Freedom and the Liberal agenda

Politics
Mark Steyn: Cowed by udderly insane regulations

CASS SUNSTEIN IS HEAD OF SOMETHING CALLED THE "OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS." I've seen enough conspiracy thrillers to know that when someone has so obvious a blandly amorphous federal job description as that it means he's running some deeply sinister wet-work operation of illegal targeted assassinations in unfriendly nations that the government spooks want to keep off the books and far from prying eyes.

Oh, no, wait. Actually, Covert Operative Sunstein PASSES HIS DAY DOING MORE OR LESS WHAT THE SIGN ON THE DOOR SAYS: HE COLLECTS INFORMATION ABOUT REGULATORY AFFAIRS. More specifically, he is charged by the president with "an unprecedented government-wide review of regulations" in order to "improve or remove those that are out-of-date, unnecessary, excessively burdensome or in conflict with other rules."

How many has he got "removed" so far? Well, last week he took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to crow that DAIRY FARMERS WILL HENCEFORTH BE EXEMPTED FROM THE BURDENS OF A 1970S EPA-ERA DIRECTIVE CLASSIFYING MILK AS AN "OIL" AND SUBJECTING IT, AS PROFESSOR SUNSTEIN TYPED WITH A STRAIGHT FACE, "TO COSTLY RULES DESIGNED TO PREVENT OIL SPILLS." But Ol' MacDonald and his crack team of Red Adair-trained milkmaids can henceforth relax because now, writes Prof Sunstein, Washington is "giving new meaning to the phrase, 'Don't cry over spilled milk.'"....

http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-05-27/news/29595389_1_bp-oil-spill-bp-s-tony-hayward-crude

This may just seem like more political stupidity, but Americans are being transferred remorselessly from the rule of law to rule by an unaccountable bureaucracy of micro-regulatory preferences, subsidies, entitlements and incentives that determine which of the multiple categories of Unequal-Before-The-Law Second-Class (or Third-Class, or Fourth-Class) Citizenship you happen to fall into.


Despite what the MSM tells you, veterans not enthralled by Obama

Thirty-seven percent of all active-duty military personnel and veterans surveyed approved of the job Obama is doing during the January 2010 to April 2011 time frame. That compares with 48% of nonveterans interviewed during the same period.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147839/Military-Personnel-Veterans-Give-Obama-Lower-Marks.aspx

No surprise here, but certainly at odds with what you read or hear from the MSM.

Obama the genius?

In late October 2010, Harvard historian James T. Kloppenberg gave a standing room-only lecture at a New York City conference on intellectual history.

There, the New York Times reported, Kloppenberg shared the insights gleaned in researching his book, Reading Obama. As the good professor explained, Obama stood tall among that rare breed of philosopher presidents.

"There's John Adams, Thomas Jefferson," he told the crowd, "James Madison and John Quincy Adams, then Abraham Lincoln and in the 20th century just Woodrow Wilson." AND NOW OBAMA, A "TRUE INTELLECTUAL" AND A PHILOSOPHICAL "PRAGMATIST."

In his book, Kloppenberg would unblushingly describe the president as "gifted," a "genius," a man of "exceptional intelligence," one who writes "brilliantly and poignantly." Kloppenberg's colleagues shared his enthusiasm. According to the Times, they responded to his talk "with prolonged applause."

As I keep being reminded, THE OBAMA GENIUS MYTH WILL NOT EASILY YIELD TO EVIDENCE OR REASON. For the record, this myth derives largely from one source, Obama's celebrated 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father. On the basis of this book, British literati member JONATHAN RABAN ANOINTED OBAMA "THE BEST WRITER TO OCCUPY THE WHITE HOUSE SINCE LINCOLN," AND HIS IS THE CONSENSUS OPINION.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/are_obamas_academic_defenders.html


Many in academia are simply sheep for left wing politicians. We in fact have gotten to calling the President, Mr. Obamah ah ah ah, hardly the speech pattern of a genius.   

Pentagon seeks mini-weapons for new age of warfare

In an effort to cut costs and avoid civilian casualties, manufacturers are developing small 'smart bombs,' drones that resemble model planes and microscopic crystals to tag enemy targets.

A new generation of weaponry is being readied in clandestine laboratories across the nation that puts a priority on pintsized technology that would be more precise in warfare and less likely to cause civilian casualties. Increasingly, the Pentagon is being forced to discard expensive, hulking, Cold War-era armaments that exact a heavy toll on property and human lives.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mini-drones-20110531,0,5569311.story

This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that it makes sense and fits the current economic times. The bad news is that it costs jobs.

The White working class and the Democrat Party

THERE'S A GOOD REASON WHY THE WHITE WORKING CLASS IS UP FOR GRABS. IT IS THE "THE MOST PESSIMISTIC AND ALIENATED GROUP IN AMERICAN SOCIETY," according to Ronald Brownstein in the National Journal. That is no wonder, for "the average high-school-educated, middle-aged man earns almost 10 percent less than his counterpart did in 1980."….

….We know why. TIME WAS THAT THE WHITE WORKING CLASS WAS THE DARLING OF THE LIBERALS. But then the liberals soured on them. In the 70s working-class whites were bigoted Archie Bunkers; in the 2000s, "bitter clingers." LIBERALS DECIDED THAT ALL ALONG THEY HAD REALLY LOVED WOMEN AND MINORITIES, AND THEY BECAME THE DARLINGS OF THE LIBERALS, extolled and boosted in the university, the halls of Congress, in stock photos, and on stage and screen…..

….When you are living in the Garden of Eden, the darlings of the liberals, life is peachy: good jobs, good wages, benefits, health care, pensions. But WHEN THE LIBERALS DECIDE TO CHANGE YOU OUT FOR A NEWER MODEL, THEN ITS BACK TO THE REAL WORLD, ONLY NOW THE UNIONS ARE WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARIES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY and the fraternal associations have withered away into irrelevance. But for the "pessimistic and alienated" in this fallen world, there is God and guns and Sarah Palin…..

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/palin_and_the_white_working_cl.html

The Democrats keep putting their money on the birth rate or immigration rate (both legal and illegal) of groups they favor to save them as their support among white working class voters plunges.

What Obama has wrought

We all know the metaphor for dangerous incrementalism: PUT A FROG IN A POT, SLOWLY RAISE THE TEMPERATURE, AND THE FROG WILL BOIL TO DEATH. For generations, LIBERALISM HAS CLEVERLY COORDINATED THE COUNTRY'S SLOW, INCREMENTAL PUSH LEFTWARD: exploiting sympathies for the poor and sick to expand all things government and hammering the benefits of social justice, diversity, and multiculturalism to expand government into a centralized behemoth. The 2008 financial crisis provided cover for further governmental expansion, ushering in the presidency of Obama. With a nation on the ropes and control of the White House and Congress, liberalism had a straight path to its inveterate goal: irreversible European-style socialism here in the U.S. FORTUNATELY, UNCHECKED HUBRIS TRIGGERED A REVERSAL THAT MAY WELL SAVE THIS NATION.

Following the frog pot metaphor, an arrogant Obama walked up to the stove unsure of why no one simply spun the dial to high and boiled away our remaining liberties and free-market prosperity. PERHAPS HE THOUGHT, AS HE HAS BEEN TOLD MUCH OF HIS LIFE, NOBODY BEFORE HIM WAS BRILLIANT ENOUGH TO SORT OUT THIS BOTHERSOME DELAY. It looked so easy. IN CAME OBAMA, UP WENT THE TEMPERATURE, AND OUT LEAPT THE TEA PARTY AND A PUBLIC AWARENESS AND INVOLVEMENT THAT OUTSIZED EVEN HIS UNPRECEDENTED HUBRIS. CHANCES ARE THAT SLOW-COOKING FROGS WILL NEVER BE EASY AGAIN.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/obama_and_the_frog_pot_boil.html


A very apt metaphor for what Obama and the Democrats have done and the ultimate consequences.   In fact this is probably the one redeeming aspect of Obama's presidency.  He's ripped the disguise off the Democrats. 

Climate

Environmental tax threatens green energy research in UK

World-class research into future sources of green energy is under threat in Britain from an environmental tax designed to boost energy efficiency and drive down carbon emissions, scientists claim.

Some facilities must find hundreds of thousands of pounds to settle green tax bills, putting jobs and research at risk.

The unexpected impact of the government's carbon reduction commitment (CRC) scheme is so severe that scientists and research funders have lobbied ministers for an exemption to reduce the bills.
Among the worst hit is the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, a facility for research into almost limitless carbon-free energy. The lab faces an estimated £400,000 payment next year, raising the spectre of job losses and operational cuts. "Considering our research is aimed at producing zero-carbon energy, it seems ironic and perverse to clobber us with an extra bill," a senior scientist at the lab said. "We have to use electricity to run the machine and there is no way of getting around that."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/30/environmental-tax-threatens-green-energy-research

Ironic isn’t it? Just a bit of do as I say, not as I do.

Education

Teachers hostage to Success

The e-mail box runneth over with bad tidings. TEACHERS ARE REPORTING THAT CHEATING IS RAMPANT IN NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS -- AND THEY CLAIM PRINCIPALS ARE THE CULPRITS.

The reports are responding to my column that many schools ARE DENYING STUDENTS THE FREEDOM TO FAIL IN A MISGUIDED BID TO HELP THEM. To judge from the response, the problem is worse than I feared. Much worse.

First, a professional in a Manhattan high school wrote to say that teachers in her school are "encouraged" to pass 80 percent of students, no matter their grades or attendance. She offered student writing samples filled with glaring errors of spelling and grammar to prove that "social promotion is alive and well."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/teachers_hostage_to_success_dmR2TxGjD85oGWJ3UCzp0O

The system is broken. Is anyone listening?

Unexpected? When will they learn?

Politics
Unexpected again?

Unexpectedly!

As megablogger Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit, has noted with amusement, THE WORD "UNEXPECTEDLY" OR VARIANTS THEREON KEEP CROPPING UP IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA STORIES ABOUT THE ECONOMY.

"New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed," reported CNBC.com May 25.
"Personal consumption fell," Business Insider reported the same day, "when it was expected to rise." …
….Which raises some questions. As Instapundit reader Gordon Stewart, quoted by Reynolds on May 17, put it, "HOW MANY TIMES IN A ROW CAN SOMETHING HAPPEN UNEXPECTEDLY BEFORE THE EXPERTS START TO, YOU KNOW, EXPECT IT? At some point, shouldn't they be required to state the foundation for their expectations?"

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/05/pro-obama-media-always-shocked-bad-economic-news#ixzz1NlQU9dKJ

I guess the media have never read Einstein’s definition of insanity, that is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Unexpectedly?

Is Obama above the law?

The U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war, intervention that began with a surplus of confusion about capabilities and a shortage of candor about objectives, is now taking a toll on the rule of law. In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution.

ENACTED IN 1973 OVER PRESIDENT NIXON’S VETO, THE WPR MAY OR MAY NOT BE WISE. IT IS, HOWEVER, UNQUESTIONABLY A LAW, AND BARACK OBAMA CERTAINLY IS VIOLATING IT.  It stipulates that a president must terminate military action 60 days after initiating it (or 90, if the president “certifies” in writing an “unavoidable military necessity” respecting the safety of U.S. forces), unless Congress approves it. Congress has been supine and silent about this war, which began more than 70 days ago.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-obama-above-the-law/
2011/05/26/AGL5zyCH_story.html

What is ironic is that Bush followed the War Powers Act in Iraq and the left went crazy claiming he lied to get congress to go along. Over the years as more people were disenchanted with Iraq, more congress people tended to remember they were lied to. But here we have a president who is simply ignoring the law.

Education

Restoring America’s educational exceptionalism

…The progressive theories which shattered America’s academic dominance rejected the millennia-old wisdom that knowledge stimulates understanding, which reciprocally enables the absorption of further knowledge and stimulates further understanding. THE PARADIGM OF PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION IS NOT THE ETHICAL TRANSMISSION OF ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT, BUT AN ABSTRACT AND SUBJECTIVE EXERCISE IN REVOLUTIONIZING HOW STUDENTS LEARN AND THINK IN A POLITICALLY CORRECT ENVIRONMENT UNPOLLUTED BY INSTITUTIONAL TRIVIA AND SOCIO-HISTORIC DEBRIS….

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/27/restoring-american-educational-exceptionalism/#ixzz1Nlt9Vmvq

If our schools are failing shouldn’t we look at what we are trying to teach?

Energy

Don’t believe the talk about Peak Oil

….The oil rush is already transforming this impoverished area of Texas near the Mexican border, doubling real estate values in the last year and filling restaurants and hotels….

…Based on the industry’s plans, SHALE AND OTHER “TIGHT ROCK” FIELDS THAT NOW PRODUCE ABOUT HALF A MILLION BARRELS OF OIL A DAY WILL PRODUCE UP TO THREE MILLION BARRELS DAILY BY 2020, according to IHS CERA, an energy research firm. Oil companies are investing an estimated $25 billion this year to drill 5,000 new oil wells in tight rock fields, according to Raoul LeBlanc, a senior director at PFC Energy, a consulting firm.
“This is very big and it’s coming on very fast,” said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of IHS CERA. “THIS IS LIKE ADDING ANOTHER VENEZUELA OR KUWAIT BY 2020, EXCEPT THESE TIGHT OIL FIELDS ARE IN THE UNITED STATES.”

In the most developed shale field, the Bakken field in North Dakota, production has leaped to 400,000 barrels a day today from a trickle four years ago. Experts say it could produce as much as a million barrels a day by the end of the decade.

THE EAGLE FORD, WHERE THE FIRST WELL WAS DRILLED ONLY THREE YEARS AGO, IS ALREADY PRODUCING MORE THAN 100,000 BARRELS A DAY and could reach 420,000 by 2015, almost as much as Ecuador, according to Bentek Energy, a consultancy….

…WHAT MAKES THE NEW FIELDS MORE REMARKABLE IS THAT THEY WERE THOUGHT TO BE VIRTUALLY VALUELESS ONLY FIVE YEARS AGO. “Everyone said the oil molecules are too large to flow in commercial quantities through these low-quality rocks,” said Mark G. Papa, chief executive of EOG Resources….

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/business/energy-environment/28shale.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Expect the left to rail against fracking and other new techniques to get at oil. It seems they won’t be happy until the new SUV’s are donkeys.

Climate Change

CLIMATE

Climate Change: Too dangerous to ignore

Judy Curry has an interesting take on the latest talking points by the AGW proponent crowd. Looking at some of THE WRITINGS BY PAUL KRUGMAN REGARDING RISK AND UNCERTAINTY. Krugman is quoted:

“Now, despite the high credibility of climate modelers, there is still tremendous uncertainty in their long-term forecasts. But as we will see shortly, UNCERTAINTY MAKES THE CASE FOR ACTION STRONGER, NOT WEAKER.”

The basic argument is that since the high cost of the worst case global climate scenario so great and although it may appear low risk of it happening, the fact they we don’t know enough to say with certainty that it is low risk, makes the call to action stronger, not weaker.

Curry’s posting is very interesting reading. In it she cites discussions she’s had on some other sites. One I found particularly interesting was the following:

The analogy is fairly straightforward. THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE AS COMMONLY APPLIED TO CLIMATE CHANGE SAYS THAT EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT FULLY CONVINCED THAT IT WILL DEFINITELY HAPPEN, IF YOU ACCEPT THAT IT MIGHT HAPPEN, THE COSTS ARE SO HIGH (E.G. TED TURNER’S CANNIBAL SCENARIO) THAT IT’S STILL THE ONLY RATIONAL CHOICE TO ACT TO PREVENT IT. Pascal’s Wager applied to the Christian afterlife mythology says that even if you’re not fully convinced that it will definitely happen, the costs (eternal torment versus eternal bliss) are so high that the only rational choice is to believe. THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE ARGUMENT ARE THAT IT OFFERS ONLY TWO ALTERNATIVES WITH THE PUTATIVE COSTS EMBEDDED THE HYPOTHESIS, AND THE CONCLUSION ARISES FROM THE HYPOTHESIZED COSTS ALONE, NOT THE EVIDENCE.

As a former engineer and having to do economic justifications for projects, I know how easy it is to manipulate the numbers. As simple change in an assumption can make a huge change in the expected outcome. Assuming the absolute worst and then saying despite the likelihood we can’t afford not to do something about it is sheer nonsense. Beware of geeks bearing theories.

http://judithcurry.com/2011/05/28/uncertainty-risk-and-inaction/#more-3351



Climate change: Fails its own test

….“That’s a testable idea. And the test is: you look at a period of the temperature record and you look at a period of the carbon dioxide emissions. So, STEP BACK 10 YEARS TO 2001. SINCE THEN THERE’S BEEN A FIVE PER CENT INCREASE IN CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE, AND THAT’S 25 PER CENT, ALMOST A QUARTER OF ALL THE CARBON DIOXIDE WE’VE PUT IN THE ATMOSPHERE SINCE 1751. AND WHAT’S HAPPENED TO GLOBAL TEMPERATURE? IT’S GONE DOWN SLIGHTLY BY A BIT LESS THAN 0.05 DEG. C. As a scientific hypothesis, that’s the test; and the hypothesis fails the test.”….

http://australianconservative.com/2011/05/the-central-hypothesis-of-global-warming-fails-the-test-professor-bob-carter-says/

Perhaps this is some of the uncertainty that Krugman was talking about? Nah, probably not.

Women in politics Palin vs Debbie

Politics

Palin to tour: Possible candidate?

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), who has been largely out of the public eye through much of the spring, WILL REEMERGE SUNDAY AS SHE BEGINS A NATIONAL BUS TOUR THAT WILL PUT HER BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT and no doubt renew speculation about a possible presidential bid.

The tour, the first of what will be A SERIES OF SUCH JOURNEYS OVER A PERIOD OF WEEKS, will start on Sunday in Washington at the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally and work its way north along the East Coast. She will visit other parts of the country later, stopping at symbolically important sites in the nation’s history.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/palin-readies-east-coast-tour-amid-presidential-speculation/2011/05/26/AGGhZ5BH_story.html

Things are getting interesting. 

Is it legal?

Capping a week of political bickering and parliamentary delays, the House joined the Senate on Thursday to approve a four-year extension of key provisions of the Patriot Act that are set to expire at midnight.

BECAUSE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS TRAVELING IN EUROPE, A WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL SAID THE BILL WILL QUICKLY BE SIGNED INTO LAW USING AN AUTOPEN, a machine that replicates the president’s signature.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55803.html#ixzz1NXpnvENg

This is a bit like someone using the king’s seal.

DNC chairwoman doesn't drive American

THE CHAIRWOMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE (DNC) APPEARS TO DRIVE A FOREIGN CAR, DESPITE CRITICIZING REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR SUPPOSEDLY FAVORING FOREIGN AUTO MANUFACTURERS.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the DNC, ripped into Republican presidential contenders who opposed President Obama's 2009 bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler.

"IF IT WERE UP TO THE CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE, WE WOULD BE DRIVING FOREIGN CARS; they would have let the auto industry in America go down the tubes," she said at a breakfast for reporters organized by The Christian Science Monitor.

But according to Florida motor vehicle records, the Wasserman Schultz household owns a 2010 Infiniti FX35, a Japanese car whose parent company is Nissan, another Japanese company. The car appears to be hers, since its license plate includes her initials.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/163567-dnc-chairwoman-doesnt-drive-american

Debbie is probably one of the best things to happen to the GOP.


Wasserman Schultz: GOP wars on women

In an emotional assault on the Republicans, new DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRWOMAN REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SHULTZ TODAY CALLED THE GOP AGENDA "ANTI-WOMEN" AND "A WAR ON WOMEN" that will backfire on Republicans in the 2012 election and provide a cushion for President Obama's re-election bid.

"IT'S JUST SO HARD FOR ME TO GRASP HOW THEY COULD BE SO ANTI-WOMEN AS THEY ARE," she said at a breakfast roundtable with reporters.

"The pushback and the guttural reaction from women against the Republican's agenda out of the gate, the war on women that the Republicans have been waging since they took over the House, I think is going to not only restore but possibly helps us exceed the president's margin of victory in the next election," added the popular Florida congresswoman.

THE BASIS OF HER CHARGE WAS THE RECENT VOTE TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD AND TITLE 10 FUNDING FOR CLINICS THAT PERFORM ABORTIONS.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/05/26/new-dnc-boss-calls-gop-anti-women

Little Debbie is at it again. Yesterday the GOP was against American Exceptionalism because they didn’t want to raise taxes, and now they are against women because they don’t want to fund abortion. I believe there is a pattern emerging.

Meanwhile MSNBC is really anti-woman

On Tuesday, MSNBC HOST ED SCHULTZ REFERRED TO RADIO SHOW HOST LAURA INGRAHAM AS A “SLUT.” In fact, the word flowed so effortlessly off his tongue, he referred to her as a “slut” twice in two sentences! Yesterday, Schultz made an on-air apology and took a self-imposed one-week suspension without pay.

But Schultz’s short work leave is hardly fodder for revelry. Schultz is but an annoying gnat in the misogynistic cesspool that is MSNBC. Under MSNBC President Phil Griffin, who has had executive oversight of MSNBC since 2006, THE CABLE NETWORK HAS DISPLAYED A CONSISTENT DISDAIN AND DISRESPECT FOR WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC LIFE. Which is why we the people, we the viewers, must demand that Griffin immediately institute corporate governance in the area of sexism — or, barring that, be terminated from his oversight position.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/26/msnbc-is-a-cesspool-of-misogyny/#ixzz1NXzWodnU

I guess calling someone a slut is not anti-woman if you are a democrat.

Obama's so smart, he sounds dumb?

In her weekly column, Meghan Daum defends President Obama's dialect and the manner in which he addresses an audience.

But consider this: It's not that Obama can't speak clearly. It's that he employs the intellectual stammer. Not to be confused with a stutter, which the president decidedly does not have, the intellectual stammer signals a brain that is moving so fast that the mouth can't keep up. The stammer is commonly found among university professors, characters in Woody Allen movies and public thinkers of the sort that might appear on C-SPAN but not CNN. If you're a member or a fan of that subset, chances are the president's stammer doesn't bother you; in fact, you might even love him for it (he sounds just like your grad school roommate, especially when he drank too much Scotch and attempted to expound on the Hegelian dialectic!).

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/05/may-26-buzz-obamas-so-smart-he-sounds-dumb.html

One of the comments says it best: “Wow...what a spin. When Bush stumbled he was a dolt. When Obama stumbles he's an intellectual thinking so quickly he can't verbalize.”


Harry Reid’s ‘Pro Forma’ Leadership

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) is up to his usual tricks, opting not to fully adjourn the Senate for what would have been a week-long recess for the Memorial Day holiday. Instead, the SENATE WILL HAVE TO CONVENE FOR THREE SHORT “PRO FORMA” SESSIONS OVER THE NEXT TEN DAYS.

Earlier this week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, had threatened to withhold his support for the unanimous consent agreement required to adjourn the Senate. SESSIONS DID SO OUT OF PROTEST AGAINST THE SENATE DEMOCRATS’ FAILURE TO PRODUCE A BUDGET RESOLUTION MORE THAN A MONTH AFTER THE APRIL 15 DEADLINE AS REQUIRED BY LAW, NOT TO MENTION THEIR HAVING GONE MORE THAN 750 DAYS WITHOUT PASSING A BUDGET.

Sessions’ threat, however, was merely symbolic in that Reid could always override the objection with a simple majority vote. Even if every single Republican opposed the unanimous consent to adjourn (and they would have), THE DEMOCRATS COULD NOT PREVENT THE SENATE FROM ADJOURNING. SIMPLY PUT, REID CHOSE NOT TO ADJOURN TO SPARE SENATE DEMOCRATS THE INDIGNITY OF VOTING THEMSELVES A VACATION DESPITE HAVING FAILED TO PRODUCE A BUDGET. Not only that, but Democrats did not a cast a single vote in favor of any of the four budget resolutions brought to “pro forma” votes on Wednesday, including the one offered by President Obama, which failed spectacularly, 97 to 0.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/268261/harry-reids-pro-forma-leadership-andrew-stiles

This also prevent BHO from making any recess appointments.



The Courts

Kagan’s conflict of interest

Judicial Watch, a public-interest watch dog group, just unearthed A CACHE OF E- MAILS SHOWING THAT ELENA KAGAN PARTICIPATED IN PREPARING THE GOVERNMENT'S DEFENSE OF OBAMACARE during her time as President Obama's solicitor general. By all precedent -- and her promise to the Senate Judiciary Committee she'd abide by "letter and spirit" of the law -- this should oblige Justice Kagan to recuse herself when the ObamaCare cases come before the Supreme Court.

BEFORE JOINING THE COURT, KAGAN SAID SHE WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE JUSTICE DEPARMENT'S PREPARATIONS FOR THE INEVITABLE LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE HEALTH-CARE "REFORM." But the e-mails suggest otherwise….

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/supreme_conflict_of_interest_BAPvXxWVs8hNxVvvPHlaRL#ixzz1NY1Hu7S5

Now is this lying on her part or just misremembering? It’s a good thing her name isn’t “Scooter.”

Social Security

Social Security permanently in the red

A few weeks ago, the annual reports of the Social Security and Medicare trustees were released. (For a very good explanation about who the trustees are and what these reports are for, read this piece by Chuck Blahous, a trustee.) Here are some of the important points that the reports bring to light:
1. From now on, Social Security will be running a permanent cash-flow deficit, which means that taxes collected for the program aren’t enough to cover the benefits paid to retirees. Starting now, the program will draw from the trust fund balances to keep payments to retirees going; in concrete terms, Treasury will borrow money to pay back the trust funds.

2. The Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2036 — a year sooner than was projected last year. The trust fund determines the spending authority of the program: Without a positive balance in trust fund, the program won’t have the authority to pay out all benefits, only what the program collects in taxes — which means a cut in benefits across the board....

http://mercatus.org/expert_commentary/what-take-away-trustees-reports

Keep reading, it gets worse.


Medicare: The Facts

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS REPEATEDLY CLAIMED THAT THE HEALTH-REFORM BILL IT PASSED LAST YEAR IMPROVED MEDICARE'S FINANCES. Although you'd never know it from the current state of the Medicare debate—with the Republicans being portrayed as the Medicare Grinches—the claim is true only because OBAMACARE EXPLICITLY COMMITS TO CUTTING HEALTH-CARE SPENDING FOR THE ELDERLY AND THE DISABLED IN FUTURE YEARS.

Yet almost no one familiar with the numbers thinks that the planned brute-force cuts in Medicare spending are politically feasible. Last August, THE OFFICE OF THE MEDICARE ACTUARY PREDICTED THAT MEDICARE WILL BE PAYING DOCTORS LESS THAN WHAT MEDICAID PAYS BY THE END OF THIS DECADE AND, BY THEN, ONE IN SEVEN HOSPITALS WILL HAVE TO LEAVE THE MEDICARE SYSTEM.

But suppose the law is implemented just as it's written. In that case, according to the Medicare Trustees, Medicare's long-term unfunded liability fell by $53 trillion on the day ObamaCare was signed.

But at what cost to the elderly? Consider people reaching the age of 65 this year. UNDER THE NEW LAW, THE AVERAGE AMOUNT SPENT ON THESE ENROLLEES OVER THE REMAINDER OF THEIR LIVES WILL FALL BY ABOUT $36,000 AT TODAY'S PRICES. That sum of money is equivalent to about three years of benefits. For 55-year-olds, the spending decrease is about $62,000—or the equivalent of six years of benefits. For 45-year-olds, the loss is more than $105,000, or nine years of benefits.

IN TERMS OF THE SHEER DOLLARS INVOLVED, THE LAW'S REDUCTION IN FUTURE MEDICARE PAYMENTS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF RAISING THE ELIGIBILITY AGE FOR MEDICARE .....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576345732775990392.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

We may be moving to an Atlas Shrugged moment in healthcare.

The Economy

Joblessness rises again

New U.S. CLAIMS FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNEXPECTEDLY CLIMBED TO 424,000 LAST WEEK from a revised 414,000 in the prior week, pointing to a painfully slow improvement in the nation's job markets.

The Labor Department on Thursday revised the prior week's claims number up from an originally reported 409,000. ECONOMISTS SURVEYED BY REUTERS HAD FORECAST THAT CLAIMS LAST WEEK WOULD DECLINE TO 400,000, RATHER THAN RISE.

The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, considered a better measure of trends since it smoothes out weekly variations, eased slightly to 438,500 from a revised 440,250.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43179580

Obamanomics doesn’t seem to be working very well.

The Politics of Medicare

Politics
Bill Clinton to Paul Ryan on Medicare Election: ‘Give me a Call’

The day after the stunning upset in the special congressional election in upstate New York, Rep. Paul Ryan is a man under fire.

But ABC News was behind the scenes with the Wisconsin Congressman and GOP Budget Committee Chairman when he got some words of encouragement none other than former President Bill Clinton.
"So anyway, I told them before you got here, I said I’m glad we won this race in New York," Clinton told Ryan, when the two met backstage at a forum on the national debt held by the Pete Peterson Foundation. But he added, “I HOPE DEMOCRATS DON'T USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO DO NOTHING.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/bill-clinton-to-paul-ryan-on-medicare-election-give-me-a-call-.html

In fact it appears the Democrat plan is to do something about Medicare. They plan to Mediscare people with it.

Are Voters As Stupid As Insiders Think?

Do Americans have the will to cut government spending in order to curb the rampant growth in government debt and liabilities? Not if the politicians they send to Washington have anything to do with it.

On Tuesday, a Republican candidate lost a special election to replace a disgraced GOP congressman from Buffalo, N.Y. -- to a Democrat who won with the help of a third-party candidate. Presto.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called a vote on the House GOP budget bill. As The New York Times reported, REID "BROUGHT THE LEGISLATION TO THE FLOOR SO THAT SENATE REPUBLICANS WOULD EITHER HAVE TO VOTE FOR IT, EXPOSING THEM TO ATTACKS FROM DEMOCRATS AND THEIR ALLIES, OR AGAINST IT, EXPLOITING GROWING REPUBLICAN DIVISIONS ON THE ISSUE…."

…THE GOP PACKAGE FAILED, AS EXPECTED, after four moderate Republicans and Kentucky purist Rand Paul voted against it.

THEN THE SENATE VOTED ON THE OBAMA SPENDING BLUEPRINT. IT TANKED 97-0. While headlines focused on the GOP 57-40 loss, there was not a single Democrat who voted to take up the Obama budget. Gee. Reid sure is good at exploiting GOP divisions.

So tell me, what do the Democrats stand for?...

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_debra_j_saunders/are_voters_as_stupid_as_insiders_think

The only time Reid takes a stand is when he’s going to the men’s room. But this isn’t a good sign. The Democrats are playing politics rather than trying to solve a problem that can destroy not just Medicare but the country.

We’re from the Government and we’re here to help

An astounding DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE THREAT TO CANCEL AIRLINE FLIGHTS TO AND FROM TEXAS, in addition to underhanded lobbying by TSA representatives, has killed efforts in the state to pass HB 1937, a bill that would have made invasive pat downs by TSA agents a felony.
HB 1937, a bill that would have made it “A CRIMINAL ACT FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL TO TOUCH A PERSON’S PRIVATE AREAS WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE AS A CONDITION OF TRAVEL OR AS A CONDITION OF ENTRY INTO A PUBLIC PLACE,” was headed for an imminent Senate vote in Texas having already passed the House unanimously 138-0, before the federal government stepped in to nix the legislation.

In a letter sent to Texas lawmakers, including to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Speaker Joe Straus, the House Clerk, and the Senate Secretary, U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy threatened to cripple the airline industry in the state if legislators did not back down.

http://www.infowars.com/financial-terrorism-tsa-holds-texas-flights-hostage/

Fascism is coming to America.

The Dreamer Goes Down For The Count

I HAD NEVER THOUGHT THERE WERE MANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE PLEASURE-LOVING CHARLES II OF ENGLAND AND THE MORE UPRIGHT BARACK OBAMA UNTIL THIS WEEK. Listening to his speeches on the Middle East at the State Department, US-Israel relations at the AIPAC annual meeting and most recently his address to the British Parliament the comparison becomes irresistible.

“Here lies our sovereign king,” wrote the Earl of Rochester about King Charles:
Whose word no man relies on.

WHO NEVER SAID A FOOLISH THING
OR EVER DID A WISE ONE.

THIS SEEMS TO CAPTURE PRESIDENT OBAMA’S MIDDLE EAST PROBLEMS IN A NUTSHELL. The President’s descriptions of the situation are comprehensive and urbane. He correctly identifies the forces at work. He develops interesting policy ideas and approaches that address important political and moral elements of the complex problems we face. He crafts approaches that might, with good will and deft management, bridge the gaps between the sides. He reads thoughtful speeches full of sensible reflections.

But THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE CAST HIM AS THE LEAST COMPETENT MANAGER OF AMERICA’S MIDDLE EAST DIPLOMATIC PORTFOLIO IN A VERY LONG TIME. He has infuriated and frustrated long term friends, but made no headway in reconciling enemies. He has strained our ties with the established regimes without winning new friends on the Arab Street. He has committed our forces in the strategically irrelevant backwater of Libya not, as he originally told us, for “days, not weeks” but for months not days…..

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/05/25/the-dreamer-goes-down-for-the-count/

A good article which demonstrates just how incompetent this president is.

Obama’s problems caused by his skin color

South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representative, holds racism accountable for most of President Obama’s failures.

Clyburn was quoted by McClatchy Newspapers saying, “You know, I’m 70 years old. And I can tell you; people don’t like to deal with it, but THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, THE PRESIDENT’S PROBLEMS ARE IN LARGE MEASURE BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN.”

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/26/president-obamas-problems-are-mostly-caused-by-the-color-of-his-skin-says-clyburn/#ixzz1NTPUHGVp

The term “racist” in its modern, catch-all sense is that it’s a bit like witchcraft in the 17th century: denial just constitutes further proof of guilt.

Democrat chair calls into question GOP on American Exceptionalism

Wasserman Schultz said she in no way was calling those GOP candidates unpatriotic, but that SHE DOUBTED THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE IDEA OF U.S. EXCEPTIONALISM. She also laid out a litany of policies she claims those GOP figures should have supported if they were that committed to the concept.

"Why aren't THEY SUPPORTIVE OF CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES to make sure that we cannot incentivize companies to ship jobs overseas?" she asked, riffing on a series of questions on the GOP's policies on taxes, the auto industry and other issues. "These things — WITHOUT THEM IT WOULD HAVE PREVENTED US FROM OUT-EDUCATING AND OUT-INNOVATING AND OUT-COMPETING OUR COMPETITORS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/163441-dnc-chief-on-republican-field-im-concerned-about-their-commitment-to-american-exceptionalism

It appears “little Debbie” doesn’t understand what American exceptionalism is all about. It doesn’t come from taxes or bailouts or subsidizing things. It comes from freedom. It comes from allowing people the freedom to risk and to win or lose.

Climate

Freedom of Information harassing scientists?

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWS ARE BEING MISUSED TO HARASS SCIENTISTS AND SHOULD BE RE-EXAMINED BY THE GOVERNMENT, ACCORDING TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse told the Guardian that SOME CLIMATE SCIENTISTS WERE BEING TARGETED BY ORGANISED CAMPAIGNS OF REQUESTS FOR DATA AND OTHER RESEARCH MATERIALS, AIMED AT INTIMIDATING THEM AND SLOWING DOWN RESEARCH. He said the behaviour was turning freedom of information laws into a way to intimidate some scientists.

Nurse's comments follow the launch of a major Royal Society study into how scientists' work can be made more open and better used to inform policy in society. The review – expected to be published next year – will examine ways of improving access to scientific data and research papers and how "digital media offer a powerful means for the public to interrogate, question and re-analyse scientific priorities, evidence and conclusions".

NURSE SAID THAT, IN PRINCIPLE, SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE AS A MATTER OF COURSE, a practice common in biological research where gene sequences are routinely published in public databases. But he said freedom of information had "opened a Pandora's box. It's released something that we hadn't imagined ... there have been cases of it being misused in the climate change debate to intimidate scientists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/25/freedom-information-laws-harass-scientists

This might have made sense if there hadn’t been ClimateGate where we have a record of scientists hiding data, threatening to destroy data etc. rather than turning it over. It appears this is harassment only to scientists who fail to follow the scientific method.

Education

Computers Cut Reading Ability In Children?

SWEDEN AND THE US ARE TWO COUNTRIES IN WHICH INCREASED LEISURE USE OF COMPUTERS BY CHILDREN LEADS TO POORER READING ABILITY. This is the conclusion from research carried out at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Professor Monica Rosén of the Department of Education and Special Education has analysed differences between different countries over time in order to explain change in reading achievement among 9-10-year olds. Within the framework of the research project she and her colleagues have studied how pupils' reading skills have changed since 1970. Hungary, Italy, the US and Sweden have been included in all of the international comparisons. Reading ability has improved steadily in Italy and Hungary, while IT HAS FALLEN RAPIDLY SINCE 1991 IN BOTH THE US AND SWEDEN.

During this period, many factors within the school system have changed, as have also society in general and the after-school activities of children in particular. THE SWEDISH AND AMERICAN PUPILS DESCRIBED A LARGE INCREASE IN THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN THEIR FREE TIME DURING THIS PERIOD, WHILE A SIMILAR INCREASE WAS NOT REPORTED IN HUNGARY OR ITALY.

The researchers argue that COMPUTER USAGE HAS DISPLACED LEISURE TIME READING and the leisure time reading provided a richer experience with words that do computers. This seems plausible for a couple of reasons:

• Computer games do not require much text reading.
• Messaging with friends involves using words you all know and abbreviations of simple words.
• The web has lots of porno and other content that isn't intellectually enriching.

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/008102.html

A very interesting article which again points us to the law of unintended consequences.

Liberal bias in rating the Presidents

Politics:

Liberal Bias

Call it history’s conservative curse.

ACCORDING TO A UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI STUDY, THOSE HISTORICAL RANKINGS OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS THAT POP UP EVERY YEAR OR SO ARE SIGNIFICANTLY WEIGHTED IN FAVOR OF DEMOCRATS, thanks to the liberal leanings of academia.

Political science professor Joseph E. Uscinski, one of the study’s authors, said the new analysis shows that the overwhelmingly LIBERAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY CONSISTENTLY RANKS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS ABOUT 10 SPOTS LOWER THAN THE PUBLIC WOULD.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised,” Mr. Uscinski told The Washington Times. “Among the political scientists and historians that I work with, Democrats outnumber Republicans 8 to 1.”



What was eye-opening, he said, was the stark difference between the historians’ assessments of Republicans and the grades given by the public.

“On average, all the Republicans get the short end of the stick,” he said. “But the one it impacts the most is [Ronald] Reagan. It’s often difficult for people to fathom why he’s ranked as low as he is….”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/24/republican-presidents-lag-in-historical-rankings/

Nothing really surprising about this.

Obama in 2012

Many of the Republican presidential hopefuls should be able to beat President Obama in 2012. This president has a track record now and, thus, many vulnerabilities. If he is not our "worst president," as Donald Trump would have it, his sweeping domestic initiatives—especially his stimulus package and health-care reform—were so jerry-built and high-handed that they generated a virtual revolution in America's normally subdued middle class.

The president's success in having Osama bin Laden killed is an exception to a pattern of excruciatingly humble and hesitant leadership abroad. MR. OBAMA HAS BEEN DEEPLY AMBIVALENT ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF AMERICAN POWER, as if a shameful "neocolonialism" attends every U.S. action in the world. In Libya he seems actually to want American power to diminish altogether.

THIS FORMULA OF SHRINKING AMERICAN POWER ABROAD WHILE EXPANDING GOVERNMENT POWER AT HOME CONFUSES AND DISAPPOINTS MANY AMERICANS. Before bin Laden, 69% of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track, according to an Ipsos survey. A RECENT ZOGBY POLL FOUND THAT ONLY 38% OF RESPONDENTS BELIEVED MR. OBAMA DESERVED A SECOND TERM, WHILE 55% SAID THEY WANTED SOMEONE NEW.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576299241421694066.html

The author talks about Obama’s likeability rating and seems to connect that to the fact of his race. His election was a victory for America and if someone wants to unseat him they have this social iconic victory to overcome. Quite frankly I agree with Steele to a point, but I think that Obama’s continuing likeability is less about people really liking him and more about people not wanting to be seen as racist. I think in the privacy of the voting booth, Obama will fall for the same reasons as other presidents have fallen—he’s done a lousy job.

74% of Americans favor a spending cap

As the federal government rapidly approaches the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, 96 percent of Americans say it is important to reduce the national debt, according to a new Reason Foundation-Rupe poll. OF THOSE SURVEYED, 69 PERCENT BELIEVE REDUCING THE NATIONAL DEBT IS “VERY IMPORTANT.”

With the debt piling up, it is also clear that taxpayers do not trust the federal government to live within its means. In fact, the Reason-Rupe survey finds 74 PERCENT OF AMERICANS SUPPORT IMPLEMENTING A SPENDING CAP THAT WOULD PROHIBIT THE GOVERNMENT FROM SPENDING MORE MONEY THAN IT TAKES IN DURING A FISCAL YEAR. ONLY 19 PERCENT OPPOSE A GOVERNMENT SPENDING CAP.

http://reason.com/poll/2011/05/03/cut-debt-poll-finds

This was the lead item, but there’s lots more to read about in this poll.

Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June

Here’s an interesting article about a film on Sarah Palin. It’s been a hush-hush project and is designed to reintroduce her to America.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/25/palins_secret_weapon_new_film_to_premiere_in_june_109949.html


Education:

Indoctrination begins in Kindergarten

There is a difference between an open mind and an empty head. But not everyone agrees. At Harambee Elementary in Maplewood Minnesota, kindergarteners are starting their indoctrination early. The Star Tribune reports that at this school, "A ‘community cultures specialist' tours classes to make sure students are working across racial lines and learning about multiple world view perspectives."

This absurd social engineering could be an object of humor and ridicule, if we weren't all paying for it. That's right: The Star Tribune reports that "FEDERAL GRANTS" HELP FUND THIS AGGRESSIVE INDOCTRINATION OF SMALL CHILDREN.

HARAMBEE PRINCIPAL KRISTINE BLACK SAYS, "WE DON'T SHY AWAY FROM HAVING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE AND THE WAY WE TREAT EACH OTHER…."

….Linguist Dr. John McWhorter, who has taught at Cornell and Berkeley, notes that "CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE" ACTUALLY MEANS A ONE-SIDED LECTURE. MCWHORTER, WHO IS BLACK, SAYS THAT THE PHRASE "CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE... MEANS THAT BLACK PEOPLE HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH WHITE PEOPLE IF WHITE PEOPLE WOULD JUST SIT AND LISTEN." That is exactly the sense in which kindergarteners at this Minnesota school have a conversation about race.

And what kind of educational results are parents getting from this bizarre indoctrination? THESE CHILDREN ARE GETTING THE BEST MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION THAT TAXPAYER MONEY CAN BUY, BUT THEIR READING AND MATH SCORES COMPARE POORLY WITH THE "REGULAR" SCHOOL DISTRICTS NEARBY. $25 million was spent on 13,000 students in one year. We are dousing children with every frenzied PC dogma and educational fad imaginable, and nothing works. Minnesota's experiment with social engineering has turned out so poorly that the legislature cut funding for the "integration districts."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/open_mind_or_empty_head.html

The left’s continuing war against human nature.

Vouchers

…Obama's key claim -- i.e., that vouchers don't work -- has been exploded repeatedly. The recent piece by Jason Riley, for example, reminds us that three years ago, OBAMA THROTTLED THE D.C. VOUCHER PROGRAM, DESPITE KNOWING FULL WELL THAT HIS OWN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD CONDUCTED A STUDY SHOWING THAT STUDENTS IN THE VOUCHER PROGRAM MADE SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN THEIR READING SCORES compared to the students who didn't get vouchers and had to stay in public schools. (The report showed that the students in voucher schools scored the same in math.) Obama kept that report from getting to Congress before it voted at his urging to end the program.

While Obama later pooh-poohed those reading score gains, he touted an even smaller one as reason to expand the boondoggle known as Head Start.

Moreover, Riley notes that a recent study by Patrick Wolf, a professor at the University of Arkansas, shows that the GRADUATION RATE OF THE D.C. VOUCHER SCHOOL KIDS WAS 91%, MUCH HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE KIDS WHO APPLIED FOR VOUCHERS BUT DIDN'T RECEIVE THEM (70%), AND VASTLY HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE OTHER KIDS IN THE D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS (56%). The statistical confidence level for this study is about 99%....
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/good_news_for_school_choice.html

The last statistic about graduation rates should push us to instituting vouchers across the country. We cannot afford to have kids not graduate from high school in the 21st Century.


Energy:

Oil and it’s place in our economy

.….THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY DOES NOT RECEIVE “SUBSIDIES” TO PRODUCE OIL AND NATURAL GAS. IT DOESN’T EVEN GET “SPECIAL TAX BREAKS” OR OUTRIGHT TAX CREDITS. What are falsely described in these terms are ACTUALLY TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR COSTS INCURRED BY COMPANIES IN THE PROCESS OF EXPLORING, DRILLING, PRODUCING AND REFINING THE OIL AND NATURAL GAS that energize this nation’s economy and living standards.

These tax deductions are equivalent or similar to deductions claimed by every US business, large and small, for things like facilities depreciation, equipment, utilities, payroll, and research and development. They are intended to ensure that businesses, like individuals, recover their costs and get taxed only on their net incomes.

Informed Americans also recognize that, IN 2008, OIL AND NATURAL GAS PROVIDED 61% OF THE ENERGY THAT POWERS AMERICA. NATURAL GAS GENERATES ALMOST A QUARTER OF OUR ELECTRICITY. THESE FUELS PROVIDED AFFORDABLE ENERGY 24/7/365, SUPPORTED 9.2 MILLION JOBS, KEPT MILLIONS OFF WELFARE AND FOOD STAMP ROLLS, AND GENERATED BILLIONS IN REVENUE FOR FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

WIND AND SOLAR COMBINED ACCOUNTED FOR BARELY 0.6% OF TOTAL US ENERGY, AND 1.9% OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION, IN 2008 – PROVIDING EXPENSIVE, INTERMITTENT, HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED ENERGY 8/6/312 or less.
IN SUBSIDIES PER UNIT OF ENERGY ACTUALLY PRODUCED, gas-fired electricity generation got 25 cents per megawatt-hour in 2007 subsidies; coal received 44 cents (mostly for clean technology research). By comparison, wind turbines got 23.4 dollars and photovoltaic solar received 24.3 dollars per MWh.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/36764

Lots of misinformation out there by people who absolutely want to bite the hand that provides them with warmth in the winter and power for their living standard.

Society

Genderless upbringing

Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, are RAISING THEIR THIRD CHILD, STORM, TO BE FREE OF SOCIETAL NORMS REGARDING GENDER. Is Storm male or female? The parents won't say, so no one knows except Storm's older brothers, Jazz and Kio, as well as a close family friend and two midwives who helped deliver the baby.

Lucky Storm, Jazz and Kio to have life-partner parents who aren't constrained by silly "social norm" ... like biology. Practitioners of that pseudo-science called psychology "saw several advantages to the atypical scenario, including true self-determination for Storm."

A pro-family group summed up the situation rather succinctly by noting: "THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE HAVE ENOUGH COMMON SENSE TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS LUNACY."

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/2011/05/genderless.php

This is nuts.

The Republican Field vs Crony capitalism

Cain gets no respect from GOP
Now in full pursuit of the GOP nomination, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain has won straw polls and drawn huge crowds, including the thousands who packed a park in downtown Atlanta Saturday to hear him announce his official bid for the White House.

But he said in an interview that HE’S STILL NOT GETTING RESPECT WITHIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, nor the coverage he thinks he deserves from the national media.
“Even if I were white I’m not going to take fire within the Republican Party until they start to take note of my accomplishments,” said Mr. Cain, the lone African-American now pursuing the GOP nomination. “”IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY COLOR…I JUST HAPPEN TO BE OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/05/23/herman-cain-says-gop-gives-him-no-respect/?
mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
What’s noteworthy here is that Cain doesn’t blame it on the fact that he’s black. Can you imagine a Democrat saying that? Neither can I.

Republicans: A Weak Presidential Field?

Focus on Republicans' lack of a 2012 presidential frontrunner overlooks the situation's real advantages. PREVAILING OPINION IS THAT THE ABSENCE OF A FRONTRUNNER INDICATES A WEAK CANDIDATE FIELD, WHICH WILL PREVENT REPUBLICANS FROM MAKING NOVEMBER AFTER NEXT THE CONTEST OF SHARP CONTRASTS THEY COULD WIN.

However, current trends and historical precedent forcefully argue both assumptions may be wrong. Republicans may be about to follow the Democrats' pattern that has worked for their last three successful presidential candidates….

….Democrats' last three presidents -- Carter in 1976, Clinton in 1992, and Obama in 2008 -- EMERGED EITHER FROM "WEAK FIELDS" OR WERE INITIALLY SEEN AS "WEAK CANDIDATES." Few expected them to win the nomination, let alone the White House. YET ALL DID AND DID SO IN PART BECAUSE THEY WERE LARGELY UNKNOWN AND UNDEFINED -- IN CLEAR CONTRAST TO THE INCUMBENTS THEY BEAT.

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/05/24/the-republicans-zebra-field#

It’s always interesting to look at a situation from a new perspective. This election will not be about the Republican candidate. It will be a referendum on Barack H. Obama.

Crony Capitalism strikes again

We now have a clear picture of the treachery in which AARP has engaged since President Obama took office. The Daily Caller reports that the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES HAS GRANTED MEDIGAP POLICY SELLERS, INCLUDING THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS, EXEMPTION FROM OBAMACARE-MANDATED FEDERAL SUPERVISION OF INSURANCE PREMIUM HIKES. "Medigap" is an industry term for a type of coverage that helps pay medical costs not covered by Medicare.

Non-Medigap insurers, not exempted from ObamaCare's rate reviews, must justify rate increases. In effect, the HHS exemption gives AARP the ability to generate profits not achievable by non-exempted competitors.

It's important to remember that AARP HELPED PUSH OBAMACARE THROUGH CONGRESS BY CONTRIBUTING TO A $121 MILLION ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN AND PAYING FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF WASHINGTON LOBBYING. AARP has betrayed the seniors whose interests the organization allegedly protects and positioned itself to make billions after playing along with the Obama administration's corporatist favoritism.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/aarps_obamacare_endgame_reveal.html

AARP is in bed with the Obama Administration and this is what Left Wing government looks like.

A rollback to the 1967 borders?

So, Barack Obama thinks Israel should give up the land it acquired in the Six-Day War, rolling back to its 1967 borders. Good going, Barack! IN LESS THAN A MINUTE, YOU NOT ONLY INFURIATED ANOTHER STAUNCH ALLY OF THE UNITED STATES, BUT YOU (if I might employ an image you favor) “MOVED THE GOAL POSTS” IN THE MIDDLE EAST such that Israel’s enemies will henceforth cite you when demanding that Israel neuter itself.

Suicide, national or personal, is rarely a wise career move, so I believe we can be pretty certain that Israel will ignore your suggestion. But your invocation of 1967 is by no means barren. I was talking to a friend last night who had this alternative suggestion. LEAVE ISRAEL ALONE AND ROLL BACK THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO ITS 1967 SIZE…..

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2011/05/20/president-obama%E2%80%99s-excellent-idea/
What’s sauce for the goose…..

Report Finds Obama Policies to Blame for High Energy Prices

A new report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform details a disturbing “pattern of evidence” indicating that NOT ONLY ARE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S ENERGY POLICIES RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGHER OIL AND GAS PRICES, BUT THAT THE ADMINISTRATION’S ENERGY POLICY, IN FACT, IS HIGHER GAS PRICES....

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/267928/report-finds-obama-policies-blame-high-energy-prices-andrew-stiles

This is one report you won’t hear about on ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. But you can read it here and I suggest you do.

GOP to Harry Reid: Show us a Budget

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID (D., NEV.) MAY CONSIDER IT “FOOLISH” FOR DEMOCRATS TO PROPOSE A BUDGET, what with Joe Biden on the brink of solving the debt crisis and all. But Republican Senators are furious that, given the economic circumstances, THE DEMOCRATIC-CONTROLLED SENATE HAS GONE MORE THAN 750 DAYS WITHOUT PASSING AN ACTUAL BUDGET.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.), a freshman member of the committee, have authored a letter signed by all 47 GOP Senators urging Reid to revive his party’s stalled efforts to produce a budget (as they are legally required to do), as opposed to holding a political “show vote” on the Paul Ryan budget.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/267878/gop-harry-reid-show-us-budget-andrew-stiles

750 days is over two years!!! Perhaps we need a constitutional amendment limited Democrats to city and county government offices only.

Is Kagangate about to happen?

Judicial Watch and the Media Research Center have obtained potentially explosive e-mails that could prove Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan provided misleading answers during her Senate confirmation hearings when she said she had no involvement as U.S. Solicitor General in any strategizing over how to defend the health care reform law known as Obamacare. Whether or not she had any such involvement is crucial in determining whether she must recuse herself from cases dealing with the constitutionality of Obamacare.

Moreover, if the evidence does establish Kagan’s involvement as Solicitor General, Justice Kagan may have violated federal law governing recusals. That is because she evidently decided to participate in the decision of the Supreme Court in April 2011 not to “fast-track” for Supreme Court review Virginia’s lawsuit challenging Obamacare.

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/05/24/kagangate-a-coverup-of-obamacare-conflict-of-interest/

This could be interesting. 

2012: Libya, The Sting, Racism, Pawlenty, Palin, and the Debt

Digging Dirt
President Obama's re-election campaign is trying to dig up dirt in the Garden State.

Despite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's repeated pronouncements that he will not seek the GOP presidential nomination, OBAMA OPERATIVES ARE COMPILING A DOSSIER OF WHAT THEY CALL "OPPOSITION RESEARCH" -- MATERIAL THAT COULD BE USED TO DAMAGE CHRISTIE IF HE CHANGES HIS MIND, The Post has learned.
The Obama campaign is trying to keep its efforts from public view, concerned THEY WOULD ONLY ELEVATE CHRISTIE'S ALREADY IMPRESSIVE STANDING WITHIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, sources said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/research_destroy_yhiecoqPgh4cpbgEZ4gmmM#ixzz1NBG31PiN

I’m a big fan of Christie and hope he can be talked into running. He’s a fiscal conservative who is tough, eloquent, and willing to take a stand. He’s the anti-Obama with a spine.

War Powers Act: No thank you!

"The auto rescue succeeded in no small part because we did not have to deal with Congress," writes Steve Rattner, President Obama's former car czar. Had Congress exercised its constitutional duty of authorizing and overseeing the bailout, Rattner adds, "WE WOULD HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO ENDLESS CONGRESSIONAL POSTURING, DELIBERATING, BICKERING, AND MICROMANAGEMENT. ..."

This excerpt from Rattner's book "Overhaul" expresses what APPEARS TO BE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S DEEP IMPATIENCE WITH THE CAREFULLY DESIGNED DELIBERATIVE PROCESSES OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. Concerning Congress and the U.S. role in Libya, however, Obama's attitude seems to be passing from impatience to contempt. It is all the more upsetting because, as our own Timothy P. Carney notes in these pages today, Obama ran against precisely the sort of imperial presidency he is now running.

When he began his "kinetic military action" in Libya, without any serious debate or consultation with our country's elected representatives, OBAMA JUSTIFIED HIMSELF BY INVOKING THE WAR POWERS RESOLUTION OF 1973. Under its loosest possible interpretation, that law gives a wartime president a 60-day grace period before he must seek congressional authorization to continue. Those 60 days ended Friday, as several members of Congress reminded Obama in a letter last week. His response to that letter, which Obama's communications staff deliberately buried in the Friday afternoon news dump, demonstrated that he wants to have it both ways. HE WAS HAPPY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE PURPORTED 60-DAY GRACE PERIOD -- WHICH MAY ITSELF BE TOO PERMISSIVE TO MEET CONSTITUTIONAL MUSTER -- BUT HE IS NOT SO KEEN ON OBEYING THE SAME LAW'S REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION FROM CONGRESS FOR FURTHER INVOLVEMENT.


http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2011/05/president-rambos-extralegal-war-libya#ixzz1NBGxwIr4

If Bush had done this, the Democrats would have been screaming for his impeachment.

How Latinos Got Stung

In "The Sting," a classic 1973 film about a pair of con men, each chapter is introduced with an old-fashioned title card such as "The Set-Up" or "The Hook."

TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THE ELABORATE CON JOB THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA IS PULLING ON LATINO VOTERS OVER THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE, HERE ARE SOME TITLE CARDS YOU MIGHT FIND USEFUL:…

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/22/how_latinos_got_stung_109943.html

Interesting.

In case you didn’t realize it, you’re a racist

….The white middle-American voters who put their faith and trust in Obama in 2008, and without whose support Obama could not have won, lost that faith almost immediately after Obama took office. Similarly, the non-white racially motivated voters who identified personally with Obama and flocked to the polls for him in 2008 failed to assist him in 2010 by supporting white Democrats in the midterm races. WHITE AMERICANS DID NOT SUDDENLY WAKE UP TO THE REALIZATION THAT THEY HAD VOTED FOR A BLACK MAN; RATHER, THEY WERE CONFRONTED WITH THE UNAVOIDABLE FACT THAT OBAMA WAS NOT THE "POST-RACIAL" PRESIDENT OF ALL AMERICANS that he promised to be. Instead, it turned out, Obama was committed to reinventing America in order to address perceived past injustices at white Americans' expense. Believers in identity politics (from both the left and the right), however, always knew what they were getting: a man dedicated to the inversion of America's social order.

This is one of the great tragedies of Obama's caustic and divisive political strategy; AT THE PRECISE MOMENT WHEN WE AS A SOCIETY WERE POISED TO MOVE BEYOND RACE AS A RELEVANT SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUE, RACE WAS FORCEFULLY INJECTED BACK INTO THE NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS.

When Obama tells Hispanic-Americans to join with him and "PUNISH THEIR ENEMIES," and when Attorney General Eric Holder scornfully tells America that bat-wielding Black Panthers patrolling a polling place do not warrant prosecution BECAUSE "HIS PEOPLE" ONCE EXPERIENCED FAR WORSE, white race-baiters tell incredulous white Americans to embrace their own racial consciousness as an act of self-defense. When all who disagree with Obama's social and economic policies are reflexively labeled racists by the president's supporters, AN ATTITUDE OF FATALISM BEGINS TO SET IN, AND A FRUSTRATED ELECTORATE BECOMES CYNICAL. The tedious and predictable repetition of racial platitudes takes its toll on logic, civility, and unity…..

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/the_deadend_street_of_identity.html

The race card is over its limit. I think charging someone as racists by the Democrats will backfire in this atmosphere.

Tim Pawlenty: facts

The SON OF A TRUCK DRIVER who grew up near stockyards and a meat-packing plant, Mr Pawlenty, 50, entered the Minnesota governor's office in 2003. He was elected governor after his predecessor, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, decided not to seek re-election.

* He was 16 WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED OF CANCER and his father lost his job. Mr Pawlenty went on to WORK HIS WAY THROUGH COLLEGE AND LAW SCHOOL at the University of Minnesota.

* He CLAIMS SUCCESS AT ELIMINATING A $4.3 BILLION BUDGET DEFICIT IN MINNESOTA but Democrats in the state say he only papered over the budget hole with short-term measures that did not address the problem.

* Mr Pawlenty was ON SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN'S SHORT LIST FOR VICE PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE in 2008 before he chose former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

* He TRIES TO AVOID ATTACKING OPPONENTS. During the first television debate of Republican hopefuls this month he refused to criticize possible rival Mitt Romney's record on healthcare as the former Massachusetts governor was not there to defend himself.


How much do we owe?

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN ONCE FAMOUSLY SAID THAT A STACK OF $1,000 BILLS EQUIVALENT TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S DEBT WOULD BE ABOUT 67 MILES HIGH.  That was 1981. Since then, the national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion. IN $1,000 BILLS, IT WOULD NOW BE MORE THAN 900 MILES TALL.

In $1 bills, the pile would reach to the moon and back twice.

The United States hit its legal borrowing limit on Monday, and the Treasury Department has said the U.S. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by August 2 to avoid a default.

The White House is trying to hammer out a deal with lawmakers to cut federal spending in exchange for a debt-limit increase.

Most people have trouble conceptualizing $14.3 trillion…..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/19/us-usa-debt-size-idUSTRE74I5TL20110519

Every so often you need an analogy to understand huge numbers. This depressingly enough is it.

Former Sarah Palin aide tell-all: The top 5 revelations

A FORMER SARAH PALIN AIDE HAS WRITTEN A SCATHING TELL-ALL, saying Palin was ready to quit as governor months before she actually resigned and that getting her to meetings like was “nailing Jell-O to a tree

Frank Bailey, who worked with Palin from her 2006 gubernatorial campaign until her failed run for vice president in 2008, wrote the book based on tens of thousands of e-mails he kept.

“IN 2009, I HAD THE SENSE IF SHE MADE IT TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND I HAD STAYED SILENT, I COULD NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF,” FRANK BAILEY TOLD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

The book, called “Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years,” is due out Tuesday.

Here is our list of the top five revelations from the book:

1. It appears Palin DIDN’T WANTED TO DO THE THINGS GOVERNORS ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
2. Palin MAY HAVE WANTED TO QUIT AS GOVERNOR MONTHS BEFORE SHE DID.
3. Palin’s INNER CIRCLE ONCE VIEWED HER AS A SAVIOR.
4. Palin’s AIDES DEFENDED HER POSSIBLE ETHICS VIOLATIONS EARLY ON.
5. Palin’s campaign MAY HAVE VIOLATED CAMPAIGN RULES.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/former-sarah-palin-aide-tell-all-the-top-5-revelations/2011/05/23/AFMy6l9G_blog.html?wprss=blogpost

When I read the headline, I thought this might be a challenge. It wasn’t. If this was the worst Bailey could come up with for a “SCATHING TELL-ALL” it is pretty pathetic. There isn’t a single charge here that is really scathing or even noteworthy. I guess we have a political Judas who is simply trying to make a buck.

Ibama

I, Obama: The President and the personal pronoun

Different Presidents have different approaches to apportioning credit, inspiring the troops, and engendering loyalty when speaking at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
President Obama has taken criticism in some sectors for his use of the personal pronoun in describing, and applauding, the nation’s success in covert operations. So I’ve spent my Saturday morning at the outstanding website of The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara to find out what happens when Presidents speak to the CIA.

I PICKED TWELVE NOTABLE ADDRESSES FROM PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES AT THE CIA’S LANGLEY HEADQUARTERS OVER THE PAST 52 YEARS AND RUN THE NUMBERS.
Here’s a chart showing the number of times a President used ‘I’ in speaking at the CIA…

…. Obama, May 20, 2011: “AFTER I DIRECTED THAT GETTING BIN LADEN BE THE PRIORITY, YOU HUNKERED DOWN EVEN MORE, BUILDING ON YEARS OF PAINSTAKING WORK; pulling together, in some cases, the slenderest of intelligence streams, running those threads to ground until you found that courier and you tracked him to that compound.” [Indeed, of all the speeches I reviewed, Obama's is the first to take first-person credit for specific outcomes.….

http://www.cenedella.com/job-search/i-obama-the-president-and-the-personal-pronoun/

I'm not sure if it is narcisism or Obama is that insecure. 
Obama’s College Graduates problem

Leaving aside the salaries (not so surprising that engineering majors make more than education or humanities majors) it’s importantly to look pretty seriously at those light green bars. That represents people who went to college and are now employed in jobs that don’t require them to have gone to college. THAT’S 22 PERCENT OF EMPLOYED PEOPLE UNDER AGE 25. THEY’RE EARNING LESS THAN $16,000 A YEAR ON AVERAGE. That’s depressing. Those are people who have jobs. There are a lot of college graduates out there who don’t have jobs and are not included in this chart

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/the_careers_of_college_graduat.php

We went to a party for a recent college graduate who was planning on going on in school (3 more years). In talking with her friends it was depressing to hear about the lack of jobs and what they were having to settle for.

Keynes is dead

Several factors, no doubt, contribute to our present misfortune. BUT ONE CANNOT IGNORE OBAMA'S EGREGIOUS AND UNPARALLELED STIMULUS SPENDING. GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS PRETTY MUCH INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO JOB GROWTH. This is partly because a great deal of stimulus cash was funneled to Democratic constituencies or immediately circulated into government coffers to pay off state debts, rather than being applied to private contracts which might have "stimulated" the economy. However, the overarching explanation is that KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS IS BUNK AND UNCONTROLLED GOVERNMENT SPENDING RUINS ECONOMIES.

While true believers will argue ad infinitum that external factor explains Obamanomic's failure to launch, the experiment cannot be said to have failed for lack of trying. OBAMA HAS SPENT WITH RECKLESS ABANDON AND PROMISED TO KEEP THE TAP FLOWING. IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE ANYONE SERIOUSLY ARGUING THAT WE SHOULD (OR COULD) HAVE SPENT MORE MONEY THAN WE HAVE. And the result it evident.

Albert Einstein's famous quote seems to apply. "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." An Obama victory in 2012 would reveal either that American's have no knowledge of the facts or that they meet the criteria of Einstein's definition.

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/

Another reason Obama will be unemployed in 2013.

Mitch Daniels won’t run

After months of stewing and despite widespread encouragement from many within his party, Indiana GOV. MITCH DANIELS SENT OUT AN E-MAIL TO SUPPORTERS EARLY SUNDAY
SAYING HE HAD DECIDED AGAINST JUMPING INTO THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE…..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576338473611606448.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

FYI

Playing the system

“I USED TO BE A DRUNK, BUT NOW I’M BIPOLAR.” A GUY WHO WAS APPLYING FOR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS ONCE SAID THESE WORDS, WHICH SUM UP THE PROBLEM WITH THIS ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM….

…. In 1984 President Reagan (yes, Reagan) signed a law that further liberalized reviews of mental disorders for SSDI and SSI benefits. Earlier in his administration (at the behest of David Stockman), SSA ramped up its audits on people receiving disability benefits — but the resulting blowback in the press was so harsh that Reagan accepted the 1984 changes as a way to end the negative publicity. Thus in 1984 about 64,000 people were awarded SSDI benefits due to “mental disorders”; by 1986 it had jumped to about 124,000. In 2009, it was over 216,000, resulting in an unsurprising cumulative effect of over 2.4 million people receiving SSDI benefits for “mental disorders other than retardation.” (SSA has oodles of SSDI stats here, but, oddly, not so much for SSI.)

Now you know why that guy was claiming to be bipolar — because being an alcoholic wouldn’t qualify him for benefits.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/21/i-used-to-be-drunk-but-now-i%e2%80%99m-bipolar/#ixzz1N6D5hhEJ

In case you are wondering why government programs always seem to grow much larger than the estimates when it is proposed, it’s human nature. SSI was intended to help those who had debilitating disabilities. Along the way alcoholics, drug addict, and others learned how to scam the system.

Happy Sunday!

Obstacles to Obama’s reelection chances

Obama dramatically expanded the political playing field in 2008, competing and winning in states that had not backed a Democrat for president in a generation, but next year's map could look more like President George W. Bush's tight 2004 re-election win over Democrat John Kerry.

The SPUTTERING ECONOMY AND UNHAPPINESS WITH OBAMA'S LEADERSHIP have battered his popularity nationwide, hitting him particularly hard IN CONSERVATIVE STATES LIKE NORTH CAROLINA, INDIANA AND VIRGINIA where in 2008 he broke Democratic losing streaks dating to the 1960s.

HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND A DECLINING MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY ALSO HAVE HELPED DRIVE DOWN HIS POLL NUMBERS IN TRADITIONAL RUST BELT BATTLEGROUNDS LIKE OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA AND WISCONSIN, which are crucial to his hopes of putting together the 270 electoral votes needed for re-election.

Obama won 365 electoral votes, awarded on a state-by-state basis, in a smashing 2008 victory that gave him 95 electoral votes to spare. This time around, his margin for error will be smaller, Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said.

"He has a cushion, but it's going to be a lot closer than in 2008," Brown said. "IT IS HARD TO SEE, GIVEN THE CURRENT SITUATION, OBAMA WINNING STATES IN 2012 THAT HE DID NOT WIN IN 2008. The question is, how many more states does he lose?"….

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-usa-campaign-battlegrounds-idUSTRE74J63E20110520

Watch Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. If he loses them, he loses the election.

The top 10 reasons to support a Cain run for president

Even those conservatives who will not vote for Herman Cain to win the Republican nomination should hope that he does run -- and that his candidacy lasts a long time during the nomination process, perhaps even succeeding.

HERMAN CAIN IS PEERLESS AMONG THE LONG LIST OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATES -- AND HIS IMPACT ON THE FIELD AND THE DIRECTION OF THE PARTY WILL BE IN THE DIRECTION OF FREE ENTERPRISE, LESS GOVERNMENT, AND SPEAKING WITH BOLDNESS -- you know, pretty much the opposite of what the GOP has done since Newt's Congress lost steam in the mid- to late '90s.

To codify, here are the top reasons to support Cain based on my observation of the man over a period of years:….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/top_ten_reasons_to_support_her.html

Not only that, but he would drive the left crazy since their first argument is the right is racist.

Saturday Night Card Game (Progressives Devouring Their Own Tail)

This is the latest in a series on the use of the race card for political gain:

I previously wrote about accusations by Princeton Professor Cornel West that Obama was racist. Against blacks.

NOW WEST LAYS INTO OBAMA AGAIN. IT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF, AND IS CAUSING ALL SORTS OF LIBERAL ANGST…

Watch video here

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/05/saturday-night-card-game-progressives.html

Kind of fun to watch.

Public Sector Unions

Many questions have arisen from recent political events about the power of unions. In a new working paper published today, Mercatus scholar Eileen Norcross, compiled research on unions and clears up some misconceptions about THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS AND HOW THEY WORK.

“THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR COME FROM ECONOMICS,” SAID NORCROSS. “PRIVATE SECTOR UNIONS CAN RAISE THEIR WAGES, BUT NOT THEIR EMPLOYMENT. BY CONTRAST, PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS CAN INCREASE BOTH WAGE AND EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES.”

The result, says Norcross, is that public sector unions can grow the size of budgets, while private sector unions are constrained by the profitability of the firm.

“Unlike private sector unions, PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS RELY NOT ONLY ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, BUT ALSO LEVERAGE THEIR POLITICAL INFLUENCE TO ACHIEVE THESE GAINS,” said Norcross. “In fact, EMPIRICAL STUDIES INDICATE THE POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF UNIONS MAY BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AT RAISING EMPLOYMENT.”

http://mercatus.org/features/how-do-unions-affect-state-budgets

Something that is intuitive being backed up by actual studies. It seems public sector unions political activity is even better than collective bargaining.

Barney Frank blasted for debt ceiling panic

The Bay State GOP is blasting U.S. Rep. Barney Frank for claiming that the nation might default on its bills for the first time in history because congressional Republicans are refusing to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

“THIS IS BARNEY FRANK’S M.O. — BURN THE HOUSE DOWN, THEN TAKE HIS HAND OFF OF THE GAS CAN AND SAY, ‘IT’S (THE GOP’S) FAULT,’ ” Massachusetts Republican Party executive director Nathan Little said.

Local Tea Partiers insist that IT’S DEMOCRATS WHO WANT A FINANCIAL MELTDOWN SO PANICKED LAWMAKERS WILL RAISE THE BORROWING CAP WITHOUT ADDRESSING GOVERNMENT SPENDING….

http://bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1339431

Expect a lot more of this in the coming months.

Study shows Democrat Profs more egalitarian than Republican Profs

…The distribution of academic talent was the same across “Republican” and “Democratic” classrooms, judging from SAT scores. But the REPUBLICANS GAVE GRADES OF C-MINUS OR WORSE 6.2% OF THE TIME, COMPARED WITH 4% FOR DEMOCRATS. AND REPUBLICANS AWARDED THE GOLD STAR OF A-PLUS 8% OF THE TIME, COMPARED WITH ONLY 3.5% FOR DEMOCRATS.

On average, REPUBLICAN PROFESSORS GAVE BLACK STUDENTS GRADES THAT WERE .2 OF A GRADE POINT LOWER THAN THEIR DEMOCRATIC COLLEAGUES, or about two-thirds of the distance between a B and a B-minus.

On other demographic fronts, older professors were slightly more likely than their younger peers to give A-pluses. Women gave A-pluses to female students slightly more often than men did, and women were also more egalitarian at the bottom end of the grading curve….

http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/05/18/republican-and-democratic-professors-grade-differently/?mod=google_news_blog

You can't draw any conclusions from the information here, but it is interesting.

Dark Energy Is Driving Universe Apart

A five-year survey of 200,000 galaxies, stretching back seven billion years in cosmic time, has led to one of the BEST INDEPENDENT CONFIRMATIONS THAT DARK ENERGY IS DRIVING OUR UNIVERSE APART AT ACCELERATING SPEEDS

The survey used data from NASA's space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Anglo-Australian Telescope on Siding Spring Mountain in Australia.

The findings offer new support for the favored theory of HOW DARK ENERGY WORKS -- AS A CONSTANT FORCE, UNIFORMLY AFFECTING THE UNIVERSE AND PROPELLING ITS RUNAWAY EXPANSION. They contradict an alternate theory, where gravity, not dark energy, is the force pushing space apart. According to this alternate theory, with which the new survey results are not consistent, Albert Einstein's concept of gravity is wrong, and gravity becomes repulsive instead of attractive when acting at great distances….

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110519113152.htm

In case this keeps you awake at nights.