Obama To Visit North Carolina Next Week

By now you have heard the President is coming to North Carolina next Wednesday.

 

According to a White House press release, Obama will travel to Raleigh on Wednesday for an event on the economy. The will be his warm up for the January 28, State of the Union address.:

"Obama's expected to unveil an ambitious agenda at his State of the Union that includes income inequality, raising the minimum wage, and immigration. He's also expected to try and refocus the healthcare debate, which has dogged him over the last several months due to its disastrous roll out.

"Last year, a day after delivering a State of the Union focused on jobs and middle-class opportunities, Obama visited an Asheville, N.C. auto plant where he touted the country's ability to create manufacturing job."

Now I'm sure have noticed that President Obama's approval rating has pretty much tanked.

Even the libtards don't trust the guy. 

No surprise, since the only thing Obama has accomplished, and this will be his legacy is Obama Care. 

Trouble is those of us who already have health insurance, have had it for a long time and while it may not be perfect it is our insurance. 

The rest fall into three groups those who for whatever reason don't want insurance, those who are in desperate need of insurance but can't afford it, and those who think Obama Care is nirvana. 

It's that first group who are going to cause the train wreck that derails Obama Care. They are the fit, the young, the healthy and they are a part of a cash subculture. They are illegal immigrants, construction trades, bar tenders, wait staff, hookers and drug dealers, golf course hustlers and professional thieves. They are small business owners, and ethnic groups like the Greeks and Jews who hit the "no sale" button on the cash register and report only the credit card sales at the end of the day.

The second group account for the major underestimated costs of Obama Care. They are the sick, the unemployable, the elderly and the disabled. This group has been without insurance and quality medical care for decades, yet they have done without and until now have been a burden only to themselves and their families.

 

That last group are a very small percentage of the population. They already have free medical care and the shift to Obama Care is just another form from social services or the DSS, which explains why Obama Care and Mr. Obama are not real high on our that's cool list. 

Washington does not understand the reality of American life, the fact is most Americans are not far left or far right, the majority are the right down the middle, leave me the fuck alone hard working middle class. We don't want a hand out and we don't want to fill out another damn form.

We don't want free stuff and damn sure don't want to pay for someone else's free stuff. Which is why Obama Care will eventually collapse.

 

Come Wednesday the President will try to move on from Obama Care. Now he wants to play Abe Lincoln to the LGBT Community. Lincoln freed the salves, and so Obama is going to free the Fags. Fine with me I really don't care.

 

He'll also press to make all the illegals - legal and raise the hourly wages of entry level workers.

 

But if he wants to do something that would benefit the working class he should follow up on my list.

 

1. Freeze the gas prices at $2.99 for regular across the nation with index adjustments annually.

2. Require all cell phone manufactures to use one single size mini usb port for charging and data.

3. Make Super Bowl Monday a national holiday.

4. Provide for a death penalty for hackers, scammers, and spammers.

5. Regulate Airfares so that it isn't cheaper to fly coast to coast than from DC to Boston.

I'm just saying.

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CMPD Major Jeff Estes On Administrative Leave?

Word on the street this morning is that CMPD Major Jeff Estes, had to turn in his gun, badge and take home car because he failed to complete the state mandated law enforcement training required to keep his Law Enforcement Certificate.



Major Estes and CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe during the 2012 DNC Photo Credit WFAE

 

Cedar's Take: Estes certianly has the training to be a police officer, but screw ups like this plague the department. Hot money says there are others who are having to sit on the sidelines this week.

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Dr. Amy Chua Pens a New Self Help Book "The Triple Package"

Yale Law professor and self-proclaimed "Tiger Mom" Amy Chua is releasing a new book – The Triple Package, in which she argues that certain cultural groups, such as Jews and Mormons, produce more successful people than others, and gives her reasons why.

In her pervious best seller, a memoir titled Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, she argued that strict Chinese parenting was superior and produced very successful children. In the book she explained that she would not accept grades less than an A from her two daughters, allowed no sleepovers or school plays, and made them practice piano for hours with no breaks, among other things.

In her new book she cites the eight groups who are produce more successful people than others: Jews, Indian, Chinese, Iranian, Lebanese-Americans, Nigerians, Cuban exiles and Mormons.

Chua gives three reasons (The Triple Package) why these groups do better: superiority complex, insecurity, and impulse control – which she defines as the ability to resist temptation, especially the temptation to give up in the face of hardship or quit instead of persevering at a difficult task.

Cedar's Take: I'd add a fourth reason, they all live in the United States of America.

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OMG A Polar Vortex!

You'll wake this a.m. to scores of talking weather heads bombarding you with scary cold numbers. Terms, like Arctic, frigid, frost bite and dangerous cold.

At 6:00 a.m. HLN's Morning Express had Bob Van Dillan showing a map with wind chill numbers as he pointed to -48 degrees in North Dakota and -39 in Minnesota. Of course the real temps of -11 and -9 are not nearly as impressive or shown on the morning news.

Fact it is indeed cold in the Midwest and the cold will push into the South later tonight. But weather is a fluid give and take, colder than normal here and warmer than normal there.

What you don't hear Bob Van Dillan yapp about is the above average temps in California, and Alaska in the west and New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in the east today.

In the color map below the yellow, orange and brown colors represent above average temps for January 6, 2014.

Today the hot term is Polar Vortex (the main character in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" if you remember the box office flop) But the "Polar Vortex" is always there, weather extremes are always just around the corner.

And with these extremes in cold there are many who will say "See Global Warming Is A Myth",  too bad, because Global Warming just makes sense. As our world population continues to expand so does our effect on the environment.

Global Warming simply stated... Have a Super Bowl party in your house on a cold winter day, invite ten people, set the heat at 72 degrees and everyone is comfortable. But when 100 people show up you need to turn off the heat, kill the gas fire place and open a few windows.

Trouble is our planet doesn't have any windows we can open, and while the raving nut cases on both sides of the GW debate continue to take shots are each other, it is pretty clear to me that at some point in the future our planet will become so over populated and polluted that it will not sustain life. Just visit LA after three days without an ocean breeze.

I don't agree with Al Gore's dire predictions but I can't dismiss the obvious. Neither should you.

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In Case You Missed It - The Story of The Flying Santa

 

At 73 years old, Seamond Ponsart Roberts continues to have a close relationship with Santa. The magical bond was formed when she was just a girl, living on a secluded island as a lighthouse keeper’s daughter. And today, a vivid memory remains:

Cuttyhunk Light’s tall white tower, a beacon to mariners off the coast of Cape Cod, was home for 5-year-old Roberts in the 1940s. In the shadow of the tower, she searched for beach treasure and picked wild strawberries, explored with her dog and watched the clouds change shape.

Roberts loved her magical island world. But there was one small thing she desired — a doll. So she wrote a letter to Santa — Flying Santa, actually — the man who flew over the island at Christmastime and dropped gifts from his plane.

“He’d send that package filled with wonderful stuff for the adults,” Roberts recalled. “And he’d always find out if there were children there, so he could send something special for them. It was so personal, like having an autograph from Santa himself.”

The tradition began in 1929, when Bill Wincapaw of Friendship, Maine, began flying packages of gifts to families stationed at lighthouses and lifesaving stations along the East Coast. Capt. Wincapaw saw the flights as a gesture of recognition to these families.

 

He and his son, Bill Jr., continued the flights for close to two decades, then handed the reins to Winthrop native Edward Rowe Snow, an author and historian who used to teach at Winthrop High School. Snow expanded the list of stops and led the flights for more than four decades with the help of his wife, Anna-Myrle, and their daughter, Dolly.

Roberts knew Flying Santa as Mr. Snow.

In 1945, Roberts watched as his plane passed overhead and three packages fell from the sky.

“I knew he’d brought me something special,” she said. “We unwrapped the package and out came the doll in smithereens.”

The package had hit a rock and the gift she had waited patiently for all year was broken.

“So my dad, being the lighthouse keeper who could always fix everything, he fixed the doll for me,” she said. “He put her arm in a sling and made little bandages for her. So she was my sick doll.”

That year, the lighthouse was condemned, so Roberts’ family moved to the nearby West Chop Light. As months passed, she began to worry that Santa wouldn’t be able to find her at her new home.

On Christmas Day, her family took a trip to the nearby Gay Head Lightsaving Station. They arrived to a crowd of people, and moments later, a helicopter touched down, and out stepped Santa, Mr. Snow, in his red suit and hat. He walked up to Roberts and handed her a new doll.

“I was speechless, totally speechless,” she recalled. “That moment was a pinnacle moment in my life because it was so personal for me, that someone would do that. And I kept finding out tidbits later, like, he paid for it himself. He’d spend all year gathering up this stuff, then his family would wrap it — there was so much of the giving.

“To this day, I believe in Santa Claus, not the kids’ version, but that special things can happen to you on Christmas,” Roberts said.

This true holiday story is told in the new children’s book “Love From the Sky: Seamond and the Flying Santa,” written by Maine author Angeli Perrow and illustrated by New Hampshire artist Heidi Farrow.

“It was just a story that captivated me,” Perrow said. “I have great admiration for people who lived in such isolated places and worked so hard for such as important reason — to keep our mariners safe.”

All proceeds from book sales will go to Flying Santa, a program that continues to deliver gifts to Coast Guard children today.

In 1997, the nonprofit Friends of Flying Santa was formed to support the program. By that time, planes had been replaced by helicopters, and a number of men were playing the role of Flying Santa. Today, the helicopters visit 45 Coast Guard units from Maine to New York, bringing gifts to more than 800 children.

“Last Saturday, I was at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse when Flying Santa landed, and there were about 100 people there, and the kids were so excited when Santa stepped out of that helicopter,” Roberts said. “It was a magical moment.”

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“Even though the lighthouses are automated, there are so many Coast Guard units out there, there’s no reason for us to stop,” said Brian Tague, president of Friends of Flying Santa. “It’s an opportunity to recognize the Coast Guard families. They’re out there every day doing their jobs on the coast of New England.”

Granite State Aviation and JBI Helicopter Services, both of New Hampshire, and Evan Wile donate aircraft for the program, and the rest is funded through fundraising events, lighthouse tours and cruises, individual donations and sales of Flying Santa memorabilia.

The role of Flying Santa is currently performed by David Considine, retired Coast Guard senior chief, and Thomas Guthlein, retired Coast Guard warrant officer. And at each stop, the community gathers to meet Santa and his elves as they pass out gifts and speak to the children about the spirit of the holidays.

“It’s just a fun occasion — a big Christmas party,” Tague said. “We’ve had commanders of the sectors say it’s the biggest morale event of the year, and the kids will ask all year, ‘Are we going to see Flying Santa again?’ It’s a unique way of keeping a holiday tradition.”

“We were on the Cape the other day and they had turned their boathouse into a Santa’s workshop, all decorated and with fake snow,” Tague said. “The kids just have a great time with it.”

In 2003, Roberts joined Flying Santa Guthlein on a flight along the East Coast, returning to West Chop Light, 57 years after Santa Snow arrived on the island to deliver her second doll.

“It all came full circle,” she said.

“I got to be the elf and see the joy in the eyes of Coast Guard kids. I knew what they were feeling.

“I went over there and kissed my lighthouse,” she said. “After I got home that night, I couldn’t sleep. This was all going on in my head. I thought, ‘My God, my Santa Claus is still giving me presents.’ With every flight, I get another present. It’s a good feeling. And that’s really, deep down, what it’s all about — making people happy. It did, and it still does.”

To purchase the children’s book “Love from the Sky: Seamond and the Flying Santa,” visitwww.flyingsanta.com. Also available on the website is Roberts’ recently published memoir, “Everyday Heroes: The True Story of a Lighthouse Family” co-written with Jeremy D’Entremont.

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Another Night Another Charlotte Homicide in South Charlotte

CMPD is working another South Charlotte homicide.

From WCNC:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A man was shot and killed in a south Charlotte parking lot during an argument, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Several officers responded to the scene near South Boulevard and Sharon Lakes Drive just before 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Police say the victim and suspect had an altercation outside of a laundromat in the Sharon Lakes Business Center.

A family member took the victim to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police say the victim is a man, but his identity has not been released.

No one has been taken into custody. Witnesses and anyone else with information about the suspect is asked to come forward.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective.  

Cedar'sTake: Sharon Lakes used to be a pretty upscale and crime free area. From the 1980's to the late 1990's the area was populated by young working professionals. Then the city of Charlotte figured it was a great area for affordable housing.  

Today the area is home to low income African American families and an exploding Latino population. All within a a mile of some of the most expensive residential real estate in Charlotte. 

Another example of poor zoning spreading crime throughout Charlotte.

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In Case You Missed It Why Kay Hagan Attack Ads Are Polluting Your Christmas

NPR doesn't have a lot of listeners even here in the liberal strong hold of Charlotte, so you might have missed their left leaning take on Kay Hagen's re-election campaign.

But you can't miss the recent attack ads running around the clock. There are so many, you might think that there is a special election in a few weeks. The election of course is not until November, but Hagen's approval rating is on the ropes and the Democratic PAC is out sniping at Tom Tillis one of many expected contenders for the Republican endorsement.

Cedar's Take: Get used to this, Hagen won the seat held by Jesse Helms for 30 years and her re-election was taken for granted, but Dole lost mainly due to Barrack Obama's coat-tails and in part to her attack ad calling Hagen "Godless". But there was also the backlash against her record at the Red Cross and her wealth. I'd expect to see and hear countless ads and an aggressive push by the GOP to take back Jesse Helms historic senate seat.

Here's the NPR Transcript and the ads via: YouTube.

BTW: Cedar voted to oust Dole, not one of my brightest moves, since Hagen's record is just abysmal.  

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In North Carolina, the ads are starting early - the political ads, that is. Republicans are setting their sights on defeating first-term Democrat Kay Hagan. Senator Hagan's GOP opponent won't be known until the spring but her support for President Obama and the Affordable Care Act has already hurt her with voters. She's also being targeted by outside groups, spending millions of dollars hoping to unseat her. NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea reports.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Yes, the 2014 election is almost 11 months away but you wouldn't know it from local TV in North Carolina. The attack ads are already up and running.



UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: But health care isn't about politics. It's about people. It's not about a website that doesn't work. It's not about poll numbers or approval ratings. It's about people. And millions of people have lost their health insurance.

GONYEA: This one is paid for by Americans for Prosperity, a group with very close ties to the Tea Party Movement and with lots of cash from the billionaire Koch brothers. That and other similar anti-Hagan ads have been running for more than a month. Then, just this past week, Hagan, the Democrat, has gotten some backing from a friendly group, the Senate Majority PAC.



GONYEA: That pushback comes as Hagan's poll numbers have slumped, says Tom Jensen of the North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm.

TOM JENSEN: She's dropped over the last three months from leading most of her opponents by about 15 to being tied.

GONYEA: It's a big decline and Jensen attributes it to all of the attention surrounding the troubled rollout of the HealthCare.gov website and to the early drumbeat of attack ads. I talked to some North Carolina voters in the small town of Selma, as they stood curbside waiting for the start of the annual Christmas parade one night last week.

Where's your head right now in terms of who you might support?

DALE AUSTIN: Well, I still like Hagan, you know. Right now, unless something changes drastically, that's where I'll be.

GONYEA: That's 61-year-old Dale Austin. He describes himself as an independent voter. As for Obamacare and what the problems with its website may mean for Senator Hagan...

AUSTIN: Well, that's not her fault. It's not her fault.

GONYEA: But just a block away, 70-year-old Ethel Brown, who's here with her grandkids, puts full blame for Obamacare on Senator Hagan.

ETHEL BROWN: If it had not been for her, we wouldn't have - we wouldn't be having this Obama thing, insurance stuff. She did vote for it.

GONYEA: Then Brown adds something that will be a concern to the Hagan campaign.

BROWN: I'm a Democrat. I'm a registered Democrat, but I don't always vote Democrat. I voted for her. But I wouldn't no more.

GONYEA: Moments later, the parade was starting, so I quit talking politics and let people cheer on the local high school marching band.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOY TO THE WORLD")

GONYEA: Political strategists Gary Pearce and Carter Wrenn - a Democrat and a Republican - publish a political blog in North Carolina. They say people often forget that this is such a big state with a changing population. It's becoming less rural, more suburban. Here's Pearce.

GARY PEARCE: A lot of new people coming in here, gravitating toward the cities. Obama won by a hair in 2008. He lost by a hair in 2012. There may be one or two other states that are that close, that volatile, but not much.

GONYEA: His Republican blogging partner, Carter Wrenn, says Senator Hagan will likely go up and down in the polls over the course of the next year, as will Republicans. But he adds...

CARTER WRENN: She's just in a race that she's going to win narrowly or lose narrowly, and she can't change that. And the other thing to worry about is what about Obama. She can't control his popularity.

GONYEA: And, he says, the president's standing will absolutely have an impact in Hagan's chances for re-election. Don Gonyea, NPR News.

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