Agreed
Friday, November 8, 2013
91,541,000 Americans Not in Labor Force Climbs to Another Record in October
Via NC Renegade
The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has climbed to a record 91,541,000 in October, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks. A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks.
The number of Americans who are 16 years or older and who have decided not to participate in the nation's labor force has climbed to a record 91,541,000 in October, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS counts a person as participating in the labor force if they are 16 years or older and either have a job or have actively sought a job in the last four weeks. A person is not participating in the labor force if they are 16 or older and have not sought a job in the last four weeks.
More @ CNS News
Two rifles stolen from FBI SWAT vehicle in Massachusetts
Via Arctic Pilgrim
Two rifles were stolen from an FBI SWAT vehicle in Andover, Massachusetts and the agency has offered a $20,000 reward for any information regarding the theft.
According to the Associated Press, a 16-year-old boy is currently in custody for allegedly stealing law enforcement weapons as the FBI continues an internal investigation into the matter. A relative of the boy reportedly delivered the guns to the Lawrence police department around 2:30 a.m. Friday morning.
No details were provided on the case. Both the FBI and Andover police would only confirm that the guns had been returned.
FBI officials said the rifles were stolen sometime between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. The guns – a Colt M16-A1 Rifle and an HS Precision Pro-Series 2000 Sniper Rifle – were inside a vehicle parked in one of Andover’s residential neighborhoods.
"The Only Ones!" :)
Two rifles were stolen from an FBI SWAT vehicle in Andover, Massachusetts and the agency has offered a $20,000 reward for any information regarding the theft.
According to the Associated Press, a 16-year-old boy is currently in custody for allegedly stealing law enforcement weapons as the FBI continues an internal investigation into the matter. A relative of the boy reportedly delivered the guns to the Lawrence police department around 2:30 a.m. Friday morning.
No details were provided on the case. Both the FBI and Andover police would only confirm that the guns had been returned.
FBI officials said the rifles were stolen sometime between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. The guns – a Colt M16-A1 Rifle and an HS Precision Pro-Series 2000 Sniper Rifle – were inside a vehicle parked in one of Andover’s residential neighborhoods.
More @ RT
Why we win
Do you know why gun control cultists are destined to lose?
Yes, we greatly outnumber them, and have natural rights, Constitutional rights, facts, history, and logic on our side, but when you get right down to the nitty-gritty, visceral side of things, anti-gunners are selling fear and panic, and we’re selling individual liberty and unmitigated fun.
More @ Bearing Arms
Severely Injured Deer Hunter Refuses Life Support -
Hunters are given a unique view of death. With the squeeze of a trigger, we see animals take their final breaths. Within a matter of seconds, a browsing deer or flushing pheasant is transformed from a critter bursting with energy into a carcass.
Those of us who spend a lot of time in the woods also watch death come more slowly. We'll witness a pack of coyotes wear down a yearling whitetail to exhaustion and then tear into her while she's still kicking. We'll follow the blood trail of a poorly-hit bull elk as he drags himself down a steep mountain ridge.
But do these experiences give us the courage to face our own mortality? I think they probably helped Tim Bowers.
Bowers was an avid outdoorsman from Decatur, Ind. who fell 16 feet from his treestand while deer hunting on Saturday. He suffered a severe spinal injury that paralyzed him from the shoulders down. Doctors thought he might never breathe on his own again, according to the Associated Press.
Bowers' C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae were crushed. He suffered no injuries to his brain and surgery could fuse the vertebrae, which might allow him to one day sit up. But he would never walk again and would never be able to use his arms. He would likely live the rest of his life in a rehabilitation hospital, relying on a machine to breathe. He would certainly never hunt again.
Bowers' family was tasked with deciding if he should be kept on life support or if he should he be allowed to die quickly.
More @ Outdoor Life
GOA Alert: What the Heck Were Republicans Thinking?
Not much, that's for sure.
GOP pulled the plug on a die-hard gun rights advocate
Well, the results from Tuesday’s high-profile gubernatorial elections are in.
A moderate-to-liberal gun control advocate (Chris Christie) won in New Jersey, while a die-hard pro-gun advocate (Ken Cuccinelli) barely lost in Virginia.
Cuccinelli lost a squeaker (48.0 to 45.5 percent), even though he was outspent 4-1 by his anti-gun Democrat opponent, Terry McAuliffe, who was able to blast $15 million more dollars into the state for advertising.
Gun-grabbing advocate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, also pumped in more than a million dollars into the race.
So how did the national GOP counter? Well, according to The Washington Times, “The Republican National Committee spent six million dollars less this year than it did in 2009 [for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell].
Cuccinelli was outspent three to one during most of the campaign and as much as ten to one in the closing days.”
During the last two weeks of the race, the Cuccinelli ad campaign went “dark,” as they were unable to answer the vicious lies and attack ads that were filling the northern Virginia airwaves.
Conservatives in Virginia are furious. Says The Washington Post: “The election loss [in Virginia] reignited anger among conservative Republicans who believe that the party’s moderate wing ... had not backed up their candidate with money or support.”
Indeed, gun owners wonder if the additional $6 million -- that was spent on Bob McDonnell four years ago -- would have helped get an additional three percent of the vote for Cuccinelli.
Sadly, while Republicans were holding back in their support of their candidate, the Democrats were funding a third party candidate to take votes away from Cuccinelli.
Libertarian Robert Sarvis received immense help from an Obama-fundraiser, Joe Liemandt, who helped Sarvis get on the ballot.
According to a report in The Blaze on the day of the election, “A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot -- a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race.”
This Obama benefactor was the BIGGEST contributor to the Libertarian Booster Pac, and the Sarvis candidacy had the desired result -- as Cuccinelli fell short of McAuliffe by less than three percent. (Sarvis took six percent of the vote.)
Why didn’t Republicans adopt the same strategy? If a Green candidate had drawn votes away from McAuliffe -- the way Sarvis did for Cuccinelli -- then it would be the Republican candidate who would be the governor-elect today.
Bottom line: It appears that the national GOP, by sitting on its collective hands, views the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. They would rather have a Clinton fundraiser like Terry McAuliffe be governor of Virginia, rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals.
This is truly a travesty. It’s important that gun rights supporters ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY contact the Republican National Committee and voice their displeasure. Otherwise, we’ll see these same types of sellouts occurring everywhere in 2014.
ACTION: Please contact Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and let him know how disappointed you are that the national GOP would not get fully behind a solid, pro-gun conservative Republican. Tell him that he needs to quit if he’s not going to support real Republicans.
CONTACT:
You can contact RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at the contact form for the RNC: http://www.gop.com/contact-us
Or you can call the RNC at: 202-863-8500
NOTE: The contact form has a 1,000 character limit. The pre-written letter below is just barely under that limit.
----- Pre-written letter to Reince Priebus -----
I am very disappointed about your meager “support” for Ken Cuccinelli in VA.
It was reported in The Washington Times (11/6/13) that you slashed by 2/3 the support you gave to Cuccinelli, compared to the millions of dollars the RNC gave Bob McDonnell four years ago. That missing support -- $6 million total -- could have helped get an additional three percent of the vote (and the victory) for Cuccinelli.
The big issue of the campaign was the anti-gun ObamaCare law. Cuccinelli almost won the race by emphasizing what a disaster this horrible law is.
You have made it clear by sitting on your hands that you view the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. You would rather have a Clinton bagman be governor of VA rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals. Evidently those goals are not yours.
If you are not willing to support real Republicans, please go home. You are as useful as a bicycle for a fish.
Well, the results from Tuesday’s high-profile gubernatorial elections are in.
A moderate-to-liberal gun control advocate (Chris Christie) won in New Jersey, while a die-hard pro-gun advocate (Ken Cuccinelli) barely lost in Virginia.
Cuccinelli lost a squeaker (48.0 to 45.5 percent), even though he was outspent 4-1 by his anti-gun Democrat opponent, Terry McAuliffe, who was able to blast $15 million more dollars into the state for advertising.
Gun-grabbing advocate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, also pumped in more than a million dollars into the race.
So how did the national GOP counter? Well, according to The Washington Times, “The Republican National Committee spent six million dollars less this year than it did in 2009 [for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell].
Cuccinelli was outspent three to one during most of the campaign and as much as ten to one in the closing days.”
During the last two weeks of the race, the Cuccinelli ad campaign went “dark,” as they were unable to answer the vicious lies and attack ads that were filling the northern Virginia airwaves.
Conservatives in Virginia are furious. Says The Washington Post: “The election loss [in Virginia] reignited anger among conservative Republicans who believe that the party’s moderate wing ... had not backed up their candidate with money or support.”
Indeed, gun owners wonder if the additional $6 million -- that was spent on Bob McDonnell four years ago -- would have helped get an additional three percent of the vote for Cuccinelli.
Sadly, while Republicans were holding back in their support of their candidate, the Democrats were funding a third party candidate to take votes away from Cuccinelli.
Libertarian Robert Sarvis received immense help from an Obama-fundraiser, Joe Liemandt, who helped Sarvis get on the ballot.
According to a report in The Blaze on the day of the election, “A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot -- a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race.”
This Obama benefactor was the BIGGEST contributor to the Libertarian Booster Pac, and the Sarvis candidacy had the desired result -- as Cuccinelli fell short of McAuliffe by less than three percent. (Sarvis took six percent of the vote.)
Why didn’t Republicans adopt the same strategy? If a Green candidate had drawn votes away from McAuliffe -- the way Sarvis did for Cuccinelli -- then it would be the Republican candidate who would be the governor-elect today.
Bottom line: It appears that the national GOP, by sitting on its collective hands, views the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. They would rather have a Clinton fundraiser like Terry McAuliffe be governor of Virginia, rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals.
This is truly a travesty. It’s important that gun rights supporters ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY contact the Republican National Committee and voice their displeasure. Otherwise, we’ll see these same types of sellouts occurring everywhere in 2014.
ACTION: Please contact Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and let him know how disappointed you are that the national GOP would not get fully behind a solid, pro-gun conservative Republican. Tell him that he needs to quit if he’s not going to support real Republicans.
CONTACT:
You can contact RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at the contact form for the RNC: http://www.gop.com/contact-us
Or you can call the RNC at: 202-863-8500
NOTE: The contact form has a 1,000 character limit. The pre-written letter below is just barely under that limit.
----- Pre-written letter to Reince Priebus -----
I am very disappointed about your meager “support” for Ken Cuccinelli in VA.
It was reported in The Washington Times (11/6/13) that you slashed by 2/3 the support you gave to Cuccinelli, compared to the millions of dollars the RNC gave Bob McDonnell four years ago. That missing support -- $6 million total -- could have helped get an additional three percent of the vote (and the victory) for Cuccinelli.
The big issue of the campaign was the anti-gun ObamaCare law. Cuccinelli almost won the race by emphasizing what a disaster this horrible law is.
You have made it clear by sitting on your hands that you view the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. You would rather have a Clinton bagman be governor of VA rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals. Evidently those goals are not yours.
If you are not willing to support real Republicans, please go home. You are as useful as a bicycle for a fish.
3rd target of body cavity searches comes forward. New case involves another New Mexico law enforcement agency
A third case of a forced body cavity search has been uncovered by a New Mexico television station, which earlier reported on two men who forcibly were administered X-ray tests and anal exams after a police drug dog incorrectly alerted on them.
Now, KOB-TV in Albuquerque is reporting a case involving a woman.
The station said Laura Schaur Ives of the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is representing the woman, who doesn’t want to be identified publicly.
Ives said the woman considers herself a victim of sexual assault after she was attacked as she crossed the border from Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso.
The station reported a dog alerted to the woman, who said federal agents stripped searched her at the facility, asked her to undress, to spread her genitalia and to cough. Female agents also allegedly pressed their fingers into her vagina looking for drugs.
Nothing was found, according to the report, so the woman said she was taken to the University Medical Center of El Paso.
More @ WND
TX School Says Cheerleaders Part of Government So Their Speech Can Be Controlled
When you hear the words ‘public school,’ ‘scripture’ and ‘lawsuit,’ what usually comes to mind? Do you think that someone, a student or teacher, used a scripture verse on campus and the atheists are up in arms and running to the nearest court house to file a lawsuit? Does it bring to mind people praying at the beginning of a high school football game?
Regardless of the circumstances, it conjures images of someone screaming that there has been a violation of church and state and they can’t let that happen. But in the case of one Texas high school, the argument is different than what you would expect.
The cheerleaders at Kountze High School in Kountze, Texas, about 47 miles north of Port Arthur, have used scripture verses on the large banners that the football team runs through at the start of games. This time, it wasn’t the atheists that cried foul, but the school district cried foul and tried to stop the use of scripture verses on the run through banners. The issue ended up going to court and in May, Hardin County Judge Steve Thomas ruled that the cheerleaders had the right to display the Scripture verses since it was private speech. It was also made known that the Texas State Attorney General Greg Abbott became involved in the case and supported the cheerleaders rights to use the verses.
More @ Last Resistance
Deranged Maryland State Attorney charges man with 2nd degree murder for not calling 911 while be charged by home invader
Several of you have passed along stories in recent days about the bizarre murder case being brought against US Air Force Tech Sgt. Matt Pinkerton, but it wasn’t until I saw the description of events posted in Bullets First that I realized just how outrageous the charges were:
More @ Bearing Arms
Former MSNBC Host Loses Catastrophic Insurance, Is Baffled
Former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan recently got a rude awakening about Obamacare when he received a cancellation notice in the mail for his catastrophic insurance policy.
I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President!
More @ Townhall
Goodies from Ol' Remus
Johnathan Jarvis, Honcho, National Park Service
The laws are effectively infinite. Even if one were to try to read through them, going without food or sleep around the clock, it would be a hopeless task because no sooner will he have finished 100 pages than a fresh delivery of another 200 pages will have already been added.He is diligently and obediently, without protest as far as we know, carrying out the most obnoxious, detestable, and perhaps even illegal orders ever given a man in his position, exactly as if he was a swag-bellied, unqualified precinct captain dragged out of some Southside Chicago ward.
J. Dunn at americanthinker.com
Daniel Greenfield at frontpagemag.com
Just when you thought the leadership of this government could not get any worse, it does. Never in history has an administration spawned another scandal to cover the current one.
Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, Ret., via F. Maloof at wnd.com
From the memory hole
Source: Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com
First, a caveat. I am not going to waste our time making
politically-correct genuflections after every controversial sentence,
because this essay is intended to be read by mature and rational adults.
Matthew Bracken, The Bracken Anthology, Kindle Edition
Matthew Bracken, The Bracken Anthology, Kindle Edition
Stalin's purges of the Russian Army's commanders left the Soviet Union completely unprepared for the Nazi attack. And the US
military is being shaped along the same lines into a political
military overseen by men whose chief credential is that they share the
same politics as the politicians whom they serve.
David Greenfield at sultanknish.blogspot.com, 2011
David Greenfield at sultanknish.blogspot.com, 2011
[Instead of arresting illegal aliens, Capitol Police opened the National
Mall to them, and only them, and even picked up their trash. Elsewhere
they arrested veterans for being on the grounds of their own monuments -
Remus]
Full length war movies on YouTube.
Via Ol' Remus
I had an emblem depicting this on my Yamaha in Saigon, but someone stole it. :)
I had an emblem depicting this on my Yamaha in Saigon, but someone stole it. :)
Star. Russian. WWII recon. English captions option.
Judicial Benchmarks: Federalism at the High Court
Via avordvet
A big constitutional law battle is about to reach its climax – a battle between the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment. The Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) states, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.” The Tenth Amendment reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The Tenth Amendment was intended to assure ratifying States that the powers of the federal government were limited and would not displace powers and areas of law traditionally belonging to the States. However, with an ever-expanding federal government, there have been increasing clashes of federal and state law.
A big constitutional law battle is about to reach its climax – a battle between the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment. The Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) states, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.” The Tenth Amendment reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The Tenth Amendment was intended to assure ratifying States that the powers of the federal government were limited and would not displace powers and areas of law traditionally belonging to the States. However, with an ever-expanding federal government, there have been increasing clashes of federal and state law.
More @ The Patriot Post
C.I.A. Is Said to Pay AT&T for Call Data
Via avordvet
The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials.
The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, according to the officials. The C.I.A. supplies phone numbers of overseas terrorism suspects, and AT&T searches its database and provides records of calls that may help identify foreign associates, the officials said. The company has a huge archive of data on phone calls, both foreign and domestic, that were handled by its network equipment, not just those of its own customers.
The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials.
The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the company to participate, according to the officials. The C.I.A. supplies phone numbers of overseas terrorism suspects, and AT&T searches its database and provides records of calls that may help identify foreign associates, the officials said. The company has a huge archive of data on phone calls, both foreign and domestic, that were handled by its network equipment, not just those of its own customers.
More @ The New York Times
Diary of the damned: Never seen before, a lost diary of the Great War so brutally vivid you'll feel YOU are there in the trenches
Via WiscoDave
Harry Drinkwater joined a 'Pals Battalion' when the war began in 1914
He was sent to the front lines and suffered the grueling realities of war
His
diary entries, never before published, tell of his hellish existence
caked in mud, deprived of sleep and endlessly confronted by the deaths
of his friendsAfter volunteering as an Army private
following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, former grammar-school
boy Harry Drinkwater, 25, joined a ‘Pals battalion’ — so-called because
the men were encouraged to join up with local friends and work
colleagues.
A few months later, his conversion from Stratford-upon-Avon shop assistant to soldier was complete.
In this extract from his remarkable diary - which it was strictly against the rules to keep and which has been published for the first time - Harry writes about his brutal introduction to the trenches at the Somme in Picardie, Northern France...
Thursday, December 16, 1915
A few months later, his conversion from Stratford-upon-Avon shop assistant to soldier was complete.
In this extract from his remarkable diary - which it was strictly against the rules to keep and which has been published for the first time - Harry writes about his brutal introduction to the trenches at the Somme in Picardie, Northern France...
Thursday, December 16, 1915
More @ Daily Mail
Americans 'collecting torches, pitchforks' over feds' arrogance
In his letter,
Marbut charges the problem is “overweening federal power,” describing
the government’s attitude as “overconfident, conceited, cocksure, cocky,
smug, haughty, supercilious, lofty, patronizing, arrogant, proud, vain,
self-important, imperious and overbearing.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/americans-collecting-torches-pitchforks-over-feds-arrogance/#KgQ0OYTYouMKFDfi.99
In his letter, Marbut charges the problem is “overweening federal power,” describing the government’s attitude as “overconfident, conceited, cocksure, cocky, smug, haughty, supercilious, lofty, patronizing, arrogant, proud, vain, self-important, imperious and overbearing.Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/americans-collecting-torches-pitchforks-over-feds-arrogance/#KgQ0OYTYouMKFDfi.99
******************************
The plaintiff in a Montana lawsuit seeking freedom from federal gun regulations has written an open letter to members of the U.S. Supreme Court, where his case soon is to be appealed, pleading with them to rein in the federal government’s arrogance and conceit.
“The natives are beyond restless. They are at the stage of collecting torches and pitchforks and preparing to head for the castle gates en masse,” writes Gary Marbut, president of Montana Shooting Sports Association and author of “Gun Laws of Montana.”
More @ WND
Yes Virginia, Elections Are Stolen
The election was stolen because the Democrat Party and the McAuliffe campaign colluded in bringing in third party candidate, Libertarian Robert C. Sarvis by assisting him with donations ensuring his ability to get on the ballot. He was specifically helped with donations from liberal software billionaire bundler Joe Liemandt. This subversive, unethical tactic was to skim off enough conservative leaning libertarian votes to Sarvis, swaying a close election into McAuliffe's favor. Their plan worked like a charm!
More @ Eagle Rising
RE Lee Remembrance Service on January 19th 2014 at the Confederate War Memorial Chapel
On Sunday, January 19th the Lee-Jackson Camp #1, in conjunction with the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, will hold a Remembrance Service for Gen Robert E. Lee, CSA on the 207th anniversary of hos birth in the 2,014th Year of our Lord. The service will be held at the Confederate War Memorial Chapel(2900 Grove Ave)., on the grounds of the RE Lee Confederate Memorial Park in Richmond at 1:30 p.m. After the service the Southern Battle Abbey/Confederate Memorial Institute(VHS) will be open to view their displays of Confederate art and Old Soldiers Home memorabilia.
Please inform other compatriots of this event.
Support the Chapel:Friends of the Confederate War Memorial Chapel
PO Box 71296
Richmond, VA 23255-1256
PO Box 71296
Richmond, VA 23255-1256
IRS Sent 343 Refunds Worth $156K to 1 Address--in Shanghai, China
Via NC Renegade
A new audit-report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that the IRS sent at least 343 potentially fraudulent tax returns in 2011 to the same, single address in Shanghai, China, for a total of $156,533 in tax refunds.
The same report also shows that 655 potentially fraudulent tax refunds totaling $220,489 were sent to the same address in Kaunas, Lithuania. Other potentially fraudulent refunds, 580 of them, were sent to the same address in Orlando, Fla.; 355 to the same address in Lakewood, Colo; and another 291 to another single address in Orlando, Fla.
In total, those potentially fraudulent refunds totaled $2,715,391.
A new audit-report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that the IRS sent at least 343 potentially fraudulent tax returns in 2011 to the same, single address in Shanghai, China, for a total of $156,533 in tax refunds.
The same report also shows that 655 potentially fraudulent tax refunds totaling $220,489 were sent to the same address in Kaunas, Lithuania. Other potentially fraudulent refunds, 580 of them, were sent to the same address in Orlando, Fla.; 355 to the same address in Lakewood, Colo; and another 291 to another single address in Orlando, Fla.
In total, those potentially fraudulent refunds totaled $2,715,391.
More @ CNS News
It's time to come out of the closet and be a Dissident.
Via Daily Timewaster
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Алекса́ндр Солжени́цын) (1918-2008) was a tireless critic of Soviet Russia and communism. His best known novels The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,
raised international awareness of the Soviet labor camp system where
dissidents were imprisoned and as often as not, worked to death.
Criticism of the system brought the full power of the state on the
dissident.
American Thinker posted a discussion of Solzhenitsyn's
approach to the Soviet bureaucracy and I feel that quoting from that
piece and discussing it makes some sense because it applies directly to
political bloggers.
Stories teach better than arguments. People may not understand the
"takings clause" of the Constitution, but they will become incensed
about a story of government forcing people from their homes. Teach with
stories, not just with information. Stories internalize truths we
recognize, but don't fully understand. A story is accessible to anyone,
regardless of education or political inclination. After all, Hollywood
was built on exactly that, and we know the extent of their cultural
power.
1) Never underestimate the power of mockery.
More @ Virtual Mirage