Siri Tells Little Boy to 'Shut the F--- Up'

The iPhone 4S was then sent in for repairs!

For all the kind and helpful advice that Apple's Siri personal assistant gives out, don't ever catch it on a bad day, or it'll tell you off in ways your mother would not approve.

If a report from The Sun is to be believed, a demo unit for the iPhone 4S caught fire for telling 12-year-old Charlie Le Quesne to "Shut the f--- up, you ugly t---."

Charlie reportedly asked Siri "How many people are there in the world?" and that was the answer he got back. Together with his mother and the manager, they asked the demo iPhone 4S the same question and got the same answer back yet again. Needless to say, the demo unit was unplugged and sent back to Apple for "diagnostic tests." Siri!

Fisker Recalling 239 Karma Plug-In Hybrids for Fire Hazard

Remember? "Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland! Billion-Dollar Gamble on Tesla and Fisker, Some Worry About A Second Solyndra!"
**********
Fisker Automotive is recalling all 239 of its 2012 Karma luxury plug-in hybrid cars because of a fire hazard, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Prices on the 2012 model start at $103,000, including the destination charge.

In a report filed recently on the agency’s Web site, Fisker said some hose clamps were not properly positioned, which could allow a coolant leak. “If coolant enters the battery compartment an electrical short could possibly occur, causing a thermal event within the battery, including a possible fire in the worse case,” the company told the safety agency.

Fisker said the problem was discovered on Dec. 16, when workers at the Valmet Automotive assembly plant in Finland noticed coolant dripping. Fisker said it was not aware of any consumer complaints, warranty claims or “any other reports related to this condition.” It said fewer than 50 vehicles were in the hands of consumers.

Under federal regulations dealers may not sell the remaining new models until the recall is completed.

In other recall developments:
• General Motors is recalling almost 4,300 of its new 2012 Chevrolet Sonics because they might be missing “the front brake inner or outer pad.”

In a filing with the safety agency, G.M. said this could “produce noise when the brakes are applied, result in reduced brake system performance and require a longer distance to stop the vehicle.”

The automaker said that it learned of the defect when an owner complaining of the car’s brake noise brought the car to a dealership at the end of November. G.M. said it was not aware of any accidents related to the Sonic’s brakes. The Sonic is built in Orion Township, Mich.

• Honda is recalling nine of its 2012 Odyssey minivans because a retention nut for part of the front, lower right suspension may loosen and result in a loss of steering.

In a filing Friday with the agency, Honda said if the nut came off, a bolt could come out and cause “the wheel assembly to shift to an extreme inward angle, resulting in a loss of steering.” Honda said it learned of the problem from a dealer on Dec. 1. There was no mention of any accidents.

• Piaggio Group America is recalling about 2,150 of its 2010-11 motor scooters with four-stroke, four-valve 50 cc engines because the engine could backfire and possibly catch fire. The models are the Fly 50; Vespa LX50 and Vespa S 50.

• N.H.T.S.A. said it was investigating possible rust-related safety problems on about 17,000 2003 Chevrolet Express vans and 63,000 2004 Ford Freestar and Mercury Monterey minivans.

The concern with the Express is leaking gasoline, while the Freestar/Monterey issue involves rear wheel arches rusting so badly that seat-belt anchors for the third row will not hold. Source!

Will you spare 9 minutes for your Country?

The VIDEO: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness!

Obama's REAL reason for ending the war(s) too early

President Barack Obama ended one war and is winding down another, bringing home tens of thousands of U.S. troops. Now he wants them to pay him back - with votes.

"You stood up for America. America needs to stand up for you," Obama told service members returning to Fort Bragg, N.C. from Iraq recently.

Expect to hear that pitch throughout the next year as the president's campaign, mindful that large numbers of veterans and military families live in states crucial to his re-election chances, highlights his efforts to promote jobs and benefits for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans, meanwhile, already are countering his record, noting high unemployment among veterans. Source!

TSA Worker Caught Downloading Child Pornography

Federal agency tasked with groping travelers is a recruiting ground for perverts!

Yet another TSA screener has been exposed as a pervert after police raided the Maryland home of 41-year-old TSA screener Scott Wilson and discovered videos and photos of child pornography contained on over two dozen different storage devices.

A “forensic preview” of Wilson’s two computers (as well as various storage devices found in a locked safe) revealed a variety of videos and photos “depicting prepubescent females engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults. More!

ICE launches hotline for busted immigrants

As states across the nation ramp up their efforts to catch illegal immigrants, the Obama administration on Thursday launched a new free hotline for people busted on violations to get help.

The hotline, run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, is available 24/7 for detained individuals to phone if they think they “may be U.S. citizens or victims of a crime.”

The hotline will have translation services available in several different languages. ICE personnel will gather the caller’s information and send it to a field office for immediate action, according to the press release.

The purpose of the hotline and other measures, including a new detainer form, are “to ensure that individuals being held by state or local law enforcement on immigration detainers are properly notified about their potential removal from the country and are made aware of their rights.”

The new practices are “part of a broader effort to improve our immigration enforcement process and prioritize resources to focus on threats to public safety, repeat immigration law violators, recent border entrants and immigration fugitives while continuing to strengthen oversight of the nation’s immigration detention system and facilitate legal immigration,” ICE wrote in its press release. Source!

A $2.5 Million Libel Judgment Brings the Question: Are Bloggers Journalists?

Bloggers Beware!

That was the headline on a conservative blog following a $2.5 million judgment this month against blogger Crystal Cox in a defamation case tried in federal court in Oregon. It’s a case followed closely in both the blogosphere and in the traditional media, as it highlights the proliferation of blogging, the blurring of lines between journalists and bloggers and more libel cases born out of blog posts.

“There are a lot of malicious people out there,” says Bruce Johnson, a Seattle attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine and author of Washington state’s current Shield Law. “You’re not going to be able to get rid of them all. They will continue to basically write graffiti on the bathroom wall, and in this case, the Internet provides the bathroom wall,” says Johnson.

According to the Media Law Resource Center, bloggers have been hit with $47 million in defamation judgments. Just two years ago the total stood at $17 million, revealing a sharp increase. MLRC’s Dave Heller sees a rise in ‘fringe publishers’ and says the case against Cox was, in some ways, "extremely rare." Source

ED: Obviously they're after Cruiser!

Are you an animal lover?

If so, this may be your favorite video:

Merry Christmas . . .

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage to Obama; Not Jesus

The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ.

On the north side of the tree (at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it) there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.” Source!

ED: Never confuse kindness for weakness!

Here are 50 economic numbers from 2011 that will shock you

1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.

2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.

3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.

4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.

5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.

6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.

7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.

8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.

9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.

10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.

11. Back in 1980, less than 30 percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.

13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.

14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.

15. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.

16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.

17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.

19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.

20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.

21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.

22. New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.

23. 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.

24. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.

25. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3 percent.

26. One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.

27. If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.

28. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.

29. It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.

30. The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

31. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.

32. According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5 percent in just one recent 12 month period.

33. Today, the “too big to fail” banks are larger than ever.  The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.

34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.

35. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.

36. If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.

37. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.

38. Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.

39. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.

40. Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America.  According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6 percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.

41. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

42. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.

43. A staggering 48.5 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.

44. Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.

45. For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.

46. If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.

47. Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.

48. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

49. The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

Of course, after going through all these numbers, the obvious question is, “how has it come to this?” The Economic Collapse has a simple answer: ". . . the heart of our economic problems is the Federal Reserve.  The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine, it has almost completely destroyed the value of the U.S. dollar and it has an absolutely nightmarish track record of incompetence.  If the Federal Reserve system had never been created, the U.S. economy would be in far better shape.  The federal government needs to shut down the Federal Reserve and start issuing currency that is not debt-based." Source 1 and Source 2!

‘60 MINUTES’ EDITS OUT OBAMA‘S CLAIM THAT HE’S THE FOURTH BEST PRESIDENT

President Barack Obama sat for an extensive interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” last week, though it appears the portion of the interview actually broadcast on TV left out a statement where Obama essentially declared himself the fourth best president in terms of his accomplishments.

The statement was only made available online as part of the full interview on “60 Minutes Overtime.”

According to a transcript posted on the “60 Minutes” website, Obama said he would hold his accomplishments so far as president against those of Lyndon B. Johnson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Video Clip!

Bombshell: Did U.S. Gov't Help Hide Climate Data?

Are your tax dollars helping hide global warming data from the public? Internal emails leaked as part of “Climategate 2.0” indicate the answer may be "Yes."

The original Climategate emails -- correspondence stolen from servers at a research facility in the U.K. and released on the Internet in late 2009 -- shook up the field of climate research. Now a new batch posted in late November to a Russian server shows that scientists at the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit refused to share their U.S. government-funded data with anyone they thought would disagree with them. Source!

DOJ Holder and staff cover up culpability for gun smuggling and murder

A year ago this week, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. He died protecting his country from brutal Mexican gangsters. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found at his death site. We now know the horrifying truth: Agent Terry was killed by weapons that were part of an illegal Obama administration operation to smuggle arms to the dangerous drug cartels. He was a victim of his own government. This is not only a major scandal; it is a high crime that potentially reaches all the way to the White House, implicating senior officials. It is President Obama’s Watergate.

Operation Fast and Furious was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and overseen by the Justice Department. It started under the leadership of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Fast and Furious enabled straw gun purchases from licensed dealers in Arizona, in which more than 2,000 weapons were smuggled to Mexican drug kingpins. ATF claims it was seeking to track the weapons as part of a larger crackdown on the growing violence in the Southwest. Instead, ATF effectively has armed murderous gangs. About 300 Mexicans have been killed by Fast and Furious weapons. More than 1,400 guns remain lost. Agent Terry likely will not be the last U.S. casualty.

Mr. Holder insists he was unaware of what took place until after media reports of the scandal appeared in early 2011. This is false. Such a vast operation only could have occurred with the full knowledge and consent of senior administration officials. Massive gun-running and smuggling is not carried out by low-level ATF bureaucrats unless there is authorization from the top. There is a systematic cover-up.

Congressional Republicans, however, are beginning to shed light on the scandal. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, a congressional probe is exposing the Justice Department’s rampant criminality and deliberate stonewalling. Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, who heads the department’s criminal division, helped craft a February letter to Congress that denied ATF had ever walked guns into Mexico. Yet, under pressure from congressional investigators, the department later admitted that Mr. Breuer knew about ATF gun-smuggling as far back as April 2010. In other words, Mr. Breuer has been misleading Congress. He should resign - or be fired.

Instead, Mr. Holder tenaciously insists that Mr. Breuer will keep his job. He needs to keep his friends close and potential witnesses even closer. Another example is former acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson. Internal documents show Mr. Melson directly oversaw Fast and Furious, including monitoring numerous straw purchases of AK-47s. He has admitted to congressional investigators that he, along with high-ranking ATF leaders, reassigned every “manager involved in Fast and Furious” after the scandal surfaced on Capitol Hill and in the press. Mr. Melson said he was ordered by senior Justice officials to be silent regarding the reassignments. Hence, ATF managers who possess intimate and damaging information - especially on the role of the Justice Department - essentially have been promoted to cushy bureaucratic jobs. Their silence has been bought, their complicity swept under the rug. Mr. Melson has been transferred to Justice’s main office, where he serves as a “senior adviser” on forensic science in the department’s Office of Legal Policy. Rather than being punished, Mr. Melson has been rewarded for his incompetence and criminal negligence.

Mr. Holder and his aides have given misleading, false and contradictory testimony on Capitol Hill. Perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power - these are high crimes and misdemeanors. Mr. Holder should be impeached. Like most liberals, he is playing the victim card, claiming Mr. Issa is a modern-day Joseph McCarthy conducting a judicial witch hunt. Regardless of this petty smear, Mr. Holder must be held responsible and accountable - not only for the botched operation, but for his flagrant attempts to deflect blame from the administration.

Mr. Holder is a shameless careerist and a ruthless Beltway operative. For years, his out-of-control Justice Department has violated the fundamental principle of our democracy, the rule of law. He has refused to prosecute members of the New Black Panthers for blatant voter intimidation that took place in the 2008 election. Career Justice lawyers have confessed publicly that Mr. Holder will not pursue cases in which the perpetrators are black and the victims white. States such as Arizona and Alabama are being sued for simply attempting to enforce federal immigration laws. Mr. Holder also opposes voter identification cards, thereby enabling fraud and vote-stealing at the ballot box. What else can we expect from one who, during the Clinton administration, helped pardon notorious tax cheat Marc Rich and Puerto Rican terrorists?

Mr. Holder clearly knew about Fast and Furious and did nothing to stop it. This is because the administration wanted to use the excuse of increased violence on the border and weapons-smuggling into Mexico to justify tighter gun-control legislation. Mr. Holder is fighting ferociously to prevent important internal Justice documents from falling into the hands of congressional investigators. If the full nature of his involvement is discovered, the Obama presidency will be in peril.

Fast and Furious is even worse than Watergate for one simple reason: No one died because of President Nixon’s political dirty tricks and abuse of government power. But Brian Terry is dead; and there are still 1,500 missing guns threatening still more lives.

What did Mr. Obama know? Massive gun-smuggling by the U.S. government into a foreign country does not happen without the explicit knowledge and approval of leading administration officials. It’s too big, too risky and too costly. Mr. Holder may not be protecting just himself and his cronies. Is he protecting the president?

Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute!

U.S. to leave Iraqi airspace clear for strategic Israeli route to Iran

The U.S. military’s fast-approaching Dec. 31 exit from Iraq, which has no way to defend its airspace, puts Israel in a better place strategically to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iraq has yet to assemble a force of jet fighters, and since the shortest route for Israeli strike fighters to Iran is through Iraqi airspace, observers conclude that the U.S. exit makes the Jewish state’s mission planning a lot easier.

Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the Iraqi military will maintain radars to monitor the country’s airspace, but it has not taken possession of American F-16s to guard that space.

“The country has a capable and improving capability to see the airspace, a viable system to provide command and control, but no system to defeat incoming air threats until it gets either the F-16s or ground-based systems or, optimally, some of both." Source!

New Haven Asks State to Allow Non-Citizens to Vote

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano plans to ask the state Legislature to allow illegal immigrants who live in the city to be able vote in municipal elections.

DeStefano said on Tuesday that the proposal would build a more engaged community and follows the lead of other cities, the New Haven Independent reports.

The Independent reports that New Haven has about 10,000  non-citizen immigrants.

Immigrants who are in the U.S. legally or illegally and cannot vote now would still be unable to vote in state or federal elections.

ED: Nudge, nudge, nudge . . .
Source!

Obama Collecting GOP Emails

The Obama presidential campaign is launching an effort to collect Republican email addresses by inviting its supporters to submit information about their Republican associates to the Obama 2012 website.

The effort could help the Obama campaign build a database that would enable it to target Republican voters during the general election campaign. But, more perniciously, it could also become part of an Democratic effort to influence Republican primary voters to select a candidate Democrats think Obama could most easily defeat.

The Democratic National Committee last month released a video that seemed designed to damage Mitt Romney, the GOP candidate feared most by the Obama campaign.

The Obama information collection effort is cast under the mischievous guise of asking Obama supporters to “have a little fun at the expense of a Republican in your life” by signing them up to get an email from the Obama campaign ribbing them for having “inspired” the Obama supporter to donate.

The result, however, is that the Obama campaign gets a new trove of Republican email addresses that it could never have collected through voluntary submissions.

ED: "Or to round us up for the FEMA camps?" NBC's Chuck Todd replies! Source!

Obama to slash National Guard force on U.S.-Mexico border

Blaming budget cuts, the Obama administration early next year will cut the number of National Guard troops patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border by at least half, according to a congressman who was briefed on the plan.

The National Guard said an announcement will be made by the White House “in the near future,” but Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who has learned of the plans, said slashing the deployment in half is the minimum number, and he said it will mean reshuffling the remaining troops along the nearly 2,000-mile border.

ED: In California, that will mean going from 264 Guard troops down to just 14. Source!

Obama to OPEN Mexican border

US proposes unmanned border crossing with Mexico

The bloody drug war in Mexico shows no sign of relenting. Neither do calls for tighter border security amid rising fears of spillover violence.

This hardly seems a time the U.S. would be willing to allow people to cross the border legally from Mexico without a customs officer in sight. But in this rugged, remote West Texas terrain where wading across the shallow Rio Grande undetected is all too easy, federal authorities are touting a proposal to open an unmanned port of entry as a security upgrade.
Source!

This pile of crap is brain-washing Iowa's kids!

An Iowa State University lecturer is under a firestorm of criticism after he insulted the U.S. military and condemned efforts by College Republicans to collect gift boxes for American soldiers.

“Why do Republicans care so much about the military?” Thomas Walker wrote in a letter to the Iowa State Daily. “Because the military-industrial complex is dear to their simplistic laissez-faire fantasies: a bottom-line patriotism that excludes the people at the bottom.”

Walker is a lecturer in the university’s English and orientation program. He ridiculed the charitable actions of the young college students and questioned their motives.

“Soldiers are to Republicans as fetuses are to them: prized,” Walker wrote. “But once out of the womb-like army, Republican solicitude for hapless veterans goes where extracted zygotes go.”

Walker was referring to a newspaper article detailing efforts by Iowa State’s College Republicans to show their support for America’s fighting men and women.

“Donating toiletries, boxed and canned foods, socks and beanies to U.S. soldiers who can already deodorize themselves, who eat better than the poorest Americans and who are gallantly garbed, is an eleemosynary travesty,” he wrote.

Rush Limbaugh's best rant ever! God bless the United States of America, PLEASE?

RUSH Today: If you were going to give a hate-filled, lie-filled class warfare speech attacking the foundations of the American system -- from which, by the way, if you're Obama, you benefit like few others in history have.

And, by the way, Mr. President, you haven't contributed a damn thing to this country's prosperity! You are sure benefiting from it, but you haven't contributed an iota. It would at least be helpful, Mr. President, if you would get your straw men and your propaganda straight. May I call you "Barack"? You can't have "rugged individualism" and "socialism." Let me see if I can explain this, Mr. President, in a way that you can understand. Something cannot be an apple and a walnut at the same time. The point is, you don't believe in rugged individualism; you believe in massive government! But he said during the speech, "rugged individualism." He said (paraphrased), "I'm all for it, but that it doesn't work."

Look around you, Mr. President. That suit that you're wearing, the tie, those shoes, the pens that you use to sign all these executive orders, your two Boeing 747s (lavishly furnished), all of those helicopters, the limousines that you drive around in -- all of which you use to excess. The fuel that is used by all of these modes of transportation, none of it, sir -- none of it! -- was produced by your precious government. None of it! You played 88 rounds of golf this year. Those golf clubs, golf balls, golf bags, all the other equipment -- the hot dogs you eat at basketball games, the hamburgers when you have your meet-the-common man photo-ops -- none of it was produced by the government, Mr. President. And you, sir, are not capable of helping to produce any of it yourself.

You are a sponge.

Just got a note, an e-mail: "Rush, doesn't the White House have a television?  Doesn't Obama follow news?  Doesn't he know what's happening in Europe?  Maybe instead of living so much in the past he ought to catch up on world events.  Europe's fighting a life and death battle with socialism right before our eyes."  Yeah, patently obvious.  Europe is about five years ahead of where we're going and we're on the same track and we're on that track purposely.  What does that tell you?  

I long ago gave up caring about Obama's motivation.  I know what it is.  If you can see disaster straight ahead and you still head for it, you want the disaster.  Don't tell me this guy loves the country, folks.  Don't tell me that.  There's no evidence.  Now, Barack, if I may call you that, a free, productive, healthy country is a society of individuals, not a collection of departments or agencies or offices run by know-nothing bureaucrats.  A free, productive, healthy country is a society of individuals working in their own self-interest, pursuing dreams, excellence, trying to be the best they can be, using God-given freedom and liberty to pursue happiness as enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.  A free, productive, healthy country is not a collection of departments, agencies, offices run by a bunch of bureaucrats, a thousand federal judges, faceless, nameless bureaucrats.  

Folks, I don't know if you know this or not, the House of Representatives is attempting -- this is almost indescribable.  You're gonna think I'm loopy.  The House of Representatives is trying to pass legislation to limit the laws that can be made by bureaucrats and regulators.  The only people who are constitutionally permitted to make law, federal law, are members of the United States Congress.  The House of Representatives is alarmed at how much law is being written by bureaucrats in various government agencies. They're writing legislation trying to limit it and it will not pass.  The Congress of the United States is attempting essentially to protect its constitutional role, and it will not survive.  It will not pass this round of efforts because the Democrats in the Senate will never go for this.  

Now, Barack, if I may call you that, what is your obsession with big government, massive deficits, huge bureaucracies, endless regulations, confiscatory taxes, what is it about that that turns you on?  None of this creates opportunity.  None of what you love, sir, creates wealth or jobs.  Where has such an economic system ever worked?  Where has what you love and adore ever succeeded?  You say, sir, you want a more activist government.  What does that mean?  We're about five steps away from the financial cliff's edge, thanks to you, thanks to the government, the incompetent ideologues who run it like you.  What else would you like to spend money on?  What else would you like to regulate?  What else do you want to demonize?  What else do you want to cut down to size?  What else do you want to destroy?  What else would you like to ban?  What else in America do you want do to smother and obstruct?  

Now, Barack, if I may call you that, the problem in this country right now is one individual in particular, not all of the rich individuals.  The problem in the United States of America is one individual, and that would be you, sir.  You can't decide which president to be on any given day.  One thing we can see, Barack, if I may call you that, the president you don't want to be is yourself.  The reason you try to project your own image onto Lincoln or Kennedy, Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, is because you do not want the public to see you for who you are, Barack Obama.  I wonder, Barack, if I may call you that, I wonder how many future presidents will want to emulate you.  I wonder how many future presidents will try to be you in the future.  Probably about as many presidents who have tried to emulate Jimmy Carter.  

The speech you gave yesterday, sir, was idiotic, shameful, actionable, incoherent, and alien to American ideals and principles.  And above all else, it was pure pathetic.  But as my cohort here, Mr. Snerdley says, Barack, if I may call you that, you did the nation a great favor.  You told every patriotic American loving citizen that your view of America is not shared by them. You finally told us after three years the cat's out of the bag.  After three years everybody now knows why I wanted you to fail.  Everybody that heard that speech now knows that you said America as founded has never worked.  You have outed yourself, Barack, if I may call you that.  You've come out.  Maybe you'll be on the cover of the next Advocate, because you just outed yourself, sir.  You have nothing but contempt for this country.  You told us yesterday you have nothing but contempt for our economic and political system.  You told us yesterday.  

The speech you gave yesterday, sir, was idiotic, shameful, actionable, incoherent, and alien to American ideals and principles.  And above all else, it was pure pathetic.  But as my cohort here, Mr. Snerdley says, Barack, if I may call you that, you did the nation a great favor.  You told every patriotic American loving citizen that your view of America is not shared by them. You finally told us after three years the cat's out of the bag.  After three years everybody now knows why I wanted you to fail.  Everybody that heard that speech now knows that you said America as founded has never worked.  You have outed yourself, Barack, if I may call you that.  You've come out.  Maybe you'll be on the cover of the next Advocate, because you just outed yourself, sir.  You have nothing but contempt for this country.  You told us yesterday you have nothing but contempt for our economic and political system.  You told us yesterday.

So now, as my cohort and subservient employee Mr. Snerdley has observed, even the least attentive citizen knows where you stand, even the Kardashians know.  And that's a big achievement, folks.  To penetrate the wall of stupidity surrounding that family, even Paris Hilton, even Alec Baldwin is so ticked off he gets thrown off an American Airlines flight, Barack.  Thank you.  Norman Lear is beside himself.  So is Barbra Streisand.  You gave it up.  There's nowhere for your supporters to hide.  They can't say you have a vision as a great American.  You're something else.  Your vision for this country is not rooted in any, not one, American tradition.  Your vision for the future of this country is not rooted in one single aspect of American greatness.  That is what you seek to destroy.  Even the least attentive citizens, even if they are only half-wits, now know to vote against you.  You have hastened my retirement. 

NAACP warns black and Hispanic Americans could lose right to vote

The largest civil rights group in America, the National Association for the Advancement of African-American People (NAAAAP), is petitioning the UN over what it sees as a concerted efforted to disenfranchise black and Latino voters ahead of next year's presidential election.

The organisation will this week present evidence to the UN high commissioner on human rights of what it contends is a conscious attempt to "block the vote" on the part of state legislatures across the US. Next March the NAACP will send a delegation of legal experts to Geneva to enlist the support of the UN human rights council.

(ED: Note the sentence structure ["...organisation will this week present..."]. Before someone votes, they should graduate from something; anything.) Source!

Obama's Congress to receive entire Twitter archive

Tweets, emails and other electronic communications can be considered "government documents" and must be preserved. The National Archives handles official government materials, while the Library of Congress' mandate is to deal with anything that may have long-term historical interest. Source!

How Healthy Is Your State?

Check out the full list of state rankings in order: Source!

1. Vermont
2. New Hampshire
3. Connecticut
4. Hawaii
5. Massachusetts
6. Minnesota
7. Utah
8. Maine
9. Colorado
10. Rhode Island
11. New Jersey
12. North Dakota
13. Wisconsin
14. Oregon
15. Washington
16. Nebraska
17. Iowa
18. New York
19. Idaho
20. Virginia
21. Wyoming
22. Maryland
23. South Dakota
24. California
25. Montana
26. Kansas
27. Pennsylvania
28. Illinois
29. Arizona
30. Delaware
31. Michigan
32. North Carolina
33. Florida
34. New Mexico
35. Alaska
36. Ohio
37. Georgia
38. Indiana
39. Tennessee
40. Missouri
41. West Virginia
42. Nevada
43. Kentucky
44. Texas
45. South Carolina
46. Alabama
47. Arkansas
48. Oklahoma
49. Louisiana
50. Mississippi

Caution: Flesh-eating Bananas

Sales of bananas in Maputo have plummeted following the circulation of malicious e-mails and mobile phone text messages claiming that South African bananas are infected with a lethal bacteria.

The bananas sold in Maputo are grown in Mozambique, not South Africa; Mozambique exports bananas to South Africa. But this has made no difference to panic-stricken consumers who are avoiding the fruit altogether.

The Ministry of Health, although recently losing a few toes, has assured consumers that the messages are a hoax and that nobody has appeared at any Mozambican health unit suffering from illness caused by infected bananas.

The Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Trade issued a joint statement on Wednesday stating "there is no record of the entry of any infected bananas into the country", and guaranteeing that staff on the borders are careful to avoid the entry into the country of any infected produce.
Source!

This ad is causing a bit of a stir

Source!

Places I have and have not been

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to get to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!
 
And, sometimes I think I am in Vincible but life shows me I am not!
 
And finally I have been in Deepdoodoo many times; the older I get, the easier it is to get there.