this instruction and read the letter anyway. Others sought further instructions from their Archbishop.

Keep on reading…

Possible New Republican Slogan: Join The GOP, We have More Orgasms

2012-02-03T20:33:00.000-05:00

An anonymous Match.com survey has found conservative Republicans have more orgasisms than liberal Democrats.

Via Daily Beast:

Yep, you heard that right. Republicans—and conservative Republicans, for that matter—reported the highest frequency of orgasm of all of the survey respondents, despite having the least amount of sex. More than half of those who identified as conservative Republicans said they reached climax almost every time they had sex, compared with just 40 percent of liberal Democrats. Sure, these answers are self-reported, but the survey was conducted anonymously online. What reason do they have to lie?

If you don't love America, you can leave it, but there is a $450 fee

2012-02-03T20:18:00.001-05:00

It now cost $450 to renounce your American citizenship.

WASHINGTON — U.S. citizenship is priceless to some, worthless to others. But now the State Department has a dollar figure: U.S. citizenship is worth $450.

At least that’s what it will cost you to renounce it.

Under new consular fees published Thursday in the Federal Register, the cost of processing a formal renunciation of U.S. citizenship skyrocketed from $0 to $450. The announcement locks in fee hikes that had been proposed in 2010 and instituted on an interim basis.

The State Department doesn’t say how or why it calculated the cost. Citizenship is free for most Americans who are accorded the privilege at birth. The department says only that it “has decided that the renunciant should pay this fee at the visit during which he or she swears the oath of renunciation.”

Irony: 37 people killed at South Sudan peace meeting.

2012-02-03T20:13:00.000-05:00

You just can't make this kind of stuff up.

At least 37 people have been killed in South Sudan during a shoot-out at a peace meeting aimed at ending recent violence, officials said.

Officials from three states and the UN had met for talks in the remote town of Mayendit in Unity state in an effort to reduce inter-ethnic tensions.

Those killed in the gun battle included civilians, but most were police.

The talks were called after a series of clashes, including one in which 74 people died earlier this week.
Thousands of people have been displaced in the violence.

According to the UN, Friday's incident occurred after a row broke out at the meeting. Four trucks arrived filled with gunmen, who opened fire indiscriminately.

The gunmen included policemen from different units, soldiers and security guards, according to AFP news agency.

Chart of the Day: 1.5 million Americans dropped out of the labor force in December

2012-02-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

Chart of the Day: 1.5 million Americans dropped out of the workforce in December.

Via Zero Hedge:

Komen Caves: Will Fund Planned Parenthood

2012-02-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

At least VP Joe Biden can have his pink-ribbon harvest peach yogurt again.

Shameful cave:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.

Roseanne Barr running for President on Green Party ticket

2012-02-03T05:53:00.000-05:00

Now President Obama will have to split the barking moonbat vote.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roseanne Barr said Thursday she’s running for the Green Party’s presidential nomination – and it’s no joke.

The actress-comedian said in a statement that she’s a longtime supporter of the party and looks forward to working with people who share her values. She said the two major parties aren’t serving the American people.

“The Democrats and Republicans have proven that they are servants — bought and paid for by the 1% — who are not doing what’s in the best interest of the American people,” Barr said.

Occupy Wall Street protesters popularized the “We are the 99 percent” slogan in their fight against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed.

Barr has submitted paperwork to the Green Party for her candidacy. The party’s presidential nominee will be selected at a convention in Baltimore in July.

Barr said she has been fighting for working-class families and women for decades.

TV Station Finds Massive Voter Fraud By Illegals

2012-02-03T05:41:00.000-05:00

Very few people are called for jury duty in a year. If NBC2 found a hundred illegal voters by cross-referencing jury excusal for non-citizenship and voter logs, there are actually hundreds of illegals voters in those two counties. Republicans have long suspected this kind of voter fraud bu illegals, but Democrats have downplayed the possibility. Of course, Democrats think most of these fraudulent voters are pulling the lever for the party of the donkey.

Via Breitbart:

A local Florida station invented an unprecedented way to check for voter fraud: jury excusal forms. NBC2 compiled a list of jury excusals based on not being a citizen of the United States and compared it to a list of registered voters in two counties. They discovered almost 100 illegally registered voters, many of whom had voted multiple times. "I vote every year," one woman told NBC2, despite the fact that she is not a US citizen. The woman had told the court that she couldn't serve on a jury because she wasn't a US citizen, but she doesn't seem to have a problem voting like one.

Fail: Citibank sends 1099 to people for frequent flyer miles received after opening account

2012-02-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

Remind me again why we bailed Citibank out?

(USA Today)- Some American Airlines frequent-fliers got a jolt this week after Citibank sent tax forms that listed miles as taxable miscellaneous income.

The Associated Press reports the 1099 tax forms "were sent to customers who were given American Airline miles for opening a checking or savings account last year. That's causing confusion — and possible concern — among those who never before reported their frequent flier miles and other credit card rewards as income."

The Los Angeles Times writes the AA customers who received the 1099 tax forms from Citibank now could be "on the hook for paying related taxes or possibly facing a greater risk of being audited."

How did this issue surface in the first place?

The AP notes that – generally -- frequent-flier miles given as credit card rewards have not been considered taxable "because they're treated as rebates on spending, according to the Tax Institute at H&R Block."

However, the catch in this situation is that miles doled out as a "reward" for opening a new checking or savings account may be viewed differently. The AP says that's because "you don't spend any money to receive it," meaning it's not really a rebate on spending. Keep on reading...

Obama smooches Pelosi at National Prayer Breakfast

2012-02-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

A love affair made in Hell...

US President Barack Obama kisses House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, on February 2, 2012. (AFP PHOTO/Saul LOEB)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “President Obama was a job creator by, on day one. "

2012-02-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

Is she off her meds? The above chart shows President Obama lost over 200,000 jobs per month for most of his first year in office. Pelosi still has the audacity to blame former President Bush for the state of the economy after three years of an Obama administration.

Via Daily Caller:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has attributed the nation’s sluggish economy to the “failed” policies of President George W. Bush. The Daily Caller asked Pelosi whether or not she, President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should take “ownership” of the current state of the economy.

“President Obama was a job creator by, on day one. I’ve probably said this to you before but just in case I think it bears repeating, a job creator from day one. In his inaugural address, he called for swift, bold action now; and one week and one day after his speech, the House of Representatives passed the economic Recovery Act, which even the CBO says has saved or created over 3 million jobs,” Pelosi responded Thursday at the Capitol. Keep on reading…

VP Joe Biden throws away his pink-ribbon harvest peach yogurt after Komen for the Cure breast cancer agency stops Planned Parenthood Funding

2012-02-02T20:03:00.000-05:00

That claim was made by VP Joe Biden's Wife in a tweet. In other news, Joe Biden eats pink-ribbon harvest peach yogurt.

In another weird twist to this story, Joe Biden's wife's account is now suspended by twitter.

Is Israel getting ready yo attack Iran this Spring?

2012-02-02T19:51:00.000-05:00

Is Israel getting ready yo attack Iran this Spring? Reportedly, Leon Panetta thins so.

(WaPo) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot on his mind these days, from cutting the defense budget to managing the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But his biggest worry is the growing possibility that Israel will attack Iran over the next few months.

Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis described as a “zone of immunity” to commence building a nuclear bomb. Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon — and only the United States could then stop them militarily.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want to leave the fate of Israel dependent on American action, which would be triggered by intelligence that Iran is building a bomb, which it hasn’t done yet.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak may have signaled the prospect of an Israeli attack soon when he asked last month to postpone a planned U.S.-Israel military exercise that would culminate in a live-fire phase in May. Barak apologized that Israel couldn’t devote the resources to the annual exercise this spring. Keep on reading...

Could Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Be Suspended?

2012-02-02T05:47:00.001-05:00

There was absolutely no justification for giving President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize three years ago. He had only been in office a few days and no accomplishments at the time. He still has no accomplishments that merit a Nobel Peace Prize. A formal investigation has been launched to determine if prize founder Alfred Nobel’s will is not being honored. If that is found to be true, the Stockholm County Administrative Board has the power to suspend awards going back three years.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize officials were facing a formal inquiry over accusations they have drifted away from the prize’s original selection criteria by choosing such winners as President Barack Obama, as the nomination deadline for the 2012 awards closed Wednesday.

The investigation comes after persistent complaints by a Norwegian peace researcher that the original purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations.

If the Stockholm County Administrative Board, which supervises foundations in Sweden’s capital, finds that prize founder Alfred Nobel’s will is not being honored, it has the authority to suspend award decisions going back three years – though that would be unlikely and unprecedented, said Mikael Wiman, a legal expert working for the county.

Obama won in 2009, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won in 2010, and last year the award was split between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen.
Keep on reading…

Obama Uses Black History Month to Launch 2012 African Americans for Obama

2012-02-02T05:35:00.000-05:00

Isn't asking someone to support you because of your race racist?

Via Politico:

The Obama campaign has launched an outreach effort to court black voters with a web video from President Obama.

“I don’t think there’s a better time than African-American history month to consider the tremendous progress that we’ve made through the sacrifices of so many, or a better time to commit to meeting the very real challenges we face right now,” Obama says in the video.

Image of the Day: Electoral Map of States Where Obama Had a Net Positive Approval Rating in 2011

2012-02-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

Obama loses the 2012 election to the Republican nominee 323 electoral votes to 215.

Image via The Washington Examiner:

Sad: Ann Coulter Outs Herself as a Full Sith RINO

2012-02-01T19:43:00.001-05:00

Ann Coulter is now supporting Romneycare as a massive triumph for conservative free-market principles.

From anncoulter.com:

If only the Democrats had decided to socialize the food industry or housing, Romneycare would probably still be viewed as a massive triumph for conservative free-market principles -- as it was at the time.

It's not as if we had a beautifully functioning free market in health care until Gov. Mitt Romney came along and wrecked it by requiring that Massachusetts residents purchase their own health insurance. In 2007, when Romneycare became law, the federal government alone was already picking up the tab for 45.4 percent of all health care expenditures in the country.

Until Obamacare, mandatory private health insurance was considered the free-market alternative to the Democrats' piecemeal socialization of the entire medical industry.

In November 2004, for example, libertarian Ronald Bailey praised mandated private health insurance in Reason magazine, saying that it "could preserve and extend the advantages of a free market with a minimal amount of coercion." Read more here is you can stand it...

Detroit calls emergency budget meeting to avoid emergency state takeover, not enough council members show up to hold the meeting

2012-02-01T19:31:00.000-05:00

Do you need to ask why Detroit is in an emergency situation now? I didn't think so.

A critical Detroit City Council meeting this afternoon to debate widespread, painful cuts in a last-minute effort to avoid an emergency manager ended abruptly because not enough council members showed up.

The 1 p.m. meeting ended about a half hour later after Council President Charles Pugh noticed that most of his colleagues weren't present.

Five of the nine council members are required for the meeting to be legal.

After recognizing only four council members were present... Keep on reading...