Mortality.... it's always present, but we ignore it until it hits 'too close' to home... Yesterday AM, one of my nephews called me. It was New Year's Day. Not that it was usual to get such a call, but it was one that started out as a pleasant surprise. Until... until he said his dad had died just a bit earlier. His dad, you see, is my brother; my older brother. He was only 70. That's young in our family... way too young. I'm 66.

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HuffPost "headlie": "Obamacare Benefits Become a Reality" -- "Benefits"? "Reality"? We've had 5 years of Judas 00-bama's "reality". It would be nice to say "we've had 5 years of benefit", but that ain't the way it is.

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Usually, the Mayor of New York City pushes the 'button' at 11:59:50 to start the New Year's Ball dropping in Times Square. This year, Mayor Bloomberg opted out of the ceremony. US Supreme Court Judge SoniaSotomayor did the honor. When you think about it, it was quite appropriate. She's well practiced at "dropping the ball".

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With all the shootings, armed robberies, and home invasions on the rise, the best program the Committee to Prevent Crime may want to initiate is to take note of the addresses of the suspects when captured, and install TSA type equipment to screen all persons and vehicles for weapons and stolen merchandise when entering and leaving those neighborhoods.

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There's a year report of the 10 biggest product failures of 2013. OObamaCRAP came in number 4 on the writer's list. In my book, not listing OObamaCRAP as the number 1 biggest product failure of 2013 just elevated this writer's list as the number 1 worst list of lists about 2013 things.

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OObamaCRAP... officially, it looks like less Americans are insured on January 1, 2014 than were insured on January 1, 2013. Judas OO-bama is proud of that?

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Isn't it just as discriminatory, if not more, to support someone because of his color as it is to not support someone because of his color?

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Online headline: "Alabama Couple Names Baby Krimson Tyde, Is Shocked By Backlash" -- Hmmm, on the other hand, the little fellow will grow up thinking about what he would have been named if his parents were "Junkyard Dawg" fans... or what if they had been Judas 00-bama fans....

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From the "huh... how'd this happen?" department - Online story: "US District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen, in a December ruling, claims that the Obama administration’s Homeland Security Department has been openly violating US law by conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. * Patricia Elizabeth Salmeron Santos had solicited human traffickers, of which Nava-Martinez is an admitted trafficker, to smuggle her daughter into Virginia. She eventually agreed to pay $8,500 (paying $6,000 in advance) to traffic her daughter into the country. * The Texas federal judge accused DHS of delivering children, illegally smuggled into the US to their illegal immigrant parents. “This action makes the DHS complicit in aiding that Mexican drug cartels that control the people smuggling rings,” writes Hanen. He added that the “government is not only allowing (illegal immigrants in the US) to fund the illegal and evil activities of these cartels, but is also inspiring them to do so.” * “Customs and Border Protection agents stopped the Defendant at the border inspection point,” Hanen wrote. “She was arrested, and the child was taken into custody. The DHS officials were notified that Salmeron Santos instigated this illegal conduct. Yet, instead of arresting Salmeron Santos for instigating the conspiracy to violate our border security laws, the DHS delivered the child to her – thus successfully completing the mission of the criminal conspiracy. It did not arrest her. It did not prosecute her. It did not even initiate deportation proceedings for her.” -- This is the same Department of Homeland Security that Judas 00-bama wants to become his internal Army and to rival our military as to numbers of soldiers and equally well armed. The DHS has been buying armored assault vehicles, and ammunition geared to civilian weaponry which pretty much means that Judas 00-bama is trying to circumvent the 2nd Amendment by creating a shortage of ammo civilians can find for their personal defense weapons. What's scary is that if this case had come before California's 9th District Court, we might not have ever heard about what's going on.

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Received this video from a fellow BCer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=sNOsIB5VMSQ

I knew of this event, but did not know of the video of such nor some of the military 'players' who were involved. I have no doubt that today's US Military would not follow Obama's orders do the same, but it really puts a direction on why Obama has wanted to build and arm a personal non-military army for his own use, and why he has 'fired' so many top military minds. Forewarned is forearmed.

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Online story: "On Thursday, an upgraded GED exam and two new competing equivalency tests offered in several states will usher in a new era in adult education testing * The revamped test is intended to be more rigorous and better aligned with the skills needed for college and today's workplaces." -- "upgraded"? "more rigorous"? Who are they kidding? The last "upgrade" on the SAT's has actually been a 'dumbing down' process to increase the scores to college acceptability levels for those colleges who still have admission standards.

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Online story: "Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts used his year-end report for 2013 to call for more funding for federal courts and lambaste sequestration’s effect on the judiciary. * Roberts wrote that while the judiciary recognizes the need for frugality, its operating costs are only 0.2 percent of the federal budget and it has been making austerity moves for years, even before the sequester went into effect. Because courts cannot manage their caseload, however, Roberts said the effects of sequestration hit them harder." -- May I be the first to suggest that the US Supreme Court follow the tried and true methods of downsizing to cut expenses... pink slip Sotomayor, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Breyer to start with.

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Online headline: "‘Will Not Wait’ on Inequality, de Blasio Tells New York - NYTimes.com" -- Hmmm... Ypu know, waging a war on "inequality" would be more sincere if it included waging a war on the inequality of hate crimes on the streets of NYC.

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The BCS concept has really screwed up the traditional bowl season, and next years format won't really help restore the excitement of the January 1st finale of times past. I remember times when we would just buy a ticket/hotel package for the Sugar Bowl just to be in New Orleans on New Year's Eve, and just knew two good teams were going to square off on the 1st.

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Latest from www.barackobama/organizingforaction.com: "Thanks to Obamacare and the people who fought for it, millions of Americans now have health insurance. * From here on, you can never again be denied health insurance for having a pre-existing condition, and you won't lose your coverage just because you get sick. Say goodbye to lifetime caps on care, too." -- Hmmm. as written above, we have fewer Americans insured this year than last, but as for saying "goodbye to lifetime caps"... BS... government can run out of other people's money. Worse, about the only "cap" removed for a lifetime will be the cap on fraud from such a policy.

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Now it's SEC 5 - others 0. It should have been 6-0 but Nebraska lucked out against the much crippled Dawgs. Being blunt, though, it looks like UGA needs to look deeper at a first team QB for next season.

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When is helmet spearing not "targeting" ? When it's a non-SEC player teeing off on a SEC received who is helpless in the air, and the referees are trying to even the playing field.

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I just saw a UGA player get penalized for "unnecessarily throwing the (Nebraska) QB to the ground"... Huh? The UGA player was blocked from seeing the QB hand off the ball to another runner, so what's he to do...tap the QB on the shoulder and ask the guy if he had the ball or not... plus expect said QB to answer correctly? Good grief! Between the "targeting" rules and this one, perhaps we should just make the QBs wear blow up sumo wrestler suits, and just eliminate the referees. It worked in our sandlot games when we were young...

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I love parades... You know, it was harder for me to skip watching the Parade of Roses, than the actual Rose Bowl game. Who inthe South cares about whether Stanford or Michigan State is playing, much less which will win.

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For 2014, when the United Way recipient groups are picked, how about publishing the salaries of those groups executives & staff before any money is given them, and see if the public agrees with UW's choices.

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L-E headline/story: "Oregon allows mothers to take placentas home from hospital * Today, an increasing number of women across the country call the placenta lunch, or at least an important nutritional supplement. These new mothers, including “Mad Men’s” January Jones, believe that eating the tissue in pill form, raw, or perhaps in a smoothie can help ease postpartum depression." -- "placenta lunch"? Hey, shouldn't that be covered by existing anti-cannibalism laws?