“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” ~ John M. Richardson, Jr. 

MILLER: Political predictions for 2013

More taxes, more regulation and more golfing on the horizon

by Emily Miller | December 28, 2012 | WashingtonTimes.com

Excerpt:

The last time Uncle Sam hit his credit limit, a deal was reached that was supposed to achieve savings. It was a total bust. Supposed “budget caps” have been broken, the supercommittee failed to find any agreement and the mandatory $110 billion sequestration scheduled for January will probably be ignored.

In place of restraint, expect to see another agreement that claims to make cuts down the road but delivers the usual budget gimmicks, ignored limits and empty promises. Look no further than the $60 billion “supplemental” pork-ridden bill moving quickly through the Senate to see how little Democrats care about resolving the debt crisis. Next year will be the fifth straight with a budget deficit of over $1 trillion.

Mr. Obama and his Democratic friends have no intention of doing anything real about the out-of-control spending because their political philosophy holds that bigger is better when it comes to government.

Read more…
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Some Interesting Pharma Predictions for 2013

Guardian: Our columnists’ predictions for 2013

Common Ground: Predictions for 2013

Three predictions for 2013 - CSMonitor.com

My Fearless Predictions For 2013: Bye-Bye Boehner, Tebow-To-Go …

Spendaholics like those in Congress are out of control. In this clip the man asking for the debt increase is in the stage of denial. He doesn’t think he has a problem or, if he does, he’s got it under control. The video is both funny and informative.

But the nature of addiction is such that even if he admitted his fault, even if he knew it was wrong, and even if he hated himself when he committed his sin, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Intervention is always required or the addict meets a very bad (and self-created) end.

Watch. 

debtlimitusa·

Uploaded on Nov 4, 2011

by J.C. | December 31, 2012 | Commentary

…”Why should anyone care? Why should a lame-duck House, 27 members of which were defeated for re-election, have a stranglehold on our economy? Why does a grotesquely malapportioned Senate get to decide the nation’s fate”?…

That’s the Progressive Propaganda, being spread by the NY Times today. Louis Michael Seidman, (Claims to be) a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, and is the author of the forthcoming book “On Constitutional Disobedience.”

…”the dream of a country ruled by “We the people” is impossibly utopian. If so, we have to give up on the claim that we are a self-governing people who can settle our disagreements through mature and tolerant debate”…

We’re in trouble people if this is a “Professor of Constitutional Law” and this is what he is teaching at Georgetown.

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“In the beginning of a change the Patriot is a scarce man, and brave and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot” 

~ Mark Twain

Feel good story of the day, and one you won’t see in the lame stream media because it doesn’t help the anti-gun narrative they are spinning. Hats off to Sergeant Lisa Cuello Castellano, an American hero. We need more like you, ma’am.

Watch. Hat tip NewsNinja2012.

newsninja2012·

Published on Dec 30, 2012

Related:  The Gun is Civilization

Not a Year for Fence-sitters

The Year of the (Water) Snake — Chinese Astrology : February 10, 2013 to January 30, 2014

“Mine is the wisdom of the ages.
I hold the key to the mysteries of life.
Casting my seeds on fertile ground
I nurture them with constancy and purpose.
My sights are fixed.
My gaze unchanging.
Unyielding, inexorable and deep
I advance with steady, unslackened gait,
The solid earth beneath me.

I AM THE SNAKE.”

Master Raymond Lo, a long esteemed authority on Feng Shui in Hong Kong, says of the lunar year beginning in February:

“… the fire energy is rising up and almost reaching the peak, so it carries the meaning of up rising and can trigger revolution and changes. Take for example, in the previous Snake years, we saw Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, breaking down of Berlin War and breaking up of USSR, as well as 4th June Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, then 911 terrorist attack in 2001….”

Then there is my trusted source, Theodora Lau, upon whom I have relied for nearly 30 years.

A year for reflection, planning and searching answers. A good time for shrewd dealings, political affairs and coups d-etat. People will be more likely to scheme and ponder over matters before acting on them. An auspicious year for commerce and industry. Solutions and compromises can be arrived at, but not without some mutual distrust at first. The Snake likes to resolve his differences one way or another. If he fails and things cannot be peacefully settled, then he will declare war.

I have to say, after all the mushy compromising and self-immolation of the GOP “leadership,” I like the sound of that.

Looking back into history, we find that the year of the Snake has never been tranquil. Perhaps this is because it is the strongest negative [yielding] force in the cycle and it follows the Dragon year, which is the strongest positive [firm] one. Many disasters which had their beginning in the year of the Dragon tend to culminate in the year of the Snake. These two signs are very closely related and the calamities of the Snake years often resulted from excesses committed during the Dragon’s reign.

This will be a lively time for romance, courtship and scandals of all sorts. A good year to purse the arts. Fashion will become more elegant and fluid; music and the theater will blossom; and people will strive for a more sophisticated life. Notable contributions will also be made by science and technology.

The venerable wisdom of the Snake will be evident in many facets of our life, particularly in those requiring decisions. Although everything may look refreshingly quiet on the surface, the year of the Snake is always unpredictable. The Snake’s cool and collected front hides the deep and mysterious ways of his nature. It should be noted that once the Snake uncoils to strike, he moves like lightning and nothing can stop him. Similarly, changes that occur during the Snake’s year can be as sudden and devastation.

Tread lightly [!!!] and be more cautious this year. Gambling and speculation is strictly taboo. The consequences will be overwhelming. The Snake is not merciful.

Whatever else happens, the Snake will give us faith in our convictions and coerce us to act and to act forcefully during his reign. This is not a year for fence-sitters.

Theodora Lau, The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes, Harper & Row (New York 1979).

How the Ox fares in the Snake year

Since the Golfer in Chief was born in the year of the Ox, how will the current president do this year?

Good times predicted for the Ox person. He will find it easy to make money. Things are all within his reach this year. On the darker side, he may suffer from a misunderstanding with some associate or find that some friend betrays his confidence. All his problems can be resolved if he is open to discussion.

Ah. Then he will certainly undo himself. The I Ching notes:

“A man who lacks character seeks to put the blame on others. The man of good character seeks the error within himself, and through introspection the outer obstacle becomes an occasion for inner enrichment and education.”

Famous persons born in the year of the Snake include Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allan Poe, John F. Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, Mao Tse-tung, J. Paul Getty, Picasso, Schubert, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes.

It’s here! Mallory Factor was kind enough to tweet the link I was looking for to me Sunday morning. The great thing about Twitter is that time and space are no longer an impediment to communication. So remember the words of the patriot Adam Cahnman: “Don’t get mad, conservatives — get on Twitter!”

Listen.

Mallory Factor·

Hat tip Sultan Knish.

by Sibyl West | December 29, 2012 | Commentary

Out of curiosity (and perhaps boredom) I tuned in to Rush’s Open Line Friday with guest host Mark Belling. Am I glad I did! I was first surprised and then intrigued by the interview Belling conducted with Mallory Factor, author of the new book Shadowbosses.

Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind

Not only was I shocked on November 6th as the election results were coming in, but so many on the Republican side — some of whom had staked their reputations as reliable readers of the electoral tea leaves — were as well. Over the weeks since then many have struggled to find an explanation for Mitt Romney’s loss and the re-election of the incumbent golfer in chief. What I heard in Friday’s interview, however, beats everything else. For me, it was the missing puzzle piece that makes everything else understandable. As the book description on Amazon says, Mallory Factor tells

“… a true story of how labor unions are infiltrating our government and corrupting our political process. This compelling and insightful book exposes how unions have organized federal, state, and local government employees without their consent, and how government employee unions are now a threat to our workers’ freedoms, our free and fair elections, and even our American way of life.”

In short, Mallory Factor told that highly organized, local union bosses pressuring workers to “volunteer” and get out the vote won the election. Not enthusiasm. Not ethnic groups alone, although the unions did target black and Hispanic voters. Brownshirts on the ground, you might say, getting $50 for 3 hours of work and so on. And we’ve seen how well union bosses can turn up the pressure.

I’m still looking for an audio clip of the interview and will post it if I find one.

UPDATE*** Mr. Factor very kindly tweeted us the link:

@Ramparts360 Thanks for the post. The audio can be found here, maybe you can link to it. Thanks for listening.

In the meantime what follows are excerpts from Rush 24/7.

Mallory Factor, Author of Shadowbosses

“I hope if anybody buys Shadowbosses they don’t keep it. They send it to a legislator. They need to read it more than anybody else.” -Mallory Factor

“The clout unions have in the Democrat part is because of their money, and that’s where compulsory dues become the issue. That’s the only way to turn this around.” -Mark Belling

• MalloryFactor.com: Shadowbosses, Government Unions versus Taxpayers

“The clout that government unions have in the Democrat Party is clearly because they have all the money. Therefore, it seems to me that the only way you can address that clout is to go after the money. That’s where compulsory dues membership become a big thing, and this is the thing that we saw fought out in my own state of Wisconsin.” -Mark Belling

“We have e-mails to union members where they say, ‘We need you to volunteer — and if you volunteer, we’ll pay you $50, lunch, and a free T-shirt.’ One even offered the people a free turkey.” -Mallory Factor

• Facebook.com/MalloryFactorInc: Read a Free Excerpt of Shadowbosses

“Unions in the ’30s, we can argue, served a very important reason. And you didn’t have to join a union to get a job. What happened is, union membership in the private sector has been in huge decline. Only about 6% of workers are members of unions in the private sector. But 41% of government workers today are now members of a union, a shocking number.” -Mallory Factor

Mallory Factor Interview

Here he is back in August. Watch.

BlazeOriginalVideo·

Published on Aug 21, 2012

Watch. Hat tip The Right Scoop.

itnnews·

Published on Dec 28, 2012

Politics: 2012: Military suicides outnumber combat deaths – economy and leadership to blame

According to a new Army report, as of November, 303 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard soldiers had committed suicide in 2012.  During the same period, 212 men and women in uniform were lost due to combat fatalities in Afghanistan.

Back in June, the number of suicides stood at 154 – roughly half of the current total.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta acknowledged the problem and blamed society at large. “We’re dealing with broader societal issues,” he said. “Substance abuse, financial distress and relationship problems -the risk factors for suicide also reflect problems that will endure beyond war.”

Keep reading. 

Sibyl West: I couldn’t help wondering what kind of medications are given for PTSD, so I checked out Defense Centers of Excellence which reveals some of the psychodrugs that are routinely handed out to veterans.

http://www.dcoe.health.mil/ForHealthPros/PTSDTreatmentOptions.aspx

Pharmacological Approaches

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a type of antidepressant medication. SSRIs include citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), and sertraline (Zoloft).  Many, if not most, patients with PTSD will achieve some symptom relief with an SSRI, although the evidence of effectiveness is less convincing in combat PTSD compared to PTSD due to other traumas.  Additional medications have been used for specific symptoms with some success (see VA/DoD PTSD Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) link below for additional information). Prazosin may be promising for trauma-related nightmares. In addition, short-term use of a medication for sleep can be helpful for those who have significant difficulty sleeping immediately after a traumatic event. Longer-term use of sedative/hypnotic medications, such as benzodiazepines, however, has not been shown to be of benefit, and there is some evidence that long-term use of benzodiazepines in PTSD may interfere with psychotherapy.

But check out the list here. There is a disturbing overlap of PTSD drugs and psychotropics that cause random violence (note the red names in the paragraph above). You can also watch the video on this subject here.

Exit question: Are they or are they not medicating the military more now than before?

Must watch from an intelligent young American who has a gun control plan that he demands celebrities follow. Hat tip Becky, my bud.

JJ Ladouceur·

Published on Dec 23, 2012

Alright, you’ve got to listen to this. Senator Dianne Franken-feinstein, as Levin calls her, demonstrates what a hypocrite she is now that she is heading up anti gun legislation. Tom Marr called her the biggest phony of all time. Can’t disagree. But remember: with these people the ends justifies the means. And the end is they WIN, we lose. Funny how the only time the word win is used in conflict anymore is when the leftists fight the right.

Published on Dec 19, 2012

Ronald Reagan·

Chanakya Pundit used to say never trust actors. They are dishonest. Boy did he know a thing or two — and that was 370–283 B.C. Some things never change.

If you don’t see the video below, watch here. Hat tip The Right Scoop.

Published on Dec 25, 2012

sailingmanuel·

by Bob Green | December 27, 2012 | Commentary

Now we hear from Mitt Romney’s son that his dad really didn’t want to win the election. I guess that that is no big surprise, based on his failure to take advantage of all the “opportunities” that BHO handed him on a silver platter, yet he failed to pursue.

So, I guess that now is as good a time as any to begin a ”fundamental transformation” of the Republican Party…one that can actually believe in and deliver a conservative message.  Guess what  – it’s not going to happen so long as ineffective RINO leaders like John Boehner remain in power:

“Conservatives, of our many stripes make up 68 % of the GOP voting bloc, while moderate or liberal Republicans only tally 32 % of the party’s voters. The problem is that the smaller 32 % make up the power base of the party, and they ain’t looking to change their positions to accommodate us pesky small government types. As a matter of fact, far from attempting to reach out to us, I have heard nothing but derision coming from them since Mitt Romney managed to so spectacularly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory 7 short weeks ago. They view us as losers, fringe elements of a knuckle-dragging freak show, (where our) votes are assumed, and (our) voices disliked. From their perspective, we have no where else to go.”

At this instant in time, they are right; and they’ll remain right so long as we do nothing.

“The only way to correct the course for this country is to do one of two things. Either we win this civil war that is going to happen sooner or later, and then run candidates for national office as true conservatives, or we need to divorce our Democrat Lite spouses and establish our own residence, and then run candidates for national office as true conservatives. This much is certain, it will never improve with the current GOP leadership taking our voices for granted and then continually selling us out.”

– Blogpost by J.W. in Tea Party Nation,12/26/12.

Hat tip Townhall.

We wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas

and best wishes in the new year. 

May God bless you and yours!

The one man whom I implicitly trust 100% is leaving the US senate to head up the Heritage Foundation. Mark Levin has been saying that the answer is not in Washington. I think this makes it official.

Watch here if it doesn’t show below.

Published on Dec 20, 2012