Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Spending cuts important to Republicans

Boehner draws lines in the sand


Based on reports from POLITICO and NYT, we know the following:

• EVERYTHING IS "ON THE TABLE" (Medicare, etc.) except taxes. That's the one thing Boehner won't accept.

• He doesn't feel the debt limit is urgent.

• He doesn't think a default is a real risk.

• HE WON'T SUPPORT SPENDING CUT "TRIGGERS" -- which are seen as a gimmick to kick the can down the road. THE CUTS MUST HAPPEN NOW.

• Defense spending needs a "fundamental review."

• Regarding Wall Street unease over the failure to enact, Boehner insists that not acting would be far more damaging.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT BOEHNER SEEMS TO HAVE BOXED HIMSELF IN WITH A PRETTY TOUGH LINE THAT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO GO BACK ON WITHOUT BASICALLY BEING A SELLOUT. If you thought he was going to be the pragmatic one, and try to work out a deal with moderate Republicans, think again. At least that's his stance right now.

As POLITICO's Jake Sherman puts it: He's now on a collision course with Democrats

http://www.businessinsider.com/john-boehners-huge-debt-ceiling-speech-2011-5#ixzz1LwpyNF7o

While the author seems to think Boehner has “boxed himself in” I look at this and see a principled stand for cutting spending. But I agree with Sherman, that Boehner is on a collision course with Democrats.


Kyl: Spending cuts of trillions, not billions

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Monday that Republicans will LIKELY DEMAND CUTS TO THE BUDGET WORTH $6 TRILLION OVER THE NEXT DECADE IN EXCHANGE FOR VOTING TO RAISE THE NATIONAL DEBT LIMIT.

“You’re going to have to have significant upfront cuts,” he told reporters Monday. “You’re going to have to have significant constraints on future spending. You’re going to have to have an agreement on the next several years of budget numbers so we know exactly what those are. I think there will be other constraints on spending – there is more than one way to do that, I think there are several things that might be done….”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54606.html#ixzz1LwxZT7mQ

It appears the Republicans have seen what the problem is.



Christie: Obamacare killing the states

Widely reported in the blog world is the fact that the latest projections show that OBAMACARE WILL INCREASE THE FEDERAL DEFICIT, NOT DECREASE IT AS PROGRESSIVES CONTEND. What is not widely reported is that the mandates that accompany the government run-health care plan saddle the states with an oppressive financial burden...

…“Listen, I think that there’s got to be a credible plan that’s put forward that deals with entitlements in a serious way," said Christie on the red carpet of MSNBC's White House Correspondents Dinner after-party. "And, you know, I THINK CONGRESSMAN [PAUL] RYAN’S GOT A GOOD SET OF IDEAS THERE. WHETHER IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GO, WE’LL WAIT AND SEE.
"But I think as a governor what I’m most concerned about is getting us some more flexibility in Medicaid," said Christie. "IT’S REALLY KIND OF DROWNING THE STATES. AND SO IF HIS BUDGET GIVES US MORE FLEXIBILITY IN MEDICAID, I THINK THAT WOULD BE GOOD. But you know I’m more concerned about what I have to do in New Jersey than I’m concerned about what they’re going to do nationally.”

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/05/chris-christie-obamacare-is-killing.html

Obamacare must be repealed.

A sluggish recovery

The mainstream media did a heroic job of making the mixed jobs numbers on Friday look good. Then THE EXPERTS POINTED OUT THAT THE 244,000 NEW JOBS IN THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS ESTABLISHMENT SURVEY WERE MOSTLY A STATISTICAL ARTIFACT.

If you look, as I do, at the BLS Household Survey, you see a downtick in Employment of 190,000 jobs and an uptick in Labor Force of 15,000. (That's why the Unemployment Rate went up to 9.0 percent.) Don't understand the numbers? Then here's a chart of US Employment since the start of 2008 to show you what is happening….


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


Keynesian economics never worked, and Obama is proving it once again.


The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is NICE

In March of 2010, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi famously said, "We have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it." Subsequent study of this leviathan legislation has brought some truly startling revelations to light; however, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD (IPAB) WILL LIKELY PROVE THE MOST DANGEROUS TO OUR LIBERTY.

IPAB is a fifteen-member board, appointed by the president and charged with developing recommendations regarding procedures, medications, and spending priorities for Medicare and Medicaid. OSTENSIBLY, THE BOARD MEMBERS ARE TO DISCOVER WAYS TO IMPLEMENT THE BEST PRACTICES, DEVISING METHODS BY WHICH THESE PROGRAMS MAY PROVIDE BETTER SERVICES AT LOWER COSTS.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/the_independent_payment_adviso.html

If you don’t understand how the IPAB is supposed to work this lays it out.



Mediscare: A leftist view

I found this article and the paragraph below caught my attention

THE EDITORIAL ARGUES THAT "SIMPLY PRESERVING MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT IS NOT AN OPTION." OF COURSE IT'S AN OPTION. We could raise taxes to the levels that other advanced democracies employ. We could cut Medicare in some way that doesn't both waste money on privatization and dwindle to grossly inadequate funding levels. Indeed, several bipartisan proposals, including the sainted Bowles-Simpson plan, do exactly that.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/88029/mediscare-and-the-conventional-wisdom

Why I was struck by this is the author says “preserving Medicare as we know it is an option” and then he goes on to say how we can cut Medicare in ways he would approve of. So apparently it isn’t an option to him either, he just doesn’t know it.


Olbermann finds getting new staff is difficult

GASBAG KEITH OLBERMANN CAN'T SEEM TO WRANGLE STAFF FOR HIS CURRENT TV SHOW, "COUNTDOWN." Still in need of an executive producer and other staff, FAMOUSLY DIFFICULT OLBERMANN HAS CRAWLED BACK TO HIS CONTACTS AT MSNBC, MANY OF WHOM HE OFFENDED WHILE THERE, TO BEG FOR STAFF. "EVERYONE IS LAUGHING," said a source. "They would never leave the network to work for him." A witness recently saw him hobbling around the Upper East Side with a stick in his hand. Olbermann is recovering from a foot injury.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/hobbling_gasbag_mU8w77Gr0Djcp9GZ1p4PgN#ixzz1LwnBJWZr

Perhaps his difficulties come from the fact he is “The Worst Person in the World.”



Kill or Waterboard? Which is more moral?

At the end of his "60 Minutes" interview, President Obama said of Osama bin Laden's death, "Justice was done. And I THINK THAT ANYONE WHO WOULD QUESTION THAT THE PERPETRATOR OF MASS MURDER ON AMERICAN SOIL DIDN'T DESERVE WHAT HE GOT NEEDS TO HAVE THEIR HEAD EXAMINED."

The longer he serves in office, the more Obama sounds like George W. Bush.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd also has started to sound like Bush. In her Sunday column, "KILLING EVIL DOESN'T MAKE US EVIL," Dowd writes that when Navy SEALs shot and killed bin Laden, it seemed like "the only civilized and morally sound response."

To review: OBAMA AND DOWD LONG HAVE CLAIMED THAT IT WAS MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE FOR U.S. INTELLIGENCE OPERATIVES TO WATERBOARD 9/11 MASTERMIND KHALID SHEIK MOHAMMED. Candidate Obama said that waterboarding was "never acceptable" because it contradicts our values. Obama even dished his now-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, for having said in 2006 that she would authorize brutal interrogation measures to prevent a terrorist attack.

Apparently, it is consistent with Obama's and Dowd's values to shoot and kill an unarmed bin Laden -- as long as you don't waterboard him to learn possible intelligence that might prevent a terrorist attack first.

It's amazing how partisan politics can make the medicine go down….

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/10/obama_values_kill_but_dont_waterboard_109802.html

While like many conservatives I have no problem with killing Bin Laden, I also had no problem waterboarding Khalid Sheik Mohammed, it appears leftist don’t understand the cognitive dissidence of their stance.



UBL in Pakistan for 7.5 years, not just 5

THE TERROR CHIEF SPENT 2½ YEARS IN THE QUIET HILL VILLAGE BEFORE MOVING IN 2005 TO THE COMPOUND WHERE HE WAS KILLED.

It suggests he was able to run al-Qaeda from Pakistan for more than seven years.

US OFFICIALS ARE NOW CONVINCED HE WAS AIDED BY PAKISTAN'S ISI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE.

The second house was revealed by Bin Laden's youngest wife Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, 27, who was among 15 people held last week when US Navy Seals killed him at his Abbottabad compound.

YEMENI-BORN AMAL TOLD INVESTIGATORS THAT THEY LIVED IN THE NEARBY VILLAGE OF CHAK SHAH MOHAMMAD. AN ISI OFFICIAL SAID: "SHE SAID THEY WERE THERE FOR NEARLY 2½ YEARS BEFORE MOVING TO ABBOTTABAD AT THE END OF 2005."

Cops yesterday searched caves in the village for signs Bin Laden used them - as locals told of "mysterious foreigners" in the area in 2004. Farmer Mohammad Younas, 55, said: "They asked me if there was any land for sale."


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3569683/Osama-Bin-Laden-lived-unchallenged-in-a-second-safe-house-in-Pakistan.html#ixzz1Lwowd9Ul


Pakistan has a lot of “splanin” to do. Jay Leno in his Monday night monologue referred to Pakistan as Pak-o-liars.

Yemeni Man Screaming “Allahu Akbar” Tries to Rush Cockpit

The passengers sat stunned as they watched a man walk quickly toward the front of American Airlines Flight 1561 as it was descending toward San Francisco. HE WAS SCREAMING AND THEN BEGAN POUNDING ON THE COCKPIT DOOR.

"I kept saying to myself: 'What's he doing? Does he have a bomb? Is he armed?'" passenger Angelina Marty said.

Another shocked passenger, Andrew Wai, thought, "Could this be it? Are we going down?"

Within moments Sunday, a flight attendant tackled Rageh Almurisi. Authorities do not yet have a motive.

While Almurisi, 28, of Vallejo, Calif., has no clear or known ties to terrorism, AUTHORITIES SAY, THE INCIDENT UNDERSCORED FEARS THAT EXTREMISTS MAY TRY TO MOUNT ATTACKS TO RETALIATE FOR THE DEATH OF AL-QAIDA LEADER OSAMA BIN LADEN LAST WEEK
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivPF__jOfd6yJW9fbUdmWcQcEgBQ?docId=0ecb96a28be64068977a20f4b9202c31

This is a job for ICE. Deport him.



The Obama myth

…. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr., had grown up in Kenya "herding goats." His mother, Ann Dunham, Obama traced to Kansas, as he always did. "MY PARENTS SHARED NOT ONLY AN IMPROBABLE LOVE," Obama continued, "they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation."

In the frequent retelling of this tale, Obama Sr. left the family for Harvard well after the family had cohered. "I get it," Obama told America's schoolchildren in 2009. "I know what that's like. MY FATHER LEFT MY FAMILY WHEN I WAS TWO YEARS OLD, AND I WAS RAISED BY A SINGLE MOTHER…."

…. OBAMA'S MOTHER, ANN DUNHAM, HAD LEFT HAWAII WITHOUT HER PRESUMED HUSBAND LONG BEFORE HER BABY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.

By 2009, WorldNetDaily had confirmed the specifics of Dunham's departure. WND posted DUNHAM'S TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON IN SEATTLE, WHICH SHOWED THAT SHE HAD BEGUN TAKING TWO NIGHT CLASSES ON SEPTEMBER 25, 1961, ABOUT SEVEN WEEKS AFTER THE BABY'S BIRTH. WND PLACED HER ARRIVAL IN SEATTLE ABOUT A MONTH EARLIER.

This meant, of course, that the story Obama had been telling about his origins -- what Obama-friendly biographer David Remnick calls Obama's "signature appeal: the use of the details of his own life as a reflection of a kind of multicultural ideal" -- was profoundly false. THERE WAS NO OBAMA FAMILY, NO SHARED "FAITH IN THE POSSIBILITIES OF THIS NATION," NO "IMPROBABLE LOVE."

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

It appears Obama’s mother and father never lived together after he was born and his rendition of what happened was more wishful thinking than actual fact. So what else is new?



Kloppenburg Demands "Ballot Security" (but not in Dane County)


LAST NIGHT I CALLED ON JOANNE KLOPPENBURG TO CONCEDE. I don't think she listened.

Kloppenburg's only chance of winning is to knock out several thousand legitimate votes by challenging "ballot security" based on gaps and openings in ballot bags.

But I also noted that this was just a game. THE ACTUAL RECOUNT NUMBERS, PARTICULARLY IN THE CITY OF BROOKFIELD, SHOWED THAT ANY SUPPOSED "BALLOT SECURITY" FLAWS DID NOT AFFECT THE VOTE COUNT. There was no ballot bag stuffing or other tampering with ballots.

And now there is proof of Kloppenburg's craven gamesmanship, because KLOPPENBURG HAS IGNORED ALMOST IDENTICAL BALLOT BAG ISSUES IN DANE COUNTY, WHICH UNLIKE WAUKESHA COUNTY, WENT HEAVILY IN HER FAVOR…
…Stop now, JoAnne, while you still have some small measure of dignity.

YOU ARE ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING A VERB.

http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/05/kloppenburg-demands-ballot-security-but.html

I loved the last sentence where Professor Jacobson warned her she was in danger of becoming a verb. Well said!

San Francisco’s “social justice” requirements costs millions

San Francisco's much-heralded "social justice" requirements for city contracts are costing local taxpayers millions of dollars a year in overcharges, according to workers in departments ranging from the Municipal Transportation Agency to the Department of Emergency Management.

In one case, a MUNI WORKER SAID THE CITY PAID $3,000 FOR A VEHICLE BATTERY TRAY. SUCH PARTS CAN BE FOUND ONLINE FOR $12 TO $300, DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF VEHICLE. City officials said they couldn't verify that purchase, saying the trays are usually bought in bulk with the battery.

OTHER CITY PURCHASING POLICIES, IF FOLLOWED, WOULD MEAN PAYING ABOUT $240 FOR GETTING A COPY OF A KEY THAT ACTUALLY COST A WORKER $1.35 TO GET DONE AT A HARDWARE STORE ON HIS BREAK, the employee said. Another city worker called the use of catalog pricing for supplies "Pentagon-style purchasing."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/07/MN7T1JB8JF.DTL#ixzz1LyDEzPBL

What I found interesting was not the ridiculous prices illustrated here, but just how much is controlled. It gives you a glimpse of what more government trying to do the right thing costs and not just in the term of dollars, but hassle as well.



New paper: Increased solar activity caused far more global warming than assumed by the IPCC


A recent peer-reviewed paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics finds that solar activity has increased since the Little Ice Age by far more than previously assumed by the IPCC. The paper finds that the TOTAL SOLAR IRRADIANCE (TSI) HAS INCREASED SINCE THE END OF THE LITTLE ICE AGE (AROUND 1850) BY UP TO 6 TIMES MORE THAN ASSUMED BY THE IPCC. Thus, much of the global warming observed since 1850 may instead be attributable to the Sun (called "solar forcing"), rather than man-made CO2 as assumed by the IPCC.


http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-paper-increased-solar-activity.html


Another nail in the global warming coffin. The sun might actually have something to do with warming?  Who would of thunk it? 

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