



Magpas patron Lady Linda Vane Percy experienced the emergency medical team in action when her car overturned in Huntingdon...
The 63-year-old was cut out of her vehicle by the fire service as a Magpas team monitored her condition... [she] suffered four fractured ribs and cuts and bruising and is now recovering at home.
...Lady Linda said she did not think the accident was ever going to stop as her Smart car flipped over and the windows began to smash.
She said: “My mouth was full of broken glass and my hand was bleeding profusely.”
She was removed from the vehicle on a spinal board before being taken to hospital... “After a week I still feel stiff and quite breathless and not able to do as much as I would like to do.”
Recent comments from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials talking about “crucifying” business owners as a way of sending a message, as well as the news that EPA has been performing flyovers over feedlots, doesn’t come as any surprise to anyone who’s dealt with the agency in recent years. After all, EPA views business in the same light that the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration sees drug smugglers. As a result, EPA seems to believe its use of the same types of tactics is more than justified.
...But it’s sad that the fact that we have nothing to hide and are obeying the laws of the land doesn’t mean that the next time we see a plane or unmanned drone fly overhead, that it could be our own government spying on us. I remember years ago reading George Orwell’s “1984” and Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and thinking how scary it would be to live in such societies. I was convinced back then that it could never happen here. Today, however, we all should reread those books just to gain a better understanding of the world in which we now live.
Brownfield Ag News recently reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had come under scrutiny for conducting aerial surveillance over Midwestern concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)... The problem with this ... is that the EPA has delegated to the states the right to permit CAFOs and enforce the Clean Water Act... It gave Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, etc., the right and obligation to do these inspections...
...At a seminar a couple years ago, I saw photos taken by EPA inspectors during these flights. The pictures did paint a clear picture of feedlot run-off into creeks and streams. Still, I was left with a disturbing feeling that these overflights are wrong. It is one thing for an inspector to show up on a farm, meet the operator, and receive a farm tour. It is an entirely different type of inspection that occurs by air, without the farmer's knowledge or opportunity to explain matters. Aerial surveillance is also overinclusive in that it includes a clear view of a farmer's home, backyard, swimming pool, etc.
But more than anything, aerial surveillance violates privacy. The US Constitution does not contain an express "Right of Privacy," but the Supreme Court has numerous times interpreted The Fourth Amendment as protecting one's home from unreasonable government surveillance... My guess is that most people have no idea that the EPA condones aerial flyovers. If, upon learning this you are troubled, you are not alone.
Bloggers under fire: AZ conservative targeted by left-wing State Bar: MalkinQOTD: "...somehow in 2008, a tenuous peace was brokered amongst the various factions of the left, and Obama went on to win both the nomination and the White House, so it’s possible for a repeat in 2012. But with the New President Smell having long since evaporated, and the expectations continuing to diminish amongst Obama’s core supporters, that seems much more difficult this time around, particularly when we’re seeing headlines such as this, from CBS’s DC outlet: “Liberals Threaten Not To Vote In November Over Disappointment With Obama.”" --Ed Driscoll
• Former Clinton Adviser Lanny Davis Goes Off On Obama Aides: “You Have Vicious People Who Are Working For The President” - "It may be meltdown unless they come to their senses. Why would they want to create enemies, or depict people as enemies: who are their friends?"
Because the Clinton Wing of the Democrat Party is astute enough to know what's coming. I believe we are watching the first signs of a political tsunami. In state after state, Barack Obama has marshaled only 60% of the vote... as an incumbent president in the Democrat freaking primaries.
A Rundown of Conservative Blogger Harrassment: HawkinsQOTD: "Any president will, in a presidential election year, be political. But there is a startling sense with Mr. Obama that that’s all he is now, that he and his people are all politics, all the time, undeviatingly, on every issue. He isn’t even trying to lead, he’s just trying to win.
Most ominously, there are the national-security leaks that are becoming a national scandal—the “avalanche of leaks,” according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, that are somehow and for some reason coming out of the administration. A terrorist “kill list,” reports of U.S. spies infiltrating Al Qaeda in Yemen, stories about Osama bin Laden’s DNA and how America got it, and U.S. involvement in the Stuxnet computer virus, used against Iranian nuclear facilities. These leaks, say the California Democrat, put “American lives in jeopardy,” put “our nation’s security in jeopardy.”
This isn’t the usual—this is something different. A special counsel may be appointed.
And where is the president in all this? On his way to Anna Wintour’s house. He’s busy. He’s running for president.
But why? He could be president now if he wanted to be." --Peggy Noonan, via Ed Driscoll
The vast majority of federal spending in the Senate farm bill, which is estimated to cost over $100 billion annually, is going toward food stamps, representing a 100 percent increase since President Barack Obama took office, according to Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions.
“The legislation will spend $82 billion on food stamps next year, $82 billion and an estimated $770 billion over the next ten years. So, to put these figures in perspective, and they’re so large it’s difficult to comprehend, we will spend next year $40 billion on the federal highway program,” said Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee...
...Federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program has doubled since 2008 which accounts for 80 percent of the farm bill’s cost, according to an analysis of Congressional Budget Office and White House Office of Management and Budget data conducted by the Senate Budget Committee’s Republican staff...
“When the food stamp program was first expanded nationwide, about 1 in 50 Americans received food stamp benefits. Today, nearly 1 in 7 receive food stamp benefits,” Sessions said in a floor speech.
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Execute a Mexican national on the House floor, Saigon-style #FastAndFurious #tcot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Throw a beach ball repeatedly into @johnboehner's face while asking "Gonna Squirt?"
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Place @SarahPalinUSA on the FBI's Most Wanted List #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongressSend governors of right-to-work states to Gitmo #FastAndFurious #tcot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Organize a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Deliver a small thermonuclear weapon to the Mexican cartels #FastAndFurious
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongressTestify in front of Congress dressed as a New Black Panther #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Pimp-slap Eric Cantor #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Enter a loud fart into the record as a response to a question #FastAndFurious #tcot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Fire an AK-47 wildly in the House Chambers #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
#WhatDoesEricHolderHaveToDoToBeFoundInContemptofCongress Urinate on @JohnBoehner's gavel #FastAndFurious #tcot #tlot
— Doug Ross (@directorblue) June 8, 2012
Obama's Third-Party History: KurtzQOTD: "Unions and Democrats contested ten state Senate races over the past year, one Supreme Court position, and the Governor and Lt. Governor offices. They ended up farther back than when they started. Scott Walker improved his 2010 performance by 125,000 votes, and Barrett lost by a bigger percentage than in 2010. Rebecca Kleefisch trounced her opponent, who hadn’t even been on record as voting until 2008.
This led to an inevitable amount of whining afterward about Democrats being outspent 7-1, but that only looks at the spending from the campaigns, and only in the gubernatorial election. Unions dropped millions into Wisconsin in an effort to punish politicians who had the temerity to impose some fiscal discipline on the government class. They calculated that voters would find bureaucrats more sympathetic than the taxpayers getting fleeced by the WEAC Trust and the PEUs. They bet wrong." --Ed Morrissey
This chart from the good folks over at Strategas research shows why Team Obama should be worried if it already isn’t. President Obama is below the reelection Mendoza line...
Weak growth equal weak incomes equals a one-termer.
...The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
President Obama had one of the biggest star-studded fundraising nights of his re-election campaign last night, less than a month after he attended a celebrity fundraiser hosted by George Clooney in May... Obama attended two LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) events - one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles - that featured Hollywood stars Ellen DeGeneres, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon and Glee actors Jane Lynch and Darrin Criss.
Send In The Drones: Obama Spies On America: IBDQOTD: "The things that [Obama]’s done even with a election pending, in six months or so are frightening, he’s still doubling down on his Keynesian spending on his debt, refusing to rein in the debt, refusing to give us a plan on entitlements, refusing to lead the Senate to give us a budget after 1,100 or so days, I fear that he would do more administrative end-runs around Congress, more abuses of authority with his executive power and he would create even more debt — and we only have a 2-3 year window according to experts if you listen to what Paul Ryan says." --David Limbaugh
"There are going to be lots of court cases in California and elsewhere as judges sort out the legalities of pension obligations, but Via Meadia‘s advice to public sector workers remains unchanged. If your pension looks too good to be true, it probably is. You should not believe either the union officials or the politicians who tell you not to worry. These pension plans are not safe, and those affected should begin, now, to make changes in spending and saving patterns to guard against sudden and unpleasant shocks that are all too likely to be heading your way... Change is coming, and faster than you think. America is reinventing itself to retool for the 21st century, and many of the assumptions and institutions of 20th century politics are fading away." --Walter Russell Mead
• The share of long-term unemployment is at its highest level since the Great Depression (42%).
• Fully 54% of college degree graduates under the age of 25 are either unemployed or underemployed.
• 45 million Americans are on food stamps — one in seven residents.
• 47% of Americans are on some form of government assistance.
• The employment-to-population ratio for 25-54 year olds is now 75.7%, lower than it was when the recession supposedly ended in June 2009.
• The number of people not in the labour force has swelled eight million since the recession ended; absent that effect, the unemployment rate would be 12% right now (about the same as President Obama's election chances would be).
• The number of people confident enough to leave their jobs fell 11% in May for the second month in a row to 891k, the lowest since November 2010.
• The ranks of the unemployed who have been looking fruitlessly for work for at least 27 weeks jumped 310,000 in May, the sharpest increase since May 2011.
• The unemployment rate for males aged 16-19 is 27% and for males between 20 and 24 it is 13%. Draw your own conclusions from a social (in)stability standpoint.
• One in seven Americans are either unemployed or underemployed...
...A mere 16% of the 2009-2011 graduating class has found full-time work, while 22% are working part-time. Even those hired from 2006-08, just 23% are working full-time.
According to a poll cited in the NYT, just 14% of high-school grads today believe they will have a more successful financial future than their parents Line of the day, as depressing as it is, comes from an 18-year old: "Thank God I had a buddy at Burger King who could help me out".
There's so much uncertainty.
This national debt is growing and they can't seem to get anything done whatsoever in Washington, which tells business people to look out for a big fat tax increase.
They're talking about raising the taxes on capital gains and then you have Obamacare. And if you're a small businessperson, you have no clue how you're going to deal with the unfunded costs of Obamacare. Then you have Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation and no one knows what the rules are you going to be.
Let's just take you and I. If you and I are going to invest in a business, but we don't know what the rules are going to be, we're likely to just wait. And that's what's happening right now.
It's extremely frustrating to me. At the end of the day, and this is a totally unrealistic thing, but wouldn't it be great if the Congress and the President got together and sat down and said, "We've got a crisis here." I mean, Rome is on fire. And it's singeing places like Ohio. I'm very concerned about it. We've been making great progress... but the headwinds, they're kicking up again.
We [in Ohio] finally got out of an $8 billion hole, and we build up a rainy day fund, and we have people in the legislature saying, 'let's just go spend it.' I mean, are you kidding me? ...It's very disappointing to see [the president unable to act]... as someone who was there when we got something done there, I just look at this and just shake my head. [It's] just dysfunctional.
Finally, Obama finds a job that suits him: playing god.
Barack Obama: Drone warrior
Dead terrorists can’t talk.
By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
A very strange story, a 6,000-word front-page New York Times piece on how, every Tuesday, Barack Obama shuffles “baseball cards” with the pictures and bios of suspected terrorists from around the world and chooses who shall die by drone strike. He even reserves for himself the decision of whether to proceed when the probability of killing family members or bystanders is significant.
The article could have been titled “Barack Obama: Drone Warrior.” Great detail on how Obama personally runs the assassination campaign. On-the-record quotes from the highest officials. This was no leak. This was a White House press release.
...The Osama-slayer card having been vastly overplayed, what to do? A new card: Obama, drone warrior, steely and solitary, delivering death with cool dispatch to the rest of the al-Qaida depth chart.
So the peacemaker, Nobel laureate, nuclear disarmer, apologizer to the world for America having lost its moral way when it harshly interrogated the very people Obama now kills, has become – just in time for the 2012 campaign – Zeus the Avenger, smiting by lightning strike.
A rather strange ethics. You go around the world preening about how America has turned a new moral page by electing a president profoundly offended by George W...
...You festoon your prisoners with rights – but you take no prisoners. The morality is perverse. Which is why the results are so mixed. We do kill terror operatives, an important part of the war on terror, but we gratuitously forfeit potentially life-saving intelligence.
But that will cost us later. For now, we are to bask in the moral seriousness and cool purpose of our drone warrior president.