Regulations, Lying and other assorted government mistakes

What’s new today

Our # 1story asks if regulations are hurting us. According to a Small Business survey and a number of executives in large businesses, it is.  #2 gives us anecdotes of how government is hurting us create jobs.  #3 lays out the latest scandal where the government appears to want a license to lie.  #4 is a follow up story to yesterday’s regarding Michelle Obama.  Article #5 discusses this administrations investments, or at least what they want to call investments.  #6 is a frightening one regarding OWS and how confused they are.  #7 talks about the law of unintended consequences and follows up with #8 demonstrating how a second energy company failure certainly illustrates that.  #9 shows us how the political parties are breaking down and asks your opinion on that.  #10 demonstrates a big problem in the schools.  We pay teachers rather than paying teachers by their specialty. 

1.   Are Regulations hurting us?

The roots of today’s economic troubles are hinted at in a new Gallup Poll of small business owners, which finds compliance with government regulations tops their “problem list.”

Bigger businesses say the same. No one’s forgotten that Vegas resorts mogul Steve Wynn called Washington “the greatest wet blanket to business, and progress and job creation in my lifetime”; or that Bernie Marcus claims he could not have built Home Depot in the regulatory environment of today.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/waynecrews/2011/10/26/flat-tax-this/

Lots of good comments from business leaders

2.   Do Government Regulations affect Jobs?

Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country and is one of the worst in foreclosures. “In my district,” Nevada Assemblyman Hansen reports, “one in seventeen houses is in foreclosure. One in eight is vacant. The people are economically desperate. MEANWHILE WE HAVE AN INDUSTRY THAT WOULD LOVE TO OPEN UP MINES AND CREATE JOBS WITH AN AVERAGE SALARY OF $80,000. UNFORTUNATELY WE ALSO HAVE A GOVERNMENT THAT TAKES TEN YEARS TO PERMIT A MINE.”

No wonder 77% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.

“Couldn’t we streamline the process or eliminate some steps?” asks Nevada State Senator Settelmeyer.  He points out that the high gold and silver prices present a huge opportunity but he’s afraid that if we do not strike while the iron is hot, gold prices may fall before the mining projects get approved and get into production. “We have the resources and people need the jobs…..”

…. In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While THE PROPERTY WAS SUCCESSFULLY DRILLED AND RECOGNIZED BY UNION CARBIDE IN THE SEVENTIES, IT IS NOW ABOUT 200 YARDS INSIDE A ROADLESS STUDY AREA. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling. AMONG THE CONDITIONS WERE THESE REQUIREMENTS:

·         The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,

·         The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,

·         THE MULES MUST BE FED CERTIFIED WEED-FREE HAY, and

·         Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.

The company gave up.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2011/10/31/obamaland_american_mules_must_eat_certified_weed-free_hay/page/full/

I’m sure these “conditions” are a great comfort to those who are out of work. 

3.   On FOIA, Obama wants a license to lie

IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT THE LIBERAL AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION AND CONSERVATIVE JUDICIAL WATCH AGREE ON ANYTHING, BUT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY HAS BROUGHT THE TWO TOGETHER. Obama's Justice Department has proposed a regulatory change that would weaken the Freedom of Information Act. Under the new rules, the government could falsely respond to those who file FOIA requests that a document does not exist if it pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation, concerns a terrorist organization, or a counterintelligence operation involving a foreign nation.

There are two problems with the Obama proposal to allow federal officials to affirmatively assert that a requested document doesn't exist when it does. First, by not citing a specific exemption allowed under the FOIA as grounds for denying a request, THE PROPOSAL WOULD CUT OFF A REQUESTOR FROM APPEALING TO THE COURTS. By thus creating an area of federal activity that is completely exempt from judicial review, the proposal undercuts due process and other constitutional protections. Second, by creating a justification for government lying to FOIA requestors in one area, A LEGAL PRECEDENT IS CREATED THAT SOONER OR LATER WILL BE ASSERTED BY THE GOVERNMENT IN OTHER AREAS AS WELL.

Under FOIA's current national security exemption, bureaucrats can already deny access to documents without acknowledging their existence. This was noted by the ACLU (joined by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and OpentheGovernment.com) in a comment on the proposal. In instances where there is a legitimate grounds for not confirming a document's existence, "THE AGENCY SHOULD SIMPLY RESPOND THAT 'WE INTERPRET ALL OR PART OF YOUR REQUEST AS A REQUEST FOR RECORDS WHICH, IF THEY EXIST, WOULD NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS OF FOIA PURSUANT TO SECTION 552(C), AND WE THEREFORE WILL NOT PROCESS THAT PORTION OF YOUR REQUEST.' This response requires no change to the current FOIA regulation." Such a response would preserve a requestor's right to appeal to a federal court….

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/10/foia-obama-wants-license-lie#ixzz1cLvARQZg

Perhaps there is common ground between the right and the left.  At least we both seem to be suspicious of a government move to make lying okay. 

4.   Michelle Obama:  Attack Dog

MICHELLE’S BACK, AND SHE’S MADDER THAN EVER. She was already pretty angry, seemingly unhappy with just about everything. As her husband wrapped up the Democratic nomination in 2008, she let fly her real feelings: “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I’m really proud of my country.” A few months into her job as first lady, her French counterpart asked how she liked the gig: “Don’t ask!” she reportedly spat. “It’s hell. I can’t stand it!”

She even seems to be mad at her silver-tongued husband. When the two were to set off on a luxurious 10-day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard, she left early - four hours early - and flew up alone. And those private vacations. She’s traveled to some of the world’s most plush resorts, taking 42 days off in the past year - that’d be eight weeks of vacay time if she held down a normal job.

NOW, SHE IS READY TO SPEW HER BILIOUS DISGUST WITH AMERICA ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. A dignified, transcendent first lady? No chance. MICHELLE IS GOING TO BREAK WITH A HUNDRED YEARS OF TRADITION AND PLAY THE ROLE OF ATTACK DOG, HEAPING DERISION ON HER HUSBAND’S POLITICAL OPPONENTS LIKE NO OTHER FIRST LADY BEFORE HER….

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/30/curl-the-very-angry-first-lady/

This is not a smart move on the Obama Administration.  It reminds people of her shortcomings, but also his administrations.  Nothing is as it was in 2008.  Hope and change is gone replaced by attack, attack, attack.

5.   Obama Invests for America

Here's a great business model. START YOUR COMPANY WITH THE IDEA THAT IT'S GOING TO GO BANKRUPT. THEN, WHEN IT FOLDS, INFORM YOUR INVESTORS THAT THE BUSINESS WAS A SUCCESS BECAUSE IT DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU EXPECTED.

That's more or less what Obama has done with every "investment" government has made over that past three years. The Energy Department's failed green energy loan program is just one example. It appears that much of the $36 billion earmarked for alternative energy firms, including $500 million to Solyndra alone, has been squandered. If that money had stayed in the private sector, it would have produced jobs. As it is, with real unemployment running at 20%, the president has wasted billions on companies that were destined to fail. That "investment" produced nothing except more debt and slower economic growth.

It is not surprising, given his lack of real-world experience, that OBAMA DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE WORD "INVESTMENT." Like most in his party, Obama thinks every kind of government spending is an investment. His thinking is so twisted that HE SPEAKS OF ALL SORTS OF WELFARE, INCLUDING INCREASES IN THE EARNED INCOME CREDIT AND EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS PAST 99 WEEKS, AS AN INVESTMENT. SPENDING ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS AN INVESTMENT, BENEFITS FOR THE HOMELESS ARE AN INVESTMENT, FUNDING THAT MAKES ITS WAY TO THE COFFERS OF TEACHERS UNIONS IS AN INVESTMENT. JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IS AN INVESTMENT, EXCEPT AN INVESTMENT

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/professor_obamas_investing_101.html

This isn’t tragic, it is scary.  The left has taken the language and completely destroyed the meaning of certain words so that they can use it to advance their political cause. 

6.   OWS and the Duped Generation

Radicalized progressives have marched on Wall Street. They know that they are angry, and they want to change the system, BUT THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WILL DO ONCE THEIR PROTEST REACHES BEYOND THE SIMPLICITY OF MARCHES AND SLEEPING IN TENTS. They only do this because they know they are angry, and things must change. They understand little beyond that because the programming has not gotten that far, yet….

…THIS BELIEF IN BIG GOVERNMENT SUGGESTS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST, and should be trusted with regulatory powers over pretty much anything you can think of. Globalists and communists alike share in this belief. Well known statist Zbigniew Brzezinski once said, “I THINK WE ACCEPT THE IDEA OF A VAST EXPANSION IN SOCIAL REGULATION. IT MAY TAKE SUCH FORMS AS LEGISLATION FOR THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN, PERHAPS EVEN LEGISLATION DETERMINING THE SEX OF CHILDREN, ONCE WE HAVE CHOICE, THE REGULATION OF WEATHER, THE REGULATION OF LEISURE, AND SO FORTH.”

To achieve their vision of a new world, the old world must be destroyed. STATISM CANNOT COEXIST WITH LIBERTY, AND AN ALL-POWERFUL GOVERNMENT CANNOT COEXIST WITH RELIGION, MORALS, OR INDIVIDUALISM. The problem is that the existing population is aware of the existence of God, remembers the days of liberty, have moral fiber, and consider themselves individuals. Therefore, the existing generation is beyond reach. However, the children can be molded, taught the new way, the communal way, the way of statist utopianism…

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/41854

When you hear most of the interviews of OWS people you absolutely cringe.  Many of them are college students and you see how college is failing to educate these people.  They don’t appear to understand reality and are hard pressed to express themselves beyond angry slogans. 

7.   The Law of Unintended Consequences

At 202 pounds, Steffany Sears knew she was fat, but NOT FAT ENOUGH TO QUALIFY FOR TRADITIONAL WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY.

Desperate for help, the Gold Bar, Wash., woman did what seemed the only logical thing: She gorged herself on chips and cookies, pizza and fried chicken so she’d gain at least eight pounds more

 “I would have eaten myself stupid,” recalled Sears, 34, who was turned down by her insurance company for the $20,000 procedure. “I know friends who would have done that, too.”

IN THE END, SHE ACTUALLY QUALIFIED TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLINICAL TRIAL THAT LED THE FEDERAL FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION THIS SPRING TO LOWER THE BAR FOR OBESITY IN PEOPLE ELIGIBLE FOR ONE FORM OF WEIGHT-LOSS SURGERY, Allergan’s Lap-Band stomach-shrinking device. Because she had a body mass index, or BMI, of between 30 and 35, the target range of the new rule, she even got the treatment for free, instead of having to take out a second mortgage on her house.

Today, at 5-foot-6, she weighs 143 pounds. "I felt like I'd won the lottery, really, with my life," said Sears…

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/26/8472045-desperate-to-qualify-for-weight-loss-surgery-some-pile-on-the-pounds

As we become more and more dependent upon government, we find more and more incidents of people being caught by the law of unintended consequences.  Here we have an obese woman having to gain weight. 

8.   Second Energy Department-backed company goes bankrupt

A MASSACHUSETTS COMPANY THAT RECEIVED A $43 MILLION ENERGY DEPARTMENT LOAN GUARANTEE LAST YEAR FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY SUNDAY, a step certain to fuel criticism of federal green energy financing in the wake of the solar company Solyndra’s collapse.

Beacon Power Corp., which develops energy storage systems, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/190641-second-energy-dept-backed-company-goes-bankrupt

The government shouldn’t be a venture capitalist (socialist??).  Picking winners and losers tends to be a losing proposition when done by bureaucrats

9.   The American Political Parties Are Breaking Down

The decay of American political parties continues as the real money and power in politics shifts inexorably away from party organizations to informal and ad hoc groups. The combination of citizen grassroots movements, decentralized party structures and the vast sums of money short-circuiting the official party structures is changing the way politics works. As this story in the NEW YORK TIMES DETAILS, THE REAL CONVERSATION AMONG REPUBLICAN-AFFILIATED POWER BROKERS NOW TAKES PLACE OUTSIDE PARTY STRUCTURES. 

American political parties are increasingly being reduced to flags of convenience; party organizations and party institutions have little influence over events. That didn’t use to be true. Party leaders and officials once exercised significant power over the choice of nominees, over the careers of aspiring pols, and over patronage. THESE DAYS, OUTSIDE CHICAGO AND A HANDFUL OF OTHER PLACES, WE NO LONGER THINK OF PARTY “BOSSES”….

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/10/31/the-american-political-parties-are-breaking-down/

What do you think about the weakening of the party power?   I was going to ask this question assuming what the article would say.  It went a different way than I thought it would, but that is still a good question.  What do you think?

10.                   Physics vs. Phys Ed: Regardless of Need, Schools Pay the Same

THERE ARE 19 GYM TEACHERS IN THE FARMINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT WHO MAKE MORE THAN $85,000 A YEAR EACH. THE AVERAGE GYM TEACHER'S SALARY IN FARMINGTON IS $75,035. BY COMPARISON, THE SCIENCE TEACHERS IN THAT DISTRICT MAKE $68,483 PER YEAR ON AVERAGE.

That’s not unusual in Michigan schools, according to Freedom of Information Act requests received from around the state.

In the Woodhaven-Brownstown district, 18.5 (FTE) science teachers average some $58,400 per year in salary, while 12 gym teachers averaged nearly $76,700. In Harrison, science teachers earned $49,000 on average while gym teachers averaged $62,000….

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/15940

This is an issue in our school system with the compensation system that has been negotiated with the Teacher’s union.  We have a system that pays “teachers” the same regardless of the scarcity or the surplus of skills needed to attract top notch candidates. 

Is Michelle Obama Barack's secret weapon?

What’s new today

Our # 1 talks about Michelle Obama and her role in the coming election.  She appears to be just a clueless as her husband is and represent an easy target with her high spending ways. #2 sets the record straight about Occupy Oakland.  It was called a police riot by the people on Joe Scarborough’s show on MSNBC.  It appears the protesters were are fault according to some left wing sources.  #3 looks at what happens when you include the entire world to the size of the one percenters who live in America.   Article #4 talks about the education bubble.  #5 goes over the looks at the MSM and finds the Washington Post may be the most biased rag in America. 

1.   Michelle Obama’s role in the coming election

….Now she’s back on the campaign trail, and for some reason is returning to the same hardball politics. The other day, she thundered, “WILL WE BE A COUNTRY THAT TELLS FOLKS WHO’VE DONE EVERYTHING RIGHT BUT ARE STRUGGLING TO GET BY, ‘TOUGH LUCK, YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN’? Is that who we are?”

GIVEN THAT THE FEDERAL BUDGET HAS INCREASED BY $2 TRILLION IN JUST A DECADE, ENTITLEMENTS ARE AT RECORD LEVELS, AND THIS ADMINISTRATION IS NOW RUNNING $1.5 TRILLION ANNUAL DEFICITS, IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE THAT ANY GOVERNMENT HAS TOLD ANYONE “TOUGH LUCK.” And it is even harder to suggest that nine months of a Republican-controlled House — voted in as part of the largest midterm correction since 1938 — has had much effect on the Obama employment agenda of nearly three years, the majority of which time Obama controlled both houses of Congress and borrowed nearly $5 trillion in sending unemployment over 9 percent.

And when Ms. Obama charges, “Will we be a country where opportunity is limited to just the few at the top? Who are we?” one wonders, why, then, in the past three years of hard times, did she insist on vacationing, in iconic fashion, at Vail, Martha’s Vineyard, and Costa del Sol, the tony haunts of “the few at the top”? In these rough times, surely a smaller staff, less travel, and budgetary economies would have enhanced her populist message of some at the top enjoying perks at the expense of others.

In short, even if she does not revert to 2008 style and restart her lamentations about life in her country being unfair, I THINK IT A MISTAKE FOR ANY PRESIDENT TO PUT THE FIRST LADY OUT, IN HIGHLY PARTISAN FASHION, ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL TO ATTACK HER HUSBAND’S POLITICAL RIVALS. And, I think, the public unease with it will soon prove the point.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/281634/michelle-obama-and-few-top-victor-davis-hanson

Obama is trying anything and everything he can to separate himself from his record.  Running as an outsider who is trying to put people first and will protect the poor just isn’t very credible with Michelle Obama’s spending and his raising money with fat cats in Hollywood, New York and anywhere else he can find money.

2.   Occupy Oakland:  The Protesters started it

As reported on Thursday by Newsbusters' Mark Finkelstein, Joe Scarborough and some members of his MSNBC Morning Joe crew shot their mouths off about what MIKE BARNICLE DESCRIBED AS A "POLICE RIOT" AT THE OCCUPY OAKLAND PROTESTS BEFORE WAITING FOR ALL THE FACTS. And now it appears that the Morning Joe folks have shot themselves in the foot as well since REPORTS FROM THE SCENE SHOW THAT IT WAS THE POLICE WHO WERE CLEARLY PROVOKED BY THE OCCUPY OAKLAND DEMONSTRATORS.

So were these reports from the usual "rightwing" suspects? Nope. The REPORTS CONFIRMING THE PROVOCATIONS FROM THE DEMONSTRATORS CAME FROM THE LEFTWING MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE AND WERE SUPPORTED BY THE VERY LIBERAL SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. Here is the initial report from the scene by James West of Mother Jones:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2011/10/29/even-mother-jones-confirms-police-provoked-occupy-oakland-demonstrators#ixzz1cGlSE0LG

I’ve left the rest for you to read.  It isn’t pretty.  It appears the left has a difficult time with the peaceful part of any protest.

3.   Who are the one percenters?

…The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have aimed their message at the income disparity between the 1% richest Americans and the rest of the country. BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EXPAND THAT AND LOOK AT THE 1% RICHEST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD? Some really interesting numbers emerge. If there were a global Occupy Wall Street protest, people as well off as Linda Frakes might actually be the target.

In America, the top 1% earn more than $380,000 per year. We are, however, AMONG THE RICHEST NATIONS ON EARTH. HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO EARN TO BE AMONG THE TOP 1% OF THE WORLD?

$34,000.

That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. TO BE INCLUDED IN THE TOP 0.1% REQUIRES AN ANNUAL INCOME OF $70,000….

http://news.yahoo.com/attention-protestors-youre-probably-part-1-153806044.html

This is a new and interesting way to look at what is going on.  It appears most of the protesters across America are really in the top 1% worldwide.  Does this mean we should raise their taxes and possible have the third world “Eat” them? 

4.   The Education Bubble

It’s officially a crisis. STUDENT LOAN DEBT HAS HIT THE $1 TRILLION MARK, exceeding Americans’ total credit card indebtedness. Unemployed graduates with huge loan balances are camping out in “Occupy” camps -- the Hoovervilles of our age -- around the nation. And President Obama, perhaps afraid those camps will be dubbed “Obamavilles,” as indeed they have already been by some, has unveiled a new proposal that promises to help graduates who are drowning in debt.

Unfortunately, “promises” is the correct word. THOUGH UNVEILED WITH MUCH FANFARE, THE OBAMA PROPOSAL DOESN’T REALLY DO MUCH. First, as the Chronicle of Higher Education pointed out in an article characterizing it as mostly political, “The benefit is available only to current students. Those jobless college graduates who are protesting on Wall Street and at similar events elsewhere won’t qualify.”

Second, even for those who do qualify, THE BENEFIT DOESN’T AMOUNT TO MUCH. Daniel Indiviglio of The Atlantic Monthly calculated that the president’s plan will save the average grad less than $10 a month. (Even those with $100K in debt will save only $28.50 a month). You can make that sound like more -- and the White House tried -- by touting total savings over the life of the loan, but this isn’t going to rescue anyone who’s financially underwater. It’s a beer and a slice a month, more or less.

At best, it’s a band-aid solution. The real problem is that we’ve been running a higher education bubble, one that -- like the real-estate bubble -- has been pumped up by cheap government money. SINCE 1999, STUDENT LOAN DEBT HAS INCREASED BY 511%, WHILE DISPOSABLE INCOME HAS INCREASED BY ONLY 73%....

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/screw_CKEwwrXk088RBqt3yMU8fK#ixzz1cGuMTX22

The left first creates or facilitates the problem and then they want to come in on their white horse to solve the problem.  The irony is that they are much better at creating problems than solving them and their solutions normally cost a lot of money and don’t work.

5.   Washington Post Holds To the Party (Democratic) Line

BARACK OBAMA HAS MADE A BIG WHOOP-DE-DOO ABOUT NOT TAKING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LOBBYISTS. But he’s raised lots and lots of money from those with lobbyist connections, as the Examiner’s Tim Carney reported in a piece logged in at the web yesterday, October 27, at 5:06pm. CARNEY’S LEAD: “PRESIDENT OBAMA DOESN'T TAKE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LOBBYISTS -- UNLESS YOU COUNT THE OWNERS AND CEOS OF LOBBYING FIRMS, CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENTS FOR GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, OR MANAGING DIRECTORS FOR PUBLIC POLICY.” And his article goes on to provide chapter and verse.

ERIC LICHTBLAU WROTE  A SIMILAR STORY  FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES, His lead: "Despite a pledge not to take money from lobbyists, President Obama has relied on prominent supporters who are active in the lobbying industry to raise millions of dollars for his re-election bid.” The web version of Lichtblau’s story is dated October 27, but it seems it appeared in the October 28 print edition of the Times.

IN CONTRAST, THE OCTOBER 28 EDITION OF THE WASHINGTON POST MISSED THIS STORY ALTOGETHER. It has a page A3 story headlined in the print edition “Romney leads the Republican pack in donations from lobbyists” and in the web version “Lobbyists play key role in 2012 fundraising” by reporters Dan Eggen and T. W. Farnam. The lead: “K Street is playing an increasingly central role in the 2012 presidential race, as hundreds of lobbyists representing some of the world’s largest corporations and trade groups POUR MONEY INTO REPUBLICAN COFFERS.”

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/examiner-first-story-nyt-second-wapo-whiffs

The real tragedy is that many leftists actual believe that it is only the Republicans who are getting money from lobbyists.

Mostly OWS

What’s new today

Our # 1 story looks at the question of Obama’s electability and posits that the voters have had it with him and don’t even want to listen to him anymore. #2 looks at the coverage of the OWS movement and finds not a lot of real reporting by the MSM. #3 talks about how the NYFD took away the protesters generators and other fire hazards. #4 looks at who the OWS are.  It appears they are primarily leftist who are bitterly disappointed with this administration. #5 looks at Occupy Madison who has lost their permit.  #6 includes interviews by Howard Stern’s staff of Occupiers.  Finally #7 relates a story of fraud in donations to political campaigns.

1.    Obama’s electability

Where’s the evidence President Obama can win the 2012 election?

Where’s the evidence that swing voters even want to listen to him?

Barack Obama polls below 50 percent in every state that matters. The economy has stalled, unemployment is much higher than the official number of 9 percent, and Hispanics and African AMERICANS ARE DISAPPOINTED. THE PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL RATINGS HAVE TANKED, AND THE RIGHT-TRACK/WRONG-TRACK NUMBER FELL OF THE CLIFF IN THE SUMMER.

OBAMA HAS REACHED THE STAGE OF POLITICAL DOOM WHEN VOTERS’ DISAPPOINTMENT IS SO DEEP THAT THEY JUST DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO HIM, TALK ABOUT HIM OR WATCH HIM, said David Hill, a veteran GOP strategist and pollster, in an interview with The Daily Caller.

“Nobody says it to their loved ones … [and] they don’t want to do anything about it,” said Hill, who has worked for conservative and liberal Republicans on the East Coast, the West Coast and in the Midwest, since 1984.

A tipping point might have been reached in August, when the monthly jobs report showed zero new jobs….

http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/28/experts-begin-to-doubt-obamas-re-electability/#ixzz1c8eszb2p

Obama is toast in the coming election.  Barring a miracle he will lose and lose big to any Republican candidate.

2.   Occupy Chicago:  The Real Story

The Chicago media–much like the mainstream media in the rest of the country–HAS LARGELY IGNORED THE TRUE ORIGINS OF THE OCCUPY DEMONSTRATIONS, AND HAS FAILED TO HOLD ORGANIZERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE VIOLENCE AND BIGOTRY OF SOME OF THEIR MEMBERS.

It ought to be newsworthy, for example, when individuals under investigation by the FBI for terrorism lead a sit-in outside the mayor’s office. But that fact was ignored by media reports in Chicago and elsewhere.

One of the notable exceptions to the pattern of willful blindness about Occupy in the mainstream media is investigative reporter Chuck Goudie of local ABC affiliate WLS-TV (channel 7). In a report filed on October 19, GOUDIE DESCRIBED THE ORIGINS OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT–FROM ADBUSTERS IN CANADA, TO ANARCHIST LISA FITHIAN IN TEXAS, TO THE NUMEROUS HARD-CORE RADICALS WHO HAVE FLOCKED TO DEMONSTRATIONS AND COURTED ARREST….

http://bigjournalism.com/jpollak/2011/10/28/credit-where-its-due-chicagos-chuck-goudie-wls-tv-tells-the-truth-about-occupys-radical-origins-bigotry/

The link has video with Goudie’s reports.  OWS is getting the kid gloves treatment compared to the TEA Party. 

3.   OWS loses its Generators

FDNY firefighters moved into the Occupy Wall Street camp at Zuccotti Park this morning for a safety inspection and ENDED UP HAULING OUT SIX GENERATORS AND 13 FUEL CONTAINERS.

A department spokesman said the firefighters were looking for fire hazards in the encampment.

Firefighters were looking for open fires, generators, propane and gas tanks and anything that may pose a fire hazard, he said.

The agency said it's looking for any unauthorized use that falls outside the guidelines of the city's fire codes.

Firefighters took generators from the medical tent and press information area, among other areas.

"We did send 30 or 40 firefighters through the park," Mayor Bloomberg said this morning on his WOR-AM. "It happened the way you would expect."

The mayor said THE GOAL WAS "JUST TO MAKE SURE EVERYBODY'S SAFE."


http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/fdny_doing_safety_inspection_in_RrTdtfEL9SXeFF5mJVNp5J#ixzz1c8gEmtmF

It’s moves like this that will eventually end the OWS movement.  The cold is coming and using this as a way to get the squatters out of the parks is something the local governments will do. 

4.   OWS—Not Obama’s cup of TEA Party

….The New York Times reports on a poll done by a Fordham University political science professor that reveals what some have long suspected: Occupy Wall St. is mainly made up of (very) disgruntled Obama supporters.

SIXTY PERCENT OF THOSE SURVEYED SAID THEY VOTED FOR BARACK OBAMA IN 2008, AND ABOUT THREE-QUARTERS NOW DISAPPROVE OF MR. OBAMA’S PERFORMANCE AS PRESIDENT. A quarter said they were Democrats, but 39 percent said they did not identify with any political party. Eleven percent identified as Socialists, another 11 percent said they were members of the Green Party, 2 PERCENT WERE REPUBLICANS and 12 percent say they identified as something else.

Those are brutal numbers. And suggest that essentially what we are seeing with the Occupy Wall St. movement is 2008's unprecedented youth support for Obama grown bitterly cynical….

http://www.businessinsider.com/occupy-wall-st-does-not-support-obama-2011-10#ixzz1c8h1yYNV

Perhaps the TEA Party and OWS do have something in common.  They are frightfully disappointed in BHO’s Presidency. Can you say third party on the left?  Not what the Democrats hoped for, but getting to be more likely. 

Here’s another link with statistics about OWS movement.  It seems 80% are liberal with 15% moderate and 5% conservative. 

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/10/28/bad-news-73-of-occupy-wall-street-protesters-disapprove-of-obamas-job-performance/

5.   Occupy Madison Loses its Permit

CITY OFFICIALS TEMPORARILY DENIED OCCUPY MADISON A NEW STREET USE PERMIT WEDNESDAY AFTER PROTESTERS VIOLATED PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY CONDITIONS and failed to follow the correct processes to renew or amend a permit.

The permit, which expired Wednesday at noon, required Occupy Madison protesters to relocate from their current space at 30 West Mifflin Street, also called 30 on the Square.

A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.

In addition, OFFICIALS AGREED FURTHER OCCUPATION SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE WITHOUT RESTROOMS ON SITE TO AVOID FURTHER PUBLIC HEALTH VIOLATIONS….

http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/occupy-madison-loses-permit-1.2669111#.Tqs8HHH2Lu3

Watch them come down. 

6.  Howard Stern Looks at OWS

http://sharpelbowsstl.blogspot.com/2011/10/never-ending-supply-howard-stern.html

More interviews of members of OWS. 

7.   Illegal Contributions

Arthur Winn, founder of Boston-based real estate development group WinnCompanies, was charged in federal court today with MAKING ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER OTHER PEOPLE’S NAMES. The scheme also involved Martin Raffol of Natick, who plead guilty to charges in 2010.

Winn, 72 of Brookline, allegedly made $33,000 in illegal contributions to campaigns for federal office, including John Kerry For President, and the congressional campaigns of Massachusetts Democratic congressmen Stephen Lynch, Rep. Ed Markey, Rep. Michael Capuano and others.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz alleged Winn directed another executive, Martin Raffol of Natick, to solicit campaign donations from company vendors. Raffol then reimbursed vendors with WinnCompanies funds through false invoices.

ORTIZ SAID THE DONATIONS WERE MADE BECAUSE WINN FELT THOSE POLITICIANS WERE IN A POSITION TO POSITIVELY AFFECT HIS COMPANY'S COLUMBUS CENTER DEVELOPMENT IN BOSTON.

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1138511780/Real-estate-executive-from-Brookline-charged-with-illegal-payments-to-candidates#ixzz1c8e9rjMO

The Occupy Movement becomes a Parody of Itself

What’s new today

Our #1 story discusses how the OWS is becoming a parody of itself.  #2 talks of how the facts are conservative and how leftist solutions so often fail.  #3 compares the apparent double standard between the way local government is treating the OWS vs the way they treated the TEA Party.  Peggy Noonan graces us with article #4 looking at the glue that holds the country together.  It is failing us now? #5 brings us good news.  Is America heading into a new boom? It appears that just might be the case. #6 looks at the relationship of the enormous cost of college and student loans.   #7 gives you a dictionary of liberal terms and what they actually mean.  #8 gives us the latest figures on the popularity of Obamacare.  It isn’t very good if you are a liberal. 

1.   Occupy Wall Street starts to Parody itself

OCCUPY WALL STREET IS DESCENDING RAPIDLY INTO A CARICATURE OF THE ORWELLIAN FARCE ON WHICH IT WAS PREDICATED: ANIMAL FARM.

"Never mind the milk, comrades!" cried Napoleon, placing himself in front of the buckets. "That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting."

So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared. - Animal Farm, Chapter II

Volunteers who are preparing redistributed food for the OWSers are going on a mini-strike because the one percent in New York City who is unlucky enough not to have a roof over their head has been muscling in on the redistributive bounty of OWS.

“THE OCCUPY WALL STREET VOLUNTEER KITCHEN STAFF LAUNCHED A ‘COUNTER’ REVOLUTION YESTERDAY,” reports the New York Post, “because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for ‘professional homeless’ people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.”

What a bunch of Kulaks, those homeless! You know? AS OPPOSED TO THE “TRUE” HOMELESS OF THE OCCUPY WALL STREET CROWD WHO HAVE TO LIVE IN THEIR PARENTS’ BASEMENTS UNTIL THEY GET A JOB.

I guess it takes one professional con man to know another. But I thought Occupy Wall Street was about helping the dispossessed, the homeless or people about to become homeless? Once you go “pro” as homeless, apparently, you don’t qualify for all the perks and benefits that the amateur homeless get. Or maybe the professional homeless don’t belong to the right union….

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/10/28/ows_goes_all_ows_on_itself

Ah, the joys of leftist causes.  The Animal Farm analogy is perfect for what is going on.

2.   The Facts of Life Even for OWS are Conservative

Peeking through Occupy Wall Street's cloudy drum sessions, group speeches, and celebrity visits are a few rays of reality's sunlight. THESE GLIMMERS OF THE REAL WORLD SHOW THAT EVEN THE CAMPERS OF ZUCCOTTI PARK AREN'T IMMUNE TO MARGARET THATCHER'S FAMOUS DECLARATION THAT "THE FACTS OF LIFE ARE CONSERVATIVE."

Conservatism is the natural political outgrowth from the real life experience. HUMANS ARE NATURALLY FLAWED, GREEDY, AND UNTRUSTWORTHY. Conservatives recognize that fact and promote the market system and divided government in order to pit one greedy person against another.

Conversely, the left continually denies and fights against human nature (inevitably losing to it). FOR LEFTISTS, IT'S ALWAYS A MATTER OF FINDING THE RIGHT HUMAN TO RULE -- the disinterested regulator, the consumer-protecting bureaucrat, the messianic president, etc. THAT IS THE NATURE OF THE OWS PROTESTS: TO REPLACE ONE GROUP OF SELF-INTERESTED PEOPLE ON WALL STREET WITH ANOTHER GROUP OF MAGICALLY NOT SELF-INTERESTED PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT. BUT BECAUSE GOVERNMENT ISN'T MAGIC, UTOPIAS NEVER QUITE WORK OUT IN REAL LIFE -- not even in Zuccotti Park. In one news story after another, Thatcher's "facts of life" are on display. Let's look at four examples….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/the_facts_of_life_are_conservative_even_in_zuccotti_park.html

Life is tough for liberals if they get power.  It never works out as they planned.

3.   Double Standards?  OWS vs TEA Party

TEA PARTY GROUPS ACROSS THE NATION ARE ACCUSING LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS OF A DOUBLE STANDARD – CHARGING THEM FEES TO HOLD RALLIES IN PUBLIC PARKS, WHILE ALLOWING OCCUPY PROTESTERS TO SET UP CAMP FOR FREE.

“I find it extremely frustrating and upsetting,” said Colleen Owens, a spokesperson for the Richmond Tea Party. “It is definitely a slap in the face.”

Owens is demanding a refund of about $10,000 from the city of Richmond, claiming her group was charged for rallies at Kanawha Plaza but the Occupy protesters have not been charged….

…. “If they are not going to apply the law equally, then they should refund our money,” she said. “They’ve been camped out there for almost two weeks and they have not paid one dime. They are not being held accountable to follow the law, yet we were expected to follow the law.”

SIMILAR ACCUSATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE BY OTHER TEA PARTY ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE NATION – INCLUDING ATLANTA, WINSTON-SALEM, NC, AND NASHVILLE.

Judson Phillips, of the Tea Party Nation, told Fox News that he’s been getting e-mail from conservatives across the country wondering why they were charged by the government to hold rallies….

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/daily-dispatch/cities-treating-ows-better-than-tea-party.html

It’s more than a double standard.  The TEA Party had rallies that were hours long, clean up after themselves and didn’t require police with riot gear to keep them in control.  The OWS has been camping out for weeks, created not only a mess, but attracted vermin and have been a den of crime. 

4.   The American Glue

….People are increasingly fearing the divisions within, even the potential coming apart of, our country. Rich/poor, black/white, young/old, red/blue: The things that divide us are not new, yet THERE'S A SENSE NOW THAT THE GLUE THAT HELD US TOGETHER FOR MORE THAN TWO CENTURIES HAS THINNED AND CRACKED WITH AGE. That it was allowed to thin and crack, that the modern era wore it out.

WHAT WAS THE GLUE? A LOVE OF COUNTRY BASED ON A SHARED KNOWLEDGE OF HOW AND WHY IT BEGAN; A BROAD FEELING AMONG OUR CITIZENS THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING PROVIDENTIAL IN OUR BEGINNINGS; a gratitude that left us with a sense that we should comport ourselves in a way unlike the other nations of the world, that more was expected of us, and not unjustly—"To whom much is given much is expected"; a general understanding that we were something new in history, a nation founded on ideals and aspirations—liberty, equality—and not mere grunting tribal wants. We were from Europe but would not be European: No formal class structure here, no limits, from the time you touched ground all roads would lead forward. You would be treated not as your father was but as you deserved. That's from "The Killer Angels," a historical novel about the civil war fought to right a wrong the Founders didn't right. We did in time, and at great cost. What a country

BUT THERE IS A BROAD FEAR OUT THERE THAT WE ARE COMING APART, OR RATHER LIVING THROUGH THE MOMENT WE'LL LOOK BACK ON AS THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT COMING APART. Economic crisis, cultural stresses: "Half the country isn't speaking to the other half," a moderate Democrat said the other day. She was referring to liberals of her acquaintance who know little of the South and who don't wish to know of it, who write it off as apart from them, maybe beneath…

…There's a lot to rebel against, to want to throw off. If they want to make a serious economic and political critique, they should make the one Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner make in "Reckless Endangerment": THAT REAL ELITES IN WASHINGTON RIGGED THE SYSTEM FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FRIENDS, BECAME RICH AND POWERFUL, CAUSED THE GREAT CATERING, AND THEN "SLIPPED QUIETLY FROM THE SCENE."

It is a blow-by-blow recounting OF HOW POLITICIANS—DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS—PASSED THE LAWS THAT ENCOURAGED THE BANKS TO MAKE THE LOANS THAT WOULD NEVER BE REPAID, and that would result in your lost job. Specifically IT IS THE STORY OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, the mortgage insurers, and how their politically connected CEOs, especially Fannie's Franklin Raines and James Johnson, TOOK ACTIONS THAT TANKED THE AMERICAN ECONOMY AND WALKED AWAY RICH. It began in the early 1990s, in the Clinton administration, and continued under the Bush administration, with the help of an entrenched Congress that wanted only two things: to receive campaign contributions and to be re-elected.

The story is a scandal, AND THE BOOK SHOULD BE THE BIBLE OF OCCUPY WALL STREET. But they seem as incapable of seeing government as part of the problem as Republicans seem of seeing business as part of the problem….

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203554104577002262150454258.html

Peggy Noonan’s take on this is more middle of the road than I am, but this is the kind of op-ed is one that everyone should read and think about.  I see government as not the solution, but the problem.  I think that business’s contribution to the current crisis wouldn’t have happened without the government part, and I’m right.  But business did contribute to it.  Capitalism isn’t the problem, but crony capitalism is.

5.   The Coming American Boom

….Something told me a disturbing irony was about to occur. Consider this: THE USA IS AN ENERGY POWERHOUSE. WE’VE ALL BEEN READING ABOUT THIS LATELY, ALL THAT SHALE IN THE DAKOTAS, THE UNLIMITED NATURAL GAS, THE NEW CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES, ETC. Turn on the spigot, not only would we not be importing energy, we might even be EXPORTING it in a few years. Good-bye, mullahs. Good-bye, Wahhabi maniacs. We wouldn’t even have to listen to lectures from self-righteous Norwegians!...

…..I have no intention of rehashing all that here, though I’m sure some of our “more constructive” visitors will have something to add. My intent is to point out that IT IS LIKELY A GOOD PERCENTAGE OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP SEES THINGS MORE OR LESS OUR WAY — AT LEAST PRIVATELY. Do you think, say, Robert Rubin really doesn’t want to see more drilling? The man used to run Citibank. What about Rahm Emanuel, who made a fortune on Wall Street in no time flat? William Daley?

I could go on, but you get my point. Even Barack Obama (confused and ideologically deluded as he is) may be playing a cynical game here as well. Liberalism, progressivism — call it what you will — is a protection racket straight out of the Mafia. You say one thing for cover and you do another. And not just in the obvious sense of Al Gore becoming a billionaire over AGW or Arianna Huffington swindling AOL. It filters all the way down.

So while on the one hand Obama may be hiring czars by the dozens, putting bureaucratic martinets in charge of the EPA, and regulating our society into oblivion, THE SPIGOT (SECRETLY, QUIETLY… MAYBE NOT SO QUIETLY EVEN) IS SLOWLY OPENING.

THE QUESTION IS — HOW FAST? AN AMERICAN ECONOMIC BOOM IS COMING, BUT WHEN?...

http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2011/10/28/will-capitalism-save-obama/?singlepage=true

The article was asking whether this would kick in soon enough to save Obama.  Glenn Reynolds doesn’t think so and if what the left always tells us when someone wants to drill somewhere we won’t see anything for another 8 years.  However, people are hired to drill, etc., but I tend to agree with Reynolds.  It’s happening so the next president will get a lot of credit. 

6.   The Education Scam

Singing in the populist hymnal he has taken up to secure a second term, Barack Obama raises his voice to the heavens, decrying supposedly bad actors whose selfish conduct he deems the cause of so much middle-class suffering -- the Republicans, the House of Representatives, the millionaires and billionaires with their private jets, the banks.

And yet on Wednesday, HE MOVED YET AGAIN TO ENRICH ONE OF THE SECTORS WITHIN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROFOUND FINANCIAL PRESSURE ON THE MIDDLE CLASS -- HIGHER EDUCATION.

The staggering inflation in the cost of higher education since the federal government got involved in lending money to Americans for college in 1965 beggars description. One federal study found that BETWEEN 1982 AND 2007, TUITION COSTS ROSE 432 PERCENT WHILE FAMILY INCOME ROSE ONLY 147

It is impossible to imagine that costs would have been even higher had the federal loan system not been in place at all. In other words, WHILE FEDERAL SUBSIDIES HAVE CONTINUED TO GROW, THEY HAVE SIMPLY BEEN GOBBLED UP BY UNIVERSITIES.

According to the invaluable Web site finaid.org, the average graduate of a four-year college in the United States now leaves school saddled with $27,000 in debt. The reforms the president announced to the national student-loan system in front of an audience of screaming college kids in Denver on Wednesday won’t actually do very much to help them -- and will do nothing to help people out of college now and coping with their indebtedness.

THE REFORMS ARE COMPLICATED AND BANAL, BUT THE BEST ANY ELIGIBLE STUDENT CAN GET OUT OF THEM (AND NOT ALL OF THEM CAN) IS AN INTEREST-RATE REDUCTION OF 50 BASIS POINTS, OR HALF A PERCENT.

So say you’re an average student carrying a $27,000 debt. Your monthly payment is about $208. With the reforms Obama is instituting, and ASSUMING AN INTEREST RATE OF 6 PERCENT, YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENT WILL DROP $9 A MONTH TO $199. STAGGERING….

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/college_loan_scam_nC7ICPN37lYStja83PBSaN#ixzz1c5soxBex

Obama actions are like the Shakespearian line:  “It is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”

7.   How to speak Liberal

Earlier this week, Jonathan Bines did a post called “How to Speak Republican“.

It was very inspirational because I have to tell you, it’s also pretty tough for most people to figure out what liberals mean sometimes. You think they’re on your side, but they’re not. You believe they’re saying “yes,” but they mean “no.” You think they’re offering you a ride home, and next thing you know, you’re at the bottom of a tidal pool and they’re swimming away.

SOMEONE HAS TO TRANSLATE WHAT THEY MEAN. Well, have no fear, because after studying liberals for years, I’ve got the lingo down.

COMPASSION: Feeling good about yourself for wanting to give away money you didn’t earn to people you hope will vote for your side.

“CONSCIENCE OF THE SENATE”: KKK member.

FLAG: Something to be burned and walked on at protests or alternately, waved close to election time.

GREED: Wanting to keep money you’ve earned instead of having it spent on Bridges to Nowhere and government loans to people who’ve contributed to Obama’s campaign….

http://rightwingnews.com/john-hawkins/how-to-speak-liberal/

My favorite was an Unfair Attack which means “You quoted me.”   

8.   Healthcare law's popularity hits new low

Support for Democrats' healthcare reform has hit its lowest point since the law passed in March 2010, says a new monthly poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

After months of split support for the law, 51 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS TO THE LATEST POLL HAD AN UNFAVORABLE VIEW while only 34 percent had a favorable impression.

The key reason for the change, the poll found, was DEMOCRATS' WANING SUPPORT: Even though they remain more favorable to the law than Republicans and Independents, the proportion of Democrats with favorable views has decreased from about two-thirds to just 52 percent in October….

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/190399-healthcare-laws-popularity-hits-a-new-low-poll-says

I don’t think the country will forever remember Barack Obama for what he wanted them to.  They will remember him as a disaster.