I saw this on one of the foreign newspapers that I read.  I read them because the MSM is in bed with the Chicago Messiah....you doubt me...see how fast they squashed the eldest Obama Daughter in Spring Break in Mexico.  They were all over the Bush Girls but they give the Obungler family a pass?  I go to foreign newspapers to get stuff that the Lame Stream Media will not print.

     

Where are the girlfriends?

Here is a question that just came through an E-mail that has started the rounds. I thought it was a good one and worth posting on PI. Some of the facts may be disputed by snopes or urban legends, but the heart of the matter cannot be disputed – where are the girlfriends? In the same vein, where are the college yearbook pictures? Why is his history kept under lock and key? When people like Arpaio start digging, the media just treat such things as if they themselves were hate crimes. The following just adds to the many other questions about Obama that still have yet to be answered.

WHERE ARE THE GIRLFRIENDS?

I hadn’t thought about this – but where are Obama’s past girlfriends – surely he had at least one? No past girl friends popping up anywhere? Strange – strange to the point of being downright weird!
OK, this is just plain old common sense, no political agendas for either side. Just common knowledge for citizens of a country, especially American citizens, who know every little tidbit about every other president (and their wives) that even know that Andrew Jackson’s wife smoked a corn cob pipe and was accused of adultery, or that Lincoln never went to school or Kennedy wore a back brace or Truman played the piano.
We are Americans! Our Media vets these things out! We are known for our humanitarian interests and caring for our ‘fellow man.’ We care, but none of us know one single humanizing fact about the history of our own president.
Honestly, and this is a personal thing … but it’s bugged me for years that no one who ever dated him ever showed up. Taken his charisma, which caused the women to be drawn to him so obviously during his campaign, looks like some lady would not have missed the opportunity….
We all know about JFK’s magnetism, McCain was no monk, Palin’s courtship and even her athletic prowess were probed. Biden’s aneurisms are no secret. Look at Cheney and Clinton-we all know about their heart problems. How could I have left out Wild Bill before or during the White House?
Nope…not one lady has stepped up and said, “He was soooo shy,” or “What a great dancer!”
Now look at the rest of what we know… no classmates, not even the recorder for the Columbia class notes ever heard of him.
Who was the best man at his wedding? Start there. Check for groomsmen. Then get the footage of the graduation ceremony.
Has anyone talked to the professors? Isn’t it odd that no one is bragging that they knew him or taught him or lived with him. When did he meet Michele and how? Are there photos? Every president provides the public with all their photos, etc. for their library. What has he released? Nada – other than what was in this so-called biography! And experts who study writing styles, etc. claim it was not Obama’s own words or typical of his speech patterns, etc.
Does this make any of you wonder?
Ever wonder why no one ever came forward from Obama’s past, saying they knew him, attended school with him, was his friend, etc.? Not one person has ever come forward from his past. This should really be a cause for great concern. Did you see the movie titled, The Manchurian Candidate?
Let’s face it. As insignificant as we all are… someone whom we went to school with remembers our name or face…someone remembers we were the clown or the dork or the brain or the quiet one or the bully or something about us.
George Stephanopoulos, ABC News said the same thing during the 2008 campaign. Even George questions why no one has acknowledged that the president was in their classroom or ate in the same cafeteria or made impromptu speeches on campus. Stephanopoulos was a classmate of Obama at Columbia-class of 1984. He says he never had a single class with him.
Since he is such a great orator, why doesn’t anyone in Obama’s college class remember him? And, why won’t he allow Columbia to release his records?
Do you like millions of others, simply assume all this is explainable – even though no one can?
NOBODY REMEMBERS OBAMA AT COLUMBIA. Looking for evidence of Obama’s past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia University students from the period when Obama claims to have been there, but not one remembers him. For example,Wayne Allyn Root was (like Obama) a political science major at Columbia, who graduated in 1983. In 2008, Root says of Obama, “I don’t know a single person at Columbia that knew him, and they all know me. I don’t have a single classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia … EVER!
Nobody recalls him.
Root adds that he was, “Class of ’83 political science, pre-law” and says, “You don’t get more exact or closer than that. Never met him in my life, don’t know anyone who ever met him.”
At our 20th class reunion five years ago, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me. No one ever heard of Barack! And five years ago, nobody even knew who he was. The guy who writes the class notes, who’s kind of the, as we say in New York, ‘the macha’ who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him.”
Obama’s photograph does not appear in the school’s yearbook, and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia.
How can this be?
NOTE: Wayne Allyn Root can easily be verified. He graduated valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major in the same ’83 class in which Barack Hussein Obama states he was.
Some other interesting questions.
Why was Obama’s law license inactivated in 2002?
Why was Michelle’s law license inactivated by court order? According to the U.S. Census, there is only one Barack Obama – but 27 Social Security numbers and over 80 aliases.
WHAT!?
The Social Security number he uses now originated in Connecticut where he is never reported to have lived.
No wonder all his records are sealed!
Please continue sending this out to everyone. Somewhere, someone had to know him in school… before he “reorganized” Chicago and burst upon the scene at the 2004 Democratic Convention and made us swoon with his charm, poise, and speaking pizzazz.
One of the biggest CONS this country has ever seen, and getting away with it. Go watch the movie The Manchurian Candidate, with Lawrence Harvey! Good movie!

Conservatives are.......

The Battle of Athens.....................Tennessee

I drive through this area about once a month on the way to Sevierville to visit my mom and Stepdad.  I remember this a while back in something that I was reading.  I will need to stop and actually check this area out.   This is why the second amendment is soo important.  If the people are disarmed, they have no choice but to submit to tyranny.  The G.I upheld the value's of the founding fathers and did the country proud.

    I got this from JPFO
    Also Irish and Wirecutter   published it.  Both are awesome blogs and worth a look.

As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were
Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort
Against Corrupt Government Officials.

On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed sheriff's deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.
These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.
These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1, Section 26 -- recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few "gun control" laws had been enacted.
These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff's department from fines-usually for speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.
The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.
Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the sheriff's office.
At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.
At a rally, a GI speaker said, "The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county" (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.

FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS
The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield brought in some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff's deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).
Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the ballot counting "Public" A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, "his gun raised high...shouted: 'If you sons of bitches cross this street I'll kill you!'" (Byrum, p.165).
Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human history" (Byrum, pp. 168-69).
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them. By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and "local boys" headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail's defenders an easy way out.
Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.
Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen. Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs' rifle fire was uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail" (Byrum, p.189).
Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.
At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.

THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY
In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.
The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, "Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI... To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf" (Byrum, p. 220).
Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.
The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah. "Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the Battle' agree that he was not bitter about what had happened" (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).

THE LESSONS OF ATHENS
Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government.
The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.
Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize thousands, or millions.
Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and should use armed force to support the rule of law.

Army and Marines to get the new helmet

I still have both my steel pot, the one that was out just before the new "fritz" kevlar helmet came out.   How there has been 2 redesigns since then.  I wonder if they are actually doing something to reduce the casualties or they just trying to reinvent the wheel.

The Marine Corps and Army have tapped Ceradyne Inc., to make the first of the new Enhanced Combat Helmets, ending a five-year search for a brain bucket capable of stopping rifle rounds.
The Marines and Army have given the green light to Ceradyne to build 8,600 ECHs, which will be split between the services. Fielding won’t begin until after the services approve the ECH for full-rate production, a decision scheduled for May, according to a recent press release.

The ECH is a protective helmet consisting of a ballistic protective shell, pad suspension system and four-point chinstrap/nape strap retention system. This helmet fully exploits the latest lightweight material technology, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene materials, to provide increased small arms protection above what is currently provided by the Marine Corps Lightweight Helmet (LWH) and the Army Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH). This material provides a higher degree of ballistic protection than Kevlar and Twaron, fibers used in both the LWH and ACH. It also provides enhanced protection against fragments.

In 2007, the Army and Marine Corps began looking into how to make current helmets stronger without increasing weight. Both could withstand a direct hit from a 9mm pistol round and some bomb fragments, but senior officials in both services wanted improved protection against rifle shots.
The contract award comes after the Ceradyne ECH suffered failures in the First Article Test process early last year. I guess we’ll have to trust that the problems were resolved. The Marines are expected to receive 38,500 helmets, while the Army will buy a total of 200,000 helmets. The Navy is expected to procure 6,700 helmets as well.

Read more: http://kitup.military.com/2012/03/marines-soldiers-helmet.html#ixzz1pinIHwwE
Kit Up!

Troops still embrace the Infidel label.

I still have a few "infidel" stickers and a patch.  That is what we are to the islamic crowd.  To say anything else is being dis ingenious.   We are expected to be "sensitive" to them but they are not to us.  This isn't a 2 way street, it always goes 1 way.  We are courteous because that is our nature but they treat us with contempt because they perceive that as weakness.   The political correctness is getting cloying.  I am glad that the troops still embrace the label.  it shows that we still have a humor.

March 16, 2012

Military.com|by Matthew Cox

In the wake of the recent setbacks in Afghanistan, American commanders are working overtime trying to instill sensitivity among U.S. troops toward their Afghan counterparts and their Islamic culture.
But many American servicemembers already wear their feelings on their sleeves -- sometimes literally -- choosing a powerful term to represent the way they believe they’re perceived by the Muslim world: “Infidel.”
There are infidel hats, infidel T-shirts and infidel uniform patches -- an entire genre of morale wear that emerged from the ashes of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Now that a decade has passed, the movement is booming. Type “Infidel Strong” into Google and page after page of military gear sites pop up, peddling what has become an ersatz symbol of patriotism.
It started as a humorous tactic for poking fun at intolerant Islamists ignorant of American ideals.
Clayton Montgomery, owner of a well-known online vendor called Mil-Spec Monkey and designer of some infidel patches, said his most popular item has been his “Pork-Eating Crusader” patch, which includes a translation into Arabic.
“Everybody sort of hates occupying forces anyway, so it’s kind of embracing that,” he told Military.com “If you are going to hate us anyway, we might as well pretend to be the great white devil.”
Continued Montgomery: “Originally, when we made the patch, we thought it would be this small thing, the equivalent of an ‘I’m with stupid’ T-shirt. We didn’t think we would sell many, but the demand was there,” Montgomery said, describing how his company has sold about 10,000 of the patches.
Some veterans, however, have begun to question whether these “infidel” products do other than fuel anger across the Middle East, among both friend and foe alike, and breed confusion in one of the most complex wars U.S. combat troops have ever fought.
Tension between U.S. and Afghan leaders increased after it was discovered in late February that five soldiers unintentionally disposed of several Qurans, the most sacred of Muslim holy books, in a burn pit near Bagram Air Field, touching off a backlash that left six U.S. personnel dead.

The incident caused international scrutiny and prompted President Obama to apologize to a furious Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, directed all coalition forces in Afghanistan to undergo training in the proper handling of religious materials.
But this was not the first battlefield faux pas of recent days. A video of Marine snipers urinating on the bodies of enemy corpses ignited a firestorm of controversy at the beginning of the year.
And more recently, a real tragedy occurred -- a rogue American soldier allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in the village outside his base.
Military experts maintain that such behavior is a contributor to what one U.S. report last year called a “crisis of trust and cultural incompatibility” that has sometimes led to Afghan soldiers turning their weapons on their coalition partners.
The Pentagon deals with such incidents as it always has -- investigate, punish anyone in violation of military regulations, and give the troops more cultural-awareness training.
But Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Ramsey Sulayman, who serves a legislative associate for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said such instruction has little value when troops are bombarded with anti-Muslim messages at home.
They range from “Major League Infidel,” “American Infidel,” and “Infidel Strong” to the politically strident media personalities painting Islam itself as the enemy.
“When you are trying to hold the moral high ground and you’re trying to say, ‘This is who we are and this is what we do’ – those sorts of incidents and the ‘Major League Infidel’ just erode that ground under your feet that you are trying to stand on. Pretty soon you’re in the swamp with everybody else,” Sulayman said.
Sulayman, a Lebanese American who commanded a Marine infantry platoon in Iraq’s Anbar Province in 2008, said he had one Marine who made “Kill Hadji” stickers.
“When your Iraqi interpreter sees that, what does he think? Your partners in the Iraqi army -- when they see that, what are they going to think?” he would ask his Marines. “You wouldn’t walk up to sergeant so-and-so and drop the ‘N’ word on him.”
Montgomery said his patches are more about letting troops make fun of themselves and not designed to direct hate toward any group.
“We do draw the line; I’m not ever going to make anything that says ‘I think all Muslims should die,’ ” he said.
Sulayman said the intense media coverage of the war and the speed that information moves over the Internet put combat troops under a microscope of scrutiny that never existed in past wars.
“You are asking someone who is 19 or 20 years old to flip a switch from being a cold-blooded killer to someone who has to be cognizant of cultural realities,” he said.
Sulayman said he doesn’t think the companies that market infidel products to troops mean any harm. He also said he’s certain that Florida pastor Terry Jones didn’t mean any harm when he oversaw a public burning of a Quran last year because he believed it promotes violence.
“It’s his right,” Sulayman said. “But is it really helpful?”

FAA to review their policy on electronic devices on flight.

FAA reviews ban on electronic devices

---

As a frequent flier I look forward to this change.

March 19, 2012

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking at ways to update its policy on the use of portable electronics during takeoff and landing, according to The New York Times. Cell phones are still off the table, but the FAA seems interested in letting people use e-readers and tablets throughout the flight, the story said.
 “With the advent of new and evolving electronic technology, and because the airlines have not conducted the testing necessary to approve the use of new devices, the FAA is taking a fresh look at the use of personal electronic devices, other than cell phones, on aircraft,” a FAA spokesperson said.
For the time being, iPad users still will not be able to leave their devices switched on.  The FAA has much work to do, and many unanswered questions to address about changing the current regulations, the story said.

guaranteed democratic voters...

Yes the party of Obungler...the downgrade president, Mr. hope and change himself , the party of huge debt, international weakness, the entitlement president has unveiled the super...duper secret of guarenteeing that the democrats and himself will remain in office.   Yes the party of can't say "no" except with the passing of a budget....has shown how the democrats with their fellow travellers in the media, ACORN and their various offshoots will shoo in a a victory.

       They have the ability to raise the dead.....It is a miracle of epic proportions.!!!!!

Russian Troops in Syria

This is a game changer.  As we used to say when I was in the service  "the Russians are coming"   This stuff would scare the crap out of any analyst.  This has got to be making israel nervous, the Russians have a military presence in Syria, the iranians are rattling their nuclear sabre, Putin is getting frisky and their number 1 ally is the United States and obungler is in charge.
     Remember the 3:00 AM video that Hillery released when she was going for president?   Well the phone is ringing and Obungler has the answering machine to say "present" to reflect his record in the senate.

     Elections have consequences......

Enlarge Photo

• Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria (ABC Ne …

A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was "a bomb" certain to have serious repercussions.

Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad's strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government's violent crackdown on the country's uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council's attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.

Now the Russian Black Sea fleet's Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency.

The Iman replaced another Russian ship "which had been sent to Syria for demonstrating (sic) the Russian presence in the turbulent region and possible evaluation of Russian citizens," the Black Sea Fleet told Interfax.

RIA Novosti, a news outlet with strong ties to the Kremlin, trumpeted the news in a banner headline that appeared only on its Arabic language website. The Russian embassy to the US and to the UN had no comment, saying they have "no particular information on" the arrival of a Russian anti-terrorism squad to Syria.

Moscow has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Assad regime, to which it sells billions of dollars of weapons. In return Russia has maintained a Navy base at Tartus, which gives it access to the Mediterranean.

Last week Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had no plans to send troops to Syria.

"As for the question whether I consider it necessary to confront the United States in Syria and ensure our military presence there… in order to take part in military actions -- no. I believe this would be against Russia's national interests," Lavrov told lawmakers, according to RIA Novosti.

Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov denied reports that Russian special forces were operating inside Syria. He did say, however, that there are Russian military and technical advisors in the country.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the U.S. government had not heard of the reports of Russian troops in Syria and declined to comment

10 best teleprompter jokes

President Barack Obama’s teleprompter, also known as TOTUS, is perhaps one of Obama’s closest companions — always present at presidential events, speeches and campaign stops. The president’s fondness for the device has been the subject of plenty of jokes – just this week, Rick Santorum went as far as to say “it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter.”
Here’s POLITICO’s look back at some memorable jabs about Obama’s TOTUS:

1. “I have to admit, I was a little nervous when I looked out here. I saw all the TV cameras and a teleprompter. I figured President Obama must be here, giving another speech about raising taxes!” - Florida Gov. Rick Scott (Sept. 2011)

2. “What am I going to tell the president when I tell him his teleprompter is broken? What will he do then?” – Vice President Joe Biden after one of his teleprompters blew over in the wind (May 2009)
3. “I believe that I can tell the truth without notes better than he can dissemble on a teleprompter.” – Newt Gingrich (Jan. 2012)
4. “The president couldn’t find anywhere to set up a teleprompter to announce new taxes.” - Sen. Marco Rubio (Feb. 2010)
5. “You set up a presidential podium and a teleprompter in a sixth grade classroom? ‘Here’s what health care means to you. Let’s say you developed, coo-ties.’ … That’s not a great photo-op in a middle school classroom, just like if you delivered an Oval Office speech from your nap mat!” - Jon Stewart (March 2010)
6. “I think we’ve confirmed you can’t govern from a teleprompter.” – Sen. Jim DeMint (Feb. 2010)
7. “President Obama’s teleprompter was stolen. Police are on the lookout for a thief that’s eloquent and spreading a message of hope.” - Conan O’Brien (Oct. 2011)
8. “He speaks well. He reads the teleprompter well.” – Mitt Romney (Nov. 2008)
9. “After that, I promised I would never again use President Obama’s teleprompter.” – Rep. Michele Bachmann, explaining an earlier misspeak (May 2011)
10. “We had people talking about how the next era of hope and change was sweeping aside our values and principles. Hope and change and teleprompters.” Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Feb.

Orlando AIrport to evict TSA Screeners

As an aviation person and a frequent flier getting hassled by the TSA seems to be part of the flying experience.  People don't like to fly because of the hassle and the bad attitudes inflicted on them by the average TSA screener makes their flying experience miserable.  My job depends on a happy flying public, when the planes are full, my company makes money and we get bonuses.  When people are miserable they tend to lash out, they can't lash out at the TSA..so they lash out at the airlines and their employees instead.  
       I hope this continues.  Make the TSA work to keep their operation by treating the flying public better.or they get replaced.

Major US Airport To Evict TSA Screeners

Orlando Sanford International could prompt stampede of other opt-outs
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Wednesday, March 14, 2012

One of America’s busiest airports, Orlando Sanford International, has announced it will opt out of using TSA workers to screen passengers, a move which threatens the highly unpopular federal agency’s role in other airports across the nation.

“The president of the airport said Tuesday that he would apply again to use private operators to screen passengers, using federal standards and oversight,” reports the Miami Herald.

With Sanford International having originally been prevented by the TSA from opting out back in November 2010 when the federal agency froze the ability for airports to use their own private screeners, a law passed by the Senate last month forces the TSA to reconsider applications.

Larry Dale hinted that the move was motivated by the innumerable horror stories passengers have told of their encounters with the TSA, noting that the change was designed to provide a more “customer friendly” operation.

The agency has been slow to reissue the guidelines on the the rule change, prompting Republican Representatives John Mica of Florida, Darrell Issa of California and Jason Chaffetz of Utah to press TSA head John Pistole to implement the mandate.

Appearing at Orlando Sanford International yesterday, Mica said he had written to 200 airports advising them of the opportunity to op out of using TSA screeners.

Orlando Sanford is in the top 30 busiest airports in the world, with large numbers of takeoffs and landings.

The TSA has been keen to downplay the opportunity for airports to dispense with their screeners, fearing a mass exodus that could undermine the justification for the agency’s continued existence, especially given the fact that its reputation has been repeatedly savaged by a number of scandals.

• 

The most recent controversy involved a viral You Tube video created by engineer Jon Corbett which demonstrated how the TSA’s body scanners were virtually useless because they are unable to detect objects carried on the side of the body carried in a pocket.

The TSA responded by threatening the media not to cover the issue while putting out a blog statement that completely failed to rebut the claims made by Corbett.

A November 2010 poll found that the TSA’s “enhanced pat downs,” some of which include touching genitalia, angered 57% of regular adult fliers.

West Yellowstone Airport in Montana has already replaced its TSA screeners with private security. Bert Mooney Airport, also in Montana, is attempting to do the same.

However, when Texas lawmakers attempted to pass a bill last year that would have outlawed invasive TSA pat downs, the feds threatened to implement a blockade that would have imposed a de facto “no fly zone” over the lone star state.

Kicking out the incompetent, criminally-inclined and abusive TSA across the nation will not only encourage millions of peeved Americans to start flying again, pumping much needed money into the travel industry, it will also create thousands of new private sector jobs.

RELATED: TSA Harasses and Gropes Quadruple Amputee

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Texas versus California

Saw this surfing around.....The difference between California and Texas is astounding.   Both show a different approach to governance.    *sorry Wirecutter, don't mean to rag on your state.

California governor Jerry Brown

   

One in five Americans calls California or Texas home. The two most populous states have a lot in common: a long coast, a sunny climate, a diverse population, plenty of oil in the ground, and Mexico to the south. Where they diverge is in their governance.

For six years ending in 2010, I represented almost 500,000 people in California’s legislature. I was vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and served on the Budget Committee. I was even a lieutenant colonel in the state’s National Guard. Before serving in Sacramento, I worked as an executive in California’s aerospace industry.
I moved to Texas late last year, joining the 2 million Californians who have packed up for greener pastures in the past ten years, with Texas the most common destination.
In his State-of-the-State address this January, California governor Jerry Brown said, “Contrary to those declinists who sing of Texas and bemoan our woes, California is still the land of dreams. . . . It’s the place where Apple . . . and countless other creative companies all began.”

Fast forward to March: Apple announced it was building a $304 million campus in Austin with plans to hire 3,600 people to staff it, more than doubling its Texas workforce. California may be dreaming, but Texas is working.
California’s elected officials are particularly adept at dreaming up ways to spend other people’s money. While the state struggles with interminable deficits caused by years of reckless spending, the argument in Sacramento isn’t over how to reduce government; rather, it’s over how much to raise taxes and on whom. Governor Brown is pushing for a tax increase of $6.9 billion per year, to appear on this November’s ballot. California’s powerful government-employee unions and Molly Munger, a wealthy civil-rights attorney (wealthy by dint of being the daughter of Warren Buffett’s business partner) are offering two competing tax-hike plans. The silver lining may be that having three tax hikes on the ballot will turn voters off all of them.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Texas are grappling with a fiscal question of an entirely different sort: whether or not to spend some of the $6 billion set aside in the state’s rainy-day fund.
California’s government-employee unions routinely spend tens of millions of dollars at election time to maintain their hold on power. In Texas, the government unions are weak and don’t have collective bargaining, leaving trial attorneys as the main source of funding for Lone Star Democrats.
California’s habit of raising taxes to fund a burgeoning regulatory state isn’t without impact on its economy. Californians fork over about 10.6 percent of their income to state and local governments, above the U.S. average of 9.8 percent. Texans pay 7.9 percent. This affects the bottom line of both consumers and businesses.
With that money, Californians pay for more government. The number of non-education bureaucrats in California is close to the national average, at 252 per 10,000 people. Texas gets by with a bureaucracy 22 percent smaller: 196 per 10,000.
Of course, having more government employees means making more government rules. According to a 2009 study commissioned by the California legislature, state regulations cost almost $500 billion per year, or five times the state’s general-fund budget. These regulations ding the average small business for some $134,122 a year in compliance and opportunity costs.
While California has more bureaucrats, Texas has 17 percent more teachers, with 295 education employees per 10,000 people, compared to California’s 252.
The two states’ educational outcomes reflect this disparity. If we compare national test scores in math, science, and reading for the fourth and eighth grades among four basic ethnic and racial categories — all students, whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans — Texas beats California in every category, and by a substantial margin. In fact, Texas schools perform consistently above the national average across categories of age, race, and subject matter, while California schools perform well below the national average.
Apologists for the Golden State frequently point to Texas’s flourishing oil and gas industry as the reason for its success. Texas does lead the nation in proven oil reserves, but California ranks third. The real difference isn’t in geology but in public policy: Californians have decided to make it difficult to extract the oil under their feet.
Further, contrary to popular opinion, California’s refineries routinely produce a greater value of product than do refineries in Texas, mainly because the special gasoline blends that California requires are more costly.
Another advantage that Texas enjoys over California is in its civil-justice system. In 2002, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranked Texas’s legal system 46th in the nation, just behind California’s, which was 45th. Texas went to work improving its lawsuit environment, enacting major medical-malpractice reforms in 2003. Texas’s ranking consequently jumped ten places in eight years, while California’s dropped to 46th. In the last legislative session, Texas lawmakers passed a landmark loser-pays provision, which promises to further curtail frivolous lawsuits.
While California seeks more ways to tax success, it excels at subsidizing poverty. The percentage of households receiving public assistance in California was 3.7 percent in 2009, double Texas’s rate of 1.8 percent. Almost one-third of all Americans on welfare reside in California.
With this in mind, it makes perfect sense that only 18 percent of the Democrats who control both houses of California’s full-time legislature worked in business or medicine before being elected. The remainder drew paychecks from government, worked as community organizers, or were attorneys.
In Texas, with its part-time legislature, 75 percent of the Republicans who control both houses earn a living in business, farming, or medicine, with 19 percent being attorneys in private practice. Texas Democrats are more than twice as likely as their California counterparts to claim private-sector experience outside the field of law.
That Texas’s legislature is run by makers and California’s by takers is glaringly obvious from the two states’ respective balance sheets.
— Chuck DeVore served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010 and was a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 2010. He is currently a visiting senior fellow in fiscal policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation

Obama Flag at Democratic Headquarters in Florida...

This from the Orlando Sentinal

Well the democrats view him as a messiah and so does most of the MSM.  It shows the actual mindset of the people that we have to defeat in November.

Obama flag at Democratic headquarters a 'desecration'

Updated: Tuesday, 13 Mar 2012, 6:22 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 13 Mar 2012, 6:21 PM EDT

TAVARES, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The Lake County Democratic Party has removed an American flag depicting an image of President Barack Obama, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting.
The flag was on display at party headquarters in Tavares. Several veterans had complained that the flag was disrespectful and a "desecration."
The flag has an image of President Obama in the blue field where the stars should be located.


Source: Orlando Sentinel

Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/lake_news/031312-obama-flag-at-democratic-headquarters#ixzz1p6PGtd7f

25 signs that you are a cop....

25 SIGNS THAT YOU'RE A COP

-You have the bladder capacity of five people combined.
-You have restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience.
-You believe that 50 per cent of people are a waste of good air.
-Your idea of a good time is a "man with a gun" call.
-You conduct a criminal record check on anyone who seems friendly towards you.
-You support aerial spraying of Prozac and birth control pills.
-You disbelieve 90 per cent of what you hear and 75 per cent of what you see.
-You have your weekends off planned for a year.
-You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce.
-You refer to your favourite restaurant by the intersection at which it's located.
-You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled: "Suicide: Getting it right the first time".
-You ever had to put the phone on hold before you begin laughing uncontrollably.
-You think caffeine should be available in IV form.
-You know anyone who says "I only had two beers" is going to blow at least a .15
-You find out a lot about paranoia just by following people around.
-Anyone has ever said to you "There are people killing other people out there and you are here messing with me".
-People flag you down on the street and ask you directions to strange places... and you know where they're located.
-You can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body.
-You are the only person introduced at social gatherings by profession.
-You walk into places and people think its high comedy to grab their buddy and shout "They've come to get you, Bill".
-You do not see daylight from November until May.
-People shout "I didn't do it!" when you walk into a room and think they're being hugely funny and original.
-A week's worth of laundry consists of five T-shirts, five pairs of socks, and five pairs of underwear.
-You've ever referred to Tuesday as "My weekend".
-You've ever written off guns and ammunition as a business deduction.

Gangster Government

I got this off Here

JPFO sent me this link, I printed this excerpt.  Go to the link to read the whole thing.


Gangster Government, and Sakharov's Immunity  
Matthew Bracken, February 29, 2012

* * 1 * *
For over a year now, the Department of Justice has been stone-walling the House committees investigating Operation Fast And Furious, wherein thousands of semi-automatic rifles ("assault rifles" in the liberal lexicon) were deliberately allowed to "walk" into Mexico, straight into the hands of drug cartel killers. One of those weapons was used to murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry a dozen miles inside of U.S. territory.

The actual killer is believed to be an FBI "informant." In other words, a cartel assassin in his own right, but also a valuable "asset" in the FBI's consideration. The FBI and DOJ have been shielding this killer, while obstructing the delivery of justice to the Brian Terry family. On the other side of the border, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata was also murdered with a "gun-walked" weapon, along with over three-hundred innocent Mexican citizens as of this date.

And where is the elite Mainstream Media in its coverage of this festering scandal of such epic proportions? Over the past year they have dedicated scant minutes to the scandal, and then, usually to parrot the Obama administration's lies and obfuscations. Just during one recent week, the elite media spent countless hours covering the death and funeral of a beloved celebrity drug addict, compared to the few minutes they have spent covering Operation Fast And Furious during all of the last year.

Under Operation Fast And Furious, and related DOJ-ATF gun-walking schemes in at least five states, there was no plan or means to track the weapons after their sale. Licensed gun dealers were coerced by the BATFE into making repeated bulk sales, even when they expressed grave concern about the persons buying the weapons, including known felons. Federal cash was provided to the straw purchasers when they did not have their own money.

As conceived and carried out, the intended purpose of Operation Fast and Furious was to rack up a bloody body count in Mexico, in order to discredit the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as spelled out in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The murdered Mexicans were intended to buttress the false claim that ninety percent of the weapons recovered in Mexico after gangland shootings came from American gun dealers.

In short, the Obama administration conducted a program of mass murder for political purposes. Or, as President Obama put it to Sarah Brady, he was still pursuing a gun control agenda, but "under the radar." It is hard to conceive of a federal "law enforcement operation" [sic] more evil from top to bottom than Operation Fast And Furious.

* * 2 * *
By comparison, consider the Watergate scandal, which at the time was generally called "a third-rate burglary." I was a teenage construction worker the summer of 1973 when the Senate Hearings took place. Out on the construction sites, you could hear radios playing the hearings all through the day. The radio and television networks suspended normal programming in that pre-cable era to bombard America with gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Watergate hearings.

We all know the result of that non-stop media focus: President Nixon soon resigned in disgrace to avoid impeachment, and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell was sent to prison. And all over a bungled political burglary, where nobody was killed or even hurt.

But imagine for a moment if President Nixon's men, when called before the committees investigating the Watergate scandal, had provided less than twenty percent of subpoenaed documents after a full year of ignoring requests and congressional pleadings. Then further imagine that among the twenty percent of the documents that were provided to Congress, hundreds of pages were "fully redacted," or completely blacked out. Black paper, by the ream.

In diplo-speak, this is leaning across the witness table toward the congressional investigators, giving them two middle fingers and a hearty, "F--- you, you punks, what are you going to do about it?"

Then imagine if the New York Times, the Washington Post and the television networks never mentioned Watergate or the hearings, except rarely, and then only to refer to the congressional investigators as partisan hacks on witch-hunts, simply bent on destroying the nation's beloved President Nixon and stopping his good works. In this alternate reality, Woodward and Bernstein never got a Watergate by-line, but instead they were sent to cover the new "ecology" movement and Earth Day.

Reverse the party polarity, jump ahead four decades to today, and that is the current sad state of American reality. Gangsters rule the federal government; the Operation Fast And Furious congressional investigators are ineffectual, toothless buffoons, and their spineless congressional leaders even balk at further investigation of the deadly scandal.

In the modern case of Operation Fast and Furious, hundreds of Mexicans were murdered as a necessary pre-condition for a desired political outcome, the undercutting of Second Amendment rights in America. From the outset, the administration's goal was to bury our Right to Keep and Bear Arms beneath a growing mountain of Mexican corpses. The innocent murdered Mexicans were not collateral damage of Operation Fast and Furious, they were the intended targets from the start.

Defination of Audacity

Anyone want to know the definition of "AUDACITY"?

HERE IT IS!

Secret Service Buys Two New $1.1 Million Buses for a Three-Day Presidential Campaign Trip while Obama flies ahead of the buses. U.S. President Obama walks to Obama’s bus once he arrives in Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota, August 15, 2011, where Obama is to begin Obama's three-day “bus” tour in the Midwest centering on the economy.

Obama FLIES into an airport somewhere in the Midwest, hops into one of two brand new $1.1 Million buses, paid for by you and me, for a ”bus” tour around the Midwest' and, after an hour or so, gets driven back to the airport for ANOTHER FLIGHT, lands at another airport, where another $1.1 Million brand new black Canadian bus is waiting for Obama - and then, repeats all that until Obama's Midwest "bus" tour is done!!  [These buses are Canadian-built, by the way, because Obama is SO CONCERNED about American manufacturing, creating American jobs and supporting American productivity.]

Oh yes... and THEN, Obama leaves on a 10 day vacation to Martha's Vineyard ...

To REST UP from this grueling campaign “bus” tour!

And don't forget... those brand new shiny black Canadian buses AREN'T DRIVEN

to the location where they meet Obama.  Oh, no…They are loaded up on one or more C-17s so

they can be flown to the destination ahead of Obama who is flying in Air Force One.

AND!.. Believe it or not…this process is REPEATED FOR EVERY CAMPAIGN STOP.

During this “bus” tour, Obama will lecture the 'little people' on how they need to live within their means while hinting of possible future government cut-backs and a need to raise revenues (aka: taxes)!

Remember, too, Obama’s “sage advice” to a family man to 'GO BUY A HYBRID VAN'

when the man said he couldn't afford to fill up his truck'!!!!!!

Obama's personal 'carbon footprint' must be as large as most cities by now.

Unbelievably, ALL of this is on the taxpayers’ dime!

But remember, this is NOT a campaign trip - It is a "Meet With the People" trip only!

Consequently, the Democrat National Committee does NOT have to pay a cent for all of this extravagant 'campaign' spending.

This is to show

just why the federal government needs more of our taxes for revenue!

Illegally crossing the Border....

As you know, Iran recently nabbed three American hikers who (they say) had strayed across their border.  So … let’s review the rules:

If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard labor.

If you cross the Iranian border illegally your are detained indefinitely.

If you cross the Afghan border illegally you will be shot.

If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you will be jailed. 

If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from again.

If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you will be called a spy and your fate is sealed.

If you cross the Cuban border illegally you will be thrown into a political prison to rot.

If you cross the U.S. border illegally you get:

• A job.
• A driver’s license
• A Social Security card
• Welfare
• Food Stamps
• Credit Cards
• Subsidized Rent
• Subsidized home loans
• Free education
• Free health care
• Your very own lobbyist
• Billions of dollars worth of public documents printed in your language
• The right to carry your country’s flag while you protest that you don’t get enough respect.

As they say ….. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT !

International Air Transport Association urges relaxation on Tax burden

The International Air Transport Associationurged U.S. policy makers to ease the tax and regulatory burdens on the airline industry for competitive reasons.
In his remarks the 37th FAA Aviation Forecast Conference, IATA’s director general and CEO Tony Tyler called for a new approach to taxes and regulatory policy.
“Taxes and fees now represent 20% of a U.S. [airline] ticket,” said Tony. “The Administration’s 2013 budget proposal heaps even more taxes on aviation, with much of the receipts used to balance the budget or reduce the deficit.”
He also said the government seeks to micromanage how airlines compete, and he wants to form a coalition to “deliver a strong message for a policy on aviation that includes reasonable taxation and competitiveness-enabling regulation.”

Marxism in America

Saw this on YouTube and I have seen it a couple of years ago, it is still relevant and educational.

     

Ant and Grasshopper....New 2012 Edition

  

THE NEW ANT and the Grasshopper . . .               Two Versions:  The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions .... Two Different Morals           OL D VERSION The ant works Hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper Thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm And well fed. The grasshopper has No food or shelter, so he Dies out in the cold. MORAL OF THE OLD STORY: Be responsible for yourself! NEW   VERSION The ant works hard In the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house And laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant Is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper Calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be Allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, And ABC show up to Provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper Next to a video of the ant In his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper Is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears On Oprah With the grasshopper And everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not EasyBeing Green...' Occupy the Anthill stages A demonstration in front of the ant's House where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We shall overcome. Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright Has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake, While he damns the ants. President Obama condems the ant And blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope For the grasshopper's Plight.. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid Exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has Gotten rich off the back of the Grasshopper, And both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share. Finally, the EEOC drafts The Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act Retroactive to the beginning of The summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number Of green bugs and, Having  nothing left to  pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government GreenCzar And given  to the grasshopper. The story ends as we see the grasshopper And his free-loading  friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is  in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, Crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it. The ant has  disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again. The grasshopper  is found  dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken Over  by a gang of spiders  who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous  and peaceful, neighborhood. The entire Nation collapses Bringing the rest Of the free world with it. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2012.

HHS thinks that if you live more than amile from a grocery store, you live in a food desert.

I could have soo much fun with this one...Lessee this is geared to the urban areas where large groups of democrat voters live...lets create a new entitlement for them to go with all the other entitlements that they get.  Also the dearth of grocery stores in these areas....well maybe the grocery stores got shoplifted and employee embezzled to death, got tired of bleeding money and pulled out.   So the only places that the poor, unfortunate democrat voter can get the fresh veggies along with the old English or malt liquor assorted adult beverages that they require is at the convenience stores where the Korean clerks watch them like hawks because of the proclivity of the urban democrat dweller to steal anything that isn't nailed down.    Am I not being sympathetic here....?

    

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a House hearing on March 6, 2012 that families having to walk a mile to a grocery store might not be able to get healthy foods. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – The administration’s definition of a “food desert” – an urban area where a significant share of the population lives more than one mile from a grocery store – came under the microscope during a Health and Human Services appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Questioning HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Republican lawmaker said it was likely most of those present at the hearing lived a mile from their nearest grocery store.
“Do you think that definition should be revisited, because one of the things is, if you are in an urban area a mile away from a grocery store you’re in a food desert – which I would think in so many cases is ridiculous,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). “Have you thought of – have you looked at their definition?”
“Ah, we have sir,” Sebelius responded.
“And you think it’s a good one?” Kingston asked.
“Well, I think it’s very difficult for a family buying groceries – if they have to walk a mile with bags of groceries, it may be too far to get healthier food,” Sebelius said.
“You really think that?” Kingston asked.
“I do,” she replied.
Sebelius agreed to take another look at the definition after Kingston pointed out that the definition is silent on how people must travel the one mile to a grocery store – whether on foot, by car or by some other means of transportation.
“Because I suspect in this room most of us might live a mile away from a grocery store,” Kingston said.
“And you walk a mile to get to the grocery store?” asked Sebelius.
“Well, I don’t think the walking part is in the definition,” Kingston responded.
“Well, I’m just suggesting to you sir – “ Sebelius said.
“But it’s not in the definition so, you know, it would also be bad if, you know, you didn’t have a driver’s license, but that’s not in the definition so that’s not relevant,” Kingston said.
“We’d be happy to look at the definition,” Sebelius replied.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last May announced the effort to locate food deserts, which were defined as a “low-income census tract where either a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.”
“Tracts qualify as ‘low access’ tracts if at least 500 persons or 33 percent of their population live more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles),” stated a press release announcing the campaign.
Vilsack said that the effort, and an associated online interactive “food desert locator” map, was in keeping with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which aims to reduce childhood obesity by increasing access to food deemed healthy and increasing exercise.
“This new Food Desert Locator will help policy makers, community planners, researchers, and other professionals identify communities where public-private intervention can help make fresh, healthy, and affordable food more readily available to residents,” Vilsack said at the time.
Tuesday’s hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education considered President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget request for $940.9 billion for HHS. The subcommittee is responsible for approving $69.6 billion of that funding.