Unemployed Americans Have A New Full-time Job!

This "joke" was ripped directly from the headlines of - CNN: Unemployed Americans have a new full-time job: Filing for jobless benefits

It's the best Mort Drucker tribute I can give, at the moment.

Elder Goths Straw Ban

San Francisco Is Poised To Ban Plastic Straws. That's Got Bubble Tea Shops Worried

Nanny Bloomberg: Drunk on Power

Bloomberg: ‘I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom’

Mayor Bloomberg says surveillance drones are inevitable in NYC: 'get used to it'

Mayor Bloomberg Says Cops Should Go On Strike Until Americans Give Up Their Guns

Mayor Bloomberg says he will spend millions more to defeat the National Rifle Association and pro-gun pols

In New York City there has been a 600 percent increase in stop-and-frisk policing

New York City Mayor Bloomberg to announce he wants to ban Styrofoam

"Poor People Need Soda Ban Because They Can't 'Take Care Of Themselves'"

After the failed soda ban, NYC mayor Bloomberg now wants stores that carry cigarettes to "hide" them

Bloomberg turns away vital food donations to shelters because they aren't healthy enough.

Bloomberg knows more about health care than doctors

Keep Off The Bloody Grass

Here's the story

Welfare Applicants Must Pass Drug Test

A bill signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) will require welfare applicants to undergo drug testing. The bill also requires that those who apply for welfare must pay for the drug testing out of their own pockets. However, the cost would be reimbursed if the person passes the drug test. Republicans said the measure was needed because if taxpayers are screened at their place of employment, so should welfare recipients. The drug testing bill was a priority for Scott.

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”

Read More

Don't worry, my liberal friends - A similar law which passed in Michigan in 1999 which required random drug testing of Welfare recipients lasted five weeks before it was stopped by a judge. An appeals court ruled it unconstitutional after a four-year legal battle. So, you can bet that this kind of abomination against the Civil Liberties of welfare crack addicts will be challenged!

Nanny Lunch Lady

Chicago Public School Bans Brown Bag Lunch

Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school. “Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?” the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English. Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: “We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!” Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: “Do you see the situation?” At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago’s West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

“Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school,” Carmona said. “It’s about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It’s milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception.”

A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals. Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district’s food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.

Does anyone really believe this is for the kids? If so, read the last line above for clarification;

The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.

Follow the money, honey. Now eat your ketchup - that counts as a vegetable.

San Fran Happy Meal Ban

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-3-2011/san-francisco-s-happy-meal-ban

"Wait, are you being serious right now?"

Poop and where to put all that poop

So I heard that LA County Board of Supervisors was going to ban the plastic bag .

Made me wonder - what are dog owners going to do with all that poop?

Specifically, dog poop?

Yes, I'm aware of the greatest irony that a non-bio-degradable petroleum product is used to encase the most bio-degradable product and then shipped and encased in a landfill where it most likely will bond to create some type of super virus capable of killing us all -- but, golly, they are really good at getting dog poop off your neighbor's lawn.

So one would expect that there will be bio-friendly poop bags popping up in LA stores and other pet supply establishments. More likely much more expensive than we're accustomed to. Sure, dog owners could purchase reusable wood and metal pooper-scoopers on long sticks, that last for years and don't involve handling warm poop with one's hands, albeit through plastic. These may not be as convenient as the disposable bags but they are worth it. And, then, I guess folks will either curb that s#*t or put it in their manicured lawns?

Once again, some county government group, with good intentions are training their constituents to unlearn bad behavior.We can't do this without the nanny government to forcing the issue? Now, can we talk about something besides poop? Doesn't LA government have a couple more pressing issues on their schedule right now?

Cubs Create Peanut, Win, Free Zone

One little girl with a peanut allergy creates a special area for herself. It's not like someone was smoking...

Frankly, I'm surprised that the Cubs didn't just fold completely and ban the substance - it's a legume - not a nut, from the Friendly Confines?

It only takes one letter? Shouldn't this be in the form of a petition? With lots and LOTS of signatures? A community of allergic little girls who come out of their bubbles to go to the ball game? Or how about ONE game for allergic kids?

So pretty soon we'll have to sing, "Buy me some hot dogs and cracker-jack," because no one will know what the hell a peanut is. And doesn't Cracker-Jack have peanuts in it too? But when's the last time you saw Cracker Jack being sold at Wrigley. At least a couple years. Maybe it should be, "buy me an 8 dollar Bud Lite and Italian-Ice?" So much for peanuts.

Good science knows, they've already created a Lou Piniella free zone... and they've been fairly successful at creating a win free zone too.

Something something Glass Houses?

Just found this gem on Salon.com...

An anti-government militant -- on disability

Activist Mike Vanderboegh urged his fellow extremists to break Democrats' windows. But he gets "Marxist" welfare.
By Joe Conason

Mike Vanderboegh is the far-right activist from Alabama who gained sudden notoriety when he posted a message this week urging his fellow extremists to smash the windows of Democratic politicians to protest healthcare reform -- a wingnut Kristallnacht. In a revealing profile in today's Washington Post, Vanderboegh explains that throwing rocks was merely meant to warn of an impending "civil war" against Washington's infringements on poor honest folk like him.

"So, if you wish to send a message that Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows," Vanderboegh wrote on a blog called Sipsey Street Irregulars. "Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight. Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience. Break them with rocks. Break them with slingshots. Break them with baseball bats. But BREAK THEM."

He assured the Post that untold numbers of alienated Americans "are not only willing to resist this law to the very end of their lives, but are armed and are capable of making such resistance possible and perhaps even initiating a civil war." So far there is no evidence that Vanderboegh followed his own advice, which might have entailed a personal risk for him, after all.

As a longtime "militia" organizer and Minuteman border patroller, he has advocated violence for many years without consequence. In a 2005 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Vanderboegh was identified as a hard-line nativist, obsessed with the notion of instigating a civil war in the United States.

Back in the mid-1990s, he wrote a document titled "Strategy and Tactics for a Militia Civil War" in which he discussed the utility of snipers using "violence carefully targeted and clearly defensive: war criminals, secret policemen, rats ..." SPLC director Mark Potok set Vanderboegh in the current context of "Patriot" extremism on NPR's "Fresh Air" yesterday.

While Vanderboegh claims to be a militant "libertarian," a tribune of the oppressed white middle class, and a student of Friedrich von Hayek, he appears to be an ordinary welfare case. Claiming to be too ill for gainful employment, he apparently spends most of his time stirring up violence, with a nice federal subsidy.

According to the Post, he lives off his wife, who works at a forklift company -- and also gets a monthly disability check from his "Marxist" federal government.

Mike, You're Blaspheme's Hypocrite of the Week buddy! You just narrowly beat out Congress and their staff members for not signing up for what they just made the rest of their countrymen have to endure. But with that, hey, at least it wasn't a surprise. We already know they're hypocrites. Oh, and one more thing, Mike. You're not a libertarian. Okay?

Special Healthcare Report

Healthcare
Well, they flushed it, and it went down. With it passed, no political group will have the will or courage to go back, so we will go forward to the eventual fiscal collapse Unless China wants to give us a couple more Trillion? Unlikely.

I have to credit the stress the Democrats were under. Let’s see, if I hold out I might sell my vote for more, but if they get to 216, I’ll get nothing…. Oh, the challenge. And they had to work on a Sunday?! How quaint. Maybe they got double time for their efforts?

Reid promises to add public option to health care ‘in the coming months’
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=11985
In a letter to two of his more progressive colleagues in the Senate — Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Bernie Sanders of Vermont — the Nevada Democrat implicitly apologized for his inability to get a government-run insurance plan into the final piece of health care legislation and promised to keep working to get the policy into law… “Nevertheless, like you, I remain committed to pursuing the public option. While I believe that the legislation we are considering does much to provide affordable coverage to millions of Americans and curb insurance company abuses, I also believe that the public option would provide additional competition to make insurance even more affordable. As we have discussed, I will work to ensure that we are able to vote on the public option in the coming months.” That was all that Bernie Sanders needed to hear — or rather, all the thin political cover that Bernie Sanders needed — to drop his bid to add a public option to the reconciliation bill. But here’s a fun footnote from HuffPo: “The search now is for a vehicle outside health care reform to get a public plan into law. The same institutional hurdles that killed the provision in the previous go-rounds — mainly that there aren’t 60 supportive senators to break a filibuster — remain. But aides on the Hill are already looking to future reconciliation vehicles to which they can attach the public plan, which would, in turn, allow for it to pass via an up-or-down vote.”

216 in reach: House Dems have the votes to pass Healthcare reform bill
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/88173-house-dems-have-the-votes-to-pass-healthcare-reform-bill
Excerpt: House Democratic leaders have the votes to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.There are 35 Democrats who are planning to vote no and two undecided Democrats -- Reps. Bobby Rush (Ill.) and Loretta Sanchez (Calif.) -- according to The Hill's whip list. If every member votes, Democrats can have 37 defections and still clear the bill. The abortion deal struck by the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) put Democrats over the top. That compromise moved a handful of Democrats from the "no" column into the "yes" category.

The Take: Historic win or not, Democrats could pay a price
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032003349.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Excerpt: The lengthy and rancorous debate has inflicted considerable damage on the president and his party. It helped spark the grass-roots "tea party" movement and generated angry town hall meetings last summer that led to some opponents painting Obama as a socialist and a communist for advocating a greater government role in the health-care industry. The issue now is whether final passage of the legislation -- Senate leaders say they will take up the reconciliation bill this week -- will cause more harm or begin a turnaround in the Democrats' fortunes heading toward the November midterm elections. This is not how the struggle over health care was supposed to unfold. When the president decided last year to push for comprehensive reform, there appeared to be the best opportunity in a generation to ensure that nearly all Americans have access to health insurance. There also seemed to be a consensus among business, labor and health-industry groups that government help was needed to rein in the escalating costs of health care.

So, what’s in the bill?
http://www.resistnet.com/video/video/show?id=2600775:Video:2096105&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video

There will be blood!
http://townhall.com/columnists/JosephCPhillips/2010/03/21/there_will_be_blood!
Excerpt: I’m not crazy about congressional Democrats right now. As I write this, Congressional Democrats are engaged in a furious partisan battle to pass their idea of healthcare reform. Alas it is an idea the majority of Americans do not share. It is in fact an idea that the majority of congressmen do not share, which is why President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are twisting arms, bribing, cajoling and threatening all manner of mischief in order to eek out a majority vote – or non vote -- on a bill the people have made clear they do not want. They may succeed. I am not all that enamored of Congressional Republicans either. It is painful indeed to listen to the feigned outrage of so many Republicans who spent years in office redefining the meaning of concepts like “limited Government,” and “fiscal conservative”. Surely they must realize that their inept stewardship over so many years not only opened the door for the leftist now in power, but also rolled out the red carpet for them….If there is to be a second revolution then let it begin here and now! Let the political bloodbath begin in November followed closely by more bloodletting in 2012. No one will be safe. Neither a “D” nor an “R” following a name will be sufficient protection from the people’s blade! There is no time like now to begin the winnowing process; and there is no better reason than to dismantle a government that can’t be trusted to keep its part of the bargain.

Democrats Have Painted Themselves into a Corner
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/democrats_have_painted_themsel.html
Excerpt: Democrats have painted themselves into an ugly corner with their Health Care Reform Bill (HCR). The Obama administration has managed to take what has been a standard Democratic vote-getting ploy -- promise government largesse to core constituencies and let the rest of the country pay for it -- and screw it up so badly that regardless of whether HCR passes or fails, Democrats will suffer heavy losses in the midterm election. Problem is, it's not just Democrats in the corner; they've got the whole country held hostage with them.

Now for the Slaughter
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/peggy-noonan/2010/03/20/now-for-the-slaughter/
Excerpt: Excuse me, but it is embarrassing — really, embarrassing to our country — that the president of the United States has again put off a state visit to Australia and Indonesia because he's having trouble passing a piece of domestic legislation he's been promising for a year will be passed next week. What an air of chaos this signals to the world. And to do this to Australia of all countries, a nation that has always had America's back and been America's friend. How bush league, how undisciplined, how kid's stuff.

The Real Score Starts To Emerge
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/13917-The-Real-Score-Starts-To-Emerge.html
Excerpt: The Democrats are exultant over the preliminary CBO score (preliminary because even the Congressional Budget Office hasn’t had time to examine whether it jives with the previous Senate bill) issued this morning. The score (costing) is on the Democrats’ reconciliation adjustments to the Senate ObamaCare bill that it remains under $1-trillion in spending and that together with added revenues will further reduce the deficit. There’s increasing amazement at this bald-faced assertion. The real score will be seen this weekend in the Democrats' trickery vote and the consequences they face next November. The Republican leadership is still trying to decipher the fine print, but are quickly getting to the bottom line. Senator McConnell issued a press release saying: “They get there with even higher taxes and deeper Medicare cuts than the first Senate bill.

More cuts loom as state faces $295m in red ink
MassHealth, other services blamed for drain on coffers
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/19/more_cuts_loom_as_state_faces_295m_in_red_ink/
Meanwhile, how’s State Government Healthcare working out for the folks in Massachusetts? Excerpt: Massachusetts is potentially facing a new budget gap of up to $295 million this year, a grim forecast that state officials said could spell yet another round of painful cuts before the fiscal year ends in June. Patrick administration officials blamed the gap on rising demand for the joint state and federal health care program for low-income residents known as MassHealth, increasing demand for homeless shelters, and on below-projected revenue from state fees and federal aid.

CBO to Ryan on real costs of the Healthcare bill
http://www.house.gov/budget_republicans/press/2007/pr20100319letter.pdf

cutn'pasted from my source, The Old Jarhead

Take that with a grain of... oh.

Bill A10129, introduced in the New York state assembly, "Prohibits the use of salt by restaurants in the preparation of food by restaurants."

The penalties for the use of salt while cooking food are totally proportionate and reasonable:

$1,000 a pinch? $1,000 a grain?

Oh, bankrupt totalitarian Nanny State, how do I loathe the? Let me count the ways?

First, salt is actually critical to human survival. It is the only mineral that humans eat, or need to eat, in order for their cells to function.

Second, the idea that salt is some kind of toxin is not correct. However, our current system of government has labeled Salt and CO2 toxins and poisons.

Third, this ban does not appear to tax the salt shakers on the restaurant table, only the ones in the back of the house near the food? It seems to only ban salt used during preparation and not consumption. Which makes this bill completely useless. BTW, if any Blasphemes readers have ever done any cooking for themselves, you know that salt is an essential part of cooking - and also baking. Cookies, waffles in addition to steak and Jambalaya require some salt in it's preparation. I've even used salt in salads to separate the water from the lettuce. I've even heard of a pinch of salt in coffee to give it an unexpected perk.

Fourth, the same government that is taxing salt in an effort to 'save us' still is allowing aluminum hydroxide and yellow prussiate of soda (sodium ferrocyanide)that are in salt packets. There are still massive subsidies for the creation of corn and soy products - while there are minuscule or zero subsidies for fresh fruit or vegetables. (not that anyone would eat them anyway.)

Fifth, law is termed, "salt in any form." So, this would mean no prepared foods that already contain salt can ever be used in any dish? Cheese, any smoked or cured meats, baked goods, any ready-made condiments, anything pickled, just about anything canned, most imported foods, any meats or poultry that have been plumped or brined, any sodas that contain sodium... shall I continue?

I can go on, but the absurdity that someone actually took the time to conceive and put this idea on paper astounds me. I'm guessing the folks who are desperately looking for new tax revenues and ways to gouge, nickel-and-dime their populace are running out of ideas. Or, they simply don't want any restaurants to operate in the State of New York - or even more malicious, they don't want anyone to live in New York? No, I don't mean killing people off by halting the salt flow - but by making food so bland that people will be willing to move to, gasp, New Jersey.