Just a timestamp to prevent future leaders from taking credit of an economic turnaround...

11 reasons Bernanke's recession lasts till 2011

Timing the next bull: Kick-start it in 2008? Or is it a long secular bear?

PAUL B. FARRELL of MarketWatch

Guns Save Lives

By John Stossel

Instead, gun advocates favor freedom, choice and self-responsibility. If someone wishes to be prepared to defend himself, he should be free to do so. No one has the right to deprive others of the means of effective self-defense, like a handgun.

EXXON MOBILE PROFITS

From Neal Boortz - http://boortz.com/nuze

Recap: In 2006 Exxon reported profits of $39.5 billion. Politicians went nuts. In 2007 those profits went to $40.6 billion. Politicians went nutsier.

The reason politicians can successfully demagogue these profits is that the vast majority .. and we're talking 95% and above .. of Americans couldn't tell you the difference between a profit and a profit margin if their flat screen TVs depended on it. Simply stated, profit is the total amount you make. Profit margin is how much you make on each dollar of sales. You would think that this would be taught in our government schools ... but if you did think that you would be wrong.

So ... what has been happening to Exxon's profit margin during these record profit years? Staying about the same, that's what; around 10%. The reason their profits have been increasing is because the price of crude oil has been going up ... bring gas prices up with them ... thus increasing the dollar amount of sales. Profit – up. Profit margins – 'bout the same.

By the way ... financial institutions and cosmetics companies have been enjoying higher margins... along with many other sectors of our economy.

Now .. the numbers that I presented yesterday. Pretty eye-opening. The research was posted on the Seeking Alpha website.

Over the past three years Exxon Mobile has paid an average of $27 billion a year in taxes to the Imperial Federal Government. This has amounted to about 41% of Exxon's taxable income. The last year for which complete numbers on who pays what taxes are available was 2004. In 2004 there were 130 million individual tax returns filed. If you take the bottom 50% of those tax returns – 65 million of them – and add up the total amount of taxes those households paid you come up with $27.4 billion. This means that one corporation, Exxon Mobile, pays as much in taxes to the federal government as do the bottom half of individual taxpayers. How's that for paying your fair share.

There's more. The Adjusted gross income for the bottom 50% of taxpayers comes out to about $922 billion. This means that these taxpayers are paying an effective tax rate of about 3% of their adjusted gross income. Exxon? Adjusted gross income of around $67.4 billion in 2006 ... for an effective tax rate of 41%.

Global Warming Related To Sun

This isn't really a shock to someone with a brain.

Dr. Baliunas' work with fellow Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
astronomer Willie Soon suggests global warming is more directly related to solar
variability than to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an
alternative view to what's been widely publicized in the mainstream media.

Boulder weighs 'impeach Bush'

Another reason to stay out of Boulder.

Boulder's elected leaders are expected to decide next week whether to draft and
vote on a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney.
For the past few weeks, activists have been showing up
at Boulder City Council meetings, carrying signs, handing out "impeach" pins and
asking City Council members to take up such a resolution. Similar measures have
passed in cities across the country, including Detroit and Telluride.

Iranian Nuclear Rewrite

Its sad that people are playing politics when it comes to Iran's nuclear program.

All this merely confirms what has long been obvious about Iran's intentions. No less importantly, his testimony underscores the extent to which the first NIE was at best a PR fiasco, at worst a revolt by intelligence analysts seeking to undermine current U.S. policy.

Boy wants to return to school as a girl

This is where liberalism gets us today...3rd grade boy wants to be a girl.
3rd grade boy wants to be a girl.
I don't think I'll interject my opinion on this one...

Boulder City Council may halt weekend building

Back to wealth envy...those evil rich people.

Kathryn Keller, who wrote an e-mail to Osborne asking for help, said the intense impacts from living next to a major construction project wouldn't be unbearable if neighbors had quiet and peaceful weekends to recuperate.
"Working those extra two days to fast-track this project to get it done for these rich people is what has pushed so many people in the neighborhood over the brink," she said.

Airport found legitimate in troop treatment

The Oakland International Airport did not break any laws or regulations when it denied 200 Marines and soldiers access to the passenger terminal during a layover last year from Iraq to the troops' home base in Hawaii, the Transportation Department says.
Calvin L. Scovell III, the department's inspector general, blamed the mix-up on security concerns and a communication failure between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department.
The contract to allow military layovers at the California airport "did not require that military personnel have access to the airport terminal; it only required that military personnel be allowed to deplane and stretch their legs on stops lasting over one hour," said a report released yesterday to House lawmakers who requested an investigation into the matter.
The Sept. 27 layover was the last stop for fuel and food, but the troops, who were returning from a tour in Iraq, were denied access to food and bathroom facilities.
A Marine reported the incident to Rep. John L. Mica, Florida Republican and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and said it "felt like being spit on."
Airport officials were concerned that the flight's ground staff could not provide "an adequate level of escort and control of such a large group of military personnel in or around the terminal area," the inspector's report said.
The report also said the Homeland Security and Defense departments have no coordinated policy to conduct security screenings or a communications process to allow the Marines and soldiers in passenger terminals.
The review also found "miscommunication about the proper storage and safeguarding of weapons carried on board aircraft during the layover" and that the airport "could not confirm that weapons [on the plane] would be secured and safeguarded in accordance with Department of Defense regulations and that the Marines and soldiers would leave their weapons on board."
An airport spokeswoman and a Defense Department spokesman said they received the report but were not prepared to comment until their respective officials had a chance to review the findings.

Calls for comment to the Transportation Security Administration were not returned.

The inspector general recommended the establishment of a task force with representatives from the Homeland, Defense and Transportation departments, along with representatives from the airlines and airports, to develop a uniform process for handling service members on all military chartered flights at U.S. commercial-service airports.

The lack of protocol for treating military personnel during transport is "no excuse for the poor treatment these brave men and women received in exchange for defending our freedoms," Mr. Mica said.

Mr. Mica said he and Rep. Tom Petri, Wisconsin Republican and ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation, will follow up on the inspector general's report.

"The shocking thing is that there is no protocol for handling our returning troops, and at Oakland they got a very rude welcome," Mr. Mica said. "We just need to get some regular order of the process so we don't have a recurrence of what we saw happen here."

U.S. Senator Wants to Revoke Funding From City of Berkeley, Calif., for Vote to Boot Marines

Another Great Post from Mark Costello

"This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families," DeMint said in a prepared statement. "The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money."

"If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer-funded handouts," he added.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327466,00.html