SHARED FROM MYCHAL MASSIE

Obama's terrorist attack on our minds

AN EXCELLENT ESSAY BY MYCHAL MASSIE

Timeline Photos

UPDATED DEFINITION OF INSANITY

INSANITY:  in-san-i-ty (noun)

Voting for Barack Hussein Obama again expecting different results.

COUNT ME IN

SAVING AMERICA'S AUTO INDUSTRY FOR CHINA

In another potential blow for the president's Ohio reelection campaign, Jeep, the rugged brand President Obama once said symbolized American freedom, is considering giving up on the United States and shifting production to China.

Such a move would crash the economy in towns like Toledo, Ohio, where Jeeps are made and supplied, and rob the community of the economic security they thought Obama's auto bailout assured them.

Obama is such a fan of Jeep that he included a picture of himself speaking at the Toledo plant in his newly released second term agenda binder. In his address to the plant in 2011, Obama said, "I just took a short tour of the plant and watched some of you putting the finishing touches on the Wrangler. Now, as somebody reminded, I need to call it the 'iconic' Wrangler. And that's appropriate because when you think about what Wrangler has always symbolized. It symbolized freedom, adventure, hitting the open road, never looking back."

THIS IS HOW IT IS

Well boys & girls, I just could not remain silent on this issue any longer…several of my female friends & colleagues are doing a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth (bless their hearts) under the premise that we have to vote for Obama because anyone else in the White House will take absolute control over their bodies and women will no longer have any say in their own health care issues…well boys & girls, I am here to tell you that is false, and even more importantly, this election is about a whole lot more than just our body parts. There, I’m all better now.

FOR MY COLLEAGUES IN CALIFORNIA

RECENT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION

Are we now living in a society that is filled with people who would not directly steal from their neighbors but who are willing to demand that the government steal it for them?

ATTENTION BOYS AND GIRLS

When you are voting, watch your vote carefully and make sure it registers properly. If you have problems, report to the election judge immediately.

WAKE UP AMERICA

Barack Obama in bold and brazen fashion is claiming the US economy has improved since his inauguration. I hate to foil his fantasy, but the president needs to stop day dreaming.

Despite what the lamestream media is telling us, the unemployment crisis is far worse now than it was when Obama took office.

Home values have plummeted, health insurance premiums have increased, gas has gone through the roof, the number of Americans living in poverty is exponentially increasing and the national debt has increased by a whopping five trillion dollars.

The following are 18 stats showing that the economy has not improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States . . .

#1 Today there are 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

#2 When Barack Obama was elected, the percentage of unemployed Americans that had been out of work for more than 52 weeks was less than 15%. Today, it is above 30%.

#3 There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in America today than there were when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

#4 When Barack Obama first took office, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

#5 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is hovering close to an all-time record high.

#6 During the Obama administration, worker health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent.

#7 Since Barack Obama has been president, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has increased by 90 percent.

#8 Since Barack Obama has been president, home values in the United States have declined by another 13 percent.

#9 Under Barack Obama, new home sales in the U.S. set a brand new all-time record low in 2009, they set a brand new all-time record low again in 2010, and they set a brand new all-time record low once again during 2011.

#10 Since Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by more than 6 million.

#11 Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased from 32 million to 46 million.

#12 The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.

#13 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans living in “extreme poverty” is now sitting at an all-time high.

#14 When Barack Obama first took office, an ounce of gold was going for about $850. Today an ounce of gold costs more than $1700 an ounce.

#15 Since Barack Obama became president, the size of the U.S. national debt has increased by 44 percent.

#16 During Barack Obama’s first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#17 During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.

#18 The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.

When evaluating the health of the American economy, short-term economic numbers don’t tell the whole story. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they do down.

Instead, the key is to look at the long-term balance sheet numbers. When you do that, it quickly becomes apparent how appalling our economic decline has been.

The size of federal government debt is exploding, state and local governments all over the country are drowning in debt, our collective national wealth is decreasing and our ability to produce new wealth is also being reduced as our economic infrastructure is systematically gutted.

We proved we weren't racist four years ago, now let’s prove we’re not completely stupid. Vote for Mitt Romney on 06 Nov.

WELL, THIS MAKES THE CHEESE A BIT MORE BINDING

The Obama campaign has finally released the transcript of his endorsement interview with the Des Moines Register--and it is clear why they were reluctant do do so: the President says he has "absolutely" no regrets about ignoring the economy during the first two years of his term, when Democrats controlled Congress.

Here is the key part of the exchange:

Q: Yes, that begs a question from us, Mr. President. Some say you had a super majority in your first two years and had this incredible opportunity, but because of what you were talking about, as you were running, you had to go to get Obamacare done. Do you have any regrets taking on some of the economic issues, some of the issues that we're talking about for your second term, that when you had the chance, so to speak, during your first -- do you have any regrets that you didn't do that at that time?

THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely not, Laura. Remember the context. First of all, Mitch McConnell has imposed an ironclad filibuster from the first day I was in office. And that's not speculation. I mean, this is -- it’s amply recorded. He gave a speech saying, my task is to defeat the President. 

So we were able to pass emergency action with the stimulus, but we had to get two votes from Republicans...

Obama's response is misleading. Republicans made no such filibuster threat at the outset. He refers to remarks made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in late 2010, not in late 2008 or early 2009. Republicans in fact attempted to work together with the then-popular Obama before being rebuffed ("I won").

In addition, as journalist Bob Woodward points out in The Price of Politics, McConnell's remark about his "top priority" being to deny Obama a second term was taken out of context (McConnell had stressed a desire to work with Obama if he changed his approach). Even MSNBC's Morning Joe felt compelled to apologize on the air for misreporting McConnell's remark. Obama has no such scruples, and simply repeats the lie as an excuse.

Even if they had wanted to, Republicans could not have imposed a filibuster anyway. Obama is correct that Democrats only had a filibuster-proof majority for a period of several months in 2009-2010, but that was no great obstacle to his agenda. The additional vote or two needed to break Republican opposition to the stimulus, for example, had been remarkably easy to obtain. And when Republicans did recover their ability to filibuster, with the surprise election of Scott Brown from Massachusetts in 2010, Democrats simply used reconciliation to pass Obamacare, avoiding the filibuster altogether. The fact is that Obama wielded power not seen in decades.

Obama attempts to describe the overhaul of the health care system as "a central economic priority for the country," but that is a giant stretch, and is an opinion not widely shared by Americans at the time--or since.

In fact, it is arguable that the passage of Obamacare dramatically slowed job creation and economic recovery. A graph from the Heritage Foundation makes a compelling case that Obamacare was a dramatic economic drag:

No regrets for putting the economy on hold for two years while pursuing a deeply ideological, profoundly unpopular, and completely ineffective agenda. No wonder voters are skeptical of Obama's second-term agenda.

FIVE PINOCCHIO'S FOR THIS ONE

WHY PLANNED PARENTHOOD WILL NOT PROVIDE MAMMOGRAMS

President Barack Obama, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, and countless supporters have claimed again and again that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms. President Obama did so in the second presidential debate, describing the “millions of women all across the country who rely on Planned Parenthood for . . . mammograms.”

The problem is the mammogram claim is untrue, as was just cleverly highlighted by “Schedule Your Imaginary Mammogram Day,” a phone campaign that found no Planned Parenthood clinics capable of breast cancer screening. Planned Parenthood has neither the license nor the machines. The most the abortion giant has ever done is refer women to outside mammogram providers, filling the role of the Yellow Pages or Google.

Yet the claim is persistently made, despite its falsehood, in order to rebrand Planned Parenthood not as the abortion business it is, but instead as a health care provider. 

Key to that health care narrative is the claim that Planned Parenthood provides substantial cancer-screening services, such as mammograms. (Apparently the pap smears Planned Parenthood really does administer are insufficient fodder for the narrative.) 

Why doesn't Planned Parenthood just offer mammograms? Doing so would do real good while saving their public defenders from credibility diminishing lies. 

The answer may lie in what economists call the “contribution margin.” The contribution margin of each procedure is the marginal profit per unit of sale and thus the amount each procedure contributes to the coverage of fixed costs (such as executive compensation) and to profits.

The problem for Planned Parenthood—which thinks and acts much more like a business than most people realize—is that mammograms are much less profitable than the relatively lucrative procedure of abortion. 

In his article “Mammography: Is its success threatened by low reimbursement rates?”, radiologist Dr. James Youker highlights the problem of “low reimbursement rates for mammography and the high cost of complying with the increasingly complex regulations.” A more recent article by Dr. Gillian Newstead documents the problem’s persistence:

The American College of Radiology (ACR) conducted a survey that . . . found that the actual cost to perform a screening mammogram was $93.98. With the typical reimbursement rate of approximately $80, it is clear that the hospital lost money for each screening exam performed.

In the outpatient setting, where the costs can be more controlled, the survey found the cost per mammogram to be approximately $59.00. Nonetheless, it is clear that there are no large profits to be made from screening mammography.

Another economic study . . . found that in all practices mammography had a negative profit margin. The loss for physician full-time equivalent (FTE) was variable between the practices studied but was between $50,000 and $100,000 per year.

Since Dr. Newstead penned her article, digital mammography has replaced older technology. Although digital reimbursement rates are 1.7 times greater than film rates (at $140 per screening), digital machines are three to five times more expensive. Thus, mammography economics have improved little to none. 

RadNet, the country’s largest imaging and diagnostic company, comments in its most recent presentation that mammogram volumes have been adversely affected by the economy and a “government taskforce changing the recommended age from 40+ to 50+.” RadNet also comments that it expects “continued pressure from Medicare” on reimbursement rates.

If Planned Parenthood were to perform mammograms, we could assume a contribution margin—that is, contribution to profit—of $3.51 per procedure. This is reflective of the average of Dr. Newstead’s hospital and freestanding center margins of a $13.98 loss and a $21.00 profit, respectively. Even this may be generous, particularly given Dr. Newstead’s comments about mammography losses and the fact that many industry experts describe the modality as unprofitable.

How profitable is abortion? Two scenarios can be used to estimate Planned Parenthood’s abortion contribution margin, Scenario A and Scenario B. In both scenarios, 330,000 annual abortions were assumed.

The retail price of an abortion is $500 to $900. The $500 floor was documented some years ago, and is the price that was used in Scenario A. Planned Parenthood’s Hudson-Peconic clinic quotes an online price of $900 for a sixteen- to seventeen-week in-clinic abortion. A $900 price was used in Scenario B.

Regarding costs per abortion, data is available from Planned Parenthood’s most recent annual report. In that report is a line item entitled “Expenses - Medical Services,” which should reflect the variable costs associated with procedures like abortions. 

These medical service expenses totaled $699 million in the most recently reported period. Two methods are used to allocate that expense to Planned Parenthood’s abortions. In Scenario A, Planned Parenthood’s own estimate of abortions as 3 percent of services is used. In Scenario B, a 5 times higher expense allocation of 15 percent is assumed. 

This 15 percent expense estimate is conservative because abortion doctors use low-cost vacuums and garbage bags; forceps and scissors are reused; and (unlike a mammogram) an abortion’s result requires little in the way of interpretation or follow-up. Planned Parenthood makes about $400 to $600 per abortion. Scenario A’s $500 sale price and 3 percent cost allocation results in a contribution margin of $436 per abortion. Scenario B’s $900 sale price and 15 percent cost allocation results in a contribution margin of $582 per abortion.

Abortion is 125 to 165 times more profitable than mammography. Given a choice between 330,000 mammograms or 330,000 abortions, cancer screening will lose every time. Life, love, families, faith, concern for our most vulnerable, presidential credibility: Abortion’s altar demands many sacrifices. There is no reason to believe mammograms are exempt. Mammograms were invented over forty years ago and Planned Parenthood still doesn't offer them because, in comparison, abortion is a gold mine. 

In 2009, a government task force recommended regular mammograms only for women fifty years and older. Planned Parenthood’s target audience is young—75 percent of abortions are by teens and twenty-somethings. Planned Parenthood’s demographic is unlikely to ever demand breast care.

Mammograms are an unprofitable imaging modality, requiring a cross subsidy from technologies like CT, PET, and MRI. Likewise, Planned Parenthood mammograms would require a similar cross subsidy; requiring a reduction in abortion profits, executive compensation, or both. 

On that point, President Obama once argued that health insurance profits were driving up the costs of health care and suggested that eliminating those greedy companies’ profits and fat salaries would improve health care. 

The same could apply here. Cecile Richards earns about $400,000 per year, her directors and top lieutenants are clearing $200,000 to $300,000 each, and ten clinic administrators make over $260,000 each. For forty years and counting, these executives have shown no inclination to offer mammograms. 

The simple reason is that economics have prevailed!

WHAT THE SAM HILL IS ROMNESIA

I have been seeing and hearing that term a lot lately, so, I decided to do some research as to its meaning and here is what I have come up with...

Romnesia 
(rohm-nee-zhuh)
Noun
The act of making the Obama presidency a distant memory.

So boys & girls...there you have it.

SAY WHAT

Obama has admitted that he cannot change DC, then my question is...why in the Sam Hill is he asking for another four years?

Better yet? Why should we give another four years to him?  I have seen all that I need to see.

EARLY VOTING HAS BEGUN IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

TOP TEN POOREST CITIES (POPULATION >250K) IN AMERICA

GUESS WHAT THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON:

1. Detroit, MI  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961.
2. Buffalo, NY  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954.
3. Cincinnati, OH  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984.
4. Cleveland, OH  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989.
5. Miami, FL  Has never elected a Republican mayor.
6. Saint Louis, MO  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949.
7. El Paso, TX  Has never elected a Republican mayor.
8. Milwaukee, WI Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908.
9. Philadelphia, PA  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952, and
10. Newark, NJ  Hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.

OK boys & girls, time's up...what is your answer?

HOW CONVENIENT

When Liberal boast how Bill Clinton gave us a surplus, they conveniently fail to mention that he had a Republican majority in the House and Senate.

When the Liberals blame George Bush for the economy at the end of his presidency, they conveniently fail to mention that he had a Democrat majority in the House and the Senate.

SANDRA WHO

Sandra Fluke...just another flying monkey to be thrown under the Obama bus.

YOU TELL'EM GRANNY

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS

Video: Let’s ask young Obama supporters what they think about Benghazi « Hot Air

TIME TO CHANGE

Congressional Report: Welfare Spending Soars Under Obama
Welfare spending has grown substantially over the past four years, reaching $746 billion in 2011 — or more than Social Security, basic defense spending or any other single chunk of the federal government — according to a new memo by the Congressional Research Service.

Overall, welfare spending as measured by obligations has grown from $563 billion in fiscal 2008 to $746 billion in fiscal 2011, or a jump of 32 percent.

One of the single biggest programs is food stamps, at $75 billion in 2011, or 10 percent of welfare spending. It’s nearly twice the size it was in 2008 and accounts for a staggering 20 percent of the total welfare spending increase over those four years.

As a nation, we cannot endure this any more...we need to vote out this administration and reject its policies.

TWO IDEALS

The difference between Modern Liberalism and Conservatism:

Modern Liberalism is the belief that government is owner and distributor of freedom and rights (praise government from whom all blessings flow), while Conservatism is the belief that government protects the rights and freedom that man is born with (praise God from whom all blessings flow).

In reality, these two ideals cannot co-exist.
This is very simple for us...

1. Choose being protected, or,
2. Choose being owned.

THE EXACT SAME EFFECT

EVANGELICALS, CATHOLICS ORGANIZING FOR ROMNEY IN COLORADO, IOWA

The mainstream media has speculated that the religious right may not be enthusiastic about Mitt Romney’s candidacy, but Evangelicals and Catholics in swing states like Colorado and Iowa are enthused because of social and -- more importantly in 2012 -- economic issues, and these voters may help tip these states toward Romney. 

THIS IS SAVING?

Obama has taken our tax dollars and paid $100/share to acquire 500 million shares of GM stock that is now worth $20/share. Now, if that is "saving" GM, I am a naval aviator.

GOOD ADVICE

ONLY IN AMERICA

...can the people who supported the slaughtering of twenty five million female babies via unfettered abortion under the label of "women's health care" prattle on solemnly about a "war on women".

MY TWO CENTS WORTH

A fascinating question was posed to the candidates at the end of last night's vice presidential debate.  Paul Ryan and Joe Biden were asked to tell Americans the degree to which their faith informs their politics, particularly on the issue of abortion.  While Ryan gave the answer one would have expected, I was somewhat shocked by Vice President Biden's response.

Biden began by acknowledging that he agrees with the Catholic Church's teaching that life begins at conception, but he clarified that he believes that only "personally."  Amazingly, on live national television, the vice president then went on to state that though he thinks infants in the womb are living human beings, he does not believe in using the force of law to protect them.  Notice that Biden is not saying the unborn are not human, and therefore it is okay to destroy them.  He is implicitly acknowledging his belief that those children are in fact human beings, and then giving tacit approval for them to be legally dismembered.  The vice president of the United States just made a moral case for murder. 

But while that was the most astounding part of Biden's answer, it wasn't the only thing worth noting.  Right before he expounded on his belief in legalized homicide because he "just refuses to impose his personal views on others," Biden had announced, "My religion defines who I am, and I've been a practicing Catholic my whole life.  It has particularly informed my social doctrine."

OK, hold that thought.  Biden is proudly touting the fact that the aggressive government redistribution schemes he favors are motivated by his church's teachings on caring for the needy.  In other words, he has no problem "imposing his personal views on others" when it comes to the welfare state.

It's an interesting worldview, isn't it?  Government-sponsored theft is legitimate on moral grounds, but government protection of innocent, defenseless life is unreasonable.  That's the modern Democrat Party.

IMO

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) took on Vice President Joe Biden in a wide-ranging debate covering everything from Libya and Iran to the economy. Biden’s demeanor was the story of the evening... smirking, laughing, snorting, shaking his head. We the People are a big joke to these folks...like fowl to be plucked at their leisure. The strategy seems to have been to laugh off America’s problems, since the Obama administration has done nothing to solve them. Obama/Biden is certainly not the administration that I want for the next four years.

GREENING THE EMBASSY

ANYONE ELSE

Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered by the fact that this administration's first response to situations is a cover up?

1. Libya Ambassador murder.
2. Fast & Furious.
3. GSA Financial abuse.
4. Secret Service Prostitutes.

Need I continue?

PROPER ACCESSORIES

YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD

A CLOSER LOOK

OK boys & girls, let's take a closer look at that "7.8%":

114,000 in
342,000 out

Hmmm, getting the number lower by scrubbing people from the workforce.

Just be observant today...the Obama minions will be doing the Happy Dance.

I SMELL SOMETHING COOKING

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics today, unemployment dropped to 7.8 percent in September and 114,000 jobs were created. Much of the drop in the jobless rate was accounted for by revisions to numbers for July and August, NOT by new jobs created in September. As the MSM neglects to report, these numbers fail to keep up with population growth...so the U.S. economy continues to tread water.

I smell something cooking..."revisions to numbers"??????  At this rate of cooking, the price for a gallon of gas on 05 November will be $1.99 :)

SEMANTICS

IS THIS COVERED BY OBAMACARE?

THIS IS NOT CALLED...

cTOON2_100312.jpg.cms (JPEG Image, 800 × 545 pixels)

ANOTHER OBAMA ABOUT FACE

OBAMA WAIVES SANCTIONS ON COUNTRIES THAT USE CHILD SOLDIERS

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a new executive order last week to fight human trafficking, touting his administration's handling of the issue.

"When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed -- that's slavery," Obama said in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. "It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we've long rejected such cruelty."

But for the third year in a row, Obama has waived almost all U.S. sanctions that would punish certain countries that use child soldiers, upsetting many in the human rights community.

Late Friday afternoon, Obama issued a presidential memorandum waiving penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 for Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen, penalties that Congress put in place to prevent U.S. arms sales to countries determined by the State Department to be the worst abusers of child soldiers in their militaries. The president also partially waived sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo to allow some military training and arms sales to that country.

Human rights advocates saw the waivers as harmful to the goal of using U.S. influence to urge countries that receive military assistance to move away from using child soldiers and contradictory to the rhetoric Obama used in his speech.

"After such a strong statement against the exploitation of children, it seems bizarre that Obama would give a pass to countries using children in their armed forces and using U.S. tax money to do that," said Jesse Eaves, the senior policy advisor for child protection at World Vision.

AWAKENING

SPOTTED RECENTLY IN LAS VEGAS

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

EAT MORE BACON