Budget Deal Passed - Here's How The GOP Voted

Well folks the Senate passed the bloated Budget Deal. What a shame. Here's a link that shows which GOP Senator voted yea or nay.

http://therightscoop.com/senate-approves-budget-deal-and-heres-how-they-voted/

GOP Debate Tonight

View from one of the lectern
 

Tonight at 8pm CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street” and “Squawk Alley,” Becky Quick, co-anchor of “Squawk Box” and Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood will moderate “Your Money, Your Vote: The Republican Presidential Debate”. 

The RNC sanctioned debate will be held at the Coors Events Center at the University of Colorado Boulder and broadcast live on CNBC.

Boehner-Obama Budget Deal Explained

Here's a link to a simple graph put together by the Daily Signal that explains the Boehner-Obama Budget Deal. Interpretation? Increased spending with no cuts till years later. The usual kick the can down the road scenario.

http://dailysignal.com/2015/10/27/the-boehner-obama-budget-deal-explained-in-one-chart/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tdsfacebook

Geert Wilders Speech: America, The Last Man Standing

If you have time, please take a few minutes to read this honest and enlightening speech made by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament and founder and leader of the Party for Freedom. It's about how Islam is taking over Europe and we could be next. This speech was made in New York in 2008. Can only imagine how much things have progressed since...

http://www.andrewbostom.org/2008/09/geert-wilders-wisdom-and-courage/

Please Note Correction

Accidently hit the publish key before making a correction to the first paragraph of my Benghazi entry. You can read the corrected version on the actual site.

Hilary On Trial ....

Watched a good portion of the Benghazi hearing yesterday where basically Hilary Clinton, former Secretary of State and current Presidential Candidate was put on trial for the deaths of 4 U.S. officials in Libya due to an attack by terrorists on 9/11/12 which could have been avoided.

She was also on trial for lying to the American public about that attack by saying it was due to a video, when in private she told her daughter, Egyptian Prime Minister and others that it was an Al Qaeda type terrorist attack.

Why did she tell her daughter and others one thing and the American public something different?

Apparently, some think it was upon direction from Ben Rhodes a White House staffer who gave Hilary talking points to say the attack was due to a video and nothing more. Why would the White House staffer want to deceive the American public? Why not tell them the truth as Hilary originally saw things?

Could it be that President Obama was running for re-election, had bragged about how he's kept America safe from terrorists and was afraid it might turn the tide against him come election day?

 Who the heck knows. It's the only reason I can come up with for deliberately deceiving the American people.

Though there were several Select Committee Members who grilled Secretary Clinton about all aspects of the issue, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio best nailed the essence of what happened. Take a listen. Lasts about 15 to 20 minutes.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rep-jim-jordan-goes-after-hillary-whered-the-false-narrative-start-it-started-with-you/#ooid=1ieWRjeDohHUSkl8n7aEN5bDJ3pUCgKz

Have yet to watch, listen to and read about the take on how the media think Hilary fared. But my bet is that main stream outlets ie ABC, NBC, CBS, NYT, WaPo, CNN and others will stay she did well. Came out looking presidential, etc. And no doubt the general public will believe it. Especially if they haven't really engaged on the topic.

In fact, a friend of mine who is a Democrat and watched a good portion of the hearing mentioned to me late yesterday afternoon, while the hearing was still going on,  that she thought Hilary was doing  extremely well. That the Republicans will be embarrassed about how they handled things. Since I hadn't watched much of the hearings at that point but was keeping up with it online when time allowed, I just said 'You think so?' and changed the subject. Had no intention of getting into an argument when I hadn't really sunk my teeth into the hearings at that point.

But now that I've watched almost the entire hearing (repeated on various cable news channels), read transcripts and had time to digest things, my bet is that anyone who has been following the Benghazi issue and paid attention to yesterday's hearing will come away thoroughly disgusted and frustrated.

Why? Cause it's plain to see that she is guilty as charged, but most likely will walk away from it all and  go on to be the Democrat nominee for president.

Here is another link from Breitbart which clearly outlines what happened at yesterday's trial:

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/10/22/hillary-clintons-5-biggest-lies-benghazi-testimony/

My heart goes out to the families of the 4 American's who were killed.

Juditial Watch Reports on Benghazi ...

This is an EXCELLENT report on what' happened and is happening in regards to the Benghazi issue, the White House, Hilary and why Obama wants Biden in the presidential race. Be sure to read the first comment by AlphaBitRipper in the section below the article. As I've said before, House of Cards has nothing on the Clinton/Obama teams...

http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-state-documents-show-quick-white-house-effort-to-link-benghazi-to-internet-video/

Guess Who's supporting Paul Ryan for Speaker ???

Harry Reid. Think that means we keep searching for a true conservative and not another RHINO.  How will we know we're on the right track selecting a new Speaker? When the Dems berate, slander or go into panic mode with a nominee ... Let the search continue. Please.

Attn: Mainers! Question #1 Coming Up Soon

Here is a copy of an OpEd piece written by House Rep. Robert Foley in The Journal Tribune in regards to Question #1 coming up on the ballot November 3rd in Maine. It's basically about Maine's election laws and the funding thereof.  Very informative. Thanks House Rep. Karen Gerrish for providing the link to the piece below!

"On Nov. 3, Maine voters, and taxpayers, will have several questions on the ballot that will affect how much more Maine’s taxpayers will have to shell out in the future. Two questions put forward by the Maine Legislature deal with bonding for specific projects, $85 million for transportation projects and $15 million for housing for low income seniors, totaling $100 million dollars. Question 1, put forward by a citizen’s petition, seeks to change Maine’s Election laws. While I am familiar with the bonding questions, I needed to study Question 1 more carefully and its impact on Maine taxpayers and our electoral process."

"Question 1 seeks to change Maine’s Election laws in three ways. First, it seeks to increase the amount “taxpayer-funded” candidates can receive from Maine’s taxpayers. Currently a “taxpayerfunded” candidate for the Maine House of Representatives receives approximately $5,000 while Senate candidates receive approximately $25,000, certainly enough to run a rigorous campaign here in Maine, as many of these candidates return unspent state dollars."

"Question 1 seeks to increase these amounts up to $17,500 for House and $65,000 for Senate candidates. This represents about a 300 percent increase. The proposal also raises the “taxpayer-funded” candidate for governor up to as much as $3 million dollars. When added up, this proposal could cost Maine taxpayers over $10 million of additional money per election cycle. In light of the tight budgets now facing the state, more taxpayer dollars for political candidates versus senior citizens and nursing homes doesn’t seem like a good choice to me."

"One of the stated goals of those supporting Question 1 is to get money out of politics. I don’t believe raising the amount of taxpayer contributions to candidates by 300 percent accomplishes that goal. If anything, there will be more flyers in your mailbox, more robo-calls to your home, more lawn signs along the roadway and more opportunity for misuse and abuse. Many of the reported penalties and fines issued by the Maine Ethics Commission in recent years have been for the mis-reporting and/or misuse of these taxpayer funds."

"The question also seeks to improve the disclosure of those who are paying for political ads, claiming that too much out-ofstate money is pouring into Maine elections. While this seems like a worthy goal, I started to research who was actually paying for the campaign in support of Question 1. While it wasn’t easy, I finally was able to find that the two major supporters, “Maine Citizens for Clean Elections BQC” and “Mainers for Accountable Elections,” are listed as the sponsors of their ads."

"Further research into their finances disclosed that they are financially supported by many out-of-state organizations and wealthy individuals like the George Soros Foundation from New York, the Proteus/Piper Fund from Amherst, Massachusetts, ($350,000), Sean Eldridge of Shokan, New York ($200,000), Every Voice from Washington, D.C. ($125,000), Common Cause, Washington, D.C. and the list goes on. Over $1.3 million has been raised so far with 80 percent from out-of-state groups in support of changing Maine’s Clean Election laws. The bill also calls for naming the top three donors contributing to a campaign but you won’t find any of these names on their ads. Who’s fooling who?"

"The third issue that this question attempts to address is an increase in penalties for those who violate Maine’s election laws. Again, while this seems noble enough, Maine’s Ethics Commission, which is statutorily in charge of Maine’s election procedures, has already proposed two of these changes to Maine’s election laws; the full disclosure of who is paying for political ads and an increase in the penalties against those who violate our laws. Two of the changes that Question 1’s 16-page statutory language provides are already being proposed by “our” Ethics Commission. Seems to me that Maine’s Ethics Commission is the organization who ought to be in charge of managing and changing our election laws, not these out-of-state groups whose interests in Maine election laws are unknown and undisclosed."

"I urge every Maine voter and taxpayer to study the questions on this November’s ballot carefully and make an informed decision. I am glad I took a harder look at Question 1 myself."

— State Rep. Robert “Bob” Foley, R-Wells, represents House District 7, which includes part of Wells.

Ted Cruz On Meet The Press

Here's a link to an in-depth interview with Ted Cruz (GOP candidate for president) on Meet The Press. Lasts 30 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQRiOa9A0rM

A Bit Of Humor

The Tonight Show with The Donald and Ben Carson in response to the Democrat Debate. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODlo1ifNwbI

Financial Crash Coming???

Interesting article by the Daily Signal and the Heritage Foundation...

http://dailysignal.com/2015/10/16/washingtons-set-the-stage-for-another-financial-crisis/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thffacebook

Millennials Are Coming Of Age

Informative and thought provoking dialogue from Rush Limbaugh on what defines economic success and economic depression in relation to the Millennial generation and the current day Baby Boomers. Worth the few minutes reading. Will really make you question the validity of statistics reported by government agencies and officials...

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/10/14/millennials_are_coming_of_age_in_a_depression_they_just_don_t_know_it

CNN Accused Of Deleting Facebook Posts

CNN, owned by Time Warner, a contributor to Hilary Clinton's campaign has been accused by Bernie Sanders supporters of deleting posts that were pro Bernie. They're also  accused of not reporting the Facebook polls where Bernie Sanders was declared the winner. Thus in the tank for Hilary.

Read on and be sure to at the least the first few comments that were screen shot before deleted by the tv network. 

http://mediaequalizer.com/brian-maloney/2015/10/fuming-bernie-supporters-why-is-cnn-deleting-our-comments

Debate Review: Dems Got Each Others' Backs

Watched last night's Democratic debate on CNN and boy was it a snoozer, though it had some interesting moments. Mostly between Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton.

One such moment was when Hilary was asked about the email issues. She then went on to explain that it's all about the partisan GOP effort to lower her poll numbers, etc. And that people do not want to talk about the email scandal. Nothing special there. But what followed was,  when Bernie Sanders chimes in and agrees with her. The crowd erupted with applause and Hilary thanked him!

In fact it seemed that all of the candidates agreed and decided the email scandal was not worth talking about.

Could it be the other candidates are running for cabinet positions should Hilary win the election? Or maybe they are afraid of retaliation? Or could it be that they honestly don't think the email scandal and Benghazi are worth chatting about?

One more interesting observation.  Hilary seemed to move further and further to the left on almost all positions. Guess she decided since Bernie's numbers were challenging hers, that may be the route to go.

O'Malley and Chafee looked and behaved like place holders and aren't even worth commenting on.

The only other candidate who had some different stances on topics was Jim Webb. And I have to say I actually agreed with him on some. But his delivery was poor and CNN did not give him much air time. He reminded me of what Democrats used to look like before Obama took over ie not so liberal, down to earth and open to reason and negotiation.

Bottom line.

Hilary did okay and managed to avoid talking about,  in any kind of detail, the two issues that could do her in ie the email scandal and Benghazi. Of course Anderson Cooper and her fellow candidates were a huge help. With no one willing to challenge her, she'll go on to live another day.

As for Bernie Sanders. He's a likeable guy and though I do not agree with him on one single issue, I give him points for honestly saying who he is and what he believes in. He's got the sincerity thing happening.

Who won? I guess you could say Hilary,  since she was able to walk away basically unscathed and looking - on the surface anyway,  more presidential than Bernie or the other candidates.

However, I don't think Sanders hurt himself either.

According to social media however,  Bernie had the most google searches during the debate with Hilary and Jim Webb following. Most Twitter posts? Bernie in first place with Hilary following. Drudge Report's informal poll declared Bernie in first place with Jim Webb in second. More results to come I'm sure as the day moves forward.

I guess the question now is, is whether Joe Biden will jump into the race and mix things up. I think he wants to. I think Obama wants him to also,  no matter how much he, Axelrod and others in the party claim they are supportive of Hilary. Rumor is, is that Biden's waiting to see what happens at the various Hilary hearings coming up and then he'll decide. Until then, Hilary keeps on dancing and so does Bernie. The rest of the candidates,  I believe are history.

News from the Maine Legislature

Here's a link to a wonderful report I receive on a regular basis via email from Representative Karen Gerrish about what's happening in the Maine Legislature. Worth the few minutes reading if interested in what's happening locally in politics in addition to the national scene.

http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=15e857594e69154952388a8cf&id=de0190d91b&e=12c629b595

Don't Forget To Watch The Democrats Debate Tonight!

Just a brief reminder that the Democratic Debate will be aired on CNN tonight at 8:30.  Anderson Cooper will moderate with questions by Dana Dash and Juan Carlos Lopez.

Candidates in the debate will be Hilary Clinton (former Sect'y of State), Bernie Sanders (Senator from VT), Martin O'Malley (former Governor of MD), Jim Webb (former VA Governor) and Lincoln Chafee (former Governor of RI).

If you don't have cable, you'll be able to watch via live streaming on CNN's website. Or you can listen on various radio stations.

An interesting side note.

Mr. Cooper is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative which has been under fire recently for questionable practices. Other journalists who have also been members are Greta Van Sustern of Fox News, Matt Lauer of NBC and Thomas Friedman of the NYT to name a few. The $20,000 membership fee was waved for all. Geez. I wonder why ...

Business Success Rankings No Longer Based on Hard Data

Below is a quote taken from an article written by the Financial Times, a UK media source.

"Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, has slipped from first to 87th in a ranking of the world’s best chief executives, after the technology company’s performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors was taken into account."

"Mr. Bezos would have led the Harvard Business Review ranking of best-performing corporate leaders judged on purely financial measures, as he did in 2014. But Adi Ignatius, the management journal’s editor, wrote that Amazon’s “relatively poor ESG score [dragged] Bezos down”.

This is the second time in recent months that I've read articles related to Jeff Bezos that were derogatory in some manner.

The first berated him for the tough and high standards he holds for employees written by who else, but the NYT, the left wing liberal publication. The piece clearly was meant to degrade the reputation of Mr. Bezos for whatever purposes.

In my opinion, if people don't like working at Amazon or any other company for that matter,  or feel they are not treated well (as depicted in the NYT article) then maybe they should walk away. In other words, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!

To me,  high expectations creates competition and competition in return creates excellence. If you can't compete,  do your best and become successful, then maybe it's not the job or career for you. It's how our country has thrived and has led in so many ways throughout our history.   We're innovative, ambitious, hard working and driven . But that's changing...

Anyway,  I digress. The real story is this.

Mr. Igatius, the Editor of Harvard Business Review deciding to change criteria for its rankings from fact and data based information to criteria that now includes social, environmental and governance engineering, is a method of subtly injecting a form of socialism into private industry. This cannot be good.

If you're interested in finding out more about the Harvard Business Review's criteria, below is the link. Also below is the link to the NYT's story mentioned.

https://hbr.org/2015/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0

Wow... Trey Gowdy Challenges the Media on Benghazi

This is powerful ...  Trey Gowdy, GOP Congressman and head of the House Benghazi Committee fires back at the media and the current powers that be about their lack of transparency in regards to  what really happened September 11, 2012 that claimed the lives of 4 American diplomats. Lasts about 3 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1jeJmeeMjs?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

Matt Drudge Interview

The voice behind the headlines. Fascinating interview with the man whose website has more influence over the media than almost any other venue. That includes NYT, WAPO, etc.

First few minutes is chitter chatter from Alex Jones of InfoWars who is doing the interview, but then it gets down to business. Well worth listening to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxbvYWKhX48

If time, check out my blog on Drudge from February 16, 2010 @

http://linekinlady.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Carly !

Attended former Senator Scott Brown's No B.S. Backyard BBQ Sunday at his home in Rye, NH where presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina was the guest speaker.

Hot dogs, no rolls, soft drinks, beer and chips were served. No doubt the idea was to keep things simple.

Fortunately it was a beautiful autumn day, so the yard and down along the street were jam packed with people and photographers. The turnout was great. Over 400 according to a Scott Brown tweet.

Arrived a little late so didn't hear her opening remarks, but what I did hear was articulate and to the point. Fiorina discussed ObamaCare, the border, the Middle East, etc. The usual topics. Then she took questions from the audience.

Afterward, Fiorina joined the crowd, shook hands, posed for pictures and chatted.

Overall, she was very impressive in person. Cool, calm, collected yet warm and friendly. And as I said previously, very articulate and to the point when discussing her positions on various topics.

If I had gotten the opportunity to chat with her, I would have suggested that a Fiorina/Rubio ticket would be awesome. But I never got the chance. However, a friend did and Carly's response was a smile. Hmmmmm....

Rubio's Take On Middle East

While sipping my morning tea and watching FoxNFriends, Marco Rubio, GOP presidential candidate appeared. There was a bit of lighthearted stuff first ie brief interview with his wife and how he proposed to her on Valentine's Day; video of him coaching one of his sons in football and the usual lighthearted banter.

Then they got to the serious stuff.

What I like most about Rubio is his ability to make the complicated, simple. I have been trying to follow the Syria/Russia/USA/Rebels/ISIS crisis for quite a while. However, with all the armchair generals, pundits and detailed info blasting out on a regular basis, my eyes would start to glaze over. Who were the good guys? Who were the bad guys? What are Putin's and Syrian president, Assad's true motives? Where do we stand? What the heck is really going on???

Within 5 minutes Marco Rubio summed it all up in a very succinct and articulate nutshell.

First. Putin's motivations are two fold ie to distract the public from what's happening in the Ukraine. Second, to get rid of U.S. backed rebels and keep Assad in power and thus increase Vlad's standing in the world as well as his own power. No one else has said it so well.

What about the U.S.? To try and stay the heck out of the mess but look like we're helping somewhat.

Could Rubio be over simplifying the situation? Maybe. But I don't think so.  He's extremely well read, is in the belly of the beast due to his membership on the Foreign Relations Committee and he can quote stats, strategy, names, places, etc. like no one else I've heard so far when speaking about the Middle East.

Whatever the case, I'm glad I caught him this morning. What a gift and ability he has to speak plainly to the American people in understandable ways without being condescending, patronizing or coming off as a know it all.  Just my response and two cents on the performance of one of my top, favorite presidential candidates.

Biden and Warren?

Wow. A Biden and Warren (the fake Indian) ticket for the presidency and vice presidency? I could see it. No doubt about it. Will it happen? Who knows. Read on:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/joe-biden-beau-2016-214459

Obama & Gun Control

Saw this coming. No details yet but I'm pretty sure I know what's coming ... Let's hope I'm wrong. Check out this brief article from Breitbart.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/05/white-house-obama-preparing-executive-actions-gun-control/