Tuesday, July 23, 2013

New bill in the Senate

Illinois Senator Mark Kirk helping President Obama create new radical regulations on business owners?
Dear Philip,

Why is Illinois Senator Mark Kirk helping President Obama create new radical regulations on business owners?

Why would he support the government forcing employers to give preference to homosexual job candidates?

You see, right now a bill is before the U.S. Senate that would create a special class of citizen with government-mandated employment in all our businesses, churches, schools and daycares.

And Sen. Kirk voted to pass it out of Committee!

What I'm talking about is the so-called "Employment Non-Discrimination Act," (S. 815) -- better named the Gay Bill of Special Rights.

Instead of allowing an employer the freedom to judge applicants on their expertise, appearance and actions, the federal government wants you to play by new rules.

For years Senator Kirk has voted against the conservative principles he supposedly represents.

And now Obama and Sen. Kirk want to force employers to give special hiring treatment not only for homosexual applicants, but for applicants with "gender identification" issues as well.

Does this sound "conservative" to you?

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Boston terrorist formerly charged

BOSTON - Prosecutors formally charged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with the bombings at the Boston Marathon in a hearing held on Monday in his hospital room, accusing him of crimes that carry the possibility of the death penalty.The 19-year-old ethnic Chechen can be seen in video taken by security cameras placing a backpack near the finish line of the world-renowned race last Monday, the criminal complaint said, alleging he acted in concert with his older brother, who was killed during a shootout with police early Friday.

Child rescued from harbor

http://wfld.m0bl.net/r/1l7f0w #foxchicago

5 year old shot near 105th and state

A woman and a 5-year-old girl were seriously wounded in a shooting Friday night in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side.

The shooting happened about 7:40 p.m. in the 300 block of West 105th Street, according to Fire Media Affairs.

The 5-year-old girl was shot in the chest and the 50-year-old woman was shot in the leg. Both were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, fire media said.

At this time, the young girl remains in critical condition and the woman is in stable condition.

A third shooting took place at 101st and Union nearby. The fire department responded because they said a 23-year-old male had been shot in the abdomen. He was also brought to Christ in critical condition. The man was sitting on his porch when he was shot.

It is unknown if the shootings are related.

Area South detectives are investigating

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Chicago crys broke

Pension costs are already unraveling the state’s finances. Now it’s the city of Chicago’s turn. The city’s out-of-control pension liabilities and “accelerating budget pressures associated with those liabilities” has resulted in another credit downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service. The national credit rating agency downgraded the city’s nearly $8 billion in general obligation bonds to A3 from Aa3. This is a triple-notch downgrade. Chicago is now just four notches above junk-bond status — any further downgrades mean the city is likely to face problems borrowing money. The agency made good on its April 2013 promise to evaluate state and local pension plans on more realistic assumptions. At that time, Moody’s placed 29 local governments under review – including Chicago. The rating agency has long critiqued pension funds’ use of overly ambitious investment return targets that allow funds to understate their true pension shortfalls. Based on the new Moody’s methodology, which uses more conservative assumptions, Chicago’s 2012 pension shortfall jumps nearly 90%, to $36 billion from $19 billion.However, Chicago’s burgeoning liability is not the city’s only problem. The yearly bill to pay for those pensions is set to spike 2.5 times to $1.2 billion in 2015 from $467 million in 2014. The increase is due largely to a law that will require significantly higher pension contributions by the city beginning in 2015. These contributions will create a “tremendous strain” on the city’s operating budget, hurting the Chicagoans that most depend on core government services such as education, health care and public safety. Chicago’s crisis is no different from what the state is experiencing. Under new Moody’s methodology, the underfunding for the state’s five state-run funds is set to approach $200 billion.  Pensions are threatening to bring down both Chicago and the state as a whole. It’s time for Illinois to follow the lead of the private sector. That means moving away from defined benefit plans and embracing 401(k)-style plans going forward. Today, more than 80% of private sector workers are covered by defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. States have also begun to move in that direction. Michigan converted all new state workers to 401(k)-style plans in 1997. Alaska did the same in 2006. Even Democrat-controlled Rhode Island, with the nation's second-worst pension system, switched to defined contribution plans for existing workers in 2011.Illinois and Chicago must modernize their retirement systems by adopting defined contribution plans, such as the ones found in House Bill 3303 and Senate Bill 2026. Ted DabrowskiVice President of Policy

China the superpower of the U.S.A.

A majority of people across the globe believes China will eventually eclipse the United States as the world's leading economy, a new survey released on Thursday showed, although America is still widely seen as holding on to the top spot for now.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, perceptions of the economic power balance have changed, the report published by the Pew Research Center revealed. Some of America's closest allies now feel China is moving ahead.

(Read More: China ramps up Treasury purchases to record high)

"Throughout much of Europe, the prevailing view is that China will ultimately eclipse the U.S. as the leading superpower. And this is the majority or plurality view in five of the seven Latin American nations polled," said analysts led by founding director of the Pew Research Center, Andrew Kohut.

"This trend has been especially apparent among some of America's closest allies in Western Europe. Today, for example, 53 percent in Britain say China is the leading economy; just 33 percent name the U.S." said Kohut.

(Read More: Forget the Headlines: Chinese Buying Big in US)

Roughly 6 in 10 Germans also back the view that China occupies the top position, while only 19 percent think the U.S. is the global economic leader.

The Chinese are also confident of their ascent to global economic power, with two-thirds believing their country has already or someday will replace the U.S. as the world's superpower.

"Some 47 percent say China has or will replace the U.S., and 47 percent say this will never happen. American opinion has shifted significantly since 2008, when only 36 percent said China would become the top global power and 54 percent believed it would never replace the U.S," he said.

(Read More: Amid concerns about US and China, crude notches slim gains)

However, despite this shifting perception of power, America's image as a positive and liberty-respecting nation remains strong. Across the countries surveyed a median of 70 percent say the American government respects the personal freedoms of its people. In contrast, few believe the Chinese government respects the freedom of its citizens.

"One of the major challenges for China's global image is that few believe the Chinese government respects the personal freedoms of its people. In only 11 countries in the survey do at least half hold this view. In contrast, majorities or pluralities in 37 of 39 nations believe the American government respects the individual freedoms of its citizens," said Kohut.

Detriot time to cancel the Robocop program

UPDATED: Detroit has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, according to the Associated Press and Reuters, becoming the biggest U.S. city in history to do so.

The home of the nation's resurgent auto industry has as much as $20 billion in debts and liabilities, dwarfing previous city and county filings.

Earlier Thursday, the Detroit Free Press, the city's hometown paper, said the filing would set off a 30- to 90-day period "that will determine whether the city is eligible for Chapter 9 protection and define how many claimants might compete for the limited settlement resources that Detroit has to offer."

The Detroit Free Press said Gov. Rick Snyder would need to sign off on the deal. It said his office did not return phone calls immediately for comment.

Detriot filed bankruptcy

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/reports-detroit-files-bankruptcy-6C10678946

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Zimmerman found not guilty and the hood rats riot

Trayvon Martin protesters blocks freeway, streets; LAPD moves in

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JOE MOZINGO

Protesters at Crenshaw Boulevard and Coliseum Street chanted "Justice for Trayvon" late Sunday. Shortly after 9 p.m., police cleared out to cheers from the crowd, and about 40 people swarmed onto Crenshaw Boulevard to block traffic. Police immediately returned to the scene.BY ANDREW BLANKSTEIN,Joe Mozingo and Tom CurwenJuly 14, 2013, 11:45 p.m.The Los Angeles Police Department was trying to get a handle on pockets of protesters blocking traffic in the wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict Sunday night.Police patrol cars and motorcycle units were streaming into areas of Crenshaw Boulevard where some protesters standing in the streets, slowing traffic. TV footage showed demonstrators walking through traffic holding signs and placards.The LAPD called a citywide tactical alert after demonstrators protesting the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman case blocked traffic on the 10 Freeway in the Mid-City area Sunday evening.Officials said portions of the 10 were closed from 6:20 p.m. to 6:44 p.m. but have since reopened.Police emphasized that most of the protesters were peaceful. But there have been several splinter groups from the main protest that have been more aggressive, officials said.LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith said some demonstrators threw rocks and D-cell batteries at police near the corner of Washington Boulevard and 10th Avenue. Police responded by firing less-than-lethal rounds at the demonstrators.About 150 protesters remained late Sunday at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Coliseum Street, occasionally disrupting traffic. Dozens of police in riot gear stood nearby as demonstrators chanted “Justice for Trayvon!”Then shortly after 9 p.m., police cleared out to cheers from the crowd, and about 40 people swarmed onto Crenshaw Boulevard to block traffic. Police immediately returned to the scene.Police are also monitoring about 150 protesters who are marching north on Western Avenue into Hollywood. Another group was marching up La Brea Avenue beyond Melrose Street.So far only one arrest has been made.More than 200 protesters gathered in Leimert Park Sunday evening engaged police in a brief standoff. The protesters surrounded at least three patrol cars and repeatedly chanted “Trayvon Martin!” as the officers got out of their cars looking tense but not taking any action.About a dozen more officers in riot gear stood by about a block away. Some protesters chanted epithets at the officers.“I think they should just leave,” said one man. “No one asked them to be here. It’s a peaceful demonstration…The police are just going to provoke something by just being here.”After about 10 minutes, the demonstrators let the officers drive through the crowd. All of the police eventually left the scene and the demonstration continued peacefully.Demonstrators protestingTrayvon Martin's death amassed in New York City's Times Squareon Sunday night after marching about two miles from an earlier rally in Union Square.As tourists looked on, the protesters chanted: “What do we want?” “Justice!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” The demonstration was one of many in major U.S. cities Sunday after neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted Saturday night in the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Obama is no longer liked in other countries

Even with President Barack Obama fresh off a trip to Africa and headed in late summer for a trip to Russia, people outside the United States take a less favorable view of America than they did right after he became president. Surveys from different parts of the world show the initial goodwill toward the U.S. from the international community after Obama assumed office has waned and recent headlines point to some reasons why -- Revelations of U.S. international surveillance, the manhunt of information leaker Edward Snowden, drone strikes in foreign countries and the continued unrest in Syria have exposed the traditional fault lines of international relations.       The ebbing of world regard for the United States since 2009 was predicable given the extravagant expectations that people in some countries had of Obama when he was first elected. Right after Obama won in 2008, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in working to end apartheid, gushed, “It can't be true that Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, is the next president of the United States. But it is true, exhilaratingly true. An unbelievable turnaround.” He added, “The Bush administration has riled people everywhere. Its bully-boy attitude has sadly polarized our world. Against all this, the election of Barack Obama has turned America's image on its head.”