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Friday, November 19, 2010

School Lunch Ladies to Ensure Your Kids' Salad is Legal

FLOTUS Michelle Obama is planning to launch a campaign to put salad bars in schools.

While this might be a worthy goal, and despite the fact that we don't have the money (Whole Foods installed 564 school salad bars with $1.4 million in private donations; you can do the math),the oddest problem that would come from this program is that your salad would have to meet USDA requirements and the "lunch ladies" in school will have to examine your kids lunch to make sure it does.
But schools also are deterred by USDA regulations that require students to pass by a cash register or "point of sale" station after they have been to the salad bar to ensure that they have served themselves the correct portions of fruits and vegetables required under the federal lunch program. ...School menu planners must tell students the minimum amounts they must take from salad bars, cashiers "must be trained to judge accurately the quantities of self-service items," and point-of-sale registers "must be stationed after the salad bar."
How bizarre must that be? Sorry, Timmy; your salad looks lovely, but you need four tomatoes and I only see three. Too much dressing; remove that extra grated cheeses. And you have only 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... five leaves of lettuce. Come on. You got the memo. You need at least eight. I don't care if you don't like romaine! Think of the USDA!

And, I have my doubts that many "elementary school children" would spend much time at the salad bar. Heck, most of them probably can't even see what they are taking.
Concerns have been raised that elementary school children in particular might be prone to spread disease at salad bars because they are too short for the standard "sneeze guard" installed on most salad bars, or because they might use their hands instead of the serving utensils provided.

Ann Cooper (director of nutrition services in Boulder, Colo. schools), who would not comment on the pending White House announcement, has dismissed those concerns, saying, "As far as I’ve found out, there are no documented disease outbreaks from school salad bars. By and large, this is not a high risk area."

OK, then, you allow your kid in line after Ralphie. I'll keep packing my kids' lunches, thank you very much.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Obama Channels Joe Biden with Asian Reporter

Obama gets laughs in South Korea by asking for a Korean translator to interpret a Chinese reporter for him. Much hilarity ensued!

President Obama, at a press conference in South Korea, took the role of human gaffe-machine from Joe Biden, addressing a Chinese reporter as Korean.

In a priceless exchange, Obama specifically requested that a Korean reporter ask a question of him. After an uncomfortably long pause, where no one offered a question, a Chinese reporter raised his hand. Hilarity ensued:
OBAMA: I feel obliged to take maybe one question from the Korean press — since you guys have been such excellent hosts. Anybody? This gentleman right here — he’s got his hand up. He’s the only one who took me up on it. Go ahead. And I’ll probably need a translation, though, if you’re asking the question in Korean. In fact, I definitely will need a translation. (Laughter.)

REPORTER: Unfortunately, I hate to disappoint you, President Obama, I’m actually Chinese. (Laughter.)

This is far more entertaining in audio or video, especially the pregnant pause as Obama waited for a Korean hand to go up, and none did.

Now, not only are people not "interested in more photo-ops," they don't even want to ask this guy any questions. Where's the love, Barry?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Mystery Missle: The Result of a Computer Hack?

Does it strike anyone else as odd, that less than two weeks after a US Air Force base "lost control" of one-ninth of America’s nuclear arsenal, that we have a "mystery missile" launch in California.

This is sure speculation for the fun of speculating, but it struck me as an odd coincidence that was bolstered by the US military's complete lack of explanation.
Military officials are still unclear as to what caused the "mystery missile" contrail spotted off the Southern California coast last night

Military officials have spent all day trying to determine who or what may have been responsible for what seemed like a mysterious missile launch caught on tape.
They want us now to believe it was an airplane; but anyone who has seen airplanes take off has never seen one take off like that. And, the FAA claims there were no airplane flights in the area at the time.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it did not approve any commercial launches around the Los Angeles area on Monday.
Hmm. Now we have mysterious "fireballs" appearing in the skies over the Southeast US and New England in recent days.

Report from North Quincy MA south of Logan airport of a ball of fire with a comet-like trail moving slowly from Southeast to Northwest.

South of Logan Airport? Must have been been just an airplane.

Get your tinfoil hats and climb aboard the black helicopter and let's have some fun with irresponsible rumor-mongering!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Obama's Wrong Yet Again; Not Bringing Home Troops as Promised

When Obama discusses tax increases, cap-and-trade, and immigration "reform," think about how wrong he has been is on major policy proposals.

Remember, less than a year ago, after months of "contemplation," which some called stalling, President Obama assured us that he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan in July 2011?
The troop surge, he said, will "allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011."

“After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home,” he said flatly.
An assertion that he echoed as recently as last May.

Well, not so fast:
The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama's pledge that he'd begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy Newspapers. ...the administration hopes to introduce a timeline that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014,
What possibly could have happened in the last few months to make such a significant policy change? It seems they underestimated the gravity of the situtation on the ground.

The shift already has begun privately and came in part because U.S. officials realized that conditions in Afghanistan were unlikely to allow a speedy withdrawal.

"During our assessments, we looked at if we continue to move forward at this pace, how long before we can fully transition to the Afghans? Of course, we are not going to fully transition to the Afghans by July 2011," said one senior administration official. "Right now, we think we can start in 2011 and fully transition sometime in 2014."

That sounds eerily familiar.

Or, maybe there are other, more obvious reasons:

"In some ways, we think right now it is probably giving our enemy sustenance," (retiring General James Conway), the Marine Corps' commandant, said of the July 2011 deadline. "In fact we've intercepted communications that say, 'Hey, you know, we only need to hold out for so long.'"
Who could have seen that coming?

Whatever the reason for the sudden turn, the timetable for Afghanistan is yet another in a growing list of major policy positions that Obama simply screwed up.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I am just asking that you keep in mind Obama's track record of accurate assessment when you hear him glorify cap-and-trade, immigration reform, tax increases not hurting the economy, and so on.

Now aren't you glad you elected someone for president with no experience, based on a bumper sticker slogan?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Obama's $900 Billion "Incalculable Risk" with Your Money

Is Obama making a move that will make our salaries and savings more in line with those in China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Mexico?

On the day after the mid-term elections, the Obama administration is making a move that may well result in widespread inflation. Obama is intentionally devaluing the US dollar making the cash in your pocket, your bank account, your retirement plan, worth less.
(T)he Fed now will print money to buy as much as $900 billion in U.S. government bonds through June—an amount roughly equal to the government's total projected borrowing needs over that period.
In short, the United States is printing money to buy its own debt. When the government prints more money, the cash you have in your pocket, your savings in the bank, and investments in your retirement account are worth less. In effect, you will have less money if this plan works.
(I)t can be seen that by printing money say by twofold this will lead to a doubling of prices.
And doubling the amount of US dollars in circulation is exactly what Obama plans to do. You do the math as to how a doubling of consumer prices will affect you.

Many outside the Fed, and some inside, see the move as a 'Hail Mary' pass by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Why are they doing this?
(T)he Fed said it was acting to "promote a stronger pace of economic recovery" and to ensure that inflation, now running at around a 1% annual rate, moves toward the Fed's informal objective of 2%.
If the plan works, it may act to reduce unemployment by "(driving) down interest rates and (encouraging) more borrowing and growth, an effect exemplified by the Phillips Curve.

However, if it doesn't work, or doesn't work well enough, we will go through a period of inflation. When that happens, the dollar becomes worth less.
The dollar is in danger of losing 20 percent of its value over the next few years if the Federal Reserve continues unconventional monetary easing, Bill Gross, the manager of the world's largest mutual fund, said on Monday.
Which means, if you have a dollar in your pocket, it will actually be worth only 80 cents. Prices rise across the board, but your salary and savings do not necessarily follow.
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value.
As inflation increases, everything will cost more. Think about this when you go to the super market -- the prices of everything in your cart will cost you more, maybe much more, in the very near future. And it is being done intentionally.

Its been said of practically every major Obama policy, we have no idea if it will work, or how well.
Many outside the Fed, and some inside, see the move as a 'Hail Mary' pass by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
And all football fans know how poorly the Hail Mary pass succeeds.
It’s a desperate act,” says Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of the investment firm GMO. Grantham says it’s a clear message from the Fed to the rest of the world: “The U.S. doesn’t care if the dollar weakens.”
If it does work, we may go into a period of intentionally depressed salaries.
"To the extent that Chinese labor, Vietnamese labor, Brazilian labor, Mexican labor, wherever it is coming from that labor is outcompeting us and holding down our economy," Gross said. "One of the ways to get even, so to speak, or to get the balance, is to debase your currency faster than anybody else can."
Is Obama making a move that will make our labor costs more competitive with China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Mexico. Just what I want, to get paid in line with Mexican workers, don't you?

According to New Hampshire congressman Judd Gregg, one-time Secretary of Commerce appointee under Obama, talked of one consequence of continuing the Bush/Obama fiscal insanity:
"This nation is on a course where if we don’t do something about it, get federal situation, the fiscal policy [under control], we’re Greece. We’re a banana republic," said Gregg.
Now, I am no economics major, so I don't know exactly what this all means; but, it doesn't take a master chef to know that the meal in front of you doesn't smell right.

Besides, if this maneuver by Obama were such a good thing, then why did the administration wait until after the elections to announce the plan?