Barb’s Blog » Archive for February 2009
Top Ten Porkiest Projects in the Omnibus Spending bill
According to the Wall Street Journal, it’s been the worst month since 1933. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 119.15 points, or 1.7%, to end at 7062.93. The blue-chip benchmark ended down 937.93 points, or 11.72% on the month — the worst percentage drop since 1933, when it fell 15.62%. The Dow industrials have fallen six months in a row and are now more than 50% off their record highs hit in October of 2007. The S&P 500 fell 17.74 points, or 2.4%, to 735.09. Its financial sector dropped 6.5% and its health-care sector sank 4% on fears that President Barack Obama’s reform plans will carve into the profits of drug makers and insurers. The S&P is off 53% from its October 2007 peak and has now seen its worst six-month drop … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Big Government
More on last night’s speech, Bill O’Reilly’s take on it (The code for FoxNews Video didn’t work, so using the link now.) … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
He Said…the Facts?
I guess many of us listened to the State of the Union Speech last night. Couldn’t help notice how Drudge reported the stock market falling this, the next day after the speech. What did he say? And does it match the facts? OBAMA: “We have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages. It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Proof – Government IS the Problem
Northern Trust, a Chicago based bank, a bank that received $1.6 billion in bailout money, was caught by TMZ, recently spending a fortune hosting a series of lavish parties and concerts to go along with a Golf Tournament. We’re told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking. Northern Trust flew hundreds of clients and employees to L.A. and put many of them up at some of the fanciest and priciest hotels in the city. We’re told more than a hundred people were put up at the Beverly Wilshire in Bev Hills, and another hundred stayed at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Still more stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and others at … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Obama’s Migration Assistance to Palestinians with Ties to Hamas
Found on Democrats Against Obama Website: A very revealing and little known executive order Obama signed just January 27th. By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in migration assistance to the Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza. The “presidential determination” which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4. President Obama’s decision, according to the Register, was necessitated by “the urgent refugee and migration needs” of the “victims.” Few on Capitol Hill took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Watching: The Trouble With Angels
Laura still recovering from the flu, so I dug out this movie I found cheap at Walmart. Trouble With Angels – DVD Two mischievous and curious teenage girls enter a convent school and wreak havoc with the academy’s carefully organized routine. They explore the nuns’ quarters on the sly, fill the sugar bowl with soap and just keep on coming up with “scathingly brilliant ideas” that cause endless amounts of comic confusion. It isn’t too long before … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Music Collection Update
You might see some influence from my mom in this list: 1. Bread – Just When I Needed You Most 2. Chuck Mangione – Feels So Good 3. Climax Blues Band – Precious And Few (2:47) 4. Gerry Rafferty – Right Down The Line (4:30) 5. Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced(1) 6. Jimi Hendrix – National Anthem (Live at Woodstock) 7. Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Chile Blues 8. Jimi Hendrix & The Doors – Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire (Live) 9. Jimi Hendrix- If 6 was 9 10. Kenny Nolan – I Like Dreamin’ (3:31) 11. Maxine Nightingale – Lead Me On (2:51) 12. Michael Johnson – Bluer than Blue 13. Neil Sedaka – Bad Blood (3:08) 14. Neil Sedaka – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do 15. Neil Sedaka – Laughter In The Rain (3:45) 16. Neil Sedaka- Happy Birthday Sweet 16 17. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Obama Victory Bash Owes City $1.74 mil
From the Chicago Sun Times: Chicago has yet to recoup the $1.74 million cost of President Obama’s victory celebration in Grant Park — despite a burgeoning $50.5 million budget shortfall that threatens more layoffs and union concessions. “The Democratic National Committee has not yet paid us,” Peter Scales …”This is not a presidential visit. . . . This is a political event, and they’ve agreed to pay for all those services — all the expenses of that. … It’s costly, but they raised quite a bit of money. There’s no [shortage] of money in that campaign.” More HERE … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Commitment
“We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.” François de la Rochefoucauld “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” Mario Andretti “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” “Commitment in the face of conflict produces character.” “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” Peter F. Drucker “When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.” “The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Currently Watching: The First Olympics – Athens 1896
While Laura is down with the flu, I thought it would be good to bring out this mini-series made in the 80’s that is a total delight. The First Olympics: Athens 1896 – Widescreen Fullscreen Subtitle Five Emmy nominations went to the two-part TV drama The First Olympics: Athens 1896. The story begins in 1894, when Baron Pierre de Courbetin (Louis Jourdan) announces his intention to stage the first Olympic games of the Modern Era within two … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Obama Stimulus
Are you feeling stimulated yet? Not me. Not even some school children Dobson, Arizona. They watched his speech on Wednesday. One had this to say, “…he’s not addressing the issues of the economic crisis. The spending bill he just passed is just progressing the Democratic agenda rather than addressing the economic issues in the country.” “This puts us more into debt,” said another. “It’s a horrible situation we’re in.” Senior Brandon Miller wore a shirt with the words, “Hitler gave great speeches, too” above a picture of Obama. Miller said he had been an Obama supporter “because of his speeches,” but after debating the issues in this class and looking more into Obama’s policies, his vote was swayed toward McCain. But one Microsoft billionaire must be loving the stimulus plan. Billionaire Paul Allen is a Microsoft cofounder, … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Freedom of Speech in the Obama Age
Everyone knows you don’t yell “Fire!” in a crowd if there is no fire. This is not the kind of freedom of speech we enjoy, but we DO enjoy freedom of speech in America today. There are things I feel, I wouldn’t necesarily say, or write, or post on my t-shirt, but I wasn’t surprised at the SEA of very strong opinions and emotions against George Bush. Some of the accusations were very strong. I take … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Postal Service Considering One Day Less
I don’t know about you, but I’ve enjoyed rather fast and reliable postal service over the years. I have been amazed how fast items arrive and even when the envelope was poorly addressed, our post office figured it out and got it to us. It’s disturbing to hear that our United States Post Office is considering taking off one more day a week because they now say they lost $2.8 billion last year. Why then did Postmaster General John Potter’s base salary climb to $265,000 last year from $186,000 in 2007?? He also received a performance bonus of $135,000. In all his total compensation — salary, bonuses, retirement benefits and other perks — topped $850,000!! Not to mention, in 2005 it was investigated that Potter improperly received a sweetheart deal on a mortgage from … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Next Big Thing
My son’s band, Embers for Ashes, was invited to the 930 Club, along with many other bands in the area, to play their music. This would put them in a venue where Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has played, as well as Bob Dylan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Smashing Pumpkins just to name a few. Not even recovered from the flu, Miquel did very well under an exhausting day, but everyone thought the band did … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Happy Valentines Day 2009
Love Quotes Love enables you to put your deepest feelings and fears in the palm of you partner’s hand, knowing they will be handled with care. – Carl S. Avery You know you are in love when you see the world in her eyes, and her eyes everywhere in the world. – David Levesque You will find as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Democrats Break Promise
Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours. No surprise there, right? “The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference. “Every member of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.” Actually — as of 5:15 pm, the Democrats had broken their word. The stimulus bill — which we still haven’t seen — will be released late tonight and will be brought up on the House floor at 9 am tomorrow. The Democrats finally made the bill’s language available around 11 p.m. Thursday, approximately 10 hours before members … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Obama’s Bipartisanship
Either Orwell’s Doublespeak is here, or Obama has a whole other definition to bipartisanship. Frankly, I think it’s both. Republicans have caught the Democrats in a midnight “stimulus” power play that seeks to cut Republican conferees out of the House-Senate negotiations to resolve a final version of the Obama “stimulus” package. Staff members from the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) met last night to put together the “stimulus” conference report. They intend to attempt to shove this $1.3 trillion spending bill through in the dead of the night without Republican input so floor action can take place in both chambers on Thursday. Republicans Shut Out of Stimulus Conference Negotiations … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
The New Dark Ages
WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Sneaky Health Care “Change” in the Stimulus Bill
Hidden in the so called Stimulus plan, is a little scary section re-defining health care that will affect “every individual in the United States”. What does it have to do with stimulating the economy? Nothing. If fact, if the government of “Change” really wanted to new health care system, they should have the courage to form legislation under and in the name of health, not hide it in a stimulus package and rush it through, claiming it “inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. One writer feels that hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional and I am not one to disagree. This part of the bill seems to be the handiwork of (can’t pay his taxes) Tom Daschle. There is a lot of reason for concern really, especially … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Free Attorney’s Advice
Some useful advice that came to my inbox from Linda and George: 1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’ 2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it. 3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
The Park in the Sky
A happy news story for a change, for star lovers that is. Words like “Starlight Reserve” and “Heritage Park in the Sky” are being used to describe New Zealand town, dedicated to keeping its lights down low to allow for the night stars to shine through. It’s already attracting “Astro tourists” to the area. I must say, I wouldn’t mind a visit myself. TEKAPO, New Zealand (population 830) is on a mission to protect its night sky. The people … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Savior Based Economy
Recently comments by the South Carolina governor, to me, shows a total awareness of what is going on with this country of late: The South Carolina Republican said such an economy is “what you see in Russia or Venezuela or Zimbabwe or places like that where it matters not how good your product is to the consumer but what your political connection is to those in power.” “A problem that was created by building up of too much debt will not be solved with yet more debt,” ’We’re moving close to ‘a savior-based economy’ After all, why should we bail out companies that have made bad desicions? And how wise will the next set of decisions be with the next set of billions? General Motors plans to invest $1 billion in Brazil to avoid the kind … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Much Spending, Little Stimulus
I am not surprised to read the Senator from Oklahoma’s remarks regarding the “Stimulus” Package that will likely pass: “While I appreciate the efforts of my colleagues to bring down the price tag of this bill, the fact is we still face a trillion dollar spending bill. Making it worse, the bill is 93% spending and only 7% stimulation. Over the past few days I have fought to include more in the way of real stimulus through higher percentage of infrastructure and defense spending, while working to cut much of the typical government waste often found in a bill of this size. Yet Democrats have blocked these efforts.” Is this what you want America? A near trillion dollars debt to hand to your children and grandchildren so Democrat elites can payback people … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Packet Loss
When can you have the best connection, a strong signal, and the fastest speed tests ever with your internet, and still be stressed by your connection? Apparently something called packet loss. I did numerous speed tests, only to find that the speeds were amazingly fast: The speeds didn’t make sense as I was noticing interruptions to my teleconferences, my uploads, downloads, and page loads. Nothing was consistent. I called comcast who said they could test my modem … Read entire article »
Christmas Presents 2008: Bath, Shower, and Gift Cards
I hope to finish all I got for Christmas by Valentines Day. Everyone who knows me well, can testify how I cherish my baths. Even when I was a teen, it seemed all my troubles could be taken away with a good, hot, steamy, bath. So what better present than bath scrubs, gels, and lotions? My nieces and nephew, and my kids, know I can’t resist a nice gift package of bath items, gift cards … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Payoff for the Election
$819 billion “Stimulus” package? Hang on, there’s more, The Senate version backed by Majority Leader Harry Reid is even worse — it calls for an additional $71 billion in spending — totaling $890 billion. Obama and his Democratic allies are simply wasting hundreds of billions of our money in a clear “payoff” to Democratic Party interest groups and unions that backed him and the Democrats in Congress during the last election. Under Senate rules, the Democrats, led by Harry Reid, must come up with 60 votes to stop the Republican filibuster. That’s why Obama and his allies are launching an all-out effort to pressure several liberal Republicans to cross over and vote for the package, and nothing works like fear. Using words like “crisis” and trying to … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Over 100% Unemployment
Saw this You Tube on Brit and Grit… While Obama visits his 57 states, Pelosi has us at over 100% unemployment. Where do we get these people? U.S. Population: 303,824,640 (July 2008 est.) Still makes you wonder if they don’t have world takeover in their minds. I mean, he’s adding states, and she’s adding people… … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Obama’s Cabinet Circus
While on the campaign trail, more and more people in Obama’s past and present seemed dubious at best. Racist preachers and terrorist co-worker to mention two. Now that he is elected, and especially after promising ethics reform, (barring lobbyist from his administration), he would, usher in a new age of responsibility. Curious then, how he found at least three people for cabinet positions that didn’t pay their taxes over years, had illegal aliens in their employ, and a lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists. I won’t even get started with Hillary Clinton and how she can perform with countries that have donated so much to her … Read entire article »
Filed under: News Items
Biology, It’s a Command
I wish, when I was in tenth grade Biology, someone would have told me what Henry Morris writes in his book I am currently reading, Defending The Faith . I think I would have tried a whole lot harder. Mr Morris writes: The Bible encourages-in fact, commands- the study of biology and all other factual science. The very first divine commandment given to man was: ” Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and … Read entire article »
Filed under: General
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