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Election Season 2014

And it has brought us to this trainwreck called ObamaCare and we have bankrupted our kids and grandkids!

We are now headed into the 2014 Election Season and common sense and conservatism are on the rise. Please stand-up and be counted!

Reading Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election is a great place to start!

The Founding Father's Real Reason for the Second Amendment

And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." See Video of Suzanna Gratia-Hupp’s Congressional Testimony: What the Second Amendment is REALLY For, below (u-tube HERE).

The Leaders Are Here... Palin, Cruz, Lee, Paul, Chaffetz....

T'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Can You Really Still Believe That None of These People Would Have Done a Better Job???

Bloggers' Rights at EFF

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY...

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving and Thank You to All Our Readers for Your Support

There is no better time to share family memories and history, remember our history as Americans including the reason for the celebration, remember our troops around the world, as well as give thanks for our blessings!  Happy Thanksgiving to All!!

http://cjaronu.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/rockwell_thanksgiving.jpg

Wishing you all a happy, blessed, joyful and safe Thanksgiving!!

Watcher’s Council: Ah, Thanksgiving… or more accurately this year, an interesting occurrence called Thanksnukkah, as Thanksgiving and Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights and miracles overlap in a rare convergence that won’t happen again for some 70,000 years or so, thanks to the Judaism’s lunar calendar. The culinary possibilities are endless, like latkes with pumpkin fillings…. And for some interesting ideas for your Thanksgiving meal, I’ve provided a little something for you, an automatic Thanksgiving menu generator. Try it, it’s fun, even if someone still has to do the actual cooking, or is cooking over the weekend. I may have gotten some of the exact details just a bit wrong above… but close enough. ;-)

Our president was involved in the festivities as well, giving generously to our new Iranian friends and encouraging Americans to promote his failing ObamaCare program at their family dinners.  and engaging in the old tradition of giving a presidential pardon to two turkeys. This years’ recipients of the president’s full pardon are named Holder and Sebelius. While pardoning the actual foul, it turned out that one of the  lucky birds, Popcorn, had more sense than most Americans; he tried to bite the president ;-). And according to Jay Leno, Popcorn had requested no photographs beforehand. The president also left out God in his annual Thanksgiving message for the 5th year in a row… why change a trend, I guess?

And from JOMP for you Pet Parents

HappyThanksgivingJOMP_thumb3

Thanksgiving Pet Recipe of the Day

Simple Roasted Organs

(This is a great recipe to make up for Thanksgiving to feed your canine friends… you can substitute chicken for the turkey and add a few turkey scraps at carving time, or just bake the liver and giblets and add the warm turkey as you carve… just go easy on the skin and watch for bones.)

This dish can actually double up as a treat, or healthy topping to your pet’s usual meal. Turkey giblets (hearts, livers and kidneys) are available from butcher shops and many natural food markets – and also come included with most Thanksgiving turkeys!

This recipe is super-simple and just about all pets love it! Turkey necks should not be used.

Ingredients

Up to 1 lb Turkey scraps, organs/giblets (don’t include bones)

6 tbsp Olive Oil

½ tsp Dried or Fresh Rosemary

1 Clove Garlic, crushed or finely diced (optional)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the organs on a baking sheet. Slowly pour on the olive and gently shake the pan so that the oil is evenly distributed. Sprinkle on the rosemary and crushed garlic. Place in the oven and cook for about 35 minutes, until golden brown. Cool before serving and refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days.

For cats, dice the organs finely with a sharp knife before serving. This technique also works well to create bite-sized training treats that are a little bit different. 

The “Not So Safe” or No-No Pet Food List 

How to keep your dog safe during Thanksgiving holidays 

A Dogs Special Thanksgiving Day

A great addition to your Thanksgiving festivities and celebration is adding a grateful bowl.  As everyone arrives for Thanksgiving Dinner, have each of them fill out a grateful note, to be deposited in a bowl, basket or container.  After dessert has been served, (with the TV temporarily turned off if possible) have everyone gather within earshot and have someone draw out the slips of paper one by one and have a designated person read them aloud. 

It will give your Thanksgiving a very different feeling.

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The Thanksgiving Bowl

Having the movie It’s a Wonderful Life playing on (a non-football designated) TV is also fun, or a great activity for after the games.  It seems to capture the feeling of Thanksgiving as well as kick us off into the Christmas Season. 

May all of you have the happiest and most blessed of Thanksgivings that brings you and yours closer and fills all with joy!!

Forum: How does your family traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving? 

Do You Have Friends Or Family With Opposite Political Views, And Are You Able To Ever Discuss Politics With Them? 

Healthy Holiday Eating Tips for Thanksgiving

Two great new books for the holidays: ‘Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas’ (Kindle) and The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes & Favorite Traditions (Kindle).

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Obama Thanksgiving Disgrace

By Marion Algier - AskMarion

Thanksgiving is a time for family, for remembering those who founded this country… long before it was a nation, and to give thanks.

President Obama wants a seat at your table to propagandize during the Holidays… Thanksgiving and Christmas to promote his agenda, especially ObamaCare.

Daily Caller: America’s families will soon get their turkey, potatoes and cranberries at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners — but some will also get a tableside political pitch for the Obamacare insurance network.

President Barack Obama’s deputies at Organizing for Action are urging supporters to give an Obamacare pitch to their relatives during the most iconic of American family and religious events.

“Take advantage of downtime after meals or between holiday activities to start your talk,” says OFA’s marketing script, titled “Health Care for the Holidays.”

At Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, “people will be under the “misconception that the government-designed health-payment plans are too expensive,” says the presidential pitch, which was emailed out on Nov. 23.

“Tell them: There are a variety of plans available in the new health insurance marketplace, so you can pick one that fits your budget. There’s also financial assistance available based on how much you make,” says OFA’s script.

Obama’s effort to push his political priorities into Americans’ private family and religious events reflects his determination to take over the nation’s health-care sector.

Obama and his progressives allies believe that average Americans need their professional, university-learned and well-paid skills to manage their lives.  That’s very different from Americans’ evolved popular culture, which declares that families are best able to help young people develop good character.

The progressives’ determination to gatecrash iconic family events reflects self-confidence in their own expertise, their long-held pity and contempt for ordinary Americans and for the institution of family, plus their ability to attract young people to their cause.

But it also shows how Obama and his deputies are worried that their trouble-plagued Obamacare network is in peril.

The online script tries to build up the confidence of young people nervous about making the dinner-table pitch. “If you have family members who are uninsured, you can play a big part in helping them find coverage that works for them. It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you. So have the talk,” isays the pitch.

The pitch was previewed Nov. 18 by Sara El-Amine, OFA’s national training director at Organizing for Action. “We all have that uncle or that cousin who needs to be convinced or who needs health-insurance… so [OFA volunteers have begun to] practice those sometime-hard conversations,” she said in a phone call to OFA’s volunteers.

“If every person on this call committed to something small, like talking to your uninsured cousin or nephew at the Thanksgiving table, think about the impact we could have,” she said.

“We’re not going to be able to fight this fight without you,” she told the volunteers, who had gathered to hear a statement from their leader, Obama.

The online script glosses over the many problems with the Obamacare website. But it urges supporters to ask relatives to bring personal information, such as Social Security Numbers, to the dinner so they can use the family computer to join Obamacare after dessert.

The OFA script includes a short video, in which two drab parents urge their friendless young son to buy health-insurance, while they eat Obamacare-compliant small portions of drab food.

The script downplays the cost of Obamacare premiums and deductibles, which are especially high for young, healthy people.

The Obamacare system depends on the monthly Obamcare tax payments from young and healthy people, many of whom are already struggling to save money, get married, pay off student loans or even get a full-time job in stalled economy.

Young peoples’ Obamacare taxes are used to offset the huge cost of providing very expensive insurance to Democrat-leaning groups of immigrants, unskilled, unmarried or sick people.

Other regimes have used children to help government penetrate private family and religious events.

One extreme example is provided by the violent rulers of the Soviet Union, who urged the nation’s children to follow the fabricated example of 14 year-old Pavel Morozov. The boy, according to the official Soviet investigation of his death in 1932, was killed by relatives after he called the secret police to arrest his father for illegal activities. The father was shot after a trial, according to the fabricated story.

Four of his Morozov’s relatives were reputedly shot by the Soviet government to help boost the story, which was used to persuade millions of kids to be loyal to government rather than to their families.

Obama’s determination to pitch his Obamacare program is now tinged with desperation, following the public’s recognition that Obama’s university-trained aides spectacularly failed to manage a staged rollout of the Obamacare network, despite three years of planning.

In recent weeks, Obama’s ratings have plunged down to roughly 40 percent, following the public’s recognition that he lied when he said in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2103 that Americans would be able to keep their insurance plans and doctors after the Obamcare networks is established.

Many Americans’ access to their healthcare is being reduced by Obamacare’s crippled malfunctioning website, by large price spikes, by shrinking access to doctors and reduced marketplace choices.

GOP legislators are trying to develop a replacement system, that would provide large tax-breaks to help people to buy health-insurance from any qualified company in the nation. The GOP alternative would provide federal money to help sick people offset the cost of debilitating medical conditions, and allow them to keep their insurance when they lose or change jobs.

This holiday season, getting a lump of coal in your stocking might actually be preferable, considering the alternative gift from the folks at Organizing for Action is Obamacare. Their newest cult campaign is called "Health Care for the Holidays." How festive. "This holiday season, make sure to talk to your loved ones about getting covered," the group's newest ad campaign says. "These conversations don't have to be tough — OFA can help." Because your family holiday gathering should actually be an opportunity for you to register them for Obamacare, or something. OFA even provides you with these handy talking points to sell your loved ones on signing up. Follow these easy steps and you're sure to be the life of any holiday get-together:

Start by asking: "Have you thought about signing up for health insurance on the new marketplace?"

Offer to walk them through it: "Would you like to take some time with me to sign up right now?"

Ask them to make a plan, and commit to it: "When do you plan on signing up?"

Don't forget to follow up: "Have you signed up yet?"

"It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you," OFA says. "So have the talk."

See their creepy cult video ad...

Video: HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND MERRY CHRISTMAS: OBAMA CAMPAIGN WANTS YOU TO GIVE 'HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS'REALLY?

I come from a family that talks politics at the dinner table and at holiday gatherings.  We also talk religion, history and about pretty much everything.  But there are people at the table from both parties as well as independents.  There are Christians, Jews and Atheists represented.  And there are recent immigrants, immigrants from 60+ years ago and Americans who don’t know when their ancestors got here or even where from.  There are Veterans from WWII, Korea,  Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq and even some who fought on the German side in WWII and everyone speaks their mind. And there are friends from a large variety of ethnic groups and every race.  It gets pretty lively at times! But we don’t do propaganda or promoting agendas for anyone especially for Obama’s failed and power-grabbing policies. 

In a country where 85% of the people say they believe in God, regardless of their religious affiliation, President Obama has left God our of his Thanksgiving message the past 4-years; guess we will see about this year.  And this Thanksgiving many Americans are finding themselves without medical insurance because it was cancelled due to ObamaCaresome with serious illnesses, and many that used to have healthcare insurance can no longer afford it.  And now President Obama wants you to convince your friends and family to step-up and save his flawed policy on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Since when is that a holiday activity or even American??  The President’s request is disgraceful!!

What we do talk about is how grateful we are to live in America and we talk a bit about Thanksgiving and the history that surrounds it. We also talk about trivia surrounding Thanksgiving. We say a prayer, honor the troops and veterans and thank God for all our blessings.  We watch football, eat too much and we also have It’s a Wonderful Life playing on (a non-football designated) TV.  It seems to capture the feeling of Thanksgiving as well as kick us off into the Christmas Season. 

We also exchange recipes, talk about years past and try to involve our children in our traditions as well as inform them about our past, family and country, like both Sarah Palin and Ann Romney talk about in their new books: ‘Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas’ (Kindle) and The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes & Favorite Traditions (Kindle).  We serve the same menu whether it is only immediate family or we are seating 50, our largest celebration, but extra dishes are always welcome!

During dessert we have added a grateful bowl tradition to our Thanksgiving Celebration. It is a great addition to your festivities! This year as everyone arrives for Thanksgiving Dinner, have each of them fill out a grateful note, to be deposited in a bowl, basket or container.  After dessert has been served, (with the TV temporarily turned off if possible) have everyone gather within earshot and have someone draw out the slips of paper one by one and have a designated person read them aloud.  It will give your Thanksgiving a very different feeling.

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The Thanksgiving Bowl

May all of you have the happiest and most blessed of Thanksgivings that brings you and yours closer and fills all with joy!!

Forum: How does your family traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving? 

Keeping Pets Safe for Thanksgiving: The “Not So Safe” or No-No Pet Food List 

How to keep your dog safe during the Thanksgiving holidays

Monday, November 25, 2013

One Giant Leap Towards War

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – the NoisyRoom – Cross-Posted at AskMarion

My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds. — Neville Chamberlain

Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure — a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon. While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back. — Barack Obama

So much for the US’ non-existent red line and the numerous UN Security Council resolutions that required Iran to halt nuclear enrichment. Now Iran gets six months to finish their nuclear preparations with no sanctions and in fact, with 4.2 billion dollars in additional aid from the US. We are actively funding and assisting with a planned extermination of the Jewish State. In the last great war, we fought against the NAZIs, who allied with radical Islam. This time around, we have switched sides.

I have no love for Bill Kristol, but his quote on this is timely and apropos:

What will the Obama administration’s leading lights say when this becomes obvious? When he sees his grand diplomatic achievement crumbling around him, will Secretary of State John Kerry join his counterpart, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in sighing and exclaiming with pithy eloquence, “Uh-oh”? Will President Barack Obama offer the same apology to the Israelis that he has to Americans who held insurance policies they liked: “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me”? As the implementation of the Iran agreement goes the way of the implementation of Obamacare, will his reaction be to say, “We’re going to have to, obviously, re-market and re-brand”?

The president and his colleagues will presumably say these sorts of things. But of course it will be too late. Congress can legislate to try to make up for the failure of Obama’s assurances about health insurance, and to try to help Americans get their old policies back. But Congress won’t be able to legislate to undo a nuclear Iran. The American people can ignore Obama’s efforts to re-market and re-brand Obamacare, and instead insist on its repeal. But the American people won’t be able to repeal Iran’s nuclear weapons once Iran has them.

Indeed. As the nukes begin to fly, will Obama feign shock and quietly applaud? I believe so, even when the EMPs strike America. His allegiances are to communists and Islamists, not to America. Israel will stand alone and fight it seems. My money is always on God’s people. For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be an American. May God forgive us for what our ruler has wrought.

Video: Barack Obama: Iran Has a Right to Nuclear Energy

Video: UNREAL... Nuclear Deal Includes $4.2 Billion in Aid Relief to Iran

As my friend Maggie Thornton so aptly put it, Obama and the European leaders have just given the green light to Iran to kill the Jews and I might add, attack the US. This will be war in our time, count on it:

Representatives of Iran and Western powers reached an interim deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear program early Sunday morning, after a weekend of intensive talks in Geneva.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Yes, we have a deal,” as he walked past reporters crowding the hotel lobby where marathon negotiations had taken place over the past five days. Asked if there was a deal, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said “Yes” and gave a thumbs up sign.

Diplomats refused to spell out details of the talks, but a senior Obama administration official said that the West had not conceded an Iranian right to produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment, a key sticking point in previous negotiations.

The official said the deal included an agreement that Iran would halt progress on its nuclear program, including a plutonium reactor at the Arak facility. The deal also calls on Iran to neutralize its 20-percent-enriched uranium stockpiles. Tehran has also agreed to intrusive inspections under the terms of the deal.

According to a Western diplomat quoted by Reuters, the deal would grant Iran access to $4.2 billion in foreign exchange.

In a statement Sunday morning, US President Barack Obama said the deal opened up a “real opportunity to achieve a peaceful settlement.”

“It won’t be easy,” he said, “and huge challenge remain ahead, but through strong and principled diplomacy, the United States will do our part” to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Obama acknowledged that the deal may be hard to stomach for some of Washington’s allies in the Middle East, saying, Israel and the Gulf countries, “have good reasons to be skeptical.”

The West has been seeking a six-month agreement to partially freeze Iran’s nuclear program while offering Iran incentives through limited sanctions relief. If the interim deal holds, the parties would negotiate final-stage deals to ensure Iran does not build nuclear weapons.

The agreement built on the momentum of the historic dialogue opened during September’s annual UN gathering, which included a 15-minute phone conversation between Obama and Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, after three decades of US-Iranian estrangement.

“The Iranian people’s vote for moderation and constructive engagement, plus tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons,” Rouhani said in a statement Sunday morning.

“Agreement in Geneva: first step makes world safer. More work now,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a comment tweeted by the State Department Sunday morning. The statement was retweeted by Rouhani’s account.

Kerry and his counterparts from Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany headed for Geneva Friday after diplomats said Zarif and EU representative Catherine Ashton had made significant progress.

A previous round of talks between Iran and the six world powers ended November 10 with no deal, even after Kerry, Lavrov, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany and a Chinese deputy foreign minister flew in and attempted to bridge differences.

The United States and its negotiating partners had signaled they were ready to ease some sanctions in return for a first-step deal that starts to put limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

They wanted Iran to stop enriching to a level higher than its main stockpile and only a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium as part of such a deal. They also sought to limit overall enrichment, as well as a formulation that would reduce the proliferation danger from the Arak reactor, which, if completed, would produce enough plutonium for up to two weapons.

But they insist that the most severe penalties — on Tehran’s oil exports and banking sector — will remain until the two sides reach a comprehensive agreement to minimize Iran’s nuclear arms-making capacity.

No details on relief offered have been made public. And the US administration has not commented on reports from congressional officials that Obama’s team estimates Iran could get $6-10 billion in benefits over six months for rolling back its nuclear program.

Several US senators — both Democrat and Republican — have voiced displeasure with the parameters of the potential agreement, arguing that the US and its partners are offering too much for something short of a full freeze on uranium enrichment.

Iran evidently got everything they wanted and more, including money to speed along their evil little venture. I expected this and even I am shocked. Iran never even slowed down. They were confident of the outcome, one way or the other. They are on a mission from their God — one for the Mahdi that ends in blood across the globe. It would seem the leaders of the world are cool with that, especially Obama. In fact, Russia is funding two new nuclear power plants as I write this. You knew the Ruskies were behind Iran, right? I’ve stated it enough on this blog. Russia is using Iran to do its dirty work for them and Obama knows it.

And its not just Iran and Russia. China is stepping it up and making a move as well:

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday the United States is “deeply concerned” over China’s move to establish an air defense zone over a string of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

“We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region,” Hagel said in a statement. “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”

The Associated Press reports that the Chinese Defense Ministry issued a map showing the new East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, which encompasses what the Chinese call the Diaoyu islands. The move is seen as an aggressive step against Japan, which bought what it calls the Senkaku islands from private owners in 2012. The islands are uninhabited, but are believed to rest near large underwater oil reserves. Taiwan also claims possession of the islands.

Hagel said the map will have no effect on how the United States conducts military operations in the area, and that concerns are being conveyed to China “through diplomatic and military channels.” Hagel also said the United States believes that the Senkaku islands are included as part of Japan in the U.S. Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.

China worries the US, but not enough to actually do anything. It’s all lip service and faux concern. As far as the US is concerned, China can do whatever she wants. After all, she owns us right?

You would never know we are on the brink of war as our dufus Kerry slaps backs and shakes hands with monsters — takes one to know one, I guess:

After Ashton read out a statement on the deal to the cameras at the United Nations in Geneva, ministers appeared elated. Ashton and Kerry hugged each other, and Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shook hands. Minutes later, as the Iranian delegation posed for photos, Zarif and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius approached each other and embraced.

A White House fact sheet detailed what Iran could obtain:

  • Potential access to $1.5 billion in revenue from trade in gold and precious metals and the suspension of some sanctions on Iran’s auto sector, and its petrochemical exports;
  • Allow purchases of Iranian oil to remain at their currently significantly reduced levels. “$4.2 billion from these sales will be allowed to be transferred in installments if, and as, Iran fulfills its commitments,” the fact sheet said;
  • License safety-related repairs and inspections inside Iran for certain Iranian airlines.

Most of the sanctions, Kerry said, would remain in place.

“The approximately $7 billion in relief is a fraction of the costs that Iran will continue to incur during this first phase under the sanctions that will remain in place,” the White House said. “The vast majority of Iran’s approximately $100 billion in foreign exchange holdings are inaccessible or restricted.”

I agree with General Thomas G. McInerney that the US now faces the greatest threat it has seen militarily since 1930:

Video: Gen. Thomas G. McInerney --- Arutz Sheva

The Jew hatred is ratcheting up in the UN and across Europe. You also see it in the knock out games here in the US and in our government. Now, the United Nations has barred Jews from attending a Monday meeting of the United Nations Division of ‘Palestinian’ Rights reports Adam Kredo at the Washington Free Beacon:

The Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust (IHRH), a U.N.-approved NGO group, claims the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights (UNDPR) has unjustly barred 18 pro-Israel Jews from attending a Monday event marking the “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.”

U.N. security officials initially had granted the Touro Institute credentials permitting 18 Birthright Israel alumni to attend the daylong series of meetings, which will be attended by the U.N.’s most high-level officials.

However, those credentials were quickly revoked at the behest of the UNDPR, according to IHRH officials and e-mails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The incident has sparked a pointed back-and-forth between U.N. officials and IHRH director Anne Bayefsky, who accuses the body of allowing the UNDPR to effectively bar pro-Israel groups from attending major events regarding the Palestinians.

Bayefsky is concerned that this behavior is part of a larger trend by the Palestinians to control the narrative at the U.N. and prevent dissenting voices from being heard.

Bayefsky has registered her concerns with multiple U.S. officials and even U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who has yet to reply.

“This is the face of modern anti-Semitism by the U.N.,” Bayefsky told the Free Beacon when asked about the days-long back-and-forth. “This is the how discrimination works in the real-life operation of the U.N. Where is Ambassador Samantha Power?”

Kerry sold Israel and all of us down the river as Weasel Zippers put it. True that. But this was decided upon long ago. Valerie Jarrett has been holding secret talks with the Iranians (her family is from Iran) for a year. Obama has never been Israel’s friend – he has always been their enemy. And by the way, they lied about these secret negotiations. But that’s okay, they were only lying to the infidels:

WASHINGTON – The United States and Iran secretly engaged in a series of high-level, face-to-face talks over the past year, in a high-stakes diplomatic gamble by the Obama administration that paved the way for the historic deal sealed early Sunday in Geneva aimed at slowing Tehran’s nuclear program, The Associated Press has learned.

The discussions were kept hidden even from America’s closest friends, including its negotiating partners and Israel, until two months ago, and that may explain how the nuclear accord appeared to come together so quickly after years of stalemate and fierce hostility between Iran and the West.

But the secrecy of the talks may also explain some of the tensions between the U.S. and France, which earlier this month balked at a proposed deal, and with Israel, which is furious about the agreement and has angrily denounced the diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

President Barack Obama personally authorized the talks as part of his effort — promised in his first inaugural address — to reach out to a country the State Department designates as the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism.

The talks were held in the Middle Eastern nation of Oman and elsewhere with only a tight circle of people in the know, the AP learned. Since March, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Jake Sullivan, Vice President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy adviser, have met at least five times with Iranian officials.

The last four clandestine meetings, held since Iran’s reform-minded President Hassan Rouhani was inaugurated in August, produced much of the agreement later formally hammered out in negotiations in Geneva among the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran, said three senior administration officials. All spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss by name the highly sensitive diplomatic effort.

The AP was tipped to the first U.S.-Iranian meeting in March shortly after it occurred, but the White House and State Department disputed elements of the account and the AP could not confirm the meeting. The AP learned of further indications of secret diplomacy in the fall and pressed the White House and other officials further. As the Geneva talks appeared to be reaching their conclusion, senior administration officials confirmed to the AP the details of the extensive outreach.

I am sooo freaking tired of the lies. Just bring on the Hunger Games already.

There are those in Congress that are stating this is the best deal we could get. Now, that’s hilarious. It’s the best deal we could get, because Obama arranged it that way, you morons.

Daniel Pipes put it best:

This wretched deal offers one occasion when comparison with Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 is valid. An overeager Western government, blind to the evil cunning of the regime it so much wants to work with, appeases it with concessions that will come back to haunt it. Geneva and Nov. 24 will be remembered along with Munich and Sep. 29.

Barack Obama has made many foreign policy errors in the past five years, but this is the first to rank as a disaster. Along with the health care law, it is one of his worst-ever steps. John Kerry is a too-eager puppy looking for a deal at any price.

With the U.S. government forfeiting its leadership role, the Israelis, Saudis, and perhaps others are left to cope with a bad situation made worse. War has now become a much more likely prospect. Shame on we Americans for re-electing Barack Obama.

As the world charges into the breach of a Neville Chamberlain in Munich in 1938 moment, the US has taken one giant leap towards world war.

The Wrap at Ask Marion 11.17.13 Thru 11.24.13

Its a Wrap

Our weekly wrap… Sunday to Sunday… Please share! Ask Marion

Quote of the Day: “Over the weekend Valerie Jarrett helped her homeland, Iran, spike the Football” 

Report: Valerie Jarrett Led Secret Negotiations with Iran for Past Year

Also See:

Book of the Week:Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas’ (Kindle)

We are living in amazing times, good and bad, the kind of times that truly try men’s (and women’s) souls and that make or break countries and shape (or reshape) societies. Please get involved, pray for guidance, prepare for the worst (for yourself and to help others), then educate yourself and share what you learn with as many people as you can. All our futures depend on it!!

Its_a_Wrap

Be sure to come visit us here at Ask Marion regularly and subscribe to receive the latest posts first… as well as visit: Just One More Pet, True Health Is True Wealth!!, Knowledge Is Power, and the Daily Thought Pad.

Embedded image permalink

And you can bet that she hasn’t changed her opinion!!

Union members are secretly signing petition to defund #ObamaCare You can sign up also at http://Dontfundit.com

Liberal Bill Maher actually said ‘Big Mouth’ Bill Clinton, ‘The Clintons, Are A Pre Existing Condition’. 1st time I can agree with Maher http://wp.me/1dXJI

List of Twitter Accounts for the “House of Repshttp://patriotjournalist.com/usHouse.php?src=Home … and “US Senatehttp://PatriotJournalist.com/usSenate.php

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Under Obama, Your Electricity Costs Have Already Necessarily Skyrocketed

By Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – NoisyRoom – Cross-Posted at AskMarion:

Actually, in the last 10 years, electricity costs have gone up 42%. I noticed, did you? While not all the blame can be put on Obama (Bush was enabling the EPA as well), a great deal of it can and who can forget his famous quote on coal and energy in general:

From CNS News:

Video: Obama: My Plan Makes Electricity Rates Skyrocket

The price of electricity hit a record for the month of October, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That made October the eleventh straight month when the average price of electricity hit or matched the record level for that month.

The average price of electricity in October was 13.2 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH), up from 12.8 cents per KWH in October 2012—and up from 9.3 cents per KWH in October 2003.

Americans now pay 42 percent more for electricity than they did a decade ago.

Tighten your belts comrades… this is just the warm-up. In 2012, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity came out with a report that stated that 204 coal powered plants would shut down over the next 5 years:

More than 200 coal-based generating plants are scheduled to shut down in the next three to five years, representing 31,000 MW of electric generating capacity, due in part to regulations issued by the EPA, according to an analysis released this week by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

The closures, which are spread across 25 states, are equivalent to shutting down the electricity supply of Ohio, the coal industry group said. Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina are expected to see the most closures, with a total of 103 coal units scheduled to shut down, according to the analysis.

The latest casualty of the EPA involves the Tennessee Valley Authority and 8 of their coal-fired power plants:

The nation’s largest public utility is shuttering eight coal-fired boilers at plants in Alabama and Kentucky, and more reductions could be in store over the next few years.

The Tennessee Valley Authority relied on coal to generate a majority of its electricity for decades, but at a Thursday board meeting in Oxford, Miss., CEO Bill Johnson said he hopes to reduce coal to just 20 percent of the utility’s portfolio over the next decade. It currently stands at 38 percent.

Johnson said the change is needed because power demand is down and environmental regulations are becoming stricter.

And a raft of pre-planned excuses are already bubbling to the top: the plants would be shuttered anyway at the end of their lives; we are going to natural gas; and my personal favorite with an ironic twist is that demand is flat or down for electricity. Right.

Whereas natural gas is cheaper, there are many monied interests behind its push. Look into who it benefits folks. Eventually, after retooling, a lot of money and time, the cost may come back down, although I would not hold my breath in Progressive America. Many, many jobs will be lost as well, but since the government lies about everything these days, manipulates the hell out of the unemployment stats and Wall Street is nothing more than unicorn rainbow poo… everything should be coming up corpse flowers shortly. Many of the people pushing this have been bought out and are betraying communities they have served for generations. Welcome to Obama’s Marxism.

It would seem elected officials are now espousing they are just glad the Marxists didn’t take it all. How pathetic:

Rick Newman is the top elected official in Muhlenberg County, where the Paradise plant is located. His father was a coal miner for 32 years, and he was upset by the decision to shut down two units there.

“I am sort of sick to my stomach,” he said. “Coal really is our legacy, for generations here. It seems to be disappearing and disappearing as days go by.”

Newman said that about half the coal burned at Paradise is mined there in the county, so the closure could affect mining jobs as well.

“This is going to be a blow, and I feel sorry for all those connected to coal,” he said. “But they could’ve closed the whole plant down. We’re thankful for that.”

TVA board member Joe Ritch, of Huntsville, Ala., said it was a difficult decision to close units.

“As painful as it is, it’s the right thing to do.”

He said saving a few jobs now would reduce TVA’s competitiveness for years to come.

And so goes Obama’s war on coal, energy and capitalism. Recognize your country anymore? How are you getting by with inflation, increased energy and gas costs and now Obamacare? Pissed yet? Scared yet? Hungry yet? And don’t be quick to say McConnell tried to stop this. Did he really? Just how hard did he try? This is happening in his state, he is wealthy and has a great deal of power there. I smell corrupt bureaucrats on both sides of the aisle here. Betrayal wears a mask called Progressivism. I wonder if tar and feathers are environmentally friendly. 

Under Obama, your electricity costs have already necessarily skyrocketed. But this is just the beginning. Equality and poverty for all in Obama’s Amerika.

*Perhaps it is time to take another look at McConnell in general, as well, for there are some who say that the GOP strategy for 2016 All Hinges on Kentucky and Defeating Mitch McConnell

Friday, November 22, 2013

Remembering JFK 50-Years Later

Everyone who was alive the day of the Kennedy assassination knows exactly where they were the moment they heard the news that JFK was shot.  The days of coverage are permanently imprinted on their minds… from Jackie crawling out onto the trunk of the limousine to recover the top of her husband’s head, to her blood stained suit worn at LBJ’s swearing-in on Air Force One, to the single black rider-less horse, to the vision of young John John saluting his father’s casket.

Here is a story of a woman who has made a lifetime hobby of researching the possibilities of what really happened that day and who was behind it.

"Kennedy Slain by CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons: President shot 129 times from 43 different angles."

Seeking the truth behind the tragedy of Kennedy's assassination

Barb Junkkarinen, a self-described JFK conspiracy theorist and self-taught scholar, has immersed herself in the grittiest details of an assassination that continues to fascinate Americans half a century later. (John M. Glionna / Los Angeles Times)

LA Times: Like most Americans, Barb Junkkarinen thinks there's more to the Kennedy assassination story. She uses hands-on research to bring reason to a debate rife with conspiracy theories.

By John M. Glionna - Reporting from Hillsboro, Ore. - Nov. 22, 2013

Barb Junkkarinen emerges from the bedroom with the gift her husband and son gave her one Christmas.

It's a 1940 Italian-made rifle, like the one Lee Harvey Oswald fired from a sixth-floor window at the Texas School Book Depository, killing President Kennedy on an autumn afternoon in Dallas. He'd spirited the weapon into the building by disguising it as a curtain rod.

"This is how Oswald carried his package," she says, holding the butt of the rifle low, the way witnesses described. "He had it cupped in his hand, like this."

Junkkarinen's husband, Juha, and son, Jason, nod at the demonstration they've seen again and again. They help adjust the unloaded weapon just so. They point out there's also a scope and ammunition.

Over more than half her lifetime, Barb Junkkarinen has made a hobby of delving into rumors, theories and contradictory facts that swirl around a killing that continues to titillate — and divide — Americans on the 50th anniversary of the events of Nov. 22, 1963.

In the world of online Kennedy discussion groups, she learned "lurkers" tune in but never post; "fringies" attribute a political motive to every turn; false witnesses claim to have been places they haven't. Those who believe Oswald acted alone are "lone-nutters."

And people like Junkkarinen are CTs, for conspiracy theorists.

She has amassed a trove of artifacts: autopsy reports, investigation documents, shelves of books and photos, and a model of the Lincoln Continental limousine Kennedy rode in when he was shot in Dealey Plaza. There's also a life-sized plastic model of a human skull she uses to make detailed arguments about bullet entry and exit.

Inside her Portland-area home office, she avidly dissects the latest theories of the paranoid and the emotionally unstable.

They include those who believe Kennedy was first hit in the throat with a bullet made of ice; that a man in Dealey Plaza fatally wounded the president with a dart fired from an umbrella; and that J. Edgar Hoover attended a party the night before the assassination celebrating JFK's imminent demise.

Junkkarinen rejects those theories. She blames gangsters and spies.

Junkkarinen, 62, can still picture where she heard the news: She was 12 years old, a seventh-grader sitting in the second seat in the row by the window at a Catholic school in San Diego. A superior whispered into the ear of her teacher, whose freckled face instantly turned red.

The nuns instructed students to say Hail Marys on Kennedy's behalf. Later, after Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, Junkkarinen heard her father say, "Something's just not right here."

She recalls thinking: "Nothing's right about any of it, Dad."

By age 15, she'd read the lengthy report published by the Warren Commission, which had conducted the investigation of the killing. She graduated high school and studied to become a medical laboratory technician. She married Juha and moved to Oregon. She would read each new book that purported to solve the Kennedy assassination.

Seconds after the fatal shot, a Secret Service agent climbs aboard the president's limousine as the first lady, her husband slumped over in the backseat, crawls onto the trunk lid. (Ike Altgens / Associated Press)

The year 1980 brought a turning point: "Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy" by David Lifton, which focused on medical evidence she understood, with descriptions from attending doctors on the locations of JFK's wounds. Junkkarinen checked it out of the library and read it three times.

She eventually dismissed Lifton's central premise — that the president's body had been altered to suggest gunshots fired from the rear, as a way to help prove the government's argument that Oswald alone killed JFK. But the book led her to pursue theories of her own.

Junkkarinen came to believe JFK's death was not the result of a lone killer, a view shared by many. A nationwide Associated Press-GfK poll of 1,004 adults in April found that 59% thought multiple people participated in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy, while 24% thought Oswald acted alone. About 16% were unsure.

Junkkarinen argues there were two conspiracies.

The point is not to say 'I got it!' We simply want to know the truth." 

— Barb Junkkarinen

The first, she says, involved a network of gangsters or spies who executed the killing. The second was a coverup by Cold War-era government officials convinced that Americans were incapable of understanding how such a network could assassinate the president.

A lawyer who has written a book about conspiracies says such theories apply a sensible narrative to troubling historical puzzles like the Kennedy killing, which was the first to mesmerize the entire nation on television.

"There's the suggestion everything changed after the JFK assassination," says Mark Fenster, author of "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture."

And the hero in any conspiracy narrative, says Fenster: "The person who solves the puzzle."

Junkkarinen says she's not trying to be a hero. "We work quietly and diligently," she says. "The point is not to say 'I got it!' We simply want to know the truth."

Junkkarinen's research has taken her to Kennedy archives and to Dealey Plaza. She speaks at conferences and advises fellow conspiracy theorists on their theories.

"In a field known for hysterics, Barb is grounded," said Josiah Thompson, a fellow conspiracy theorist and author of the 1967 book "Six Seconds in Dallas." Thompson is a former Yale philosophy professor who became a private investigator.  

TIMELINE: THE JFK ASSASSINATION

Timeline: A look at the events following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Above, Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is shot at point-blank range by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. (Bob Jackson / Dallas Times-Herald / Associated Press)

"She patrols down the center of the freeway of reasoned debate on this topic," he said, "pointing out all the nuttiness along the way."

In one paper published by a group devoted to Kennedy assassination followers, Junkkarinen explains that the small gadgets found in Dealey Plaza today are not government eavesdropping devices, as an online poster claimed, but water sprinkler sensors.

Junkkarinen's family and friends have supported her work. Both husband and son have served as presidential stand-ins, lying atop a gurney with a taped-on plastic wound, when she needed a model for presentations with titles such as "The Back of Kennedy's Head."

During one talk at her home, friends flinched when she produced the autopsy photos. A psychologist had trouble sleeping for weeks.

"I guess she didn't realize all that goes into an autopsy," Junkkarinen says.

Sitting at her desk, Junkkarinen surveys half a dozen storage boxes of Kennedy materials spread across the floor.

"Now, where is that skull?" she says of the item she ordered from a medical supply company. She says it provides context, like the carbine.

When Junkkarinen got the Oswald rifle, her mother asked, "What do you want with that? Let the man be dead."

View map on latimes.com

Junkkarinen took the rifle, widely known as a Mannlicher-Carcano, to a shooting range and fired it. The weapon "kicks like a mule," she says. While she believes Oswald carried the gun into the book depository, she calls him a pawn and theorizes he never fired the weapon that day.

She says shooting the rifle has bolstered her contention that it could not have been fired three times in just seconds, as the government claims. "That's my approach," she says. "I want to see and hold things for myself."

She never finds the skull but shows off a gift from Jason — a mock front page from the satirical publication the Onion with the headline: "Kennedy Slain by CIA, Mafia, Castro, LBJ, Teamsters, Freemasons: President shot 129 times from 43 different angles."

Junkkarinen smiles. She gets the humor.

Like the late-night phone call from a woman with a cigarette-tinged voice: "I just want you to know you're right," she whispered, "and I can prove it." Or the day Jason, now 26, came home from school with a question from his teacher, Sister Mary Ann:

"Why would a second-grader be able to spell the word 'assassination'?"

Still so many questions and no real answers…

Related: 

JACKIE KENNEDY: LYNDON JOHNSON KILLED JFK

PBS Whitewashes Oswald’s KGB Connections 

Facts about JFK

Who Killed the Kennedys?  – Some Great Links and Resources  

For Those Looking To Do Some of Their Own Research:

Who Really Killed Kennedy?: 50 Years Later: Stunning New Revelations About the JFK Assassination (Kindle)

JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President (Kindle)

The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination (Kindle)

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Kindle)

JFK, Conservative (Kindle)

Killing JFK: 50 Years, 50 Lies: From the Warren Commission to Bill O'Reilly, A History of Deceit in the Kennedy Assassination

JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy

The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ (Kindle)

We Were There: Revelations from the Dallas Doctors Who Attended to JFK on November 22, 1963 (Kindle)

They Killed Our President: 63 Reasons to Believe There Was a Conspiracy to Assassinate JFK

Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK (Kindle)

JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle)

Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect President Kennedy (Kindle)

Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (Kindle)

SPECIAL: Jacqueline Kennedy - In Her Own Words: 9/13/11 – Video

The Kennedys [Blu-ray] – Mini-Series Video

JFK [Blu-ray] - Video

The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results 11.22.13… Remembering JFK

Jack-y-Jackie

Remembering JFK

Once again, the Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.- Abraham Lincoln

There’s a sucker born every minute, and some of them are twins – P.T. Barnum

These are rare, valuable magic beans, I say! – from “Jack In The Beanstalk”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/DebateBetweenCatholicsAndOrientalChristiansInThe13thCenturyAcre1290.jpg/800px-DebateBetweenCatholicsAndOrientalChristiansInThe13thCenturyAcre1290.jpg

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Roundup – ObamaCare’s Epic Fail is my roundup and analysis of the continued unfolding of the ObamaCare debacle and the president’s ‘fix,  undoubtedly the biggest and most expensive scam ever foisted on the American public.  Here’s a slice:

This gets funnier and funnier the longer it goes.

After the president’s pathetic performance last week, the blowback is almost sit-com worthy.

As you now know, what the president actually said yesterday is that he’s not giving individuals the same delay he gave corporations or the same subsidies and waivers he gave congress and certain favored corporations and government bureaucracies, he’s merely prepared to wink and look the other way and indulge in what he called ‘selective enforcement’ …and just until after the 2014 midterms.

The president is trying to pretend that insurance companies are free to offer the old policies, but, they aren’t. And aside from the financial impact and the bureaucratic snafu involved inturning the clok back, they don’t wish to break the law…which has not been repealed. What President Obama is hoping is that the anger of the low information voters will be directed on to the insurance companies and that people will still be forced into the expensive, hidden-subsidy exchanges. After which, he can say ‘hey it isn’t my fault.’ That’s his thinking, but I have doubts it will fly. Three years ago, maybe but not now.

The insurance companies were, to be polite about it, not exactly pleased. They spent millions of dollars complying with ObamaCare, antagonized a number of their customers and now the Prevaricator-in-Chief expects them spend millions more to rewrite and recreate insurance plans that no longer exist and are still illegal policies under the law and expose themselves to litigation! Given this president’s credibility and his tendency to change his mind depending on which way the wind is blowing, they’d be fools to trust his word and expose themselves legally.

Only an arrogant and not particularly bright you know what would expect that.And the industry is reacting as you might expect. Chris Wallace read this statement from the trade association of American insurance companies:

Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law, Obamacare, could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers. Premiums have already been set for next year, based on assumptions of when consumers will be transitioning to the marketplaces.

If now fewer younger and healthier people choose to purchase health coverage in the exchanges, premiums will increase, and there will be fewer choices for consumers.

And the state insurance commissioners aren’t thrilled either:

“For three years, state insurance regulators have been working to adapt to the Affordable Care Act in a way that best meets the needs of consumers in each state,” the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said in a statement. “It is unclear how, as a practical matter, the changes proposed … by the president can be put into effect.”

Thus far, the insurance commissioners of Washington state, D.C., Arkansas, and Vermont, all Democrats, have rejected Obama’s attempt to gut the exchanges with his ‘fix’ .

More at the link

In our non-Council category, the winner was the one and only Mark Steyn with Thus Spake Obama  submitted by The Noisy Room. It’s hard to top Mr. Steyn when he’s on top of his game, and he certainly is here, commenting  on President latest attempt to rule by diktat. Do read it.

OK, here are this week’s full results. Only Bookworm Room was unable to vote this week, but was not subject to the normal 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

Honorable Mentions

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

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