With an assist to a fellow BCer - Last week, to USAF Band performed an impromptu gathering (a.k.a. "flash mob") at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. They played and sang "Joy to the World". Pray no one gets fired.

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What's wrong with baseball? I know of players who have 'juiced up' themselves, the ball, and their bats. I know of players who have been arrested, sued, and/or suspended. Yesterday a player named Roy Halladay announced his retirement. in 16 seasons, Halladay is a Cy Young winner, has pitched a perfect game, had a 203-105 record, had three 20 games won seasons, and led the league 4 times for most innings pitched, and 7 times for most complete games. This morning is the first time I've heard of him. That's what's wrong with baseball.

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Online headline: "Key Republican Senator Endorses Heart Of Obamacare" -- Wait a minute.. this must be a trick... there is no "heart" in OObamaCRAP.

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Online headline/story: "Florida To Celebrate Festivus With The Rest Of Us After Atheist's Beer Can Pole Gets Approved * A Christian nativity scene and a Christmas tree at the Florida Capitol will be joined this week by another symbol of the holidays: a homemade Festivus pole. * The pole, which will be nearly 6 feet tall and made from emptied Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans, will be erected by Chaz Stevens, a Deerfield Beach resident, * “I still chuckle, I literally can’t believe there will be a pile of Pabst Blue Ribbon cans in the state rotunda,” Stevens told the News Service of Florida" -- Good grief! It was a joke, and Florida politicians took hook, line, and sinker!

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Today Council is going to entertain swapping City owned "green space" to a local developer for a piece of property by/under the 13th Street Bridge. It's ludicrous when the land can be attained by eminent domain without the City giving up public property. The Mayor has said it's a legal issue beyond her, but we have a City Attorney the Mayor and Council should ask. The Mayor also said that eminent domain laws have changed, but what hasn't changed is that the land the City "wants" abuts a state highway, and is destined to be the pathway for the RiverWalk extension (which means the state would have used eminent domain with the current owner anyway). This proposed "swap" is a sweet heart deal for individuals, not the citizens of Columbus.

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With his spinmeisters out applauding great economic numbers for new jobs and lower unemployment, why is Judas 00-bama out campaigning for extending unemployment checks for over a million people instead of telling them where they can get one of those jobs?

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Again, why is it Christians and Jews are expected to be more tolerant of Islam, Atheism and alternative life styles and none of those groups are expected to have any tolerance of Christians and Jews?

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You know, I'm still livid to know agents of our government distributed tax dollars for welfare for employees of the Russian diplomatic group. What could the agents be thinking when the crooks gave an Embassy Row address, and had no proof of citizenship?

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About that government snafu with giving Russian employees welfare benefits... now we are y=told there's nothing we can do but request them to be sent back to Russia. Good grief! Just tell the Russian government we want a refund or they can pack all their bags and get out of America! It's not like Russia cooperated on Snowden.

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The latest from www.barackobama/organizingforaction.com : " Hal --

I can't believe we're approaching OFA's first anniversary. I am so incredibly proud of what we've done and put together this past year. * But here's the secret: OFA is an entirely grassroots organization, funded and driven by our members -- people like you " -- Is there nothing Judas 00-bama won't lie about? Is he such a pathological liar that he gets off on lying so much, that he won't tell the truth about anything? This site was his political campaign website for over 5 years, and he got it changed by the IRS to a 501 (c) 4 status in a matter of 5 weeks following the last election while conservative groups were (and are still) being denied such status.

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McClatchy story: " SAN DIEGO _ A Superior Court judge Monday accepted the major terms of the plea bargain of former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, sentencing him to 90 days of home confinement with no jail time. * Filner pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge of false imprisonment and two of misdemeanor battery, all involving women * Under terms of the plea bargain, Superior Court Judge Robert Trentacosta ordered Filner to serve 90 days of home confinement starting Jan. 1. He also reduced his city pension and fined Filner approximately $1,500. * Filner was elected a year ago to succeed termed-out Republican Jerry Sanders. He was the first Democratic mayor since Maureen O'Connor, two decades ago." -- Pension reduced? The guy served less that 9 months! Well, on the other hand, with any luck, it'll be the last Democrat San Diego elects.

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McClatchy headline/story: "Dan K. Thomasson: Bank profits rise as taxpayers subsidize employees * According to a new study by the Labor Center at the University of California Berkeley, more than a third of the nation's 500,000 bank tellers are being partially supported by taxpayers. That is despite the fact that bank profits exceeded $141 billion last year and the median income for the industry's chief executives was a tidy $550 million plus. * Bank employees nationwide receive $534 million from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program; $105 million worth of food stamps and $250 million for the earned income tax credit. That's nearly $900 million a year in supplemental income" -- You know, "WE" bailed out these institutions, and this is what we get back in return?

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L-E story: "The 2.5-mile urban whitewater course on the Chattahoochee River opened in May and was named one of the "12 greatest man-made adventures on the planet" by USA Today in September." -- Hmm one of the "12 greatest man-made adventures on the planet"? And the L-E and City is proud of this? After a decade+-long charade to restore the Chattahoochee, we ended up with more concrete poured into the Chattahoochee than was dam debris removed. You know, it's not that I begrudge what's happened, it's that the taxpayers paid for way too much of what benefits private companies/individuals.

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More from above story: "(Whitewater Express) will move into a new building in the (Phenix) Plaza's parking lot facing the 14th Street Pedestrian Bridge. * "Part of (Phenix Plaza) will be torn down to facilitate construction," Gilbert said. The projected opening for the new building is December 2014. * (WE CEO Dan)Gilbert hopes to double his staff in the Chattahoochee Valley for next season's operations. He said the outfitter employed approximately 35 in its first season. He sees that doubling to 70 with the operations split equally by the two locations." -- Interesting... the Mayor says Columbus gets a 3.5% fee on every raft rider that comes down the Chattahoochee... is this going to be true as it sounds like Whitewater Express will maintain it's Phenix City site, and will all booking be made from the Georgia side or will the Alabama launch site be kept and booking from there be exempt from Columbus fees?

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The word is out, and being promoted that OObamaCRAP is in trouble because it hasn't had a good "PR" campaign. Huh? This had been touted as 'perfect' for the past three years... The problem is that no amount of lipstick will make a pig beautiful, you can't convert that pig's ear into a silk purse, and if you put the pig's excrement in a gift box, it's still not chocolate. In other words, this pig ain't gonna fly...

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Online headline/story: "School officials in a Kansas City suburb tore down flyers with religious messages to promote "See You at the Pole" and threatened to punish the student handing them out. * Alliance Defending Freedom has stepped in and filed a lawsuit on behalf of a seventh-grader who was confronted at a school dance by a school counselor who traumatized the student by telling her what she was doing was "illegal." According to ADF, officials at Robert E. Clark Middle School destroyed the flyers after tearing them down, resulting in only a few students getting word of the September event. * A variety of posted material can be found on the campus, says ADF, including a hand-made poster of a tombstone with the letters "R.I.P." and a poster of rap artist Lil Wayne with the words "Good Kush and Alcohol" – a reference to one of his profanity-laden songs that demeans women and glorifies sexual promiscuity" -- Guess that school board wants to replace the "Drug Free Zone" signs with "Bible Free Zone" ones.

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Congrats to new Superior Court Judges Gottfried and Mullins, and new State Court Judge Richardson. The needs of the City and Judicial District have been well met.

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Speaking of Superior Court judges.. the next time one of them exiles a person from this judicial district, I hope he/she will order a dog-type shock collar to be installed for the length of the exile. There's a lawyer who was exiled but we see his name as still working in the court rooms, and the latest one could actually comply with the court order while living in Phenix City within blocks of where he killed a man.

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Congrats, too, to Jay Stelzenmuller! It's been a good run for Columbus. Still miss Pontiac.. 3 of the best cars I've owned were Pontiacs, including my first, a 1967 GTO 400 HO gem.

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From a L-E story: One of our school board members made this statement: " “For some people in this country, they consider education an expense,” she said." -- Well, it IS (and no matter how Democrats define IS) an expense! In fact, our local school budget is considerably more than our entire City budget. It's a needed venture, but only when it is productive is it a beneficial and fruitful expense.

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The Kenneth Walker death rehash just highlights that it was never a racial difference.. it was, and still is, a cultural difference. It doesn't matter that the event revolved around a drug world event, as cultures collided over the acceptance of individuals with day jobs in our local financial, education, and law enforcement fields not being held personally responsible for their part in the event.

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A L-E story bring up that the Whitewater Express wants to do a zip-line business from City owned green space. According to the story, the City will get a 2-to-4% fee per user. Why aren't sales taxes going to be collected? I do not think this is the same category as the rafting enterprise which has peculiar federal rulings that consider this a river business exempt from state sales taxes. Crossing the river is not the same as 'running he river".

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Go, Pop Barnes, GO! Thanks for stepping up to the plate and saying what needs to be said. The 'white community" is always concerned about stopping crime, but Columbus needed to hear someone representing the "black community" to voice it loud and clear as well. For BCer not from the Columbus area, Pop Barnes is a Council favorite around all of Columbus.

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L-E story: "LOS ANGELES — Actress Eleanor Parker, a three-time Oscar nominee who played the scheming baroness in “The Sound of Music,” has died at age 91." -- You know, there will be people who blame Carrie Underwood for this....

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It's almost a sin... well, a least a 'sin of omission', that Heisman trophy nominee Alabama QB A.J. McCarron got an honorable mention on the All-SEC team. In fact, he's never made the 1st Team QB.

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L-E story: " U.S. military officials insisted a top-secret Pentagon study proved the need to buy Russian helicopters for Afghanistan’s security forces. But the study actually recommended an American-made rotorcraft, according to unclassified excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. * The excerpts show the U.S. Army’s workhorse Chinook, built by Boeing Co. in Pennsylvania, was “the most cost-effective single platform type fleet for the Afghan Air Force over a 20-year” period. The finding has triggered allegations the Defense Department misled members of Congress and improperly cut U.S. companies out of competing for a contract that has swelled to more than $1 billion." -- Maybe this explains why 9 or so of our y=top military leaders have been removed from their posts. Could it be they wanted the Boeings but someone else, DOH!, wanted to redistribute our wealth? And to think how cooperative the Russinas have been... so far this year the Russians have flaunted Edward Snowden in our faces, and Russian employees of their Embassy staff have defrauded our welfare system.

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News reports highlight the American wealth at $77Trillion. Our National Debt is $17Trillion. Even if Judas 00-bama could confiscate all American wealth and start with a surplus of $60Trillion, I'm willing to bet we'd have National Debt again before he leaves office.