obamacare Pink Slips

Lost in all the noise about invasions by illegal immigrants, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was this little tidbit concerning some pending legislation.

As more workers find their lives upended and their paychecks reduced by ever-changing, on-call schedules, government officials are trying to put limits on the harshest of those scheduling practices.

The actions reflect a growing national movement — fueled by women’s and labor groups — to curb practices that affect millions of families, like assigning just one or two days of work a week or requiring employees to work unpredictable hours that wreak havoc with everyday routines like college and child care.

The recent, rapid spread of on-call employment to retail and other sectors has prompted proposals that would require companies to pay employees extra for on-call work and to give two weeks’ notice of a work schedule.

"...fueled by women’s and labor groups ..."

They may very well be the driving force behind the movement for wider-ranging legislation and regulations governing part-time workers, but left unstated by the MSM is the real reason for the rising demand for part-timers and "ever-changing, on-call schedules."

When ObamaCare was passed by the Democrats, non-partisan experts predicted there would be a host of problems. Among those problems would be pressure on businesses to drop the number of full-time employees and substitute them with either machines or part-time employees. The cause of this was of course the mandate that employers offer expensive health care plans for “full-time employees.” Incidentally, for purposes of imposing this job-killing legislation, full-time is considered 30 hours of work a week (it is the government, after all).

Predictably for those with any common sense, part-time employment is increasing while full-time employment is decreasing ... Rather than admit another flaw in ObamaCare, the federal government is now pressuring businesses to change their business practices to make the consequences of their legislation less visible to those suffering from it: the workers.

The (again) predictable outcome of the proposed legislation?

Now even more businesses will seek to lay off part-timers (expect fewer people to help one check out at stores or find items; expect more ordering from computers while in restaurants -- Panera is planning to roll self-ordering machines out and the Chili’s chain already has done so).

Can't anyone connect these pretty damn self-evident dots?

Celebrating Ramadan

In keeping with that SCOAMF in the White House, I am celebrating Ramadan this weekend.

(Last week) President Obama hosted his sixth Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan at the White House, an annual tradition started by First Lady Hillary Clinton when she hosted a Ramadan Eid celebration dinner in 1996...

Here's how we celebrate Ramadan in Central Texas.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2014.07.18

Dedicated to my second ex-wife... pop open a cold one and sing along!

May You Live In Interesting Times

Jesucristo! So much is happening so fast that it's hard to keep up. We have, of course, the ongoing crisis involving undocumented illegal residents immigrants aliens flooding across our southern border.

With thousands of undocumented immigrant minors crossing the nation's southern border in recent months, the percentage of Americans citing immigration as the top problem has surged to 17% this month, up from 5% in June, and the highest seen since 2006. As a result, immigration now virtually ties "dissatisfaction with government," at 16%, as the primary issue Americans think of when asked to name the country's top problem.

Then there's the unfolding crisis involving the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine.

A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in a rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, spurring swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that "terrorists" shot down the aircraft.

The United States has concluded a missile shot down the plane...

And while all that is happening, Israel has sent ground forces into Gaza.

Israel launched an open-ended ground invasion of Gaza aimed at crushing Hamas militants after 10 days of aerial bombardment, sending thousands of troops with tanks and armored vehicles into the Palestinian territory.

The operation began at about 10 p.m. local time Thursday after Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets into Israel at the end of a five-hour cease-fire meant to allow Gazans to restock on food and other supplies.

The ground incursion was accompanied by heavy airstrikes and the most widespread warnings yet to Palestinian residents, urging them to clear out of the way of impending attacks. The operation spanned the entire border between Israel and Gaza, about 36 miles, the military said.

The liberals would have us believe that this is an unwarranted incursion by the evil Israelis against the peace-loving Palestinians terrorists. They are, of course, wrong.

Many people may think that the death toll in Israel is low compared to the 180 or so Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza in the last few weeks. Leftists will no doubt quote the UN's ratio of civilian-to-military casualties, which is said to be 70% civilian.

There is reason to question the accuracy of that statistic, as explained at the link. We'll skip that for the sake of brevity and move on.

There's a simple reason for that “lack of proportionality” (Manuel Hassassian, a Palestinian Authority envoy in the UK) said:

“There are no shelters, no bunkers, no place to go, except their homes.”

Israel has built many air-raid shelters and other means of protection for its citizens. It also employs air-raid warnings in response to Hamas rocket attacks. Hamas, on the other hand, doesn't provide its people with either of these things.

The other thing is that Hamas deliberately places its fighters amongst the Gaza civilian population -- as is now both well-known and well-documented...

We'll come back to this point a little later.

What is the reason for Hamas's suicidal policies?

It's primarily because this Muslim Brotherhood political party wants some -- or even many -- of its people to be killed.

So why does Hamas want that?

There are various reasons; though the main one is the Western response to such deaths ... In other words, Palestinian deaths do the Hamas cause a lot of good in the West.

The other important point to bear in mind is that, according to Hamas theology/ideology, every Palestinian who is killed by Israelis is deemed to be an automatic martyr for Islam. In addition, one well-known Hamas motto just happens to be: "We love death more than life."

Palestinians also say that they have “nowhere to go” when the Israeli air attacks come. Yet that's not entirely true either, because Israel gives advance warnings before such attacks. For example, Israeli forces -- just the other day -- dropped leaflets on the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya which warned of future air strikes.

Can you imagine a muslim suicide bomber giving his potential victims a heads-up before blowing himself and his innocent victims to kingdom-come?

Me neither.

As for the cowardly assholes hiding behind women and children:

Some 20 rockets were found Wednesday in a school in Gaza operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the organization confirmed Thursday.

The discovery would seem to confirm Israel’s oft-repeated claim that Hamas and other Gazan terror groups use civilian infrastructure to hide weapons.

All of which makes videos like this one warm the cockles of my heart.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Finally, the obama administration has a rare flash of common sense in the border brouhaha.

Good news: Obama administration supports a border fence

At last, an Obama administration official has come out in favor of a fence. He promises it will bring security to people on both sides of the border.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

It is.

Unfortunately, Philip Gordon, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, was not speaking of a border fence between the United States and Mexico, but a fence between the West Bank and the 1967 Israeli border. That fence, he said, would be built after Israel relinquishes the territory in exchange for an empty promise of “peace” with the Palestinians.

Apparently Gordon hasn't noticed that missiles fly over fences...

Perhaps the most laughable part of Gordon's speech to the Ha'aretz Israel Conference for Peace was this line: “Israel should not take for granted the opportunity to negotiate that peace with (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas, who has shown time and again that he is committed to nonviolence and coexistence with Israel.”

Yeah, right. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.

The ongoing violence between Israel and Hamas has been overshadowed here in the U.S. by the illegal immigrant crisis. But the simmering Mideast struggle is threatening to explode into a much larger conflict.

An effort to permanently stop the killing stalled Tuesday when Israel resumed airstrikes following a brief, one-sided cease-fire brokered by Egypt. While Israel paused for six hours, Hamas leaders rejected the deal and continued firing rockets.

Volumes have been written about the Israel-Palestine divide. I don't have much to add, other than I support the only Western-style democracy in the region. But I was struck by one paragraph in a recent news report.

Hamas officials said they ... want to see a broad agreement that would, among other things, end restrictions on border crossings...

Sound familiar?

Laying Out The Welcome Mat

UPDATED: Well, that certainly didn't take long.

Fed-backed group drops plan to buy fancy hotel to house illegals

A plan to house hundreds of illegal immigrant children at a multimillion-dollar hotel complex in Texas was scuttled after the prospect of taxpayers footing the bill for luxury lodging proved too much of a public relations obstacle.

The deal died Wednesday afternoon, hours after FoxNews.com reported that as many as 600 children between the ages of 12-17 could be placed at the Palm Aire, where BCFS would also provide medical and mental health care and educational and recreational programs under a contract that sources said could total as much as $50 million.

But images of the hotel's amenities generated a backlash that officials said could not be overcome.

"We are not going to continue with trying to purchase that hotel," a source close to the plan told Fox News. "It was just too controversial. We should have known better, no matter what the cost."

 It's nice to know that We the People still have the power to influence events.

 * * * * * * * * * * 

Original Post:

The obama administration is planning on spending $50 million of our tax dollars on a resort for the illegal immigrant children currently flooding across our southern border.

The Obama administration has awarded a $50 million contract to a charitable group to buy a Texas resort hotel and transform it in to a 600 bed facility for juvenile illegal aliens.

The beautiful Palm Aire resort and hotel has an indoor Olympic sized pool and an outdoor pool.  Free Wi-Fi and cable TV are included in the simply decorated guest rooms.

According to the Palm Aire Hotel's web site, amenities there include, among other things:

Free fitness center with 20 machines and free weights
Two racquetball courts
Sauna and steam room
Two updated outdoor pools and Jacuzzis
Poolside bar
Free pool cabanas

As if that's not enough, there are plans to add a soccer field, along with "medical and mental health care, on-site educational programs, recreational programs and case management."

Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle - where do I sign up?

In keeping with the long-standing government tradition of overstaffing, the new facility will employ 650 people. Since it will hold around 600 illegal immigrants, that works out to a little over one employee per illegal alien. No word on how many of the employees will be security guards, although I have no idea why anyone would want to escape from a resort.

... the BCFS contract for the Palm Aire Hotel and Suites is an annual one worth $50 million per year. It is not part of the $3.7 billion emergency funding for the illegal alien invasion requested by the Obama administration as the bill hasn’t yet passed but it is a good indication of where the money will go.

Notwithstanding the question of where the money is coming from (after all, it's only $50M - that's less than a rounding error in our federal budget), has anyone in the obama administration stopped to think about what sort of message this sends to people in Central and South America who are considering immigrating to invading the U.S.?

Talk about laying out the welcome mat...

Optimism

Yesterday in the mail I received my elk and antelope tags from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. In a fit of optimism I dug out some of last year's venison from the freezer, figuring I needed to start making room for all that fresh meat that would be coming my way this fall.

My wife and kids are less than enthusiastic consumers of wild game. They'll eat it, but they usually prefer that it be prepared in a manner that minimizes the 'wild game' taste (although I suspect that if I did a blind taste test they couldn't tell the difference between venison and beef, or quail and chicken).

So last night I made the venison equivalent of veal piccata (recipe below). Normally I don't soak venison in milk, but for this dish it seemed like the thing to do to approximate the taste of milk-fed veal. For the record, we don't eat veal. On this one topic we've bought into the animal rights propaganda. Yes, I know there's another side to the story, but for whatever reason we just bypass veal.

And while we're on the subject of hunting, there's a new development in bullets. DARPA has come up with a .50 caliber round that self-adjusts its flight in midair to hit targets at extreme long ranges.

The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) system seeks to improve sniper effectiveness and enhance troop safety by allowing greater shooter standoff range and reduction in target engagement timelines. The objective of the EXACTO program is to revolutionize rifle accuracy and range by developing the first ever guided small-caliber bullet. The EXACTO 50- caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems. The system combines a maneuverable bullet and a real-time guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target, allowing the bullet to change path during flight to compensate for any unexpected factors that may drive it off course.

Since I won't have that technology available to me this fall I guess I'd better put in some serious range time between now and then...

Anyway, as promised, here's the Venison Piccata recipe. FWIW, it received rave reviews.

Venison Piccata

Servings: 2-4            Prep Time: 2-4 hours            Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Ingredients:

- 1 lb. of venison round or roast, sliced into small steaks
- 2+/- cups of milk
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1/2 tsp. of freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 cup of butter
- 3/4 cup of dry white wine (i.e., Chardonnay)
- juice of 2 fresh lemons
- 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
- 2 TBLS capers, drained

Directions:

1.    Trim venison of fat or silverskin. Slice into 1/2 inch thick steaks. Rinse with water and pat dry.

2.    Lay meat in a shallow non-metal dish. Pour 1 cup or so of milk over the meat (I like to sprinkle my venison with a little unseasoned meat tenderizer at this point). Cover and refrigerate for 1-3 hours, depending on the age/sex of the deer (longer for an older buck and shorter for a young deer or doe). Turn the meat about halfway through the refrigeration period.

3.    When the time is up, remove the venison and rinse with water. Discard the milk. Pat dry, return the venison to the dish, and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. At this point I also like to sprinkle it with a little lemon pepper and garlic salt, but that’s up to you. In any event, the key here is to lightly sprinkle with whatever you decide to use. Cover with milk again.

4.    Leave the meat out at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. At that point drain and discard the milk, and pat the venison dry with paper towels.

5.    Between steps 3 and 4, mix flour, salt, and pepper. Also, you can pour yourself some of the wine (just make sure to reserve the ¾ of a cup you’ll need in step 7). Spread the flour mixture onto a large plate. After step 4 dredge the venison steaks in the flour mixture.

6.    Pour yourself a fresh glass of wine. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add venison and brown for 4-5 minutes on each side.

7.    Add the wine and let it cook for an additional 2 minutes.

8.    Remove venison and keep warm (I like to wrap it loosely in foil).

9.    Add lemon, parsley, and capers to the wine in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.

10.    Place venison steaks on plates and pour sauce over venison. Open another bottle of wine, serve with your favorite veggies and some nice garlic bread, and enjoy!

Double Standard, Anyone?

From various news reports:

The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a member of its Community Relations Service team to investigate a Nebraska parade float that criticized President Obama.

A Fourth of July parade float featured at the annual Independence Day parade in Norfolk sparked criticism when it depicted a zombie-like figure resembling Mr. Obama standing outside an outhouse, which was labeled the “Obama Presidential Library.”

(Source)

Here's the float in question. Not quite up to Rose Bowl parade standards, but hey - it's Nebraska.

(Cheap shot. I apologize to all the 'Huskers out there.)

Now here's a cartoon by Mike Luckovich, left-leaning editorial cartoonist, published in November 2006. It depicts an outhouse labeled “Bush Presidential Library.”

The DOJ under Bush didn't send a special representative to investigate Luckovich or the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which published the cartoon.

The message here seems to be that any criticism or mockery of obama is racist...

One Of Those Days

So far today has been one of those days.

And it's only half over...

FOD 2014.07.14

Last week barack obama came to Texas for the first time since the flood of illegal immigrant children reached the critical point. One would think he came down to get a first-hand view of an increasingly critical situation.

One would be wrong.

Instead, his two-day visit was all about fund raising. Granted, he did attend a hastily scheduled roundtable discussing the illegal immigration crisis, but that was scheduled only after an avalanche of criticism forced his hand.

After that meeting obama had this to say about being rebuked for not visiting the border while he was here.

“This isn’t theater. This is a problem. I’m not interested in photo ops; I’m interested in solving a problem.”

Oh, really? The guy has time for photo ops while meeting some fool wearing a horses head.

He has time for a photo op drinking beer and playing pool

He has time for a photo op fist-bumping a gorilla statue.

But he doesn't have time to visit the scene of the largest domestic humanitarian crisis since Hurricane Katrina.

What a loser.

As for the "I'm interested in solving a problem” portion of that statement:

As exhibits A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L and M, I offer Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service scandal (the FBI hasn’t even interviewed the IRS employees involved), the border invasion, the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal, Obamacare, Iraq, our Marine in Mexico, the deficit, the debt, entitlements, jobs and education. I could go on. This man is not about solving problems but about creating them...

... no one with an ounce of discernment can help but wonder whether Obama has any desire to solve the border crisis — or many of the other nearly catastrophic issues plaguing the nation today under his watch — as he hopscotches the country raising political money, plays golf and billiards, and willfully obstructs any and all truth-seeking investigations.

God help us all.

Do The Math

The U.S. - Mexico border is somewhere around 1993 miles. Let's just round that up to 2000 for ease of figuring.

obama is asking for $3.7 billion "for emergency funds to bolster U.S. border security and deal with a massive influx of migrant children..."

$3,700,000,000 / 2000 miles = $1,850,000 per mile.

For slightly under $2 million per mile we could build one hell of a fence along the border.  It would solve our illegal immigration problem, plus it would stimulate the economy (increased demand for fencing supplies, increased demand for workers, kickbacks to politicians...). It's a win-win.

And just think of the irony. A manual-labor intensive project like this that stretches out for a couple of thousand miles would entail hiring many local contractors, most of whom would probably use illegal immigrants as their labor force...

Of course, there is an easier way to halt illegal immigration.

Simply require proof of citizenship or legal residency to be eligible for government benefits...

Sunday Funnies 2014.07.13

Yesterday was a long, loonnngggg, day. It was work day at the deer lease. My son and I were there from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. doing manual labor - running water and sewer lines for the camper hookups, building a cleaning and skinning shed, trimming tree limbs to open up shooting lanes, and other types of manual labor.

There is nothing funny about manual labor (plus I'm tired as hell), so today's Sunday Funnies a pretty skimpy.

Sorry. I'll make up for it next week.


The boss ordered one of his men to dig a hole eight feet deep. After the job was completed the boss returned and explained an error had been made and the hole wouldn’t be needed. “Fill ‘er up,” he ordered.

The worker did as he’d been told. But he ran into a problem. He couldn’t get all the dirt packed back into the hole without leaving a mound on top. He went to the office and explained his problem.

The boss snorted, “Honestly! The kind of help you get these days! There’s obviously only one thing to do. You’ll have to dig that hole deeper!”

Stressed Out

Just yesterday I commented that I was overwhelmed by all the crap we have to put up with on a daily basis. It might have been more accurate to say I was stressed out over all that claptrap, most of it government-sponsored..

Today I found out just how right I was.

Politicians are the No. 1 cause of daily stress in our lives

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation just released a wide-ranging survey on the prevalence and causes of stress in the U.S. ...

When it comes to major stressful life events, health-related issues top the list: More than 4 in 10 respondents who said they experienced a major stressful event in the past year cited health concerns as the primary stressor.

But the survey also asked about smaller, daily stressors — the little exasperations that can add up to a miserable day. And here something surprising emerges: Americans cited "hearing about what the government or politicians are doing" as the most frequent daily stressor on their lives, and at a substantially higher rate than the usual annoyances like commuting, chores and general schedule-juggling.

Part of the finding might be explained by the 24-hour news cycle and the constant reminders of government foolishness/intrusion/overreach/bungling/etc. via the Internet and social media.

But IMO the primary underlying cause of government-related stress is well-deserved "distrust and disdain for elected officials."

As if it weren't enough that our politicians are actively working to harm the global economy and otherwise failing to do their jobs or even show up for work in general, they're also stressing everyone out with the astonishing breadth and depth of their incompetence. And since high stress is linked to shorter life expectancy, they are also literally killing us with their incompetence.

In other words, thanks, Obama (and everyone in Congress too).

Yeah, thanks - for nuthin'.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2014.07.11

Something a little different today. Pour yourself a wee dram and enjoy this adaptation of the well-known Scottish round Loch Lomond, written by Scottish poet and folklorist Andrew Lang, and performed by Rod Stewart, who has a bit of Scottish blood his own self.

Overwhelmed

There's so much nonsense going on in this country right now that it's overwhelmed my ability to keep up with it, much less comment on it. So I'm just going to address each topic with a picture, because a picture is worth a thousand words.

Shootings in Chicago reignite the gun control debate:

Illegal immigrants swarm across our southern border, reigniting the immigration reform debate:

SCOTUS rules on whether or not closely-held companies have the right to follow their religious beliefs, reigniting the 'war on women' debate:

Federal agencies continue to throw up obstacles that shackle businesses:

Stupid and immature people have attained positions of power, to our everlasting grief:

We are surrounded by useless people and things:

Finally, we are inundated with pointless emails and texts:

I feel better now. As a bonus, my in-basket has been reduced.

Have a good weekend, and don't let the bastards grind you down!

Be Afraid - Be Very, Very Afraid

The EPA has been feeling its oats lately. obama has unleashed the agency and sicced it on those the administration perceives as opponents - or at least, as non-suuporters.

One of the more egregious examples is the EPA's war on wood-burning stoves, most often used by those who live in rural (read: red) areas and off-the-gridders (read: rugged individualists who oppose big government).

New EPA regulations will ban the production and sale of 80 percent of America’s current wood-burning stoves, the oldest heating method known to mankind and mainstay of rural homes and many of our nation’s poorest residents. Among the hardest hit will be off-grid wilderness areas such as in large regions of Alaska and the American West.

Whereas EPA restrictions had previously banned wood-burning stoves that didn’t limit fine airborne particulate emissions to 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the change will impose a maximum 12-microgram limit. Most wood stoves that warm cabin and home residents from coast to coast can’t meet that standard. Older stoves that don’t won’t be able to be traded in for updated types, but instead must be rendered inoperable, destroyed, or recycled as scrap metal.

Only weeks after EPA enacted its new stove rules, attorneys general of seven states sued the agency to crack down on wood-burning water heaters as well ... A related suit was filed by the environmental group Earth Justice. This appears to be but another example of EPA and other government agencies working with activist environmental groups to sue and settle on claims that afford leverage to enact new regulations which they lack statutory authority to otherwise accomplish.

"Sue and settle" practices, sometimes referred to as “friendly lawsuits,” are cozy deals through which far-left radical environmental groups file lawsuits against federal agencies wherein court-ordered “consent decrees” are issued based upon a prearranged settlement agreement they collaboratively craft together in advance behind closed doors. Then, rather than allowing the entire process to play out, the agency being sued settles the lawsuit by agreeing to move forward with the requested action both they and the litigants want.

A second example of EPA overreach is its attempt to expand the types of bodies of water over which it has jurisdiction.

Agricultural producers argue they know the best way to take care of their land -- not only to maximize production, and if they're lucky to make a profit, but also to preserve the acreage they depend on to survive.

Now, a rule being proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency outlining which bodies of water the agency would oversee under the Clean Water Act has again rattled the industry.

Farm groups contend the rule would expand the scope of water protected under the act to include not only rivers and lakes but ditches, stream-beds and self-made ponds that only carry water when it rains. Many farmers fear it amounts to nothing more than a land grab that could saddle them with higher costs, more regulatory red tape and less freedom to run their farms and ranches.

As if that's not bad enough:

In the past few years alone, the EPA has been criticized for a series of proposals that would have hurt the agricultural community, including one that would have regulated dust in rural areas... The agency also was sharply criticized after it released private information on 80,000 agricultural producers to environmental groups last year.

Regulating dust in rural areas? You might as well try to regulate cow farts.

Oh, wait...

The White House has released a Climate Action Plan that includes the targeting of methane emissions from cows and other barnyard animals that threaten the planet through belching and other, er, activities.

The Supreme Court dealt a rare rebuke to the EPA recently.

The court said the EPA had no authority to issue regulations that differed so radically from the Clean Air Act’s plain language – and affirms that the EPA and every other executive agency is indeed subject to the court’s jurisdiction, despite protests to the contrary...

... the court’s unanimous opinion means that the EPA greenhouse gas regulations cannot be enforced against millions of Americans – the local mom-and-pop store, the local bakery, your house of worship – because the new rules are outside the bounds of the Clean Air Act.

Despite this ruling, the EPA has now come up with a new way to impose their regulatory will on Americans. This one is really scary.

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly floated a rule claiming authority to bypass the courts and unilaterally garnish paychecks of those accused of violating its rules, a power currently used by agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service.

The EPA has been flexing its regulatory muscle under President Obama, collecting more fines each year and hitting individuals with costly penalties for violating environmental rules, including recently slapping a $75,000 fine on Wyoming homeowner Andy Johnson for building a pond on his rural property.

That ties back into the expansion of the Clean Water Act mentioned above. But garnishing wages without due process is something that, to date, only the IRS has dared try.

Critics said the threat of garnishing wages would be a powerful incentive for people to agree to expensive settlements rather than fight EPA charges.

No doubt.

The EPA said it deemed the action as not a “significant regulatory action” and therefore not subject to review.

[Snorts disgustedly...]

I guess the EPA's mission statement says something about overtaking the IRS as the most feared and despised federal agency.

They're well on their way to accomplishing that...

Speaking Of A Horse's Ass

obama wandered around Denver Tuesday evening, pretending to be a normal guy just out on the town drinking beer and shooting pool.

President Barack Obama greeted supporters on a walk following dinner in downtown Denver, a night that resulted in shaking hands with a man in a horse mask, and shooting pool and drinking beers...

Shaking hands with a guy wearing a horse mask is pretty bizarre (and just how did he get past the Secret Service, anyway?). In fact, it's bizarre enough to immediately generate an Internet response that perfectly captures the essence of barry.

(H/T Moonbattery)

Windy City Blues

Monday I commented on the foolishness of Chicago's head cop blaming the violence in his city on lax gun laws. He made that claim despite the fact that Chicago has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country. I suggested that perhaps the problem stems from a breakdown of family and societal values.

It turns out others are thinking along those same lines.

For the second year running, Chicago saw a spate of violence over the long holiday weekend that would generate headlines if it happened in Kabul.

... This year, the tally of shame was more than 80 people shot and 14 killed. Last year, a slightly longer July Fourth weekend (the holiday fell on a Thursday) saw 75 people shot and 12 fatalities.

Why is Chicago the nation’s murder capital? Its officials always want to talk about gun laws, and Superintendent McCarthy complained about their laxity after the latest shootings. This is bizarre, since Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and has been slapped down in the courts for trampling on the Second Amendment in its zeal to make it all but impossible to own guns.

Chicago is a running illustration of the cliché that if you ban guns, only criminals will own them. Not surprisingly, if you are willing to shoot someone in a meaningless gang dispute, you are willing to disregard laws for the purchase and possession of firearms.

Now let's venture into territory that makes many people uncomfortable, starting with the victims.

Nearly all of those killed were black or Hispanic men age 35 or younger.

Taking that a step further:

... the rate of nonfatal gunshot injury in Chicago was 46.5 per 100,000 from 2006 to 2012. But it was only 1.62 per 100,000 for whites. For blacks, it was 112.83 per 100,000. For black males, 239.77, and for black males aged 18–34, 599.65, or “a staggering one in 200.”

Furthermore, the vast majority of the violence occurs in readily identifiable neighborhoods with distinct socioeconomic factors...

In places like West Englewood, South Shore and Austin, gunshots seemed almost as common as fireworks this past weekend.

... and is committed by a similarly identifiable cohort.

... the shootings overwhelmingly occur among a small network of criminal offenders. One of the alleged shooters over the weekend has 21 prior arrests.

Back to my point regarding the breakdown of family and societal values:

Chicago is grappling with the profound social breakdown of certain neighborhoods, where the two-parent family has been obliterated and where, too often, young men consider lawlessness the norm. It is here, as Heather Mac Donald of City Journal writes, that gang members define themselves not by “family, or academic accomplishments or interests, but ruthless fealty to small, otherwise indistinguishable, pieces of territory.”

This breakdown is “the root cause,” to use that old catchphrase, of Chicago’s violence. It blights the lives of countless young men, hundreds of whom end up in the morgue every year. You would think that trying to find ways to combat it would be an obsession of liberals who profess to care about the welfare of our cities, but all their energy is devoted to income inequality, global warming, and other fashionable causes.

Those 'other fashionable causes' also include blaming inanimate objects - tools; lumps of metal and polymer - that cannot act on their own, rather than the failed progressive policies that have eradicated the traditional American family structure, doomed generations of minority kids to poor public education and dismal employment possibilities, and left them hopeless and adrift.

Fallen Marine Returns Home

The part of Central Texas where I live is composed of many small towns. Most of them still embrace traditional Texan and American values, including self-reliance, helping others, love of country, and in general doing the right thing. Those values are embedded in the people who live here, and the children who grow up here.

That point was driven home yet again when the nearby community of New Braunfels laid one of their own to rest.

New Braunfels salutes fallen Marine

Jake Hixson was to be Sgt. Thomas Spitzer's best man at his wedding, but instead gave his eulogy Monday at St. Paul Lutheran Church before a crowd that spilled into a lobby, while Patriot Guard riders stood outside on a hot afternoon.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders line the entrance to St. Paul Lutheran Church before the funeral for Marine Sgt. Thomas Spitzer in New Braunfels on Monday, July 7, 2014.

The service was followed by a motorcade along Interstate 35 that saw people waiting at an overpass to salute Spitzer and his burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Jean Spitzer (center), the mother of Marine Sgt. Thomas Spitzer, watches as her younger son, Marine Lance Cpl. Nicholas Spitzer, is presented with a flag. The fallen Marine's fiancée, Casey Neef (left) and his father, John Spitzer, flank them.

Take another look at the picture above. Look at the expression on the face of Sgt. Spitzer's brother, and on his mother as she stares at her younger son with a mixture of what I can only guess is love, pride, sadness, and fear of losing him also. I can't begin to imagine her thoughts.

Friends recalled Spitzer as a young man who hewed to an honor code that prompted him to volunteer for a second tour of Afghanistan's most contested province, Helmand, where more coalition troops — 951 — have died than in any other. They searched for an upside to the end of a promising life and found it in the way he lived.

“We are left here today to honor a young man who in his 23 years ... lived life to the fullest,” said the Rev. Don Ofsdahl. “He was more interested in the quality of life than in the quantity of years.”

In 2009, Spitzer was just out of Canyon High School in New Braunfels and joined the Marines with a fellow graduate, John Felix Farias. They went through boot camp and infantry school together.

Farias, an Eagle Scout and lance corporal, also was killed in action in Helmand, in 2011.

Spitzer, who wore a bracelet with Farias' name on it and saluted him in his Facebook postings, joined him and 65 other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who now rest at Fort Sam.

Sgt. Spitzer graduated from New Braunfels Canyon High School. I have a grandson who goes there now.

Sgt. Spitzer worked at a couple of local establishments - Rockin' R River Rides, which organizes float trips down the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers (I've done both) and Montana Mike's, a steakhouse (I've eaten there).

It was at the restaurant where Spitzer met his fiancée, Casey Neef, who was his trainer. They were to be married April 18, 2015.

“She trained him right,” Ofsdahl said, drawing a few chuckles.

Wearing the Marine Corps' famed globe and anchor was a turning point. In some ways, Spitzer was the same guy everyone had known for his big smile and helping others, but he was different.

“When he joined the Marines, you could tell there was never a doubt about serving his country,” Hixson said.

An unidentified platoon commander described Spitzer as a leader, writing his parents, “The calmness he brought to a fight eased the stress of those around him, enabling them to fight more efficiently. He also always acted with honor. He did the right things for the right reasons.”

Spitzer's first deployment to Helmand was in 2012. Back home, he re-enlisted and joined a Marine sniper platoon before returning to Afghanistan this past March. He was promoted to sergeant the next month.

Spitzer, who volunteered to man an M240B machine gun on his final mission, was hit by small-arms fire.

“Thomas always put others before himself,” said Matthew Huffman, who delivered the second eulogy. “No only was he my point man in Afghanistan, he was my point man in life.”

At times like these, when our country is beset by trials and tribulations, it is heartening to know that we can still produce exceptional young men like Thomas Spitzer, John Farias, and so many more.

I just hope and pray that their sacrifices will not be in vain.

One more picture - in the one below, Jean Spitzer, Sgt. Thomas Spitzer's mother, talks with Marine Gunnery Sgt. Guillermo Tejada after the service. Gunnery Sgt. Tejada was injured in Afghanistan and lives across from the family of John Farias, Sgt. Spitzer's close friend who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011.

How many communities can boast of four young men who all stepped forward to serve their country in time of need? And what are the odds of three of them becoming casualties - two KIA, 1 WIA?

God Bless the young men who went off to war, the families and friends who raised and supported them, and the United States of America.

Good News - Bad News, China Version

Outside of obama and his band of merry idiots, along with assorted rhinos and other creatures living inside the Washington D.C. beltway, IMO the biggest threat to America these days is China (radical islamists are a close second - I have them ahead on desire, but behind on organization and intelligence). Not only are the chicoms an economic threat, but they are now entertaining dangerous thoughts about going up against us in a shooting war.

China thinks it can defeat America in battle

The bad news first. The People's Republic of China now believes it can successfully prevent the United States from intervening in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or some other military assault by Beijing.

Now the good news. China is wrong — and for one major reason. It apparently disregards the decisive power of America's nuclear-powered submarines.

Regardless of whether or not the chicoms can win, the fact that they think they can win is a serious problem. Making matters worse is a limited time frame for China to come out on top.

Moreover, for economic and demographic reasons Beijing has a narrow historical window in which to use its military to alter the world's power structure. If China doesn't make a major military move in the next couple decades, it probably never will.

So what makes China so confident it can take down Uncle Sam?

... after two decades of sustained military modernization, the Chinese military has fundamentally changed its strategy in just the last year or so. According to Fuell, recent writings by PLA officers indicate "a growing confidence within the PLA that they can more-readily withstand U.S. involvement" ... Beijing believes it can attack Taiwan or another neighbor while also bloodlessly deterring U.S. intervention. It would do so by deploying such overwhelmingly strong military forces — ballistic missiles, aircraft carriers, jet fighters, and the like — that Washington dare not get involved.

There's a lot of truth in that. China's military has been getting larger and more advanced, while U.S. forces are shrinking and relying more and more on unreliable technology.

However, the U.S. still has a hole card to play - at least in the near future.

... America possesses by far the world's most powerful submarine force — one poised to quickly sink any Chinese invasion fleet. In announcing its readiness to hold off the U.S. military, the PLA seems to have ignored Washington's huge undersea advantage.

The Navy has 74 submarines, 60 of which are attack or missile submarines optimized for finding and sinking other ships or blasting land targets. The balance is ballistic-missile boats that carry nuclear missiles and would not routinely participate in military campaigns short of an atomic World War III.

According to Adm. Cecil Haney, the former commander of Pacific Fleet subs, on any given day 17 boats are underway and eight are "forward-deployed," meaning they are on station in a potential combat zone. To the Pacific Fleet, that pretty much means waters near China.

Able to lurk silently under the waves and strike suddenly with torpedoes and missiles, submarines have tactical and strategic effect greatly disproportionate to their relatively small numbers. During the 1982 Falklands War, the British sub Conqueror torpedoed and sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 men. The sinking kept the rest of the Argentine fleet bottled up for the duration of the conflict.

America's eight-at-a-time submarine picket in or near Chinese waters could be equally destructive to Chinese military plans, especially considering the PLA's limited anti-submarine skills. "Although China might control the surface of the sea around Taiwan, its ability to find and sink U.S. submarines will be extremely limited for the foreseeable future," Cliff testified. "Those submarines would likely be able to intercept and sink Chinese amphibious transports as they transited toward Taiwan."

That reality should inform Washington's own strategy. As the United States has already largely achieved the world order it struggled for over the last century, it need only preserve and defend this order. In other words, America has the strategic high ground against China, as the latter must attack and alter the world in order to get what it wants.

In practical military terms, that means the Pentagon can more or less ignore most of China's military capabilities, including those that appear to threaten traditional U.S. advantages in nukes, air warfare, mechanized ground operations, and surface naval maneuvers.

"We won't invade China, so ground forces don't play," pointed out Wayne Hughes, a professor at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. "We won't conduct a first nuclear strike. We should not adopt an air-sea strike plan against the mainland, because that is a sure way to start World War IV."

Rather, America must deny the Chinese free access to their near waters. "We need only enough access to threaten a war at sea," Hughes said. In his view, a fleet optimized for countering China would have large numbers of small surface ships for enforcing a trade blockade. But the main combatants would be submarines, "to threaten destruction of all Chinese warships and commercial vessels in the China Seas."

That analysis seems to make sense. Hopefully the Chinese think so too. Of course, a lot depends on whether our elected 'leaders' have enough brains and guts to steer us on the correct course. Based on the current buffoons currently wasting oxygen in D.C. I have my doubts.

If American subs can hold the line for another 20 years, China might age right out of its current, aggressive posture without ever having attacked anyone. That's because economic and demographic trends in China point towards a rapidly aging population, flattening economic growth, and fewer resources available for military modernization.

So it almost doesn't matter that a modernized PLA thinks it possesses the means to fight America above the waves, on land, and in the air. If it can't safely sail an invasion fleet as part of its territorial ambitions, it can't achieve its strategic goals — capturing Taiwan and or some island also claimed by a neighboring country — through overtly military means.

It does matter if the PLA thinks it can successfully fight America. There would be no real winner in such a conflict, irrespective of whoever comes out on top on the battlefield. I just hope the Chinese are smart enough to realize that.

If you have the time, read the entire article. It's worth it.