Polling Demographics

 What’s New Today

Story #1 tells of Obama telling successful people that they weren’t successful on their own and that means they should pay us all back.  #2 talks about the panic in the Obama camp.  #3 is a CNN expose on the lies Obama is telling us about Romney and Bain.  #4 tries to make sense out of the bad polling going on by many pollsters holding Obama up above Romney.  How could they be so wrong so many times?  #5 looks at the possibilities of a Republican senator from Hawaii.  #6 looks at what America would look like without Republicans.  It isn’t pretty.  #7 wonders why even smart people can be so stupid. 

Today’s Thoughts

Is this fair?  The richest 1%  -- so reviled by Obama and his Occupy Wall Street allies -- pay 40% of all federal income taxes and the richest 10% pay two-thirds of the tax.

“Note to president Obama: The vast majority of business owners can claim more credit for building their respective businesses than you can claim credit for killing Osama bin Laden, yet they’re not constantly crowing about it.”   Peter Kirsanow

Obama says if he were Romney he'd make same argument on the economy that it is bad.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtRid8tlXeY&feature=player_embedded

The "Kennedy Health Care Bill" was written into the new health care reform initiative ensuring that that congress will be 100% exempt !   So, this great new health care plan that is good for you and me... is not good enough for Obama, his family or congress...?

1.  Obama’s Speech in Roanoke VA.

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/15/obama-to-americans-you-dont-deserve-what-youve-earned/#ixzz20l2baKoZ

Obama is a fool.  Mentioning that people are successful because someone helped to create this unbelievable American System even has he tries to tear it down is just plain stupid.  And people invested in roads and infrastructure because people want roads and running water and electricity.  Business gets to use them and gets to pay a huge share of the cost of maintaining them.  Government didn’t create the internet so that companies could make money off the internet.  It was created so that U.S. Department of Defense researchers could share information with one another and with other researchers.  The more I hear from Barack Obama the more concerned I am about our country.

2.Obama in a panic?

Why has the Obama team been publicly wailing about losing out to Mitt Romney in the money race? Why would the president accuse his opponent of not merely being wrong or unqualified but criminal? After all, the polls are tied, so why so much worry in Obamaland?

Like a mystery novel, the answer is in front of our noses: The candidates are still tied in the polls. Let’s go step by step with the most logical explanation of the Obama campaign’s conduct.

The Obama team knew months ago that the economy would not sufficiently improve before Election Day to justify his reelection. Its polling showed simply blaming President George W. Bush wouldn’t be sufficient. The president and his political hacks concluded that it was too late and too risky to adopt a whole new second-term agenda. (It would risk offending either the base or centrists and reveal his first-term agenda to have been entirely inadequate.) So what to do?

Extend the Republican primary by running ads hitting Romney and encouraging Democrats to vote against Romney in Michigan and elsewhere. Then, before Romney could fully get his bearings, unload a barrage of negative attacks, scare mongering and thinly disguised oppo attacks through the mainstream media, taking advantage of many political reporters’ relative ignorance about the private equity field and their inclination to accept whole-hog President Obama’s version of “facts.”

The extent of that effort is only now becoming clear. The AP reports:  “President Barack Obama’s campaign has spent nearly $100 million on television commercials in selected battleground states so far, unleashing a sustained early barrage designed to create lasting, negative impressions of Republican Mitt Romney before he and his allies ramp up for the fall.” Think of it like the Confederacy’s artillery barrage on the third day of Gettysburg before Pickett’s charge — you have to in essence disable the other side before the charge begins or its curtains.

Virtually all of the ads were viciously negative, and judging from the number of Pinocchios they’ve racked up, continually and materially false…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/july-panic-for-obamafor-good-reason/2012/07/15/gJQARQFXmW_blog.html

Obama’s team knows they are in deep trouble.  Most of the polls that show a tie or Obama slightly ahead over sample Democrats.  Today Romney is most likely 5% ahead and with 5% undecided, that number will grow.  The Democrats are panicking because they should. 

  

3.  The Obama Campaign’s Lies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSo5bTbwFoM&feature=player_embedded

A CNN investigation finds that Romney left Bain in February 1999.  This comes from 4 Bain Partners two of which are Democrats who have contributed to Obama’s campaign. 

4.  Pew’s Polls

… Starting in 1992, EVERY Pew poll appears to lean to one direction — always towards the Democrat, and by an average of more than 5 percentage points. Worse this is a reflection of the “final” poll which even the Democratic firm, Public Policy Polling, usually gets right.

October 1988 — Bush 50 Dukakis 42; Actual Result Bush +7.6 (Call this one spot on.)

Late October 1992 — Clinton 44 Bush 34; Actual Result :Clinton +5.5 (Skew against Republican candidate +5.5)

November 1996 — Clinton +51 Dole 32; Actual Result Clinton +8.5 (Skew against Republican candidate +10.5)

November 2000 — Gore 45; Bush 41 (Skew against Republican Candidate +3.5)

November 2004 — Kerry 46; Bush 45 (Skew against Republican Candidate +3.4)

November 2008 — Obama 50 McCain 39 (Skew against Republican + 3.8)

After being wrong in the same direction so consistently, wouldn’t you think that Pew might attempt to adjust their sampling techniques to adjust their techniques to avoid under-sampling Republican voters?  Keep in mind the polls I have highlighted are the last polls in the race.  I find it interesting that not one of their poll statisticians came out and said, ‘Boss, these results look whacked out because the electorate is going to be more than 24 percent Republican, and self-identified Democrats aren’t going to outpace Republicans by 9 percentage points.’  The Democrats couldn’t even reach that margin in 2008 .

 . . and you wonder why so many people think Obama is going to win.  Didn’t Einstein once say the definition of insanity was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  So I ask are the people at Pew insane or just biased?...

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/309347/why-are-so-many-pollsters-oversampling-democrats

Always look at the demographics.  It the pollster puts them in you will find the over poll Democrats.  

5.  Could Hawaii elect a Republican Senator?

With all the recent talk of the gains or losses the Republican party stands to make in the United States Senate, there are two issues that have so far gone beneath the radar.  One, the GOP may lose a seat in Maine, as Maine's moderate Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, is retiring and may be replaced with an independent.  And two, the Republicans may pick up a seat in, of all places, Hawaii, with the possible election of another moderate Republican, former Hawaii Republican governor Linda Lingle.  This is kind of like trading a moderate Republican senator from Maine for one from Hawaii.
Hawaii hasn't had a Republican senator since the 1970s.  In fact, Hawaii is so liberal that in 2002 it re-elected a deceased representative to Congress, Patsy Mink, rather than vote for the Republican opponent.  If you think a pulse is optional to participate in the political process only in Chicago, you are wrong….

…Sure, this is all subtle stuff, but there are conservative positions buried here.  And as vague as all her positions are, remember that we are talking about a two-term.  Republican governor of Hawaii, who won re-election in 2006 with 63% of the vote.  So Lingle might know the right approach to take with Hawaii's voters.  The fact that any Republican has won not one election, but two in Hawaii is quite an accomplishment….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/linda_lingle_the_gops_senate_pick-up_in_hawaii.html#ixzz20mmotJmK

Lingle may be the Scott Walker of Hawaii. 

6.  What would the country look like without Republicans?

"I believe that if we're successful in this election," President Obama told campaign donors in Minnesota last month, "that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that."

Apparently Obama believes that if he wins this November, Republicans on Capitol Hill will all begin to act like Chief Justice John Roberts by betraying their conservative beliefs and signing on to Obama's unprecedented expansion of the federal welfare state. But what would America look like if the Republican "fever" did break?

We already know. It would look a lot like the state of California, where no non-cyborg Republican has been governor since 1996. Democrats have also enjoyed complete control of the state legislature since 1997. And they have governed exactly the way you'd expect Democrats to govern.

Spending has more than doubled, from $45.4 billion in 1996 to more than $92.5 billion today. Income, sales and car taxes have all been hiked. As a result, California has the most progressive income tax system in the nation, with seven income tax brackets, and the second-highest top marginal rate.

Even with all those tax hikes, California's 2012 budget is still $15.7 billion in the red. So what does Gov. Jerry Brown want to do? Raise taxes again, of course. He has proposed a ballot initiative that would: 1) raise sales taxes on everyone and 2) raise incomes taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year (like Obama has proposed to do nationally). But even this $8.5 billion tax hike would still leave the state $7.5 billion short. Where will California get that money? Who knows?

And that is not the only spending binge California Democrats haven't paid for. Just this month, the state legislature approved a $2.6 billion bond sale in order to fund construction on a scaled-back $68.4 billion high-speed rail project that will supposedly connect San Francisco and Los Angeles.

If California begins construction on the train before this December 31 (a big if), Obama has agreed to give the state $3.5 billion in federal money to help. But that still leaves a $62.3 billion hole. Where does California plan to get that money? Who knows?

With all of this unfunded government spending, Keynesian-Democratic thinking would predict that California's economy should be booming.

It isn't.

At 10.8 percent, California has the third-highest unemployment rate in the country. There are fewer private-sector jobs in the state today, 11.9 million, then there were in 2000, 12.2 million…

http://washingtonexaminer.com/welcome-to-california-america-without-republicans/article/2502102#.UAHRDHuhj3I.twitter

California is the worst case, but all you have to do is to look at the three states that went for Obama by over 7 million votes:  California, New York, and Illinois.  None of them is doing well.  In fact if you look at the states with higher unemployment than the national average (there are 16 of them) Democrats outnumber the Republicans by 10% in voter registration.  In fact 44% of the states with Democrats outnumbering the Republicans have greater than average unemployment (including the 3 states I mentioned) while 18 percent of states with Republican majorities in voter registration have unemployment above the national average.  Liberal solutions don’t work.

7.  Even Smart People can be Stupid

George Orwell is often credited with writing, "Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them." As it happens, Orwell didn't pen those words. That much-used aphorism merely paraphrases a pithy but somewhat less glib observation he made in a 1945 essay titled, "Notes on Nationalism." Still, it nicely captures a proclivity peculiar to the luminaries of academia, the "news" media and progressive think tanks: a willingness to believe things that no ordinary person would be foolish enough to credit. A textbook case of this phenomenon can be found in a recent column published in the New Republic by Jonathan Gruber.

Gruber is a Professor of Economics at MIT and has been dubbed, by Avik Roy and others, "the intellectual father of Obamacare." Thus, it will come as no shock that he spends a good deal of his time defending the health care "reform" law. What does surprise is that Gruber, who is a first class economist and a genuine intellectual, continues to write astonishingly stupid things about the dangerous and destructive creature he sired. In his TNR piece, for example, he advises us, "[W]e know that the ACA will increase jobs in the medical sector in the short run, above and beyond any partial offsets from new excise taxes on that sector."

Assuming that Gruber isn't employing the majestic plural in that sentence, it begs the question: Who's "we"? He can't be including anyone actually working in health care. Those of us who labor in those vineyards know that his brainchild is actually killing medical sector jobs by the thousands. All across the nation, hospitals are slashing payrolls in preparation for the $155 billion in payment cuts to which industry lobbyists agreed in a 2009 Faustian bargain on Obamacare. The largest expense in any hospital's budget is labor, so they are reluctantly resorting to reductions in force (RIF) to balance the books.
In February, for example, officials at Jackson Memorial in Miami said the hospital would RIF more than 1,000 workers. Such layoffs have a profoundly negative effect on local economies, where hospitals often rank among the largest employers. Nonetheless, the list of casualties grows. RIFs have recently been announced at Pennsylvania's Crozer-Keystone Health System, New York's Sheehan Health Network, Tennessee's Erlanger Health System, Oregon's Silverton Health, Maryland's Adventist HealthCare, Arizona's Yuma Regional Medical Center, California's Queen of the Valley Medical Center, ad infinitum….

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/07/16/no-professor-gruber-obamacare

My observation has been that to the left the word facts means something entirely different than it does to you and me.  To them it means what they wish or hope was the case rather than what actually is.

The Story in Egypt

Egypt and the growing problem of global inflation

WHEN PRICES RISE FASTER THAN ECONOMIC GROWTH, THE OUTCOME IS DAMAGING FOR ANY POPULATION, BUT ESPECIALLY FOR A YOUNG ONE LIKE EGYPT'S. Unfortunately, there are worrying signs that stagflation is spreading around the world.

Suffocating your citizenry with stagflation is a problem, particularly when that citizenry is young, hungry, and unemployed. By definition this is the Egypt we're seeing today. While this may be a very old country (established in 3100 BC), this 21st century social revolution is being driven by the very young. ALMOST TWO-THIRDS OF EGYPTIANS ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 30, and of the 79 million people who live in Egypt, approximately 40% OF THEM LIVE ON LESS THAN $2 A DAY.

The Egyptian government has been telling its people that inflation is currently running around +12%. The people of Egypt obviously don't believe that -- and they shouldn't. However, THEY DO BELIEVE THAT THE COUNTRY IS RUNNING DOUBLE-DIGIT UNEMPLOYMENT. They don't have jobs.

Captains of Keynesian economics don't use the word 'stagflation' very much for a reason. The last time these bubble-makers plugged the world with stagflation was in the mid-to-late 1970s. THAT'S WHEN US FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN ARTHUR BURNS WAS ATTEMPTING TO MONETIZE AMERICA'S DEBT AS PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER BET THAT IT WOULD NOT CREATE ANY GLOBALLY INTERCONNECTED RISK. SOUND FAMILIAR?

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/01/egypt-and-the-growing-problem-of-global-inflation/

President Obama is looking more and more like Jimmy Carter. Where is our new Ronald Reagan?



'Changes in Egypt could usher in tyranny, not freedom'

With the world naturally swept up by the yearnings for liberty in Egypt, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu raised a voice of caution Wednesday, telling the Knesset that while EVERYONE WOULD LIKE TO SEE TRUE DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM IN EGYPT, THERE WAS NO GUARANTEE THIS WOULD BE THE RESULT OF THE CURRENT TURMOIL....

“In Washington, London and Paris – all over the democratic world – leaders, analysts and researchers all spoke about the opportunities inherent in the changes taking place in Egypt,” Netanyahu said.

“They talked about the dawn of a new day, and these hopes are understood,” he went on.

“All of those for whom human freedom is precious, including the Israeli public, are inspired by the calls for democratic reforms and the possibility that they will actually be implemented everywhere.”

And, he said, an EGYPT ENSHRINED WITH DEMOCRATIC VALUES “WILL NOT CONSTITUTE ANY THREAT TO PEACE, BUT THE OPPOSITE.”

However, Netanyahu warned, THIS WAS NOT THE ONLY POSSIBLE OUTCOME OR SCENARIO.

“Because far from Washington, Paris and London, but not that far from Jerusalem, THERE IS ANOTHER HOPE, IN ANOTHER CAPITAL,” he said.

Netanyahu said in that capital, TEHERAN, THERE WERE ALSO LEADERS WHO RECOGNIZED THE OPPORTUNITIES INHERENT IN THE CHANGES IN EGYPT, AND WHO ALSO EXPRESSED THEIR SUPPORT FOR THE EGYPTIAN MASSES WHO TOOK TO THE STREETS.

“They are also talking about the dawn of a new day, but for these people in that capital, we are not talking about a day in which the dawn will break, but a day in which darkness will fall,” he said.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=206456


JFK used to have the Chinese character for crisis in his office. This character is made up of two words: Dangerous and opportunity. I think that describes what’s going on in Egypt.



What sparked the unrest in Egypt?

WHAT SPARKED THE CURRENT SITUATION IN EGYPT? The upheaval in Tunisia. What sparked the upheaval in Tunisia? Many Tunisians refer to the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit and vegetable vendor who had had his vending cart seized by police. Shortly thereafter, Bouazizi poured gasoline over his body, and lit himself on fire in front of a government office.

Yet even as Bouazizi's death is being dismissed as only tangentially related to the Tunisian revolution by many on the left, the symbolism of it cannot be so easily dismissed. IT WAS EMBLEMATIC OF A HOPELESSNESS SHARED BY THOSE IN TUNISIA, EGYPT, YEMEN AND JORDON, all which centers around two main factors: HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE ESCALATING PRICE OF FOOD. And while high unemployment can lead to a certain level of unrest, history suggests that THERE IS NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN A NATION FULL OF PEOPLE WITH EMPTY STOMACHS.

Thus, while many in the media are comparing the unrest in Egypt to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which was driven largely by religious unrest, IT MIGHT BE MORE ACCURATE TO COMPARE IT TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789, which was driven largely by escalating food prices.

So what has caused food prices to escalate? Let's begin with PROGRESSIVE SHIBBOLETH NUMBER ONE, MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING. It is no secret that progressives believe America's dependence on fossil fuels has led the planet to the brink of oblivion. AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT MUCH OF THE DATA THEY USED TO "PROVE" SUCH A SCENARIO HAS BEEN DEBUNKED, global warming, (aka climate change, aka climate disruption), is still being hawked with gusto to an increasingly skeptical public. Fortunately, most the AGW agenda is D.O.A. in Congress already. A Republican-led House which is currently writing a bill to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, will make it even less likely that anything resembling job-killing climate legislation becomes law.


Unfortunately, it's already too late with respect to one of the most pernicious applications of the green movement, which is the use of crops like corn and soybeans to make ethanol….

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0211/ahlert.php3


I read one letter to the editor talking about this solution by the left. The writer was a camper and recommended that when you go camping use the food you bring for as fuel for your fire. His conclusion is that this will leave you both cold and hungry.


The Tea Party Brotherhood

After the shooting in Tucson, we had a lot of left wing people BLAME A CLIMATE OF HATE FOR THIS SHOOTING AND BLAMED THE CLIMATE OF HATE ON THE RIGHT. So now we have the unrest in Egypt and we have such paragons of virtue and moderation AS CHRIS MATTHEWS EQUATING THE TEA PARTY WITH THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD. You can see him do it here.

http://www.nationalreview.com/


I used to like Chris Matthews, but he has become completely unhinged saying the most outrageous things.



Republicans investigate Obamacare advertising campaign, stimulus funding

Top GOP health-care official Rep. Fred Upton is taking a close look at the Obama administration’s advertising blitz for Obamacare, giving the president two weeks to provide all documents related to the P.R. push that included spots by aging TV star Andy Griffith.

“PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE, WE’VE SEEN THE CREATION OF VERITABLE GOVERNMENT SLUSH FUNDS WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY OR TRANSPARENCY,” said Upton in a written statement.

AT ISSUE IS $1 BILLION PROVIDED TO THE DEPARTMENT ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS) FOR OBAMACARE IMPLEMENTATION.

Some of the money was spent on advertisements to “educate” the public GOP critics have called “propaganda,” especially because HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS SAID LAST AUGUST THAT THE ADMINISTRATION HAD A “LOT OF REEDUCATION TO DO.”

“Please provide … all documents, including e-mail communications between HHS officials or any outside individual or group relating to advertisements, education or any other efforts to communicate any effects of” the health-care law, a Jan. 31 letter from Upton and two other key Republicans says, providing a deadline of Feb. 14.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/02/upton-investigates-obamacare-advertising-campaign-stimulus-funding/#ixzz1CtLXhnxz


Sebelius’s use of the word reeducate is a poor choice of words. It will be enlightening to see how much the administration used for this effort.



Obamacare: Politically it will be with us for the next two years

To hear Senate Republicans tell it, the defeat of their attempt to repeal the Democrats' health care overhaul was REALLY A VICTORY OF SORTS ON THE LONG THE MARCH TO THE 2012 CONGRESSIONAL AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

The repeal effort sank Wednesday along party lines, 51-47 as expected. But in the process, REPUBLICANS FORCED DEMOCRATS ON THE RECORD IN FAVOR OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S SIGNATURE OVERHAUL and launched what they described as a two-year effort to discredit it in the lead-up to a bid for a second term.

"These are the first steps in a long road that will culminate in 2012, whereby we will expose the flaws and the weaknesses in this legislation," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the party's campaign chief.

"We think this is just the beginning," said Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "This issue is still ahead of us."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110203/ap_on_re_us/us_health_care_senate





The democrats have 23 seats up for reelection in the Senate in 2012. All of them voted to keep Obamacare. Expect to hear a lot more about this if your state has a Senate seat up for grabs. Here’s another article talking about the 11 Democrat controlled Senate seats that are in Red States

http://blogs.investors.com/capitalhill/index.php/home/35-politicsinvesting/2397-11-pro-obamacare-senators-face-red-state-voters-in-2012




Democrats: Mandate is a GOP principle

In a different context, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY MIGHT CHEER ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TENETS OF THE HEALTH CARE LAW, A REQUIREMENT THAT ALL AMERICANS BUY HEALTH INSURANCE.

IT’S JUST THE SORT OF THING THAT WOULD FIT SQUARELY WITHIN THE GOP’S BEDROCK PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY — ensuring that no one puts a strain on the system by showing up for costly emergency room visits, then expecting everyone else to pick up the tab.

Instead, Republicans have made the individual mandate the focus of their attacks on President Barack Obama’s health care law, saying it’s a dangerous overreach of government authority that sets the nation on the slippery slope of — in the words of Judge Roger Vinson — giving Obama the right to make us all eat broccoli.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/48648.html#ixzz1Cu1esxuy


This is one of those foolish reaches by the left. What part of INDIVIDUAL responsibility do they not understand? If it is a government mandate, there is no individual responsibility.


Obama Invites Crisis If He Ignores Ruling

The decision by federal judge Roger Vinson striking down President Obama's signature health care law EFFECTIVELY ENDS OBAMACARE UNLESS SOME HIGHER COURT OVERTURNS IT.


In spite of this overwhelming rebuke of the law, some Birkenstock-wearing legal analysts are trying to argue that Vinson's ruling could be ignored by the administration.

That's why this week's action by Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is so significant. VAN HOLLEN HAS TAKEN THE PROPER STEP OF FOLLOWING THE LAW, WHICH NOW SAYS THAT OBAMACARE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL IN ITS ENTIRETY, RELIEVING WISCONSIN OF ANY OBLIGATION TO FOLLOW IT.

It is the responsibility of every state attorney general in the nation to follow Van Hollen's lead, and HALT ANY ACTIONS TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW. TO DO OTHERWISE WILL OPEN STATES UP TO LEGAL LIABILITY….

Failure of the Obama administration to stop all activity related to the law that the federal court held to be unconstitutional WOULD CREATE A POTENTIAL CONSTITUTIONAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN THE TWO BRANCHES RARELY SEEN IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY. When coupled with the state's refusal to submit to federal regulations implementing a law that has been stripped from the books, our nation is looking at a potentially historic fight not only between branches of government but between the states and the federal government.

Back in the 1970s, IT WAS OPENLY ASKED WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF PRESIDENT NIXON SIMPLY REFUSED TO HAND OVER THE TAPED CONVERSATIONS FROM THE OVAL OFFICE IN SPITE OF THE DEMANDS OF THE FEDERAL COURTS. Of course, that speculation proved unnecessary as Nixon did turn over the tapes, and resigned from office.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/561796/201102021812/Obama-Invites-Crisis-If-He-Ignores-Ruling.htm



An interesting look at what the decision that Obamacare is Unconstitutional might mean.


George Will: ‘The Patience of Politics’

...“They remember what happened with George W. Bush and the ‘ownership society,’” Will recalls. “Bush, who had just finished a campaign in which he managed not to talk about that, said, ‘OH, BY THE WAY, I WANT TO CHANGE THE ENTITLEMENT SYSTEM.’ The people said, ‘WE DON’T THINK SO.’ IT MAY BE A SIGN OF SERIOUSNESS THAT THEY ARE NOT RUSHING. If I could wave a wand and enact the ‘roadmap,’ I’d do it tomorrow. But we don’t wave wands. THE GROUND HAS TO BE PREPARED.”

Indeed, “one of the things we’ve learned in the last year is that ‘comprehensive’ is hard to do,” Will says as he clasps his hands upon his knee. “COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM, COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH-CARE REFORM, COMPREHENSIVE ENTITLEMENT REFORM — IT’S ALL TOO MUCH. THE SYSTEM BUCKLES AND CREAKS AND PROBLEMS START.”

“POLITICS TAKES TIME,” Will concludes, as he gazes toward the Chesapeake ripples. “OBAMA DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT. He just came in and said ‘I’ll do this, that, and the other thing,’ and he ran smack into the DNA of the country’s politics.” For House Republicans, he says, patience will be a virtue.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/258493/patience-politics-robert-costa


This is an excellent article. I especially like the term “THE GROUND HAS TO BE PREPARED.” If you read about Hannibal, you will see his greatness as a general was in preparing the ground for battle. Most great generals do a lot of work to get the battle ground prepared before they strike.


I’ve reproduced the end of the article because it has some very important lessons, but read the entire article. You’ll be smarter when you finish.



Crony Capitalism and the Democrats

One of the costs of Obama's government-business partnership is the increased opportunity for corruption and cronyism. Mickey Kaus blogs about it, hitting on a point I often make but nobody seems to hear: REPUBLICANS COULD GAIN SOME POPULIST POINTS AND PUT DEMS IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION BY HIGHLIGHTING CORPORATISM.



Here's Kaus:

Shouldn't Republicans hold hearings on the general threat of Putin-like corporatism—i.e., an INSIDIOUS ALLIANCE BETWEEN BIG GOVERNMENT AND FAVORED CORPORATE AND LABOR INTERESTS?

a) They could call GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to testify and embarrass him about the myriad ways in which his slightly creepy role as CEO and presidential adviser might allow him to benefit his company and squash competitors;

b) THEY COULD GRILL THE VARIOUS REGULATORS WHO MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO FAVOR THE AUTO MANUFACTURERS THAT THE GOVERNMENT BAILED OUT (and which, in GM's case, it still owns about a third of). Maybe some GM competitors would even be brave enough to testify. (Exhibit No. 23: Will GM and Chrysler claim all the remaining billions of "green" retooling loan money from Obama's Department of Energy? Entrepreneurial startups need not apply?)

c) They could question whether these BUREAUCRATS AND OTHERS ARE ALSO DOING FAVORS FOR OTHER OBAMA CONSTITUENCIES, LIKE LABOR UNIONS, or Google;

d) They'd appear transpartisan--THIS IS AN ISSUE WHERE LEFT AND RIGHT POPULISTS UNITE. Do they love corporate-government alliances at Daily Kos? It's also one of the legitimate worries at the heart of TeaPartyism.

e) Hearings might help: There is no obvious answer to some parts of the corporatism dilemma, such as the too-big-to-fail part. If lots of firms are now too big to fail—or else their markets are unstable—and if during a downturn the government winds up investing political and economic capital in specific companies, what are you going to do? Bail the companies out and then let them collapse again?

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/01/crony-capitalism-investigations#ixzz1CtwbOOCo


The Obama Administration and the Left wing of the Democratic Party are definitely statists. The thing that is frightening is that this is exactly what fascism was, a left of center statists philosophy where capitalism was permitted as long as the corporations did as they were told.


Stopping shootings like Tucson

As the blame for Tucson changed from Sarah Palin and the climate of hate, it seems to have settled on the clips used by Loughner in his rampage. There is a call for smaller clips to save lives. But in a study over 10 years ago we found the one thing you can do to reduce the number of deaths in these types of killings. Allow conceal carry laws.

The results of this paper support the hypothesis that concealed handgun or shall issue laws reduce the number of multiple victim public shootings. ATTACKERS ARE DETERRED AND THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE INJURED OR KILLED PER ATTACK IS ALSO REDUCED, THUS FOR THE FIRST TIME PROVIDING EVIDENCE THAT THE HARM FROM CRIMES THAT STILL OCCUR CAN BE MITIGATED. The much greater level of deterrence for multiple victim public shootings than for other crimes like murder is consistent with the notion that A HIGHER PROBABILITY OF CITIZENS BEING ABLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES SHOULD PRODUCE A GREATER LEVEL OF DETERRENCE. The results are robust with respect to different specifications of the dependent variable, different specifications of the handgun law variable, and the inclusion of additional law variables (e.g., mandatory waiting periods, and enhanced penalties for using a gun in the commission of a crime).

Not only does the passage of a shall issue law have a significant impact on multiple shootings but IT IS THE ONLY LAW RELATED VARIABLE THAT APPEARS TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT. Other law enforcement efforts from the arrest rate for murder to the death penalty to waiting periods and background checks are not systematically related to multiple shootings. A particularly surprising result is how the death penalty is so important in deterring murders generally, but has no significant impact on multiple victim public shootings. Finally, the data provides little evidence of either a substitution from shootings to bombings or of "copycat" effects

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/multiple_victim_shootings_study.htm




Breaking: Planned Parenthood in Richmond Provides Sex-Trafficking Advice

Once again, a Live Action investigators walk into a clinic. The pimp announces he is running a prostitution ring involving 14 and 15-year-old girls, some of whom aren’t from the U.S. THE CLINIC WORKER ADVISES HOW ADEPT THE CLINIC IS AT WORKING A “JUDICIAL BYPASS PROCESS” FOR MINOR ABORTIONS, ANNOUNCING “WE’RE PRETTY GOOD AT HANDLING, IF SOMEONE, YOU KNOW, DOESN’T WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO KNOW.” She stresses “for someone who’s a minor that’s really good option. WE DO THEM PROBABLY ONCE OR TWICE A MONTH HERE.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/258796/breaking-planned-parenthood-richmond-provides-sex-trafficking-advice-kathryn-jean-lope


It seems we are starting to understand that sex with students and teachers happens a lot more than we ever thought it did and now that Planned Parenthood is in the business of given abortions and it doesn’t make any difference what the circumstances are, even if they are criminal.


Blocking the EPA on global warming

Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, RELEASED HIS LONG-AWAITED DRAFT OF LEGISLATION TO BLOCK THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY’S (EPA) REGULATIONS ON CARBON Wednesday evening. Upton was joined by Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, chair of the Energy and Power subcommittee, and Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in releasing the proposal.

The bill, titled THE ENERGY TAX PREVENTION ACT OF 2011, would permanently stop the EPA from implementing regulations to prevent climate change. IT WOULD ALSO CLARIFY THE CLEAN AIR ACT TO SAY IT WAS NOT INTENDED TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE AT ALL, which would be a major blow to the EPA.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/02/upton-whitfield-inhofe-release-plan-to-block-epa/#ixzz1CuWiK6Qh


Somehow when I read about the Obama administration, I’m reminded of the Declaration of Independence which in making its case against King George states: “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”


Supply Prevents Kids from Getting Autism

Environmental Protection Agency Administration LISA JACKSON TOLD A SENATE PANEL THAT PREVENTING CHILDREN FROM BEING EXPOSED TO CONTAMINATED WATER COULD SPARE THEM FROM AUTISM.


Jackson made the remark on Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in response to questioning by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who asked if a recent executive order by President Barack Obama about regulations and the regulatory process means that the EPA can put any rules in place if “the benefits outweigh the costs.”


“I think the president’s far-reaching executive order makes clear that there are some things that are hard to price,” Jackson said at the hearing on U.S. drinking water and new regulations the EPA may put in place on contaminants.

“OUR SCIENCE MAY BE GOOD, BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU PRICE THE ABILITY TO TRY TO FORESTALL A CHILD WHO MAY NOT GET AUTISM IF THEY’RE NOT EXPOSED TO CONTAMINATED WATER,” JACKSON SAID.


“And I think language in that order is about those things where we can be protective for a reasonable amount of money,” Jackson said, “to make sure our children and future generations are not guinea pigs.”


ACCORDING TO THE U.S. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, AUTISM IS A DISEASE THAT CAUSES ABNORMAL BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY IN THE BRAIN AND THAT “THE EXACT CAUSES OF THESE ABNORMALITIES REMAIN UNKNOWN.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/epa-administrator-claims-regulating-drin-0


I think this is an example of liberal science. Liberal science is any conclusion whether it is supported by facts or not that helps a liberal cause.

Federal aviation officials are giving airport scanners another try. This time, they are not looking as closely under traveler's clothes.

TSA testing a better way

The Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday began testing a new, more modest body scanning system at three airports. They hope it will assuage critics' concerns that the nearly 500 full-body scanners at 78 airports reveal too much.

"We believe it addresses the privacy issues that have been raised," TSA chief John Pistole said at a news conference at Reagan National Airport in Washington, one of the airports testing the technology.

The system does not involve new machines. Instead, it relies on new software.
The software discards the x-ray-style image that revealed the contours of the traveler's body — the one that left many uncomfortable at the thought of screeners being able to see them with the rough outlines of their undergarments.

Now, there is just a generic image — like the chalk outline of a body at a crime scene.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/02/02/tsa-testing-modest-body-scanners-las-vegas-airport/


It appears that after two years of ignoring the public, this administration has decided to listen.


The Daily iPad app review: a complete failure of imagination

I’ve had a few hours with The Daily, Rupert Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper. One thought strikes me above all others: if this is the best that journalism’s brightest brains can do, given a huge budget and input from Apple itself then we’re in worse trouble than I thought.

The Daily represents a complete failure of imagination. It’s not a ‘native’ iPad experience at all, it’s a news magazine torn up and stuffed, page-by-page onto the iPad screen. After months of waiting to see Rupert Murdoch’s grand vision for this new medium, it turns out he wants to sell us the old vision but with a couple of videos thrown in.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100006286/the-daily-ipad-app-review-a-complete-failure-of-imagination/


I’m not sure I agree with this assessment. It seems that as print media falls further from favor, something like this has a place in the future. It reminds me of USA today but on line only or going back to the 1950s and 60s Life or Look Magazines. Plus Murdoch is pricing it competitively.

Desperate Lies

Chamber Refutes Foreign Money Charge, Accuses Administration of 'Fear and Smear'

The Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday refuted Democrats' claims that it could be pumping foreign money into U.S. elections, accusing the Obama administration of "grasping at straws" in a last-ditch bid to shift public opinion.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/12/chamber-refutes-foreign-money-charge-accuses-administration-fear-smear/

This is interesting. It makes you wonder why would the administration keep harping on something that almost every news media characterizes as unfounded accusations? It appears to be just another sign of how desperate things are for the Democrats. It does take the narrative off the “accomplishments” of the Obama White House and even it the commentary isn’t flattering about what they are charging, it appears to be better than looking at what they have actually done.

Be Careful what you ask for

House and Senate Republican staff members on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and House Government Oversight Committee say they will be more than happy to open investigations into White House and Democrat party charges of foreign financial influence in the U.S. election process if they win back majorities in Congress this November.


"Given that we know that President Obama's presidential election campaign received millions of dollars and possibly tens of millions of dollars in foreign donations, and that a NUMBER OF UNION-FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVED FOREIGN CONTRIBUTIONS during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, and THAT MOVEON.ORG HAS PERHAPS RECEIVED MILLIONS IN FOREIGN CONTRIBUTIONS, not to mention the possibility that the Center for American Progress has foreign donors, we can see where the American people might be concerned that these entities not have the opportunity in the 2012 election cycle to tap into such resources," says a Senate Republican staffer with ties to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Permanent Committee on Investigations. "And since our Democratic colleagues chose to ignore all of this, then perhaps we should revisit them."

It’s funny how frequently things tend to backfire in politics.

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/10/13/bring-it-on


Are the Democrats listening?

But what’s truly incredible about Obama’s pre-election performance is how it totally misses the mark on THE ISSUES THAT REALLY MATTER, LIKE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, LOW GROWTH, big-government spending, Obamacare, and tax hikes. That’s the stuff people are really talking about.

It’s as though Obama is from another planet, completely disconnected from the political reality as we march toward November 2.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/249552/obama-alien-larry-kudlow

Anger fuels the coming election

Anger appears to be a big factor in the coming election. I think people are angry with the results of the current administration policies to combat the bad economy, but more so with the disregard of the feelings of the voters. Democrats have insulted, made fun of and dismissed those who are most concerned about the reckless spending.

Among those who are angry about the economy, 54 percent blame both parties equally. But 35 percent say they're angrier with the Democrats -- more than triple the number, 10 percent, who aim their ire at the Republicans. To the extent that anger equals motivation, that 25-point differential explains some of the GOP advantage in pre-election polls.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2010_Elections/abc-news-yahoo-pollanger-economy-fuels-republican/story?id=11826703

Election Nightmare

The four causes of what’s likely to be a landslide defeat for Democrats in the midterm election are now locked in place. All that’s left for Democrats in the final three weeks of the campaign is to TRASH REPUBLICANS, STIR THEIR BASE TO VOTE, AND PRAY.

The Democrat dream has become a nightmare.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/four-causes-will-lead-democratic-election-nightmare_508526.html

Election projections

We are in agreement with several recent analyses suggesting that there are approximately 35-40 house seats that should be rated in the "toss-up" category. To simplify things we will refer to the RCP assessment that has 39 "toss-up" seats. They have identified 185 seats as either likely or lean Democrat and 211 as either likely or lean GOP. In each of the remaining 39 "toss-up" races the Republicans and Democrats have been polling within points of each other--many are within the margin of error. So let's assume that these 39 races split 50/50, giving the GOP a 20-set pick up. That gives the GOP a 53-seat pick up and control of the House. But a more realistic analysis suggests that in this current environment--keeping in mind the above voting metrics and the GOP turnout advantage--the GOP will win approximately 70% of the toss-up seats. That would mean a total pickup of 60 seats. And then let's also assume that Republicans pick up a few of the "lean Democrat" seats. Our sense is that in a true "wave" election the party with the lead, the enthusiasm and the turnout advantage will take 70-80% of the toss-up seats in addition to some of the seats that "lean" toward the other party. Using this formula, at this point in time IT IS OUR SENSE THAT THE GOP WILL PICK UP A TOTAL OF AROUND 65 SEATS, giving the GOP control of the House (with 242 seats to the Democrats' 185).


The Senate is easier to visualize but, in some respects, more problematic to project. We continue to believe that it will come down to the West Coast, with the races in California (Boxer and Fiorina) and Washington (Murray and Rossi) holding the key to a Republican takeover. We've put Connecticut in the Democrat column and have put the following in the GOP column: KY, MO, NH, PA and WI. The other four true toss-up states are West Virginia, Colorado, Nevada and Illinois, although there are signs that all four are trending GOP at this time. Assuming Republicans win all four of these toss-up states, that leaves the aforementioned two West Coast races. THE GOP WOULD HAVE TO WIN ONE OF THOSE "AWAY GAMES" TO GET TO 51 SEATS IN THE SENATE.

Obama’s Biggest Lies

President Obama loves to make up things that are patently untrue, like every economist agrees his $800 billion economic stimulus “has done its job,” the economy “is moving in the right direction,” and the Bush tax cuts caused the trillion dollar deficits.
The facts say otherwise, but he is never challenged by the news media for his repeatedly dishonest myth-making. Here are some of his worst offenses.


Myth 1: President George W. Bush’s 2001-2003 across-the-board income tax cuts are responsible for the higher deficits and $13 trillion national debt we have today.


Fact: The Congressional Budget Office, using static analysis that does not account for growth incentives, says the BUSH TAX CUTS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONLY 14% OF THE DEFICITS. A dynamic analysis factoring higher economic growth would have shown that the tax cuts account for even less than that, says the Heritage Foundation’s chief budget analyst Brian Riedl.

This is a good read to counteract the standard liberal talking points.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39385

Republicans Turn Outsourcing Attack Against Dems

The Democrats like to accuse the Republicans of supporting companies who send jobs overseas. It appears that this charge may backfire in this election.

In a reversal of roles, Republicans are attacking Democrats for supporting policies that would outsource jobs overseas and, in particular, to China.

The strategy is political jujitsu: Hotline On Call reported last week that Democrats were increasingly making outsourcing their go-to economic attack line this year. Democrats have long charged that Republicans support policies backed by Wall Street and big business that, ultimately, send jobs overseas. Now, Republicans are trying to use the issue -- and the electorate's anxiety toward outsourcing -- to their advantage.

In at least one Senate race and a handful of House races, Republicans have begun airing ads that attack Democrats for backing the economic stimulus package and claiming that the bill has sent jobs overseas. AFTER THE STIMULUS PASSED, AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT FOUND THAT THE BILL SENT A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MONEY TO WIND ENERGY COMPANIES BASED IN CHINA.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/10/republicans_tur.php

Boehner votes with Pelosi a majority of the time!

It’s an attack ad that writes itself: The House Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner (Ohio), votes with liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a majority of the time.


The statistic seems impossible to believe, given the ferocity with which Boehner denounces Pelosi, the progressive champion of San Francisco elitism and favorite GOP villain.


But it’s true, according to an analysis by Democrats. Boehner has voted with the Democratic leadership 52 percent of the time in 2010. So has Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), chairman of the Republican conference and former head of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

I thought the Republicans were the party of no? So much for that line of attack.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/124165-boehner-a-rubber-stamp-for-pelosi