Monthly Archives: March 2013

Asteroid 2013 EC near earth today, March 4, 2013, Size of Russian meteor, Newly discovered at Mt. Lemmon Observatory in Arizona on March 2

Asteroid 2013 EC near earth today, March 4, 2013, Size of Russian meteor, Newly discovered at Mt. Lemmon Observatory in Arizona on March 2

“…and there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.”  … Luke 21:25

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;”… Revelation 8:8-9

“In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.”…Saint Malachy

From Universe Today March 3, 2013.

“Newly Found Asteroid to Pass Within Moon’s Orbit on March 4, 2013”

“A newly found asteroid will pass just inside the orbit of the Moon, with its closest approach on March 4, 2013 at 07:35 UTC. Named 2013 EC, the asteroid is about the size of the space rock that exploded over Russia two and a half weeks ago, somewhere between 10-17 meters wide (the Russian meteorite is estimated to be about 15 meters wide when it entered Earth’s atmosphere). 2013 EC was discovered by the Mt. Lemmon Observatory in Arizona on March 2. . There is no chance this asteroid will hit Earth.

2013 EC will come within 396,000 kilometers from Earth, (246,000 miles, or around 1.0 lunar distances, 0.0026 AU.

The Moon’s distance from the Earth varies between 363,104 km (225,622 miles) at perigee (closest) and 406,696 km (252,088 miles) at apogee (most distant point).

Gianluca Masi from the Virtual Telescope Project had a live view of the asteroid when it was about twice the distance of the Moon, and a replay of that webcast is available below.”

Newly Found Asteroid to Pass Within Moon’s Orbit on March 4, 2013

More from NASA:

UPCOMING CLOSE APPROACHES TO EARTH
AU = ~150 million kilometers
1 LD = Lunar Distance = ~384,000 kilometers

Object
Name
Close
Approach
Date
CA
Distance*
(AU)
CA
Distance*
(LD)
Estimated
Diameter**
H
(mag)
Relative
Velocity
(km/s)
(2013 EC)  2013-Mar-04 0.0025 1.0 6.9 m – 16 m 27.9 20.18

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/

Obama sequester lies reported by Washington Post, Obama false claim of Capitol janitors receiving pay cut, Obama gets 4 Pinocchios, Post receives 4 Murrows

Obama sequester lies reported by Washington Post, Obama false claim of Capitol janitors receiving pay cut, Obama gets 4 Pinocchios, Post receives 4 Murrows

“Starting tomorrow everybody here, all the folks who are cleaning the floors at the Capitol. Now that Congress has left, somebody’s going to be vacuuming and cleaning those floors and throwing out the garbage. They’re going to have less pay. The janitors, the security guards, they just got a pay cut, and they’ve got to figure out how to manage that. That’s real.”… Obama news conference, March 1, 2013

“dedicated his life as a newsman and as a public official to the unrelenting search for truth.”…Lyndon B. Johnson

“The function of the press is very high. It is almost Holy.
It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which
the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or
suppress the news is a breach of trust.”…. Louis D. Brandeis

Hats off to the Washington Post for reporting the truth about Obama sequester lies.

From the Washington Post March 1, 2013.
“Sequester spin: Obama’s false claim of Capitol janitors receiving ‘a pay cut’”

“This column has been updated with a new Pinocchio rating

This was a pretty evocative image the president offered at his news conference Friday on the sequester — janitors sweeping the empty halls of the Capitol, laboring at less pay.

When we first heard his remarks, we thought he was perhaps overstating matters. Even at federal agencies that have planned furloughs, none are expected to begin on Saturday; such actions are weeks away at many federal agencies. But that’s perhaps a minor rhetorical overreach.

But then our colleague Ed O’Keefe obtained the sequester plan released by the Architect for the Capitol, which employs Capitol Hill janitors on the House side. (The Sergeant at Arms employs the janitorial staff on the Senate side.) UPDATE: Obama’s remarks also prompted a warning from AOC officials that his comments were “not true.”

The Facts

We have embedded an image of the first AOC document below. Stephen T. Ayers, the  architect of the Capitol, listed a number of steps being taken to reduce expenses, including limiting new hiring and postponing repairs. This line jumped out at us: “We do not anticipate furloughs for AOC employees as a result of Sequestration.””

“(The White House officials’ aggressive pushback of this column ended after we sent a copy of this email to them.)

On the Senate side of the building, Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer said the cleaning technicians are his employees–not contract employees, except for setting up rooms for meetings and events.

“None of my employees will have their pay cut nor will they face furloughs assuming the cost saving strategies initiated months ago (hiring freeze, overtime reduction and delayed in equipment replacement etc.), in conjunction with a very aggressive early retirement program we began two weeks ago, reap the savings anticipated,” he said in an e-mail.

As for security guards at the Capitol, Gainer, who is chairman of the Capitol Hill Police Board, added:

“Our Centurions will face neither pay cuts nor furloughs; they are standing tall through sequestration and all. (We are saving $ by reducing overtime which is accomplished by closing doors of convenience, safety will not be compromised but health improved for visitors and staff by longer treks. )”

The Pinocchio Test

Obama’s remarks continue the administration’s pattern of overstating the potential impact of the sequester, which we have explored this week. But this error is particularly bad–and nerve-wracking to the janitors and security guards who were misled by the president’s comments.

We originally thought this was maybe a Two Pinocchio rating, but in light of the AOC memo and the confirmation that security guards will not face a pay cut, nothing in Obama’s statement came close to being correct.

Four Pinocchios”

Read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/sequester-spin-obamas-incorrect-claim-of-capitol-janitors-receiving-a-pay-cut/2013/03/01/3407535c-82a9-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_blog.html

In the spirit of Edward R. Murrow and his never ending search for the truth, I award the Washington Post 4 Murrows.

Murrows4

Obama lies March 2, 2013, Obama lies hypocrisy exposed in NC, John Hammer Rhino Times, Sequester Bob Woodward, Does Obama have any Chicago friends not in prison?

Obama lies March 2, 2013, Obama lies hypocrisy exposed in NC, John Hammer Rhino Times, Sequester Bob Woodward, Does Obama have any Chicago friends not in prison?

“If the Bush tax cuts were only for the wealthy, as the media has been telling us now for years, why, if the tax cuts are allowed to expire, is it going to be disastrous for the middle class? Tax cuts for the wealthy are not going to affect the middle class whether they expire or not. Is it possible that the media has been lying to us all this time and the Bush tax cuts were for the middle class as well as the wealthy? It seems like even the Democrats would have to admit that is the case, if they were honest.”…John Hammer, Rhino Times

“I believe I’m more pristine on Rezko than him.”…Rod Blagojevich

“There is enough corruption in Illinois so that all it takes is someone who is serious about finding it to uncover it. If a U.S. attorney is not finding corruption in Illinois, they’re not seriously looking for it.”…Northwestern Law Professor James Lindgren

 

In print in NC.

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times February 28, 2013.

“I can’t believe the level to which President Barack Hussein Obama has
sunk with this whole sequester mess. First of all it was his idea. He
can blame it on the Republicans all he wants but this was his idea.
Even noted liberal writer Bob Woodward has written that it was Obama’s
idea.”

“The federal government is on line to spend $3.8 trillion this year.
The sequester will limit the federal government to spending $3.715
trillion, so apparently the only thing in that entire budget that can
be cut are air traffic controllers, Transportation Security
Administration agents at airports, Border Patrol agents, education
funding and other services that directly affect people.

The truth is that nobody is really talking about cutting anything. For
one thing the federal government doesn’t have a budget. It has not had
one since the first year Obama took over as president. There is no
budget, so federal agencies just keep growing. All the sequester does
is cut back on the rate of growth a little bit.

Why should the federal government grow every year? If all the federal
services that were provided in 2012 were provided at exactly the same
level by employees being paid exactly the same amount of money would
that cause massive problems for the people of the country?

The sequester doesn’t even come close to doing that. It just calls for
across-the-board cuts that reach a level of $85 billion. Last year the
federal government spent over $2 billion providing cell phones to
people who could not afford them. I didn’t know that owning a cell
phone was an inalienable right like life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, but evidently it is important enough for the federal
government to spend $2 billion on Obama-phones. Of course, that was an
election year. The federal government might not have to spend quite as
much on Obama-phones since all those votes have been cast.

Imagine for just a moment if the sequester meant that the Air Force
One pilot would be furloughed and the Obamas could not fly anywhere
they wanted at any moment. Imagine if just one week a month the Obamas
couldn’t fly anywhere because they didn’t have a pilot.

Or what if the sequester caused Obama’s favorite golf course to be
closed on Sundays. Or isn’t it possible that with the sequester the
White House chef would be laid off?

In fact, it is somewhat amazing that the American people are going to
be so inconvenienced by the reduction in anticipated spending that
this sequester brings, but the president will not be inconvenienced at
all.

Imagine – according to Obama the federal government can’t survive on a
mere $3.715 trillion without making drastic cuts to services that many
Americans use.

In 2008, the last budget of the George Walker Bush administration
total federal spending was $2.9 trillion. Obama has increased spending
during his four years by nearly $1 trillion. If the federal government
went back to the 2008 budget that would cut almost $1 trillion from
the current spending pattern (as noted, there is no budget). But were
things really so bad in 2008? I remember flying in 2008 and there were
no long delays because of a lack of air traffic controllers. The
national parks were open, and children were being educated. So four
years ago Bush was able to run the country on $1 trillion less, but in
2013 Obama can’t run the country on $85 billion less?

If Obama wanted to he could cut $85 billion from projected federal
spending and no one would notice except for the overpaid, underworked
administrators who would be laid off. The federal workforce is a huge
pork barrel. You have employees who work really hard and do an
outstanding job, and you have entire departments who do nothing
useful. Obama doesn’t want to eliminate the entire departments who do
nothing useful because that would be evidence that the federal
government doesn’t need to raise taxes. He is going to do everything
in his power to make the reductions in projected spending as painful
as possible.

One report said that although Air Force One will not be touched by the
reduction in the rate of growth that the Air Force might stop
providing planes for congressional junkets.

It is extremely hard to write about the sequester without writing
about cuts, but in reality there are no cuts. Imagine a child who
really wants a pony for Christmas and begs and pleads for a pony for
months. Christmas morning comes and there is no pony. Now can that
child say that she lost a pony? Can she say that she had a pony and it
was taken away from her? Not according to most people. But if a
federal department is expecting an increase and that increase is
reduced that is considered a cut.

Only in government can someone get 10 percent more than the previous
year and call it a cut in spending.”

“Most people in the country don’t read Under the Hammer, and far too
many simply take what is presented in the mainstream media as fact. It
is a sad day for journalism but, just like ABC editing Michelle
Obama’s comments, the reporting on the Obama administration is as much
fantasy as fact.

Even Bob Woodward felt the need to step up and remind primarily
reporters that Obama was the one who came up with sequester idea and
supported it.”

“Jackson was co-chairman of the Obama presidential campaign in 2008,
but if you are reading articles about Jackson going to prison you
don’t often see that job mentioned or any reference to what a close
relationship Jackson and Obama had at one time.

Jackson’s sister and Michelle Obama were good friends when they were
growing up. Jesse Jackson Sr. has said Michelle was over at his house
all the time as a teenager.

Does Barack Obama have any friends left in Chicago who aren’t in
prison? Obama’s close friend Tony Rezko, who was kind enough to help
Obama buy his house in Chicago, is in jail for fraud. Former Gov. Rod
Blagojevich is also in prison. Obama claimed credit for getting
Blagojevich elected governor. He used to say that he ran the campaign.
However, now Blagojevich is just some guy from Chicago that Obama may
have bumped into a few times.

Really, you look at Obama’s friends and you have to wonder what kind
of man we have elected as president. One of his best buddies is Bill
Ayers, who is an unrepentant domestic terrorist. Ayers participated in
bombings in that killed people and got off on a technicality. Back
when Ayers was running from the law, I’m sure he had no idea that one
day he’d be a good friend with the president of the United States.

Consider also that Obama’s brother, George Obama, lives in abject
poverty in Kenya. George Obama lives in a hovel made of old pieces of
metal and cardboard. In an interview he said he lived on $1 a month.
His brother is the most powerful man in the world and privately worth
millions of dollars, yet Barack Obama won’t send his brother George
$10 a year to double his income. It’s frightening to think of what
kind of man is running the country.”

Well worth reading more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2013-02-27-214943.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

European record unemployment, 11.9 percent in 17 nation euro zone, Spain 26.2 percent, January 2013, Euro zone forecast to shrink 0.3 percent

European record unemployment, 11.9 percent in 17 nation euro zone, Spain 26.2 percent, January 2013, Euro zone forecast to shrink 0.3 percent

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,”…Barack Obama May 2008

 “…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

 

From the NY Times March 1, 2013.

“Euro Zone Unemployment Rises to Record”

“The unemployment rate in the euro zone edged up in January to a new record, official data showed Friday, as the ailing European economy continued to weigh on the job market.

That, and new data showing a decline in inflation in the euro zone, could prompt the European Central Bank to take steps to stimulate the economy when its Governing Council meets this week, analysts said.

Unemployment in the 17-nation euro zone climbed to 11.9 percent in January from 11.8 percent the previous month, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

For the 27 nations of the Union, the jobless rate in January stood at 10.8 percent, up from 10.7 percent in December. All of the figures were seasonally adjusted.

A separate Eurostat report showed price pressures easing in February. In the euro zone, the annual inflation rate came in at 1.8 percent, down from 2 percent in January and below the European Central Bank’s 2 percent target.

The jobless data “suggest that wage growth is set to weaken from already low rates” and further depress consumer spending, which has already been damped by government austerity measures, Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Economics in London, wrote in a research note.”

“In absolute terms, Eurostat estimated Friday that 19 million people in the euro zone and more than 26 million people in the overall Union were unemployed.

Spain’s unemployment rate in January was 26.2 percent, and Portugal’s was 17.6 percent. Austria, at just 4.9 percent, had the lowest rate, followed by Germany and Luxembourg, both of which had 5.3 percent unemployed.

Greece’s unemployment rate in November, the latest month for which Eurostat has figures for the country, was 27 percent.

France, with the second-largest euro zone economy, after Germany’s, had a 10.6 percent jobless rate in January. In Britain, not a euro member, the jobless rate stood at 7.7 percent.”

Read more:

Do not be fooled by the Obama controlled media reports. With the millions of people dropping out of the US labor force, unemployment here is much closer to that of the Euro zone.

Sequestration begins, March 1, 2013, Congress fails to reach agreement, More Obama failure and blame, $85 billion spending sequesters

Sequestration begins, March 1, 2013, Congress fails to reach agreement, More Obama failure and blame, $85 billion spending sequesters

“Because I’m capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it — whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”…Barack Obama 

“What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending – that’s the whole point! Seriously.”…Barack Obama

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

 

More Obama spending failures and blaming others.

From the Washington Times March 1, 2013.

“Sequestration process begins: Congress fails to reach agreement on budget fixes before deadline”

“The federal government careened into the $85 billion spending sequesters Friday, embracing some of the biggest budget cuts in American history — though it will take weeks for most of the pain to be felt.

Most lawmakers said they had hoped to avoid the across-the-board cuts but couldn’t come to a consensus on how to do so. Senators defeated two last-ditch efforts Thursday and then House members skipped town for the weekend, leaving it to President Obama to begin carrying out the cuts, which he said he would do just before midnight.

He has scheduled a Friday morning meeting with congressional leaders to talk about the situation, but no action is expected.
In the short term, the White House has directed federal agencies to curtail travel, cancel any bonuses they aren’t legally obligated to pay, and begin writing plans for how to furlough employees.

Those furlough notices will go out in coming weeks, and federal contractors and state and local governments will have to adjust to lower federal funding.
It’s pain that few in Washington wanted. But lawmakers were unable to settle on a more palatable alternative, making the sequesters, in effect, a bad idea whose time has come.”

“Mr. Obama chastised senators for failing.

“Instead of closing a single tax loophole that benefits the well-off and well-connected, they chose to cut vital services for children, seniors, our men and women in uniform and their families,” he said. “They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class.””

“Some of the pain the administration has warned about may not be true.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaking in the White House briefing room this week, pointed to a school district in West Virginia that he said was laying off teachers because of the sequester. But school officials there said it had nothing to do with the sequester.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/28/sequester-imminent-after-senate-fails-act/