Thursday, September 22, 2011

Barack Obama’s desperate Hail Mary

“WE ARE WITNESSING THE UNMISTAKABLE COLLAPSE OF AN AMERICAN PRESIDENCY.” I wrote those words in this space almost one year ago, and events continue to prove them true. It seems the president himself now recognizes this reality. Thus his desperate Hail Mary.

The second Summer of Recovery failed to materialize, and now the Autumn of Despair is settling in. The president’s approval ratings are at record lows. Americans identify themselves as conservative by a 2-1 margin over liberal, and it’s widening. The Democrats just lost two House special elections, including one for a “safe” New York seat they’ve firmly held for 88 years. And this after taking a “shellacking” - the president’s own word - in last year’s midterm elections. But who should be surprised?

OBAMANOMICS HAS BECOME ITS OWN PARODY, A DISASTROUS AMALGAM OF WILDLY INCREASED DEFICIT SPENDING, CENTRAL PLANNING, BAILOUTS, TAKEOVERS, UNCONSTITUTIONAL MANDATES, OVERREGULATION, CRONY FAVORITISM, DEBASED CURRENCY AND INCREASED TAXES. The “smartest guy ever to become president,” as pundits used to call him, knows ONLY ONE SOLUTION TO EVERY PROBLEM: GROW THE GOVERNMENT. Now his proverbial chickens have come home to roost and the landscape is littered with the results: Unemployment. High gas prices. Deficits. Food stamps. Poverty. Uninsured people. Foreclosures. Bankruptcies. Layoffs. Phony green jobs. Downgraded America. This is Obamanomics….


I never did come across what the Hail Mary was in this article.  I think it was more of a dirge for the Obama Presidency.




Wasserman-Schultz Sued by Outside Group for Ethics Violation

THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (RNLA) WILL SUBMIT A NEW ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ OF FLORIDA, THE DAILY CALLER HAS LEARNED.

The complaint, which will be filed on Thursday with the Office of Congressional Ethics, takes issue with DNC ads that appear to violate House rules.

Thursday’s complaint will be the second the RNLA has leveled at Wasserman Schultz. Earlier this week the group sent a letter to the OCE about a 30-second ad touting President Barack Obama’s jobs plan. THE VIDEO FEATURED FOOTAGE FROM OBAMA’S SEPT. 8 SPEECH TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS.

HOUSE ETHICS RULES PROHIBIT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FROM USING FOOTAGE OF OFFICIAL HOUSE PROCEEDINGS FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES….


Somehow the rules don’t seem to be important to the Democrats.  Of course they are the party that objects to the 10 Commandments being displayed in government buildings.  My theory is that it has nothing to do with religion and much more to do with they don’t like ethics. 

 


Self-Deception on the Left

….SO, HOW CAN THE LEFT POSSIBLY DEFEAT A MOVEMENT (THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT) THAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND AND, WORSE, THAT THEY PURPOSELY MISUNDERSTAND? Can a pro basketball team win a championship if they never study their opponents? Can they expect to win if they never scout, or watch a single game tape, or study the strengths and weakness of their opponents' key players? Obviously the answer is no.

NOW THE GREAT THING FOR THE TEA PARTY AND AMERICA IS THAT THE LEFT IS SPENDING BILLIONS   …TO DECEIVE THEMSELVES! How cool is that? We Tea Party activists literally could not buy such a great tactical advantage given to us by the Baghdad Bobs of the liberal misinformation corps like the HuffPo, Media Matters, MSNBC, and Michael! If this were a military engagement, it would be like the Japanese being told by their own leaders that America has no Navy, no Army, no Air Force, no leadership, and no industry.

To show how this works, just look back on the history of the Tea Party and the innumerable success to this date along with the tons of misinformation. REMEMBER OBAMA SAYING THAT HE WAS UNAWARE OF THE TEA PARTY RALLY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.? REMEMBER THE MEDIA SAYING THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AT THE 9-12 MARCH WHEN THERE WAS CLOSE TO 800,000 IN ATTENDANCE? REMEMBER PELOSI CALLING THE TEA PARTY ASTROTURF? REMEMBER EVERY TEA PARTY RALLY'S TOTAL ATTENDANCE BEING UNDERREPORTED IF IT WAS REPORTED AT ALL? REMEMBER THE SCORN AND DERISION?...

….For example, the left lost Kennedy's Senate seat to Scott Brown because of their arrogance, and that was just the beginning of the flood that was to come. The left lost to Nikki Haley in South Carolina. They lost to Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. Rand Paul won in Kentucky, and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania.

In the U.S. House the victories in 2010 were historic. THE 2010 ELECTION RESULTED IN THE HIGHEST LOSS OF A PARTY IN A HOUSE MIDTERM ELECTION SINCE 1938. REPUBLICANS WON 63 SEATS, MAKING HISTORIC GAINS BY A PROPORTION NOT SEEN IN OVER 70 YEARS. In fact, eighty-five percent of the Tea Party races in the House were against an incumbent. Yet of that group, Tea Party candidates outperformed  generic Republican candidates. The Tea party movement also helped Republicans to capture more than 720 legislature seats which helped them to pick up 22 state legislatures.

THE HISTORIC ELECTION IN 2010 HAPPENED BECAUSE THE LEFT WAS DECEIVED BY PEOPLE LIKE MICHAEL MOORE, SO THEY UNDERESTIMATED THE POPULARITY AND STRENGTH OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT. So instead of getting mad when you see the lies spread by the left about the Tea Party, do what I do and smile knowingly as I get ready for another historic victory.




An interesting way to look at the hammering the left wing press gives to the TEA party.  Calling them racists, extremists, suicide bombers, etc. they insulate themselves from the truth of how dangerous the principles are to the left’s political agenda.  They honestly think that they can counteract a movement that includes 30% of the population by name calling.





Obama Scandal Update:  Solyndra

Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said THEY SAW QUESTIONABLE SPENDING BY MANAGEMENT ALMOST AS SOON AS A FEDERAL AGENCY APPROVED A $535 MILLION GOVERNMENT-BACKED LOAN FOR THE START-UP.

A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. HASTILY PURCHASED STATE-OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT ENDED UP BEING SOLD FOR PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR, STILL IN ITS PLASTIC WRAP, EMPLOYEES SAID.

As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., WORKERS WATCHED AS PALLETS OF UNSOLD SOLAR PANELS STACKED UP IN STORAGE. Many wondered: Was the factory needed?

“AFTER WE GOT THE LOAN GUARANTEE, THEY WERE JUST SPENDING MONEY LEFT AND RIGHT,” SAID FORMER SOLYNDRA ENGINEER LINDSEY EASTBURN. “Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.”

Solyndra’s ability to secure federal backing also made the company eager for more assistance, interviews and records show. COMPANY EXECUTIVES RAMPED UP THEIR WASHINGTON LOBBYING EFFORTS, HIRING A FORMER SENATE AIDE TO WORK WITH THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE ENERGY DEPARTMENT. WITHIN A WEEK OF GETTING A LOAN GUARANTEE COMMITMENT FROM THE ENERGY DEPARTMENT, SOLYNDRA APPLIED FOR ANOTHER, WORTH $400 MILLION. IT NEVER WON FINAL APPROVAL.

On Friday, company executives are scheduled to appear before a House committee investigating how Solyndra obtained its loan and whether the Obama White House rushed its approval for political reasons. Chief Executive Officer Brian Harrison and Chief Financial Officer Bill Stover were supposed to face a grilling about the company’s spending and collapse, but THEY ANNOUNCED TUESDAY THAT THEY WOULD ASSERT THEIR FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS BECAUSE OF A CRIMINAL PROBE OF THE COMPANY BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT….




Spending like that deserves recognition.  Perhaps they could get government jobs for Obama’s next stimulus.   



The Regulatory State:  Boon or Bane to Jobs

…BEHIND THE NEW REGULATORY STATE ARE MILLIONS OF ACADEMICS, LAWYERS, BUREAUCRATS, ORGANIZERS, AND FREELANCE CONSULTANTS WHO FIRST CREATE A NEW NEED FOR THE RULES, AND THEN MAGICALLY STEP IN ARMED WITH THEIR RARE EXPERTISE (environmental impact statements, subsidized graduate research showing class/race/gender discrimination, communications in legalese, etc.) to allow the rest of us to “comply” with their own utopian (or rather self-serving) visions. Fifty years ago junior wanted to be a civil engineer or master welder—today an environmental impact statement researcher.

THE NET RESULT IS THAT A GUY ON A TRACTOR, A WELDER ON A BRIDGE, AND A STREET PAVER ARE SUPPORTING DISTANT OTHERS WHO ARE MONITORING WHAT HE IS DOING WHILE BEING FAR BETTER PAID WITH FAR LESS WORK. We see variants of this from the new explosion of non-teaching administrators who now oversee and match in number faculty, who upon retirement are replaced by exploited part-timers, the savings to pay for the overhead (universities will end two tenure-track positions in French literature to save one diversity czar), to the legions of clerks milling around in the building inspector’s office or DMV behind the two open public windows with lines out the door. In the Solyndra case, one wonders how many were actually making solar panels versus how many were reporting on the feasibility of the new plant (environment, sound, water, etc.), angling for the loan, lobbying, conducting PR, and then filing compliance reports for the laws their like kind drafted….


Mother Jones has an article on how regulations don’t kill jobs.  Of course they do, but rather than causing the death in the workplace, they strangle them in crib.  Probably the worst part is the regulations favor big business over small business and create an artificial barrier to entry by small firms thereby reducing competition. 



House leaders to honor Rangel nine months after censure

It may be one of the more awkward honorary ceremonies in recent memory.

On Thursday, House leaders will pay tribute to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), less than a year after the House formally censured the former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will speak at a ceremony to unveil Rangel’s official portrait as chairman of the storied committee, which the longtime New York Democrat led from 2007 until March 2010, when party leaders pressured him to give up the post amid a growing ethics scandal.

In December, the House voted overwhelmingly, 333-79, to censure Rangel over rules violations that stemmed from unpaid taxes on a villa he owned in the Dominican Republic, undisclosed financial assets and the improper use of his office for fundraising.


Just when you thought Congress’s approval rating couldn’t go any lower, the go and so something like this.  I think a mural to Bernie Madoff in the Social Security offices would be a nice touch.   



Science and Religion Do Mix

Rice University study reveals only 15 percent of scientists at major research universities see religion and science always in conflict

Throughout history, science and religion have appeared as being in perpetual conflict, but A NEW STUDY BY RICE UNIVERSITY SUGGESTS THAT ONLY A MINORITY OF SCIENTISTS AT MAJOR RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES SEE RELIGION AND SCIENCE AS REQUIRING DISTINCT BOUNDARIES.

"When it comes to questions about the meaning of life, ways of understanding reality, origins of Earth and how life developed on it, many have seen religion and science as being at odds and even in irreconcilable conflict," said Rice sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund. But a majority of scientists interviewed by Ecklund and colleagues VIEWED BOTH RELIGION AND SCIENCE AS "VALID AVENUES OF KNOWLEDGE" THAT CAN BRING BROADER UNDERSTANDING TO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, she said.

Ecklund summarized her findings in “Scientists Negotiate Boundaries Between Religion and Science,” appears in the September issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Her co-authors were sociologists Jerry Park of Baylor University and Katherine Sorrell, a former post-baccalaureate fellow at Rice and current Ph.D. student at the University of Notre Dame.

They interviewed a scientifically selected sample of 275 participants, pulled from a survey of 2,198 tenured and tenure-track faculty in the natural and social sciences at 21 elite U.S. research universities. ONLY 15 PERCENT OF THOSE SURVEYED VIEW RELIGION AND SCIENCE AS ALWAYS IN CONFLICT. Another 15 percent say the two are never in conflict, and 70 PERCENT BELIEVE RELIGION AND SCIENCE ARE ONLY SOMETIMES IN CONFLICT. Approximately half of the original survey population expressed some form of religious identity, whereas the other half did not.

"Much of the public believes that as science becomes more prominent, secularization increases and religion decreases," Ecklund said. "Findings like these among elite scientists, who many individuals believe are most likely to be secular in their beliefs, definitely call into question ideas about the relationship between secularization and science."…

http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=16192&SnID=518811652



This is only noteworthy because of the push by the secular movement to portray the religion as a superstitious impediment to progress. 




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