As the economy continues to flounder and the economic desperation of people continues to rise, so to does the danger at home and on the street from random and potentially violent crime!
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
News......................
Rule 5 - In The Kitchen
Take a detention, Sir Michael!
Obama’s Ironic Foreign Policy
As NORAD Tracks Santa, critics track NORAD
Kurdistan map on Iraqi Kurdish TV weather forecast raises eyebrows in Turkey
How Trayvon's parents are cashing in
Pope Francis removes former La Crosse Bishop Raymond Burke
Oh the Irony; Liberal NYC Elites are ObamaCare Losers
MAMAS, DON’T LET YOUR BABIES GROW UP TO BE DALLAS COWBOYS!
China’s State Media Blame U.S. for Near Collision of Warships
The Unmaking of Santa, United Nations style
Israel accepts Lebanese explanation for killing of IDF soldier as “one-time” incident
Magma chamber under Yellowstone’s supervolcano more than two times larger than previously believed
Report: Suicide bomber targets Hezbollah operatives in eastern Lebanon
USS Cowpens Incident Reveals Strategic Mistrust Between U.S. and China
How to Measure an Aircraft Carrier’s Worth
Japan to increase military spending as row with China continues
Europe fears over Russian nuclear-capable missiles on border of EU
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Life in New York City: $114MM townhouse for sale! (Photos)...from TPC
Pictures of a New York City townhouse with an asking price of more than $100MM. And, if you have to ask how much parking is, you definitely can't afford it!
Monday, 16 December 2013
How to Avoid a Depressing Christmas
By Alan Caruba
My memories of Christmas as a child include a run down the stairs to find stockings hanging from the fireplace and boxes of gifts. After the excitement of opening them, there was a family dinner for myself, an older brother, and my parents. Since my Mother was a teacher of haute cuisine, even the traditional turkey and other dishes were a special treat, but the fact is that the family ate like royalty for all the years we were together. An internationally honored authority on wine, it was a daily part of our lives.
Christmas was a day to enjoy and we did. As I grew older the story of Santa Claus was replaced with purchasing gifts for the family. As I grew even older, first my Father passed away and then my Mother. Single by choice, my family became an older brother in a distant state, a nephew and a niece, both living distantly. So Christmas became a very quiet, solitary day.
All this might sound a bit depressing, but it is not my life that I regard in that fashion. Rather it is the incessant commercialism of Christmas combined with the media-driven expectations about the holiday that include a growing number of films, both classic and more recent, that fill the television airwaves night after night. You must be merry because it’s Christmas is the message and, if you’re not, there must be something wrong with you.
Between the endless commercials found in both the print and broadcast media, it is hard, if not impossible, to escape the constant demands to spend on everything from a new car to various kinds of gifts. The pressure builds the closer one gets to Christmas and, for many, it is daunting.
So, the dirty secret about Christmas is that it is often accompanied by feelings of depression, mild or intense, and too many people think there is, as mentioned, something wrong with themselves. There isn’t. It’s normal and there are ways to cope and overcome it.
Those happy childhood memories are not shared by everyone. Some grew up in dysfunctional families and recall the stress of the holiday. As an adult you have permission to put those memories aside and, if you have your own family, to create happier ones for children and loved ones. It can be as simple as creating your own family traditions such as a trip to church or volunteering to help others less fortunate.
For those with aging parents, Christmas is a reminder of the problems that might accompany this and, yes, this too can be depressing if you dwell on it. Aging, however, is just a part of life and we all must make our peace with it.
Winter is associated with Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD) because of the early onset of darkness or just the too often overcast weather. Though cold, a short walk during the daylight hours, perhaps at lunchtime, is a useful way to avoid this or just by sitting by a window where the sun comes in. Exercise is a year-long way to ward off or reduce depression as it increases the heart rate and releases endorphins in the brain. You can exercise anywhere so a trip to an expensive gym is not necessary.
A frequently unspoken aspect of Christmas is the expectation to join family gatherings or events associated with the holiday. You may not wish to do this and, if not, you should find a good excuse to avoid them. Being surrounded by relatives of whom you’re not particularly fond is hardly a definition of merriment.
There are millions unemployed in the nation and, for them, Christmas just adds to their debts. Putting a limit on one’s spending is the sensible thing to do whether one is employed or not. Don’t apologize. A lousy economy is not your fault. And, beyond the economy, there are world events over which you have no control. On Christmas, you can and should ignore them.
If you are suffering from an on-going depression that requires therapy or medical intervention, taking action should be a priority, but for most Christmas is a trigger for general, often unfocused feelings, heightened by the recognition that time is moving along relentlessly. The New Year is a good time to find some focus and then to take action to address one’s problems. Give yourself permission to do some interesting, fun things. You can and should do it.
If any of this resonates with you, know that you are not alone. Indeed, these are feelings shared by millions, by family members, by friends, and by coworkers.
So, yes, have a Merry Christmas and make it one designed to be what you want it to be, not what endless messages of holiday cheer make you feel you have to be or do.
© Alan Caruba, 2013
Ukraine Rising (Part 1)
For three weeks, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian protesters have been flooding the streets of Kiev, occupying government buildings and taking over the city's Independence Square. Initially, the demonstrators were expressing discontent at President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to pull out of a deal that would bring Ukraine closer to joining the European Union.
After an initial brutal police crackdown, the protests have grown in size and are now more about toppling the government and putting an end to corruption than joining the EU. The police have tried and failed to clear the tent city that has sprung up in the Independence Square—also known as the Maidan—and the occupied city hall that has been dubbed the "Revolution HQ." Protesters remain in the streets, despite the below zero temperatures.
Baby-sized Bethlehem................
Happy holidays from Little Big World with this Christmas-special short time-lapse film from the christmas market in Bethlehem.
Down to the Wire..........................from Dan Friedman
[Jew-hatred has ebbed and flowed throughout history. We are now nearing the apogee of the latest cycle. If it is not turned back here (and only Israel can do that via Jewish acts of defiance) then it will be impossible to contain going forward. It will then have a life all its own, and the current anti-Semitic frenzy will boil over to burn the Jews and their antagonists among the Nations df]
Arutz Sheva, Tevet 12, 5774, 15/12/13
The fate of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria is the most important single defining issue for the future of the Jewish people.
By Giulio Meotti
News....................
Getting ready to drill and mill .... more on the plywood gun ....
Europe: Islamic Fundamentalism is Widespread
Report: Palestinians Reject Kerry Peace Plan
Undocumented immigrants to strain safety-net hospitals in Connecticut
Traditional incandescent bulbs phasing out in 2014
Cowardice is Ruling & Ruining American Politics, Institutions & Life Itself
Israeli soldier killed by Lebanese shooter. IDF on high alert calls up reinforcements
‘Whole families murdered’: Syrian rebels execute over 80 civilians outside Damascus
Footage released of China moon landing
The Ghost of Obamacare Yet to Come: UK healthcare in shambles!...from TPC
No movie is watched more around Christmas than the classic 'It's a Wonderful Life' therefore nothing is more appropriate than taking a look at the Ghost of Obamacare yet to come!
Do You Know: Can you name the Obama administration scandal?...from TPC
Is there another presidential administration in the history of the United States that could have a Q&A with the scope and breadth like this one about Obama administration scandals?
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Sunday, 15 December 2013
Smokin' Sunday Rule 5
December bikinis --- and some busty babes!
This is one freakin' hot roundup.
Enjoy those busty babes and the winter bikini bazongas!
A Holiday Gesture.....................from Rico
It's hard, brutally exhausting 'work' posing for 'selfies' in between looking at your awesomeness in the mirror and generally being a useless layabout.
- And man! All that bowing to others, and shaking hands with Communists dictators and stuff...Barry needs him another vacation!
No, no Christmas for the Worst Family at Camp David, that's what Presidents usually do (at least the ones who really were Presidents, before that poseur in an empty suit came along).
- Nope, nope, nope!
With a firm grip on their sense of entitlement, Barry and Moochelle and the little Mooches, and their entourage are taking yet another 2+ week vacation in Hawaii.
- Not that the media is going to remind you that this is at least the SIXTH such 2+ week vacation in Hawaii for them...all at taxpayer expense.
This is becoming their signature, and traditional, holiday "kiss my ass" gesture to America.
- And here is what they have for the 'little people'...just a small token of appreciation. There's only one, gotta 'save money' during these hard economic times, so everyone will be expeced to 'share' and take a turn with it.
Cautiously Optimistic...................from Dan Friedman
[One can never be sure about the true intentions of Israeli politicians. They change colors faster than a chameleon. “Hardliner” Netanyahu himself proves the point, as did Ariel “the hawk” Sharon with his “disengagement.”
Which brings to mind Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, a wealthy and observant Jew who (ostensibly) stands squarely on the nationalist religious right. In the coming months we are going to see political upheavals in the Israeli government as well as more jarring instability in the neighborhood that could include a clash with Iran. We’ll just have to wait and see if Bennett can resist the temptations – especially the lure of Oslo - that have flipped so many of his political predecessors. I hope he goes from strength to strength. Right now it’s too soon to tell. df]
Economics Minister responds to reports of Abbas rejecting US proposal, citing historical evidence that US involvement fails.
By Tova Dvorin
Obama Commemorative Scandal Plates for Christmas! (Video)...from TPC
This video describes the Obama administration Commemorative Scandal Dinner Plate Collection perfect for the liberal on your Christmas gift giving list!
Watch at The Political Commentator here.
Sunday Reading List......................from Dan Friedman
It’s always a good day to catch up with Ted Belman’s posts at Israpundit. But today he’s given us an embarrassment of riches.
Click here and read what you like.
Latest Obamacare Obamanation!...from TPC
What the Obama administration doesn't know about business, the private sector or basically anything else could fill a piece of legislation with more than 2,000 pages!
The GOP will lose in the 2014 mid-term and 2016 presidential elections!...from TPC
Based on my unofficial observations and the nature of the opponent that we face in the 2014 mid-term elections and the 2016 presidential race, the GOP is going to lose if things don't change!
Read at The Political Commentator here.
The Financial Collapse of America
By Alan Caruba
“The United States is in very deep trouble. First, the concept of repaying $16.7 trillion in debt is not even a remote possibility over the next 100 years, even if the government had small surpluses. Then, because the country is running such large deficits, the national debt is increasing and getting worse…much worse. In addition, the government is approximately $70 trillion in unfunded liabilities that have to be resolved.”
“Pray that the market for the national debt remains open so that the United States can keep borrowing to repay the money is previously borrowed and then will have to re-borrow to repay the money it just borrowed. There is no chance the market will not change its demeanor over the next 100 years.”
That’s Murray Holland’s conclusion in his book, “A Nation in the Red: The Government Debt Crisis and What We Can Do About it” ($28.00, McGraw Hill). As a longtime book reviewer, I have read a growing stack of books warning about a financial collapse, but Holland’s book is not only based in the actual debt, but is written in a manner that even a person who has no knowledge of this issue can understand.
The “market” Holland refers to is the market for America’s treasury notes and bonds, issued to cover our on-going budget and the interest needed to pay prior borrowing. In sum, the nation is spending more and borrowing more than it can afford. It has been doing this for a long time and the warning signs are places like Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other European nations that, following World War Two, embraced socialism. America did so even earlier during The Great Depression and the decades since the 1930s.
Holland calls it a Debt Trap and conservatives know instinctively that the U.S. government is too large and too based in socialism to survive. “There are over 500 agencies and departments on the list and it does not even include all the agencies and departments created in the states under grant programs from the federal government.” One can find the list at http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml.
“The list of social programs is long,” writes Holland, “but the four major categories driving America into the Debt Trap are income security (Social Security, welfare, and other related programs), healthcare (Medicaid, Obamacare, and Medicare), education, and housing,” noting that “These programs did not exist until after the Great Depression.” They came about as the result of a Keynesian view that government spending would lift the economy out of its doldrums, but government spending does nothing to improve the economy. It sucks money out of the economy and, more specifically, out of the pockets of individual citizens and the business community.
Americans born during and after the Great Depression have had eighty years living in a nation whose economic system is capitalism, but whose governance is socialism.
Despite nearly fifty years of a Cold War with the former Soviet Union (1945-1991), Americans have been blissfully ignored its intention of the communist intention to destroy capitalism and have accepted a vast matrix of social programs that now represent $70 trillion in unfunded financial liabilities. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, their plan “to overwhelm America with debt, welfare, and entitlements—in other words, to bankrupt America has continued unabated.
“This will cause the collapse of America and the government could then turn to pure socialism,” says Holland, noting that “Their scheme has been so well researched it has its own name: the Cloward-Piven strategy,”
It’s worth noting that, in addition to the socialist nations of the European Union, communism is still alive and well in Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba to name just a few nations. And yet, even Russia and China have adopted some capitalistic measures, while ensuring strong, totalitarian central governments.
The level of danger has increased exponentially with the election and reelection of President Barack Obama whose namesake legislation, Obamacare, is already having a catastrophic effect on the economy while putting all Americans at risk for the loss of healthcare from individual physicians and hospitals. The legislation was passed by a party-line vote by Democrats and opposed by every Republican in Congress. Obama spent the years since signing it lying about it. That’s what Communists do.
It is what the vast bulk of the nation’s print and broadcast media is doing are doing as well. They are little more than echo chambers for the torrent of lies that Obama administration is telling Americans about the economy.
“During the first few years of the Great Depression, almost 2,300 banks were closed, manufacturing fell 46 percent, and wholesale prices fell 32 percent. Today, the United States has a reported unemployment rate of around 8 percent. During the Great Depression, the unemployment rate hit 25 percent.” With ninety million Americans unemployed, the figures cited by the federal government are a fiction.
The only thing that can save America is an increase in our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), selling more goods and services, enabling an increase in employment, coupled with a vast reduction in the enormous governmental regulation of business. The vast taxation of Americans needs to be reduced in order to permit them to retain and spend their earnings, make investments, start new businesses. The annual GDP is now less than what the nation earns.
The “redistribution of wealth” is a totally communist concept and it is the intent of the Obama administration.
The future of the nation depends on the outcome of the 2014 midterm elections and control of Congress by as many conservative candidates and office-holders is essential. The RINOs, Republicans in name only, must be replaced.
In the meantime, I recommend you purchase and read “A Nation in the Red.”
© Alan Caruba, 2013
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The Sunday Best...............
Beneath Yellowstone, a volcano that could wipe out U.S.
Study shows it was warmer in Roman times than today
Washington's loss is Alabama's gain: Boeing's engineering center will focus on simulation, metals and chemical technology
Union said Boeing's demands were 'too high,' company evaluating 54 sites as possible home for 777X
Islamists Threaten British Shop Owners with 40 Lashes for Selling Alcohol
Cowardice is Ruling & Ruining American Politics, Institutions & Life Itself
and finally..........
Mincemeat Pie - an annual re-post
Iran Has Obama by the Short Hairs..........................by Dan Friedman
[One of the waste products oozing out of the Geneva agreement is that Obama has more invested in its "success" than the Iranians do. Putting aside the question of Obama's true motivation, after suffering from serial fiascos and assorted self-inflicted wounds, he can hardly afford to look like a major league idiot again. The (outwardly) bumbling Obama is quickly running out of dispensations from the American people and his lackeys in the media. Even if he is the Manchurian Candidate, Obama still has to reckon with 2014. Should the Democrats hang on to Congress, it will be smooth sailing for Obama's radical agenda until 2016, and perhaps beyond. Should the Republican make gains they may be able to limit the damage and right the ship thereafter.
Of course, the Iranians know the position Obama is in - after all, they put him there with his full cooperation. Much like the "Palestinians", the Mullahs have our Fearless Leader's cojones in the palm of their hand, and they're already squeezing. Like anyone who puts themselves in that situation, Obama has little room to maneuver. A threat from either Iran or the PLO to end their respective Obama-sponsored talks is all that's needed for the leader of the free world to snap to attention and transfer the pressure to the Jewish side.
As the great Jabotinsky advised the Jews almost a century ago, it's a bad mistake to meet people halfway when they don't want to meet you in the first place. His prescient advice was ignored then, as it has been by Israelis and other Jews to this day. If Jews want a happy ending this time, as opposed to another self-imposed disaster, Israel needs to stop playing the junior partner at this crucial stage in history and do what’s right for #1 – without asking an inept and/or malicious Obama for his permission. df]
Before and After the FED...........................from Rico
Looking at the 100 years before the FED was 'created' in secret on Jekyll Island, and then at the 100 years afterwards, it seems ver clear that the FED did not make things any better than they were before...as was 'promised' by the politicians who (surprise) passed a stupid law with horrid unintended consequences.
Final Word on the Selfie.......................from Rico
This should be THE final word on that 'putting the fun back in funerals' "selfie" incident. And remember, many a true word (and insult) has been said in jest.
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Saturday, 14 December 2013
Banned Australian condom commercial (Video)...from TPC
After watching this video of a television ad for an Australian condom you will probably agree that it is NSFW or appropriate for television!
Watch at The Political Commentator here.
Very Funny Michelle Obama Christmas Gif...from TPC
An extremely funny Michelle Obama gif just in time for Christmas that comes from one of her favorite places, La La Land!
Bill passed banning investigative journalism!...from TPC
Is the bill described in this article the end to democracy as we know it?
This article contains some of the stipulations of a bill that was passed on December 6th to little fanfare that allows the government to name anything that they want to a secret!
Happy Holidays Marines!
Commandant of the Marine Corps General James F. Amos and his wife, Bonnie Amos, spread holiday cheer to Marines all over the world. Semper Fidelis!
News.................
Bathtub thoughts on munitions ....
Soldiers view on the Covenant
I Would Do Anything for My Country — But I Won’t Do That
Mr. Ryan’s Dilemma
Hallelujah: Aversion to the Renewable Fuel Standard seems to be catching on in Congress
Boeing machinists reject "best and final" labor deal for 777X
Megyn Kelly Explains White Santa
Appeasing Nuclear Tyrannies Doesn’t Work
Totes Obvs. Michigan teachers union demands $10K severance pay for child molester teacher
Does the Islamic Front 'battle al Qaeda'?
Spanish Healthcare.gov Finally Launches. Dónde Outrage?
Iran returns second space monkey to earth, stages crisis in nuclear talks
Many questions loom in the death Loretta Fuddy
USS Cowpens and China’s First-Mover Advantage
First fox-hunting, now badger culling: the RSPCA has forgotten what it's for
Female protester 'sexually assaulted policeman'
"Operation Stupid Eagle" - Wild Bill
Homeland Security is spying on our veterans who return home from war. Bill is tired of seeing good Americans mistreated by the Obama Administration.
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