It seems to be just another case of big government, BIG BROTHER, overstep.  Has it occurred to anyone that this has not happened, to THIS DEGREE, under any previous president or administration of either party. It is way past time for all of us to drop our ga-ga follower status for our guy (Dem. or Rep.) in the Oval Office, or our political party or union.  If they are no longer representing us and our values, then, for the sake of our nation, STOP this blind loyalty. - Dale

Critics of the way federal agencies in Montana handled a recent raid on a company that recycles brass for ammunition are calling for an investigation.
Government officials have declined to respond to allegations that armed officers with weapons drawn locked up USA Brass employees, confiscated their cell phones and otherwise violated their rights.

The incident in Bozeman, Mont., drew little attention from media.  To protect against lead contamination, USA Brass had installed filters and added training. The company had passed a subsequent inspection before officers from the Environmental Protection Agency and FBI arrived, apparently with guns drawn.

The story has spread on the Internet among bloggers and Second Amendment advocates. A blog called Defensive Handguns described the raid this way: “Obama’s storm troopers raided USA Brass in Bozeman.”  And at Firearms Talk was the comment:”More excuses to go after the ammunition in one way or another.”

The word "reverend" is reserved for those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ -- thus, I refuse to use that word in association with this vile little race-bating opportunist OR Jesse Jackson. Jesus may have forgiven Al and Jackson, but I am still having problems with that one.  Of course, Mr. Sharpton may not realize that, to be forgiven by Christ, you must first confess your sins -- and, in this man's self-serving mind, he probably has yet to commit one! - Dale

The “reverend” not only discounted Christ’s sacrifice by suggesting we can all experience something akin to his suffering, he also found a way to turn the holy day into political fodder.

Al Sharpton, the incredible shrinking man, has not only lost the majority of his weight in recent years; he has also shed any credibility he had left. For a man whose rise to prominence as a race hustler was on the back of a lying teenager named Tawana Brawley, he obviously had very little to begin with.

Nevertheless, he still has the audacity to refer to himself as a “reverend” despite the fact that the only gospel he preaches consists of White House talking points. That fact was made nauseatingly clear in a recent radio interview on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

As Easter approaches, most Christian churches will share the faith-affirming story of Jesus’ resurrection after dying on a cross for our sins. Sharpton, however, will be sharing a decidedly different spin on that core tenet of Christianity.

Another case of Big Brother's over-reaching thuggary.  At what point did our government and law enforcement agencies turn against US -- the law-abiding legal citizens of the United States? - Dale

A highly-honored Air Force Captain, Nicolas Aquino, is speaking out against how he was treated by his local sheriff’s office, when they tackled him to the ground in his own home, accusing him of being an intruder.  According to police, they arrived at Mr. Aquino’s house after a neighbor reported a burglary suspicion.  The police arrived to Aquino’s front porch and proceeded to ask for identification.

 

Aquino, confused by the request, asked the police what was going on.  As they continued to ask for identification, Aquino showed it to the police officer, but according to the police officer he did not let him see the ID.  The officer from the sheriff’s department went to place him under arrest, at which point he claims Aquino began resisting. Aquino maintains that he never resisted and that he responded respectfully to the officer’s requests.  Aquino also says that he never had a weapon, even though the police report shows that the officer almost drew his own weapon when he claims Aquino’s hands were moving towards his waistline, something Aquino contends is just not correct.

Harry Reid has got to be the House Madam of the Washington land grab.  Who is better qualified than a career political hack -- which some might equate with a political prostitute. My comment? "Stick it in your eye, Harry." - Dale

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
After a weeklong confrontation between protesters and armed agents of the Bureau of Land Management, events at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., came to an abrupt end Saturday when the BLM suddenly threw in the towel and left.  Speaking to a local TV news program Monday,  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada declared: “This isn’t over.” And he is certainly correct. The showdown between BLM and Cliven Bundy – the last rancher in Clark County, Nev. – was but the latest battle in a long-running conflict.

Supposedly at issue was the desert tortoise, a reptile on the endangered species list that purportedly could not coexist on the land with Bundy’s cattle. But why, many asked, would the turtle suddenly be threatened by animals it had cohabited with for the 100-plus years the Bundy ranch has been in operation?

Report: More Low-Wage Workers Losing Benefits Under Obamacare

To those of you who voted for our president the first or second time, I hope you will read this article and watch the video.  If you are willing to accept reality rather than hype, you might understand what conservatives have been fearing since this massive piece of government control was enacted. If you refuse to read it, do not blame the Republicans, conservatives or others who opposed this nightmare.  Blame YOURSELVES and YOUR Democrat party and YOUR unions for screwing you. - Dale

Susan Caspersen was in a hospital in Akron, Ohio, last November recovering from an emergency appendectomy when she got some unwelcome news: as of Jan. 1, 2014, she would no longer be eligible for the health-insurance plan offered by her employer, food-service giant Sodexo USA. Ms. Caspersen, a waitress at Virtues Restaurant in the Summa Akron City Hospital, falls into part of the workforce that may feel the strongest effects of the Affordable Care Act: workers whose hours change on a weekly or seasonal basis.

Thousands of these so-called variable-hour employees—many of whom work on college campuses that don't operate during summer months—could lose their benefits as employers use new formulas to classify workers as full time or part time. The distinction determines which employees are entitled to company-sponsored health coverage...A large portion of Sodexo's 125,000 U.S. workers are variable, and about 10,000 of them are losing access to health insurance, paid vacation and sick days and other benefits available to full-timers.

I guess we are now the USSA (the Union of Socialist States of America).  With this step, if enacted, the federal government will control nearly every aspect of our lives.  Don't kid yourself any longer with the lie that "they work for us."  They LOVE it when we think that.  No, we now work for them, and whatever future whims they may have up their sleezy socialist sleeves. - Dale

( photo of a dry riverbed):  WASHINGTON – In a move lawmakers and farmers are calling “the biggest land grab in the history of the world,” the Environmental Protection Agency is requesting jurisdiction over all public and private streams in the United States that are “intermittent, seasonal and rain-dependent.”  The EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late March jointly released a proposed rule, Waters of the United States, in an effort to clarify which streams and wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act.

A statement issued by the EPA says “the proposed rule will benefit businesses by increasing efficiency in determining coverage of the Clean Water Act.”  But some lawmakers strongly disagree. According to congressional budget testimony last week, Waters of the United States would give the EPA authority over streams on private property even when the water beds have been dry, in some cases for hundreds of years.

IF Lerner was working for 'us,' and IF she refused to testify, then SHE is (in my opinion) in contempt and a criminal for refusing to answer the questions of her employer.  - Dale

A series of emails from ex-IRS official Lois Lerner, who twice refused to answer questions from Congress about her targeting of conservative groups, reveals she was in contact with Eric Holder’s Department of Justice about prosecuting those organizations, according to the Washington watchdog group Judicial Watch.

“These new emails show that the day before she broke the news of the IRS scandal, Lois Lerner was talking to a top Obama Justice Department official about whether the DOJ could prosecute the very same organizations that the IRS had already improperly targeted,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton Wednesday.

Fitton said the IRS emails show the Department of Justice is now implicated and conflicted in the IRS scandal.

“No wonder we had to sue in federal court to get these documents,” he said.

The IRS has admitted creating special hurdles for conservatives opposing President Obama’s policies as they tried to acquire tax-exempt status leading up to the 2012 election. Among the hurdles were a demand to know the content of a group’s prayers and a promise not to protest the abortion business Planned Parenthood.

Now Judicial Watch has gone to court to get copies of the emails, which includes a May 9, 2013, message indicating the IRS planned to meet with the Department of Justice over whether to prosecute groups that “lied” about their political activity.

Judicial Watch said a new batch of internal IRS documents show Lerner, who has been referred to the full House of Representatives for a vote on contempt of Congress charges, “communicated with the Department of Justice about whether it was possible to criminally prosecute certain tax-exempt entities.”

The documents reveal an email from Lerner to Nikole C. Flax, at the time the chief of staff to acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller.

In it, the discussion focused on prosecuting nonprofits.

“I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ … He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who ‘lied’ on their 1024s –saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs,” Lerner wrote. “I told him that sounded like we might need several folks from IRS.”

Flax responded: “I think we should do it – also need to include CI [Criminal Investigation Division], which we can help coordinate. Also, we need to reach out to FEC. Does it make sense to consider including them in this or keep it separate?”

Judicial Watch said the documents show Lerner then passed the issue to attorney Nancy Marks, who was then supposed to set up the meeting with DOJ. Lerner also decided that it would be DOJ’s decision as to whether representatives from the Federal Election Commission would attend.

Judicial Watch explained Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., had asked why the DOJ and IRS “have not prosecuted 501(c)(4) groups that have seemingly made false statements about their political activities.”

Lerner took up the issue in an email to IRS staff.

“As I mentioned yesterday – there are several groups of folks from the FEC world that are pushing tax fraud prosecution for c4s who report they are not conducting political activity when they are (or these folks think they are). One is my ex-boss Larry Noble (former General Counsel at the FEC), who is now president of Americans for Campaign Reform. This is their latest push to shut these down. One IRS prosecution would make an impact and they wouldn’t feel so comfortable doing the stuff.

“So, don’t be fooled about how this is being articulated – it is ALL about 501(c)(4) orgs and political activity,” she wrote.

Lerner seemed to be calling for the prosecutions even though she admitted in another email that they weren’t allowed under the law.

“Whether there was a false statement or fraud regarding an [sic] description of an alleged political expenditure that doesn’t say vote for or vote against is not realistic under current law. Everyone is looking for a magic bullet or scapegoat — there isn’t one. The law in this area is just hard,” she wrote.

The watchdog group said: “In an email to an aide responding to a request for information from a Washington Post reporter, Lerner admits that she ‘can’t confirm that there was anyone on the other side of the political spectrum’ who had been targeted by the IRS. She then adds that ‘The one with the names used were only know [sic] because they have been very loud in the press.’”

Another email from an aide specifically draws to Lerner’s attention “Tea Party Organizations,” the “Tea Party movement” and “Tea Party Patriots.”

Judicial Watch launched its federal Freedom of Information Act requests and eventual lawsuit after a May 14, 2013, Treasury Inspector General report revealing that the IRS had singled out groups with conservative-sounding terms such as “patriot” and “Tea Party” in their titles when applying for tax-exempt status.

The Treasury report found: “Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status to (e.g., lists of past and future donors).”

The campaign, which critics believe traces to the highest levels of government, stretched on for months and “delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications” preparing for the 2012 presidential election.

Lerner was director of the IRS branch that dealt with applications for tax-exempt status at the time, although she later left amid calls to remove her.

Congress now is reviewing its work with Lerner, since she refused to testify in May 2013 before the House Oversight Committee and again during another hearing just weeks ago.

WND reported recently when a member of Congress revealed the IRS also mounted Big Brother-type surveillance of groups that already were authorized to operate at the time.

The confirmation from Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, came days after WND reported the IRS even today sends small exempt organizations to a major progressive think tank to have tax information processed.

In a statement first released in the Wall Street Journal, Camp said his committee’s ongoing investigation discovered the federal government singling out established groups “for audits.”

“We now know that the IRS targeted not only right-leaning applicants, but also right-leaning groups that were already operating as 501(c)4s,” Camp said. “At Washington, D.C.’s direction, dozens of groups operating as 501(c)4s were flagged for IRS surveillance, including monitoring of the groups’ activities, websites and any other publicly available information.”

Camp’s committee was to oppose IRS plans for a raft of new regulations that would target the speech rights of those right-leaning organizations, by determining that efforts such as candidate forums or voter information drives would be designated as “political” speech and therefore banned.

Camp said those rules “are a blatant attempt to legalize and institutionalize targeting by the IRS, and are designed to put conservative groups out of business. It is no wonder the IRS tried to develop this rule behind closed doors and out of the public’s view.”

“I want to be perfectly clear – this committee will fight any and all efforts to restrict the rights of groups to organize, speak out and educate the public, just as unions are allowed to do so,” he said. “We will get to the bottom of this, and I expect the IRS to produce – quickly – the outstanding documents the committee has requested.”

WND reported that those small exempt organizations are directed by the IRS itself to file confidential tax information through the Urban Institute, whose chief is linked to the Center for American Progress, the source for many of Barack Obama’s ultra-progressive agenda items as president.

Cleta Mitchell, a top Washington attorney, told WND: “If true, this is a violation of federal law. And since most of the tea-party groups have annual revenues of [$50,000] or less, this would redirect their filings to a group whose mission is fundamentally at odds with tea-party organizations.”

Mitchell said federal law “strictly prohibits the disclosure of confidential taxpayer information to persons outside the IRS.”

“It is a felony to disseminate the information,” she said.

“Surely this cannot be happening. Surely,” said Mitchell. “This would be well more than a ‘smidgen’ of corruption.”

Mitchell, a partner in the Washington-based law firm Foley & Lardner LLP, is well known for providing expert legal advice to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/lerner-emails-plotted-prosecuting-conservatives/

I have highlighted a few of the lines in the following article which really concern me.  The biggest concern is that our so-called 'commander-in-chief' is actually considering giving Russia more fly-over rights above the United States, so it is easier for them to spy on us. And these morons are trying to shut down the Bundy ranch -- because he is one independent American who refuses to toe the socialistic line?? Stand your ground, Mister Bundy. - Dale

 Russia’s military carried out a flight test of a new multi-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile on Monday amid growing tensions with the United States over the crisis in Ukraine.  The SS-27 Mod 2 road-mobile ICBM was launched around 2:40 a.m. EST from Russia’s Plesetsk launch facility, located about 500 miles north of Moscow.  “The main purpose of the launch is to validate the reliability of a batch of this class of missiles made at the Votkinsk Plant,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov told state-run Interfax-AVN.

An unspecified number of simulated nuclear warheads landed at an impact range on the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Russian Far East, Yegorov said. The distance is around 3,500 miles.  The SS-27 Mod 2 is Russia’s newest ICBM and has been touted by Russian officials as designed specifically to defeat U.S. missile defenses.

I do not want to comment because I would begin ranting!  Instead, please just read this and form your own conclusions about our 'Big Brother government.' - Dale

Lisa Jackson, who ran the EPA during the time of these experiments, left no room for speculation when spreading the supposed consequences of exposure to such chemicals.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a long history of going overboard, whether through absurd levels of regulation or outlandish claims of man-caused climate destruction. What researchers within the agency did to dozens of Americans in recent years, however, strikes many as unconscionable even by its own low standard.

According to reports, five EPA scientists solicited at least 81 test subjects into whom they pumped a mixture of gasses and pollutants their own agency deems not only dangerous but deadly.

Over half of the subjects had a pipe shoved directly into their mouths as a level of diesel fumes 135 times greater than an average truck’s emission was pumped directly into their bodies. Across the board, individuals were subjected to an array of pollutants in concentrations not necessarily found in the environment.

Have no doubt that Russia and Iran are "shaking in their shoes" from  the threats of a spineless United States administration.  Yeah, right.  We are in very deep doo-doo with inept people like Obama and Kerry on the world stage. Can anybody say 'laughingstock'?  - Dale

Writing for FTMdaily.com, Jerry Robinson brings us the story:  Russia and Iran are forging ahead with a controversial oil-for-goods deal that is being criticized by Washington as a violation of Iran’s interim nuclear agreement.

If you do not understand why the 'electoral college' exists, then doing away with it in favor of the "popular vote" electing our president sounds extremely right -- but it is NOT. The electoral college gives every state, whether heavily or sparsely populated, equal leverage in electing a president.  This eliminates the political strongholds like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago from having a monopoly on electing a president, regardless of party.  - Dale

A plan, now stealthily making its way through state legislatures with astonishing speed, would junk the Electoral College and award the presidency to the winner of the popular vote.  The plan involves an Interstate Compact where states would commit to select electors pledged to vote for the national popular vote winner regardless of how their own state voted. When enough states pass this law -- sufficient to cast the Electoral College's majority 270 votes --  it will take effect.The Electoral College will become a vestigial anachronism.

So far, nine states and the District of Columbia -- casting 136 electoral votes -- have joined moving half way to the 270 needed to put the compact into effect. The ratifying states are: Maryland, New Jersey, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington, Massachusetts, DC, Vermont, California, and Rhode Island.

If our Washington fat cats were truly interested in bringing down the cost of running the government, a good place to start would be right here.  THIS STORY REALLY TICKS ME OFF.  IF the military did not need this vehicle, then why the @#$% was it bought in the first place.  In our Federal government, when it's somebody else's money -- let the party begin! - Dale

MICHIGAN CITY — The Michigan City Police Department recently added a new piece of equipment to its fleet – a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle.  Valued at $793,000, the MRAP was donated to the MCPD from the United States military through the 1033 Federal Surplus Program, which has distributed hundreds of surplus military vehicles to law enforcement agencies across the country.

Receiving this vehicle at no cost to the city, the department was only responsible for retrieving the MRAP from Sealy, Texas. Six spare tires for the MRAP, valued at $5,000 each, were included in the contribution from the U.S. military.