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President Obama yesterday signed an executive order to stop deporting children of illegal aliens opening the door for a massive wave of illegal immigration of pregnant women across our southern border in an effort to be given amnesty at some point because their children will have the right to stay in the U.S. Rather than focus on SECURING OUR BORDERS this President, for clearly political purposes, has decided to thumb his nose at our legislative system. This action is so blatantly political that it has all the earmarks of backfiring on him. What if the Republican House now puts together a bill based on Mark Rubio’s vision for handling illegal immigration with a provision similar to his executive order… How can the Democratic led Senate reject bringing it to a vote?
Republicans can turn this into a win for themselves – and with Sen. Marko Rubio (R), as a potential VP running mate, this tactic might just backfire on the President that would be King, Barrack Obama.
Some are wondering if this royal decree might not also apply to himself as many still question if in fact he was actually born in the U.S. Ok…a satirical title and idea? Sure we know, but why not play to the insanity emanating from Washington? It’s this year’s free three ring circus.
President Obama returned Friday to a trusted tactic — satisfying his political allies by not doing something.
Conservatives were angry when Janet Napolitano announced the administration would stop deporting certain undocumented immigrants but they should have seen it coming. On issue after issue – gay rights, drug enforcement, Internet gambling, school achievement standards – the administration has chosen to achieve its goals by a method best described as passive-aggressive…
… As of Friday, the federal government won’t deport undocumented immigrants under age 30 who came to the United States as children. It is a temporary, de facto implementation of a part of the stalled DREAM Act.
The result: a loud message to Hispanic voters to remember Obama in November.
On gay rights, too, the administration has asked agencies to do less. In February 2011 the Justice Department announced it would not defend DOMA against court challenges — an unusual step for the agency, which typically defends legal challenges to laws on the books. But the 1996 law, which bars the government from recognizing same-sex marriage, appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court via either the 9th or 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
In August, Obama’s DHS announced it would no longer deport the non-citizen spouses of gay Americans — a direct contradiction to DOMA as well.
The tactic has its start in the earliest days of the administration. In October 2009, the DOJ announced it would not prosecute medical marijuana users or suppliers in states where it’s legal, despite the state laws contradicting federal law. Federal law generally trumps state law in such matters.
Take this to the bank or don’t take this to the bank. There is no way that the German people will feel good about playing a major roll in supporting the entitlement society of Greece. Check out this article below. This could be the swan song for Merkel… In the short term this plan will probably gain traction. However I predict that in the long run, there will be a serious flash back in local German domestic politics as the folks in Germany are fed up with bailing out countries like Greece that were totally irresponsible with their entitlement centric domestic policies. A note for caution in the U.S.
People all over the world are finally getting fed up with bailing out people and countries that have made an art form of sucking off those who have been paying working hard and paying taxes and contributing for years to saving for their own personal future. Now, more and more central governments want to spread fiscal wealth to those who have sucked off the system rather than risk the loss of votes and civil unrest. There will be a price to pay… I say let them fail and force them start over without perpetuating the flawed concepts of domestic entitlements . Just like an individual who needs to declare bankruptcy because of their inability to balance their finances, Greece should follow suit. This too will pass… German people, like many in the U.S. are fed up with central governments making decisions that bleed their own people dry in support of incompetent and dysfunctional governments.
Germans hate the idea of covering the debts of the big spenders of Southern Europe, but the hottest new idea for sharing Europe’s debt burden comes from … Germany.
Surprising but true: Germany’s opposition parties have gotten Chancellor Angela Merkel to reconsider an idea floated last winter that involves joint European liability for nations’ sovereign debt.
The idea comes from the German Council of Economic Experts, also known as the “wise men.” It’s called the European Redemption Pact (PDF), which sounds a bit religious to the American ear but isn’t intended to be.
Since fresh thinking on the European debt crisis is badly needed, it’s worth taking a look at what the wise men advise. Here’s the plan in a nutshell:
The debt of the 17 countries belonging to the single-currency euro zone is split into two parts. The portion up to 60 percent of each nation’s gross domestic product stays on the books, unchanged.
The portion of nations’ debt exceeding 60 percent of GDP is transferred into something called the European Redemption Fund.
The 17 countries are still liable for the portion of their debt that’s transferred in the fund. They have 20 or 25 years to pay it off.
Legally, however, all 17 nations are jointly liable for the debt placed in the fund. This is a way for low-debt nations such as Germany to backstop high-debt nations like Greece, giving peace of mind to their creditors and lowering interest rates.
To make sure countries pay off their debt in the European Redemption Fund, some of their national tax revenue would be earmarked for repayments. They would also have to commit to fixing national finances to free up money for debt service.
Having gotten the rest of their debt down to 60 percent of GDP, countries wouldn’t be allowed to run it back up. There would be automatic “debt brakes,” as Germany and Switzerland already have.
The responsibility of Germany and other creditor nations is strictly limited to the amount of money that’s put into the redemption fund. That makes this plan different from “euro bonds,” which some countries are pushing. Euro bonds would be new bonds for which all the euro zone countries would be jointly liable. There would be no cap on the size of borrowing via euro bonds.
Volker Kauder, the floor leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, told reporters that the opposition agreed with the government that euro bonds “are not up for discussion.” He said the two sides will “exchange studies” on the debt-sharing proposal.
Befitting a plan originating in Germany, the proposal is not exactly generous. It’s hard to imagine how a country like Greece could immediately begin repaying the European Redemption Fund while keeping the debt remaining on its books at a mere 60 percent of GDP.
But at least it’s something. Establishing the principle of joint liability for debt could open the door to a more forgiving (read: realistic) plan in the future.
There’s a nice touch of human understanding in the wise men’s explanation of their own plan, stressing the twin requirements of “solidarity” and “accountability”:
“Proponents of solidarity are stunned that their Eurozone peers let them stand in the rain, even at the risk of their own peril, while proponents of accountability maintain that they have been disappointed by empty promises once too often. In order to de-escalate the situation a mechanism is needed that allows for combining these two principles.”
Correct. Now it’s just a matter of getting the solidarity/accountability ratio right.
Medal of Honor Winner… Dakota Meyer is trying to raise $1 M for the Marine Scholarship program to assist children of fallen and wounded Marines with College scholarship dollars…
Won’t you help him out ???
Book Review: Management By Process
Ever wonder what it was like working and managing at a leading edge high tech firms during the rise of the Silicon Valley in the 80s and 90s? Ever wonder what’s changed and why? If you are interested in the history of Silicon Valley, and the management theories and philosophies (both good and bad) that sprang from the very heart and soul of the information technology revolution, then you will like Managing By Process: A Silicon Valley Retrospective. It provides some very interesting insights written in an unusually stealthy essay by an insider, Scott Adams with over 30 years of business management experience at not one but two of the top Fortune 100 companies in Silicon Valley. Its instructive, informative and also pointedly sarcastic and critical of the management style that sprang from Silicon Valley during the past two decades. If you are a new manager or even a seasoned manager — whether you work for a large company or a small one — we recommend you take a look There is a free sample link here for Kindle readers and also at the bottom of the review article.
Reprinted with permission from BlogCritics:
Article first published as Book Review: Managing by Process: A Silicon Valley Retrospective by Scott Adams on Blogcritics.
Managing by Process: A Silicon Valley Retrospective, written by Scott Adams, a senior manager at two top Fortune 100 companies located in the hot-bed of the 1990s Silicon Valley technology explosion, provides an interesting and sometimes humorous retrospective on the changes in culture that took place in the heart of Silicon Valley over the past three decades. With over 30 years of experience managing in this once unique culture, Mr. Adams successfully traces back the evolution of the once employee-centric business culture which dominated the Silicon Valley corporate environment into a culture that now remains only in a handful of firms in the surrounding Bay Area. Why the change? Adams takes you on both an informative and entertaining journey to answer this very question… and provide some insight and lessons for managers seeking to change culture within their organizations today.
The reader is transported back 30 years to a healthier time where a set of five key employee-centric business process principles reigned supreme. These were the hallmark principles at several leading edge Silicon Valley firms during the dawn of the digital information revolution. The author traces the changes and factors which led up to the erosion of these very same principles over the course of the last two decades. Adams offers both seasoned and novice managers alike several worthwhile insights on the value of learning from the mistakes of the past in order to lay a solid foundation for the future.
Managing by Process is cleverly written and interlaced with a number of true stories and humorous anecdotes which illustrate the pros and cons of the paradoxical management theories and fads spawned in Silicon Valley during past several decades: MBO (Management by Objective), Team and Individual “Self Appraisals,” complex performance evaluations, ISO 9000 hysteria, Hoshin and other overly convoluted planning practices. The rise of outsourcing, “leadership training,” Six Sigma, TQM and the questionable liberal use of new age MBA consultants who at times redirected the course of major multinational organizations based solely on “theory” with little or no real world business management experience are just a few phenomena examined!
Original Article Located Here: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-managing-by-process-a/#ixzz1YXoojmQY
Biden: Impeach President for Unauthorized Attack
Vice President Joe Biden has a very clear idea of what should happen to a president who orders U.S. military forces to launch an attack on a foreign country without congressional authorization: impeachment.
With some voices saying President Barack Obama should face impeachment for attacking Moammar Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, a videotape has surfaced from the 2007 campaign trail showing Biden threatening to impeach President George W. Bush if he attacked Iran without the approval of Congress.
“I have written an extensive legal memorandum with the help of a group of legal scholars who are sort of a stable of people, the best-known constitutional scholars in America, because for 17 years I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” Biden said in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on “Hardball.”
“I asked them to put together [for] me a draft, which I’m now literally riding between towns editing, that I want to make clear and submit to the United States Senate pointing out the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran.
A Special Message from Citizens Against Government Waste
Dear ZZNR Reader:
You may have seen the powerful new TV ad “The Chinese Professor” that is viewing on networks like Fox News and major programs across the nation.
The Chinese Professor offers a chilling warning: “Great nations fail because they turn their backs on the principles that made them great.”
This harrowing ad takes place in Beijing in 2030 and provides a glimpse of the bleak future awaiting our country if we don’t act today.
America, thanks to Obama and his liberal friends in Washington, have been turning their back on our founding principles.
This incredible ad was created by Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s leading fiscal watchdog in Washington.
Like you, they are worried about Obama’s ballooning deficits, his tax-and-spend plans, his trillion dollar Obamacare program.
Spending money we don’t have, and borrowing from China to finance the spree, the Obama administration has hurled us down a path of self-destruction.
Like a loan-shark waiting in the wings, China lends willingly, knowing that when we are unable to pay our debts they will, essentially, own us.
The more indebted the U.S. becomes, the more powerful China grows!
We must change course, immediately!
Please watch this powerful TV ad — See It Here Now
We are on a terrifying path.
But it’s not too late.
The president and liberals in Washington may have abandoned the principles that have built the greatest nation in history, but we have not.
Please watch this ad.
Please share this ad with your friends and family.
And please donate to Citizens Against Government Waste so they can continue their national TV campaign showing this ad.
Join us in fighting back. Our future depends on it.
Please help us by Going Here Now
Thank you.
Citizens Against Government Waste
Watch the Chinese Professor Yourself:
Many people have become totally frustrated with the overhead and unnecessary complexity of Apple iTunes software. While iTunes does a good job connecting customers to the Apple iTunes Store, it is restricted in its ability to organize and manage music files on your PC which are not related to iTune store purchases! Like burned CDs and other downloaded music and videos from various other vendors and sources regardless of where the files came from.
We have written articles in the past assisting our readers that have had problems installing or uninstalling itunes. Over the course of this year several of our almost 3,000 subscribers have asked if we could do review or recommend a good alternative to iTunes that would do a much better job of moving any music file from their PC on to their iPod, iPhone, iPad and visa versa.
We did some research and found that MediaMonkey (MM) turns out to be the 3rd most popular media file manager software behind Apple’s iTunes (of course) and the stock pc Windows Media Player (no iPod support). The really cool thing we like about MM software as an alternative to iTunes and Windows Media Player is that it interfaces and syncs with iPods, iPhones, iPad and even the Android! AND… This is important…! They are also vendor neutral (not tied to Apple or anyone else) and are working to provide a media management solution for ALL smart devices over time independent of operating system and device manufacturer!
In our opinion this is clearly one of the better and more popular alternatives to iTunes out there. It allows you to sync music files with your iPhone, iPod or iPad and as we said even the Android. What’s also nice is that they have both a FREE VERSION and a GOLD VERSION you can download.
MediaMonkey
- Organize music and edit tags in your audio library with a powerful, intuitive interface.
- Automatically lookup and tag Album Art and other metadata.
- Manage 50,000+ files in your music collection without bogging down.
- Manage all genres of audio: Rock, Classical, Audiobooks, Comedy, Podcasts, etc.
- Play MP3s and other audio formats, and never again worry about varying volume.
- Record CDs and convert MP3s, M4A, OGG, FLAC and WMA files etc. into other formats.
- Create playlists and let Auto-DJ & Party Mode take care of your party.
- Sync iPhones, iPods, & MP3 players, converting & leveling tracks on-the-fly.
- Plus much more…
So… if you are looking for a very good alternative to iTunes, its certainly worth checking out MM’s free version and see first hand if it will do what you will need it to do…! Also at the same time, the gold version is also reasonably priced below $20 the last we checked which is not bad. Regardless, if you are fed up and frustrated with iTunes and you are looking for a very good alternative to iTunes which also syncs to your iPod, iPhone, iPad or Android you will want to at least check this product out and evaluate it.
Sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the day. This morning I received a very interesting eMail from a friend in Singapore containing some deep insight that applies to every government around the world…
The Four Cats
Four men were bragging about how smart their cats were:
The first man was an Engineer,
The second man was an Accountant,
The third man was a Chemist, and
The fourth man was a Government Employee.
To show off, the Engineer called his cat, “T-square, do your stuff.”
T-square pranced over to the desk, took out some paper and pen and promptly drew a circle, a square, and a triangle.
Everyone agreed that was pretty smart!
But the Accountant said his cat could do better. He called his cat and said, “Spreadsheet, do your stuff.”
Spreadsheet went out to the kitchen and returned with a dozen cookies. He divided them into 4 equal piles of 3 cookies.
Everyone agreed that was good!
But the Chemist said his cat could do better. He called his cat and said, “Measure, do your stuff.”
Measure got up, walked to the fridge, took out a quart of milk, got a 10 ounce glass from the cupboard and poured
Exactly 8 ounces without spilling a drop into the glass.
Everyone agreed that was pretty good!
Then the three men turned to the Government Employee and said, “What can your cat do?”
The Government Employee called his cat and said, “CoffeeBreak, do your stuff.”
CoffeeBreak jumped to his feet…….
Ate the cookies……..
Drank the milk…..
Sh*t on the paper…….
Screwed the other three cats……..
Claimed he injured his back while doing so.
Filed a grievance report for unsafe working conditions…….
Put in for Workers Compensation………………and
Went home for the rest of the day on sick leave…………
AND THAT, MY FRIEND IS WHY EVERYONE WANTS TO WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT!
…Thanks Dieter
