SMART PARENTING? MOM GIVES SON AN IPHONE…BUT IT COMES WITH THESE 18 ‘MUST-FOLLOW’ RULES

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/smart-parenting-mom-gives-son-an-iphone-but-it-comes-with-these-18-must-follow-rules/


Mike Opelka

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1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?

2. I will always know the password.

3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad”. Not ever.

4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.

5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.

6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.

7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.

8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.

9. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself.

10. No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person ? preferably me or your father.

11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.

12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else’s private parts. Don’t laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear — including a bad reputation.

13. Don’t take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.

14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO — fear of missing out.

15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.

16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.

17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.

18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

HOW MANY BUSINESSES HAVE ANNOUNCED CLOSINGS OR LAYOFFS SINCE OBAMA WON A SECOND TERM?

• Posted on November 8, 2012 at 9:29pm by  Mike Opelka
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Editor’s note: We’ll be discussing this story and all the day’s political news on our live BlazeCast at 1:30pm ET:

Do elections have consequences? If you have been paying attention to the financial markets, you might think so. Wall Street has had two horrible days since President Obama won a second term.

However, stock prices are not the only thing taking a hit. It appears that the job market is also suffering. In the last 48 hours, the following major corporations have announced layoffs in America (links take you to news stories about the layoffs – with details from the companies):

• Energizer -

The St. Louis-based company said Thursday that it expects to shed about 1,500 employees. When finished, the restructuring should lead to $200 million in pretax yearly savings, Energizer said. It aims to have most of its restructuring steps finished by the end of September 2014.

• Exide Technologies -

Exide Technologies announced Thursday that it will be idling its lead-recycling operations in Laureldale and laying off 150 workers, effective no later than March 31.

• Westinghouse -

Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor responsible for shutting down Anniston’s chemical weapons incinerator, has reduced its workforce by another 50 employees.

• Research in Motion Limited -

Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, laid off about 200 people at its U.S. headquarters in Irving on Wednesday, according to a source close to the company who did not want to be named.

• Lightyear Network Solutions -

More than one dozen employees at a Pikeville company lost their jobs this week. Officials with Lightyear Network Solutions said they are consolidating offices in Louisville and Pikeville to save money.

• Providence Journal -

The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees.

• Hawker Beechcraft -

The company says 240 employees will lose their jobs with the closing of Hawker Beechcraft Services facilities in Little Rock, Ark.; Mesa, Ariz.; and San Antonio, Texas.

• Boeing (30% of their management staff) -

Boeing Co. said Wednesday it plans to employ 30% fewer executives at its Boeing Defense, Space & Security unit by the end of 2012 compared to 2010 levels.

• CVPH Medical Center -

CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees. The layoffs — nine in management and eight hourly staffers — are part of an effort to “help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond,” a press release said.

• US Cellular -

The move will result in 980 job cuts at U.S. Cellular, with 640 in the Chicago area, according to a spokeswoman. The cuts are slightly under 12 percent of the approximately 8,400 total employees U.S. Cellular had at the end of the third quarter.

• Momentive Performance Materials -

About 150 workers at Sistersville’s Momentive Performance Materials plant will be temporarily laid off later this month, officials said this week.

• Rocketdyne -

About 100 employees at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, most of whom work in the San Fernando Valley, were laid off Wednesday in response to dwindling government spending on space exploration, the company said. The layoffs were effective immediately, and 75 percent of them came at the facilities on Canoga and De Soto avenues, which employ about 1,100 people. The company has six sites across the Valley.

• Brake Parts -

The leader of an automotive parts plant in Lincoln County has told state officials that there are plans to lay off 75 workers starting in late December…The layoffs are expected to start Dec. 28 and continue in the first quarter of 2013

• Vestas Wind Systems -

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) is seeking to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent and said it’s reducing headcount by 3,000 to raise the staff cuts by the biggest wind turbine maker to almost a third over two years.

• Husqvarna -

Husqvarna AB (HUSQB), the world’s biggest maker of powered garden tools, plans to cut about 600 jobs in a move that will save 220 million kronor ($33 million) a year by 2014.

• Center for Hospice New York -

The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care plans to temporarily lay off as many as 40 employees next year as it embarks on a major renovation of the inpatient unit at its Cheektowaga campus.

• Bristol-Meyers -

Bristol-Myers Squibb is following up its lackluster third-quarter results with almost 480 layoffs. As Pharmalot reports, the company notified the New Jersey government that it would scale back in Plainsboro, which means the cuts will hit its sales operations.

• OCE North America -

Trumbull printer- and scanning-equipment provider Oce North America, Inc. will lay off 135 workers in three Connecticut communities, including East Hartford, according to its notice with the state Labor Department.

• Darden Restaurants -

The company, which was among those who had received an Obamacare waiver in the past, is looking to limit workers to 28 hours per week. A full time employee that is required to have health insurance (lest the employer pay a fine) works 30 hours per week, as defined by the Obamacare law.

• West Ridge Mine -

In its statement, UtahAmerican Energy blames the Obama administration for instituting policies that will close down “204 American coal-fired power plants by 2014″ and for drastically reducing the market for coal.

• United Blood Services Gulf -

United Blood Services Gulf South region, the non-profit blood service provider for much of south Louisiana and Mississippi, will lay off approximately 10 percent of its workforce. It was a hard decision to make according to Susan Begnaud, Regional Center Director for the Gulf South region.

A layoff is tough enough for employees to deal with, imagine hearing the crushing news that your office is shutting down just before Thanksgiving and Christmas…  Here are some of the business closings that were announced in just the past two days:

• Caterpillar Inc. will close its plant in Owatonna Minn.
• Mount Pleasant’s Albrecht Sentry Foods
• The Target store at Manassas Mall Va.
• Millennium Academy in Wake Forest NC
• Target Closing Kissimmee FL Location
• The Andover Gift Shop in Andover MA
• Grand Union Family Markets Closing Storrs Location CT
• Movie Scene Milford Location NH
• Update: TE Connectivity Closing Greensboro Plant – 620 Layoffs Expected
• Gomer’s Fried Chicken in South Kansas City
• Kmart in Homer Glen
• Fresh Market on Pine Street in Burlington
• AGC Glass North America to permanently close its Blue Ridge Plant in Kingsport Tenn.
• The Target store at Platte and Academy in Colorado Springs
• The Roses store on Reynold Road in Winston-Salem NC
• Meanders Kitchen losing its West Seattle location at 6032 California Ave
• Bost Harley-Davidson at 46th Avenue North and Delaware Ave. in West Nashville TN
• Townsend Booksellers in Oakland
• The Kmart store in Parkway Plaza off University Drive in Durham NC – 79 Jobs Lost

To see even more companies that announced layoffs since the election, visit the Daily Job Cuts page.

This story has been updated.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/how-many-businesses-have-announced-closings-or-lay-offs-since-obama-won-a-second-term/

ANTI-CHRISTIAN HATE SPEECH SPEWS FROM THE PALM BEACH DEM CHAIR

• Posted on September 5, 2012 at 7:44pm by  Mike Opelka
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As reported on TheBlaze, Democrats returned the words “God” and “Jersusalem” to their DNC platform on Wednesday afternoon. The vote was controversial and actually booed by many in the hall.

Shortly after that content change, Mark Alan Siegel, the Palm Beach County Democrat Chairman spoke with Scottie Hughes of Patriot TV and made some rather pointed and anti-Christian statements. Mr. Siegel was wearing a “Jews for Obama” pin. Ms. Hughes spotted the pin and asked the chairman about his support for Obama despite the administration’s record with Israel.

Here are a couple of the offensive comments made by the Palm Beach Democratic Chairman:

“I’m Jewish, I’m not a fan of any other religion than Judaism.”

“The worst possible allies for the Jewish state are the fundamentalist Christians who want Jews to die and convert so they can bring on the second coming of their Lord.”

You can see the full interview with Mark Alan Siegel on Conservative Videos.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/anti-christian-hate-speech-spews-from-the-palm-beach-democratic-chair/

BY THE#S: SINCE FILING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT AGAIN El Presidente HAS…

BY THE NUMBERS: SINCE FILING TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT AGAIN OBAMA HAS…

• Posted on August 13, 2012 at 10:09am by  Mike Opelka
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On April 4th, 2011, President Barack Obama filed the required paperwork to run for re-election. So, what has happened since that time?

• Number of Obama campaign fund raising events – 200 (CBS reporter Mark Knoller reported on the milestone this weekend and gave us all a frame of reference using data from George W. Bush’s fund raising numbers during the same period.)

• Rounds of Golf – 45 – There are several sites tracking this number – one of them isObamaGolfCounter.com

US President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton ride in a golf cart after completing the first hole at the Andrews Air Force Base golf course on September 24, 2011. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

• Months that the unemployment rate has been above 8% – all 16 of the months in question

• Meetings that Obama had with his Jobs Council - 1 -  And that meeting was in January of 2012. In July, the Romney campaign claimed that the President has not met with this vital council in the past six months. That claim has been supported by PolitiFact.  

The curious thing about President Obama and his Jobs Council, he was told the country how important the unemployment problem is…  In fact, the President has made several statements about how focused he will be on this vital issue. Here are a few quotes from Mr. Obama on this vital topic.

“I/we will not rest…

• –until we are succeeding in generating the jobs this economy needs.
• – until businesses are investing again, businesses are hiring again.
• – until we build an economy that‘s ready for America’s future.
• – until every American who is ready and able finds a job.

If you would like to hear the President making these and other statements, watch the video posted below.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/by-the-numbers-since-filing-to-run-for-president-again-obama-has/

El Presidente does not want you to know about our economy

70 FACTS ABOUT OUR ECONOMY OBAMA PROBABLY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE

• Posted on August 5, 2012 at 9:27am by  Mike Opelka
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A stunning collection of 70 facts about the U.S. economy just posted on the web is probably not going to make it into the next campaign ad from the folks at Obama for America. However, youmight want to read it.

TheBlaze has culled 10 from the list of 70 here:

• The price of gas – When Obama took office, a gallon of gas cost you $1.85. Today, it’s up to $3.59 per gallon (July’s rise was 17 cents a gallon).

• 71% of small business owners believe we’re still in a recession — Despite government claims that the recession actually ended years ago, a majority of small business owners feel very differently.

• You have to work 107 days each year just to pay Federal, State, & Local taxes – That means you don’t earn a penny until April 18th.

• More than 30% of unemployed Americans have been out of work for more than a year – In 2007, that number was 10%.

• Low income America – According to NBC News, virtually half of all Americans are considered to be “low income” or living in poverty.

• Propping up the economy by monetizing our massive debt — In 2008, the Federal Reserve bought “negligible” amounts of our debt, last year the Fed purchased 61% of the government debt issued by the Treasury Dept.

• Speaking of “no faith in the US Dollar” – The price of gold when Obama was inaugurated, $850 an ounce. Today, gold is over $1500.

• The disappearing family farm – In the mid-1930s, America had an estimated 6.8 million farms. Today, the EPA estimates that number to be right around two million (and getting squeezed more and more by constricting regulation).

• Another (bad) trade record set with China – In 2011, our trade deficit with China was almost $300 billion dollars. That is the single highest deficit that one country has had with another… ever.

• A stunning amount spent on stupid studies like Why do chimps throw their poop? – Almost $600,000 of your tax dollars was sent to the folks who studied chimpanzee poop tossing, plus $198,195 paid to find out if “tweeting” makes people happy… It’s all HERE.

The full list, complete with links to the supporting stories, can be found here.

h/t Brian Wilson (not the Beach Boy)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/70-facts-about-our-economy-obama-probably-doesnt-want-you-to-see/

Adam Smith (the unemployed Adam Smith) Apologizes to Rachael from Chick fil A

CHICK-FIL-A PROTESTER POSTS A VIDEO APOLOGY TO ‘RACHEL’ AND EXPLAINS HIS ACTIONS

• Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:59pm by  Mike Opelka
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It is just after 11:30 on Friday night and Adam Smith has sent an email with a link to his official video response to the all of the events that followed his protest of Wednesday‘s ’Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.’ The clip, nearly eight minutes in length, opens with an apology to Rachel, the woman who was working the window at the drive-thru.

Smith did speak with The Blaze exclusively today and was quite candid in many of his responses. You can read that interview here.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/chick-fil-a-protester-posts-a-video-apology-to-rachel-and-explains-his-actions/