It’s Tuesday, January 29th, 2013….but before we begin, consider the following photo a perfect representation of the future America faces:

We’re the boat; any question who’s represented by the looming storm….

….of Biblical proportions?

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, another installment of the Paul Harvey Memorial “The REST of the Story” segment, and this just in from the Badger State:

Wis. Sheriff Tells Residents to Learn How to Use a Gun: 911 is No Longer Your Best Option

Now….the REST of the story:

“With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option,” Clarke intones.

Understand what the good Sheriff is saying; if only Governor Walker would allow Wisconsin to go back into debt, I could put more deputies on the street….and you wouldn’t have to protect yourselves from violent criminals.

Yeah….

More law enforcement or not, the choice is the same; to borrow a phrase from the shifty Sheriff, you can either, “….beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back.”

Remember, the forces of law and order rarely (if ever) prevent crime….

….they only clean up the mess after the fact.

Since we’re on the subject of thinly-veiled Progressive prevarication, it’s the premier of our “I Love Guns!” segment, courtesy of B. Hussein Obamao, the lyingest Liberal ever to wreck a republic:

Obama suggests Republicans unwilling to compromise in gun control debate

President Obama is suggesting that House Republicans on the issue of gun control appear neither willing to work with him nor inclined to listen to the American public on the issue. “The House Republican majority is made up mostly of members who are in sharply gerrymandered districts that are very safely Republican (Unlike those sharply gerrymandered districts which are securely Socialist….er,….Dimocratic.) and may not feel compelled to pay attention to broad-based public opinion, because what they’re really concerned about is the opinions of their specific Republican constituencies,” the president said in an interview with The New Republic.

Obama also said he can get 50 percent of public support for many of his upcoming initiatives, but “I can’t get enough votes out of the House of Representatives to actually get something passed. (Likely because the House GOP is representing the OTHER 50% that OPPOSE him.) I think there is still shock on the part of some in the party that I won re-election.” (For once we agree with him!)

The president said he has a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that date back for generations. He said that moving forward on the topic means understanding that the realities of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. He said it’s understandable that people are protective of their family traditions when it comes to hunting so “gun-control advocates also need to do “a little more listening than they do sometimes” in the debate.

Notice his embrace of the 2nd Amendment only extends to hunting and sports shooting.

Consider the inherent flaw in The Obamao’s logic.  Liberals argue a law-abiding citizen’s individual right to bear arms, having been based on the need for a militia, is invalid given the advent of the National Guard.

So….if 18th-century Americans shot game not for sport, but almost exclusively for food, why would 21st-century hunting, which is rarely, if ever, required to put food on the table, justify an individual’s right to bear arms?  And sports shooting such as skeet, trap and sporting clays didn’t even exist in the time of the Founding Fathers.

Yet The Obamao suggests these constitute the thought behind the Framer’s inclusion of the 2nd Amendment?!?

For more The Obamao’s sudden fascination with firearms, we turn to the latest installment of Hope n’ Change:

Word on the Skeet

Seeking to dispel the notion that he’s some sort of effete gun-hating pansy ass, Barack Obama revealed in a hard-hitting interview that he has actually held a gun when shooting skeet at Camp David. No, really! “We do skeet shooting all the time,” bragged Mr. Obama, making a show of scratching his alleged testicles. “Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there.” And if you can’t trust the manliness of a guy who throws down words like “oftentimes,” you’re clearly a racist.

….the Bitter Clingers, i.e., the generally law-abiding segment of the population, ain’t the problem!

Next up, courtesy of Townhall.com, Leah Barkoukis offers proof positive Liberals are about anything BUT the children:

Gov. Cuomo Pushing ‘Health Bill’ For Late-Term Abortions

….from the ones we allowed to live.

Signing the most comprehensive gun laws in the nation apparently wasn’t enough for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. According to LifeNews.com, he’s now pushing the most sweeping abortion legislation in the country, too. The so-called Reproductive health bill would make drastic changes to New York’s current abortion policy, permitting unlimited late-term abortion on demand and allowing non-physicians to perform abortions, for example. The Catholic Center outlines the extreme elements in the bill:

• The bill would permit unlimited late-term abortion on demand. Current state law says abortions are legal in New York through 24 weeks of pregnancy (Article 125 Penal Law), but outlawed after that unless they are necessary to save a woman’s life.  This bill would repeal that law and insert a “health” exception, broadly interpreted by the courts to include age, economic, social and emotional factors. It is an exception that will allow more third-trimester abortions in New York State, a policy which the public strongly disapproves.  This ignores the state’s legitimate interest in protecting the lives of fully formed children in the womb, and ignores the will of a majority of New Yorkers who oppose late-term abortion.

• The bill would endanger the lives of women by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions. While current law states that only a “duly licensed physician” may perform an abortion, this bill would allow any “licensed health care practitioner” to perform the procedure prior to viability. This dangerous and extreme change clearly puts women’s health at risk, and mirrors a national abortion strategy to permit non-doctors to perform abortions due to the declining number of physicians willing to do so.

• The bill would preclude any future reasonable regulations of abortion. It would establish a “fundamental right of privacy” within New York State law, encompassing the right “to terminate a pregnancy,” even though the Supreme Court has rejected, numerous times, classifying abortion as a “fundamental right.”  Therefore, it is impossible to say that this legislation simply “codifies Roe vs. Wade” in New York law.  It goes well beyond Roe. The Court has said that states may regulate abortion, as long as those regulations do not place an “undue burden” on the right to an abortion. This bill says that abortion is fundamental and thus untouchable – no regulations on abortion, ever. No parental notification for minors’ abortions, no limits on taxpayer funding of abortion, no limits on late-term abortions, no informed consent for pregnant women seeking abortion. None of the commonsense regulations enacted by the vast majority of states and supported by large majorities of the public would be allowed in New York.

• The bill endangers the religious liberty of Catholic hospitals and other institutions. While the bill contains limited conscience protection, that protection is ambiguous and inadequate and is extended only to individual health providers who do not wish to “provide” abortions (protection that is already guaranteed by Civil Rights law.) What is not provided in the bill are protections for institutional providers, such as religious hospitals and other agencies that do not wish to be involved with abortion. The bill declares that “the state shall not discriminate” against the exercise of the fundamental right to abortion in the “provision of benefits, facilities, services or information.”  In other words, it would permit state regulators, such as the State Health Department or State Insurance Department, to require support for abortion from any agency or institution licensed or funded by the state.

• The bill could be used to undermine the state’s maternity programs.  In a similar way, these beneficial programs, which are working well to reduce infant mortality, could be ruled “discriminatory” for favoring childbirth over abortion, and be denied state benefits if this bill were to become law.

Sin is sin, and all have come short of the glory of God….but 54-million-plus….and counting….is a bill we’re glad we won’t have to foot when it comes due.

Speaking of bills coming due, it’s the subject of this next item forwarded by Balls Cotton:

Illinois Credit Rating Lowered By S&P, Agency Blames State’s Pension Crisis

It’s like Greece….but with a bunch of Jews, Pollocks, Micks and….other ethnic minorities!

Illinois’ already disastrous financial situation worsened Friday as another credit rating agency downgraded its rating to the worst of any state in the country, blaming lawmakers’ ongoing failure to resolve a multibillion-dollar pension crisis. Standard & Poor’s rating service said Friday that the rating on the state’s general obligation bonds was downgraded to A- from A. The agency also gave an A- rating to $500 million in general obligation bonds that the state plans to release next week. The agency says the outlook is negative, an indication it could take the unusual step of further downgrading the state if conditions don’t improve.

The downgrade is just the latest warning from the New York bond houses about the state’s ongoing credit deterioration. It means taxpayers will likely pay a higher interest when the state issues bonds, or borrows money, for big items such as construction projects.

This can’t end well….for me!

Speaking at a press conference on an unrelated topic Friday, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said “the pressure is higher than ever” for lawmakers to pass pension reform – something they failed to do during a special legislative session last year and in a lame duck session that ended earlier this month, despite urgent pleas from Quinn and other leaders. “We’ve got to put our seatbelts on here and understand the rating agencies won’t give us better marks until the legislature passes Senate Bill 1 and gets the job done,” Quinn said, referring to a recently proposed pension reform bill. “That’s really the message the credit rating agencies are screaming at the top of their voice. I’ve heard it, and I think the members of the legislature need to hear it as well.”

Illinois has a $96 billion unfunded liability in its five state-employee pension funds, due to decades of shorting or skipping its pension payments. To catch up, the state must allocate nearly one-third of its general revenue annually to pensions, putting a squeeze on money for services such as education and health care.

For more things that can’t end well, here’s a related item, courtesy of Gillian Ward and NBC News:

Buying your own health insurance will never be the same

What, ME or my family worry?!?

This fall, new insurance markets called exchanges will open in each state, marking the long-awaited and much-debated debut of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The goal is quality coverage for millions of uninsured people in the United States. What the reality will look like is anybody’s guess — from bureaucracy, confusion and indifference to seamless service and satisfied customers.

Exchanges will offer individuals and their families a choice of private health plans resembling what workers at major companies already get. The federal government will help many middle-class households pay their premiums, while low-income people will be referred to safety-net programs they might qualify for.

Most people will go online to pick a plan when open enrollment starts Oct. 1. Counselors will be available at call centers and in local communities, too. Some areas will get a storefront operation or kiosks at the mall. Translation to Spanish and other languages spoken by immigrants will be provided.

When you pick a plan, you’ll no longer have to worry about getting turned down or charged more because of a medical problem. If you’re a woman, you can’t be charged a higher premium because of gender. Middle-aged people and those nearing retirement will get a price break: They can’t be charged more than three times what younger customers pay, compared with six times or seven times today for most private plans.

If all this sounds too good to be true, remember that nothing in life is free and change isn’t easy.

So, in other words, at least according to NBC News, if the end result of change Liberals forced down America’s collective throat is worse than what we had to begin with, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

At least, under almost any circumstance, one can still eat the omelette.

Moving from the highly-probable to the indisputably-settled, the WSJ reports yet another example of Team Tick-Tock’s absolute disregard for the rule of law:

Courts? Who Listens to Courts?

The NLRB tells the D.C. Circuit to take a hike.

President Obama’s second term could really be something. In the latest disdain for the Constitution’s checks and balances, the National Labor Relations Board has declared that it doesn’t like the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday ruling that three board members were illegally appointed so it plans to ignore it.

“The Board respectfully disagrees with today’s decision and believes that the President’s position in the matter will ultimately be upheld,” Chairman Mark Pearce said in a statement. “It should be noted that this order applies to only one specific case, Noel Canning, and that similar questions have been raised in more than a dozen cases pending in other courts of appeals.

“In the meantime, the Board has important work to do. The parties who come to us seek and expect careful consideration and resolution of their cases, and for that reason, we will continue to perform our statutory duties and issue decisions.”

As well as the courts!

So, let’s see. First, President Obama bypasses the Senate’s advice and consent power by making “recess” appointments while the Senate was in pro-forma session specifically to prevent recess appointments. Then when a federal court rules the recess appointments illegal, the NLRB declares that it will keep doing business as if nothing happened.

Without Mr. Obama’s illegal appointments, the board would have been without a quorum and unable to decide a single case. That lawless behavior means more than 200 of the NLRB’s rulings in the past year are in limbo. It’s bad enough to force those 200 litigants to appeal rulings that are sure to be overturned. But the board wants to keep issuing new rulings though it now knows that a unanimous appeals court has declared them illegal, pending a Supreme Court review that may never happen.

Mr. Obama can legally reconstitute the NLRB by getting his appointees confirmed by the Senate. Meantime, Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns is right to call on the illegal members to resign. If they won’t, Congress should stop funding the NLRB as soon as the continuing spending resolution expires in March.

Unfortunately….

On the Lighter Side….

Finally, courtesy of Bill Meisen, we’ll call it a wrap with another titillating tale ripped from the pages of The Crime Blotter:

93-Year-Old Kills Wife Of 70 Years Because ‘He Couldn’t Take It Anymore’

A 93-year-old Kansas City man has been charged with killing his 95-year-old wife in what investigators are calling a homicide and attempted suicide. The Jackson County prosecutor filed the second-degree murder charge Wednesday against Harry Irwin, who remained hospitalized with self-inflicted stab wounds in his chest.

Police have not said how Grace Irwin died. Paramedics who were called to the couple’s home around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday found her in bed, with blood on her head. A paramedic told police Harry Irwin was unresponsive in a chair, with blood on his shirt and arms. The paramedic says Irwin regained consciousness and said he had killed his wife and himself, then asked, “Why am I awake?”

According to The Kansas City Star, court records state that Harry Irwin – who was married for 70 years to Grace Irwin – told a shift nurse at the hospital that he killed his wife because “she was arguing and screaming at him all night and he couldn’t take it anymore.”

Let he….or she….who has never felt the same way at some point in their marriage cast the first stone.

Magoo