John Kerry - The 'Moveable Feast' of Idiocy

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You know, I haven't spent nearly enough time speaking about John Kerry.  Yes, John Forbes Kerry, current Secretary of State, Former Senator from Massachusetts (1985 - 2013) and, the singular reason why I personally have no Heinz products in my home.  
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Can we be honest with each other for a moment?  President Obama putting John Kerry into the National and International spotlight in front of cameras and microphones as Secretary of State is like giving a loaded handgun to a toddler and telling him to 'Have fun' outside - something's going to happen, and most likely it's NOT going to be good.
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I guess that I've purposely shied away from commenting on John Kerry for the same reason that I try not to stare at highway accidents.  I realize that there but for the Grace of God (and my whip-quick reflexes) I am NOT the bloodied guy being cut out of his wrecked car and pulled onto the awaiting stretcher.  John Kerry, in his eternally Botox-altered state IS our National 'accident waiting to happen'.  Simply toss JFK (John Forbes Kerry) into a Congressional Hearing, place him behind a placard with his name on it, fire up the microphone and voila' - Mr. Mustard did it in committee, for no apparent reason, with nothing more than the flapping of his gums.
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CASE IN POINT:  I found this little ditty from JFK's testimony yesterday regarding the Prime Minister of Israel's invitation from John Boehnor to speak to the Congress:  
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“The prime minister was profoundly forward-leaning and outspoken about the importance of invading Iraq under George W. Bush. We all know what happened with that decision,” Kerry said during a House hearing Wednesday.

Of course, Kerry voted for the war in Iraq in 2002 and said he was for the invasion during his presidential campaign against George W. Bush in 2004.     

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He also made comments in video clips I viewed this morning that literally had milk shooting out of my nose as I ate my Fiber One (it's the FIBERIEST!) cereal this morning.  The excerpts from his statements were hard to find because when I Liberal Progressive says 'really goofy stuff' very few people report on it.  You let a Conservative guy slip up once, and that stuff is 'wall to wall' on every media outlet you visit.   

Nonetheless, this is what JFK had to say yesterday:
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"Despite ISIL, despite the visible killings that you see and how horrific they are, we are actually living in a period of less daily threat to Americans and to people in the world than normally; less deaths, less violent deaths today, than through the last century."  -- JFK 02/25/2015 

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I guess that Kerry MIGHT be accurate in his 'Last 100 century' time frame in that when you consider that there have been TWO World Wars, numerous 'Joint Military Actions', and the wholesale extermination of MILLIONS of people courtesy of the Holocaust, yeah, maybe year 2014 was all in all, a pretty good year for those of us left alive to welcome in 2015.  But for the folks who 'lost their heads', were 'murdered in cold-blood', or perhaps even 'burned alive' for no other reason than they didn't groove on the teachings of Mohammed, the year pretty much sucked.
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And then, less than 24 hours later, the Director of Intelligence, James Clapper, offered his testimony on Capitol Hill.  
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HE, apparently, had not gotten the JFK memo of the day prior:  
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"Yes, this is the size of John Kerry's brain.  I know, I've seen it while it was out of his
body getting some work done..."

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"When the final accounting is done, 2014 will have been the most lethal year for global terrorism in the 45 years such data has been compiled," Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

And then...
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Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn , former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Fox News that Kerry is "out of touch with reality, he clearly is not listening to the entire U.S. intelligence community."

Clapper on Thursday said that in 2013, about 11,500 worldwide attacks killed about 22,000 people. But in the first nine months alone of 2014, he said, preliminary data from a University of Maryland research unit show nearly 13,000 attacks killed 31,000 people.

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So who to believe?  
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A guy like John Forbes Kerrywho believes that Global Climate Change is a more serious threat than Terrorism is?  Or do you believe some Intelligence Guy quoting facts (and actual 'sources') regarding the truth of the world which we find ourselves living in today?  Make no mistake, when it comes to John Kerry's grasp of the World and the issues facing US (the United States) and it (pretty much the rest of the world), the word 'Intelligence' is gleefully absent from the list of words typically used to describe his scope of knowledge on any subject.
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Tonight, as on most nights, somewhere in America...  A village yearns for the return of their idiot.  To this village I say, "Come, take your idiot back, he is of no more use to us here..."
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He has been measured, he has been weighed, and he has been found lacking by almost every measurement on the competence scale.  
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Take him home.  Please God, take him home.   
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If An Obama Administration Representative Doesn't Tell a Lie - Does He / She Ever Speak?

"Hey, did you hear that?"

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Yes, today's post is a variant of the "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?, thing."
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Robert (feel free to call him 'Bob', 'Bobby', or simply, 'Lyin Bob') McDonald was recently spotted on video speaking to a homeless veteran in Los Angeles, CA.  As the Secretary of Veteran Administration, there is nothing truly remarkable about this - after all, he SHOULD interface with Veterans, both 'homed' and 'homeless'.  Great job Bob, take a bow, you CARE. 
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Of course there's an itty bitty problem discovered in Bob's filmed conversation with the veteran.  Remarkably, Bob McDonald LIED to the veteran about his (McDonald's) military service.  Yes, it's true, the titular head of the Veteran's Administration LIED to a veteran about what HE did in the service.  
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Why?  How should I know - I'm in SALES, I learned years ago that when you lie to the people you are supposed to be helping, well, there's just no future in it.  For in the end, the truth will come out, leaving you looking like a stinky, greasy fly-covered paper bag of poop.  And no one, outside of this Administration, will want to have much at all to do with you.   
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But, as we have learned, LYING when you are representing the Obama Administration is more of a career-enhancer rather than a detriment.  So, what did Bob McDonald say which has gotten him into the spotlight?  Come on Bob, get that hand up and tell the story... 
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As reported on FoxNews.com (and the Huffington Post - so it MUST be true):
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Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Tuesday apologized for lying about serving in the special operations forces in a conversation with a homeless veteran that was caught on camera earlier this year.

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McDonald made the claim in January while he was in Los Angeles as part of the VA's effort to locate and house homeless veterans. During the tour, a homeless man told McDonald that he had served in the special operations forces.

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"Special forces? What years?" McDonald responded. "I was in special forces." The exchange was broadcast on "The CBS Evening News" Jan. 30. McDonald's misstatement was first reported by The Huffington Post.

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McDonald, the former chairman, president and CEO of the consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, was selected by President Barack Obama to replace Eric Shinseki, the retired Army general who resigned in disgrace last May following reports of widespread corruption and malfeasance within the VA.

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The White House said Monday evening that the Obama administration accepted McDonald's explanation.

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So don't worry your cute little tax-paying head about it, the Obama administration has accepted Bobby Mac's explanation, so he's pretty much 'good to go' as the head of the VA.   Shoot, I'll bet that he's good until HE decides that he wants to lie somewhere else, and get paid for it there, too.  I don't particularly care that he LIES in the private sector running a 'division' of P&G because if I don't like the guy, I can sell my stock in Proctor & Gamble.  In this situation, I can't exactly sell my citizenship to the United States, well, I can't do it 'legally' (although, with all this crazy talk of 'Immigration Reform' there'll be a whole lot of people getting their citizenship in case I decide to put my stock in another country).  
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All things considered, I do, however, care that you, me, and everyone we know, are paying him to LIE, and that outside of what I write today, that I have no say in the matter (and once the Internet is 'Neutralized', I'll have no say whatsoever).  
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But wait, there's MORE!!!  
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During Lyin' Bob's testimony to the House Veteran's Affairs Committee hearing earlier this month, he stated that he 'fired 600 employees' responsible for the VA 'wait time' scandal.  Wow, way to go Bobbie!!!  You rock - thanks for supporting our troops!
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And then, of course, I found an article online which shed a bit more light on what actually happened:
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As for the number of employees fired for wait time manipulation, the report that the VA provides to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on a weekly basis indicates that, as of February 5, “only 8 people have been fired for actions related to patient scheduling, record manipulation, appointment delays and/or patient deaths. The 8 are part of a total of only 69 proposed or completed disciplinary actions. The report VA provides the committee also includes an additional three senior executives who have been removed, although none of those cases had to do with wait times or patient scheduling,” the Congressional staffer continued. 

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Sitting in my PJ's this cold February morning I ponder the thought that I had last night when I began typing this...

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Have a nice day, stay warm, and if at all possible, don't get sick.  Remember when the President was pushing the Affordable Care Act and he told us that it would be as efficient and well-run as the Veterans Administration?  I do.  
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Like I said, don't get sick. 

Can You 'Moo' for Me?

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"When I'm calling you, Moo, moo, moo,
Will you Moo me too, moo, moo, moo..

Apologies to Slim Whitman

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No.  I'm not going to ask you to "Moo" as that would be embarrassing.  We must maintain some modicum of dignity, correct?
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Yes, we must.  
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However, if you are the Attorney General of the United States, feel free to check your dignity at the door...
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In an effort to do something (pretty much 'anything') to appear relevant, the Obama Administration is showing up in the most interesting places lately.  From the interview above which (was watched live by roughly 29 people), to President Obama's interview on some YouTube Channel by a woman with Green Lips, and then again yesterday in an interview on Vox.com.  
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This last video clip is my favorite as it features a sitting President (our very own 'Constitutional Scholar') saying that there's just too much free speech goin' on out there...
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Odd that the most powerful man in the world should feel that he's not getting his message out.  Do you want me to tell him, or do you?
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Go ahead, your call...
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Okay, I'll do it then:  
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"Dear President Obama, your message IS out.  But we're no longer listening." 
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There now, doesn't that feel better?
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Not that he's listening, of course.  He missed the whole 2014 Election 'thing'...

But he WON both his  last two elections.  You know, just in case you forgot, he'll remind you every chance he gets...

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Got Gas?

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I drove from Binghamton, NY yesterday afternoon to Asbury Park, NJ for a series of 'meetings' with miscellaneous corporate types and two days of intense (feel free to use the words, 'tedious' or 'boring' here) training.  And BONUS! they told us in advance that there will be homework after 'class'.  

Oh.  Yay.  Homework!  Super, groovy, cool...  Say it with me now, H-O-M-E-W-O-R-K.

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I fear that within the first paragraph of this post I have already gotten off the topic (if you've been here before, yeah, I know - you're not surprised.  This is NOT about my pending homework, but rather, it is about the thing I noticed while traveling from Point B (Binghamton) to Point A (Asbury) yesterday afternoon during our four-hour juggernaut through sleet, snow, and freezing rain.  
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The thing of it is that when I left Binghamton, NY we passed our local Kwik Fill Station which had a sign advertising gas for a mere $2.2999 per gallon (they add a bunch of .0999's so you know that you're NOT paying a full $2.30 per gallon - it's a marketing thing as that extra .0001 makes $2.2999 such a DEAL!).  When we finally arrived later than planned (a.k.a.: after 'getting lost' because the guy driving didn't know how to program the GPS in his new Maxima) in some town we didn't plan on visiting, gas there was, get ready for it...  
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$  1.9999 per gallon

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Huh, how could THIS be?  Gas in the economically-booming State of New Jersey is LESS than in my ecomically-distressed town of Binghamton, New York?  Whaaaaaaa the hhheeeeeeccccckkkkk?  

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And to add insult to injury, yes, the price of gasoline was also priced less than Binghamton's $2.2999 per gallon at EACH exit ramp on Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania as well.  

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What might account for the difference in the price of a gallon of gas between NY and NJ and PA?  

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Might it be delivery costs?

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Supply and demand differences from state to state?

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Oil companies LIKE some states better than others?

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Oppression of the poor by the evil oil barons?

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No.  None of the above.  So what's up with the gas price variances from state to state?

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You may already know this, but if you don't...  

Gasoline prices vary mostly due to...  

Your state's gasoline tax rate!

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Happily for me, I live in the NUMBER 1 State in the Nation!!!  (For gas taxes and um, most every other tax!) 

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According to this nifty chart I found online, this is how the three states break down with regard to Taxes on a gallon of gas:

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NY State  50.2 cents per gallon  #   1 tax rank

PA State  32.3 cents per gallon  # 15 tax rank

NJ State  14.5 cents per gallon  #  48 tax rank

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In addition to State Gas Tax there is ALSO federal tax on a gallon of gas.  Why?  To pay for the maintenance of our "Nation's crumbling transportation infrastructure." I keep hearing politicians speak about this one before they tell us that they "Need to increase Federal Gas Tax Rates".

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Factoring the cost of Federal Taxes into a gallon of gasoline means that a gallon of gas in the following states ADDS:

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NY Total Tax Per Gallon:  69.2 cents per gallon

PA State Tax Per Gallon:  51.4 cents per gallon

NJ State Tax Per Gallon:  32.9 cents per gallon   

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Running the numbers quickly through my calculator tells me that in NY State - the state and federal gas tax accounts for over 30% of the total purchase price of one gallon of gasoline.  With recent calls by Progressives and Moderate Republicans to increase the Federal Gasoline tax, I wonder 'why?'

When something costs more, people buy less of it. 

When, however, it becomes less expensive, people tend to purchase more of it.  Theoretically, then, by keeping the gas tax where it is with lower gas prices, people will drive MORE, generating more tax revenues. 
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And, as we've all heard DAILY over the past 6+ years, rising prices tend to impact the lower and middle-class more dramatically than those pesky One-Percenters (the richest Americans who already 'don't care enough to give their fair share'.)
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If you don't like the fact that roughly thirty-percent of your hard-earned wages goes to the state and federal government, you'll like the following factoid even less:
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With existing CAFE standards, we, the People, will be necessarily buying less fuel in the future so whatever highway taxation shortfalls we have today will only be exacerbated over the next ten years when the Feds are requiring the average vehicle in the US is required to get...
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54.5 MPG by 2025!  

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Excellent!!!

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Well, not really excellent, of course, because in order to 'spread the tax collections around', the Feds are looking to come up with other ways of generating highway usage revenue in ADDITION to raising taxes on gasoline / diesel fuel.

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How?  By Taxing the miles you drive, of course!  Is this a new idea?  No, it keeps coming up every few years, and similar to taxing cow flatulence, some lunatic in Congress grabs onto it runs with it as if it's a totally new 'thing'.  I guess it's hard to have original thoughts when you haven't changed your mind in years... 

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The underlying malignant issue, of course, is that there's really nothing new in Washington, just the recycling of bad ideas which have a longer life-cycle than Taylor Hicks' singing career following American Idol.  The challenge for us is to remember the really bad ideas of the past, and to remove the people who keep propagating them as new in the future.

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Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Taylor Hicks when he was on the show, it's just that he hasn't done much LATELY.  Kind of like our new Congress hasn't done much DIFFERENTLY lately than they've done over the past six to eight years. 
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Hey, maybe we can TAX all really bad ideas which come out of Washington, D.C.?  Well, if THEY want to tax Cow Flatulence, why shouldn't politicians foisting really 'stinky ideas' be forced to pay a penalty for insulting our intelligence and wasting time in Congress pursuing legislation which is NOT in the public interest?
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Works for me...
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