Your Marxist Moron of the Day is

Rep Jerrold Nadler of New York. Bob Owens presents the case for Nadler, and offers a great analysis of the folly of those, like Nadler, who embrace the Nanny State

Jerrold Nadler is an “average” elected member of Congress. He represents New York’s 8th congressional district, and has been in office for 20 years. He’s seen little of the world outside of New York City and Washington, D.C.. He did little of note with his life before becoming a politician, and has done little while in office, other than picking up a few titular roles by the nature of his long incumbency. He is reliably leftist in his views, using the Constitution as a cudgel when it serves him, and rejecting it when it doesn’t.

He’s utterly an utterly average, representative politician, which is why this statement is so concerning:

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said only the federal government should have “high-capacity” gun magazines and that the “state ought to have a monopoly on legitimate violence.”

At a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday,  Nadler gathered with other House Democrats to push for stricter gun control in the wake of last week’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which left 26 dead, including 20 children.

The lawmaker told CNSNews.com that he not only supports prohibiting the future sale of 10-round gun magazines, but he would like to confiscate high-capacity clips already legally possessed by American citizens.

Historically speaking, most nation-states have had monopolies of violence over their subjects. Nadler’s qualifier “legitimate” simply means that politicians view the violence they distribute as being beyond reproach, while viewing the option of resisting government force as not just illegitimate and wrong, but evil.

We could easily spend the rest of the day (and much of the next) merely listing the governments in recorded history that have used that “monopoly of legitimate violence” to oppress their subjects and commit the occasional genocide against their people. We could point out that this precise mindset is one shared among the educated men of Parliament and the British Monarchy in the 1770s towards upstart Colonials in the New World.

Men like Nadler, and I use the word men loosely here, are a disgrace. But, really, they are no more a disgrace than the buffoons who keep voting them into office. These are voters who ignore history, and reality. These are voters who are ignorant and selfish. They only care about what Nadler, and politicians like him, can do for them. They are simply too stupid to realize that a government that can GIVE you things can also take everything away!

Arne Duncan explains Collectivism

Here you go, our Education Secretary, Arne Duncan touts our rights, as secondary to common values, in other words the common good that Marx and Engels espoused

Americans value their children, their safety, and the right to pursue their dreams without fear — and those “common values” trump the rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last Friday in aspeech at a Washington, D.C., elementary school.

In the coming weeks, Duncan said he plans to spend a lot of time visiting schools and communities — to talk about gun violence:

“I want to talk to gun owners and hunters and sport shooters and ask them, what should we do? I want to talk about community and responsibility, and I want to talk about values — because we have common values that go far beyond the constitutional right to bear arms.

There you are, Collectivism defined by a Collectivist. Individual natural rights? Not if our “common values” are offended. Of course, once we as a nation sacrifice our natural rights on the Altar of Collectivism, we will seal our fate, soon no one will have any right that the government does not grant us. Rights that same government will then hold the power to revoke at their whim.

 

What we would be hearing about school shootings if we had President Perry

We would not be hearing empty rhetoric about meaningful action. We would instead have a president with a grasp of reality

a president that might actually understand that security in our schools is the best answer, not more useless gun control laws

At a Tea Party event Monday, former Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry became the highest-profile Republican politician to support arming teachers and administrators.

Perry argued that anyone with a concealed handgun license should be able to take guns on public property in Texas, including schools, and he urged legislators “to look at ways to improve safety at schools.”

“In the state of Texas, with our concealed handgun license, if you have been duly backgrounded and trained and you are a concealed-handgun-license-carrying individual, you should be able to carry your handgun anywhere in this state.” Teachers should have “access to weapons in their school,” Gov. Perry said, provided they have the proper training and license, and it should be left up to local school districts to determine their own policies in allowing firearms on their campuses. He later added that property owners had the right to prohibit guns on their own private property. Some school districts across Texas already allow school personnel to carry guns; when Perry referred to the one school district that allows teachers and administrators to carry weapons, he was interrupted by loud applause from the crowd.

Perry warned citizens of rash decisions from the federal government.“One of the things that I hope we don’t see from our federal government is this knee-jerk reaction from Washington, D.C., when there is an event that occurs, that they come in and they think they know the answer.”

In every one of the recent school shootings, the killer has stopped when? When he decide enough was enough? When a Liberal sang him a song of peace? No, when he was confronted with armed resistance! In Pearl Mississippi, that resistance came in the form of an assistant principal who ran to his car to retrieve his gun. The fact the Left is not willing to grasp is that sometimes evil is visited upon us, and we must fight back. Passing more laws that the next killer will ignore will do nothing.

 

Racial Obsession Syndrome strikes ESPN talking head

Rob Parker, who apparently thinks he is the sole judge of how “Black” Black people really are made some asinine comments today on ESPN. The comments he made, questioning Redskins QB Robert Griffin lll’s “blackness” are despicable, racist, and expose a major problem within the Black community. The idea that Griffin is not “really Black” because he does not wish to be defined by his skin color? Really? Or that he is not Black because he has a White fiance? Or that, GASP, he might be a, dare I say it, a Republican? What kind of bigot spouts such nonsense?

ESPNNewYork.com columnist Rob Parker reacted to Washington Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin III’s comment in USA Today that he won’t be defined by his race. An upset Parker responded by asking if Griffin was “a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” and questioning both his reported Republicanism and his decision to become engaged to a white woman.

“I am an African-American in America,” Griffin told USA Today. “That will never change. But I don’t have to be defined by that. … We always try to find similarities in life, no matter what it is so they’re going to try to put you in a box with other African-American quarterbacks — Vick, Newton, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon … That’s the goal. Just to go out and not try to prove anybody wrong but just let your talents speak for themselves.”

What is wrong with that statement? Seriously? The man is a good QB, won the Heisman, and by all accounts is a great guy. Humble, talented, and classy, and NOT obsessed with his skin color! But Parker cannot stand the fact that RG3 might not conform to Parker;s definition of what Black means!

“Time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him,” Parker said Thursday. “And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., and … my question, which is just a straight, honest question, is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?”

Parker explained his definition of a “cornball brother.”

“OK, he’s black, he kinda does his thing,” he said of Griffin, “but he’s not really down with the cause. He’s not one of us. He’s kind of black, but he’s not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he’s off to something else.”

Parker added that the ethnicity of Griffin’s fiancée and unconfirmed rumors about his right-of-center politics were also red flags.

“I want to find out about him. I don’t know, because I keep hearing these things,” Parker said. “We all know he has a white fiancée. And there was all this talk about how he’s Republican. There’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue, because we did find out with Tiger Woods — Tiger Woods was like, ‘I don’t want to — I got black skin, but don’t call me black.’”

Oh please! Red flags? Dating someone who is not Black, or being a Republican raises red flags in Parker’s mind? Odd, I would bet that Parker would gladly applaud MLK. So why not embrace MLK’s message? You know about not judging skin color but judging character? Sorry, but I get so tired of this identity politics game. Let people be people! But, arrogant, race-obsessed buffoons like Rob Parker are not capable of that To these miscreants, Blacks MUST be Democrat, MUST date only Black people, and MUST, MUST, MUST be as wrapped up in their skin color as nitwits like Parker are or they are not “really Black”! Bullshit!

Jesse Jackson Jr. hospitalized again

I guess the Corrupted Assholitis came back

Stacy McCain has more, plus an important question about Democrat voters

Unfortunately, liberalism isn’t listed in the DSM-IV:

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is heading back to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. — and was reportedly en route Friday evening.
A source said the decision was made to have the the South Shore Democrat return to the famed clinic, where he spent four weeks this summer for bipolar depression. He had been staying at his home in Washington, D.C. since leaving Mayo.
A source who visited Jackson this week said, “Jesse wanted you to know he is finding it difficult to continue his treatment because the press is staking out his home and making access to his doctor, who is within a short walking distance from his home, incredibly hard.”
The source added that Jackson is trying “to stay focused and calm to enhance his treatment and is just following doctor’s orders.”

Jackson is a corrupt race pimp just like his father, but, I guess the brainwashed voters of the “D” party will vote for anything with that “D” by it!

Who’s crazier: The congressman suffering from bipolar depression, or the Illinois voters who don’t mind re-electing a genuine nutjob, so long as he’s got a “D” beside his name?

Yes, I know, I am being mean, and insensitive right? Wrong! I am tired of stupid voters who cannot bother to see what type of clowns politicians like Je$$e Jr really are.

One reason Leftism always fails to deliver on it’s Utopian promises…..

 

……Is that the Left driven by greed and a hatred of Capitalism kills business with taxes and regulations. Via William Teach

The Democrats who wrote, passed, and support the “American Care Act” probably thought that companies would just roll over and willingly pay a higher tax rate for their medical devices. Alas, the Real World has intruded on the Dem fantasies of collecting more tax money to spread around to their campaign contributors and voters

(Fox News) An Indiana-based medical equipment manufacturer says it’s scrapping plans to open five new plants in the coming years because of a looming tax tied to President Obama’s health care overhaul law.

Cook Medical claims the tax on medical devices, set to take effect next year, will cost the company roughly $20 million a year, cutting into money that would otherwise go toward expanding into new facilities over the next five years.

“This is the equivalent of about a plant a year that we’re not going to be able to build,” a company spokesman told FoxNews.com.

He said the original plan was to build factories in “hard-pressed” Midwestern communities, each employing up to 300 people. But those factories cost roughly the same amount as the projected cost of the new tax.

“In reality, we’re not looking at the U.S. to build factories anymore as long as this tax is in place. We can’t, to be competitive,” he said.

Surprise! Who could imagine that increasing taxes could cause a company to change its behavior rather than rolling over in docility? Liberals might say that a 2.3% tax on medical devices isn’t a big deal, but when that increases costs on a company by $20 million dollars, which is real money when you get outside the Washington, D.C. bubble, things have to be changed. And that cost also tends to be passed on to the consumer, who might think twice about making the purchase, and go with that product that was made in another country and is not subject to the tax.

But the Cook Medical spokesman said the impact is greater than just a 2.3 percent uptick in taxes. He said the impact on actual earnings is another 15 percent, and he projected the company’s total tax burden next year will rise to over 50 percent.

Go read the rest. Don’t you just love how that “spreading the wealth around” hurts, rather than helps working people. The jobs Cook Medical WOULD have created are gone, and of course Cook is not the only company being forced to cut back expansion plans. Just another example of how the Left promises to spread the wealth, but actually spreads the misery

 

Washington, D.C. To Release Illegal Alien Criminals Back Into Communities

Washington, D.C. To Release Illegal Alien Criminals Back Into Communities – Front Page

Washington, D.C. has become the latest in a growing number of mostly liberal states and localities that is ignoring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), when ICE asks these states and localities to hold suspected criminal illegal aliens for ICE to pick up.

Last month, Washington, D.C. passed an ordinance stating that it would no longer cooperate with ICE detainers for most suspected criminal illegal aliens. ICE detainers are holds, up to two business days, that ICE puts on municipal prisoners that it wants to pick up because ICE suspects these prisoners are also in the country illegally.

Normally, when ICE places a detainer on a municipal prisoner, those prisoners that would finish a sentence, be it because they made bail or finished their prison sentences, would still be held in order for ICE to pick them up. In Washington, D.C., local officials will ignore ICE detainers for all suspected criminal illegal aliens except those that have committed “dangerous crimes.”

Washington, D.C.’s city council passed this ordinance in response to the ICE program, Secure Communities, coming into effect in their jurisdiction. Secure Communities is an ICE data sharing program that gives ICE fingertip access to the personal information of all individuals detained in the jails of localities that cooperate.

Proponents of rights for suspected illegal aliens have hailed Washington, D.C.’s policy as a step in the right direction. Many liberal politicians and activists believe that Secure Communities has been used to unfairly target otherwise law abiding suspected illegal aliens.

D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson told the Washington Post that Secure Communities was heavy-handed and that the ordinance passed would promote community harmony.

“That works against community policing,” Mendelson said. “We want people who are victims to report crime, and we want witnesses to report crime.”

ICE, for its, part issued a magnanimous statement, saying that the agency hopes to work with localities to insure public safety.

“ICE remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to help make our communities safer by focusing our resources on public safety and national security threats, border security, and the integrity of the immigration system,” said Danielle Bennett, a spokesperson for ICE.

Not everyone agrees, however.

“This is about public safety,” said Brian McCann. “This ordinance ignores public safety.”

McCann should know. On June 7, 2011, his brother, Denny, was killed by an illegal alien driving drunk in Chicago. The driver, Saul Chavez, was arrested at the scene. During a previous drunk driving arrest in 2007, he admitted to police that he was in the country illegally.

McCann said that Cook County officials, which includes Chicago, assured him that Chavez would spend six to twelve years in prison before he was deported. Instead, on September 7, 2011, Cook County passed its own ordinance in which the county refused to cooperate with ICE on any detainers, even repeat offenders like Chavez.

In late November, Chavez was able to post bond. The County ignored the ICE detainer placed on Chavez and Chavez was let go. He’s since gone on the run and hasn’t been seen since his release.

In November 2011, Santa Clara County passed an ordinance similar to the one in Cook County. In Santa Clara County, there have been no high profile incidents like in the case of Chavez.

In March however, ICE performed a sweep of 63 suspected illegal aliens in Santa Clara County. All 63 were suspected criminal illegal aliens that were released by Santa Clara County even though they had ICE detainers on them.

Those picked up in the sweep included a number of suspected drug dealers, those with gang ties, and at least one suspected illegal alien charged with child rape.

In the State of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order last year effectively ending cooperation between the state and ICE on detainers. One suspected criminal illegal alien with a detainer was Luis Rodriguez-Flamenco, 24. Rodriguez-Flamenco was picked up for a burglary and subsequently ICE placed a detainer on him. That detainer was ignored when Rodriguez-Flamenco posted bond. In November 2011, Rodriguez-Flamenco allegedly stabbed to death 45-year-old Kathleen Byham outside a Wal-Mart in Albion, N.Y.

The State Senate of California also recently passed a bill that will significantly limit cooperation with ICE, if it’s signed into law, on detainers in all jails in the state.

Meanwhile, a group associated with George Soros’ Open Society Institute has recently put together a how-to guide designed to give localities a number of options for ways to avoid cooperating with ICE detainers.

The Department of Justice has made a series of high profile suits against the states of Arizona and South Carolina following the states’ passage of tough anti-illegal immigration laws. DOJ did not respond to a phone call for comment from FrontPage as to whether it intends to similarly sue any of these jurisdictions.

Both ICE Director John Morton and DHS Director Janet Napolitano have made repeated threats to Cook County to cut off federal funds if the country continues with its ordinance, but so far those threats have not been followed through on.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

Occupy Leader Arrested On Weapons And Drug Charges, and for looking too much like MSNBS douchebag Toure, but mostly for the drugs and weapons

Via Weasel Zippers

Via Charlotte Observer:

A man known for his involvement in the Occupy Charlotte movement was arrested Sunday and charged with resisting an officer, carrying a concealed gun and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.

Gifford Cordova, 33, of Lake Wylie, was arrested along with Alexandra Elizabeth Evans, 19, police said. They were arrested following a 911 call reporting a suspicious vehicle on Garrison Road, west of where West Boulevard intersects Interstate 485.

Police say they found three guns in the car with Cordova — a handgun, rifle and shotgun.

Evans was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and misdemeanor possession of pyrotechnics.

Cordova is an entertainer and performer with two children. He participated in Occupy sites in Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington, D.C.

Cordova was among those who expressed disappointment in December after four men, including two Occupy Charlotte members, burned U.S. flags at the Charlotte tent site. The four were charged with careless use of a fire. Cordova said their actions reflected poorly on the movement.

Man what a tough break, and just so you can compare, here is Toure, and Cordova.

Separated at birth?

Yes, voter fraud is a big problem

With moere states requiring people show a proper ID to vote, and more Liberals saying that these laws are racist, and indeed just an effort to suppress the minority vote, I thought it proper to link this piece by John Fund

“Unfortunately, the United States has a long history of voter fraud that has been documented by historians and journalists,” Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in 2008, upholding a strict Indiana voter-ID law designed to combat fraud. Justice Stevens, who personally encountered voter fraud while serving on various reform commissions in his native Chicago, spoke for a six-member majority. In a decision two years earlier clearing the way for an Arizona ID law, the Court had declared in a unanimous opinion that “confidence in the integrity of our electoral processes is essential to the functioning of our participatory democracy. Voter fraud drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and breeds distrust of our government. Voters who fear their legitimate votes will be outweighed by fraudulent ones will feel disenfranchised.”

Indeed, a brand-new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that 64 percent of Americans believe voter fraud is a serious problem, with whites registering 63 percent agreement and African-Americans 64 percent. A Fox News poll taken last month found that 70 percent of Americans support requiring voters to show “state or federally issued photo identification” to prove their identity and citizenship before casting a ballot. Majorities of all demographic groups agreed on the need for photo ID, including 58 percent of non-white voters, 52 percent of liberals, and 52 percent of Democrats.

These numbers are important. They show that Americans of all races and political beliefs want every vote to be cast in a legitimate fashion. It is, after all a crucial issue. The Left has continued to make the claim that there really is no voter fraud, so, voter ID laws are unneeded. Really? Fund continues

But filmmaker James O’Keefe demonstrated just last month how easy — and almost impossible to detect — voter impersonation can be: A white 22-year-old assistant of O’Keefe’s was offered the Washington, D.C., primary ballot of Attorney General Eric Holder, the most visible opponent of ID laws.

Just this week in Fort Worth, Texas, a Democratic precinct chairwoman was indicted on charges of arranging an illegal vote. Hazel Woodard James has been charged with conspiring with her non-registered son to have him vote in place of his father. The only reason the crime was detected was that the father showed up later in the day to vote at the same precinct. Most fraudsters are smart enough to have their accomplices cast votes in the names of dead people on the voter rolls, who are highly unlikely to appear and complain that someone else voted in their place.

Go read the whole thing. Pass it around. Voter fraud is very real, and you can bet that those screaming that it is not have a very real agenda, to cheat, or at the very least they think that the cheating will help them at the ballot box.

Nanny State Alert!

The Sentry Journal lays out the latest intrusion into our lives!

Most of you have heard how the Department of Labor is proposing a regulation that will prevent kids who grow up on farms from basically doing all things my cousins and I did working on a farm.  These masterminds in Washington D.C. believe that somehow a child doing chores on a family farm equates to a violation of child labor laws.  This wonderful family farm tradition is now being demonized by an unfeeling bureaucratic system that cares more about how something is done than what is actually getting done.   We’re supposed to ignore the fact that this is how family farms have operated in America since before our independence.  Now some D.C. bureaucrat is saying we’ve been wrong all along and that these children should not be subjected to these working conditions.  They want to crack down on these sweatshops.   Not only does this open another door for the government to replace the parent, but it also takes away the opportunity for our young people to learn a valuable skill at a very young age.  Can someone please tell me where in the constitution it authorizes some government official the power to usurp the rights of the parent?  Once again there is no provision in the constitution that permits this because the constitution is a document designed to RESTRAIN the federal government from doing exactly this.

Pathetic! John lays out what this is about

This is what happens in an America when the constitution is ignored by unelected bureaucrats who could care less about our rights.  It turns our traditions and history as a nation on its head and forces us to live in an America that’s upside down.  It was in 2008 when Michelle Obama said we would need to change our traditions and history.  Welcome to Obama’s America.  This is just another attempt to fundamentally change who we are as a people and we must stop it.  The more we allow these elected or unelected bureaucrats to regulate every aspect of our lives the more we lose as a people and as a nation.  The more we become enslaved.

Yep!

Who has always said the Left HATES the right to self-defense?

Oh yeah, it was me! And this story, Via Moonbattery backs me up

After his roommate and his girlfriend were robbed by armed men in ski masks, Benjamin Portman of Washington, DC became sufficiently alarmed to attend a community meeting on skyrocketing local violence. There he asked why bureaurats make it all but impossible for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves by exercising the Second Amendment.

Paul Quander, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, responded that crime victims should give the criminals what they want. Mr. Portman protested, saying, “But how do you know you’re going live and survive? You’re completely at their mercy.”

Mr. Quander thinks victimhood is preferable to self-defense. “The problem is, if you are armed, it escalates the situation,” Mr. Quander told residents. “It is much better, in my opinion, to be scared, to be frightened, and even if you have to be, to be injured, but to walk away and survive. You’ll heal, and you can replace whatever was taken away.”

Or at least, if they choose not to kill you for kicks you’ll survive. The God-given right of self-defense never comes into it from the statist point of view.

Leftists see people as cattle,incapable of doing anything for themselves. The fondest desire of Leftists is for us all to be completely reliant upon government, big Leftist government of course, for EVERYTHING. and that includes protection. The Leftist has no use at all for individuals defending themselves. That sets a bad example for the rest of the “cattle” you see.

Moonbattery also highlights another story that points out how armed citizens save lives. I heard of this on the drive home last night.Oddly enough, the report from the media gave not one mention of an ARMED doctor helping to save lives

A Colorado doctor with a concealed-weapon permit said he grabbed his gun and guarded an exit at a medical building as dozens of people fled from a gunman who had taken two hostages.

Authorities in Colorado Springs said the hostages were released before police shot and fatally wounded the gunman Tuesday. No one else was hurt.

Gee,why would the media leave out the armed citizen helping to save lives? HMMMM

 

Excuse me Mr. President, but did you say fair?

Liberals love to use the word fair, as in  “The rich do not pay their fair share“, well Milton Wolf has some questions, via the WSJ for the president.

Barack Obama is centering his re-election strategy on class warfare and the politics of jealousy. He speaks of economic justice and fairness and sews the seeds of resentment that divides our nation. OK, fine. Stephen Moore has A Fairness Quiz for the President….

Is it fair that some of Mr. Obama’s largest campaign contributors received federal loan guarantees on their investments in renewable energy projects that went bust?

Is it fair that federal employees receive benefits that are nearly 50% higher than those of private-sector workers whose taxes pay their salaries, according to the Congressional Budget Office?

Is it fair that President Obama sends his two daughters to elite private schools that are safer, better-run, and produce higher test scores than public schools in Washington, D.C.—but millions of other families across America are denied that free choice and forced to send their kids to rotten schools?

Is it fair that wind, solar and ethanol producers get billions of dollars of subsidies each year and pay virtually no taxes, while the oil and gas industry—which provides at least 10 times as much energy—pays tens of billions of dollars of taxes while the president complains that it is “subsidized”?

Is it fair that those who work full-time jobs (and sometimes more) to make ends meet have to pay taxes to support up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits for those who don’t work?

There are more, and they are worth the read. To be sure the Left has bastardized the words fair and unfair. And the Liberal base eats that type of class warfare up. Just another example of just what a childish and self-centered ideology Liberalism is.

Aleister at American Glob has an interesting video. A rich union boss telling poor Americans that life is not, say it with me now……

Well now isn’t that………..

130 Current And Former Government Employees In Washington D.C. Face Prosecution For Unemployment Fraud

130 Current And Former Government Employees In Washington D.C. Face Prosecution For Unemployment Fraud – Washington Post

Nearly 90 city employees were suspended Monday and face potential firing and prosecution for receiving unemployment benefits while holding their city jobs, District officials said.

In addition, about 40 former city workers cashed unemployment checks they were not entitled to and also face sanctions. In all, the city estimates it has paid out as much as $800,000 in unemployment benefits to working city employees since 2009.

“By holding people accountable, that sends a clear message we’re not tolerating this behavior,” said Lisa Mallory, director of the D.C. Department of Employment Services, which administers the jobless benefits program.

…………..
…………………………………………………………………..Lisa Mallory

Monday’s action, which follows at least three years of scrutiny from local and federal authorities, represents an unusually broad crackdown on corruption in the District government workforce. The volume of benefits claims has soared alongside the District’s jobless rate, and investigators have taken an increasing interest in how the unemployment program guards against fraud.

D.C. Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby and Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan are involved in the investigation, and authorities anticipate referring at least some cases to federal prosecutors for criminal action. Mallory, whose office continues to review cases, also said she has worked with the U.S. Department of Labor to prevent this type of fraud.

Employees accused of wrongdoing worked in various arms of the District government, including the public schools and the D.C. Council staff, according to a high-ranking official to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) who was not allowed to speak publicly on the investigation. Some of the employees, Mallory said, received $20,000 or more; others received only a few hundred dollars.

The alleged fraud is not complicated, nor is it uncommon in unemployment insurance programs: Workers apply for checks and receive them legitimately for a time but fail to inform authorities when they go back to work.

“Some are people who come in and out of government and never stopped [receiving unemployment checks]. Some may have worked in parts of an agency where for the summer months you don’t work,” Mallory said. “There are no clear patterns that we can discern. It’s just a matter of certifying you aren’t receiving income when you are receiving income.”

A Gray spokesman declined to release workers’ names Monday, citing privacy restrictions.

Mallory said her department regularly passes cases of suspected “overpayments” fraud to the inspector general for investigation and potential prosecution, but Monday’s crackdown represents an unprecedented review of the city’s 33,000-strong government workforce.

“Our focus is really on trying to deter,” she said. “We want to make sure that individuals who owe this money are actually held accountable for these overpayments.”

Nathan said in a statement that the alleged fraud is “unconscionable for anyone – and particularly District of Columbia employees, who should have high ethical standards.”

Jeff Lagda, a spokesman for the Labor Department’s inspector general, cited department policy Monday in not confirming or denying any ongoing investigation.

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

*VIDEO* Occutard Hits D.C. Cop In The Face With A Brick

NFL owners, players reach deal!

Image via Wikipedia

Yep, looks like the 2011 NFL season will proceed as it should

The NFL Players Association and the league’s owners have reached agreement on the remaining points needed in their 10-year labor deal, sources from both sides said.

Despite the fact the new agreement will require a majority vote from the players, that part of the deal between the two sides is considered a formality, according to sources.

The NFLPA is making plans for a major press conference Monday. But first the player reps’ executive committee is scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., on Sunday so they can vote Monday.

Just as the NFL would not have called a vote Thursday in Atlanta without knowing it would pass in the way it did — 31-0 with one abstention — the NFLPA would also not be going forward without that assurance.

Despite Court’s OK, D.C. Residents Unable To Legally Register Handguns

Despite Court’s OK, D.C. Residents Unable To Legally Register Handguns – The Blaze

It’s been almost three years since the United States Supreme Court overturned Washington, D.C.’s ban on handguns, but residents of the District remain unable to register guns in the city. Why? A “temporary, de facto ban” is in now in place after the sole individual who facilitated handgun ownership in the nation’s capital stopped accepting registration orders.

…………………….

WTOP reports:

Since the lifting of the handgun ban in June 2008, Charles Sykes has processed more than 1,000 handguns for District residents. Sykes tells WTOP he’s stopped taking orders for now. “I’ve lost my lease,” Sykes said in a phone interview. “I’ll take care of the customers who already placed orders, but I don’t want to take any more until I know where I will reopen.”

Sykes is the sole proprietor of C S Exchange, the only licensed firearm dealer in the city that will transfer guns for individuals. Sykes doesn’t sell the guns — there are no gun stores in D.C. His company facilitates the transfer of guns from out of state stores into the District for a fee of $125 per gun.

Federal law prohibits individuals from buying a handgun outside D.C. and then bringing it into the District. That transfer has to be done by someone with a Federal Firearms License.

Michelle Lane lives on Capitol Hill, and wanted a gun for protection and target practice. She bought two guns in Virginia: a Ruger LCR revolver and a Kahr K9 Elite 9mm. After buying them, she found out she couldn’t have them shipped into the city. “It’s not fair,” she tells WTOP. “I followed the law. Criminals bring guns into the city. It’s frustrating.”

It could be weeks before Sykes finds a new location for his store and even then, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) requires 30 days advance notice of a move, followed by an additional 60 days to review and approve the location. Until then, D.C. residents are out of luck.

“The city government of Washington, D.C. has a responsibility to make sure that every resident of D.C. can exercise their constitutional rights. And one of those constitutional rights is the individual to have a right to bear arms,” Sen. Charles Grassley said Friday. It’s “absolutely wrong” that D.C. resident can’t currently legally purchase a gun, he added. “Let the city government do the licensing if you don’t have a licensed dealer.”

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*VIDEOS* New Year Celebrations Around The World – 2011

NEW YORK

WASHINGTON D.C.

SAN FRANCISCO

LONDON

SYDNEY

HONG KONG

BERLIN

PARIS

SINGAPORE

ST. PETERSBURG

AMSTERDAM

TAIPEI

DUBAI

MANILA

CAPE TOWN

EDINBURGH

MONTREAL

RIO DE JANEIRO

ROME

TOKYO

Breaking news! Obama to enter 12-step program for addiction to class warfare

Well, I might have made that headline up, but, seriously, our president might well benefit from such a 12-step program. Consider that the nation of Japan, is, pay close attention Mr. President, CUTTING, as in lowering its corporate tax rates. They are doing so in order to help Japanese businesses, be more successful.

This week, President Obama held a summit in Washington, D.C., with top CEOs to discuss a variety of economic topics.  Among them was U.S. competitiveness in the global economy, with Obama describing the issue upfront as an “overarching theme,” and with the message being sent that competitiveness impacts domestic job creation.

Obama’s comments were timely, because on Tuesday, it emerged that Japan, which currently maintains the highest corporate tax rate of any O.E.C.D. (i.e., developed) nation, will cut its corporate income tax by “5 percentage points in a bid to shore up its sluggish economy,” according to the New York Times.

Currently, Japan’s corporate tax rate is about 40 percent, slightly higher than but roughly the same rate as the U.S. rate.

However, Japanese leaders aim to cut the tax rate in order to make the country more competitive, internationally, provoke new investment and boost job creation.  Japan is worried about its unemployment rate of 5.1 percent–a figure of envy to most in Europe and the U.S., where unemployment is running substantially higher.

Did you catch that Mr. President? Japan’s unemployment is half of ours, yet that nation is concerned and sees cutting taxes on businesses as a way to help grow its economy! Aren’t Liberals always saying America needs to be more like the rest of the world? Well, Mr. President? Are you paying attention?