We Need to get These Idiots Out of Power

What’s new Today

Our #1 story relates the results of the Iowa Caucuses.  #2  is an update of the recall election of Governor Walker.  In #3 we have more of an analogy of how the left is similar to a religious cult.  Here we have their blue laws popping up in various states.  #4 relates that like a religious cult that don’t have any tolerance for other religions and their beliefs.  #5 shows the bi-polar mental state of the government.  #6 has three different articles pointing out accomplishments of the left. 

1.  Iowa Caucus Results

Mitt Romney beat Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses early this morning by the astonishingly narrow margin of just eight votes as the Republican presidential race got off to a dramatic start.

Former Pennsylvania senator Mr Santorum secured 30,007 votes, while former Massachusetts governor Mr Romney emerged the winner with 30,015 in one of the closest votes in American history.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul came a close third. Mr Santorum, Mr Romney and Mr Paul were neck and neck for much of the night before Mr Paul slipped when results from rural counties came in.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081986/Iowa-caucus-2012-Mitt-Romney-Rick-Santorum-deadlocked-Iowa.html#ixzz1iUZQlIuC

The election season is now officially on. 

2.  Wisconsin:  Walker Faces Recall

… So how is Walker doing? He has raised a fair amount of money to defend the recall, although he probably will be outspent two or three to one. (The cardinal rule of American politics is that if money can buy victory, the Democrats will win.) Walker has started running anti-recall ads like this one, which strikes me as very effective, as it reminds voters that 1) the policies Walker’s administration implemented are the ones he campaigned on, and 2) they have worked:

Ann Althouse, who lives in Madison, has followed these events closely and seems optimistic that Walker will prevail. She notes that the Democrats are waffling on how many signatures they now have on petitions to recall Walker and his lieutenant governor, and suggests several possible explanations, all of them more or less optimistic.

Meanwhile, Ed Morrissey points to another front on which Walker is coming out ahead:

The [Democrats'] failure to win back control of the state Senate this summer after spending millions on those recall efforts may have tempered the expectations of success for the Walker recall, but a better indicator might come from an entirely different reform Walker and the state GOP enacted once in control of the state legislature. Their new “shall issue” law on gun permits has resulted in an overwhelming response from Wisconsin citizens:

Wisconsin residents have overwhelmed the state Justice Department with so many concealed weapon permit applications agency officials say they probably won’t meet deadlines for issuing approvals this month despite pulling dozens of employees from other tasks to help.

A state law that allows Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons went into effect Nov. 1. Under the law, state residents 21 or older who submit $50 to the Justice Department, pass an agency background check and prove they have received some firearms training can obtain a permit to carry. …

As of Dec. 28, DOJ had received 64,832 applications, issued 36,373 permits and denied 800….

I don’t suppose a lot of those Badgers who appreciate the right to defend themselves will be voting to recall Scott Walker.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/is-walker-winning.php

The democrats and the unions are probably doing themselves more harm than good with all these attempts at recalls.  They appear to be spending a lot of money and seem like spoiled children who are holding their breath to try and get what they want.

3.  The Left’s New Blue Laws

Montgomery County, Maryland is the latest locality to impose a 5-cent tax on shoppers or restaurant-goers who need a plastic bag to take their purchases home. Next door, Washington, D.C. imposed such a tax already; environmentalists are pushing localities everywhere to do the same.

The tax is insignificant as a revenue-raiser -- perhaps $1 million a year will be collected, and probably less. The tax is in fact designed not to be collected. Relative to the actual price of producing such a bag -- not even 1 penny -- the tax is outrageous, at a 400-percent rate. Few people will pay 5 cents for something they value at zero -- they will go to significant extremes to avoid it, even if it adds "only" 25-50 cents' added costs per trip to the supermarket.

Defenders of the tax say this is exactly the point. They happily gloat that this is a tax which results in a change in behavior that they have long wanted to see. Suffice it to say, it is nice that liberals occasionally acknowledge that taxing something produces less of it.

But that intellectual victory for conservative principles of taxation is probably a one-off. This is not an ordinary public policy discussion….

…But plastic bags are terrific devices. They are feather-light, yet hold several pounds of goods. They can be reused multiple times. Dog-owners are grateful to have them for some disposable protection when they pick up after their pets. Parents of newborns are thrilled to encase a particularly nasty diaper on the fly.

Compared to these benefits, how awful is the environmental damage plastic bags are alleged to cause? We cause far more environmental damage for far less practical benefit. There are other pollutants of our streams -- pesticides, fertilizers, and old tires, for example -- but we don't impose 400-percent taxes on them.

No, the only obvious reason to impose such a tax is that it is purely symbolic. Those who hate plastic bags hate them so much that they also hate the people who use plastic bags. A 400-percent tax on something is passed not to capture the external negativities of a product. It is imposed to punish the person who might ever want the product.

Of all the things that supposedly imperil society -- cop-killing bullets, unsecured nuclear waste, deadbeat dads, gas-guzzling SUVs, factory farming, just pick your poison -- plastic bags alone are targeted for punishing tax rates and, it is hoped, disappearance.

Is that because plastic bags are worse than the other evils? No. It's because the use of plastic bags at the store is considered a moral evil by the nags of the retro-puritanical environmental movement. When they can't change behavior through gentle or annoying suasion, they turn to the powers of the state. So they have resorted to the equivalent of blue laws -- a state-imposed ban on otherwise harmless behavior to satisfy the moral urgings of a powerful political bloc….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/green_blue_laws.html#ixzz1iUbfdR8k

A perfect example of what the world would be like under a progressive government.  They will impose their values on society just as they scream about how the right wants to impose its values. 

4.  The Left Intolerance on Display

Colorado Christian University in Lakewood is taking the federal government to court. The school says it’s being coerced into violating its deeply-held religious beliefs.

The beliefs involve strong opposition to abortion.

There are some 4,000 students and 500 employees associated with the university. The school offers a group health plan to its employees and students. Under a federal mandate the plan must offer contraceptives. That leaves the school’s administration, led by former U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong, facing an important ethical question…

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/01/03/colorado-christian-university-sues-federal-government-over-health-care/

Another example of the left imposing its beliefs on others.  This is one of the things many Europeans came to America to escape.

5.  Democrats Haven’t Learned Anything about the Financial Crisis

Just days before Christmas, the Obama administration gave Bank of America a big lump of coal, levying a hefty $335 million dollar fine on the company for discriminating against minorities in its lending practices.

Supposedly Countrywide, a mortgage company bought by Bank of America in 2008, had not given out enough low interest rate loans to minorities from 2004 to 2008.

What the large fine reveals is that President Obama hasn’t learned anything from the recent financial crisis.

What the president sees as discrimination in awarding a mortgage, lenders saw as wise business decisions.

If a borrower can’t afford a down payment, Obama appears to view charging a higher interest rate as discrimination. Lenders also think that they shouldn’t treat borrowers whose sole source of income is welfare or unemployment insurance, the same as those applicants who have a job. But Obama, again, appears to view this as discrimination….

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/02/obama-has-learned-nothing-from-mortgage-meltdown-mess/#ixzz1iUeozXee

We have to get these idiots out of power. 

6.  Some of the Left’s Accomplishments

Worst Product of the Year Award

General Motors' much-hyped Chevy Volt has yet another distinction to add to its long list of commendations. We had all heard repeatedly about Motor Trends' Car of the Year award, Consumer Reports' recommendation and Jay Leno's love affair with the car, but the Volt now gets a less publicized, more deserved distinction from Yahoo Finance's 24/7 Wall Street site. The Volt has made the list of "The Worst Product Flops of 2011" and apologists for the vehicle are sure to, once again, attack the credibility of those issuing the opinion.

The Obama Administrations' favorite car has had a rough time of late with sales goals not being met, exploding cars at NHTSA and media exposure of the high cost to taxpayers regarding Chevy Volt subsidies and federal funding of township purchases. Considering all the money spent by GM to hype the vehicle, the Worst Flop award is well-deserved….

http://nation.foxnews.com/chevy-volt/2012/01/03/obamas-chevy-volt-gets-worst-product-award#ixzz1iUuSAeVH

Another “Green” Project

A San Jose-based company has pulled out of plans to build a multimillion-dollar solar cell factory in Saginaw, Mich.

GlobalWatt CEO Sanjeev Chitre blamed the shutdown on the poor economy and competition from overseas; however, many critics are wondering if there really was much of a factory to shut down. Far from a mega-factory promised in early paperwork, GlobalWatt's Saginaw operations actually employed slightly more than a dozen workers….

http://nation.foxnews.com/solar-power/2012/01/03/solar-company-scraps-factory-leaves-mich-dark#ixzz1iUv337AM

Debt Now Equals GDP

While not news to Zero Hedge readers who knew about the final debt settlement of US debt about 10 days ahead of schedule, it is now official: according to the US Treasury, America has closed the books on 2011 with debt at an all time record $15,222,940,045,451.09. And, as was observed here first in all of the press, US debt to GDP is now officially over 100%, or 100.3% to be specific, a fact which the US government decided to delay exposing until the very end of the calendar year. We wonder, rhetorically, just how prominent of a talking point this historic event will be in any upcoming GOP primary debates.

http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2012/01/03/thanks-obama-us-debt-now-100-gdp#ixzz1iUvWtP4F

We have to get these idiots out of power. 

Obama sinks to new lows

New Low for Obama on Afghanistan

A RECORD 49 PERCENT OF AMERICANS NOW DISAPPROVE OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S HANDLING OF THE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN, UP 8 POINTS SINCE JANUARY. And those who disapprove “strongly” outnumber strong approvers by nearly a 2-1 margin.

With Obama holding his monthly national security meeting on Afghanistan today, the results show a significant drop in the president’s approval rating on handling the issue, down 12 points in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll from a year ago.

The change follows an ABC/Post poll last month in which a new low, 31 percent, said the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting. Sixty-four percent said it is not worth fighting, with 49 percent feeling that way “strongly,” both record highs in ABC/Post polls.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2011/04/new-low-for-obama-on-afghanistan.html



Where are the anti-war protestors?Where Did All the Anti-War Protestors Go?

The anti-war movement was all over the news before President Obama was elected. But apparently THEY WEREN’T REALLY ANTI-WAR ... THEY WERE JUST ANTI-PRESIDENT BUSH. Two college professors just released a study of national protests between 2007 and 2009. What did they find?

… After January 2007, the attendance at antiwar rallies [measured in] roughly the tens of thousands, or thousands, through the end of 2008.

… After the election of Barack Obama as president, the order of magnitude of antiwar protests dropped [...] Organizers were hard pressed to stage a rally with participation in the thousands, or even in the hundreds. For example, we counted exactly 107 participants at a Chicago rally on October 7, 2009.

Amazing. Especially because the war in Afghanistan ramped up after Obama was elected. American fatalities shot up in 2009 and 2010.

THE PROTESTERS HAVE REMAINED SILENT OVER LIBYA.

http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2011/04/25/where-did-all-the-anti-war-protestors-go/#ixzz1Kd7LJfcL


A lot of people will scream hypocrisy when they see things like this. I find it to be a bit more logical. Most partisans find the opposite party policy objectionable not necessarily because of the policy, but because they don’t trust the other party. It’s a matter of trust, not hypocrisy.



Are gas prices hurting Obama?

When did everyone decide that it’s high gas prices that are hurting Obama? Seems crazy to me. HE’S LOSING TWO OUT OF THREE WARS, THE ECONOMY IS FLAGGING, AND HIS SIGNATURE DOMESTIC ACHIEVEMENT IS UNPOPULAR. SO IT MUST BE THE GAS!

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/25/who-decided-its-all-about-gas/#ixzz1KdAkmGqD

Here’s another observation: he’s losing two out of three wars and the one he’s winning is the one he ran against.



Obama the Campaigner

…. But looking more closely at this persona, we realize that Obama the campaigner is not a better man after all. If anything, when he is out there belittling his opponents in front of liberal supporters, OBAMA IS EVEN MORE UNCIVIL THAN HE IS IN WASHINGTON. On the campaign trail, he seems to actually believe he is the transformative figure he claims to be. Escaping the constraints of practical politics, he becomes a truly frightening figure: A SELF-DELUDED UTOPIAN WHO SEEMS TO THINK HE IS MOSES, CHRIST, GANDHI, AND JFK COMBINED. …

….The Obama that one sees on the campaign trail, in other words, IS MORE PARTISAN, MORE TONE-DEAF, MORE SIMPLISTIC, AND, YES, MORE DELUSIONAL THAN ANYTHING WE HAVE SEEN IN WASHINGTON itself. Does the President have any sense that his policies are not working? That they are driving up the cost of food and fuel? That the economic recovery has been slower than that of any previous recession? That job growth has been anemic and wage growth non-existent?


None of these facts appear to have registered, and as he takes to the campaign trail, Obama is finding ways to dodge them entirely. SPEAKING IN FRONT OF FRIENDLY AND INTELLECTUALLY LAME AUDIENCES, HE DOESN'T NEED TO ADDRESS ANYTHING….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/conan_the_campaigner.html


Last night on Jay Leno, Leno told this joke. “Donald Trump says he is President Obama’s worst nightmare. Do you really think that Donald Trump is President Obama’s worst nightmare? Or is his worst nightmare having to make a decision.” This was greeted with cheers and clapping. Obama is toast.



Getting the Budget into balance

In this exercise, we have saved $925 billion, or 6.2% off of 2011's budget and brought spending down to $2,900 billion, or 19.2% of GDP. NOTE THAT WITH ALL THE RAPINE AND PILLAGE IMPLIED BY THESE CUTS, WE HAVE "ONLY" CUT THE $1,645 BILLION DEFICIT FOR 2011 BY $925 BILLION TO $720 BILLION. To net out the deficit entirely, we would have to bring tax receipts up to 19% of GDP, whereas they are expected to be 14.4% of GDP for 2011.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/cutting_the_federal_budget.html

This shows you the size of the task. I don’t agree with everything, but you will never find a plan that everyone will agree with everything (for instance, defense needs bigger cuts). I think it also shows that we need to grow our way out of the deficit. This is well worth your time to read. Read it!



Mediscare: Coming soon from a democrat to you

Some conservatives are getting nervous about the polls on Medicare. APPARENTLY ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE OPPOSED TO CUTS IN MEDICARE. MONA CHAREN, FOR ONE, IS STEELING HERSELF FOR THE INEVITABLE MEDISCARE CAMPAIGN FROM THE DEMOCRATS. …

…So it's now possible to scare the pants off granny if we don't fix Medicare.

And this time, WE HAVE THE PRESIDENT ON OUR SIDE. PRESIDENT OBAMA OBLIGINGLY BROUGHT UP THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD -- THE "DEATH PANEL" THAT EXERCISED SARAH PALIN A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO -- for praise in his George Washington University speech April 13. Said the president:

“And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, MEDICAL EXPERTS AND CONSUMERS WHO WILL LOOK AT ALL THE EVIDENCE AND RECOMMEND THE BEST WAYS TO REDUCE UNNECESSARY SPENDING while protecting access to the services that seniors need.”

The IPAB is not in the business of lowering health costs, the Wall Street Journal writes. Its mandate has nothing to do with "bending the cost curve." ITS JOB IS TO LOWER MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENTS.

Since the board is not allowed by law to restrict treatments, ask seniors to pay more, or raise taxes or the retirement age, IT CAN MEAN ONLY ONE THING: ARBITRARILY PAYING LESS FOR THE SERVICES SENIORS RECEIVE, VIA FIAT PRICING.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/who_will_mediscare_the_dems.html

This is truly scary. It has the power of the purse over Medicare reimbursement. Say it doesn’t want to pay for an expensive heart bypass procedure (for arguments sake costing $125,000). It simply makes reimbursement $50,000. How many of these procedures do you think will happen? Ryan’s plan is actually much better.



Pressure from Left causes law firm to abdicate responsibility

Legal insiders knew there would be controversy when Paul Clement, the former solicitor general, signed on to defend the Defense of Marriage Act against constitutional challenge. But few could have predicted a controversy so intense that CLEMENT'S LAW FIRM, UNDER FIRE FROM GAY ACTIVISTS, WOULD ABRUPTLY ABANDON THE DEFENSE, FORCING CLEMENT TO RESIGN IN PROTEST. And yet that is what happened on Monday.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/04/pressure-left-causes-law-firm-abdicate-responsibility#ixzz1KdEhARYw

I guess all this nonsense about everyone deserving a defense is just an excuse for defending Gitmo detainees, cold blooded murderers, etc.



Koran-Burning Pastor Jailed for Thought crime

On Good Friday in Dearborn, Mich., the notorious Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones was jailed and fined for the crime of refusing to pay a so-called “peace bond” to cover the costs of extra police protection for Jones’ planned demonstration outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. JUDGE MARK SOMERS ALSO ORDERED JONES TO STAY AWAY FROM THE MASSIVE DEARBORN MOSQUE FOR THREE YEARS.

This is a restriction on the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression that Islamic supremacists are certainly going to try to use in the future to press for even more.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=43147

While I find Terry Jones to be an idiot, I find the Judge Mark Somers to be a greater threat. America was founded on the principles of freedom and democracy. Somers ruling is a direct assault on that.



Another Financial Bubble?

YES, ANOTHER CRASH IS COMING, UNAVOIDABLE, JUST LIKE 2008. Not because our totally dysfunctional government is collapsing into anarchy, thanks to the 261,000 Super-Rich Lobbyists. Not just because our monetary system is run by the Bernanke Printing Press Company. And not just because a soulless conspiracy of Wall Street CEOs cares nothing for democracy and the public interest, only for their stockholders and their year-end bonuses.

Another crash is coming soon because WE’RE BACK PLAYING THE SAME SPECULATIVE GAMES AS WE DID FOR YEARS PRIOR TO THE 2008 CRASH. When we collapse, it will be because America’s leaders never learn the lessons of history….

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/2008-crash-deja-vu-well-relive-it-and-soon-2011-04-26?link=home_carousel

This is a frightening column.



Will China overtake the US?

This just in from the International Monetary Fund: China could pass the United States as the world's largest economy as early as 2016. WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, THE IMF HAS IT WRONG AGAIN.

A new IMF report blithely forecasts that the "Age of America" will end as the U.S. economy is overtaken by China. And on the surface, it's tough to argue the point.

Officially, CHINA'S GDP IS GROWING AT 10% WHILE OURS IS EXPANDING AT ABOUT 3%. AT THOSE RATES, CHINA'S ECONOMY DOUBLES EVERY SEVEN YEARS, AMERICA'S ABOUT EVERY 24.

But such forecasts are based on a straight-line extrapolation from current trends: So if China's growing at 10% now, it'll always grow that fast.

One has to wonder, too, about a politically motivated IMF "report" that predicts U.S. decline. Our troubles are many, but we've heard all this before.

The fact is, CHINA ITSELF FACES FORMIDABLE HURDLES THAT WILL MAKE IT TOUGH TO KEEP GROWING AT CURRENT RATES.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/570140/201104251858/China-As-No-1-Give-Us-A-Break.htm


This column makes a lot of sense. People who extrapolate current trends forever, aren’t thinking straight.



Telemprompter Inventor "Hub" Schlafly Dies

You’ve never heard of Hubert J. “Hub” Schlafly Jr., but if you’ve seen a major political speech in the past generation, you know his work. Schlafly invented the TelePrompTer and changed public address in America. He died April 20th in Connecticut.

President Barack Obama, is hailed by supporters as a gifted orator. But he has been lambasted by critics for his reliance on the teleprompter. In truth, every President since Dwight D. Eisenhower, excepting Nixon, has used one for major speeches in Congress.

Schlafly, a TV engineer, developed the device in the 1950’s to help soap opera actors remember their lines, according to the Washington Post. For more on Schlafly, read the Post's obituary.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/04/telemprompter-inventor-hub-schlaflly-dies-device-changed-public-address-in-america.html


President Obama is in mourning and could not be reached for a comment. That’s nonsense, but I just wanted to say it.



Whatever happened to global warming?

CLIMATE CHANGE IS DEAD AS A MAJOR POLITICAL ISSUE for the foreseeable future. Don't believe me? Check out Obama's remarks in his weekly radio address last weekend. It was all about energy policy, and yet NOT ONCE DID HE TALK ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.

In one sense, that's odd, given that without global warming, his energy policy goes from merely misguided to outright bonkers. After all, if you wanted to create non-exportable jobs, wean America off foreign oil or pursue energy independence from the Middle East, absent any concerns about climate change or releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, YOU WOULD UNLEASH AMERICA'S MASSIVE ENERGY RESERVES IN COAL, GAS AND OIL. ACCORDING TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE, HARDLY A MOUTHPIECE FOR BIG OIL, THE U.S. HAS THE LARGEST ENERGY RESOURCES OF ANY COUNTRY, SAUDI ARABIA AND RUSSIA INCLUDED.

But in another sense it's not odd, because telling voters that they have to pay high gas prices in order to ineffectually fight climate change would be honest but incalculably dumb, politically. Recent polling shows that AMERICANS CARE ABOUT THE ECONOMY MORE — A LOT MORE — THAN GLOBAL WARMING. Skepticism about the existence of a problem or its scope has been rising in the U.S. and Europe. When a Pew poll in January asked voters what their biggest priorities were, CLIMATE CHANGED RANKED SECOND TO LAST. Only obesity was deemed less of a priority. (Don't tell Michelle Obama.)

Even Madison Avenue has noticed. The New York Times reports that increasingly budget-conscious consumers are no longer willing to shell out extra for self-described "green products." As a result, THE NUMBER OF NEW EARTH-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS HAS PLUMMETED.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-climate-change-20110426,0,3346901.column


There was always two sides to the global warming issue, the scientific and the political. Despite what you heard, the scientific side was not settled or if it was it was settled against the idea of global disaster due to CO2. What you heard was the political side and now that is pretty well dead as well.