This is short and to the point:
A Lesson in Irony.

The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing this year the greatest amount of free Meals and Food Stamps ever, to 46 million people.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us "Please Do Not Feed the Animals." Their stated reason for the policy is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves."

Thus ends today's lesson in irony

Blessings,
Mike Fesler

Only the best for Michelle!

She and the family spent time looking into BO's Irish roots....is that where he got the curly hair?
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In what must be the climax of her whirlwind taxpayer-funded tour of Dublin and its environs, First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters are having lunch today with Irish rock superstar Bono, according to press reports out of Ireland.

The special luncheon follows a private guided tour Michelle and the girls took this morning of the Wicklow Mountains National Park. They were shown ancient ruins, beautiful landscapes and the legendary Deer Stone. ”This gives great power,” Michelle remarked of the rock.

But that’s nothing compared to the power of Bono, the rocker with the self-acknowledged “Messiah complex” who is meeting Michelle and her daughters for lunch in the village of Dalkey, where he lives.

While breaking soda bread with Bono is sublime, the rest of their Dublin sojourn has been thrilling as well.

Dinner Monday night was at Dublin’s Matt the Thresher restaurant, which serves up traditional Irish fare. Michelle was treated earlier Monday to a special performance by the Riverdance troupe and a private tour of the Trinity College library, where she and the girls were permitted to view research on President Obama’s Irish roots.

Michelle slept Monday night in the famous Princess Grace suite of the posh Shelbourne hotel in Dublin, the tab for which is $3,300 a night.

Michelle’s special visit to Dublin – departing from the itinerary of her husband, who is in Northern Ireland at the G-8 Summit – has had all the trappings of a vacation and has come at significant cost.

It appears Air Force two was specially dispatched to Ireland to ferry her around, at a price of more than $10,000 an hour to fly. Irish newspapers have described a massive security operation designed to protect her on the ground in Dublin.

“No expense is being spared when it comes to this sort of visit,” a “senior source” in Ireland told the Herald.

Michelle will rejoin her husband this evening. The next stop on the Europe trip is Berlin, where they Obamas will spend Tuesday night together again.
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/06...

Laurie asked me to fill in for her tonight as she couldn't be here.
I have been thinking about the upcoming celebration of our Nation's Birthday.
The state of the Nation brings to mind the Old Testament Book of Joel
Joel 2:12 Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 2:13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 2:14 Who knoweth whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah your God? 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; 2:16 gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God? 2:18 Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. 2:19 And Jehovah answered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations; 2:20 but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its ill savor shall come up, because it hath done great things. 2:21 Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great things. 2:22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah
It is not too late to repent God will again bless this Nation.

DOCUMENTS OBTAINED BY JW REVEAL FBI TRAINING CURRICULA PURGED OF MATERIAL DEEMED 'OFFENSIVE' TO MUSLIMS

Political correctness is dangerous, even deadly, especially when it is practiced by one of the nation’s most important law enforcement agencies.
Judicial Watch recently released hundreds of pages of FBI memos and other documents revealing that, in 2012, the agency purged its anti-terrorism training curricula of material determined by an undisclosed group of “Subject Matter Experts” (SME) to be “offensive” to Muslims. The excised material included references linking the Muslim Brotherhood to terrorism, tying al Qaeda to the 1993 World Trade Center and Khobar Towers bombings, and suggesting that “young male immigrants of Middle Eastern appearance … may fit the terrorist profile best.”
These discoveries all stem from our investigation of a February 8, 2012, meeting between FBI Director Robert Mueller and various Islamic organizations. During the meeting, Mueller reportedly assured the Islamic groups in attendance that the agency had ordered the removal of presentations and curricula on Islam from FBI offices around the country that were deemed “offensive.”
As reported by NPR: “The FBI has completed a review of offensive training material and has purged 876 pages and 392 presentations, according to a briefing provided to lawmakers.”
To get the full story on the FBI’s attempts to placate Muslims, perhaps to the detriment of our national security, we filed a FOIA request on March 7, 2012. Specifically, we sought access to records detailing the meeting as well as “any and all records setting criteria or guidelines for FBI curricula on Islam or records identifying potentially offensive material within the FBI curricula on Islam.” We also asked for records detailing the directives to withdraw FBI presentations and curricula on Islam.
Predictably, the agency stonewalled, forcing JW to file a lawsuit on July 18, 2012. Six months later, January 15, 2013 we received our first batch of documents, followed by a second grouping on April 16, 2013. And here’s what we discovered regarding the reasons given by the FBI’s SME for purging “offensive” training documents:
“Article is highly inflammatory and inaccurately argues the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization.”
“Page 13 inaccurately states that AQ [al Qaeda] is responsible for the bombing of the Khobar Towers and that AQ is ‘clearly linked’ to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.”
“The overall tenor of the presentation is too informal in the current political context.”
“The Qur’an is not the teachings of the Prophet, but the revealed word of God.”
“Remove references to mosques specifically as a radicalization incubator.”
“Remove sweeping generality of ‘Those who fit the terrorist profile best (for the present at least) are young male immigrants of Middle Eastern appearance’”
“author seems to conflate ‘Islamic militancy’ with ‘terrorism’ and needs to define the difference and use it in their analysis”
In its May 22, 2013, article on some of the Judicial Watch revelations, The Washington Examiner reported, “While the Muslim Brotherhood is not on the U.S. State Department’s official list of international terrorist organizations, some of its offshoots, including the Palestinian group Hamas, are.” Ironically, FBI Director Mueller, who ordered the purge of “offensive” material – including the exoneration of the Muslim Brotherhood – has described the organization as a group that supports terrorism in the US and overseas.
As we recently learned from the Boston Marathon terrorist attack, the country is less safe when we allow radical Muslim organizations to tell the FBI how to train its agents and do its job. The FBI’s purge of so called “offensive” material is political correctness run amok, and it puts the nation at risk. The Obama administration needs to stop putting the tender sensibilities of radical Islamists above the safety of the American people.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/...

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating fell sharply over the past month—from 53 to 45 percent, according to a new CNN poll. Fifty-four percent of Americans disapprove of the job he’s doing, also up from 45 percent, the survey found.

Sixty-one percent disapprove of the way he’s handling government surveillance of Americans in the aftermath of a series of dramatic reports about National Security Agency spying, while 35 percent approve.

Obama's early second term has been buffeted by a series of controversies—not just about the NSA surveillance, but also allegations of misconduct at the IRS and government spying on reporters. The president was expected to address those issues in a new interview with Charlie Rose, which airs Monday night.

What about Edward Snowden, who says he revealed the government’s secret to expose abuses? Forty-four percent approve of what he did, while 52 percent disapprove. Should the U.S. government attempt to bring him back to U.S. soil and prosecute him? Fifty-four percent say yes, 42 percent say no.

Even as the economy picks up steam, the poll found that Obama’s disapproval rating on that issue has ticked up steadily over the first six months of the year, from 51 percent in January, to 54 percent in April, to 57 percent in June.

Is Obama honest and trustworthy? Fifty percent say no, up from 41 percent in mid-May, while 49 percent say yes, down from 58 percent.

Americans are sending mixed messages on the NSA surveillance controversy—43 percent say Obama has gone too far in restricting civil liberties in the name of national security, 38 percent agree with him that he’s found the right balance, and 17 percent say he hasn’t gone far enough.

At the same time, 51 percent say the administration was right to collect the telephone records of Americans. Forty-eight percent say it was wrong.

Approval soars to 66 percent regarding the government’s snooping on personal information over the Internet. Thirty-three percent say it was wrong. (CNN’s question phrasing might have something to do with that. “The government reportedly does not target Internet usage by U.S. citizens and if such data is collected, it is kept under strict controls.”)

Still, it’s not because people don’t think it hasn’t happened to them: 62 percent told CNN they thought the government had collected and stored data about their personal telephone and Internet. Thirty-four percent say they did not think so.

Does the federal government pose an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of American citizens? A whopping 62 percent say it does, up from 56 percent the last time the question was asked, in February 2010.

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama...