Obama Nominates Robert McDonald As New VA Secretary

Obama nominated Republican outsider Robert "Bob" McDonald this afternoon as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I sincerely hope that McDonald can turn this aberration around and resolve the numerous scandals and systemic delays in health care for our troops.

The nomination comes a little more than four weeks after Obama's original choice as VA secretary when he took office in 2009 — former Army general Eric Shinseki — resigned under fire.

The acting agency undersecretary for the Veterans Health Administration and the VA general counsel also have tendered their resignations.

McDonald, 61, is the son of an Army Air Corps World War II veteran, he graduated in the top two percent of his class at the U.S. Military Academy in 1975 and served five years in the Army. He was chairman of Procter and Gamble for 33 years.

McDonald is a Republican, according to records at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Ohio.

The Clintons Are Broke? Bill Clinton has been paid $104.9 million for 542 speeches around the world between January 2001, when he left the White House, and January 2013, when Hillary stepped down as secretary of state, according to a Washington Post review of the family’s federal financial disclosures.

Records of Hillary's earnings are not publicly available, but executives familiar with the engagements said her standard fee is $200,000 and up and that she has been in higher demand than her husband.

Hillary was also advanced 14 million dollars for her new book "Hard Choices" and, according to reports, may not sell enough copies to repay the advance.

Did you know that back in 1850, California became a state.The people had no electricity.The state had no money. Almost everyone spoke Spanish. There were gunfights in the streets. So basically nothing has changed since then except the women had real tits and the men didn't hold hands.

The News As I See It: World Cup Soccer has an official song. The official anthem is "We Will Find a Way." It narrowly beat out the other contender, "I Feel Someone's Teeth in My Shoulder."

It's bad in Iraq now and it's getting worse. Obama said he might have to send in Dennis Rodman.

Hillary Clinton said she won't support legalizing recreational marijuana until we see how it goes in Colorado. Officials in Colorado couldn't respond because they were too busy swimming in a pool of money'

This Date In History: 1859; French acrobat Charles Blondin, AKA Jean Francois Gravelet, walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. 1908; A powerful natural explosion from an unknown cause rocked the Tunguska Basin, in eastern Siberia, flattening hundreds of square miles of forest and resulting in tremors that could be felt hundreds of miles away.

1921; President Warren G. Harding appointed former president William H. Taft chief justice of the United States. 1934; Adolf Hitler secured his position in the Nazi party by a "blood purge," ridding the party of other leaders such as Ernst Roehm and Kurt von Schleicher. 1936; Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was published.

1971; The 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18, was ratified by the states. 1998; The remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.

Picture Of The Day: A relatively recent view of Mt. Saint Helens, slowly coming back to life after it's destructive eruption in 1980.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) Who's the genius who invented those phone cases where you can put your credit cards in with your phone so that when you lose your phone, you're also broke? 2) Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a hunter, with a gun. 3) My girlfriend stepped on the scale today. Not to check her weight, she just couldn't reach the cookies in the cupboard. 4) I think this lady I'm dating just found out. She changed her wifi name to: "Hey you in the tree. I've called the cops." 5) No I don't think you're stupid, I just think you have real bad luck when it comes to thinking.....and that's five !

Today's Horoscope: Cancer - June 30th: Stick to you diet this week. It will pay off in the long run. By the way, if you happen to hear the Pink Panther song playing when you sneak down the hall for a midnight snack, you're breaking the diet.

Birthdays: Walter Ulbricht, Communist leader 1893, Czeslaw Milosz poet, essayist, and novelist 1911, Lena Horne, Jazz and pop singer, dancer, and actress 1917, •\Paul Berg, biologist 1926, Mike Tyson, boxer 1966.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: A Texas cowboy and his bride ask the hotel desk clerk for a room, telling him they just got married that morning. The clerk says, "Congratulations!"

Looking at the cowboy, the clerk asks, "Would you like the bridal then?" The cowboy says, "Naw, thanks, I reckon I'll just hold her by the ears 'til she gets the hang of it."

They’re coming out with a new Cash for Clunkers program that will give consumers a rebate when they trade-in old home appliances. This is great news for anyone who owns a Buick toaster oven.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: My thanks to my pals Julie and Linda in Washington State for their contributions to today's stories.

A man with a bucket full of live fish was approached recently by a game warden in Arkansas as he started to drive his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, "May I see your fishing license please?" The man replied, "No sir, I don't need none of those papers. These here are my pet fish." The game warden said, "Pet fish?!"

The man said, "Yep. Once a week, I bring these fish of mine down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then when I whistle, they swim right back into my net and I take 'em home." The game warden said, "What a line of baloney. You're under arrest." The man said, "It's the truth, sir. I'll show ya! We do this all the time!!" The game warden smirked, "We do, now, do we? Prove it?"

The man released the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After a few minutes, the warden said, "Well?" The man said, "Well, what?" The warden asked, "When are you going to call 'em back?" The man said, "Call who back?" The warden said, "The fish!" The man said, "What fish?"

Moral of the story: We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain't as dumb as some government employees.

A little boy was sitting on the toilet. His mother thinks that he has been in there too long, so she goes to see what's up. The little boy is sitting on the toilet looking at a book and every 15 seconds or so, he puts the book down, grips the toilet seat with his left hand and hits himself on top of his head with his right hand.

His mother says, Tommy, are you all right? You've been in here for a while." Tommy says, "I'm ok Mommy, I just haven't gone potty yet." His mother says, "Okay, you can stay a few more minutes but, why are you hitting yourself on the head?" Tommy replies, "It works for ketchup....."

That's it for today, my little sugar plums. Remember, refrain from talking to characters on the movie screen. Tests have proven they can't hear you.

More on Wednesday.

Stay Tuned !