A Stroll Through the News

A stroll through the latest news stories:

Our nation's debt, as of the start of this brand new year,
stands at $17,308,849,523,342.29. Our second president,
John Adams, noted that "There are two ways to conquer
and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is
by debt." Thanks to the Obama regime, our children,
our grandchildren, and one can likely now add our great-
grandchildren will be encumbered with this growing
monster. They will have to work slavishly to pay even
a noticeable portion of it down. Let's keep this in mind
as the 2014 election approaches. Obama may have gotten
a second term, but at least we can make him a lame duck
before he can finally make our nation a dead duck.

The federal government slapped 141 new regulations on
the nation at the start of the new year. The Obama gang
is plowing ahead with even greater alacrity to micromanage
us, our homes, our businesses, and our lives. All the more
reason to make Obama a lame duck in the fullest sense
of the term come November.

The content editor for the website Reddit has banned
global warming/climate change dissenters from posting
responses on the site's science forums. This website joins
the Los Angeles Times in so banning anyone daring to
go against the left-wing junk-science orthodoxy on this
subject. Yet another example of the Left's view of free
speech, "Free speech for me, not for thee", especially
whenever someone will not go along with the party line;
this on the heels of the IRS and the NSA hassling and
snooping on people openly critical of Obama and his
statist governance, notably Tea Party activists.

Additionally, Santa Clara (CA) county officials recently
banned employees of that county from criticizing
Obamacare, worried that such outspokenness may cause
"stress" for those employees who favor it. A 20 year
employee, Norina Mooney, was so warned by said
officials with the threat of  repercussions, prompting her
to sue the county. Mooney states that Obama T-shirts,
posters, and calendars are permitted, but nothing at
all critical, including discussion among co-workers.

Here in my neck of the woods, due to the abnormally
cold weather, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele
ordered the county courthouse closed for one day.
This caused postponement of court dates for that period
of time, with some cases needing to be rescheduled for
still later on. While some in town have questioned Abele's
decision, seeing as how with the exception of Milwaukee's
public schools, other local government branches and their
facilities were not closed for this exceptionally and
dangerously cold day, including local conservative radio
talk show host Mark Belling on WISN-AM asking Abele
directly on the air, Abele said that he acted upon the infor-
mation he got from the local weather forecasts and wanted
to keep people safe from the ravages of the subzero tem-
peratures and wind chills. The day turned out to be not
as perilously cold as was predicted, but in your humble
Peasant's opinion Abele acted properly, citing the reasons
that he gave to Belling on the latter's show. In the bitterly
cold spells we in Milwaukee (and much of the rest of
the country) have been suffering through, some people
have chosen to be more risk-averse than others, thus stay-
ing home and closing businesses, postponing activities
that would have them venture outside, keeping their
children home, etc. One day here in Milwaukee the
temperature was -10' with wind chills of -35' to -40',
and weather forecasters warned that one could get
frostbite on any exposed skin, even the tip of the nose!
So it was good of County Executive Abele to choose
the safety and the health of the Milwaukee County
courthouse staff and all who had business scheduled there
for that day over getting on with everything as placed
on the dockets. Such business can be rescheduled; one's
health is harder to regain and, along with one's safety, is
of course more important. A true no-brainer to be sure.
Although the day in question proved to not be so
dangerously cold, Abele erred on the warmer side.
Your faithful Peasant heartily commends his county's
executive.

The Peasant wishes to thank Freedom Weekly for the first
four stories which I have shared here with you. The fifth
story I got right from my radio when I tuned in to Mark
Belling's weekday afternoon show. Freedom Weekly is
one of my favorite conservative periodicals, and I heartily
recommend it to you, my fabulous readers. They have an
online version too:  freedomweekly.com

Stay warm and we'll get together again soon!


MEM