I don’t know what is more offensive to me – being lied to or being taken for a fool. It’s a tossup; and right now, most of the politicians in Washington are vying for the top spot for doing BOTH of those.
Today, I’m about to add Rand Paul to the list. I personally thought he was better than those tactics; but nope – just did it.
Paul recently went on Fox News and blasted the Department of Defense on the sequester scare (rightfully so) but then continued and highlighted 5.2 million of DoD wasteful spending on a study of democracy and goldfish. Why? Why did he go there?
Maybe some people hear that and think “damn right, wasteful government” and give R. Paul props. I myself think “something doesn’t sound right here“. I’m in the military, and I can assure you there is waste to be cut; but most of it is due to the inefficiency of the large bureaucracy – not overpriced studies. But I’m no expert, so I start digging.
My research is very hard and secretive and takes a long time and lots of skill, but I can train anyone in 10 seconds.
What?! Really, I can – watch this. G-O-O-G-L-E. Yup! Then, of course, you have to read the results. That’s it. The research for this post took about 34 minutes; I timed it.
Anyways, here’s the result:
FACT: Rand Paul is either very uninformed OR deliberately misleading to an uninformed electorate. Pick one. See, I didn’t say lie – that would be an intentional specific mistruth. That would be the department of Obama and Mr. Boehner blaming each other over the Sequester. Remember this song on Saturday morning cartoons: “I’m just a bill, sitting on Capitol Hill”? Well, guess what – 5th grade social studies class will tell you that the Speaker had to put the bill on the floor, then it has to pass a Republican-held House and a Democrat-held Senate, and the President had to sign it. Pretty simple; they ALL are to blame.
But I’m getting sidetracked – I’ll wrap this up. The study is partially paid for by the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research in cooperation with six other non-government partners; and it’s a four-year study over multiple topics, all within the Department of oceanographic and ecology with Princeton. Rand mentioned ONE study out of 13 published in 2012, not to mention the 34 published in the three years prior. I could not find the specific grant amounts. But just for a hypothetical example, if all patterns were equal and all studies cost the same, that means the “group decision-making experiments on fish, mathematical models and computer simulations project” cost taxpayers $18,500 – roughly.
I’m not arguing the validity of the study (I could, but I won’t). The point is this – Paul is misleading. Where did the rest of that money go? It went to studies on underwater drone development for the purpose of oil clean-up and radioactive leak detection and containment.
Does that make a difference to his point of spending? Yes. This study is not waste. He may not agree with it, but waste is unintentional loss or inefficiency. This would be waste if they paid three different people to do the same study, but that is not the case. He could have even found another $2,000 pentagon toilet seat from 90′s – which was not waste either; it was fraud, and there is a difference. With Coburn’s report of DoD spending, he could have chosen many things. In my opinion, he chose the most the most “outrageous sounding” item to rile up his base. Poor choice.
We as the public need to start calling these politicians out on their blatant misrepresentations because the mainstream media is tainted; they have forgotten how to do their job. MSNBC and FOX might as well be extensions of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively of course. We The People need to keep our leaders in check; and that means not taking anything anyone says for granted as gospel – and that includes me . Check my sources, and then YOU decide.
Welcome to the new and INFORMED you.
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Read more about it:
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/golden_shiner.htm
http://icouzin.princeton.edu/lab-publications/
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/scientist-guts-rand-paul-on-fish-study-87964.html
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S32/37/23Q43/index.xml?section=topstories
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/rand-pauls-fishin-for-5m-in-waste-87932.html#ixzz2LlDM0GPd







Iran Will NEVER Be Able To “Wipe Israel Off The Map”
BREAKING NEWS – NEWSFLASH!
I just got word that NO ONE, Iran, Syria, Egypt, or anyone else, will destroy Israel. Think I’m completely nuts? Keep reading as it gets better: God told me so.
In light of all the troubles in the world and all the negative reporting (I, myself, am guilty of this too) I sometimes try to distance myself from political things (which doesn’t work for long). Then I try to be more active, and back and forth. Life is sometimes a roller-coaster, trying to balance being responsible and informed with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Anyways, I am an unapologetic Christian believer. And with Jesus as my Lord and Savior, when I am lost in myself, my cure is to get lost in His Word. – i.e. spend some time in prayer and reading my Bible.
Well, I’ll get to the point – God knows exactly what is going on, and He told us exactly what is going to happen.
I was reading in the Gospels to get a perspective of “WWJD” (it is more than a bracelet you know… It’s a VERB!), and I came to Matthew Chapter 24 and God just blew my mind.
First, let’s read it together: Matthew 24: 2-36
Did you read it all?
It is easy to compare current events to the text in the scripture. If you can’t readily see it, then please tell me what rock you live under.
It is clearly evident that the end times are a coming, although they may not even happen this century. But WHEN is not important. It is HOW you live in the time that was granted to you that matters – which brings me to what is comforting in this passage.
In verse 34 (the one that all the Atheists and other unbelievers like to quote to show that Jesus himself was a false prophet), because the world did not end during the Apostles’ lifetime, Jesus said: “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” The Greek word used was “γενεά” (or genea), translated 34 times by King James as “generation” (but that is not what it meant. It means “lineage”. You can look it up in any dictionary prior to 1900 and find that definition.)
Two verses later, Jesus said “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” If He, as the Son, did not know the hour or the day, then how did He know that the people listening would not die until it came to pass? He didn’t – He just said he didn’t; what is wrong here is our translation. He said “Your lineage… will not die.” WOW – what a difference that makes. It was a promise God was making with his Children (i.e. I will not allow you to perish until I return to save you.) Get it?! No one is going to be able to nuke Israel off the map. God won’t allow it. That’s not an allegory or an emotional statement – Jesus said it. He just got finished describing in vivid detail how disastrous the end times are going to be – and then gave a promise.
This promise is one we can all comfort in. This world will not end on its own. We can do a lot of damage to each other, but we will not be able to destroy the planet. We did not create it, and we do not have the authority to destroy it. God may allow us to take it to the brink – but he will give the final blow – and I won’t be here to see it. I am leaving in verse 31, at the trumpet call with the “elect, in the four winds.”
If you don’t want be here either and don’t know how to be saved – message me; I’ll walk you through it. You can also just visit Romans 10:9. Or just ask someone – anyone; don’t try and find someone who “looks spiritual” as there are no stereotypes. From the church parking lot to the local skate park or even – GASP-a local bar, you’re still guaranteed one of three great reactions:
Remember, when the end times talk is getting you down and the news is nothing but bad, be comforted:
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