Three Years Ago, I Told You So

"unexpectedly"

Leftists hate the idea of a 401k retirement account.  Only the filty disgusting rich get to really benefit from them, and they discriminate against the poor, poor, pitiful poor people not smart or willing enough to build up nest eggs for themselves.  So it should hardly be a surprise (especially to long-time readers of VFD) that the President's budget proposal comes right out and TAKES from your 401k savings.  The anticipated revenues to the government are supposed to be 9 BILLION dollars, but consider where that money comes from:

The retirement savings you strove a lifetime to set aside, and which you counted on to provide you with a comfortable lifestyle after you retire. 

Hold on there. 

No, wait, it's not your money anyway.  You are an exploiter, treading on the backs of the poor to get that money saved in your richevil taxhaven retirement account.  Having more than three million dollars in a retirement account, well, that's just about as bad as MURDER!

Don't hold your breath waiting for this story to make the nightly news.  Also do not be surprised when the idea somehow becomes law.  Also do not be surprised when the safe-from-confiscation limits change from "tax the really rich" through "tax the pretty well-off" and right down to "who really needs retirement savings anyway" and they start taking everyone's savings.

If you want to secure your wealth, you need to do it with actual property.  Real estate is a traditionally good bed, but it is in a price bubble just now and is easy enough for government to steal (ask the farmers in Rhodesia!) Guns tend to hold their value pretty well over time, but with the current scare-buying still underway, you probably don't want to buy those for investments now either.  Gold is tricky to time but probably going to head north again soon.  The best thing to save your money in these days increasingly looks like a safe in your mattress.  But perhaps our fortunes will change and you will wish you had bought MREs and ammunition instead of making to-be-confiscated 401(k) account contributions.

If you depend on the legal constructs of wicked men to help you save money, don't be surprised when they take it from you, legally.

Beware the News Sources!

Compare these headlines:

DOT says Miles Driven increased 0.5% last month!!!zomG prosperity around the corner!

DOT says Miles Driven is still falling on a 7-year record of decline zOMG doomed, dOOmed!

You can't get your news from only one source - and you never could do - and get the whole picture.  Be careful out there, and remember: if the headline doesn't make sense, it might be misleading.

Obama Can't Do Doodly Squat. Yet.

The press has whipped people into such a frenzy that they are buying $900 AR pattern rifles for $2400 at guns shows, just so they can have one.  I will refrain from commentary on the timing and prices in this mess, but my continuing commentary is that this is 'just a scare' for the time being.

President Obama can't change the law of the land by himself.  The supreme Court already said you have a constitutionally-protected right to have guns.  More importantly than either of those, the current Congress is against Obama on this subject.  Congressmen have one job: get re-elected.  After the 1994 'assault weapons ban' went in, a whole BUNCH of them went OUT.  This must never be repeated, comerades!  In that vein, I present to you Borepatch's well-said commentary on why gun control isn't coming any time real soon.

Sipsey Street Irregulars is the first place I saw a list of the 23 ideas presented today by The Obama. In short, it is as I said: No BFD, no bans, no taking away your guns.  He can't act unilaterally, because he's not King of America, he's President and subject to (at least most of) The Rules.  My commentary is the wider blocks of text between the numbered items.

From the Wall Street Journal.

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

This should have happened already, what were they waiting for? After 9/11/11 we found out the intelligence community didn't tell itself to be looking out for the guys we KNEW were bad guys, who flew the planes into the buildings. We were supposed to fix the interagency communication, already - weren't we? Or was that just talk?

2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

Translation: prevent crazy people from getting guns. Who disagrees with this? The standard disclaimer to "everybody should have guns" is "except for felons and the mentally deficient" so far so good. The only problem comes in when the State starts redefining who qualifies as crazy, but we're not quite to Soviet standards on that one. Yet.

3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

Incentives? This sounds like "tie information mining access to federal transportation dollars" until further commentary is provided!

4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

This reminds me that, as a veteran and someone outspoken in my opinions, I am already considered a potential terrorist by my government. I don't like the sound of this, but only because of the people who will be implementing it, if any implementin' gets done at all.

5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

This right here is onerous, but hard to argue with. If you don't qualify to BUY a gun, should we really GIVE you one? Sure it's your property. Compensation in return for seized assets needs to be at LEAST fair market value, but it is, again, not a horrible idea.

6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

They do it already, if you ask - and if you pay $15 to $60 depending on the FFL. This is wasted time/money right here. Speaking to Bunkum!

7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

Eddie Eagle has been going for Decades. Give the NRA a few million dollars to promote it? Sure! Spend a few million to tell people not to have guns? No thanks! Again, the implementation will be the difference between this being a good or a bad idea.

8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

Because, of course, gun locks and safes keep criminals safe from homeowners with quick access to guns! But seriously, most quick-access gun safes can be defeated by dropping them on the floor . . . by a three year-old child. I've seen it. They suck, all of them. Not that it is any of Uncle Sam's business.

9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

As if they don't already.

10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

This DOJ is pretty shady, but if we paid for the report, why not make it available to EVERYONE?

11. Nominate an ATF director.

Good luck with that. The BATFE is broken, and having a director (instead of an Acting Director) will not fix it. At least, not one that The Obama would appoint.

12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.

"Front sight, press!" is what they need to know, school officials included.

13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

Enforce existing law. Let's see, who has been calling for this the whole time? Oh, that's right, GUN RIGHTS advocates! I am guessing this does not extend to prosecution of feloniously showing a television camera what a 30-round AR magazine looks like.

14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

Another case of "sounds good, but who's going to do the research, and what's their agenda?!"

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

The private sector does anything innovative they can, and you sticking your nose in won't speed anything up, thanks.

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

If a doctor asks about guns in your home, either get a new doctor or refuse to answer and ask them about guns in their own home. You never know you might just get a new shootin' buddy!

17. Release a letter to health-care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law-enforcement authorities.

Duh? This is a question?

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

Okay, so our kids are as worthy of protection as his? Great! How much does it cost to hire a guard for a few tens of thousands of schools at $40k/year? And who pays?

19. Develop model emergency-response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

Once again, "front sight, press" is key.

20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental-health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

This should also already have been done, but thanks.

21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

Two years after the law was passed, the rules for Obamacare are not finalized?

22. Commit to finalizing mental-health-parity regulations.

See 21, above.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

SOME of us have been having this conversation already, thanks.

TOMORROW You Will Learn of the "Redskins Rule"

Today the only people happy to report on the so-called "Redskins rule" were right-wing talk show hosts.  17 of 18 times the Redskins lose, the opposition candidate wins the Presidential election.  Well, now that the NFL says they should have won, you will hear lots of interested speculation throughout the next few days as to how valid the rule should be considered to be.

What you will still not hear is, every time the election is held on November 6th, the Republican wins.

HUGE News, Film at Never

FOX News broke the news: there were THREE separate phone call requests up the chain of command from the CIA Annex about a mile away from the consulate in Benghazi.

The agents heard gunshots and requested to be allowed to go help.  Denied

The agents disobeyed an order to stand down (sit on their hands and listen to the fighting) and went.  They rescued who they could, and brought back a corpse.  They asked for help.  And again.  Denied, and Denied.

We know now that there was a drone flying overhead watching the whole mess unfold, and that it was being watched in the USA at the State department, and probably in the White House Situation Room.  We are being told by the Obama Administration spokesmouths that we didn't have enough information to mount a response.  We are told They didn't get any military assistance moving toward the consulate even though 24 different recipients got e-mailed messages, because "it could take hours" to sort through all the intelligence, before someone might finally stumble across the message of the attack underway.

Then shortly after this news broke today, a caller came on the Rush Limbaugh show ("Doug") and claimed to be the sort of person who used to be in places where this sort of thing could happen.  He said, there were a hundred high-speed low-drag Operators that could all be on the ground with all their gear - killing goblins within 5 hours, probably a few dozen could have been there within a couple of hours.  He said, there is a Protocol.  When a certain type of classified "flash traffic" message is sent and the Ambassador is declared to be In Distress, there is a man on watch at the White House.  He gets this message and hands it to the guy next to him and says

"Get this information to POTUS"

The protocol is very likely to be strictly defined, probably down to the exact verbiage to be used.  The message is required to be handed directly from messenger to messenger, all the way to a man standing beside the President of the United States, within minutes.  There is ZERO chance this communication sat unread in any inbox waiting to be sorted through and found.

President
Obama
KNEW - IMMEDIATELY

And 

Did nothing.

THAT'S why the cover-up.

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If we had a neutral press, he would be forced to resign tomorrow.  If.

The Narrative Falls Apart

The operators at the Department of State have refused to fall on their swords.  You remember how the murderous attack on our consulate in Libya was officially designated as the result of spontaneous protests over a movie nobody saw since its release several months ago?  Yeah, now it is coming out that State had NO intelligence to that effect and the Administration was LYING.

It was, in fact, a coordinated attack on the anniversary of 9/11, AND the now-dead Ambassador had REPEATEDLY requested better security and been denied. And the private local security people gave up the secret location of our hiding Ambassador. As our sensitive documents blow around on the ground, unsecured even still today, CNN told us how the Ambassador's journal recorded his security concerns leading up to the day.  The 'spontaneous protest' story is unravelled, and it is increasingly clear it was made-up.  State says they didn't make it up, and they were testifying before Congress as I write this.  They will be telling the truth or risk going to prison - and they didn't make it up.  This leaves a shortening list of people who came up with this story.  It includes various people who are or who want to be President of the United States of America.

This is not Soviet Russia.  This is America (still, for now) and we have the Internet (still, for now). You can't DO this sort of thing here and expect to get away with it. The only people who will buy the first official "movei protest" line a month from now are the low-informed voters who are voting for Obama regardless of anything.  He could rape and murder a school full of little boys and they would vote for him.  For everyone else, he has damaged his reputation very badly with this very badly-done cover-up.

IF "they" will knowingly make up stories and LIE about this event . . . about what else are you being misled?

we knew in first 24 hours that it was planned, not a result of the protesting.  First thing heard at embassy was explosion, gunfire.  Obama KNEW an attack was underway, and he . . . went to bed for the night, to get a good night's sleep.  THIS is the reason.  He is demonstrably -from this event alone- not suited to be the Commander-In-Chief of the most powerful military force on the planet.  But . . . if you could manipulate the Press into convincing the People it were just some protest gone out of hand and the guy with a rocket launcher just happened to show up, that is maybe not as bad as going to sleep when your people are under surprise attack.

P.S. going around spending our taxpayer dollars to tell people about the excuse/cover video story and getting them all worked-up, leading to days/weeks of violent protests all around the muslim world does NOT quite qualify as "smart diplomacy."  We'll see if Secretary Mrs. Clinton ends up under the bus on this one.

News You Can Use . . . If You Can Hear It

In case you forgot due to mass-distraction tactics by the leftist press during this electoral silly season . . .

China and Japan are acting pissy about the islands nearby.  Well, now Taiwan is out with their boats in the water too. 

What's the worst that could happen?!

Beware the Wikipedia Memory Hole

Yesterday, Boortz was all day talking about the new campaign slogan for the Obama 2012 presidential campaign.

Forward.

It focus groups well.

It is also a key word for "progressives" (a.k.a. socialist/communist/leftist) groups.

In the 1840s Marx and Engels contributed to a German magazine called Vorwarts.
In 1876 there was another Vorwarts, published as part of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, later called the Socialist Worker's Party, which had HITLER as a member.
Lenin started a publication called Vpered.
The Portuguese communists published Avante!
The Italian socialists published Avanti!
The Communist Party USA had a Finnish-language newspaper in New York called Eteenpain
There have been at least FOUR Communist Hungarian language newspapers called Uj Elore.

Yesterday on Wikipedia, when Boortz mentioned it, I went to wikipedia and searched for Forward. I scrolled down to politics.

Go there today, and there is a link to a "social democratic" party in Greenland called Forward. There is a link to Kadima, an Israeli leftist political party. There is a radical Russian socialist party called VPERED.

Yesterday, there was a link to Forward (generic name of socialist publications). Today, that link is gone. The article itself is being considered for deletion. In its place is a link to Forward (Obama-Biden Campaign Slogan) which has only one sentence in the entry: "On April 30th, 2012 the 2012 Obama-Biden campaign announced the slogan "Forward" " and it cites an NPR article. This one-sentence article on wikipedia is also being considered for deletion. There are valid arguments on both sides, and there is the possibility that these articles will be left or even expanded. But for today, the old link is gone and the new link is there.

N.B.: April 30th is the day before May Day, the international SOCIALIST holiday. On that day, he announced his socialist keyword/campaign slogan choice.

These things are not coincidental.

********

In case you couldn't guess, all the foreign words in this blog entry are translated as FORWARD in English.

********

This, my friends is why wikipedia is not the same thing as a research resource. If the People can edit something, the People can make it not correct. No, I can't afford An Encyclopedia either. Yes, I use wikipedia also. But remember to beware of open-source documentation! Taken with a grain of salt, Wikipeia is a useful place to get an introduction/general idea on a topic. . . but remember your salt when you go there!

The Republicans' War On Women for Dummies

That is, if you think there IS one, you ARE one.

Republicans, as a general rule, share this in common with Democrats, Greens, and Libertarians and everybody else in the country:

• They don't want women to have fewer rights or lower pay.
• Ditto for queers, disgusting fatbodies, or gimps.
• They don't want dirty air and water
• They don't want starving children
• They don't want to steal your retirement
• They don't want to steal your healthcare
• They don't want old people to eat dog food and freeze to death
• They are not racist
• etc.
  

These things are straw men with nobody in the leftist/mainstream press bothering to knock them down. The Democrats like to allege these things against their enemies, but the claimants are usually either lying or too stupid to realize how false the allegations are. IF the leftists had any shame they wouldn't resort to these not-even-an-argument arguments. They don't and neither do the "news" organizations so you'll see this claptrap over and over again on the Teewee.

The UT Cartoon Is Not Racist, it's Just that Your News Networks Stink

If you think this cartoon is raysiss, you have missed the point entirely. Kudos to the people at UT for publishing such an honest, hard-hitting criticism of the national press corps.

Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work

The FBI and DEA were paying a couple guys to turn information about Mexican drug cartels at the same time BATFE was paying the guys to smuggle guns to the cartels so they could see what would happen to the guns. And the DEA and FBI didn't tell the ATF they were informants.

These people make, what, 50, 60, 70 grand a year, each? Then they have known felons doing felonious stuff on a level that qualifies as an act of war against Mexico, and they don't bother telling each other.

THEN they complain that YOU finding out about these shenanigans is making their job harder! Oh, the poor little sad pandas. Here's mud in your eye.

Hat tip to Sipsey Street Irregulars! If you have a couple bucks, Mike would appreciate a donation - he's doing more investigative journalism while recuperating from SURGERY than all the rest of the national press corps, combined.

Before You Cry Too Hard For Trayvon Martin,

just remember:

• He was shot by what people in East Texas would refer to as a "mexican" = decidedly NOT white!
• He was beating the shit out of the guy who shot him, when he was shot
• The guy receiving the beating was the one screaming like a little girl on the recording
• The guy giving the beating is was a 6'2" football player one year from being a legal adult

But these true facts do not fit the narrative. Oh well, report the narrative anyway and publish old pictures to make it look like a white-on-black man-kills-innocent-boy situation!

Al Sharpton remains a race hustler who should be ashamed of himself, and Instapundit remains a go-to source for news.

You DON'T Say!

So the French murderer is a muslim trying to pull off an al-quaeda linked terror plot? Who could possibly have guessed it? I mean, aside from Michael Savage and everybody who listens to him and/or uses their own brains instead of watching the alphabet news networks.

I'm sorry, but this was called a full two days ago by a man willing to use his mind and then speak his mind. I tried to find a story to link last night and french muslim shooters were nowhere near the top of the search results page. Now, it's all over the place. Now that it is already reported AND undeniable and the "major" news networks were all badly scooped by John Q. Francoise out there.

The news networks in Europe and the United States: TERRIBLE when it comes to stories that don't neatly fit into the leftist narrative. Like this one. I shake my head.

Shameful lack of reportage

A muslim extremist is being sought as the suspect in a shooting at a school full of children. But they're Jewish children in France, so no big deal. I have yet to hear word one about this anywhere but the Michael Savage show. There has been some reporting in the US press, but it is thin and you have to go looking for it.

Savage, by the way, called B.S. on the same-gun theory (same gun as used in the shooting of some French soldiers not long ago) because they started saying it was the same gun minutes after the shooting, when it takes hours or days at a screaming-fast forensic analysis pace to come to a guess that it may be the same gun. He also called B.S. on the theory that it was white supremacists doing the shooting; sure enough, the white boys are free again and they are looking for a muslim. Oh, and Savage said they should be looking for a muslim in the first place.

It doesn't fit the narrative, so spin and/or ignore it. Shameful.

In Case You Missed It

Greece is o-fishully in default on their sovereign debt. Credit default triggers swaps, and the big investors lose nothing, much. Those of you not reading Mish will want to know (because nobody else is saying) it: Greece is about to fall out of the Euro zone. The Euro was supposed to be a permanent institution based on strong national economies as members.

Right about now would be a bad time to be traveling to Greece, unless you don't mind a bit of adventure.

A Word of Caution!

Choose your news sources carefully.

Life's Little Mysteries caught my eye asking how Majic Johnson has survived for two decades now after having been O-fishully diagnosed HIV-positive. My immediate knee-jerk response of course is that

HIV is the bogeyman, and does not cause AIDs, which is either a myth or not what you think it is, depending on how you define it.

...and you don't die from HIV, you die from the drugs they give you to treat the disease you are supposed to have.

You think I'm mad? An heretic? You like to read? I read pretty fast, and I just blew two hours
Starting here
Got me to here
and here
Which leads to here, there, and there.
which, if you will follow the bouncing ball, will cast doubt on everything you might propose to refute the red, bold text in this post.

Some People Might Say . . .

if the story were reversed, this would be considered "bipartisan activity reflecting the will of the People." Or do you not remember that ONE Republican out of hundreds in the House counted as "bipartisan" support for the Obamacare bill?

Well, now it's those baaaad-old Republicans blocking the Dear Reader's "jobs" bill. Nevermind that he has a majority in the Senate and can't even get everyone in his own Party to sign on.

Shameful reporting, tonight.

"I Cannot"

A man is to be killed by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For his belief in Jesus Christ.

The United States' department of State has no comment.

I speak with Speaker Boehner in condemning Iran for even HAVING this law.

Look out when the last judgment comes around.

Do not hold your breath waiting for this story on the news tonight.

Funny Thing About "Free"

Texas just passed HB1481 (the respectful language act) into law. This was promoted as a feel-good measure so we don't hurt the feelings of retards. Representative Vicki Truitt has demonstrated herself to be somewhat lacking in mental capacity because of one sentence:

"It costs nothing to adopt verbiage in state statutes to reflect the fact that we recognize individuals and their uniqueness, without using offensive terms to categorize and label these good Texans."

"It costs nothing"

Hold on there.

• So the staffers wrote the bill on their personal time, off the clock, pro bono publico?
• The vote to pass the bill was held on members' personal time, not during a regular legislative session?
• The governor, he signed it for free also? We didn't pay him for those five minutes?
• And the memoranda that will be distributed to all the State employees, those are typed and distributed free of charge?
• When the employees are reading said memos, they will surely be off the clock?

The first part of the bill is innocuous enough. Going forward, we won't call frikken retards retards any more in Texas law. Fine, sure, whatever. Pat yourselves on the back right?

Then the Health & Human Services Commission is ordered to do a review to help with statutory revisions. This I suppose will also cost the taxpayer nothing? Then there will be a recommendation which will, again, be prepared, typed, disseminated, read, and commented-upon while people are NOT on the clock in their State offices?

The commissioners are going to "ensure" that the appropriate, nonbutthurting language is used. You know how that's done? Proposals, proposals of rulemaking, comment periods, revisals of proposed rules, preparation, writing, publishing, reading, and training on proper implementation of the rules. All this is, according to Rep. Truitt, "free."

Also free: webhosting! The State of Texas has Hosting Faries who pay to host the text of stupid laws like this on the Internet, and IT Faries maintain the servers donated by Server Fairy. You see what you did there? You cost the State money by clicking that link. NOT free. Duh?

********

All of this is stupid anyway. Retarded is a word and everyone who speaks English knows exactly what it means. It is based on the word Retard, which is a VERB, not a noun. You don't base STATE LAW on the misuse of the English language, you train your children in school how properly to treat the language!

They didn't run a survey on retarded persons with intellectual disability to see if "the R word" hurts their feelings or not. This new law is only to protect the sensibilities of people who get offended on the behalf of other people who don't get offended because they're not smart P.C. enough.

And here's the dirty little secret: they get offended when you say retard, because they look down on the retards. The tools whose idea this law was, disrespect retarded persons 'way down deep in their own hearts, and they want to legislate their wicked lack of compassion away from themselves.

Where's That Tiny Violin?

There is a new census bureau report saying more people than EVAR are below the poverty line in America. Well boo-frikken-hoo.

You know what? The poverty line is TOTALLY ARBITRARY. If you move the line to $2000 annual income = poverty, there will be fewer people "in poverty." If you move the line to $2,000,000 income = poverty, there will be 300,000,000 people "in poverty" so . . .

shaddap!

The poor, poor, pitiful poor people in America are not poor. Get that through your head, and then roll your eyes next time you hear this line about the children starving and people living in squalor during this election season.

Now, if you want to talk about living in squalor, let's have a trip over to Kenya and have a look at how the President of the United States' BROTHER is living . . .