Monday, December 31, 2012

Muskegon County officials to be sworn in Thursday; Organizational meeting to follow

Muskegon County officials to be sworn in Thursday; Organizational meeting to follow | MLive.com
The reciting of the oath of office for several county officials, including newcomers such as Prosecutor-elect D.J. Hilson and two members of the County Board of Commissioners, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday in Circuit Court Judge William C. Marietti’s courtroom on the fourth floor of the Michael E. Kobza Hall of Justice, 990 Terrace St.
The event, basically a kickoff to the new terms of those selected by voters in November, also features the organizational meeting for the County Board of Commissioners and a community open house for all of those elected officials.
The organizational meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the County Board of Commissioners meeting room on the fourth floor of the Hall of Justice.
The community open house is set to follow from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the board room.

If aliens exist, they probably want to destroy us

Study: If aliens exist, they probably want to destroy us - CSMonitor.com
When considering the prospect of alien life, humankind should prepare for the worst, according to a new study:
Either we're alone, or any aliens out there are acquisitive and resource-hungry, just like us.

Brace For an Avalanche of Unfunded Debt

Mort Zuckerman: Brace For an Avalanche of Unfunded Debt - US News and World Report
The greatest fiscal challenge to the U.S. government is not just its annual deficit but its total liabilities. Our federal balance sheet does not include the unfunded social insurance obligations of Medicare, Social Security, and the future retirement benefits of federal employees.
Only in the small print of the financial statements do you get some idea of the enormous size of the unfunded commitments.
Today the estimated unfunded total is more than $87 trillion, or 550 percent of our GDP.
And the debt per household is more than 10 times the median family income.


Obama's description of
four murders in Benghazi.
(Sunday's Meet The Press)


theunrelenter.blogspot.com


The USS Scorpion Buried at Sea

The USS Scorpion Buried at Sea
Despite official denials, several informed sources allege the top-secret Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) had indeed recorded an underwater duel between Scorpion and a Soviet submarine that ended when the Soviet launched a torpedo that struck and sank the American submarine.
One former SOSUS operator, Vince Collier, came forward decades later to tell in chilling detail how he and other sailors in SOSUS School were shown a bootleg copy of the tape that graphically depicted the death of Scorpion.

Northern Michigan commissioner blocks Planned Parenthood grant request, says they 'kill babies'

Northern Michigan commissioner blocks Planned Parenthood grant request, says they 'kill babies' | MLive.com
A county commissioner successfully blocked a casino profit sharing request by Planned Parenthood for sex education money this week in northern Michigan, saying the organization exists to “kill babies.”
The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported that Grand Traverse County Commissioner Jason Gillman, a Tea Party adherent who publishes the blog Right Michigan, convinced fellow commissioners to spike a $12,500 grant application for abstinence-based sex education in area schools.
"The organization is designed to kill babies," Gillman reportedly said.
The nicer side of it is only there to mask its evil intent.
is to kill babies."

Thanks to Congress's Incompetence, Milk Prices Are About to Double

Thanks to Congress's Incompetence, Milk Prices Are About to Double - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic
To give you a sense of how farcical this situation is, it's not even clear that the government has enough storage space to stow away all the dry milk, cheese blocks, and butter tubs it will have to purchase for absolutely no reason.

8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment

8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment - Salary.com
These Careers Might Make You Happy, But Fail the Tuition ROI Test
By Dawn Dugan, Salary.com contributing writer.

1. Communications
You'd think the ink-stained newsrooms and TV studios are full of wealthy and famous journalists.
Not quite.
Although these skills require lots of education and training, they buried the lead regarding the lack of payoff.

Demand A Plan - Demand Celebrities Go F*CK Themselves!


Michigan police ranks down 16 percent from decade ago

Michigan police ranks down 16 percent from decade ago | MLive.com

Let's create a Michigan debate commission and pressure candidates to come face-to-face

Tim Skubick: Let's create a Michigan debate commission and pressure candidates to come face-to-face | MLive.com
First it must be a bipartisan panel of souls whom the political parties, the candidates and the public will trust.
The candidates must pledge to buy into whatever decisions are made.

Silent sub: Russian noiseless Borei class nuclear submarine immersed

Silent sub: Russian noiseless Borei class nuclear submarine immersed — RT

Sunday, December 30, 2012

EyeOnMuskegon 12-30-2012


Uncle Sam’s sorry day of reckoning

Uncle Sam’s sorry day of reckoning - NYPOST.com
Monday is Debt Ceiling Day! According to the best guesstimate by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the federal government on Monday will reach its statutory borrowing limit of $16.4 trillion — or roughly 104 percent of America’s total economic output.
A legal limit on federal debt was first enacted during World War I and has been increased 13 times since 1995.
The most recent increase came after a major political battle in the summer of 2011 — a conflict that also led Standard & Poor’s to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating.
Now we’re back up against it again, thanks to a year when Uncle Sam spent more than $1.3 trillion more than he took in.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Most Dangerous Cities in America

The Most Dangerous Cities in America - 24/7 Wall St.

We're #1...and #2!

Mayor: Keep 2 NY subway push deaths in perspective

Mayor: Keep 2 NY subway push deaths in perspective - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

The Auto Bailout Failure Is Now Complete

Harsanyi: The Auto Bailout Failure Is Now Complete - Conservative News
But the more immediate problem is that we will never get our money back, anyway.
GM’s labor costs, estimated at $56 an hour, still are higher than any of its competitors.
Since the Obama administration cajoled the normal bankruptcy hearings and eradicated the pensions of nonunion workers to ensure union success, employees, like the ones at Delphi, the auto parts manufacturer and one-time GM subsidiary, took it on the chin while $26 billion of taxpayer funds were used to keep United Auto Workers in a secure position.
The Treasury Department has just revised its estimate upward to $25 billion in losses, and it will probably be more than that when it’s all said and done.
Taxpayers also suffered a $2.9 billion loss in Chrysler (the carmaker had received $12.5 billion through TARP programs) in 2011.

EyeOnMuskegon: Call 'em! They work for YOU!

EyeOnMuskegon: Call 'em! They work for YOU!
County commissioner contact info (Call them! They work for YOU!):

KENNETH MAHONEY (231) 894-8608

TERRY SABO (231) 740-2724

JAMES DEREZINSKI (H) (231) 788-4849

MARVIN ENGLE (H) (231) 865-6116

SUSIE HUGHES (H) (231) 343-4092

CHARLES NASH (H) (231) 767-2345

RILLASTINE R. WILKINS (H) (231) 733-1581

BENJAMIN E. CROSS (H) (231) 670-6047

ROBERT SCOLNIK (H) (231) 798-2828

Connecticut attorney asks to sue state after elementary school shooting

Connecticut attorney asks to sue state after elementary school shooting | Fox News
A New Haven attorney is asking permission to sue the state for $100 million on behalf of a student who survived the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Muskegon County Republican Party elects 'Tea Party, Ron Paul-types' as executive officers, goes more conservative

Muskegon County Republican Party elects 'Tea Party, Ron Paul-types' as executive officers, goes more conservative | MLive.com
The election of officers marks a change for the Muskegon County Republican Party.
County Commissioner Bob Scolnik, the senior elected Republican in the county, called it a “direction I’m not 100 percent in favor with."
“It’s pretty much taken over by the Tea Party, Ron Paul-types and Libertarians,” Scolnik said. “I’m more of a moderate, Ronald Reagan-type Republican.
I do not believe they represent the mainstream Republican thought.”
Fink previously served as vice chairman of the party, but the others are new to formal leadership in the party.
Rothoff, who actively follows Muskegon County government activities, ran unsuccessfully for county treasurer, losing in the general election.

The Republicans fared poorly in the election, losing races for clerk, treasurer and several County Board of Commissioners seats.

Black judge commutes four killers’ sentences based on race

Black judge commutes four killers’ sentences based on race
Commuting a black man’s death sentence to life in prison, the judge cited “the persistent, distorting role of race in jury selection in North Carolina.”
He never argued the man – found guilty of kidnapping and robbing a teenager before shooting him in the face – might be innocent.
Since the Racial Justice Act gave him the discretion, he simply declared prosecutors were racist and gave a murderer a get-out-of-death-row-free card.

Numbers Game

Numbers Game [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
And yet, if the lower estimates are the correct ones, this would be the second indication in the past two months that the political appeal and power of unions here is much less than imagined.

Here's One Reason Why Someone Would Need To Own An 'Assault' Rifle

Here's One Reason Why Someone Would Need To Own An 'Assault' Rifle - Investors.com
Consider that, according to FBI data, in 2007, there were 453 homicides by rifle in the U.S.
Yes, that's too many. But compare that number to a few other methods of homicide employed that year.
In 2007, there were 1,817 homicides committed with "knives or cutting instruments"; "blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.)" killed 674; while "personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)" were the choices in 869 homicides.
The number of rifle homicides has fallen steadily since then to 323 last year, as have the other three weapon classes, though each still remains a more common choice than the rifle.
In fact, when added together, knives, blunt instruments and the human body were responsible for more than nine times as many homicides as rifles in 2011.

Stigmatizing Gun Owners Makes Civil Debate Impossible

Stigmatizing Gun Owners Makes Civil Debate Impossible « Commentary Magazine
Rather, this was about the desire on the part of some in the liberal mainstream media to stigmatize legal gun ownership and to whip up sentiment for not just tighter controls but an eventual ban.
This makes it easier to understand why the National Rifle Association fiercely resists even the most reasonable gun control measures.
If even those who have jumped through the not inconsiderable hoops erected by the authorities to gain a legal gun permit in New York are now to be treated as if they were the moral equivalent of sex offenders, it’s clear the goal of the anti-gun media is not just to focus discussion on assault weapons and large ammunition clips but to ban individual gun ownership altogether.

No words to describe this video


No heir to run the company? Why adult ‘adoption’ is big business in Japan

No heir to run the company? Why adult ‘adoption’ is big business in Japan - Asia - World - The Independent
The practice of adopting men in their 20s and 30s is used to rescue biologically ill-fated families and ensure a business heir,
....... "We haven't come across this custom in any other part of the world," he says.

COMMENT OF THE DAY

Instapundit » Blog Archive » COMMENT OF THE DAY
"For ten years we have been told that the Bush tax cuts applied mostly to the rich.
Now it is imperative that we extend them further or the middle class is going to take a big hit.”

Friday, December 28, 2012

101 of the Best Gun Quotes Ever

101 of the Best Gun Quotes Ever
"54.”The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals.”
~James Monroe"

Senate Approves Warrantless Phone Tapping for Next Five Years

Senate Approves Warrantless Phone Tapping for Next Five Years
"The FISA Amendments Act continues to be controversial; key portions of it were challenged in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court this term.
In brief, the law allows the government to get secret FISA court orders-orders that do not require probable cause like regular warrants-for any emails or phone calls going to and from overseas.
The communications only have to deal with "foreign intelligence information," a broad term that can mean virtually anything.
And one secret FISA order can be issued against groups or categories of people-potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of Americans at once."

Derail The Jail

Derail The Jail | Home

Taxpayer-Funded Stadiums a Lose-Lose Proposition

Taxpayer-Funded Stadiums a Lose-Lose Proposition [Michigan Capitol Confidential]
Flashy projects have not helped the city in the past. Remember the Renaissance Center, which was supposed to “anchor Detroit’s revival”?
How about the money taxpayers put up for the stadiums for the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers?
State and local citizens are still subsidizing the local teams.

Michigan Makes It Illegal To Ask For Employees' Facebook Logins

Michigan Makes It Illegal To Ask For Employees' Facebook Logins - Slashdot:
 ""Michigan joins Maryland as a state where employers may not ask employees or job applicants to divulge login information for Facebook and other social media sites.
From the article: 'Under the law, employers cannot discipline employees or decline to hire job applicants because they do not give them access information, including user names, passwords, login information, or "other security information that protects access to a personal internet account," according to the bill.
Universities and schools cannot discipline or fail to admit students if they do not give similar information.'
There is one exception, however: 'However, accounts owned by a company or educational institution, such as e-mail, can be requested.'""

Citizens claims about cold, unheated Muskegon County Jail are false, sheriff says

Citizens claims about cold, unheated Muskegon County Jail are false, sheriff says | MLive.com
“It isn’t like we have a thermostat and can just dial it up. We run on a boiler and it takes a while for the boiler to increase its temperature,” he said.
“It has to circulate through the whole facility and it's against the law to use space heaters.”

Chicago reaches 500 homicides with fatal shooting

Chicago reaches 500 homicides with fatal shooting - Yahoo! News
Chicago has logged its 500th homicide of 2012.
The last time the city reached the 500-homicide mark was in 2008, when the year ended with 512 killings.
Last year, city records show Chicago had 435 homicides.

Oil-rich UAE backs Matt Damon anti-fracking film Promised Lan

Oil-rich UAE backs Matt Damon anti-fracking film Promised Lan - Investors.com:

Bob Hope Christmas

Bob Hope Christmas
Bob Hope was without a doubt one of the greatest entertainers of all time.
A wonderful look at some special moments Bob spent with the troops during his many Christmas performances.
Thank You to all the Veterans that ever spent a Christmas away from their family and to Bob Hope for spending his with them.

Grab a hankie and love this great patriot.

Obama Claus Gives You 90 More Days To Collect Your $50,000 Reparations Check

Obama Claus Gives You 90 More Days To Collect Your $50,000 Reparations Check
Circle March 25, 2013 on your calendar.
That's the last day you can submit your claim form from this official U.S. government website to collect fifty thousand tax-free American dollars, courtesy of the Obama administration in its current multi-billion giveaway scheme.
No, you don't need a potted plant and you don't even to be black or even Hispanic; as long as you are a woman (or related to one) and you fill out the forms correctly, you can collect the money because nobody will verify your information.

URGENT UPDATE on Connecticut Shooting

URGENT UPDATE on Connecticut Shooting « Short Little Rebel
I looked at my husband and said, “Cal, this thing is starting to stink.
By now, there should be many eye-witness accounts of the actual gunman.
 There should be breathless survivors talking about how this guy walked by their room, etc.
About how they narrowly escaped.
But so far, it looks like every single eye-witness is dead.
That is IMPOSSIBLE!”

HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA?

Instapundit » Blog Archive » HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA?
AFRICA IN CRISIS: U.S. Abandons Embassy, France Won’t Intervene.
“The last time the U.S. abandoned an embassy?
Syria.”

According to a State Department spokesperson, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was unable to comment, because “she fell and twisted her cankle.”

UPDATE: Related: NPR Covering For Hillary on Benghazi.
In a story by Michelle Kelemen, with an assist from Aaron David Miller, vice president of the of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Union, fired teachers sue Chicago for racial discrimination

Union, fired teachers sue Chicago for racial discrimination | The Daily Caller
Robin Potter, an attorney for CTU, said in a statement that the city’s policies run afoul of those laws by primarily impacting black faculty and staff.
“We’re now at a crossroads in Chicago. …
The racial impact of the policies and practices of this Board of Education have devastated the African-American teaching force in that community,” she said in the statement.
The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed on behalf of all black teachers who lost their jobs in June 2010 because of turnaround restructuring.

Kenyan economics expert: Development aid is one reason for Africa’s problems, so for ‘God’s sake, please just stop’

Kenyan economics expert: Development aid is one reason for Africa’s problems, so for ‘God’s sake, please just stop’ | AEIdeas

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. I
f the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid.
The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape.
Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.
SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?
Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent.
In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need.
As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa’s problems.
If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn’t even notice.
Only the functionaries would be hard hit.
Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

25 Awe-Inspiring Photos from 2012

25 Awe-Inspiring Photos from 2012 - SKYE on AOL

Mission4Today -Photo Galleries › WWII Aircraft Photo's › USA

Mission4Today › ForumsPro › R & R Forums › Photo Galleries › WWII Aircraft Photo's › USA

Obama Orders Raise for Biden, Members of Congress, Federal Workers

Obama Orders Raise for Biden, Members of Congress, Federal Workers | The Weekly Standard

Taxes by State

Taxes by State: Kansas to New Mexico: Taxes by State

Layoffs to substantially shrink Huron Twp.'s police department.

Layoffs to substantially shrink Huron Twp.'s police department. - Detroit | Frrole

Detroit's homicide rate nears highest in 2 decades

Detroit's homicide rate nears highest in 2 decades | City of Detroit | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Molon labe

Molon labe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The phrase was reportedly the defiant response of King Leonidas I of Sparta to Xerxes I of Persia when asked to lay down their arms and surrender, at the onset of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC).

....The motto ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ is on the emblem of the Greek First Army Corps,[4] and is also the motto of United States Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT).[5]
The expression "Come and take it" was a slogan in the Texas Revolution