Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Elizabeth Taylor: No More Surgeries For Me



I always was a fan of Liz, although the peak of her career was before my time. One of my favorite movies, Giant, stars her, Rock Hudson, and James Dean in his last film before he died in a car crash.

Its well worth picking up the DVD of one of the finest movies ever made directed by George Stevens.

From The National Enquirer:

After more than a hundred operations in the past 25 years, Hollywood icon Liz Taylor says finis!
The superstar, 78, has reportedly told friends and family she won't go under the knife any more no matter how much pain she's in.

Taylor who's been in poor health most of her life after falling off a horse in National Velvet has already been rushed to a hospital 3 times this year.

Liz's long list of surgery included having both hips replaced and five operations on her back. Medical problems for the Suddenly Last Summer star have also included a brain tumor, skin cancer, diabetes, pneumonia, seizures and a stroke.


Full Story

Via National Enquirer

The Last Tradition

Did Erykah Badu Go Too Far in Window Seat Video?



Did she go too far?


Hmm, group think, huh?

A person who is a afraid of expressing themselves for fear of being ostracized by the wider public?

Oh, really?

You mean like when a Black person dares to be a Conservative and refuse to go along with the rest of the sheep and vote for the Democrat Party because they’re supposed to?

I think Erykah is on the money here. Ya’ll better recognize.

The Last Tradition

Sharpton, Jackson, and Lee: The New Overseers on the 21st Century Plantation




Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the White men who managed plantations for Slave-owners were known as the “Overseers”. They often at times used cruel methods to keep Black slaves in-line and doing the Master’s bidding. These cruel men, who were Democrats by the way, did not hesitate to utilize Bullwhips on the backs of slaves to make an example of what happens to a slave that was disobedient.

It was a very effective tool to maintain slavery and keep the cotton coming in!

Today, the plantations are gone. The Bullwhips are put away in the barn. But, the Overseers remain and have different color faces. And the enslavement of African American minds is as strong as ever.

These new Overseers are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Sheila Jackson Lee. Their task is to continue to foster the perception that White Conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and all Republicans are racists.

Instead of using Bullwhips on the backs of slaves, they tell lies and distort the truth to keep African Americans mentally enslaved so they can continue to support the Democrat Party at the rate of 95% and up.

If a Black person dares to question the status quo of support for the Democrat Party, they are immediately ridiculed and shunned by other African Americans as “sellouts”. “Uncle Tom’s”, “handkerchief heads”, “Oreo cookies”, or trying to be “White”.

Who needs Bullwhips anymore?

The new Slave-owners, the Democrat Party, no longer need cotton, but they desperately sure need the votes from the progeny they enslaved in the first place.

If you think President Barack Obama is the head of the Democrat Party, think again. Ask billionaire and White man George Soros who really yields the power behind the scenes.

Brothers and Sisters, when will you break the chains in your minds?

The Last Tradition

Boehner Rebukes Obama Offshore Drilling Plan


You can’t say that President Obama didn’t learn about triangulation from Bill Clinton.

Here Obama is attempting to give the appearance of reaching out to the other side by proposing an issue that is not part of his party’s platform in a cynical attempt to peal off some Republicans to his side.

However, John Boehner is calling the presidents bluff.

The Hill reports:

President Barack Obama's plan to allow expanded offshore oil and gas exploration won rebuke from the top House Republican on Wednesday.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed the president's plan as not going far enough in opening up U.S. waters for exploration.
Obama's decision "continues to defy the will of the American people," Boehner said in a statement, pointing to the president's decision to open Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters, while leaving Pacific and many Alaskan waters largely closed to exploration.

"It's long past time for this Administration to stop delaying American energy production off all our shores and start listening to the American people who want an “all of the above” strategy to produce more American energy and create more jobs," the House GOP leader added. "Republicans are listening to the American people and have proposed a better solution – the American Energy Act – which will lower gas prices, increase American energy production, promote new clean and renewable sources of energy, and encourage greater efficiency and conservation."
Full story

Via The Hill

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition

Ex CBO Boss Douglas Holtz-Eakin Explains Depth of Fiscal Deception in Obama Care Law (Radio Interview)



Radio America at WorldNet Daily interview with Douglas Holtz-Eakin describes how the numbers don’t add up in ObamaCare the way President Obamaand the Democrats claim they do.

The devil in the details more than emotional hopes for a Utopian idea of healthcare for everyone in Bamazuela.

Radio Interview
Click Here

The Last Tradition

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Jaime Escalante, Inspiration for Stand and Deliver, Dies at 79


Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who inspired the 1988 film Stand and Deliver, died Tuesday. He was 79.

Escalante died at his son's home after battling bladder cancer for several years, family friend Keith Miller told The Associated Press.

As a math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, Escalante completely transformed the school's mathematics curriculum and pushed his struggling students to master advanced math and science courses. At one point, Garfield High School had the fifth-highest number of advanced placement calculus students in the country.
Full story

Make no mistake, Jamie was a fine Conservative!
RIP

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition

Man Jumps Off Empire State Building Dies


In all my years living in New York, I’ve never heard of this happening. This is really tragic!

From the New York Post:

A man jumped to his death from the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building tonight, police sources said.

The jumper, who was in his 20s, landed on the sidewalk by a bank branch on W. 34th Street near Fifth Avenue at about 6:30 p.m.


Police believe he was able to get over the barriers because there weren’t too many people on the deck due to rainy weather.

Jason Beck, 28, of Brooklyn was walking with a friend on the street when the tragedy occurred.
"My friend heard this really loud weird sound," he said. "He turned around and saw someone splattered on the ground."
It’s a miracle he didn’t land on somebody. It’s pretty crowded on that street that time of night.

UPDATE: Huffington Post reports

The Empire State Building jumper has been identified as Yale student Cameron Dabaghi, an East Asian studies major from Austin, Texas.

Dabaghi leaped from the 86th floor of the landmark building around 6:30 pm Tuesday night. According to witnesses, the college junior took a running start in order to clear the barrier on the observation deck.
Dabaghi hit the ground "with a sickening thud" near a Bank of America branch.

A witness on the street told the Daily News that "his body was shattered and his sneakers were scattered on the sidewalk" after the giant "boom" of his impact.

One passerby apparently tried to cover up the gruesome sight by putting his umbrella over the body.

In a letter to the Yale community, Yale College Dean Mary Miller wrote, "We are all deeply distressed by this news."
Dabaghi's sister is also a student at Yale.


Via New York Post

The Last Tradition

Sandra Bullock Files for Divorce from Jesse James


A lady can take only so much.

Ask Jesse James.

From The National Enquirer:

As the ENQUIRER reported FIRST
Sandra Bullock has decided to file for divorce from cheating hubby Jesse James.
A source close to the couple tells RadarOnline.com now says she has made up her mind and already taken steps toward obtaining a divorce.

As more and more women come forward claiming affairs with the West Coast Choppers star, sources say that Sandra is humiliated and feels that her entire marriage was one big lie.

So far four women have been named as cheating with Jesse. The fourth has now retained Gloria Allred as her attorney and has vowed to keep her mouth shut, raising eyebrows.

Sandra has not been seen in public since alleged lover Michelle "Bombshell: McGee ignited a media firestorm but her rep said today "There are no plans, nor have there ever been any plans, for Sandra Bullock to adopt any of Jesse James' children".

Via
National Enquirer

The Last Tradition

Mixed Results for New York City's Anti-Poverty Program that Paid $14M to Poor


The New York Post reports:

An experimental anti-poverty program that pays poor New Yorkers for good behavior like getting health insurance and attending parent-teacher conferences has had mixed results. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s pilot program began in 2007 and the first analysis was released Tuesday.

In two years, 2,400 participating families were paid a total of $14 million. Payments averaged about $3,000 a year per family. The money came from private donations.

The city said participants improved on several targets. More people established bank accounts and stopped using costly check cashing services. More people saw the dentist.

The rewards had no effect on school performance and attendance for young children or low-performing high schoolers.

The idea was modeled on efforts in other countries.


UPDATE:
Cash isn't king in some schools in the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Elementary- and middle-school students had been enrolled in a bold experiment to effect social change -- where they and their families get cash for meeting various improvement goals. But they usually performed no better than counterparts in a control group that didn't collect a cent, according to preliminary data released yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg.

But money did make a difference when it came to well-prepared ninth-graders who registered better attendance records and Regents scores than those who didn't get paid.

Some of the payouts were substantial: passing a single Regents exam was worth $600.

A small number of families in the program collected more than $10,000 a year after meeting numerous education, health and jobs targets. The average payout was $3,000 a year.

Overall, $14 million went to 2,400 families over two years.

The early results of the three-year, privately funded Conditional Cash Transfers -- modeled on an initiative introduced by Mexico in 1997 and the first of its kind in the United States -- were mixed and far from conclusive.

"The program on the whole did produce some highly encouraging results," said the mayor.

"But it is not the be-all and end-all and it doesn't work in every case."

Families that received cash rewards ended up better off economically, with more reporting having bank accounts, being able to "make ends meet" and having enough food.

Officials said such an outcome wasn't obvious, since families could spend the extra cash any way they saw fit, even if that meant splurging on a flat-screen TV when the refrigerator was empty.

"They're spending the money in ways that are useful to the family," reported James Riccio of MDRC, the private agency evaluating the program.

But the results on the education front were largely disappointing.

For example, students could get $350 for passing the English-language proficiency exam in the fourth and seventh grades.

In both grades, however, those getting cash underperformed those who didn't.

The big bounce came with ninth-graders who did well in eighth grade.

They leaped above the control group in attendance, credit earned and Regents exams passed.

Janis Dudley, a Brooklyn mom who earned $7,610 over two years in the program, said she never had a library card before and after receiving one -- and collecting $50 -- wrote a résumé and got a job with the city.

Her daughter, Qua-neshia Darden, 17, accounted for $3,550 of the haul, including $1,200 for passing all four of her Regents exams.

She's now an honors student at Maxwell HS.

When he launched the program in 2007, Bloomberg said that if it was successful, he hoped to expand it using public funds.

Yesterday, he made no commitment to go beyond a three-year trial.

"Basically, we are going to sit back and see if some of these results are going to be permanent," he concluded. The final study on the results is due in August 2013.


I bet those countries were European socialists democracies.

No doubt this stupid idea came from the warped minds of the Liberal Intelligentsia that thought so little of the dignity and self respect of poor people.

How demeaning is it to one’s character to think that’s it’s acceptable to receive money for activities that should be done simply because it’s the right thing to do.

I was offended by this because it was an attack on self-worth in the guise of government offering a helping “money hand”.

But, it seems the only people surprised by this program’s failure are the very same Liberals who think the lowly poor are incapable of rising above their condition without their help.

These Libs will never learn!

Via New York Post

The Last Tradition

Congressional Harassment of Corperations Over ObamaCare


Columnist Rich Lowry blasts Democrats for hauling America's top corporations to testify in front of Congress for failing to not paint a rosy picture about the benefits of ObamaCare.

Don't beleive the hype people!

From The New York Post:

Shut up, he argues Don't dare whine on O'Care taxes
By Rich Lowry

Henry Waxman is peeved. He expects corporate America to swallow health-care reform without a peep of protest -- and, apparently, without revealing new costs to shareholders or the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last week, AT&T announced it will take an immediate $1 billion write-down thanks to a new tax in the health bill that will cause Caterpillar ($100 million) and Deere & Co. ($150 million), among other large employers, to do the same. The benefits consultancy Towers Watson estimates that the change may reduce corporate profits by as much as $14 billion over time.

That's real money. For comparison: It's enough to bribe Sen. Ben Nelson of the Cornhusker Kickback 140 times over; it's three times the amount Democrats poured into a (failing) weatherization program that once was a highlight of the stimulus bill; it represents 10 percent of the supposed deficit reduction of health-care reform over 10 years.

It may be that the health bill's most immediate, high-profile effect is the destruction of shareholder wealth.

Not to fear. Waxman, the liberal lion who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is on the case. No, he doesn't want to change the tax provision -- he wants to browbeat the affected corporations. He has called the CEOs of AT&T, Caterpillar and Deere to testify before his committee, accompanying his summons with a far-reaching document request lest the corporations miss the point: This is naked political harassment.

Citing the Congressional Budget Office, Waxman says his concern is that the write-downs appear "to conflict with independent analyses." If he's genuinely surprised at the real world departing from CBO projections, he should brace himself for more shocks. Is he going to demand that OMB Director Peter Orszag testify when the projected deficit reduction doesn't materialize?

Waxman maintains his interest is ensuring the bill "does not have unintended consequences." Because an immensely complex bill of more than 2,000 pages would never have any of those, right?
Full story

Via New York Post
The Last Tradition

Monday, March 29, 2010

Accepted!

Today I was accepted into Medical School. It's been...

A Crazy.
Jumbled.
Mix of Emotions.
Ecstatic.
Lots of Crying.
Gratitude.
&
Joy.

It's hard to put into words how I'm feeling, and to be honest a little hard to process given how busy I've been lately and the fact that I fly out in the morning to Portland for my interview with OHSU (options are a girls best friend). But I can tell you, this is an amazing moment. One I've dreamed of for most of my life and one that I've worked for my entire education. Through it all, the ups, the downs, and life, things have finally come full circle and I am really just so full of gratitude. Thanks to all of you, my family and friends for your congratulations. I love you and it means a lot. I'll let you know how my interview goes and keep you updated on where I decide to attend should I rack up another acceptance or two. Thanks again. -H

Ricky Martin Gay


I think the bigger scoop would have been if RM was straight!

From the National Enquirer:

Ricky Martin publicly admitted he is gay for the first time on Monday.

On his official Web site, the Latin pop star revealed, "I am proud to be a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed."

Ricky says he decided to come out of the closet because he is writing his memoirs. The birth of his twin boys, Valentino and Matteo, also spurred him to come out.

"This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day," Ricky wrote. "To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment."

Full story

For the record, I hate this song! I don’t understand to this day why it was such a hit.


The Last Tradition

9 Boys Charged with Bullying Statutory Rape Mass. Teen Girl Phoebe Prince Suicide



This bullying problem is getting out of hand. You got bad kid, I’ll shoe you bad parents.

From Google News:

Insults and threats followed 15-year-old Phoebe Prince almost from her first day at South Hadley High School, targeting the Irish immigrant in the halls, library and in vicious cell phone text messages.

Phoebe, ostracized for having a brief relationship with a popular boy, reached her breaking point and hanged herself after one particularly hellish day in January — a day that, according to officials, included being hounded with slurs and pelted with a beverage container as she walked home from school.

Now, nine teenagers face charges in what a prosecutor called "unrelenting" bullying, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating Phoebe's civil rights.

School officials won't be charged, even though authorities say they knew about the bullying and that Phoebe's mother brought her concerns to at least two of them.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who announced the charges Monday, said the events before Phoebe's death on Jan. 14 were "the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm" widely known among the student body.

_ Sean Mulveyhill, 17, of South Hadley. Charged with statutory rape, violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly. A woman who answered the phone at his home Monday would not identify herself and told The Associated Press, "You don't know the full story."

_ Kayla Narey, 17, of South Hadley. Charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly. A message left at a number listed to a Narey family was not immediately returned; another line was out of service.
_ Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield. Charged with statutory rape. A telephone number could not immediately be found.


_ Ashley Longe, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. A telephone number could not immediately be found.

_ Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with stalking and violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. There was no telephone listing.

_ Flannery Mullins, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with stalking and violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. A message left at a Mullins home was not immediately returned.

Three 16-year-old South Hadley girls, whose names were not released, face delinquency charges that include the civil rights offense, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.
Full story

Via Google News

The Last Tradition

Health Care Reform’s Big Lie: Sick Children CAN BE DENIED COVERAGE Check Fine Print


The fallout of Obama Care continues to bedevil the Obama administration.

It turns that genius like Nancy Peolosi and Harry Reid left some loopholes in the law that they conveniently failed to bring to the public’s attention.

How else do you think Obmam was able to get the insurance industry to sign off on this legislation?

Now, the Democrats will feign outrage against the insurance companies to continue to perpetrate their bait and switch game on the citizens of America.

Are you paying attention?

The New York Times reports:

Just days after President Obama signed the new health care law, insurance companies are already arguing that, at least for now, they do not have to provide one of the benefits that the president calls a centerpiece of the law: coverage for certain children with pre-existing conditions.

Mr. Obama, speaking at a health care rally in northern Virginia on March 19, said, “Starting this year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.”

The authors of the law say they meant to ban all forms of discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes, birth defects, orthopedic problems, leukemia, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease. The goal, they say, was to provide those youngsters with access to insurance and to a full range of benefits once they are in a health plan.

To insurance companies, the language of the law is not so clear.

Insurers agree that if they provide insurance for a child, they must cover pre-existing conditions.
But, they say, the law does not require them to write insurance for the child and it does not guarantee the “availability of coverage” for all until 2014. William G. Schiffbauer, a lawyer whose clients include employers and insurance companies, said:

“The fine print differs from the larger political message. If a company sells insurance, it will have to cover pre-existing conditions for children covered by the policy. But it does not have to sell to somebody with a pre-existing condition. And the insurer could increase premiums to cover the additional cost.”

Congressional Democrats were furious when they learned that some insurers disagreed with their interpretation of the law.

“The concept that insurance companies would even seek to deny children coverage exemplifies why we fought for this reform,” said Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the Senate commerce committee, said: “The ink has not yet dried on the health care reform bill, and already some deplorable health insurance companies are trying to duck away from covering children with pre-existing conditions. This is outrageous.”

“If you have a sick kid, the individual insurance market will continue to be a scary place,” said Karen L. Pollitz, a research professor at the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University.
Full story

Via New York Times

Via Memeorandum
The Last Tradition

Sen Jim DeMint: Obama Is Mocking Americans


If you haven’t noticed, the Step-N-Fetch It Media is on a defense campaign to protect the Health Reform Law for President Obama.

They don’t bother looking into the merits of what the bill actually does to hurt busyness, the higher premiums that will be paid by ordinary Americans despite Obama continuing to lie otherwise, and the media failing to call him on it.

The press wants to pay a rosey picture that most Americans like the law. However, most Americans, thanks to the media, don’t realize that the benefits don’t kick in to 2014 and beyond.

So, the people don’t have anything except higher taxes, higher premiums, and a very good chance that businesses will lay off more people as a result of losing tax breaks as a result of ObamaCare.

When all that hits people in the face, watch have fast they turn and become disillusioned with President Obama.

From CBS News:

GOP Senator Vows to Keep Up Fight to Repeal Reform Bill, Says Victor of Health Battle "Will Be Known in November"

Republican Senator Jim DeMint accused President Barack Obama of "mocking Americans" who are opposed to the Democrats' health care reform bill, and suggested that, as characterized in his recess appointments, circumventing Congress has become the president's style.

On CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, DeMint, R-S.C., who had previously claimed that the health care reform battle would be Mr. Obama's Waterloo, declined to admit that the president won his Waterloo.

"We'll find out in November who won or lost this battle," he told host Bob Schieffer.

Saying that more than 60% of Americans want Republicans to continue to fight the bill, even though it was signed into law by the president last week, DeMint said that the law should be repealed.
"I want to repeal it; I want to replace it with real reform that puts patients in charge of their health care again," DeMint said.

"A new poll out this morning in the Washington Post does not suggest that a majority of Americans are against [the bill]," said Schieffer. [The poll said 46% support it and 50% oppose it.]

When asked if Mr. Obama can expect cooperation from Republicans on anything from here on out, DeMint said, "The president has burned a lot of bridges on this health care reform package that he's rammed through Congress and rammed down the throats of the American people. The procedures that were used, the back room deals, the kickbacks have created a lot of bad feelings.

"Now, we're still looking for ways that we can work together with the president, particularly on foreign policy as it relates to the security of Americans. We have to keep that."

But DeMint added, "All of us who believe in freedom in this country recognize that if this health care bill stands, it will not only destroy our health care system, we believe it will bankrupt our country. So to give up on repealing this bill will be giving up on our country, for me and, I think, for millions of Americans.

"Bob, the president is mocking Americans who continue to be against this bill. He said, 'Bring it on' - that's what we intend to do."
Full story

Via CBS News

The Last Tradition

Homicide Bombers Kill 37 on Moscow Subway


I take the subway everyday and it’s only because of God’s grace that something like this hasn’t happened in this country like it has in Moscow yesterday, and where its already happened in places like Great Britqin and Japan.

Fox News reports:

Two female homicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow's subway system as it was jam-packed with rush-hour passengers Monday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 102, officials said.

The head of Russia's main security agency said preliminary investigation places the blame on rebels from the restive Caucasus region that includes Chechnya, where separatists have fought Russian forces since the mid-1990s.


The first explosion took place just before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's main successor agency.


A second explosion hit the Park Kultury station about 45 minutes later.


Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said the toll was 37 killed and 102 injured, but he did not give a breakdown of casualties at each station, according to Russian news agencies.
"I heard a bang, turned my head and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming," said 24-year-old Alexander Vakulov, who said he was on a train on the platform opposite the targeted train at Park Kultury.

"I saw a dead person for the first time in my life," said 19-year-old Valentin Popov, who had just arrived at the station from the opposite direction.

In a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said body fragments of the two bombers pointed to a Caucasus connection. He did not elaborate.

"We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end," Medvedev said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on an official trip to Siberia, was being kept informed of developments, news reports said.
Full story

Via Fox News

Via Memeoramdum

The Last Tradition

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Tiger Wood’s Mistress # 1 Rachel Uchitel Relocates to Vegas



From OK Magazine :

While Tiger Woods has been attempting to regain his composure after news broke of his multiple affairs, his first alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel is also trying to bury the hatchet and move on by relocating to Las Vegas.

“I moved to Vegas with my dogs. I bought an apartment there and I have family there,” Rachel told OK! at Perez Hilton’s Birthday Carn-evil event on Saturday night.

And the socialite claims that she has moved to get away from the chaos of her scandal with the pro-golfer. “I moved to have my own life. I haven’t gone out once in Vegas. I take guitar lessons, I go to dance class, and I have friends there,” Rachel gushed in L.A.

But while the former nightclub manager refused to comment on Tiger’s publically aired apology, she validated her reason for staying mum. “Put yourself in my shoes,” Rachel explained to reporters.

In the meantime, Tiger, who is trying to mend his marriage with wife Elin Nordegren , is expected to return to golf for the Masters Tournament in April.

If you remember Rachel cancelled a press conference with her lawyer Gloria Allred. It’s safe to assume that Tiger met her price for silence.

Via OK Magazine

The Last Tradition

Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan


I guess Obama remembered that we’re still at war.



From ABC News:

President Obama rallied the troops in Afghanistan during his first visit to the country as commander-in-chief today, acknowledging both military successes and personal sacrifices, and noting, "the United States of America does not quit once it starts on something."

He delivered a pep talk of a different kind to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan government officials, telling them they need to work harder to combat corruption and other problems within the country.

During a six-hour trip whose logistics were shrouded in secrecy, Obama's encouragement was more straighforward for approximately 2,000 U.S. and coalition troops and civilians who packed a tent at Bagram Air Force Base. The crowd applauded boisterously and snapped digital cameras as Obama entered clad in a brown leather bomber jacket bearing the presidential seal and shook hands with officials and troops on his way to the podium.

"I want you to understand there's no visit that I considered more important than this visit that I'm making right now," Obama said. "It is a privilege to look out and see the extraordinary efforts of America's sons and daughters here in Afghanistan.

"We can't forget why we're here," he added. "We did not choose this war. This was not an act of America wanting to expand its influence, of us wanting to meddle in somebody else's business. We were attacked viciously on 9/11, when thousands of our fellow countrymen and women were killed."

The Last Tradition

Fight Over a Cheese Burger at Texas Fast Food Joint (Video)

I let the video speak for itself.










TMZ
The Last Tradition

Missing Money Meeks' New Katrina Slap Robo-Calls to Katrina Victims


TLT will continue to report on Democrat Gregory Meeks and the missing money he raised for Hurricane Katrina victims that never made it to Louisiana.

The main stream media continues to ignore this scandal.

From the New York Post:

"Congressman Cao stood with the insurance companies and Republicans in Washington, instead of standing up for hardworking families he represents."

Residents are urged to call Cao -- whose district was among the worst hit by Katrina -- and "tell him to put your interests first."

Gregory Meeks promised to put Katrina victims' interests first when he outlined a plan to support 30 families after the August 2005 disaster, promising "every dime" raised by a special fund would go to them.

But The Post revealed that New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, or NOAH-F, spent only a paltry amount on victims, despite bringing in more than $31,000.

A spokesman for Cao blasted the Meeks calls, which were paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

"We find it odd that a New York politician who apparently never delivered the tens of thousands of dollars he said he collected for New Orleans Katrina victims now wants to tell New Orleans voters how to vote," said Taylor Henry.

Meeks has insisted he was not responsible for distributing the money raised through NOAH-F.

Gregory Meeks Changes Story on Missing Money

Via New York Post

The Last Tradition

The ObamaCare Writedowns: The Corporate Damage Rolls in, and Democrats are Shocked!


President Obama is curretly on his “Putting Lipstick on a Pig” tour.

I thought ObamaCare is the law of the land now?

Why the hard sell you may ask?

Because Obama and the Democrats deep down know that the blowback from signing ObamaCare into law will be like a nuclear explosion when so-called promises of health care reform smack up against the reality of what the new law actually does in the real world.

From the Wall Street Journal:

It's been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.

This wholesale destruction of wealth and capital came with more than ample warning.

Turning over every couch cushion to make their new entitlement look affordable under Beltway accounting rules, Democrats decided to raise taxes on companies that do the public service of offering prescription drug benefits to their retirees instead of dumping them into Medicare.

We and others warned this would lead to AT&T-like results, but like so many other ObamaCare objections Democrats waved them off as self-serving or "political."

Perhaps that explains why the Administration is now so touchy. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took to the White House blog to write that while ObamaCare is great for business, "In the last few days, though, we have seen a couple of companies imply that reform will raise costs for them." In a Thursday interview on CNBC, Mr. Locke said "for them to come out, I think is premature and irresponsible."

Meanwhile, Henry Waxman and House Democrats announced yesterday that they will haul these companies in for an April 21 hearing because their judgment "appears to conflict with independent analyses, which show that the new law will expand coverage and bring down costs."

In other words, shoot the messenger.

Black-letter financial accounting rules require that corporations immediately restate their earnings to reflect the present value of their long-term health liabilities, including a higher tax burden.

Should these companies have played chicken with the Securities and Exchange Commission to avoid this politically inconvenient reality?

Democrats don't like what their bill is doing in the real world, so they now want to intimidate CEOs into keeping quiet.

On top of AT&T's $1 billion, the writedown wave so far includes Deere & Co., $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; AK Steel, $31 million; 3M, $90 million; and Valero Energy, up to $20 million. Verizon has also warned its employees about its new higher health-care costs, and there will be many more in the coming days and weeks.

As Joe Biden might put it, this is a big, er, deal for shareholders and the economy.

The consulting firm Towers Watson estimates that the total hit this year will reach nearly $14 billion, unless corporations cut retiree drug benefits when their labor contracts let them.

Meanwhile, John DiStaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader reported this week that ObamaCare could cost the Granite State's major ski resorts as much as $1 million in fines, because they hire large numbers of seasonal workers without offering health benefits. "The choices are pretty clear, either increase prices or cut costs, which could mean hiring fewer workers next winter," he wrote.
Full story

I just hope when these CEOs are hauled in front of these jokers in congress they hold their ground and refuse to be intimidated by the very fools who wrote the law.

Via Wall Street Jouranl

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Katy Perry Gets Slimed at Kids' Choice Awards


People Magazine reports:

Katy Perry wore a blue wig to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, but she ended up covered in green.
The singer presented the favorite movie actress award along with Jonah Hill at the show, which aired live from L.A.'s Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night. When she opened the envelope to announce Miley Cyrus as the winner, she was hosed with the network's signature bright green slime.

Cyrus scored the award for Hannah Montana: The Movie. When she walked onstage to accept, Perry motioned to give her a hug before backing away.
"Thank God we both wear wigs," Cyrus joked, before adding, "Thank you, Katy, for not sliming me."
Full story

Via People Magazine

The Last Tradition

10 Inconvenient Truths About ObamaCare


Why is Obama out there selling a plan that is already the law?

Answer-Because ObamaCare is built on a house of lies and the sooner you get hip to it, well, the sooner you’ll realized you’ve been played for a fool.

TPM

From Health RefornScams.com:

1. You Can’t Keep Your Plan Even if You Like It: The president promises you can keep your plan and doctor if you like them—polls show the overwhelming majority of Americans do—but independent analysts found Obamacare would cause a change of plan or doctor for as many as 56 percent of currently covered employees. Additionally, your doctor may not want to keep you. (See Point No. 8.)

2. Your Insurance Premiums Will Go Up:The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found Obamacare will increase the average family’s premiums by as much as 13 percent by 2016, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers found an increase of $4,000 by 2019.

3. You May Be Among the Hundreds of Thousands Who Lose Their Jobs: The nonpartisan Lewin Group predicts the massive new employer mandates would cause as many as 600,000 workers to lose their jobs under Obamacare. Other sources predict even more.

4. Your Tax Burden Will Increase: The Senate bill contains as many as 19 new taxes. The entire proposal functions as a massive regressive tax falling on the young and lowerincome workers, making them beholden to subsidies and punishing success.

5. You Will Be Forced to Pay for Abortions: The president promised no taxpayer dollars would go toward funding abortions. But the Senate bill specifically allows for such funding, and House leaders acknowledge they will not attempt to restrict abortion funding in the final bill.

6. Your Health Care Will Cost More: Obamacare’s attempt to “bend the cost curve” and slow the pace of rising health care costs is a sham. In reality, the only reductions in cost come through reduced government reimbursements to hospitals and doctors, who will be forced to lower the quality of care and pass more costs on to the taxpayers.

7. Your Employer Will Have to Pay More to the Government: Forget that raise you were hoping for. It makes economic sense for small employers facing burdensome new requirements to stay small, and for large businesses to fire permanent employees and hire contractors.

8. Your Doctor May Quit: A survey by Investor’s Business Daily found 45 percent of doctors said they “would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement” if Obamacare passes. Seventy-two percent of doctors oppose Obama’s health care plan.

9. You Will Be Forced to Purchase Insurance Approved by Bureaucrats: Do you like Medicare Advantage? Gone. Like your high-deductible HSA plan? Forget it. The bureaucrats in Washington will tell you what you can buy, and you will be required to buy something.

10. You and Your Children Will Pay for Trillions in Added Debt: Democrat Sen. Max Baucus admits the cost of Obamacare is more than $2.5 trillion over 10 years. Claims that the bill is deficit-neutral are based on budgetary gimmicks. We will pay the tab for generations to come.

The Last Tradition

Blacks and Latinos Stay Willingly Ignorant and Democrats Take Advantage


I’ve been called confused and misinformed by friends and relatives who are Black or Latino because I’m a Conservative.

This is nothing new because I know it’s the other way around.

However, it’s very hard to explain that to them because the “ignorance” that enslaves the Blacks and Latinos in this country is so strongly embedded in the culture, that it would be easier to convert Osama bin Laden to Christianity than to get Blacks and Latinos to break from their loyalty to Liberalism and the Democrat Party.

Take for example the reports by some Black congressman last week that they were called “nigger” by protestors of health care reform.

Now, there was no audio or video evidence of this and if there were, it would have made it to MSNBC, or CNN faster than a coyote can woof down a mouse.

However, it doesn’t matter whether or not the incident was true. The mission was accomplished anyway by the Black congressmen who made the claim.

Here’s the dirty.

The reason this story was put forth is because Democrats know that the Blacks and Latinos that constitute their base would believe the story ON FACE VALUE!

When the story is believed hook, line and sinker it feeds the perception that’s already held in the Black and Latino communities that the protesters were all a bunch of wicked racist Republicans who hate a Black man in the White House and see how evil they are.

Mission accomplished!

This type of thing that Democrats do on a regular basis is what I call “maintenance”.

Democrats need to feed the beast on a regular basis to keep Blacks and Latinos in line mentally. It’s a form of mind enslavement that works over and over again because Democrats know it’s extremely difficult for Blacks and Latinos to pay the cultural price of breaking out of the socialized template that they are locked into,

When they do, then they are called “Uncle Tom”, “Handkerchief Head” , “Oreo Cookie” And let me point out, all these terms were INVENTED LIBERALS!

Democrats know how to work their hustle.

It’s up to the individual in the Black and the Latino community to realize and recognize in the words of Malcolm X , “ya’ll been took and bamboozled” and you let the Dems do it to you time after time.

In your heats, you know its true.



The Last Tradition

Man Who Cooked Dog Sentenced


There is such thing as evil in the world and this guy is evil personified.

From MSNBC:

A Green Bay man convicted after his ex-girlfriend found her puppy dead in a hot oven has been sentenced to six years in prison.
A Brown County judge told 32-year-old Terry G. Kleiman on Friday his actions were despicable.

Judge William Atkinson sentenced Kleiman to one year in prison for mistreating animals and five years for burglary.

Prosecutors say Kleiman broke into the woman's apartment in November 2008. They say the woman arrived home later and found her apartment filled with smoke and the 5-month-old Pekingese's body in the oven.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette says a jury convicted Kleiman last month after deliberating about an hour.
Full story

Via MSNBC

The Last Tradition

Media Malpractice: AP Coming Clean About ObamaCare After it Gets Passed-Hot Air


Folks, we’re seeing a carefully orchestrated information dump by the main stream media to cover its ass.

Last night I posted an article about NBC finally running a story about the serious damage ObamaCare will do to the fiscal structure of the United States.

Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air wrote this brilliant piece you must read calling out the Associated Press for reporting information about Obama Care they purposely sat on until after the bill became law.

There are two points of this story I want to make clear.

1. The truths about Obama and why it’s a bad law.
2. Media activism in the sense that they acted as government agents disseminating information put out by the Obama administration instead of reviewing, questioning and reporting the merits of the legislation on behalf of the public.

We as Conservatives know why ObamaCare is horrible for the country because e we cared enough to learn what’s actually in it.

The main stream media actively cheerleaded the legislation and reported only the benefits the government claimed the law would provide.

However, the proper function of a free press is to examine, question, and report the goings on of government.

That did not happen here!

And that’s as big a scandal than the legislation itself.

Here are key excerpts of Morrissey's article

[a key tax break that kept retirees on company prescription-medication plans will mean dumping millions of seniors onto Medicare — and that the AP ignored it until now]

[With more than 3,500 companies now getting the tax break as an incentive to keep providing coverage, others are almost certain to announce similar cost increases in the weeks ahead as they sort out the impact of the change]

[The Democrats in Congress argued that they would gain $5.4 billion in revenue by eliminating the tax break enacted in the 2003 Medicare Part D program as an incentive for businesses to keep their retirees out of the Medicare system. Instead, they have given businesses a reason to dump their retirees out of the private networks and into the Part D system now. Not only will the expected tax revenues never appear, but now we will have to spend a lot more money covering those prescriptions out of public funds. The seniors in these programs will suffer most of all, as the Part D coverage is vastly inferior to the private plans offered by businesses in the private sector.]
Full article

Please read the whole article and pass it on!

Via Hot Air

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition

Dad Allegedly Uses Son’s Charity Money on Escorts


This is a really disgusting story about how low we can go.

But, I’m sure this New Jersey Dad will have his defenders, like it’s the culture we live in and stuff like that.

Yeah right, that must be it.

Slime is slime and that’s what this man is if proven guilty.

CBS TV reports:

It's a tragic story

A father lost his girlfriend and two of their children in a fire, escaping the flames with his youngest son.

Now, the 32-year-old is
charged with stealing money out of a charitable fund set up for his surviving child.

He allegedly spent the money on an escort service.

Inside a courtroom in Somerset County
Tubal Eduardo has been on trial for stealing the money strangers donated to his son, Noah, who survived the devastating fire that killed his mother, brother and sister three years ago.

Sources told CBS 2 HD more than $7,000 of that money went to an escort service.

Mary Ellen Zangara helped raise more than $38,000 for Eduardo's son. At the time she was the president of the parent-teacher association at the Weston School, where one of the children who died attended.

Little Noah was rescued by his father.

"It was just shocking to find out Tubal had taken the money and spent it all over by himself," Zangara said. "I feel sorry for Noah and everyone involved that the funds were misused. You know they were intended for Noah to have a future."

Full story

Via CBS TV

The Last Tradition

Friday, March 26, 2010

New York Yankees -- About to Get Rocked


Even though I'm a Mets fan and hate the Yankees like all good Mets fans do, I tip my hat to an organization that knows how to get it done.

And having the most money in baseball really helps too,

Yankee fans hate when you say that.

TMZ reports:

The New York Yankees better clear out some space in their jewelery boxes -- TMZ has learned the team will be getting their World Series rings on April 14th ... when they play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
We're told the design of the ring is being kept a secret -- but we can only imagine they'll be even more ridiculous than the 2000 rings, which included 22 major diamonds.

Via TMZ


The Last Tradition

Shameless NBC Covers It’s Ass By Questions Obama Care AFTER PASSAGE


NBC, the biggest supporters of President Obama finally runs a report raising the same questions Republicans have been arguing for the past year.

This sham of a news organization didn’t have the stones nor the journalistic integrity to properly report this stuff prior to the eventual passage of the bill because they were to busy cheerleading for it like the hookers that they are for the admistration they love so well.

So, now after this abomination of a bill is safely signed, sealed, and delivered as law, NBC belatedly and most disingenuously files this report simply as a CYO move to point to what little journalism they have left.

Shame on you NBC!

You are not a news organization anymore, but rather a fancy stenography outfit with TV cameras, microphones, and a whole lot of brown stuff on your collective noses.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Last Tradition

CBO Report: Debt Will Rise to 90% of GDP


This report should scare the piss out of every American citizen!

We need to educate our fellow citizens about the trajectory this country is on toward financial ruin.

The Washington Times reports:

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

In its 2011 budget, which the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released Feb. 1, the administration projected a 10-year deficit total of $8.53 trillion. After looking it over, CBO said in its final analysis, released Thursday, that the president's budget would generate a combined $9.75 trillion in deficits over the next decade.

"An additional $1.2 trillion in debt dumped on [GDP] to our children makes a huge difference," said Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "That represents an additional debt of $10,000 per household above and beyond the federal debt they are already carrying."


The federal public debt, which was $6.3 trillion ($56,000 per household) when Mr. Obama entered office amid an economic crisis, totals $8.2 trillion ($72,000 per household) today, and it's headed toward $20.3 trillion (more than $170,000 per household) in 2020, according to CBO's deficit estimates.

That figure would equal 90 percent of the estimated gross domestic product in 2020, up from 40 percent at the end of fiscal 2008. By comparison, America's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 109 percent at the end of World War II, while the ratio for economically troubled Greece hit 115 percent last year.


Look at this video how the Democrats applauded themselves for stopping Bush’s attempt to fix Social Security.

Now these Democrats has given us another entitlement on top of others that are going backrest.


We still have the power to change the path we're on through the ballot box in November.

Via Washington Times

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition

2,000 House Staffers Make Six Figures


Talk about working their hustle.

House staffers not only are exempt themselves from Obama Care, but they get fat paychecsks in the process.

Is this the type of government you want America separate standards for the government and those they govern?

Wise up!

From the Politico:

Nearly 2,000 House of Representative staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income.

Starting salaries on Capitol Hill are still low — many entry-level congressional jobs pay less than $30,000 a year. And many of the most highly paid staffers could make several times the maximum by jumping to lobbying and consulting jobs in the private sector.


But the salary data, compiled for POLITICO by LegiStorm.com, show that it’s possible to make an enviable living in Congress, even without winning an election.

The 43 staffers who maxed out at $172,500 — the salary cap for leadership and committee staffers — include John Lawrence, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Paula Nowakowski, the late chief of staff to House Minority Leader John Boehner; and House Parliamentarian John Sullivan. They earned only slightly less than rank-and-file members of Congress, who make $174,000.

All the salary data are part of the public record and are culled from congressional office disbursement reports.

Most of the staffers at the top salary level serve in upper-level committee and leadership office staffs, including staff directors, policy advisers and legislative counsels — positions that have often had direct input on the formation of major legislation, such as health care. Many of those staffers also have law degrees.


But while these top earners are a small percentage of the overall congressional work force, their numbers are growing at a rapid rate under the Democratic Congress.

The number of staffers earning within the upper 3 percent of House salaries — currently $163,358 or more — has increased by nearly 39 percent in the past four years, according to LegiStorm data. In 2005, there were 203 staffers earning in the top 3 percent. That number spiked to 304 people in 2008 but then dropped in 2009 to 282, likely caused in part by the economic downturn.

Full story

Via Politico

Via Memeorandum

The Last Tradition