Inaugurals always magnificent…appears Pres. Obama comfortable with high unemployment and huge deficits..no serious mention

— Jack Welch (@jack_welch) January 21, 2013

Chris Matthews says President Obama’s inaugural address comparable to Abraham Lincoln.   Time magazine says Obama talks in terms too complex for the ordinary earthly person to understand.   The Congressional Black Caucus says Obama is fulfilling the Martin Luther King legacy with Obamacare as an example.    NBC’s Brian Williams says Michelle Obama is the most fascinating woman since Jackie Kennedy.

President Obama’s campaign director, David Plouffe, says that Washington, and this nation, is not worthy of a man as great as Barack Obama and the opportunity he presents.  Newsweek has declared President Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ.

But the most profound, reflective and ironic statement can be found right here in The Last Refuge;  As Sharon reflects upon the inaugural poster of President Obama “The Prophecy Fulfilled“: (more…)

First Couple …. Yikes

We are re-visiting history again in 2013.  A recent Washington Times article highlights a recently published paper from a seriously agenda driven “think tank” member, Arie Perliger.  [learn more about Arie Perliger here]

(Via Washington Times)  A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism,  individual freedoms and self-government.”

The report issued this week by the Combating  Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military  Academy at West Point, N.Y., is titled “Challengers from the Sidelines:  Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.”

The center — part of the  institution where men and women are molded into Army officers — posted the  report Tuesday. It lumps limited government activists with three movements it  identifies as “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement  and a fundamentalist movement.”

The West Point center typically focuses reports on al  Qaeda and other Islamic extremists attempting to gain power in Asia, the  Middle East and Africa through violence.

But its latest study turns inward and paints a broad brush of people it  considers “far right.” (more…)

Last week the New York unionized School Bus Drivers went on strike. The city currently pays an average of $6,900 per student for transportation. Yes, that’s right, $6,900.00 per student, a rate that is totally unsustainable.

So the city wants to put the bus contract up for bid. The drivers are beside themselves because their employment will not be guaranteed by the next contract bidder(s).

NEW YORK [excerpt] – […] The nationwide attention that strikes, rooted in very local fights, tend to receive now is another indication of how unions have weakened in recent decades. “It’s sad that it’s seen as a novelty,” says Zev Eigen, associate professor of law at Northwestern University.

It also means that unions have to pick their fights carefully, he says, because public sympathy will go down if a strike is not tied to a substantial issue of fairness.

At the heart of the bus strike is a dispute over the bidding process for a bus contract to replace one due to expire in June.

The school district currently spends an average of $6,900 per year for each bused student, more than double the cost of the next most expensive district of Los Angeles. (more…)

Use this thread as an open thread just for Zimmerman Case stuff. A place to just dump, collect, or discuss general information about the Trayvon Martin VS George Zimmerman Case.

“The sensationalized, fact-deficient coverage of this case has achieved the
desired results. The networks got their ratings. The politicians got their
talking points. And if it means innocent people get caught in the middle of the
racial enmity they’ve fomented, obviously it’s considered acceptable collateral
damage. Congratulations, geniuses. Job well done.” Jim Treacher, The DC Trawler

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Imagine the media response if George Bush had openly said he would break the law if he did not get his way.  Both the White House, through David Plouffe, and the Senate, through Chuck Schumer, are saying exactly the same thing:  Raise taxes, or we will operate without a budget.

WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the U.S. Senate will only fulfill its legal obligation to pass a budget if the budget, which has not been passed since 2009, includes new tax increases.

“We need a budget,” Schumer conceded on Meet the Press.  “It’s a great opportunity to get us some more revenues to help in part deal with sequestration and deal with the debt issue . . . We’re going to do a budget this year and it’s going to have revenues in it and our Republican colleagues better get used to that fact.” (more…)