Fun Stuff...Off Topic(O/T)

[jiesen]

If you ever owned a cat you might like this.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/house

-------------------billy

great story! I love Matt Inman's stuff- and I have him favorited already... somehow hadn't seen this yet, tho.

[mimo_100]

Here are some common sense ideas and solutions to get our government under control.


Rand Paul gives tea-party response to Obama


I speak to you tonight from Washington, D.C.

The state of our economy is tenuous but our

people remain the greatest example of freedom

and prosperity the world has ever known.

People say America is exceptional. I agree,

but it’s not the complexion of our skin or

the twists in our DNA that make us unique.

America is exceptional because we were

founded upon the notion that everyone should

be free to pursue life, liberty, and

happiness.

For the first time in history, men and women

were guaranteed a chance to succeed based NOT

on who your parents were but on your own

initiative and desire to work.

We are in danger, though, of forgetting what

made us great. The President seems to think

the country can continue to borrow $50,000

per second. The President believes that we

should just squeeze more money out of those

who are working.

The path we are on is not sustainable, but

few in Congress or in this Administration

seem to recognize that their actions are

endangering the prosperity of this great

nation.

Ronald Reagan said, government is not the

answer to the problem, government is the

problem.

Tonight, the President told the nation he

disagrees. President Obama believes

government is the solution: More government,

more taxes, more debt.

What the President fails to grasp is that the

American system that rewards hard work is

what made America so prosperous.

What America needs is not Robin Hood but Adam

Smith. In the year we won our independence,

Adam Smith described what creates the Wealth

of Nations.

He described a limited government that

largely did not interfere with individuals

and their pursuit of happiness.

All that we are, all that we wish to be is

now threatened by the notion that you can

have something for nothing, that you can have

your cake and eat it too, that you can spend

a trillion dollars every year that you don’t

have.

I was elected to the Senate in 2010 by people

worried about our country, worried about our

kids and their future. I thought I knew how

bad it was in Washington. But it is worse

than I ever imagined.

Congress is debating the wrong things.

Every debate in Washington is about how much

to increase spending – a little or a lot.

About how much to increase taxes – a little

or a lot.

The President does a big “woe is me” over the

$1.2 trillion sequester that he endorsed and

signed into law. Some Republicans are joining

him. Few people understand that the sequester

doesn’t even cut any spending. It just slows

the rate of growth. Even with the sequester,

government will grow over $7 trillion over

the next decade.

Only in Washington could an increase of $7

trillion in spending over a decade be called

a cut.

So, what is the President’s answer? Over the

past four years he has added over $6 trillion

in new debt and may well do the same in a

second term. What solutions does he offer? He

takes entitlement reform off the table and

seeks to squeeze more money out of the

private sector.

He says he wants a balanced approach.

What the country really needs is a balanced

budget.

Washington acts in a way that your family

never could – they spend money they do not

have, they borrow from future generations,

and then they blame each other for never

fixing the problem.

Tonight I urge you to demand a new course.

Demand Washington change their ways, or be

sent home.

To begin with, we absolutely must pass a

Balanced Budget Amendment to the

Constitution!

The amendment must include strict tax and

spending limitations.

Liberals complain that the budget can’t be

balanced but if you cut just one penny from

each dollar we currently spend, the budget

would balance within six or seven years.

The Penny Plan has been crafted into a bill

that millions of conservatives across the

country support.

It is often said that there is not enough

bipartisanship up here.

That is not true.

In fact, there is plenty.

Both parties have been guilty of spending too

much, of protecting their sacred cows, of

backroom deals in which everyone up here

wins, but every taxpayer loses.

It is time for a new bipartisan consensus.

It is time Democrats admit that not every

dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred.

And it is time Republicans realize that

military spending is not immune to waste and

fraud.

Where would we cut spending; well, we could

start with ending all foreign aid to

countries that are burning our flag and

chanting death to America.

The President could begin by stopping the F-

16s and Abrams tanks being given to the

radical Islamic government of Egypt.

Not only should the sequester stand, many

pundits say the sequester really needs to be

at least $4 trillion to avoid another

downgrade of America’s credit rating.

Both parties will have to agree to cut, or we

will never fix our fiscal mess.

Bipartisanship is not what is missing in

Washington. Common sense is.

Trillion-dollar deficits hurt us all.

Printing more money to feed the never-ending

appetite for spending hurts us all.

We pay higher prices every time we go to the

supermarket or the gas pump. The value of the

dollar shrinks with each new day.

Contrary to what the President claims, big

government and debt are not a friend to the

poor and the elderly. Big-government debt

keeps the poor poor and saps the savings of

the elderly.

This massive expansion of the debt destroys

savings and steals the value of your wages.

Big government makes it more expensive to put

food on the table. Big government is not your

friend. The President offers you free stuff

but his policies keep you poor.

Under President Obama, the ranks of America’s

poor swelled to almost 1 in 6 people last

year, reaching a new high as long-term

unemployment left millions of Americans

struggling and out of work.

The cycle must be broken.

The willpower to do this will not come from

Congress. It must come from the American

people.

Next month, I will propose a five-year

balanced budget, a budget that last year was

endorsed by taxpayer groups across the

country for its boldness, and for actually

solving the problem.

I will work with anyone on either side of the

aisle who wants to cut spending.

But in recent years, there has been no one to

work with.

The President’s massive tax hikes and

spending increases have caused his budgets to

get ZERO votes in both houses of Congress.

Not a single Democrat voted for the

President’s budget!

But at least he tried.

Senate Democrats have not even produced a

budget in the time I have been in office, a

shameful display of incompetence that

illustrates their lack of seriousness.

This year, they say they will have a budget,

but after just recently imposing hundreds of

billions in new taxes, they now say they will

include more tax hikes in their budget.

We must stand firm. We must say NO to any

MORE tax hikes!

Only through lower taxes, less regulation and

more freedom will the economy begin to grow

again.

Our party is the party of growth, jobs and

prosperity, and we will boldly lead on these

issues.

Under the Obama economy, 12 million people

are out of work. During the President’s first

term 800,000 construction workers lost their

jobs and another 800,000 simply gave up on

looking for work.

With my five-year budget, millions of jobs

would be created by cutting the corporate

income tax in half, by creating a flat

personal income tax of 17%, and by cutting

the regulations that are strangling American

businesses.

The only stimulus ever proven to work is

leaving more money in the hands of those who

earned it!

For those who are struggling we want to you

to have something infinitely more valuable

than a free phone, we want you to have a job

and pathway to success.

We are the party that embraces hard work and

ingenuity, therefore we must be the party

that embraces the immigrant who wants to come

to America for a better future.

We must be the party who sees immigrants as

assets, not liabilities.

We must be the party that says, “If you want

to work, if you want to become an American,

we welcome you.”

For those striving to climb the ladder of

success we must fix our schools.

America’s educational system is leaving

behind anyone who starts with disadvantages.

We have cut classroom size in half and

tripled spending on education and still we

lag behind much of the world.

A great education needs to be available for

everyone, whether you live on country club

lane or in government housing.

This will only happen when we allow school

choice for everyone, rich or poor, white,

brown, or black.

Let the taxes you pay for education follow

each and every student to the school of your

choice.

Competition has made America the richest

nation in history. Competition can make our

educational system the envy of the world.

The status quo traps poor children in a

crumbling system of hopelessness.

When every child can, like the President’s

kids, go to the school of their choice, then

will the dreams of our children come true!

Washington could also use a good dose of

transparency, which is why we should fight

back against middle of the night deals that

end with massive bills no one has read.

We must continue to fight for legislation

that forces Congress to read the bills!

We must continue to object when Congress

sticks special interest riders on bills in

the dead of night!

And if Congress refuses to obey its own

rules, if Congress refuses to pass a budget,

if Congress refuses to read the bills, then I

say:

Sweep the place clean. Limit their terms and

send them home!

I have seen the inner sanctum of Congress and

believe me there is no monopoly on knowledge

there.

If they will not listen, if they will not

balance the budget, then we should limit

their terms.

We are the party that adheres to the

Constitution. We will not let the liberals

tread on the Second Amendment!

We will fight to defend the entire Bill of

Rights from the right to trial by jury to the

right to be free from unlawful searches.

We will stand up against excessive government

power wherever we see it.

We cannot and will not allow any President to

act as if he were a king.

We will not let any President use executive

orders to impinge on the Second Amendment.

We will not tolerate secret lists of American

citizens who can be killed without trial.

Montesquieu wrote that there can be no

liberty when the executive branch and the

legislative branch are combined. Separation

of powers is a bedrock principle of our

Constitution.

We took the President to court over his

unconstitutional recess appointments and won.

If necessary, we will take him to court again

if he attempts to legislate by executive

order.

Congress must reassert its authority as the

protector of these rights, and stand up for

them, no matter which party is in power.

Congress must stand as a check to the power

of the executive, and it must stand as it was

intended, as the voice of the people.

The people are crying out for change. They

are asking for us to hear their voices, to

fix our broken system, to right our economy

and to restore their liberty.

Let us tonight let them know that we hear

their voices. That we can and must work

together, that we can and must re-chart our

course toward a better future.

America has much greatness left in her. We

will begin to thrive again when we begin to

believe in ourselves again, when we regain

our respect for our founding documents, when

we balance our budget, when we understand

that capitalism and free markets and free

individuals are what creates our nation’s

prosperity.

Thank you and God Bless America.

[mimo_100]

I received this in my inbox today - what do you think?

The Last Three Times the Market Flashed This Signal Stocks Fell off a Cliff

http://www.insideinvestingdaily.com/articles/inside-investing-032513.html?sub=TD&o=954884&s=960392&u=44297096&l=553656&r=Milo

[Karel]

I received this in my inbox today - what do you think?

The Last Three Times the Market Flashed This Signal Stocks Fell off a Cliff


http://www.insideinvestingdaily.com/...=553656&r=Milo

"Past results are no guarantee of future performance" ?

Regards,

Karel

[njdevil]

How fast they grow up...

Scroll down to the high school division

http://capitals.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=87377

[billyjoe]

My last aunt on my mother's side passed away a month and a half ago age 94. We found some very interesting family records and letters.

In one, my Uncle Terrance (died 1920 age 12) is writing his grandmother in 1914 saying "I've got to go now, Margaret, keeps screaming that I have to sit in the corner. " Aunt Margaret was born in 1911. I remember her well.

Another document is the rejection of my Great Great Grandfather for citizenship in 1884. His application says he was born in Ireland in 1819 and disavows loyalty to the queen of the British Isles and Ireland. He could only sign his name with an X. That probably worked against him.

There is a bill for the funeral service of the same Great Great Grandfather in 1897. Candles $5.00, Coffin $60, box $3.00, 6 carriages $18, hearse $5. Total $91

The next year, 1898, a bill for Great Grandfather's funeral was $92.

Great Grandmother's funeral bill in 1938 was $360 but it included slippers at $7.50, sales tax, and hearse ride from Cleveland to Erie Pa.

The bill for Aunt Agnes, who just died, was $10,000 and there weren't 6 carriages, just a hearse and an SUV stopping traffic.

Also were letters in the 1880's from unknown relatives in Erie Pa. to Grandparents homesteading in Litchfield, Minnesota telling them to come back, they did after a couple years.

----------------billy

[riverbabe]

billy

Always said you have an interesting family. billy. Those were the days! When everybody kept all those papers...you never know when you'll have to ask for a refund! lol

[IIC]

My dad did a lot of searching over the years as far as ancestors...He was trying to get into the Sons Of The American Revolution and had to prove someone fought in it...He was successful except for one problem...they fought for the British.

Doug

[IIC]

If you have some time to kill and you missed Kitchen Nightmares here is the absolute worst restaurant ever...They actually shut down after the show and are planning on re-openeing on 5/21/13...You might also want to take a look at their Facebook page...It's a riot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XjgHEctcy0

https://www.facebook.com/amysbakingco?fref=ts


Doug

[billyjoe]

Doug, And I thought the lunch ladies at my elementary school were nasty! Hey kids, don't tell mom and dad but you can stash a lot of rotten cafeteria food in those cardboard milk cartons.

-----------------billy

[mimo_100]

Here is the opinion of Amateur Investors on the market.

http://www.amateur-investor.net/Weekend_Market_Analysis_June_1_2013.htm

[IIC]

Hello Verizon

http://is.gd/HelloVerizon

[Karel]

Springsteen? Yes, Springsteen

Yesterday, my Annemiek and I walked along the Goffert Park and watched the build of an extensive mobile open air stadium in progress. That is not really rare, but there was no sign of what and who. And not a sign in the papers, no billboards on the streets, no placards, no nothing. Even the Web was slow to divulge the secret. It appeared to be Bruce Springsteen on his Wrecking Ball tour.

For those interested, the concert does not seem to be sold out. But then again, it starts about now.

Regards,

Karel

[Karel]

OK, another Obama/PRISM joke

https://alpha.app.net/candle/post/6986588/photo/1

Obama is shaking hands with a bunch of kids,
when a girl says: "My dad says you can look in my computer."
Obama: "That is not your dad."

Regards,

Karel

[riverbabe]

HAPPY CANADA DAY!


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