Government shutdowns and other mixed blessings

A Government Shutdown: Who to blame


We are seeing a lot of talk about a government shutdown as both sides of the aisle jockey to assign the blame to the other side. THE DEMOCRATS TALKING POINTS ARE THAT THE MEASURES PROPOSED BY THE GOP ARE EXTREME AND THAT THE GOP HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY AN EXTREMIST TEA PARTY.

In the meantime, the Republicans claim that they don’t want a shutdown, but if it comes it will be the Democrats fault. First THE DEMOCRATS FAILED TO PASS A BUDGET BACK LAST SEPTEMBER WHEN THEY HAD MAJORITIES IN BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. Second with a projected deficit of $1.6 trillion the Democrats have offered up only $30 billion in cuts which equals 1.9% of the deficit. The Republicans are attempting to double that cut to $60 billion or less than 4%.

The CURRENT SPENDING IS AT A RATE THAT WILL SPEND $3.8 TRILLION DOLLARS. The Democrats seem to find cutting that by $60 billion is something we cannot afford to do. If we look at spending in Bush’s last year and increase it by 3% for each year since we find that spending should be $3.17 trillion. This means Obama has increased spending by 633 billion above that figure. THE DEMOCRATS SEEM TO BE ONLY ABLE TO FIND CUTS OF 5% OF THAT EXCESS INCREASE AND THINK THAT 10% IS EXTREME.

Yesterday CHUCK SHUMER WAS CAUGHT GIVING SOME FELLOW DEMOCRATS THE TALKING POINTS about extreme cuts and the TEA Party while HOWARD DEAN ADMITTED THAT IF HE WERE STILL THE CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HE WOULD BE SILENTLY ROOTING FOR A SHUTDOWN.

We are in full partisan mode right now, but THE REPUBLICAN PARTISAN MODE IS MUCH BETTER FOR THE COUNTRY than is the Democratic one. But a shutdown would test my viewpoint. If the public supports balancing the budget they will blame the Democrats. If they don’t, they will blame the Republicans. In either case it probably is a good idea to find out now where the public is.



Republicans jump on Shumer’s gaffe

Republican leaders wasted little time playing up reports Tuesday that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, told other members of his party that the caucus had urged him TO START CALLING REPUBLICAN BUDGET CUT PROPOSALS “EXTREME” DURING PUBLIC BATTLE BETWEEN THE PARTIES OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

“Chuck Schumer did us a favor. He exposed their tactic,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, told reporters. “You heard his comment. HE’S BASICALLY INSTRUCTING HIS MEMBERS TO DEEM ANY SPENDING CUT UNREASONABLE. ANY SPENDING CUT. SO CLEARLY THEY’RE NOT SERIOUS.”

http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/29/republican-leaders-react-to-schumer-gaffe-on-budget-strategy/#ixzz1I53BeE00

Are the Democrats serious? Only about getting a political advantage and not about fixing the biggest problem the country faces.



Obama tanking in the polls

AMERICAN VOTERS DISAPPROVE 48 - 42 PERCENT OF THE JOB PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS DOING AND SAY 50 - 41 PERCENT HE DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE RE-ELECTED IN 2012, both all-time lows, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 46 - 46 percent job approval rating and a 45 - 47 percent split on the President's re-election in a March 3 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. IN A HYPOTHETICAL 2012 MATCHUP, PRESIDENT OBAMA GETS 36 PERCENT OF THE VOTE TO 37 PERCENT FOR AN UNNAMED REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER.

http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2011/03/30/obama-tanking-polls


The more you know about Obama, the more uncomfortable you feel.


Christie at this point the front runner for the Republicans

The Newsmax/IBOPE Zogby survey shows CHRISTIE TO BE THE CHOICE OF 23.6 PERCENT OF LIKELY GOP PRIMARY VOTERS. That dwarfs the 10.3 percent for second-place finisher Sarah Palin.

“Conservative voters like Chris Christie,” pollster John Zogby tells Newsmax, “because he offers AN ACTUAL GOVERNING MODEL THAT’S CONSISTENT WITH HIS AND THEIR PHILOSOPHY.

“Essentially, he has been fearless in terms of tackling unions, tackling budget cuts, and so on,” Zogby says. “But they also know that he’s an affable personality, that HE DOES NOT COME OFF AS THIS ANGRY RADICAL, BUT AS A CREDIBLE FELLOW.

“And at the same time,” says Zogby, “HE’S PORTLY, HE’S REAL, HE’S NOT OUT OF CENTRAL CASTING. And in many ways, for Republicans, he’s the un-Obama.”

Newsmax/Zogby Poll: Christie Leads GOP Pack

The more you know about Christie, the more comfortable you feel. I guess he is the “un-Obama.” Can you imagine Obama and Christie debating? They would look like Laurel and Hardy and we know who the smart one was with those two.


“Selective Indignation”

There was nothing particularly wrong about Sen. Dick Durbin holding a hearing today on anti-Muslim bigotry. It’s just that NOBODY AT THE HEARING WAS ABLE TO GIVE A PARTICULARLY COMPELLING REASON FOR IT.

Muslim Advocates Executive Director Farhana Khera testified about “A GROWING MENACE” of “RISING” BIGOTRY against Muslim Americans. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez spoke of the “steady stream of violence” against the Islamic community. The hearing was heavy on anecdotes and light on statistics.

There’s no denying that there have been contemptible attacks against Muslims in this country. But the idea that the number of incidents are “increasing” simply hasn’t been supported by federal hate crime reports. SINCE THE SPIKE IN ANTI-MUSLIM HATE CRIMES IMMEDIATELY AFTER 9/11, THE NUMBER OF THESE CRIMES HAS ACTUALLY DECREASED.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/03/29/%E2%80%9Cselective-indignation%E2%80%9D/


It appears the left’s narrative is not supported by the facts. Of course this really isn’t new.



Pigford Case: Racism or Racist fraud?

It’s back to business on our investigation of the Pigford story – the ongoing fraud that needs your help and attention to make it stop. The mainstream – with a few exceptions like John Stossel – are IGNORING THE STORY OF THE ONE OF THE BIGGEST FRAUDS IN U.S. HISTORY BECAUSE IT DOESN’T FIT THEIR NARRATIVE. THE GOOD GUYS ARE THE REAL FARMERS who faced discrimination at the hands of the USDA and the people, mostly conservative at this point, trying to bring their story to light. THE BAD GUYS ARE THE TRIAL LAWYERS, POLITICIANS, RACE HUSTLERS AND THOSE INSIDE THE USDA WHO PROFIT BY LYING TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT HOW THE PIGFORD SETTLEMENT IS A ‘VICTORY’ FOR BLACK FARMERs.

http://biggovernment.com/lstranahan/2011/03/29/original-pigford-claimant-calls-it-one-of-the-biggest-conspiracies-against-the-u-s-treasury-ever/


This is a classic case of how the government can screw something up and then screw up even worse as they try to rectify it. It’s a story of race, fraud, and the worst of our legal and political system.

Cash for clunker part two

Ready for another cash for clunkers program? It looks like GENERAL MOTORS IS ATTEMPTING TO REPLACE IT'S OWN CONSUMER INCENTIVES WITH TAX PAYER MONEY. The car company, bailed out of bankruptcy in 2009 by the American tax payer, APPEARS TO BE TURNING THE GOVERNMENT INTO AN AUTOMATIC REBATE PROVIDER.

The Obama administration and their friends on Capitol Hill are floating around A PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE $7500 TAX CREDIT FOR GREEN VEHICLES. This change can be found not only in President Barack Obama's budget but also a bill proposed by Senator Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/29/cash-clunkers-2-dumped-capitol-hill/

Once again Washington wants to pick the winners and the losers by unsustainable rebates for favored projects. So a $41000 Chevy Volt will only cost $33,500 after the government’s rebate. I don’t think we will see a lot of poor or lower middle class people paying that kind of money for a car.

The Green Energy Economy Reconsidered

"Green" energy such as wind, solar and biomass presently constitute only 3.6% of fuel used to generate electricity in the U.S. But if another "I Have a Dream" speech were given at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, it would undoubtedly urge us on to a promised land where renewable energy completely replaced fossil fuels and nuclear power.

How much will this particular dream cost? ENERGY EXPERT VACLAV SMIL CALCULATES THAT ACHIEVING THAT GOAL IN A DECADE--FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE'S PROPOSAL--WOULD INCUR BUILDING COSTS AND WRITE-DOWNS ON THE ORDER OF $4 TRILLION. Taking a bit more time to reach this promised land would help reduce that price tag a bit, but simply building the requisite generators would cost $2.5 trillion alone.

Let's assume, however, that we could afford that. HAVE WE EVER SEEN SUCH A "GREEN ECONOMY"? YES WE HAVE; IN THE 13TH CENTURY.

Renewable energy is quite literally the energy of yesterday. Few seem to realize that WE ABANDONED "GREEN" ENERGY CENTURIES AGO FOR FIVE VERY GOOD REASONS.

First, GREEN ENERGY IS DIFFUSE, and it takes a tremendous amount of land and material to harness even a little bit of energy. Jesse Ausubel, director of the Program for the Human Environment and senior research associate at Rockefeller University, calculates, for instance, that the entire state of Connecticut (that is, if Connecticut were as windy as the southeastern Colorado plains) would need to be devoted to wind turbines to power the city of New York….

http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/28/green-energy-economics-opinions-jerry-taylor-peter-van-doren.html

This is a good summary of why those proponents of green energy now don’t really know what they are talking about.



Book review: Why Experts Get the Future Wrong

….This is the problem Dan Gardner tackles in “FUTURE BABBLE: WHY EXPERT PREDICTIONS ARE NEXT TO WORTHLESS, AND YOU CAN DO BETTER.” Gardner, a Canadian journalist and author of “The Science of Fear,” takes as his starting point the work of Philip Tetlock, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Beginning in the 1980s, TETLOCK EXAMINED 27,451 FORECASTS BY 284 ACADEMICS, PUNDITS AND OTHER PROGNOSTICATORS. The study was complex, but the conclusion can be summarized simply: THE EXPERTS BOMBED. NOT ONLY WERE THEY WORSE THAN STATISTICAL MODELS, THEY COULD BARELY EKE OUT A TIE WITH THE PROVERBIAL DART-THROWING CHIMPS.

The most generous conclusion Tetlock could draw was that SOME EXPERTS WERE LESS AWFUL THAN OTHERS. Isaiah Berlin once quoted the Greek poet Archilochus to distinguish between two types of thinkers: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Berlin admired both ways of thinking, but Tetlock borrowed the metaphor to account for why some experts fared better. THE LEAST ACCURATE FORECASTERS, HE FOUND, WERE HEDGEHOGS: “thinkers who ‘know one big thing,’ AGGRESSIVELY EXTEND THE EXPLANATORY REACH OF THAT ONE BIG THING INTO NEW DOMAINS” AND “DISPLAY BRISTLY IMPATIENCE WITH THOSE WHO ‘DO NOT GET IT,’ ” he wrote.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/books/review/book-review-future-babble-by-dan-gardner.html?_r=2&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimesscience&pagewanted=all


This is timely as the AGW hypothesis fades into the dustbin of human history. The climate hedgehogs have attributed everything under the sun that goes wrong to global warming.



Adolescent Challenges Einstein

Jacob Barnett is twelve years-old. He likes to play Halo, has favorite shows in the Disney Channel, and recently attended his first dance. HE HAS AN IQ HIGHER THAN EINSTEIN'S AT 170, can play classical masterpieces by memory on the piano, left high school by the age of 8, taught himself advanced mathematics within a two week period, and is currently getting so far ahead in university that he is likely to be given a PhD research position soon. NOW, THE BOY IS CHALLENGING EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY AND THE BIG BANG. By Mr. Barnett's calculations, EINSTEIN'S THEORY DOES NOT ADEQUATELY EXPLAIN HOW ALL THE CARBON THAT MAKES UP THINGS LIKE THE EARTH CAME INTO BEING, and that that Earth would have to be three times older than it is believed to be-- which he also deems improbable. As for what, if not the Big Bang, is responsible for all the carbon in the universe? "I'm still working on that," says the child prodigy. "I have an idea, but...I'm still working out the details."

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/2011/03/adolescent-challenges-einstein.php


This is an interesting story that is worth your time to read it. In it you will learn why Mars’ moons are potato shaped rather than round. Jacob figured it out when he was three years old.

Libya Speech: Obama explains it all to you



Where is the word Victory?

 Obama’s fundamentally dishonest speech

President Obama gave an impassioned, sometimes eloquent, defense of his policies in Libya tonight. But when it came to justifying the limited goals of the military mission, HIS SPEECH WAS FUNDAMENTALLY DISHONEST.  OBAMA PRESENTED HIMSELF AS STANDING BETWEEN TWO EXTREMES — those on the one hand, who want to do nothing in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe, and those on the other who want to invade Libya the way George W. Bush invaded Iraq…..

… This is a straw man, and the president knows it. No serious person is arguing that we should “repeat in Libya” what we did in Iraq….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/a-fundamentally-dishonest-speech/2011/03/28/AFC0NfrB_blog.html


This appears to be the technique Obama loves using. He is always setting up a straw man argument so he can knock it down.

Obama Still Murky on Libya

PRESIDENT OBAMA JUST GAVE A WEIRD SPEECH. Part George W. Bush, part trademark Obama — filled with his characteristic split-the-difference, straw-man (“some say, others say”), false-choice tropes.

His support for those “yearning for freedom all around the world” was the sort of interventionist foreign policy that a Senator Obama — if his past reaction to the removal of Saddam Hussein is any indication — WOULD HAVE OBJECTED TO, ESPECIALLY IN THE CASE OF SENDING BOMBERS OVER AN ARAB MUSLIM OIL-EXPORTING COUNTRY. Since SADDAM WAS A FAR GREATER MONSTER (gassing thousands is far worse than turning off the water to neighborhoods) than the monsters that Obama now wishes to slay, I think he has confused rather than enlightened his audience.

THERE WAS NO MENTION OF THE CONGRESS. Is he going to ever ask its approval? And if not, why the repeated emphasis on asking others such as the Arab League or the UN for their approval — given that their representatives, unlike ours, are largely not elected?

IN A SPEECH DEDICATED TO CLARIFYING OUR POLICY, IT LEFT IT EVEN MORE MURKY. WHAT WAS OUR OBJECTIVE, AND WHAT IS IT NOW? Obama asserted that “We have stopped his deadly advance.” But is that the aim — the status quo, and a sort of permanent safe zone for rebels in accordance with UN directives? Or are we going beyond that to eliminate Qaddafi, who is the source of the problem? THE PRESIDENT NOW SAYS HE WON’T OVERTHROW QADDAFI BY FORCE, BUT THAT IS WHAT HE HOPES, IN FACT, WILL HAPPEN as a result of our military presence:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/263273/obama-still-murky-libya-victor-davis-hanson

Honesty doesn’t seem to be Obama’s strong suit.



Obama’s Libya speech

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SPEECH OFFERED MORE FOR NEO-CONSERVATIVES TO CHEER THAN IT DID FOR LIBERALS. But at the heart of his speech and of his Libya policy is a fundamental and UNRESOLVED CONTRADICTION….

…. THAT LAST SENTENCE IS THE PERFECT ENCAPSULATION OF BUSH’S FREEDOM AGENDA. But Obama then runs into trouble. Obama can’t bring himself to embrace the view of those conservatives, you know the ones who pushed to liberate Iraq. (“Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our troops and the determination of our diplomats, we are hopeful about Iraq’s future. But regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya.”) Moreover, he won’t, he told us in no uncertain terms — despite all the interests he outlined — use our military to remove Moammar Gaddafi. And THIS IS WHERE HE BECAME, FRANKLY, INCOHERENT. Why aren’t we using our military? Ah, the price of multilateralism…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/obamas-libya-speech/2011/03/04/AFOOTDrB_blog.html

Actually for all his anti-Bush rhetoric and his Nobel Peace Prize, Obama seems to be more of a warrior than Bush was. No wonder his message was incoherent.


In fact, if you dissect Obama’s argument, we find that removing Saddam was too costly and removing Milosevic took too long, but I, Barack Hussein Obama, will get rid of this dictator wholesale!!!



White House says Libya decision based on 'best interests'

NO SENSE OF PRECEDENT GUIDED PRESIDENT OBAMA’S DECISION TO INTERVENE IN LIBYA, administration officials said Monday.

"We don’t make decisions about questions like intervention based on consistency or precedent," said Denis McDonough, the administration's deputy national security adviser, amid an off-camera gaggle of reporters. "WE MAKE THEM BASED ON HOW WE CAN BEST ADVANCE OUR INTERESTS IN THE REGION."

McDonough was speaking hours before President Obama’s speech Monday night on Libya. He explained that there were compelling reasons to get involved in Libya as opposed to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria, four other countries in the Middle East where pro-democracy crowds have battled authoritarian governments.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/152181-white-house-says-libya-decision-based-on-best-interests-in-region

Makes you wonder if we are trading blood for oil. Nah, that couldn’t be the case since Obama is in office.



His lips were moving, but nothing was really said

….IF YOU'VE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION, THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME. In his last remarks before hostilities commenced, Obama announced that he was sending Secretary Clinton to Geneva for consultations with our allies. Tonight Obama announced: "Tomorrow, Secretary Clinton will go to London, where she will meet with the Libyan opposition and consult with more than 30 nations."

OBAMA IDENTIFIED NO AMERICAN INTEREST AT ISSUE IN OUR LIBYAN VENTURE. Obama did say that it was not in the American national interest to permit Qaddafi's intended massacre of Libyans in Benghazi ("It was not in our national interest to let that happen"), but one could just as well say that it was not in the American national interest to prevent it either. HIS ASSERTION IS A VACUOUS VERBAL FORMULATION. He's moving his lips, but he's not saying anything. There may be an American national interest involved, even if not a vital one, as Secretary Gates asserts, BUT IT PLAYS NO ROLE IN OBAMA'S STATED RATIONALE…

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/03/028704.php

While attacking Libya may be the “right and humanitarian” thing to do, it certainly isn’t the “smart” thing to do or even the “logical” thing to do.

Obama vs Bush

“We believe that people across the Middle East and across the world are weary of poverty, weary of oppression, and YEARN TO BE FREE. And all who know that hope, all who will work and sacrifice for freedom, HAVE A FRIEND IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.” – George W. Bush in 2006

“We welcome the fact that history is on the move in the Middle East and North Africa, and that young people are leading the way. Because WHEREVER PEOPLE LONG TO BE FREE, THEY WILL FIND A FRIEND IN THE UNITED STATES.” – Obama 3/28/2011.

Perhaps we should change Barack Obama’s name to Barack W. Obama.



Reid vows to stop any tinkering with Social Security

ANY LAWMAKER WHO SO MUCH AS THINKS ABOUT TINKERING WITH SOCIAL SECURITY ANYTIME IN THE NEXT DECADE WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH HARRY REID (AND A FEW OF HIS FRIENDS) FIRST.

A handful of liberal Democratic senators pushed back against calls from Republicans and even fellow Democrats to reform the national pension system during a rally on Capitol Hill Monday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada joined Sens. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent, Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, and Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, at a “Hands Off Social Security” rally where all of them insisted that Social Security — THE NATION’S LARGEST PROGRAM THAT COSTS ABOUT $700 BILLION A YEAR — adds nothing to the deficit or debt.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/29/reid-vows-to-stand-in-the-way-of-any-efforts-to-reform-social-security/#ixzz1HzEbtJeN

Reid has shown that he and the democrats aren’t serious about deficit reform and that they plan to use this issue politically. It might work, but it might not as well. The democrats are playing a dangerous game of “chicken” with our country.



Obama votes “Present” on deficit

There’s a well-worn aphorism in politics that getting U.S. senators to agree on anything is as easy as herding cats. In today’s bitterly partisan atmosphere, that maxim is especially apt. So when 64 SENATORS SIGNED A LETTER RECENTLY THAT URGED PRESIDENT OBAMA TO GET INVOLVED ON DEVELOPING A “COMPREHENSIVE” DEFICIT REDUCTION PACKAGE, IT APPEARED TO BE A BIG DEAL.

But even though Obama has expressed grave concern about the country’s ocean of red ink, HE HAS REFUSED TO ENDORSE THE SENATORS’ LETTER, HIS FISCAL COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR $4 TRILLION OF DEFICIT REDUCTION IN THE COMING DECADE, OR EMBRACE ANY OTHER APPROACH.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/03/29/Senators-Toss-Budget-Ball-to-Obama-Who-Fumbles.aspx

If anyone has any sense of Presidential leadership, this should help dispel them. We must address the deficit and it appears Obama, Reid, and Pelosi (the democratic leadership) refuse to.



NPR Ekes Out A Surplus and Hosts Make Out Like Bandits

NPR, which has been under attack after video footage from James O’Keefe showed a now former network executive saying that NPR would be just fine without federal funding, is going to run a surplus or “modest margin,” this year.

Daily Finance reports on the network’s financial turnaround:

AS A WHOLE, NPR — AS IS COMMON FOR A NONPROFIT — USUALLY RUNS A DEFICIT. According to audited financial statements, NPR’s revenue ran a $8.3 million deficit in the 2010 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Revenues rose to $184.3 million from $148.7 million a year earlier, while expenses jumped to $192.5 last year from $166.6 million in 2009. But after cutting staff and scaling back benefits in 2008, NPR EXPECTS TO MAKE A “MODEST MARGIN” THIS YEAR, ACCORDING TO SPOKESWOMAN DANA DAVIS REHM.

This would normally be good news, except that NPR IS LOCKED IN A BATTLE OVER FUTURE GOVERNMENT FUNDING, RUNNING A SURPLUS SHOWS GOOD FISCAL MANAGEMENT BUT MAY ALSO LEND CREDENCE TO THE IDEA THAT THEY DON’T NEED MORE TAXPAYER MONEY.

http://www.aim.org/don-irvine-blog/npr-ekes-out-a-surplus-and-hosts-make-out-like-bandits/


Makes sense to me. In an age of Obama sized deficits, NPR must be allowed to fend for itself.



Voting With Their Feet

The latest published data from the 2010 census show how people are moving from place to place within the United States. In general, PEOPLE ARE VOTING WITH THEIR FEET AGAINST PLACES WHERE THE LIBERAL, WELFARE-STATE POLICIES FAVORED BY THE INTELLIGENTSIA ARE MOST DEEPLY ENTRENCHED.

When you break it down by race and ethnicity, it is all too painfully clear what is happening. BOTH WHITES AND BLACKS ARE LEAVING CALIFORNIA, THE POSTER STATE FOR THE LIBERAL, WELFARE-STATE AND NANNY-STATE PHILOSOPHY….

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/29/voting_with_their_feet_109369.html

This phenomenon has mixed messages. The red states they are fleeing to are picking up congressional seats, but will they bring the liberal policies they are fleeing with them? Will they “Californicate” Texas, etc?

AT&T merger could swell ranks of union that backs Democrats

The merger of AT&T and T-Mobile COULD SWELL THE RANKS OF A UNION WITH CLOSE TIES TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Analysts predict that Republicans are less likely than Democrats to try to block AT&T's merger with T-Mobile. But in certain districts, the merger could carry political costs for GOP candidates.

That's because thousands of T-Mobile USA's employees — who are not unionized — will become part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) if AT&T is permitted to buy up the company. CWA almost uniformly endorses Democrats.

"CWA IS VERY INFLUENTIAL IN CERTAIN STATES, AND THIS MIGHT INCREASE THEIR POLITICAL MUSCLE IN CERTAIN PLACES WHERE THEY ARE POWERFUL, LIKE NEW JERSEY," said Daniel DiSalvo, a political science professor at the City College of New York.

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/152221-atat-merger-could-hurt-republican-candidates

It easy to see this merger should get quick approval by a Democrat administration. I guess all corporations are equal in Obama’s eyes, but some are more equal than others.

Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout

Rex Weyler announces to Patrick Moore that he is about to come out publicly with a critique of Patrick’s new book, Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist.

RW: You portray yourself as “sensible” and disparage all non-corporate environmentalists, but you don’t act scientific. You employ rhetorical devices such as: “There is no alarm about climate change,” since “the climate is always changing….”

PM: I hardly think Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalogue, is a corporate environmentalist, more of a loveable hippie with a big brain. Do you think Bjorn Lomborg is “corporate”. I DON’T AGREE WITH EITHER BRAND OR LOMBORG ON EVERYTHING BUT AT LEAST THEY CAUSE ME TO THINK RATHER THAN PEOPLE WHO REPEAT A MEMORIZED PARTY-LINE. I also admire James Lovelock even though I find him enigmatic. All three of these environmentalists that I admire are non-corporate. Which “corporate environmentalists” am I allegedly admiring?

I believe I am sensible and have been all my life, as in common sense. But I suppose that is a matter of opinion….

http://www.beattystreetpublishing.com/moore-weyler-exchange/

An interesting conversation (debate?) that highlights the differences between the environalarmists and those who take a more sensible approach.

Energy, Libya, and the real world

Awash in energy yet we won’t use it

AMERICA’S COMBINED ENERGY RESOURCES ARE, ACCORDING TO A NEW REPORT FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CSR), THE LARGEST ON EARTH. They eclipse Saudi Arabia (3rd), China (4th) and Canada (6th) combined – and that’s WITHOUT INCLUDING AMERICA’S SHALE OIL DEPOSITS and, in the future, the potentially astronomic impact of methane hydrates….

…The CRS estimates US RECOVERABLE COAL RESERVES AT AROUND 262 BILLION TONS (not including further massive, difficult to access, Alaskan reserves). Given the US consumes around 1.2 billion tons a year, that’s A COUPLE OF CENTURIES OF COAL USE, at least….

…. In 2009 the CRS upped its 2006 estimate of America’s enormous natural gas deposits by 25 percent to around 2,047 trillion cubic feet, a conservative figure given the expanding shale gas revolution. AT CURRENT RATES OF USE THAT’S ENOUGH FOR AROUND 100 YEARS. Then there is still the, as yet largely publicly untold, story of methane hydrates to consider, a resource which the CRS reports alludes to as “immense…possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels….”

…. While the US is often depicted as having only a tiny minority of the world’s oil reserves at around 28 billion barrels (based on the somewhat misleading figure of ‘proven reserves’) ACCORDING TO THE CRS IN REALITY IT HAS AROUND 163 BILLION BARRELS. As Inhofe’s EPW press release comments, “THAT’S ENOUGH OIL TO MAINTAIN AMERICA’S CURRENT RATES OF PRODUCTION AND REPLACE IMPORTS FROM THE PERSIAN GULF FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS….”

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/26/us-most-energy-resources-in-the-world-and-most-incoherent-energy-policy/

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=04212e22-c1b3-41f2-b0ba-0da5eaead952


Next time someone talks about “peak” oil or how we are running out of fossil fuels, remember what you’ve read here. America is the most energy independent country on earth, if only the left would let us exploit it.



Obama’s Energy Policies and George Soros

ARE BARACK OBAMA'S ENERGY POLICIES INFLUENCED BY HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRE AND POLITICAL PATRON, GEORGE SOROS?

Abby Wisse Schacter, in the New York Post, notes that the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS CLAMPING DOWN ON OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA (BOTH ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE) but is hell-bent on helping other nation's tap their resources and points out that such help is being showered specifically in New Guinea, of all places.

IT IS STARTING TO LOOK OBVIOUS THAT THE ADMINISTRATION DOESN'T WANT OIL EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION AT HOME WHILE IT IS PROMOTING THE SAME EXPLORATION AND EXTRACTION ELSEWHERE -- specifically Brazil and New Guinea. "The Bureau of Ocean Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has assigned only six drilling engineers to process all permit applications pending in the Gulf of Mexico. While Michael Bromwich bemoans a lack of the staff necessary to speed up the process, he's sending his staffers to Papua New Guinea to advise its officials on ways to develop the country's offshore drilling infrastructure. A significant portion of the agency's budget is covered by fees, royalties, taxes, and rents from energy production, so curtailing drilling closes off cash flow too.

Others have commented on Obama's generosity regarding Brazil's oil wealth and how those actions might help George Soros.

BUT FOCUS SHOULD NOW TURN TOWARDS THE EXOTIC LAND OF NEW GUINEA…

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/soros_wins_under_obamas_energy.html

This dovetails nicely with the story right before it. We need to be exploiting our own energy reserves.



How Long Will U.S. Forces be Involved in Libya? White House Says Nobody Knows

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for almost ten years, at war in Iraq for almost eight years and AT WAR IN LIBYA FOR NINE DAYS.

On “This Week,” ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper asked Secretary of Defense Gates HOW MUCH LONGER WE MIGHT BE THERE.

“Some NATO officials say this could be three months, but people in the Pentagon think it could be far longer than that. Do you think we'll be gone by the end of the year? Will the mission be over by the end of the year?” Tapper asked

“I DON'T THINK ANYBODY KNOWS THE ANSWER TO THAT,” GATES SAID.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/03/how-long-will-us-forces-be-involved-in-libya-white-house-says-nobody-knows.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Honest answers are hard to come by because they can be so unsatisfying.



Is NPR unbiased?

....ADVOCACY BEGINS WITH THE CHOICE OF STORIES TO COVER. When you cover the "controversial" Arizona immigration law with great attention and give very little attention to stories that reflect badly on immigrants, you exhibit bias even though no clear advocacy has been shown. OF COURSE, THE MEDIA WILL ARGUE THAT THEY COVER THE "NEWSWORTHY" STORIES. THIS IS CONVENIENT COVER WHEN YOU GET TO DECIDE YOURSELF WHAT IS AND ISN'T NEWSWORTHY.

Advocacy continues with the sources used in covering a story. YOU CAN STACK THE DECK BY CITING ONLY SOURCES THAT AGREE WITH YOUR POSITION. That level of bias is rather obvious and, frankly, not NPR's modus operandi. NPR tends to be quite scrupulous in including multiple sides of a story. When they run a story on gay marriage, for example, they will typically interview both advocates and strong opponents of the practice. At times they will tilt in one direction on their source list, but other times they will tilt in the other direction. Does this mean that NPR does not use a source list to advocate? Not so fast.

HOW MUCH DOES EACH SOURCE GET TO SAY? WHAT MATTERS IS EACH SOURCE ASKED TO SPEAK UPON? IN WHAT ORDER ARE THE SOURCES CITED? Is the source heard in his or her own voice, quoted in the reporter's voice, or paraphrased? All of these are questions that demonstrate ways to inject the "objective" reporter's position into the story. Several years ago, FAIR did a source-counting report in which they proclaimed NPR's news to be largely unbiased. Such a simplistic view of communication either reflects poorly on FAIR's abilities or their honesty.

SELECTION, EDITING, AND REPORTER TRANSITIONS PROVIDE A POINT FOR ADVOCACY TO ENTER A STORY. Without seeing the entire available information from which a reporter assembled a story, we cannot make a firm claim of fairness or bias, but neither can Bill Moyers.

ONE ADDITIONAL ENTRANCE OF ADVOCACY COMES IN THE QUESTIONS ASKED OF SOURCES….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/the_bias_they_cant_see_the_npr.html

A good evaluation of NPR and how bias can get into news stories. In fact, the major problem the left has with Fox News is their choice of stories.  Fox covers something the left would rather they not and force the other news sources to cover it as well.



Transparency?

Ahead of a congressional hearing this week on whether senior political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security have blocked the release of some documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act, A SERIES OF NEWLY UNCENSORED EMAILS INDICATE THAT SOME STAFFERS COMPLAINED FOR MONTHS OF INTERNAL "MEDDLING" BY OBAMA-APPOINTED OFFICIALS.

Obtained by The Associated Press under a FOIA request, THE EMAILS DESCRIBE "CRAZY" AND "BANANAS!" POLITICAL REVIEWS OF DOCUMENT REQUESTS, AND "CONSTANT STONEWALLING" AS FILES WENT TO HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JANET NAPOLITANO'S POLITICAL STAFF AS PART OF THE PRE-RELEASE VETTING process.

President Barack Obama has said that federal workers should "act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation" to fulfill FOIA requests, and Attorney General Eric Holder has stressed that "unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles have no place in the new era of open government." But critics say that the administration has been bogged down by political interests in fulfilling document requests from journalists, watchdog groups and ordinary citizens.

In one recent instance cited by the AP…..

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52033.html#ixzz1HtlvD3jB

So much for the most Transparent Government in history…



Transparency (part 2)?

The Obama administration failed to set up an "effective" communications system during last year's BP oil spill and THREATENED ITS OWN CREDIBILITY BY "SEVERELY RESTRICTING" THE RELEASE OF "TIMELY, ACCURATE INFORMATION," ACCORDING TO A NEWLY RELEASED REPORT COMMISSIONED BY THE U.S. COAST GUARD.

Quietly posted on the Coast Guard's website two weeks ago, the report offers the first major assessment of the federal government's communications efforts during the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

"Several layers of review and approval by the White House and (Department of Homeland Security) prevented timely and effective crisis communications and HINDERED THE COAST GUARD'S ABILITY TO ... (KEEP) STAKEHOLDERS INFORMED ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE RESPONSE," THE REPORT READS, adding that "accurate and timely messaging from the response organization improves transparency with the public."

Information centers in Houma, La., and Mobile, Ala. -- established by the Coast Guard in accordance with pre-set plans for major disasters -- WERE "EFFECTIVELY MUTED," THE REPORT READS….

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/28/slowing-bp-oil-spill-administration-slowed-flow-information-claims-coast-guard/

Rather than one of the most Transparent Government in history, it appears this is one of the least transparent governments in recent years.



Senate Dems, White House to offer $20B more in cuts; tensions rise

Senate Democrats and the White House on Monday were working to finalize a new counteroffer to the GOP on 2011 spending cuts.

The counteroffer would cut an additional $20 billion from 2011 spending on top of the $10 billion already cut by two short-term continuing resolutions enacted this month, sources close to the talks said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/152131-senate-dems-white-house-to-offer-20b-in-spending-cuts


Considering this is .45% of the budget this isn’t much of an offer. If you are spending $50,000 per year and you are borrowing $16,000 of that amount and the bank told you that you have to cut your spending, this is the equivalent of offering to cut your spending by $222 per year. That probably wouldn’t impress your banker.

Who damaged the environment the most in human history?

Here’s a funny look at this question.

http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2011/03/the-worlds-worst-environmental-villan.html

Leadership and other failures

10 Things Libya tells us about Barack Obama

….Be all that as it may, however, IF SUCCESS IS ACHIEVED THEN THIS WILL BE AS MUCH DESPITE AS BECAUSE OF OBAMA’S POLICIES. The past few weeks have betrayed a number of startling truths about the way Obama views the world. Here are 10 of them:

1. OBAMA PREFERS TO FOLLOW EUROPEANS rather than lead them.

2. Obama’s failure to consult Congress further illustrates that much of HIS CAMPAIGN RHETORIC ABOUT PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH’S FOREIGN POLICY WAS BOGUS (other evidence includes the increase in drone strikes and the maintenance of Guantanamo and the accompanying military tribunal structure).

3. OBAMA WILL GO TO WAR EVEN WHEN THERE’S NO VITAL AMERICAN INTEREST. Robert Gates, the Pentagon chief, let the cat out of the bag today….

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100081483/barack-obamas-libya-policy-dither-delay-distaste-and-regret/


Number 3 should not surprise anyone. The left prefers to go to war when there is no vital American interest since that shows or motives are pure.



Canada’s government falls

CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER'S GOVERNMENT RECEIVED A VOTE OF "NO CONFIDENCE" FROM ALL 156 MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITION MEANING THAT PARLIAMENT WILL NOW BE DISSOLVED AND NEW ELECTIONS SCHEDULED:

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to share information that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them. …

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/canadian_government_falls.html



Star Parker: Why liberals hate Clarence Thomas and Sarah Palin

In the days when slavery was legal in this country, all slaves did not willingly resign to the grim fate cast upon them.

The human spirit longs to be free. IN SOME INDIVIDUALS, THAT LONGING BEATS SO STRONG IN THEIR BREASTS THAT THEY WILL TAKE LARGE PERSONAL RISKS, AGAINST GREAT ODDS, TO REBEL AGAINST TYRANNY that has transformed their lives into a tool for someone else's will and whim.

SLAVES WHO HAD THE TEMERITY TO RUN AWAY FROM THEIR PLANTATION "HOME" PAID DEARLY IF THEY WERE CAUGHT AND RETURNED. Measures were taken to make them an example to others who might harbor similar thoughts about freedom.

Among those measures were brutal public beatings of rebels to which other slaves were forced to bear witness and digest with great clarity the price of rebelliousness.

SUCH IS THE FATE TODAY OF THOSE UPPITY SOULS WHO CHOOSE TO CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY OF OUR INEXORABLY GROWING GOVERNMENT PLANTATION.

Those with interests for the care and feeding of this plantation cannot physically punish these rebels with the whip.

Their whip is the mainstream media and the means of punishment of this virtual whip is not beating of a physical body but assassination of character.

This perspective helps US UNDERSTAND THE ONGOING LIBERAL OBSESSION WITH DESTROYING SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS AND FORMER ALASKA GOV. SARAH PALIN.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/03/star-parker-why-liberals-hate-clarence-thomas-and-sarah-palin#ixzz1Hnt3jy8p

Heretics are worse than nonbelievers in most religions. Hence a woman or a black man who is a conservative is the worst kind of heretic.



A Liberal dilemma

Here in the Tar Heel state, the Republicans have taken over the House and the LIBERALS ARE FREAKING OUT. Thank goodness they don’t have guns. Otherwise, they’d be shooting up the campus and causing irreparable harm by injecting lead into the public water supply. One university chancellor was so freaked out she said this about the proposed Republican budgets cuts: “IF THE REPUBLICANS GET THEIR WAY WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO RAISE TUITION BY $2000. THAT WILL MEAN THAT MOST OF THE EXPENSE OF HIGHER EDUCATION WILL HAVE TO BE PAID BY THE PEOPLE WHO ARE USING IT - AS OPPOSED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.”

That’s a frightening prospect for a liberal, now isn’t it? Just imagine a society where people have to pay for the goods and services they use instead of having “society” foot the bill.

http://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2011/03/28/resentment_studies/page/full/

Sometimes the liberals slip up and actually say what they mean.


Jihadis who fought U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan now enjoy American support in Libya

EVIDENCE IS EMERGING THAT UNITED STATES FORCES ARE WAGING WAR IN LIBYA ON BEHALF OF REBELS WHOSE RANKS INCLUDE JIHADIS WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THE U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reports that Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, a leader of U.S.-supported rebel forces in the fighting around Adjabiya, went to Afghanistan in 2002 to fight against the "foreign invasion" -- that is, U.S. troops who invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11 attacks. The Telegraph says al-Hasidi told an Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, that he was captured in 2002 in Peshawar, Pakistan. "He was later handed over to the U.S., and then held in Libya before being released in 2008," the Telegraph reports. Al-Hasidi also told the Italian paper he recruited about 25 Libyan men to fight against U.S. forces in Iraq.

AL-HASIDI'S STORY IS CONSISTENT WITH EVIDENCE PRESENTED IN A 2007 REPORT PUBLISHED BY THE COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER AT THE U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY IN WEST POINT…..

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/jihadis-who-fought-us-iraq-afghanistan-now-enjoy-american-support#ixzz1Hp2u4VGR


This is one of those scary things that seems to happen when the Democrats are in control of the Presidency.



Arab Spring like 1989? Or like 1848?

Yet since the start of the so-called Arab Spring, a chorus of historians and commentators has been arguing that the most fitting historical analogy to what’s happening in the region right now may be significantly less giddy-making. For them, the period we should be thinking about is not 1989, but rather 1848, when a cascade of revolutions engulfed Europe only to be extinguished by forces of the old order.

While the 1848 analogy is a long way from perfect, the past several weeks have made it abundantly clear that the situation at hand cannot be seen as a triumphant repeat of 1989. With protests being violently put down across the region, and the uprising in Libya devolving first into civil war and then a full-on international conflict, one wonders whether 1848, with its legacy of violence, bloodshed, and ultimate failure at the hands of tenacious counterrevolutionaries, will turn out to be the best road map we have….

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/03/27/is_this_1848/


I’ve been pretty well convinced about this from the start. Most revolutions don’t work out well.


Why Brit-style riots could spread to US

They were cleaning up the mess in London yesterday -- replacing the windows at the Ritz, fixing the wooden façade at Fortnum & Mason and attending to a vandalized Trafalgar Square in the wake of Saturday's protests -- and riots -- by trade unionists and anarchists.

THINK IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE? THINK AGAIN.

The British press reports that up to half a million people took part in the demonstrations, 200 were arrested and MORE THAN 160 INJURED -- INCLUDING 84 POLICE OFFICERS, 11 OF WHOM HAD TO BE HOSPITALIZED.

Why? Because Prime Minister David Cameron announced a $130 billion cut in public spending AND THIS IS HOW THE INFANTILE LEFT REACTS WHEN ITS I'VE-GOT-MINE-JACK GRAVY TRAIN IS THREATENED.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/barbarians_within_Hgv74LXgQnxXQ3MEkJXMIO#ixzz1Ht3k5ZPy

Wisconsin has been a sorry story of just how entitled the left feels and what they will do to keep the gravy flowing on their gravy train.



Hide the Decline: What actually happened

http://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/video-berkeley-professor-richard-muller-explains-trick-to-hide-the-decline-in-climategate-scandal/


An interesting and devastating look at what was revealed by Climategate. But then again, would scientists ever lie to us?

People stories

And she's smart too!

A suggestion to replace Couric

Katie Couric is out as CBS anchorwoman in June and they must find a successor for her. I was never a fan of Couric’s, but in her defense the tradition of the network evening news is pretty much moribund, almost neanderthal, at this point. IN ALL PROBABILITY WHOEVER COMES TO REPLACE HER WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE — UNLESS CBS DOES SOMETHING TRULY DRAMATIC…..

…..Nevertheless, I suggest CBS SHOULD ABJURE THE TRADITIONAL AND PIRATE MEGYN KELLY FROM FOX NEWS. Not only is Kelly younger and more attractive than Couric (thus fulfilling the sexist perquisites), SHE IS VASTLY MORE INTELLIGENT AND INFORMED. She is also the most incisive interviewer on the air at this moment.

Furthermore, as almost all polls show, America is a center-right country ideologically. If CBS had the courage to choose Kelly, they would shortly be cleaning the clocks of those tweedle-dums and dees ABC and NBC. And they would be putting a serious dent in Fox News.

Will they do it? Don’t hold your breath.

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/03/25/my-suggestion-to-replace-couric/


This is actually a brilliant idea that has the chance of a snowball in hell. Megyn Kelly is extremely bright and well spoken. But choosing her would violate the MSM premise that Fox is somehow not a legitimate news source.

Hypocrisy of Michael Moore thickens

What would you say to someone who made $50 million in an industry in which 90 percent of his fellow union members made less than $5,000 per year?

HOW ABOUT SOMEONE WHOSE LAST PROJECT GROSSED OVER $220 MILLION BUT WHO HIRED NONUNION WORKERS TO SAVE MONEY? Unions should be up in arms. People across the country should be protesting outside this guy's house. Commentators like Rachel Maddow should be raining condemnation on his head in disgust over the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor in America.

HE SHOULD BE THE LEFT'S POSTER BOY FOR ALL THAT IS WRONG WITH OUR COUNTRY. But what if the person who does such things is Michigan's own Michael Moore?

http://detnews.com/article/20110325/OPINION01/103250338/Hypocrisy-of-Michael-Moore-thickens#ixzz1Hkfwl7Or

Don’t you just love the hypocrisy? I always find it funny that unions will hire non-union people to walk picket lines for them.



The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics

David Koch’s secretary told him the news. This was in February, during the rowdy standoff between Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and demonstrators backing 14 Democratic legislators who’d fled to Illinois rather than vote on a bill weakening public employee unions. Koch’s secretary said that an editor for a left-wing website, the Buffalo Beast, had telephoned the governor posing as David Koch and recorded the conversation. And Walker had fallen for it! HE’D HAD A 20-MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH THIS BOZO, NOT ONCE QUESTIONING THE CALLER’S IDENTITY. BUT THEN HOW COULD WALKER HAVE KNOWN? Sure, David Koch was a billionaire whose company had donated to his campaign. BUT KOCH (PRONOUNCED “COKE”) HAD NEVER TALKED TO WALKER IN HIS LIFE.

Yet here were THE MEDIA REPORTING THAT HE AND HIS BROTHER CHARLES WERE BEHIND WALKER’S PUSH AGAINST PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. Anger washed over David like a red tide. He’d been victimized by some punk with a political agenda.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/paranoid-style-liberal-politics_555525.html

What I funny ironic is how the leftist press always seems to get the real story wrong. Common logic would tell you that if the Koch brothers were running Walker, he would have recognized the voice wasn’t David Koch’s. That was the real story, but it didn’t fit the left wing narrative, so they simply ignore the obvious and go off on a tangent. And it happens over and over again with the left.

Amateurs and other Democratic Problems

The Speech Obama Hasn't Given

It all seems rather mad, doesn't it? The decision to become involved militarily in the Libyan civil war couldn't take place within a less hospitable context. The U.S. is reeling from spending and deficits, we're already in two wars, our military has been stretched to the limit, we're restive at home, AND NO ONE, REALLY, SEES PRESIDENT OBAMA AS THE KIND OF LEADER YOU'D FOLLOW OVER THE TOP. "THIS WAY, MEN!" "NO, I THINK I'LL STAY IN MY TRENCH." People didn't hire him to start battles but to end them. They didn't expect him to open new fronts. Did he not know this?

He has no happy experience as a rallier of public opinion and a leader of great endeavors; the central initiative of his presidency, the one that gave shape to his leadership, health care, is still unpopular and the cause of continued agitation. When he devoted his entire first year to it, he seemed off point and out of touch. This was followed by the BP oil spill, which made him look snakebit. NOW HE SEEMS INCOMPETENT AND OUT OF HIS DEPTH IN FOREIGN AND MILITARY AFFAIRS. He is more observed than followed, or perhaps I should say you follow him with your eyes and not your heart. So it's funny he'd feel free to launch and lead a war, which is what this confused and uncertain military action may become.

WHAT WAS HE THINKING? WHAT IS HE THINKING?

Which gets me to Mr. Obama's speech, the one he hasn't given. I cannot for the life of me see how an American president can launch a serious military action without a full and formal national address in which HE EXPLAINS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHY HE IS DOING WHAT HE IS DOING, WHY IT IS RIGHT, AND WHY IT IS VERY MUCH IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST.....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704604704576221142167651286.html

Peggy Noonan always a good read hits the nail on the head here. The more we know about Obama, the more nervous we all get.



GE: Obama’s favorite and a zero tax payer

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

ITS AMERICAN TAX BILL? NONE. IN FACT, G.E. CLAIMED A TAX BENEFIT OF $3.2 BILLION…..

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

In case you wondered what crony capitalism was all about.



Obama's Achilles' Heel?

There are THREE SIGNIFICANT ISSUES OR FACTORS THAT WILL KEEP PRESIDENT OBAMA FROM FORGING A COALITION OF ALMOST-EVERYBODY, à la Reagan in 1984 or Johnson in 1964, in the 2012 election. THE FIRST IS THE CONTINUING WEAKNESS OF THE ECONOMY. Obviously, jobs remain a problem – and this weakness is also manifested in the rising cost of gasoline and food. The second is the president's health care bill. And the third is the budget deficit.

For a while, I had thought that the economy would be the president’s biggest problem, followed by health care and the deficit. But while the economy will still to be a drag on Obama (Wells Fargo predicts 8.2 percent unemployment by the end of 2012 while the consensus of Wall Street Journal economists puts it at 7.7 percent on Election Day – both estimates are higher than anything we've seen in a postwar election), I AM INCREASINGLY OF THE OPINION THAT THE BUDGET DEFICIT MIGHT BE THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM FOR THIS PRESIDENT IN HIS REELECTION BID.

This runs contrary to many statistical models of presidential elections, which will tell you that the structural forces that shape outcomes are the number of terms of his party in office, casualties in foreign wars, and the performance of the economy. However, I generally have a low opinion of these models, and I think they are quite poorly suited for dealing with the politics of deficits. Here are two reasons why:….

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/morning-jay-obamas-achilles-heel_555476.html
For you political junkies who are glued to what will happen in the 2012 election, this is a good read.



Critics: Iowa terror drill portrays immigration foes as killers

Foes of illegal immigration are up in arms over plans for a weekend disaster exercise in western Iowa with A FICTITIOUS SCENARIO IN WHICH YOUNG WHITE SUPREMACISTS SHOOT DOZENS OF PEOPLE AMID RISING TENSIONS INVOLVING RACIAL MINORITIES AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.


The exercise is planned for Saturday at Treynor High School in Pottawattamie County and will involve more than 300 people, confirmed Doug Reed, the lead exercise planner for the county's emergency management agency. Some 30 to 40 "victims" will be transported to area hospitals. HE SAID A TERRORISM SCENARIO IS REQUIRED BY FEDERAL OFFICIALS FOR THE EXERCISE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING.


The exercise scenario describes shootings occurring after rising tensions in the community because of an influx of minorities, Reed said. The newcomers, some who are American citizens and some who are illegal immigrants, were to have moved into a rural area from urban areas in search of more-affordable living. The newcomers are not welcomed by racial extremists, and controversy sweeps the community, he said.....

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110324/NEWS/110324009/Critics-Iowa-terror-drill-portrays-immigration-foes-as-killers?odyssey=tab

Once again liberals don’t seem to want to acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room.



ACLU: The Real History

Indeed, few leftist organizations in existence today can compete with the ACLU in terms of DEMONSTRATED HOSTILITY TOWARD WHAT THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DESCRIBES AS "CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS" with which Americans are "endowed by their Creator."

Consider the doublespeak inherent throughout THE "PROGRESSIVE" GOLIATH'S FLOWERY SELF-REPRESENTATION:

The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

NOW CONTRAST THAT DEPICTION WITH ACLU FOUNDER ROGER BALDWIN'S CANDID VISION:

I AM FOR SOCIALISM, DISARMAMENT, AND, ULTIMATELY, FOR ABOLISHING THE STATE ITSELF... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. COMMUNISM IS THE GOAL…..

http://townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2011/03/25/aclu_communism_is_the_goal/page/full/

If you thought the ACLU was a bunch of Communists, you may have been correct.

From Wisconsin to Libya

Why Walker took on unions' power

“Why is Scott Walker so afraid of collective bargaining?” asks Christian Schneider in the new edition of Wisconsin Interest. The answer, he writes, “can be found in the rise of the state’s teachers unions.”....

.....Gov. Gaylord Nelson radically changed Wisconsin in 1959 when he permitted public-sector unionization, but AN INFLECTION POINT NEARLY AS IMPORTANT WAS THE 1977 MEDIATION-ARBITRATION LAW THAT STEMMED FROM THE BITTER 1974 TEACHERS STRIKE IN HORTONVILLE. It ended public-sector strikes, but it also empowered a kind of pattern bargaining that let unions do a number of public budgets. That’s why the per-pupil spending line shifts to a radically steeper slope at that point.

Writes Schneider:

“Consider that in the 16 years prior to Hortonville, AVERAGE STATE PER-PUPIL SPENDING INCREASED 6.7% PER YEAR. POST-STRIKE, IT JUMPED TO 9.6% PER YEAR in the 16 years following the Hortonville clash.”

Schneider details the techniques, but the underlying reality is that collective bargaining has worked well for unions -- and wretchedly for taxpayers. They’ve slowly enriched the one at the expense of the other. He writes:....

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/118535169.html

Some interesting facts here. 6.7% increases will double what you spend in approximately 11 years. 9.6% increases doubles spending in 7.5 years. That is a huge difference which will break any system even a governmental one.



Tyranny of the Minority

Statehouse walkouts are not without precedent. In fact, they are a reasonably common occurrence. But they are largely symbolic gestures -- an attempt to demonstrate the minority's outraged disapproval of the majority's agenda. SELDOM DO THEY GO ON FOR DAYS, AND UNTIL NOW, NEVER HAVE THEY BEEN LEGITIMATE ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE THE ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS BY GRINDING THE OPERATION OF GOVERNMENT TO A HALT.

Yet that is exactly what the Wisconsin Democrats attempted, and what their Indiana counterparts are still shamefully perpetrating. What is taking place in the Indiana Statehouse is far from a mere regional or petty statewide issue; IT IS A DIRECT ASSAULT ON THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS THAT DESERVES NATIONAL ATTENTION AND COLLECTIVE, BIPARTISAN SCORN. For while the Wisconsin constitution allowed the Republicans a procedural recourse to rectify the stalemate (something they employed when it became apparent the Democrats could not be lured back by compromise), Indiana Republicans have no such option.

For those who may be unaware, Indiana Statehouse Democrats staged a walkout a month ago to deny the large Republican majority the ability to enact legislation opposed by public and private union bosses - specifically right-to-work and public education reform laws. THE DEMOCRAT CAUCUS FLED ACROSS STATE LINES TO ILLINOIS (WHERE ELSE?), AND HAVE BEEN HOLED UP IN A HOTEL DEMANDING CONCESSION AFTER CONCESSION TO EARN THEIR RETURN. But even after capitulating to their juvenile fit and pulling the right-to-work law off the table, Republican leaders have been unsuccessful in luring the Democrats back to work.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/democrats_tyranny_of_the_minor.html


Perhaps it is time to make the unexcused failure to attend a certain number of sessions an offense punishable by ejection from the elected office the lawmaker is in.



Gorelick considered to head the FBI

The Obama administration reportedly is considering former Clinton administration official Jamie Gorelick, among others, to become the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Perez first reported the news last week, citing “U.S. officials” familiar with the situation.

GORELICK SERVED AS VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION (FANNIE MAE) WHEN THE GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISE BEGAN BUNDLING SUBPRIME LOANS INTO SECURITIZED FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS. Prior to that, she served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department under then-Attorney General Janet Reno from 1994 to 1997.

http://nation.foxnews.com/fbi/2011/03/23/woman-tied-911-fannie-mae-obamas-fbi-shortlist

Here’s a Democrat who hasn’t shown much in the way of ethics or good judgment and she’s being considered to head the FBI. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me from this administration.



Is Libya a stalemate?

IT'S THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO: A STALEMATE. THAT IS WHAT BARACK OBAMA AND HIS 'COALITION OF THE UNWILLING' ARE FACING IN LIBYA, A U.S. OFFICIAL HAS WARNED.

The prediction came as Western warplanes hit Libya for a fifth night last night - but still failed to stop Muammar Gaddafi's tanks shelling rebel-held towns or dislodge his armour from a strategic junction in the east.

GADDAFI'S TANKS ROLLED BACK INTO MISRATA UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS AND BEGAN SHELLING THE AREA NEAR THE MAIN HOSPITAL, residents and rebels said, resuming their attack after their guns were silenced in daylight hours by Western airstrikes.....

....As the killing went on in Libya, anxiety is growing in Washington.

Unless Western forces take some kind of decisive action WE COULD BE FACING A FIGHT TERRIFYINGLY SIMILAR TO THE ONE THE U.S. HAS FOUGHT FOR NEARLY A DECADE IN AFGHANISTAN: with the U.S. military bleeding billions, an incalculable cost in human life, and negligible results.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369444/Libya-War-Obama-needs-order-surge-Gaddafi-mission-stalemate.html#ixzz1HW73Fyk2

It is time to give back the “Peace Prize.”



Why the GOP is Obsessed with 'Leadership'

Leaders do not operate in a vacuum. When they make strategic adjustments, their opponents do too. President Obama has prompted just such a pivot by Republicans.

THEY'RE CRITICIZING HIM NOT FOR THE DECISIONS HE'S MADE BUT FOR THE ONES HE HASN'T, and the ones he delayed. They are attacking him not as a liberal ideologue but as a man in full flight from any ideological definition. IF THEY ONCE SAID HIS PLANS WERE TOO BIG, THEY ARE NOW ASKING IF HE HAS ANY PLANS AT ALL….

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/24/why_the_gop_is_obsessed_with_leadership_109333.html


EJ Dionne is missing the point. Obama is acting as was feared he would react: like an amateur. All those promises of resetting our relationships abroad, getting those “axis of evil” countries to come to the bargaining table have not simply not happened, but the opposite seems to have happened. Obama is a foreign policy disaster.



Obama’s Presidency Still Hangs By a Thread

What a difference nine days makes—or not. Because the Obama presidency is again hanging by a thread, but this time the thread is not the result of inaction. It is, rather, THE RESULT OF TAKING ACTION SO INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND INCOHERENT THAT EVEN OBAMA’S OWN PEOPLE ARE FINDING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO DEFEND OR EXPLAIN (thus the already notorious coinage yesterday of the term “kinetic military action” to describe the firing of 170 missiles and the destruction from the air of Libyan facilities).

As of now, there’s no reason anyone would cast a vote in 2012 directly based on what happens in Libya. But handling something this peculiarly means THE PRESIDENT IS ON THE VERGE OF CONVINCING ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE THAT HE’S EITHER NOT THE MAN THEY VOTED FOR (ON THE LEFT) OR THAT HE’S IN OVER HIS HEAD (not only people who dislike him already but independents who took a chance on him in 2008).

And there are other gloomy portents on the horizon. Rasmussen Reports revealed yesterday that 23 PERCENT OF AMERICANS THINK THE COUNTRY IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK. The right-track number is among the most important in all of polling; IF IT’S NOT AT LEAST ABOVE 40 AT THE TIME OF AN ELECTION, AN INCUMBENT PRESIDENT DOES NOT HAVE A PRAYER OF WINNING A SECOND TERM. It’s a very long time (in polling terms) till Election Day 2012, but without question, Obama has a climb ahead of him.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/03/24/obamas-presidency-still-hangs-by-a-thread-but-for-a-different-reason/

Unless Obama changes soon, the American public will be convinced that he is not presidential material and he will be voted out of office.


Obama locked out of Oval Office

President Obama had some unexpected trouble at the White House on Wednesday: HE COULDN'T GET INTO THE OVAL OFFICE.

After returning from a five-day trip to Latin America, President Obama returned to the White House to find that some of the doors to the Oval Office were locked tight.

Staff at the White House appeared not to have known that the the president had returned early from his trip and HADN'T UNLOCKED THE DOORS, ACCORDING TO AN ABC NEWS AFFILIATE IN WASHINGTON.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/151659-obama-locked-out-of-oval-office


If Obama and the democrats are superstitious, this is not a good sign for 2012.


Obama’s Libyan Intervention Has Lowest Approval of Any Military Op Polled by Gallup in 4 Decades

President Barack Obama’s intervention in Libya’s civil war has not only failed to win the approval of a majority of the American people, according to a Gallup poll conducted Monday, it also earned the lowest public approval rating of any U.S. military operation polled by Gallup over the past four decades.

In fact, IT WAS THE ONLY U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION POLLED BY GALLUP THAT RECEIVED LESS THAN MAJORITY APPROVAL FROM AMERICANS.


“The 47% of Americans approving of the action against Libya is lower than what Gallup has found when asking about approval of other U.S. military campaigns in the past four decades,” said Gallup's analysis of the poll.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-s-libyan-intervention-has-lowest-p-0

Nothing this man does seems to go right.



Political insiders don’t think the public knows what it’s doing

When it comes to policy, the political class doesn’t have a lot of faith in the public’s IQ. In the latest National Journal Political Insiders Poll, A SOLID MAJORITY OF POLITICAL OPERATIVES—59 PERCENT—SAID THE PUBLIC DIDN’T “KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE ISSUES FACING WASHINGTON to form wise opinions about what should be done.” There was a sharp partisan difference between the two parties: By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Democratic Insiders believed the public didn’t “know enough,” while a slight majority of Republicans thought they did.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/six-of-ten-political-insiders-believe-public-is-ill-informed-20110324

Doing some simple math, you can see the authors oversampled Democratic insiders (63%) to Republicans insiders (37%). If you do the math with the numbers mentioned that what it would take to have 59% be the percent that doubted the American public knowledge and wisdom at the polls.

A lesson from Liz Taylor's death

Glamour Is Fleeting


By Nancy French

Because I was born in 1974, I didn’t know Liz Taylor as an actress. I didn’t even know her as an AIDS activist, because she started that crusade several years before I’d heard of the disease. The first time I saw Liz Taylor, she was “Michael Jackson’s friend,” which carried a lot of weight with a girl who wanted nothing more than to get a replica of his red jacket. My dad, a former Marine, wouldn’t let me indulge my growing appreciation of the King of Pop because he was suspicious of his high pitched voice and crotch-grabbing. (Consequently, that Thriller album was the last one I’d know by heart.)

However, I’d occasionally pick up bits and pieces about Mrs. Taylor. I noticed, for example, when she criticized President Bush for not doing enough for AIDS, when her friend Rock Hudson died of the disease, when I saw White Diamond perfume ads in my Seventeen magazine, and when she married a construction worker.


Only yesterday, when I heard the news of her death, did I ever sit down and read about her many accomplishments — and marriages — and the person who once seemed to me only a potential punchline for a Letterman monologue began to seem real and very impressive. I was amazed at her many lead film roles and about how her private romantic life made headlines for years. (Let’s just say she would not have been Team Aniston.)

And such is the fleeting nature of fame. Perhaps the most famous movie star (and sex symbol) in history, her death causes barely a ripple amongst entire generations. It should be a gentle reminder to all women — all of us who struggle with those last ten pounds, who don’t even own four-inch heels, and who sometimes despair of glamour while driving three kids to school in a minivan — that legacies are not built on fame or sex or wealth, or even by a Drudge headline on the day of our passing. Our legacies instead our built by the kids in that van and by the husband who’s with you from the moment you wore white and said “I do” to the moment one of you says your final earthly goodbye.

Faithfulness, children, enduring marriage, and stretch marks. They may not be sexy, but they are the true legacies that even the most glamorous, upon reflection, wish they’d had.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262996/glamour-fleeting-nancy-french

This was a wonderful piece that I thought deserved further exposure.  I think the final two sentences says it all because it talks about what is truly important.

Why you shouldn't want to be a Democrat

Who Do You Trust?

According to Rasmussen Reports, likely voters continue to trust Republicans over Democrats on all the major issues. I suggest that it's THE RECENT CONSERVATIVE, TEA PARTY PHILOSOPHY OF LESS SPENDING / LOWER TAXES WHICH HAS GENERATED POPULAR SYMPATHY FOR THE GOP - and that they should follow the public's lead if they wish to retain their good graces

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/2011/03/who-do-you-trust.php


Looking at the graphic, things do not look good for the Democrats.


Editorial: President Obama’s Crony Capitalism

LEADERSHIP: Obama critics were quick to link U.S. loans for Brazil oil to benefits for his investor pal George Soros. There was no link in this case, but considering how this president operates, it's no wonder suspicions ran high.

The president's announcement that HIS ADMINISTRATION WOULD LEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO DEVELOP BRAZIL'S OFFSHORE OIL RESERVES LEFT MANY AMERICANS FLABBERGASTED.

After all, HE HAD ISSUED TWO DRILLING MORATORIUMS IN U.S. WATERS AND THEN WAS DECLARED IN CONTEMPT OF COURT FOR DEFYING A FEDERAL JUDGE WHO ORDERED THE MORATORIUMS REVERSED. Some wondered if the president wasn't intentionally acting against U.S. interests….

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/566837/201103221841/Crony-In-Chief.htm

An interesting editorial and one that does deserve to be read. It appears we have a case of Presidential NIMBY Don’t miss it.



Obama and Libya

DEEP DIVISIONS BETWEEN ALLIED FORCES CURRENTLY BOMBING LIBYA WORSENED TODAY AS THE GERMAN MILITARY ANNOUNCED IT WAS PULLING FORCES OUT OF NATO OVER CONTINUED DISAGREEMENT ON WHO WILL LEAD THE CAMPAIGN.

A German military spokesman said it was recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, after fears they would be drawn into the conflict if NATO takes over control from the U.S.

The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

YESTERDAY A WAR OF WORDS ERUPTED BETWEEN THE U.S. AND BRITAIN AFTER THE U.K. GOVERNMENT CLAIMED MUAMMAR GADDAFI IS A LEGITIMATE TARGET FOR ASSASSINATION.

U.K. government officials said killing the Libyan leader would be legal if it prevented civilian deaths as laid out in a U.N. resolution.

But U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates hit back at the suggestion, saying it would be 'unwise' to target the Libyan leader adding cryptically that the bombing campaign should stick to the 'U.N. mandate'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1368693/Libya-war-Germans-pull-forces-NATO-Libyan-coalition-falls-apart.html#ixzz1HRkVNqHf

We’ve evidently gone from the “world’s policeman” under Bush, to the “Keystone Cops” under Obama.



Biden on Libya?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adpa5kYUhCA

I’m waiting to see if Joe is a man of his word or not.



Cantor’s Pro-Growth Call

ECONOMIC GROWTH OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS HAS BEEN LESS THAN 2 PERCENT ANNUALLY. And this is a mighty soft economic recovery going on right now, following the very deep recession.

So it’s appropriate enough that Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor unveiled a strong pro-growth economic plan at Stanford’s Hoover Institution this week. Cantor is afraid the Republican budget-cutting message is a little too austere, so HE’S ATTEMPTING TO BALANCE THE NECESSARY BUDGET CUTS WITH A PRO-GROWTH, TAX-AND-REGULATORY REFORM MESSAGE.

Cantor focuses especially on getting business tax rates down to at least 25 percent. He also PROPOSES A TAX HOLIDAY TO REPATRIATE THE FOREIGN EARNINGS OF U.S. COMpanies. So many CEOs have made the same argument. And this was done successfully in 2004-05. IF ENACTED, MAYBE $1 TRILLION IN CASH WILL FLOW BACK HOME FOR NEW INVESTMENT AND JOBS

.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/262922/cantor-s-pro-growth-call-larry-kudlow


This is one of those proposals the Democrats will be willing to 'cut off our noses to spite their face' about.



Obama Budget Nominee Admits Current Budgets Higher than Bush Debt

THOUGH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA HAS REPEATEDLY SAID HE INHERITED A FISCAL MESS FROM HIS PREDECESSOR GEORGE W. BUSH, Obama’s nominee to be the deputy budget director conceded to a Senate panel last week that none of Bush’s budgets had as high a debt as Obama’s budgets.

During the Senate confirmation hearing on March 17, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, grilled Heather Higginbottom – who was nominated last January to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget – about THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S CLAIMS THAT THE PRESIDENT’S 10-YEAR BUDGET PROPOSAL DOES NOT ADD TO THE NATIONAL DEBT.


“In years 8, 9 and 10 it [Obama’s budget proposal] goes up every year and reaches approximately $900 billion from $600 billion, as a low point in the entire 10 years,” Sessions said. “THE HIGHEST DEBT BUSH EVER HAD WAS $450 BILLION. YOU DON’T HAVE A SINGLE YEAR WHEN THE BUDGET FALLS BELOW $600 BILLION DO YOU?....

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-budget-nominee-admits-current-budg

I don’t think President Obama is very good with numbers.



Book Review: Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys,"

…."MEN MAY BE JERKS," MY HUSBAND LIKES TO OCCASIONALLY DECLARE, "BUT WOMEN ARE INSANE." I hate to admit it, but he's right-and anyone who has spent two years living in a sorority house filled with alpha girls (I'm raising my hand) can attest that this is true.

WOMEN ARE LIKELY GOING NUTS FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS. For instance, it's quite tiring and stressful, not to mention impossible, to try to have the brilliant job, the perfect family, shiny hair and manicured hands. Some women say they want total "equality" but still want guys to pick up the check. BUT PERHAPS ANOTHER REASON WOMEN ARE LOSING IT IS THAT THEY'RE REPEATEDLY TOLD THAT THEY'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN MEN-and many believe it, particularly in the realm of sex…..

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/23/men_may_be_jerksbut_women_are_insane__109324.html

Here’s a book that seems worth looking at.



Bottle Deposits and the Grim Truth

….THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES BACKFIRE SHOULD GIVE PAUSE FOR THOUGHT. Biofuels were meant to protect the environment and combat global warming -- in fact it destroys rainforests and causes greater CO2 emissions than conventional fuel.

Saving water was meant to protect natural resources, but it just drives up water bills. BANNING THE LIGHT BULB WAS SEEN AS A MILESTONE ON THE PATH TO CARBON NEUTRAL LIVING IN EUROPE -- BUT CHINA HAS BEEN CRANKING UP ITS MERCURY PRODUCTION TO SATISFY DEMAND for the alternative energy saving bulbs.

In the fight to protect the environment, IT MAY BE TIME TO PAUSE AND ASK ONESELF: WHAT IS REALLY HELPING, AND WHAT ISN'T? And to admit at times: sorry, we were wrong. But it doesn't work like that. ENVIRONMENTALISM KNOWS NO DOUBT. THE IDEA IS NEVER WRONG, THE PROBLEM IS ALWAYS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,751469-7,00.html

It is becoming more and more evident that the cures the left comes up with are frequently worse than the disease they are trying to end. AGW is just one example.

Statistics can be interesting

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html


Here’s a fascinating look at statistics in which preconceived notions are skewered and a very enjoyable way.