Ryobi Pressure Washer

TECHNO THRILLS                                       THIS domii Waterdown, ON Best pressure washer under $200 I've seen June 15, 2013 5.0 After going through 2 Karchers in the last two years, and reading the reviews on all the other under $200 Pressure washers available at the major retailers, that all look like the came from the same factory in China, I decided to give this Ryobi a try. Pretty impressive machine so far. And cheap considering what you get, very good quality parts and well engineered, very close to a good commercial gas powered machine. I like that it comes with 3 nozzles, and everything has a place on this machine. An actual detergent tank rather than some cheap plastic tube. The all-aluminum pump sold it for me, I hope it lasts longer than what I've experienced with others that have the plastic pumps, that ... Read More I bought this Ryobi because this guy's review is identical to what I would write.  Same experience, but add along the way two of those blue machines that are even crappier than Karcher.  Don't ask.  Anyway, I wish this was an American product because it's fit, finish, and engineering are the best of anything I've purchased since, I don't know—the Oxo mandolin I suppose.  Zero water leaks.  The sound of the spray is louder than the sound of the pump.  Metal frame.  Brass fittings. QUALITY!  Even if you don't have a use for a pressure washer, get this Ryobi for the pure joy of owning something that's virtually flawless.  Free shipping from Home Depot.

Chop-Chop

Oh My
Oh My

Professor Otis Madison: Enemy of the United States

More Outrage Upon Which We Shall Not Put UP!                                    “ Santa Barbara Prof Warns Ted Cruz-Teabaggers To Leave Class Or Go Home In Body Bag Alice Gilbert can vividly recall her first day of class last fall in a black studies course called “The Obama Phenomenon” offered by Professor Otis Madison at UC Santa Barbara. That’s because before his introductory lecture was over, the scholar “warned Ted Cruz-supporting ‘teabaggers’ to get the hell out of his classroom before he sent them home to their mother in a body bag,” Gilbert said in an email interview with The College Fix. “The comment is from memory, however there were other students with me in the class who can attest to them,” Gilbert said. “When Professor Madison made his comments in the very first lecture, I was taken aback and offended.” Gilbert said as a conservative student, she enrolled in the course to broaden her horizons and learn about the president from a perspective other than what she is normally exposed to, but dropped it after Madison’s remarks. She never complained to administrators. “He did not target me by name, so I did not feel that there was a lot the school could do based on a student just being offended by something said in class,” said Gilbert, a junior and statewide College Republican student leader. Gilbert is telling her story now as part of the new social media campaign #MyLiberalCampus, in which students post anecdotal evidence describing when their conservative beliefs have been disregarded or denigrated by professors or peers. The effort, launched by the College Republican National Committee, strives to highlight the discrimination and intolerance conservative students face everyday on campuses nationwide. So far, more than 350,000 people have engaged in the conversation. WEASEL ZIPPERS ”

SEE THE WORLD!

Oh My

previously

Bahhhhhhhhhhh

Sheep gives birth to human-faced lamb “ Previously ”

Infiltrating the Obama Cell

“

Obama to Appoint Jhanebkhesh Kefash Next Sec/Army? Saman Shalechea Next Obama Court Justice? You can e-mail Ms.Shalechea at  samanshalechea@jourrapide.com. and Mr. Kefash at jhanebkheshkefash@armyspy.com What?  Obama's a fake president, so what's good for the goose ... .  Right?  What better way to infiltrate the DNC? Lots More Fun

”

Podesta

Podesta’s challenge puts EPA funding on hot seat

"She can shoot the s*it and drive a truck ..."

Here's to Mary Ann

I think I've posted this before, but what the heck. H/T Little Tommy "Tucker" Walsh

The Humanity!

Oh My
The Humanity!

SEIU LOWER THAN WORM SHIT

Thug Culture                                   “ Big Shrinkage at SEIU Healthcare Michigan: Not Just the Pool SEIU Healthcare Michigan loses 44,000 members after they were no longer forced to unionize. Worse, Service Employees International Union has shrinkage all over. “DADDY, WE NEED SOME GOOD NEWS” The SEIU has (sic) always been all about using dirty tricks and shady lobbying to accomplish their only real goal- to grow at any cost. But what SEIU Healthcare Michigan did to home healthcare workers in their state has to be one of the dirtiest tricks ever used. SEIU Healthcare Michigan exploited a legal loophole using the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MCQ3) to force parents and family of sick children into their union. Families who saved the state thousands of dollars a month by taking care of adult children with disabilities had money taken out of their pockets as they were forced to pay dues to the SEIU. Meanwhile, the SEIU racked up nearly $33 Million in forced dues. It took a court ruling and a statewide ballot initiative for judges and voters to finally put an end to the SEIU’s disgusting practice. Now that the SEIU has been forced to stop unionizing these families, it seems these healthcare workers are no longer interested in the SEIU’s “services”: More than 44,000 home-based healthcare workers parted ways with SEIU Healthcare Michigan after learning they did not have to join the union or pay dues, according to reports the union filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. So SEIU Healthcare Michigan is feeling the icy chill of tens of thousands of members leaving their union. Like the George Costanza character in the Seinfeld TV show, the union is experiencing “significant shrinkage”. But unlike Costanza, the shrinkage isn’t just limited to one area… [Read more] Added to the list ”

OBAMA MEDIA- TWO THINGS

Oh My
SAY AMEN

Saving BROCK OBAMA

“ A Steven Spielberg Ploy SAVING BARACK OBAMA The mission is a fraud A Steven Spielberg Ploy SAVING BARACK OBAMA The mission is a fraud The appearance of the parody artwork coincides with Obama’s visit to Los Angeles on Wednesday to receive a humanitarian award from Spielberg. The poster, featuring President Obama walking into the horizon between a pair of his teleprompters, have appeared on bus stops and benches throughout Los Angeles, including just outside Melrose Avenue, the main entrance to Paramount Pictures. - See more  The parody is a response (by unidentified to me patriots) to this unintended Spielberg satire of his own, and other Liberal Hollywood nincompoopery.  And "nincompoopery" is being kind. Obama will be honored at the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation, a Holocaust museum founded by the Hollywood director after he made Schindler’s List. Obama will receive the institute’s highest honor, the Ambassador for Humanity Award, for his “global efforts to protect human rights, his commitment to education and expanding educational technology, and his work advancing opportunities for all people.” “President Obama’s commitment to democracy and human rights has long been felt,” Spielberg said. ASIDE: Pam Geller's Bulleted Stories are similarly "STAB ME IN THE LIVER" incitements of men of good will and common sense to harm themselves.   “I abducted your girls.” “By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace,” declares leader of devout Muslim group Obama Officials to Israel: Like It Or Not, “Palestinians” Will Get State;“We Need Another Intifada” California school district reverses decision and cancels lesson plan that involved Holocaust denial California school district reverses decision and cancels lesson plan that involved Holocaust denial Anarchy: John Kerry won’t comply with Benghazi subpoena, State Dept. says Sir H ”

A Morning Prayer

“

EPA continue to stonewall; lie;prevaricate Obama too Podesta: Congress Can't Stop Obama on 'Global Warming'...  President to talk climate with meteorologists... Fed report presents dire picture... Obama Biographer: 'The World Seems to Disappoint Him'... My morning prayer is that slow to react—but once pushed too far, impossible to control—American people do not lose their cool and descend upon Washington and lynch the entire city even though it might be justified.  Amen.

”

AHEM

Number of times that Clinton figures who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn’t remember, didn’t know, or something similar. Bill Kennedy 116 Harold Ickes 148 Ricki Seidman 160 Bruce Lindsey 161 Bill Burton 191 Mark Gearan 221 Mack McLarty 233 Neil Egglseston 250 Hillary Clinton 250 John Podesta 264 Jennifer O’Connor 343 Dwight Holton 348 Patsy Thomasson 420 Jeff Eller 697

"Democracy Alliance" LOL

A list of new members of the Democracy Alliance offers a revealing look into the secret group of liberal billionaires

A list of new members of the Democracy Alliance offers a revealing look into the secret group of liberal billionaires

BY: Lachlan Markay
May 5, 2014 1:00 pm

The Democracy Alliance takes pains to ensure that its work disbursing millions of dollars to top left-wing organizations remains secretive and free from public scrutiny. But a document left on the floor of the group’s recent gathering reveals for the first time the names of a number of individuals involved in the effort.

It lists new Democracy Alliance “partners,” individuals who every year must pay $30,000 in dues and contribute at least $200,000 to the groups that DA supports. It also reveals names of DA “advisers,” foundation participants, and individuals getting a “sneak peek” at the group’s activities.

Among its new partners are top labor union bosses, financial and business leaders, and heirs to billion-dollar fortunes who have made names for themselves as high-dollar Democratic donors.

Security was tight at the Democracy Alliance conference last week at the chic Ritz Carlton in Chicago. Politico reporter Ken Vogel was manhandled by security when he tried to interview an attendee. Other conference-goers ripped off their nametags when a Washington Free Beacon reporter approached.

The Democracy Alliance does not actually accept donations. Instead, it solicits contributions from left-wing millionaires and billionaires, and serves as a “pass through” between those donors and top liberal advocacy groups, including the Center for American Progress, Media Matters for America, and Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA.

The group emphasizes secrecy in all of its operations, even as its members and the DA “favored organizations” to which they donate decry the role of “dark money” in American politics. DA does not disclose details of any of the transactions it facilitates, and its members and donation recipients are prohibited from speaking publicly about the organization and its operations.

While few conference attendees would speak with the Free Beacon last week, one mistakenly left a revealing document on the floor of a publicly accessible area of the conference. The list of new partners provides previously unreported details on one of the left’s most powerful dark money groups.

Labor unions have for decades served as financiers for some of the left’s most prominent think tanks and activist groups. The list of new DA partner reveals increasing involvement by top labor bosses in the group’s work financing those organizations.

New members in 2014 include Noel Beasley, president of Workers United, a textile union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, and Keith Mestrich, president of the union-owned Amalgamated Bank, where Beasley, also a SEIU vice president, serves as chairman.

Amalgamated, which is majority-owned by the SEIU, is still owed $8.5 million by the Democratic National Committee for a pair of loans taken out in 2012 to support the DNC’s work to reelect President Barack Obama.

“We are a partisan bank that’s owned by a union,” Mestrich told the Washington Post last year. “There’s no question that unions are very tight with the Democratic Party, and we make no bones about that.” He would not answer questions about the bank’s involvement with the Democracy Alliance at last week’s conference.

The addition of top officials at Workers United and Amalgamated comes after DA added other top labor bosses in 2013, according to the list of new members.

Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, both signed on as partners last year. The document also lists CWA senior director George Kohl and Michelle Ringuette, Weingarten’s assistant, as new partners in 2013.

Wingarten and Cohen both sit on the board of the Economic Policies Institute, a labor-funded think tank. Richard Trumka, who attended last week’s conference, is also a board member, as are SEIU president and DA board member Mary Kay Henry, and one-time DA board member Robert Johnson.

While union higher ups are well compensated—Weingarten and Cohen made $550,000 and $200,000 in 2012, respectively, while Ringuette and Kohl each pulled down more than $150,000—the $100,000 minimum aggregate contribution requirement likely means that AFT and CWA, rather than the individuals listed, are the entities providing DA pass-through funds, with top union officials serving as liaisons.

Many of DA’s new partners, though, have the personal financial means to support its favored organizations, due either to their own successful business ventures or to large inheritances.

Amy Goldman is one of the country’s foremost horticulturalists, but her fortune comes from her status as heiress to one of the largest real estate fortunes ever amassed. Goldman’s father, Sol, owned nearly 600 New York commercial real estate properties when he died in 1987. At one point, he owned the famed Chrysler Building.

The ensuing legal battle over his $1 billion estate was at the time the largest ever to take place in New York’s Surrogate Court, more than doubling the previous record.

Amy Goldman has since become one of the Democratic Party’s largest individual campaign contributors. Goldman has donated more than $6 million to Democratic candidates, party organs, interest groups, and independent expenditure groups since 1990.

Those donations have included $1 million to Priorities USA in 2012, $500,000 to House Majority PAC the same year, $1.75 million to Planned Parenthood from 2011 to 2013, and $750,000 to Organizing for Action last year.

Goldman has donated nearly $9,000 to Obama, and more than $13,000 to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and independent groups supporting that effort.

Another benefactor of a massive inheritance that appears on DA’s new partner list was donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats while he was still in school.

Philip Munger is the son of Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman and Warren Buffett lieutenant Charles Munger, whose estimated net worth is $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. Munger the younger is a professor at the New School in New York City. Despite living on an educator’s salary, he also manages to donate vast sums to Democratic politicians.

Munger has shelled out more than $700,000 in political contributions since 1990, all to Democrats or liberal interest groups. He donated $46,300 while he was still a student, according to FEC forms that require donors to disclose their profession.

Munger was among the first donors to OFA, topping the group’s list of “founding members” with a $250,000 contribution.

More inherited wealth will likely flow through DA from Henry van Ameringen, heir to the International Flavors and Fragrance fortune. Van Ameringen is another massive Democratic donor. He has donated more than $900,000 to Democrats since 1990.

Van Ameringen was the 21st largest individual contributor to 527 “political action committees” in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He is the ninth largest donor to those groups in the current election cycle.

Much of van Ameringen’s political activity is aimed at promoting gay rights. He attended a $35,800 per-plate fundraiser for Obama in 2012 that solicited support from wealthy gay and lesbian individuals. The event raised an estimated $1.4 million for the president’s reelection.

His promotion of gay rights has occasionally expanded into condemnation of religious conservatism. In announcing a $100,000 donation from van Ameringen to the group Truth Wins Out, TWO’s executive director condemned “religious extremists” in the United States who are “literally getting away with murder from Uganda to Russia.”

Van Ameringen has also contributed $100,000 to an effort to legalize marijuana in Oregon. Democracy Alliance founder and automotive insurance kingpin Peter Lewis donated to the same effort.

Some new DA partners include individuals with their own successful business careers.

Adam Abram made his fortune in insurance and real estate. He sold his company, James River Group, to Bermuda-based Franklin Holdings in 2007. Abram is currently Franklin’s chairman. He also founded Adaron Group, a commercial real estate developer in North Carolina.

Some of Abram’s recent ventures have come under scrutiny for alleged cronyism. James River Group provided $15,000 in financing for an economic impact study that recommended construction of an airport in the research triangle region of North Carolina. The company indicated that the airport was “’very important’ or ‘essential’ to [its] business,” according to the study.

Some residents saw that as a financial conflict. “As a resident of rural Orange County … I find it deeply disturbing that companies like the James River Group fund an economic study and they themselves want the airport because the airport will benefit their businesses,” one resident wrote.

Abram has donated more than $110,000 to Democrats since 1990. He cohosted Michelle Obama at a 2008 fundraiser in Durham, N.C.

Many of Abram’s political contributions have focused on specific policy issues. In 2009, he offered to match all contributions up to $5,000 to the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Abrams has been critical of the Obama administration’s civil liberties record and tactics in the war on terror. He wrote a 2011 column for the Raleigh News-Observer criticizing legislation eventually signed by Obama that granted the executive wide latitude in detaining and trying suspected terrorists.

Despite those misgivings, Abram has donated $4,600 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Other individuals on DA’s list of new partners have been far friendlier to Obama. Rick Segal, CEO of financial services firm Seavest, bundled between $250,000 and $500,000 for the president’s reelection campaign, in addition to his $165,000 in political contributions since 1990.

Paul Boskind has contributed nearly $200,000 to Democrats since 1990, and bundled between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama’s reelection. He also served on the DNC’s national finance committee.

Boskind is the CEO of Deer Oaks Mental Health Associates, a Texas based mental health organization. He is also involved in theater, producing a number of plays designed to promote liberal political sensibilities, including Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man.”

These and other individuals (full list below) are some of DA’s newest partners, but the list also includes a host of individuals with other statuses at the organization.

The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel was given a “sneak peak,” according to the list. Lee Wasserman and Lisa Guide of the Rockefeller Family Fund are listed as “committed.” Joan Davidson, heir to the Welch juice fortune and president emeritus of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, is listed under the status “convening.”

The Democracy Alliance did not respond to requests for comment or additional information about the roles that DA partners and other individuals listed on the document play.

On the back of the document, someone took notes that appeared to refer to potential or actual donations by individuals and groups affiliated with the DA.

“McKay 25k AV” likely refers to Rob McKay, and a $25,000 contribution to America Votes, a group that DA has supported. “Nathan Cummings 500k CCC” is likely a reference to a $500,000 contribution from the Nathan Cummings Foundation to the Center for Community Change, which has previously received Nathan Cummings grant funds.

Democracy Alliance new members list by Washington Free Beacon

NEW PARTNERS, 2013

Paul Boskind: CEO of Deer Oaks Mental Health Associates and theater producer.

Larry Cohen: President of the Communications Workers of America.

Randi Weingarten: President of the American Federation of Teachers.

George Kohl: Senior director of the Communications Workers of America.

Michelle Ringuette: Assistant to the president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Amy Goldman: Author, horticulturalist, and daughter of the late New York City real estate magnate Sol Goldman.

NEW PARTNERS, 2014

Adam Abram: Founder of James River Group, chairman of Franklin Holdings, chairman of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, former president of Adaron Group.

Noel Beasley: President of Workers United, vice president of the Service Employees International Union, chairman of Amalgamated Bank.

Keith Mestrich: President of Amalgamated Bank

Philip Munger: New School professor, son of Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charles Munger.

Colin Greer: President of the New World Foundation.

Heeten Kalan: Senior program officer at the New World Foundation.

Rick Segal: CEO of Seavest, Inc.

Ryan Smith: Unknown. It was originally reported that Smith was the CEO of Qualtrics, but that was not the case.

Henry van Ameringen: President of the Van Ameringen Foundation, son of Arnold Louis van Ameringen, founder of International Flavors and Fragrances.

Dirk Wiggins: Founder of Code for Progress, former director of targeting for Field Strategies, former outreach director for the Florida Democratic Party.

This entry was posted in Politics and tagged Democracy Alliance, Democratic Donors. Bookmark the permalink.

skoonj

Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield GOP donors, raised $400 million in 2012! (WaPost)

Those evil Koch Brothers

Le Deluge, She is Here

Immediately after the last post I lost all connectivity.  Verizon Home Agent first said I had a "bad wired" card, which may be the case since the cable connect light is orange and not green, but I don't have wireless connectivity either.  On another try Home Agent said it had to reset my router and then asked if it was working now?  So what about The "bad wired" card?  First I lose my back-up disk, and now this.  Maybe God is telling me to enter a monetary and make wine and bread for monks.  

Water-boarding would work too, but ... you know

Clinton Culture                    Bolton: Benghazi Panel Needs to Question Hillary Clinton for 'Hours and Hours' “ Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton needs to provide "hours and hours" of private depositions if any House select committee is effective in uncovering what happened in the 2012 Benghazi deaths that killed four Americans, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said on Saturday. "The public hearings that get so much attention are the last things that should happen," Bolton, who served in the George W. Bush White House, told Jeanine Pirro on her Fox News program. "We need former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton giving hours and hours of depositions before they put her back out in public testimony. That's the way to find out what happened. "You can't get effective investigations done with members of Congress alternating — asking questions for five minutes — of somebody who's articulate and knows how to dodge questions," Bolton added. "What needs to happen are extensive, hour-after-hour depositions." Bolton per usual quickly cuts to the quick.  ”

Double Down Jeopardy

Double Jeopardy Clause is a clause in the U.S. Constitution that forbids a person from being tried twice for the same offence. This clause was added through the U.S. Constitution Fifth Amendment. The principle behind the adoption of the clause is to prevent state and federal governments from imposing more than one punishment for the same offense. This clause thus provides a procedural defense as a right for any act of being tried twice for the same offence. This clause prohibits state and federal governments from re-prosecuting for the same offense, a defendant who has already been acquitted or convicted. [State v. Detco, Inc., 66 Wis. 2d 95 (Wis. 1974)] In April, 1992,  jurors issued their ruling on a controversial case involving the 1991 beating of Rodney King by four LAPD officers. One of the officers was found guilty of excessive force; the other officers were cleared of all charges. The reading of the verdicts was broadcast live, and triggered violence in parts of Los Angeles for three days. More than fifty people were killed, some four thousand injured, twelve thousand were arrested and property damage exceeded one ... . After the acquittals and the riots, the United States Department of Justice sought indictments for violations of King's civil rights. On August 4, the grand jury returned indictments against the three officers for '...willfully and intentionally using unreasonable force...' and against Sergeant Koon for '...willfully permitting and failing to take action to stop the unlawful assault...' on King."  The jury found Officer Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon guilty, and they were subsequently sentenced to 32 months in prison, while Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were acquitted of all charges.  There were no riots. Why the Hell Not? I'm sure there were earlier instances where constitutional double jeopardy protection was first sacrificed for raw political purposes, but this is the one I remember.  This is the one that left my jaw hanging.  This is the one that made me realize that we had no constitutional protection that could not be overcome by an aggressive government, which meant no constitutional rights at all.  This is the one that convinced me that our government had declared war on anyone, and anything that stood in its way.  This was the time for a million man riot. A pivotal moment in history. Alas.

Gun Grabbers Lurkin' Here Boss

Police State         TEXT KNOCK KNOCK WHO'S THERE? EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR ...

Spy Plane Explanation Begs a Question

What I See                                 “ Am I the only one thinking what I'm thinking? Whose spy plane?? I have no apologies for my wariness in this political climate.  Lost in the  Free Republic archives are my documentation of mysterious loss of satellites in the latter Clinton years.   The White House approved a request  from (huge Clinton donor) Loral  Space to  allow the Chinese to "borrow" our missile guidances system for  their early (peaceful) satellite launches.  All prior attempts had ended in disaster because of faulty guidance software.  Loral supervisors were present to install the system immediately prior to blast off, to insure that the PRC had no chance to steal it.  The rocket launched and immediately tumbled to earth.  By the time the Loral engineers arrived at the site, guess what?  The  nose cone was missing.  About a year or so later, we read reports about how at least two (as I remember) American satellites gone mysteriously missing.  Given that six years later a Chinese General threatened to nuke America's west coast, I considered them  a PRC  message to Garcia.   And this?  A PRC stealth technology advance? ”