Thursday: Obamacare problems, Obama problems

Politics

Obamacare: I guess we did need to pass the bill to find out what’s in it

The Democrats’ “historic achievement,” shocking as it seems, TURNS OUT TO BE AN EXPENSIVE, JOBS-CRIPPLING MONSTROSITY THAT IS FILLED WITH UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. Employers are likely to dump employees into highly subsidized exchanges. It’s not going to bend the cost curve. And today, the Associated Press reports:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE LAW WOULD LET SEVERAL MILLION MIDDLE-CLASS PEOPLE GET NEARLY FREE INSURANCE MEANT FOR THE POOR, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department.

UP TO 3 MILLION PEOPLE COULD QUALIFY FOR MEDICAID IN 2014 AS A RESULT OF THE ANOMALY. That’s because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s communications director e-mailed me in response to this report, “Nearly every week we find a new reason to say ‘repeal and replace.’ ”…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/how-did-obamacare-get-so-screwed-up/2011/03/29/AGtI3heH_blog.html

Yet another mistake in a ill-advised bill.

Incumbents in trouble in 2012?

CALIFORNIA SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN'S POPULARITY HAS PLUNGED BY DOUBLE DIGITS FROM HER PREVIOUS RE-ELECTION RATINGS, according to a new Field Poll survey, demonstrating the toll that the anemic economy is taking on incumbent Democrats, including President Obama, heading into next year's elections.

Campaigning for a fourth full term, FEINSTEIN ENJOYS A FOUR-POINT EDGE, 43 TO 39 PERCENT, among registered California voters asked if they would vote for her - even as a strong majority, 46 to 31 percent, approves of the job she is doing. Eighteen percent of voters have no opinion on whether they'd vote for her, leaving a wide opening among swing voters for a potential challenger.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/21/MNOB1K09BP.DTL#ixzz1Q0PawpVC

This is not good if you are among those who are incumbents and feel as if it is your god given right to be in office.



Reid: Huntsman over Romney in GOP field

Even though he won't be able to cast a vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) picked his favorite Mormon candidate in the GOP presidential field on Tuesday: Jon Huntsman.

Reid, a Mormon, was asked if the country is ready for a president of his faith because there are two in the Republican primary race. Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China faces Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

"CERTAINLY THEY'RE NOT READY FOR THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. WHICH SAYS IN THAT RACE IF I HAD A CHOICE I WOULD FAVOR HUNTSMAN OVER ROMNEY," he told reporters at the Capitol.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/167649-reid-prefers-huntsman-over-romney-in-gop-field


Here’s another feather in Mitt Romney’s cap. If you are endorsed by Harry Reid, you might as well kiss your chances for the Republican nomination goodbye. Romney is obviously the tougher candidate.

Only 3 in 10 will definitely vote for Obama

Americans are growing increasingly more frustrated with President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy and ONLY 3 IN 10 SAY THEY ARE CERTAIN THEY WILL VOTE TO RE-ELECT HIM IN 2012, a new poll finds.

JUST 23 PERCENT OF THOSE SURVEYED FOR A BLOOMBERG NEWS POLL RELEASED WEDNESDAY SAY THEY ARE HOPEFUL ABOUT THE ECONOMY because they see signs of improvement, while 25 percent say they are fearful things are getting worse and 51 percent are cautious because nothing seems to be happening.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57507.html#ixzz1Q0W4PDRL

Three in ten puts you pretty much just with just your base. Obama has lost the people who actually elected him in 2008. It’s the economy.

Superman and Jim Crow

Having experienced the psychological pain of Jim Crow laws first-hand, I won’t allow those who likely only read about Jim Crow in history books to trivialize it.

That’s why I’m outraged about a recent edition of TV One’s “Washington Watch” in which host ROLAND MARTIN AND REPRESENTATIVE DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) COMPARED STATE-LEVEL VOTER IDENTIFICATION RULES TO JIM CROW.

To the contrary, requiring valid identification in exchange for something as sacred as a ballot is a pragmatic approach to governing.  IT’S AN INSULT TO THE INTELLIGENCE AND INTEGRITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY BLACK AMERICANS, TO PLAY THE RACE CARD WHERE RACE IS NOT AN ISSUE.

Martin mused: “We talk about [voting being] the fundamental right [of] Americans, but to put roadblocks up to… for… voting makes no sense to me.” WASSERMAN SHULTZ REPLIED, “NOW YOU HAVE THE REPUBLICANS, WHO WANT TO LITERALLY DRAG US BACK TO JIM CROW LAWS AND LITERALLY — AND VERY TRANSPARENTLY — BLOCKED ACCESS TO THE POLLS.”

We are required to have a state-issued driver’s license for many daily activities. Besides specifically verifying a person can operate a motor vehicle, it’s used for everything from access to buildings to birthday discounts.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/21/voter-id-is-no-jim-crow-i-would-know/#ixzz1Q0WuoPfJ

What I’m seeing here is a rerun of the old Superman TV episodes. In those episodes, the bad guys would shoot Superman until their gun was empty. They would then throw the gun at him, like the bullets didn’t hurt him, but the gun might??? This is the equivalent of throwing the gun at him.

More on Jim Crow

E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post, Baghdad Bob of the liberal left, dutifully trots out the latest propaganda line. HE CLAIMS THAT "AN ATTACK ON THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS UNDERWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY," through, among other things, antifraud measures requiring voters to present identification before casting a ballot:

Besides Texas, states that enacted voter ID laws this year include Kansas, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Tennessee. Indiana and Georgia already had such requirements. . . .

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, by 6 to 3, upheld Indiana's voter ID statute. So seeking judicial relief may be difficult. Nonetheless, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD VIGOROUSLY CHALLENGE THESE LAWS, PARTICULARLY IN STATES COVERED BY THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. And the court should be asked to review the issue again in light of new evidence that these laws have a real impact in restricting the rights of particular voter groups.

"THIS REQUIREMENT IS JUST A POLL TAX BY ANOTHER NAME," STATE SEN. WENDY DAVIS declared when Texas was debating its ID law early this year. In the bad old days, poll taxes, now outlawed by the 24th Amendment, were used to keep African Americans from voting. EVEN IF THE SUPREME COURT DIDN'T SEE THINGS HER WAY, DAVIS IS RIGHT. THIS IS THE CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE OF OUR MOMENT.

In part because of a surge of voters who had not cast ballots before, the United States elected its first African American president in 2008. Are we now going to witness a subtle return of Jim Crow voting laws?

Here Dionne parrots an assertion by the unwieldy named Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who said earlier this month that Republicans "want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws." (Literally? She's lucky there's no literacy test for members of Congress.) EVEN THE LEFT-LEANING SITE POLITIFACT.COM RATED THIS FALSE.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576399433777333002.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h

Notice how Dionne sites many quotes, but not a fact to back up what he is saying. It’s an example how the left views facts. Quotes they agree with are the equivalent of fact to them.


Media and Politics

Is Newspaper Coverage of Economic Events Politically Biased?

Abstract:
Accusations of political bias in the media are often made by members of both political parties, yet there have been few systematic studies of such bias to date. This paper develops an econometric technique to test for political bias in news reports that controls for the underlying character of the news reported. OUR RESULTS SUGGEST THAT AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS TEND TO GIVE MORE POSITIVE NEWS COVERAGE TO THE SAME ECONOMIC NEWS WHEN DEMOCRATS ARE IN THE PRESIDENCY THAN FOR REPUBLICANS. When all types of news are pooled into a single analysis, our results are highly significant. However, the results vary greatly depending upon which economic numbers are being reported. WHEN GDP GROWTH IS REPORTED, REPUBLICANS RECEIVED BETWEEN 16 AND 24 PERCENTAGE POINT FEWER POSITIVE STORIES FOR THE SAME ECONOMIC NUMBERS THAN DEMOCRATS. For durable goods for all newspapers, Republicans received between 15 and 25 percentage points fewer positive news stories than Democrats. For unemployment, the difference was between zero and 21 percentage points. Retail sales showed no difference. AMONG THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND THE TOP 10 PAPERS, THE WASHINGTON POST, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AND NEW YORK TIMES TEND TO BE THE LEAST LIKELY TO REPORT POSITIVE NEWS DURING REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATIONS, while the Houston Chronicle slightly favors Republicans. Only one newspaper treated one Republican administration significantly more positively than the Clinton administration: the Los Angeles Times' headlines were most favorable to the Reagan administration, but it still favored Clinton over either Bush administration. We also find that the media coverage affects people's perceptions of the economy. Contrary to the typical impression that bad news sells, we find that good economic news generates more news coverage and that it is usually covered more prominently. We also present some evidence that media treats parties differently when they control both the presidency and the congress.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=588453

Newspapers are bias toward democrats? Now that’s a non-story.


Nets Ignore Emissions Decision, Politico Carries EPA's Water

The Supreme Court on Monday unequivocally rejected the notion that courts should force power companies to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, but NONE OF THE MAJOR BROADCAST NETWORKS COVERED THE UNANIMOUS DECISION ON THEIR EVENING NEWSCASTS OR MORNING SHOWS.

The New York Times teased the ruling on the front page of Tuesday's paper, directing readers to a thorough analysis of the 8-0 decision, but ABC's "Good Morning America" and "World News," CBS's "Early Show" and "Evening News," and NBC's "Today" and "Nightly News" all skipped a decision that prevents environmentalists from using the courts to impose greenhouse gas regulations on electric utilities.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/alex-fitzsimmons/2011/06/21/nets-ignore-emissions-decision-politico-carries-epas-water

So the networks failed to note this?  Again what else is new?  Jon Stewarts opinion of Fox News looks more and more partisan and more and more stupid.


Media Recast THE Crisis Villains

SUBPRIME SCANDAL: With the housing market crashing again, the truth is finally dawning on some media elite that Washington played a bigger role in the mortgage mess than first told.
A NEW BOOK, "RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT," ZEROES IN ON THE CORRUPT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN FANNIE MAE AND BELTWAY INSIDERS — who used the federally chartered firm as a giant slush fund to enrich themselves while pushing liberal housing scheme….

….Refreshingly, the lead villain in Gretchen Morgenson's book isn't Lloyd Blankfein or some other "fat cat" banker. It's ex-Fannie chairman Jim Johnson, one of many Clinton cronies who helped set the stage for the financial disaster back in the 1990s.

SHE BLAMES JOHNSON AND FANNIE FOR FANNING THE EASY CREDIT FLAMES BY UNDERWRITING HOME LOANS FOR LOW-INCOME MINORITIES. But this is still only half the story.

The Clinton White House and Democrat Congress were obsessed with closing the racial mortgage gap, and they enlisted Fannie and its brother, Freddie Mac, in their reckless social crusade.
FANNIE AND FREDDIE DIDN'T CO-OPT REGULATORS, AS THE BOOK ARGUES. IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. THEIR CHIEF REGULATOR — HUD — PRESSURED THEM TO TARGET CREDIT-POOR BLACKS AND HISPANICS WITH SUBPRIME LOANS. If they didn't meet HUD's increasing quotas, they were threatened with fines and stiffer oversight.

And Johnson's successor, FRANKLIN RAINES, DID FAR MORE DAMAGE AT FANNIE'S HELM. Unlike Johnson, RAINES PUSHED FOR ZERO DOWN PAYMENTS. He also begged mortgage bankers to originate more subprime loans so Fannie could buy them and fuel even more risky lending.

Under Raines, a Clinton appointee, FANNIE LOADED UP ON SUBPRIME SECURITIES WHILE GUTTING THE UNDERWRITING STANDARDS IT SET FOR THE ENTIRE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY. It was under his leadership — 1999-2005 — that the bubble of making loans to people who would have a tough time paying them off got supersized.

"We have to push products and opportunities to people who have lesser credit quality," Raines exhorted mortgage bankers gathered in San Francisco in 2004.

As Clinton's old budget director, as well as an African-American, Raines agreed with his goal of putting more blacks in homes through subprime mortgages. Home ownership was "unevenly distributed in society," Raines complained, and he was fully on board government efforts to redistribute housing credit through private lenders.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=576075&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EditorialRss+%28Editorial+RSS%29

Fannie and Freddie appear to be the Typhoid Mary’s of the Economic crisis. This viewpoint is vigorously denied by the left (it spoils their blaming the Republicans, deregulation, and the Wall Street fat cats) but facts are facts. HUD, Fannie and Freddie, and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are prime suspects in what is going on in America today. All the others are people who took advantage of the policies these groups foisted on the American Financial System.


Congress

Issa Lays Down the Law to DOJ: "We Are Investigating You"

The following video is from the House Oversight Committee hearing last week about Operation Fast and Furious and is worth watching.

The hearing opened up a slew of questions about Operation Fast and Furious and Issa is just getting started in his gathering of information about the lethal project, however, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich couldn't answer one simply question: Who in Washington authorized Operation Fast and Furious?

In his opening statement, Weich said that the Justice Department had complied and cooperated with the Oversight Committee, adding the DOJ had provided information requested through subpoenas from Issa in his investigation. As you will see, Issa strongly disagreed, making it clear there has been no cooperation from the Obama Justice Department in this case.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/06/20/issa_lays_down_the_law_to_doj_we_are_investigating_you

This is something the democrats didn’t have to worry about when they controlled the congress. Expect to see a lot more of this and a slew of Democrat scandals and unseemly actions.

Mean while Rand Paul strikes a chord for basic common sense

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul told the Transportation Security Administration today that IT SHOULD END WHAT HE CALLED THE “UNIVERSALITY OF INSULT” OF RANDOM PAT-DOWNS OF PASSENGERS.

In a meeting of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Paul grilled TSA Administrator John Pistole over the recent pat-down of a six-year-old Kentucky girl, a video of which went viral over the Internet.

“IT MAKES ME THINK YOU’RE CLUELESS, IF YOU THINK SHE’S GOING TO ATTACK OUR COUNTRY AND YOU’RE NOT DOING YOUR RESEARCH ON THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO ATTACK OUR COUNTRY,” Paul said. “It absolutely must involve a risk assessment of those who are traveling. And the fact that she’s being patted down and I don’t feel comfortable really with your response that we are no longer doing random pat-downs. I think you ought to get rid of the random pat-downs. The American public is unhappy with them, they’re unhappy with the invasiveness of them. The Internet is full of jokes about the invasiveness of the pat-down searches and we ought to just consider, is this what we’re willing to do.”

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/22/video-sen-rand-paul-tells-tsa-to-end-random-pat-downs/#ixzz1Q1zxtlJd

Random pat downs are worthless for making us safer. We have limited resources at airports and we should be behaviorally profiling individuals and using these resources on people who are the most likely ones to be terrorists. This is just common sense, but the problem we have with Homeland Security is that common sense is not very common.

SCOTUS

Olson and Elwood on Wal-Mart v. Dukes

Walter Olson comments on the implications of Wal-Mart v. Dukes in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here’s his conclusion:

This week’s decision will make it harder, though not impossible, to apply class actions to employment-discrimination cases in which cash damages are the main point. (As the court noted, though, class treatment is still more liberally available for injunctive relief, such as in a suit asking that a company be ordered to change a discriminatory personnel policy.)

That does not mean, as one veteran Supreme Court reporter wrote this week, that future aggrieved employees will all have to “file their own lawsuits,” or that large companies can operate with impunity. The court did not rule out lawsuits on behalf of groups of employees affected by the actions of some identifiable corporate policy, for example, or by particular managers or supervisors or offices. And even suits by individual employees against big companies regularly demand, and sometimes get, million-dollar damages.

The message of this ruling is simple: Employees have to prove that they have been legally wronged, not just cash in because somebody else was.

http://volokh.com/2011/06/22/olson-and-elwood-on-wal-mart-v-dukes/

Volokh is always interesting. You can read this and be sure to read the comments if you want to understand more about what this means. What the Court said was that with 8000+ stores worldwide, the actions of a few managers, contrary to written policy of the company is not grounds for a class action by every women in every location in the company.

10 cases of Liberal Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy: Carbon Footprint the Size of…Some Really Big Thing—Al Gore
Hypocrisy: No Guns For You, But My Guy Packs Heat—Rosie O’Donnell
Hypocrisy: War Investments, Non-Union Labor, Calling for the End of the American Dream While Living It -- Michael Moore
Hypocrisy: Getting Married After Condemning Marriage As Pointless –Gloria Steinem
Hypocrisy: Accepting Union Awards But Not Using Union Labor—Nancy Pelosi
Hypocrisy: Coastline Protection Lawsuit—Barbara Streisand
Hypocrisy: Opposing Wind Power While Proposing Alternative Fuels Elsewhere—Ted Kennedy
Hypocrisy: Counseling on Adultery While Committing Adultery—Jesse Jackson
Hypocrisy: Protesting Animal Testing While Benefiting from Animal Testing—Mary Beth Sweetland
Hypocrisy: Using Non-Union Labor to Strike for Higher Union Wages—US Labor Unions

http://listverse.com/2009/05/02/10-cases-of-liberal-hypocrisy/

Some of these are really hypocrisy while others are simply being human (look at Gloria Steinem, and Mary Beth Sweetland.

Here’s an 11th

Things got a little testy this weekend when a Republican online conference and conservative online publisher Andrew Breitbart showed up in Minneapolis at the same time as Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal operatives, bloggers and activists.

So in an effort to prevent similar blogger battles next year WHEN NETROOTS HEADS TO PROVIDENCE, R.I., NEXT JUNE, EVENT ORGANIZERS ARE TRYING TO BAN OTHER GATHERINGS FROM USING THE CITY’S CONVENTION CENTER AND TWO OF ITS HOTELS DURING NETROOTS WEEKEND. IT IS INSISTING ON A NONCOMPETE CLAUSE IN EVERY CONTRACT AT THE RHODE ISLAND CONVENTION CENTER AS WELL AS THE WESTIN PROVIDENCE AND PROVIDENCE BILTMORE HOTELS, Raven Brooks, Netroots executive director, told Washington Wire. A convention center official said he was not immediately aware of the arrangement.

The conservative conference, RIGHTONLINE, HAS FOLLOWED NETROOTS AROUND THE U.S. SINCE 2008, SEEKING TO ACT AS A COUNTER-EVENT. This year, a shouting match broke out when Mr. Breitbart tried to enter Netroots, camera crew in tow. Mr. Brooks alleged other cases of harassment at the Hilton Minneapolis, which was used by both events, and at downtown bars.
There are, of course, other hotels, in downtown Providence.

“The folks at RightOnline are free to hold differing political views,” Mr. Brooks said in an email. “THEY ARE NOT FREE TO HARASS OUR PEOPLE AND CREATE A POOR SOCIAL EXPERIENCE AT OUR HOTELS.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/06/21/netroots-nation-tries-to-keep-its-distance-from-rightonline-at-2012-conference/

The last sentence is the money quote. Netroots is looking for an echo chamber experience. This is typical of the left and is one of the reasons their arguments are so pathetic. They don’t test their ideas with others with a different perspective.


Feminism redefined

Freshman Congresswoman Kristi Noem busted the liberal "republicans hate women" myth tonight on the House floor, stressing the importance of having people in Congress with real world experience, regardless of gender.

"I didn't run because I was a woman and I didn't expect people to vote for me because I was a woman."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/06/21/kristi_noem_republicans_are_pro-woman

Feminism is being redefined and the liberals hate it. A color blind, gender blind society is much more what the Republicans represent rather than the quota embracing Democrats support.

Stupidity reigns on Current TV

Keith Olbermann is back and here is the stupidest thing he opined right at the beginning of his show:

“This is to be a newscast of contextualization and it is to be presented with a viewpoint that the weakest citizen of this country is more important than the strongest corporation.”

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/kevinglass/2011/06/21/keith_olbermann_returns,_nothing_changes

So basically passing a bill that would help the weakest citizen of this country but hurt the strongest corporation even if 10,000 people would lose their jobs as a result, it not simply a fair tradeoff to Mr. Olbermann, but it seems morally right. Olbermann is like a weed in an intellectual garden. He may be green, but he adds nothing of value to the rest of the garden.

What's your fair share?

What is your fair share?

As you can see, the top 1 percent of earners shoulder 38 percent of the personal federal income taxes and make only 20 percent of income. The top 5 percent of income earners pay almost 60 percent of income taxes and make almost 35 percent of all personal income.

Here are some other data points that I find interesting:

Of the top 1 percent of income earners, only 23 percent are millionaires.

A household income above $380,000 puts you in the top 1 percent of income earners.

Of the top 10 percent of income earners, only 2 percent are millionaires.

A household income above $114,000 puts you in the top 10 percent of income earners. That means that a cop making $60K married to a teacher making $60K make it into the top 10 percent.

Please send other suggestions for charts and data. I appreciate your input....

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/265367/more-tax-redistribution-veronique-de-rugy

Obama and the Democrats keep talking about paying your fair share. Now I don’t know anyone who would say if you earn a bigger percent of the income than the percentage of taxes you pay that you are paying your fair share. But the rich (top 1%) earn 20 percent of income and pay 38% of the income taxes. What sounds fair to you?



Obama's Likability Gap

If it is true, as Michelle Obama said in February, that her husband isn't smoking anymore, maybe HE'D BETTER START MELLOWING OUT WITH THE CIGS AGAIN BEFORE IT COSTS HIM THE PRESIDENCY.

The Barack Obama we've been seeing lately is a different personality than the one that made a miracle run to the White House in 2008.

Obama.2008 was engaging, patient, open, optimistic and a self-identified conciliator.

OBAMA.2011 HAS BEEN SOMETHING ELSE—TESTY, PETULANT, IMPATIENT, ARROGANT AND INCREASINGLY A DIVIDER.

Never forget: That historic 2008 victory came with 52.9% of the total vote and 52% of independent voters. David Axelrod recently noted "how small the margin for error is."

Presidential personality is well inside the margin of error for 2012, but THE ONE ON DISPLAY RECENTLY HAS NOT BEEN ATTRACTIVE. AND IT'S HAPPENING A LOT….

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658704576275061542909404.html

I saw him on the news being sincere and talking with potential supporters. He sounded almost churlish as he seemed to be saying “woe is me.”



Democrats Join Threat to Hold Up Debt Ceiling Vote Without Spending Cuts

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS STARTING TO FEEL PRESSURE FROM HIS OWN PARTY TO TIE SPENDING CUTS TO A VOTE TO RAISE THE DEBT LIMIT, even as the administration expresses confidence that Congress will ultimately raise the cap.

The latest moderate Democrat to draw a line in the sand is Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who told members of a local political group Wednesday THAT HE'LL NEED TO SEE A COMMITMENT TO CUT SPENDING AND OVERHAUL THE TAX CODE IN ORDER TO VOTE TO RAISE THE $14.3 TRILLION CAP. The government is expected to reach that ceiling by mid-May.

"What I've told anyone who will listen to me in Washington, including my leadership, is that I'm not going to vote for that unless there is a real and meaningful commitment to debt reduction," Pryor told the Political Animals Club at its monthly meeting at the governor's mansion.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/21/democratic-sen-pryor-debt-ceiling-hike-spending-tax-code-fixes/

It appears the much maligned TEA Party has not only changed the makeup of the Congress, but has realigned the discussion. Written off by the MSM and many political pundits as “astro-turf” and nuts, they are now calling the tune.



Blame Game

….Instead, the climate push was … a total flop. By late 2010, the main cap-and-trade bill had fizzled out in the Senate; not a single Republican would agree to vote for it. GREENS ENDED UP WINNING ZILCH FROM CONGRESS, NOT EVEN MINOR LEGISLATION TO BOOST RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY OR ENERGY EFFICIENCY. Worse, after the 2010 midterms, the House GOP became overrun with climate deniers, while voters turned apathetic about global warming. All those flashy eco-ads and all that tireless eco-lobbying only got us even further from solving climate change than we were in 2008.

So now greens are in the post-mortem stage, and, not shockingly, it’s a sensitive subject. On Tuesday, Matthew Nisbet, a communications professor at American University, released a hefty 84-page report trying to figure out why climate activism flopped so miserably in the past few years. Nisbet’s report is already causing controversy: Among other things, he argues that, CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, GREENS WEREN’T BADLY OUTSPENT BY INDUSTRY GROUPS AND THAT MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE SCIENCE WASN’T REALLY A PROBLEM. And he raises questions about whether greens have been backing the wrong policy measures all along. Is he right? Have environmentalists been fundamentally misguided all this while? Or were they just unlucky?...

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/87140/environmental-green-movement-al-gore-nesbit?page=0,1

This is an interesting article. It shows you the thinking of the green left. Looking over what went wrong, the one thing you don’t see is any question that they were correct in their basic assessment or that those who oppose them might just possibly be right. The AGW theory does have one actual hallmark, the hot spot. So far there is no sign of it, but that doesn’t seem to bother true believers.


Troubles to left and troubles to the right

At first glance, President Obama's partisan speech last week attacking GOP budget proposals WAS PRECISELY WHAT AN INCUMBENT RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION SHOULDN'T DO. It was not a speech designed to appeal to independent voters, a group Mr. Obama has suffered serious erosion with.

But MR. OBAMA'S TONE MAKES MORE SENSE WHEN ONE REALIZES THAT HIS SINKING POLL NUMBERS ALSO INDICATE AN EROSION IN SUPPORT WITH HIS LIBERAL BASE. Only about three-quarters of self-identified liberals approve of his job performance, a number that has drifted downward since Mr. Obama compromised on tax cuts and decided to keep Guantanamo open. His latest budget deal with House Republicans only further confused his base. "I have been very disappointed in the administration to the point where I'M EMBARRASSED THAT I ENDORSED HIM," ONE SENIOR DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER told the Daily Beast last week….

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704570704576275022988451268.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond

Obama is in a dilemma. The liberal base feels he hasn’t gone far enough and this is disappointment enough to hold down their numbers at the polls in 2012. In the meantime the rest of the country thinks he has gone much too far and isn’t focusing on what’s important. In fact, the main issue in the coming election will most likely be the deficit and this issue belongs to Obama and the Democrats (they can’t credibly blame Bush).



Obama’s mistakes: At least from his point of view

Seven years ago, in April 2004, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH HELD A FORMAL NEWS CONFERENCE IN WHICH HE WAS ASKED, "WHAT WOULD YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKE BE…and what lessons have you learned from it?" Bush's hemming and hawing answer -- in several minutes of flailing about, HE NEVER MANAGED TO COME UP WITH A SINGLE MISTAKE TO CITE -- WAS WIDELY CRITICIZED IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED.

On Wednesday, President Obama held a town hall at the headquarters of Facebook in Palo Alto, California, during which he was asked, "If you had to do anything differently during your first four years, what would it be?" OBAMA, IT TURNS OUT, IS NO BETTER AT ANALYZING HIS OWN MISSTEPS THAN BUSH.

The president began his response haltingly, pointing out that he has actually been in office just two and a half years, and "I'm sure I'll make more mistakes in the next year and a half." But what mistakes has he already made? "There are all sorts of day-to-day issues where I say to myself, oh, I didn't say that right, or I didn't explain this clearly enough," Obama said, "or maybe if I had sequenced this plan first as opposed to that one, maybe it would have gotten done quicker."

BUT THE PRESIDENT MENTIONED NO ACTUAL MISTAKES.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/obama-mistakes-cant-think-any#ixzz1KAt24epY

I actually have a bit of sympathy for Obama on this question. It’s one of those that you can’t win on. It’s like asking someone if they stopped beating their wife. It wasn’t fair to Bush and it isn’t fair to Obama. More revealing would be to ask what he’s most proud of and why.



Stripped of Dignity

A young computer programmer on his way to a pheasant-hunting trip last November offered a cri de coeur about government groping.

“IF YOU TOUCH MY JUNK,” HE TOLD THE T.S.A. AGENT AT THE SAN DIEGO AIRPORT JUST BEFORE HE ABANDONED HIS TRIP, “I’LL HAVE YOU ARRESTED…..”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/opinion/20dowd.html?_r=1

The noise about this has died down since the Thanksgiving holidays, but the issue remains. How do we provide security and still conform to the Constitution. I believe we need to be profiling at the airports. Rather than look at everyone as if we are all potential terrorists, we should be profiling behavior as they do in Israel.


The tolerant left: an oxymoron?

One thing you have to say about the Left: THEY NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LET THE MASK OF HATRED SLIP. IT’S PRACTICALLY PAVLOVIAN; they are so invested in the myth of their own righteousness that their “tolerance” fetish goes right out the window whenever they suffer the slightest affront to their delusional notion of how the world works.

Truly, these folks have the self-esteem of an abused pit bull. From the Iowa Republican:

A University of Iowa professor felt the need to reply to a blast email by the College Republicans on Monday morning. ELLEN LEWIN, A PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND GENDER, WOMEN’S & SEXUALITY STUDIES in the Department of Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies, sent a vulgar response to a College Republican email about the group’s, “Conservative Coming Out Week.”

The College Republican email, which was sent to the entire University of Iowa Community, had been approved by a number of university officials before being sent out.

LEWIN RESPONDED TO EMAIL BY WRITING, “#*@% [F-WORD] YOU, REPUBLICANS” FROM HER OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL ACCOUNT.

This is why pushing back against them is so important: Like President Obama, they’re not used to real opposition. THEY’RE UNUSED TO BEING QUESTIONED. THEY CONSIDER ANY CHALLENGE TO THEIR BOGUS “MORAL AUTHORITY” (BASED ON WHAT, ONE MIGHT ASK?) TO BE TANTAMOUNT TO TREASON….

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/265303/tolerant-left-michael-walsh
Lefties don’t do well to opposition and seem to go crazy when they are caught in a lie. They are the epitome of bigots (the definition is “One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ”) yet they love to use the word to describe conservatives.


Obama the Hun

Pres. Obama wanted a campaign finance bill that would take the teeth out of the Citizens United ruling before the 2010 election. Congressional Democrats wrote such a bill, and then watched it slip into a coma. But that wasn’t the end of it. According to a leaked White House memo, Obama plans to create new campaign finance rules via fiat by signing an executive order.

As the Washington Examiner reported yesterday, the EO “would require all companies that sign contracts with the federal government to report on the personal political activities of their officers and directors.”

And by “political activities,” Obama means: “all contributions or expenditures to or on behalf of federal candidates, parties or party committees made by the bidding entity, its directors or officers, or any affiliates within its control; and any contributions made to third party entities with the intention or reasonable expectation that parties would use those contributions to make independent expenditures or electioneering communications.”

All of that information must be disclosed, according to the leaked executive order, so that the government can “ensure that its contracting decisions are merit-based in order to deliver the best value for the taxpayer.” While that may sound like the order is intended to expose sweetheart deals, it’ll also make it that much easier for federal agencies to deny contracts to firms that donated big bucks to Republican candidates.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/20/obama-crafts-an-executive-order-to-get-around-the-citizens-united-ruling/#ixzz1K9oJZH29


This is clearly unconstitutional. It is an unwarranted limitation of freedom of speech and even the Democrats should realize it. They don’t like Citizen United because it gave the power to contribute to corporations. But this order goes beyond corporate donations to directors or officers of a company. Bad move by Obama but nothing surprising.



Wisconsin: The Unions paid the Democrats to flee the state

The Indiana Democratic Party’s first quarter campaign finance report was filed last Friday and CONFIRMS WHAT EVERYONE ALREADY SUSPECTED BUT DEMOCRATS DENIED: THEIR “WE ARE INDIANA” WALKOUT WAS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR NATIONAL UNIONS. Read the report here:

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/32622

During the period of the walkout that began on February 22 and ended on March 28, DEMOCRAT-BACKED UNIONS CONTRIBUTED NEARLY $140,000 TO THE INDIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Their goal: stop the legislative session in its tracks, kill anti-union bills, and pay whatever it took to keep Democrats holed up in an Illinois hotel. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S LARGEST BENEFACTOR WAS THE COMFORT INN URBANA, WHICH RECEIVED $84,953.70 BY APRIL 6 TO PAY FOR HOTEL ROOMS OCCUPIED BY DEMOCRAT LEGISLATORS. Because the Indiana Democratic Party began the year with a measly $40,000 in the bank, they needed help from the deep pockets of national unions to pay the hefty hotel bill. And that’s exactly what they got

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/32622


Wisconsin has turned into a disaster for the Unions and in return a disaster for the Democrats. It not only has been bad publicity for the Democrats, but it also has weakened the unions a major supporter of the Dems.



Charlie Sheen or Charlie Manson: You make the call

This calls to mind the parlor game back in the 1990s, when folks noted the similarities between Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance and the Unabomber’s manifesto (the late Tony Snow first came up with this comparison), and THE OBVIOUS UPDATE TODAY WOULD BE CHARLIE MANSON AS A WARM-UP ACT FOR CHARLIE SHEEN’S NIGHTCLUB ACT, currently bombing at a city near you. SO HERE’S THE QUIZ: WHICH CHARLIE SAID WHAT? (Answers at the bottom.)

1. “I probably took more drugs than anyone could survive. I was banging seven-gram rocks, because that’s how I roll. I have one speed, I have one gear: Go.”

2. “I live in the underworld. I don’t tell people what to do. They know what to do.”

3. “I’m in the bullring. I run in the bullring with the heart of the world.”

4. “That’s how I roll. And if it’s too gnarly for people, then buh-bye.”

5. “If you’re a part of my family, I will love you violently.”

6. “We are all martyrs. Love is a martyr… I am a martyr. But I am also a victim. And I’m a performer. And a dam. I’m both. I am everything.”

7. “You have the right to kill me, but you do not have the right to judge me.”

8. “I think Obama is an idiot for doing what he’s doing. They’re playing with him.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/265132/charlie-sheen-or-charlie-manson-you-make-call-steven-f-hayward


I didn’t do too well either. Here are the answers (Answers: Manson, 2, 3, 6, and 8. Sheen: 1, 4, 5, and 7)

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.

Truth or Progressivism--take your pick

Study: Hot female reporters are distracting

Hey pal, eyes up here. She's trying to tell you about genocide and financial collapse. What's that you say? You missed the headlines again because the anchor babe was confusing your man brain? You're not alone – a much-forwarded study published this week from Indiana University researchers Maria Elizabeth Grabe and Lelia Samson in Communication Research found that the SEXIER A FEMALE NEWS REPORTER IS, THE LESS LIKELY MALE VIEWERS WERE TO REGARD HER AS QUALIFIED FOR WAR AND POLITICAL REPORTING – AND TO REMEMBER WHAT SHE SAID.

Researchers had a 24-year-old woman do a short newscast twice, one time wearing a shapeless outfit, and another dolled up in red lipstick and dressed to accentuate her waist-to-hip ratio. The more alluring the waist-to-hip ratio, the less credible the reporter appeared. But while a sexed up anchor might not make a dent into her male viewers' ears, the Indiana study found women viewers reported no such disconnect. The study also didn't mention whether all its subjects identified as straight, so who knows what results the researchers might have obtained if they'd throw a little Ron Corning into the mix? Who among us has not occasionally spaced out the fact that someone was a litany of bad news because said individual was also wicked hot?

http://www.salon.com/news/media_criticism/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/01/27/men_ignore_hot_news_anchors


Hawaii bill would charge $100 for President Obama's birth records

FOR JUST $100, YOU TOO MIGHT BE ABLE TO OWN A COPY OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BIRTH RECORDS.

Democratic lawmakers in Hawaii introduced a bill this week that would allow anybody to obtain Obama's personal documents, an effort aimed to silence so-called “birthers" and CLOSE A PROJECTED $800 MILLION BUDGET DEFICIT OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

The legislation would reverse a privacy law that bars the release birth records to anybody without a tangible interest, like family members.

"IF IT PASSES, IT WILL CALM THE BIRTHERS DOWN," THE BILL'S PRIMARY SPONSOR, REP. RIDA CABANILLA SAID. "All these people are still doubting it because they don't want the birth certificate from Obama. They want it from our state office."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/01/28/2011-01-28_hawaii_bill_would_charge_100_for_president_obamas_birth_records_effort_to_silenc.html

This would answer a lot doubts. I think it’s a good idea, but I doubt it will pass.

What a surprise!

A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS AIRPORTS TO REPLACE GOVERNMENT SCREENERS WITH PRIVATE SCREENERS IS BEING BROUGHT TO A STANDSTILL, JUST A MONTH AFTER THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SAID IT WAS "NEUTRAL" ON THE PROGRAM.


TSA chief John Pistole said Friday he has decided not to expand the program beyond the current 16 airports, saying he does not see any advantage to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/01/29/tsa.private/index.html?hpt=T2

Of course he doesn’t see any advantage to it. It makes TSA look bad. A government monopoly is still just a monopoly only they can simply ban competition.

Democrats Charged in 'Massive' Voter Fraud Case

TWO DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS IN AN UPSTATE NEW YORK CITY HAVE BEEN CHARGED IN A "MASSIVE" VOTER FRAUD CASE first reported a year ago on Fox News.

A 59-page, 116-COUNT INDICTMENT CHARGES TROY DEMOCRATIC CITY COUNCILMAN MICHAEL LOPORTO AND EDWARD MCDONOUGH, DEMOCRATIC COMMISSIONER OF THE RENSSELAER COUNTY BOARD of Elections, with forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument. The two men arrive in court in handcuffs on Friday and pleaded not guilty.

SEVEN OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND POLITICAL OPERATIVES ARE SAID TO BE TARGETS OF THE CONTINUING INVESTIGATION. The Fox News Voter Fraud unit first reported the brazen allegations just over a year ago, with reports that absentee ballots and applications were forged to try to stuff the ballot box and steal an election.

The case involves absentee ballots from the Working Families Party primary in September of 2009 for the Troy City Council and Rensselaer County legislature. It has been alleged the signatures and absentee excuses of unsuspecting voters were forged, all to ensure the Democratic candidates also won the Working Families Party line. Democratic candidates in New York State often run as Working Families Party hopefuls

.

Old Rules Won’t Determine GOP Presidential Candidate Our politics have changed.

The weakest part of our political system, by a considerable margin, is the presidential nominating process. It tends to exclude from consideration those with the greatest experience in areas that are uniquely the president’s responsibility: foreign policy and military strategy.

It tends less strongly to exclude members of Congress, particularly House members but also senators, whose extensive voting records inevitably contain material that is politically damaging at some point in the process. The process has become so lengthy that candidates often come up with strategies and programs that are rendered obsolete by the time of the next presidential inauguration.

All that said, we are stuck with it — or stuck with the version of the schedule that the national Democratic and Republican parties, acting for once in concert, and the various state parties and state legislatures can agree on.

SO IT MAY BE WORTHWHILE, BEFORE TRYING TO ASSESS THE CHANCES OF LIKELY, PUTATIVE, AND POSSIBLE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES IN THE 2012 CYCLE, TO DISMISS SOME OF THE RULES OF THUMB THAT HAVE ARISEN OVER THE YEARS.

The first is the notion that the Republican nomination always goes to the candidate next in line in seniority.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/258070/old-rules-won-t-determine-gop-presidential-candidate-michael-barone

A good read as to what the new rules may be.

How to Get Rich from Liberal Delusions

The secret to instant wealth is to spot a mass delusion and bet against it. The Tulip Craze. Florida swamp land.

Getting the timing right is tricky, but we are blessed with an overload of mass delusions. You can pick your own favorite. Delusional bubbles have to pop at some point, because the people who are paying for them eventually figure out that they've been had.

GLOBAL WARMING FRAUD is now in the midst of a slow collapse. The Chicago Carbon Exchange just closed, because the investors figured out the scam. But the list of liberal crazes is long, and we can EXPECT THE MEDIA TO MAKE UP EVER-NEW HEADLINES TO KEEP THEIR BUSINESS MODEL ALIVE. For George Soros, it's not only profitable, but it's also a good cause, because socialist world government is his guiding fantasy. It was socialist Europe that made up global warming, and turned Mad Cow into a mass hysteria. You can bet that the big investors had it figured out long before things got rolling…..

THE ONE THING WE KNOW IS THAT THE LEFT WILL FIND ANOTHER SCARE STORY TO PANIC YOU WITH.

OUR MEDIA HYSTERIAS ARE SO DUMB -- THEY ARE SO ANTI-SCIENCE, ANTI-TECHNOLOGY, AND ANTI-COMMON SENSE -- that the only question is "When will the next balloon go up?"

BUT DON'T EXPECT THE LIBS TO FIGURE IT OUT. They will fall for it the way they always do. Mass delusion satisfies their need for a personal faith. THEY MAY NOT BELIEVE IN ANY ORGANIZED RELIGION, BUT THE MEDIA HAVE THEM BELIEVING IN ORGANIZED PANICS.

MAKING MONEY FROM LIBERAL DELUSIONS IS NOT NEW. Bernie Madoff ran his Ponzi scheme on liberal charities 'cause that's where the biggest suckers are. Starry-eyed college kids are now planning careers in "the nonprofit sector," meaning they expect to take their salaries and perks off the top. But they need good media sob stories, like Obama's and Bill Ayers's pitch to a foundation, getting 196 million bucks for inner-city schools with a "jazz-based curriculum." Then they took the money to buy political IOUs in Chicago.

OBAMA STARTED OFF AS A CON ARTIST, AND HE IS STILL DOING IT, BUT ON A MUCH GRANDER SCALE. Millions of liberals still bow down to their little home shrine of Obama today because they're terrified of being called "racists" if they don't. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS A GIANT GUILT TRIP TO BILK AMERICA. AL SHARPTON GOES FOR DIRECT EXTORTION, BUT THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO MILK THIS COW.

Barney Frank specialized in laws requiring empty mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/how_to_get_rich_from_liberal_d.html

What is amazing to me is how the left accuses the right of ruling by fear.  It seems to be more than  a bit hypocritical.


The Supreme Court Is Not Our Benevolent Dictator

The clear and inherent constraints of the Constitution would, if applied with intellectual honesty, put an end to the expansionist vision of the federal government that IS ESSENTIAL TO THE LEFT'S PROGRAM OF STATISM.


The Left cannot abide applying the Constitution as it is written because this would upend its multipronged efforts to reshape American government and society at large. There is, for example, NOTHING IN THE CONSTITUTION ALLOWING FOR A FEDERAL MANDATE THAT ALL ADULTS PURCHASE HEALTH INSURANCE.


The Founders gave their political successors an amendment process so they might alter the text as the latter deemed wise (with, of course, the consent of voters in the states), and even included an amendment of their own (the 10th) clarifying that what is not delegated to the federal government is the province of the states. WHY WOULD THEY BOTHER WITH THESE THINGS IF THEY BELIEVED THE TEXT SHOULD BE OPEN TO CONTINUOUS, IDEOLOGICAL REINTERPRETATION?

These are chilling notions to the liberal ideologues who wish to impose their omni-beneficence on us plebian unwashed. Only a "living, breathing" Constitution affords the room to get around the text's obvious constrictions. Just so my meaning is sufficiently transparent: A person breathes. A document states.


THERE IS ANOTHER DIMENSION TO THIS NARRATIVE: A WILLINGNESS BY SOME ON THE LEFT TO CONSIGN TO THE SUPREME COURT ALL POWER OVER CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION.

"Anybody who knows anything about constitutional law knows it's up to nine men or women [to determine] what the Constitution says," said Rep. Steve Cohen (D.-Tenn.) in his attack on the reading of the charter's text on the House floor. …


IF COHEN IS CORRECT, NOTHING DONE BY ANY OTHER BRANCH OR LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT CAN BE VIEWED AS FIRM. All remains tentative until five Supreme Court justices decide its validity. And then only until another five decide whether their predecessors were correct.


Consider the wise words of Abraham Lincoln, given during his first inaugural. Reflecting on the exact attitude toward the Constitution portrayed by Cohen, Mr. Lincoln noted that "IF THE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT UPON VITAL QUESTIONS AFFECTING THE WHOLE PEOPLE IS TO BE IRREVOCABLY FIXED BY DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT ... THE PEOPLE WILL HAVE CEASED TO BE THEIR OWN RULERS, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal."

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=41473


I think the left is perfectly fine with the people ceasing to be their own rulers. They feel that a ruling elite could do the job better as they know what is good for everyone (read the book “What’s the matter with Kansas).

Advocating violence on the Left

Frances Fox Piven is a sociology professor who for four decades has advocated violent social upheaval as a means of effecting the radical change she believes in. HER NOTION OF APPROPRIATE CHANGE IS QUITE OBVIOUSLY THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE PRODUCTIVE CLASS AND ELECTED PUBLIC LEADERS IN FAVOR OF PEOPLE LIKE -- AHEM -- HERSELF.

This week, GLENN BECK CALLED PIVEN OUT ON HER ADVOCACY OF VIOLENCE. In response, the New York Times, a group that has amusingly chosen to call itself the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the American Sociological Association HAVE ATTACKED BECK FOR DARING TO TAKE HER AT HER WORD. Now, with Piven exposed to a broader audience than usual as a firebrand who holds views dangerous to democratic life, her friends have dolled her up in widow's weeds (her equally radical husband, Richard Cloward, died in 2001) and noted her age (78) to distract us from her work.

They want us to think, as did Psycho's Norman Bates channeling his long-dead mother, that "[t]hey'll see and they'll know and they'll say, 'WHY SHE WOULDN'T EVEN HARM A FLY.'"....

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/clarices_pieces_she_wouldnt_ev.html

Almost everything about this story is bad news for the left. The most recent article that Piven wrote came out January 10th right after the Gifford attack and the left’s accusation of the rights violent rhetoric. When Glenn Beck called her on it, the left who sees him as one of the worst offenders attacked him rather than disown Piven call for violence. They in effect doubled down and appear to be getting punished for it.


The 10 families who are costing us an astonishing £1m a year between them just in housing benefits

TEN FAMILIES IN ENGLAND ARE SHARING AN ASTONISHING £1MILLION A YEAR IN HOUSING BENEFITS, IT EMERGED LAST NIGHT.

The huge sums being lavished on the families by the taxpayer are allowing them to live in streets normally reserved for millionaires.

FIVE OF THE FAMILIES ARE RECEIVING THE MAXIMUM PAYMENT OF £2,000 PER WEEK.

It is the first proof that George Osborne was correct when he claimed some households were receiving sums in excess of £100,000 a year.

Last night, the Chancellor told the Daily Mail: ‘It is precisely this kind of shocking waste of public money under the previous Labour government that led to Britain’s debt problems.

‘We are bringing an end to this by putting a cap on the total amount of benefit that a family can receive so the days of £100,000 housing benefit claims are gone.’

THE COALITION TRIGGERED A FURIOUS REACTION LAST YEAR WHEN IT UNVEILED PLANS TO CUT THE TOP RATE OF HOUSING BENEFIT TO £400 A WEEK. Chris Bryant, the Labour justice spokesman, said the cuts would lead to ‘social cleansing’, with 200,000 people forced out of the capital.

THE MAYOR OF LONDON, BORIS JOHNSON, ALSO SPOKE OF A ‘KOSOVO-STYLE’ EXODUS.

Critics even questioned whether Mr Osborne could back his claim that some families were in receipt of six-figure annual sums......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351537/The-10-families-costing-1m-state-handouts.html#ixzz1CRJJsCx9


Well if you are progressive you can understand why the taxpayer should have to pay over $150,000 per year for someone on the dole to be able to stay in London.

What's really going on now

What Obama has learned from W

President Obama has “learned from experience” that some of the Bush administration’s decisions on terrorism issues were necessary, according to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

In his first interview since undergoing major heart surgery last July, Cheney said he thinks OBAMA HAS BEEN FORCED TO RETHINK SOME OF HIS NATIONAL SECURITY POSITIONS now that he sits in the Oval Office.

“I THINK HE’S LEARNED THAT WHAT WE DID WAS FAR MORE APPROPRIATE THAN HE EVER GAVE US CREDIT FOR WHILE HE WAS A CANDIDATE. So I think he’s learned from experience. And part of that experience was the Democrats having a terrible showing last election.”

Cheney also asserted that Obama has learned that the prison at Guantanamo Bay simply cannot be closed, despite the promises he made while campaigning for the White House.

“I THINK HE’S LEARNED THAT HE’S NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO,” Cheney said. “That it’s — if you didn’t have it, you’d have to create one like that. You’ve got to have some place to put terrorists who are combatants who are bound and determined to try to kill Americans

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/138341-cheney-obama-has-learned-from-experience-that-bush-moves-were-necessary


With all the talk about civility, this is one area where there is a lot of civility between Obama and the right. The left isn’t complaining too loudly, but the right actually supports the policies that Obama has kept.

House Dem calls for 'beefed up' security, special treatment for members by TSA

A top House Democrat said the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) should change how members of Congress are screened at airports.


“I really believe that that is the place where we feel the most ill at ease, is going through airports,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who serves as assistant minority leader in the House, said on "Fox News Sunday."

Clyburn called for the Transportation Security Administration, which administers airport security checkpoints, to interact “a little better” with the Capitol Hill Police.


“WE’VE HAD SOME INCIDENTS WHERE TSA AUTHORITIES THINK THAT CONGRESSPEOPLE SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE,” he said. “Well, the fact of the matter is, we are held to a higher standard in so many other areas, and I think we need to take a hard look at exactly how the TSA interact with members of Congress.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/136849-house-dem-calls-for-beefed-up-security-special-treatment-by-tsa


I can’t believe he actually said that. In fact, congressmen and women should be treated like everyone else because they need to experience what all of us experience. After all, they have the power to change the way we are treated.



Endangered Dems sound alarms about redistricting

While most Democratic lawmakers are staying quiet about the looming threat that congressional redistricting poses to their seats, a FEW ARE SOUNDING ALARM BELLS AND ASKING VOTERS FOR HELP KEEPING THEIR JOBS.

One Massachusetts lawmaker has already announced his intention to run again, and at least one New York representative is signaling a readiness to fight. But Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is making the most noise as he enters his eighth term by actively shopping around for a new district.

"I will not wait until a new Ohio map is produced to begin this crucial discussion of the consequences of congressional redistricting," Kucinich, who was first elected in 1996, wrote in an e-mail to his constituents last month, exhorting them to weigh in with suggestions and advice. "THE QUESTION WILL NOT BE: WHO IS MY OPPONENT? THE QUESTION WILL BE: WHERE IS MY DISTRICT? SERIOUSLY."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/01/endangered-dems-sound-alarms-about-redistricting#ixzz1BTnePatr


Kucinich is worried since Ohio will lose two congressional seats. Speculation is that three democrat districts including Kucinich's will become two and Kucinich will have to run against another Democrat.

Keith Olbermann: The most dense left wing pundit on the planet

Olbermann at the beginning of his show on January 17th.

Finally tonight as promised a special comment on the nine days since Tucson. That awful night I said this: “We need to put the guns down. JUST AS IMPORTANTLY WE NEED TO PUT THE GUN METAPHORS AWAY AND PERMANENTLY - left, right, middle, politicians, and citizens, sane and insane....

Olbermann at the end of his show on January 17th.

Nine days have passed and the willful blindness hasn't slowed down yet. BESIDES THE TOTAL ABSENCE OF EVEN THE GLIMMER OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY THAT SENATOR MCCAIN AND I HAVE EVINCED, we learned from all this that the RIGHT LIVES IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF VICTIMHOOD. We learned that the RIGHT DOES NOT EVEN RECOGNIZE THE IRONY OF ITS CLAIM of being unfairly blamed for the violence of others WHEN IT HAS SPENT THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS DOING EXACTLY THAT TO MUSLIMS, PARTICULARLY AMERICAN MUSLIMS. ....

AND ULTIMATELY WE LEARNED, ESPECIALLY FROM MRS. PALIN’S FOOLISHNESS, THIS TEMPLATE OF WHAT THE RIGHT WOULD DO IN AN ACTUAL OPEN AND SHUT SLAM DUNK CASE IN WHICH A PARTISAN OF THE RIGHT ATTEMPTED TO KILL ONE OF THE LEFT, THE RIGHT WOULD BLAME THE VICTIM, BLAME HIM OR HER FOR NOT HAVING BROUGHT ENOUGH SECURITY OR FOR NOT HAVING BROUGHT A GUN

.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/18/olbermann-if-conservative-tried-kill-liberal-right-would-blame-victim


The man is a walking contradiction. He seems to have a bigger ego than Bill O’Reilly and an intellect that is small enough to believe Nancy Pelosi when she said that "DEFICIT REDUCTION HAS BEEN A HIGH PRIORITY FOR US"

Ranking of US Presidents

Further evidence of the unwisdom of experts. A major survey of British academics has come up with a ranking of US presidents. In top place, predictably, is that old despot Franklin D Roosevelt.

What a perfect illustration of how received opinion tends to be wrong. Roosevelt is praised for having rescued the US from recession through the New Deal. IN FACT, THE NEW DEAL ALMOST CERTAINLY PROLONGED THE SLUMP. Its mass of regulations ENCOURAGED CARTELS AND CRONY CAPITALISM, BURDENED BUSINESSES AND DETERRED EMPLOYERS FROM TAKING ON WORKERS. In 2004, two economists at the UCLA, Harold L Cole and Lee A Ohanian, conducted a major study which concluded that the New Deal had in fact LENGTHENED THE RECESSION BY SEVEN YEARS…..


Anyway, here’s my list.

1. Ronald Reagan (here’s why)

2. Abraham Lincoln (here’s why)

3. Thomas Jefferson (here’s why)

4. Grover Cleveland

5. Calvin Coolidge

6. George Washington

7. John Adams

8. James Polk

9. James Madison

10. John Quincy Adams

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100072306/frankin-roosevelt-pah-here-are-ten-far-greater-us-presidents/


An interesting look at the US Presidents and in particular the fascist nature of Progressive politics in the first half of the 20th Century.



We’ve been lied to

By all accounts, an Internet documentary named "Zeitgeist" was the favorite movie of accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner. Created in 2007 by New York-based conspiracy merchant Peter Joseph, "Zeitgeist" is a two-hour mash-up of old and new conspiracy theories involving religion, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve system. Its message is simple: "We've been lied to. We've been lied to by every institution."

"He wanted to watch it all the time," a teenage friend of Loughner's told the Arizona Republic. "It was cool at first. But then it got weird. It was all he wanted to do."

"Zeitgeist" has three parts. The first tells us that Christianity is a myth, and that religion in general conditions us to believe other myths. The second tells us that the most powerful of those other myths is 9/11 -- we call it an act of terrorism when it fact it was an inside job perpetrated by the U.S. government. And the third part tells us the real powers behind 9/11 and the other myths are central bankers. They're making the myths for money, while we're just being duped.

"Christianity, along with all other related theologies, is an historical fraud," the narration begins. "Zeitgeist" posits a sort of Zodiac-based foundation for all faiths and gives us insights like, "Jesus' solar Piscean personification will end when the sun enters the Age of Aquarius."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/01/tucson-shooter-obsessed-bizarre-internet-movie#ixzz1BOULze5j

What I find ironic is that Loughner was influenced by an internet video that has as its basic premise is that we’ve been lied to. The left interpretation of what happened in Tucson was due to right wing hate radio lying to the people and influencing crazy people to kill.



Palin derangement syndrome

….Today THE CONVERSATION TURNED TO SARAH PALIN AND MY NEW ACQUAINTANCE BLURTED OUT: “OH I HATE HER.” Since she did not yet know my politics, and since we were in Los Angeles, it is clear that she expected to hear back what you usually hear back in this city: “Yeah, I hate her, too.” Instead, I ASKED HER WHY.

At this point I could have predicted her response because it’s the same response you get from Liberals no matter who on the Right you’re talking about, “BECAUSE SHE’S STUPID.” I replied: “BEING STUPID IS NO REASON TO HATE SOMEONE, BUT TELL ME, WHICH ONE OF HER POLICIES DO YOU DISAGREE WITH?” IT WASN’T HARD TO PREDICT HER RESPONSE: “ALL OF THEM!”

I continued to push. “Well, then, if it’s all of them, it should be easy for you to name one.” Her reply? “They’re too many to list.”

“So don’t list them, just give me one,” I said.

This went on for awhile until my new acquaintance FINALLY ADMITTED THAT SHE DIDN’T KNOW ANY OF MS. PALIN’S POLICIES. Before she ran off – Democrats always run off when asked to provide facts behind their hatred for Republicans – I looked her in the eye and said, “If you don’t know any of her policies perhaps you should look into them.” She promised she would. She won’t. IF THERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU CAN COUNT ON WITH DEMOCRATS, THEY ARE FILLED WITH HATE AND EMPTY OF FACTS…..

….This is the genesis of the notion that Palin is “stupid.” LIBERALS ARE CONVINCED THAT THERE’S SOMETHING “THE MATTER” WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE JOBS. This is what they mean by “What’s The Matter with Kansas,” Kansas being a place where people work – Hollywood, Cambridge Massachusetts, the TV studios in Manhattan are places were people talk. To the Liberal, anyone who has a job must be stupid, after all, not everyone is as good a talker as they are, but surely everyone can find one excuse or another to sit at home and collect welfare….

…If Democrats disagreed with Ms. Palin on the issues that would be one thing. BUT THEY DON’T MERELY “DISAGREE” WITH HER, THE HATE HER AND THEY HATE HER WITHOUT CARING ONE WHIT ABOUT WHERE SHE STANDS ON THE ISSUES. They hate her BECAUSE SHE IS LIVING PROOF THAT EVERYTHING ABOUT THE DEMOCRAT PARTY NARRATIVE IS A LIE and for this reason she cannot be allowed to be liked because if Democrats liked her, they might actually listen to her policies.

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/01/18/why-the-left-hates-sarah-palin/

A well thought out article. Liberals would learn a lot by reading this, but actually having an open mind and reading something like this is not in the character of most liberals.

One liberal stands up for Sarah Palin: Ed Koch

Why do I defend Palin in this case? I DON'T AGREE WITH HER POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: She is an arch conservative. I AM A LIBERAL WITH SANITY. I know that I am setting myself up for attack when I ask, why did Emile Zola defend Dreyfus? Palin is no Dreyfus and I am certainly no Zola. BUT ALL OF US HAVE AN OBLIGATION, PARTICULARLY THOSE IN POLITICS AND PUBLIC OFFICE, TO DENOUNCE, WHEN WE CAN, THE PERPETRATORS OF HORRENDOUS LIBELS and stand up for those falsely charged. We should denounce unfair, false and wicked charges not only when they are made against ourselves, our friends or our political party but against those with whom we disagree. If we are to truly change the poisonous political atmosphere that we all complain of, including those who create it, we should speak up for fairness when we can….

….I repeat my earlier comment that she "scares the hell out of me." Nevertheless, she is entitled to fair and respectful treatment. THE FOOLS IN POLITICS TODAY IN BOTH PARTIES ARE THOSE WHO THINK SHE IS DUMB. I've never met her, but I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT SHE IS HIGHLY INTELLIGENT but not knowledgeable in many areas and politically uninformed….

…. Many women understand what she has done for their cause. She will not be silenced nor will she leave the heavy lifts to the men in her Party. She will not be falsely charged, remain silent, and look for others - men - to defend her. SHE IS PLUCKY AND UNAFRAID.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/01/18/palin_defeated_unfair_critics_at_nyt__msnbc_108561.html

Well said. I do believe that Koch is A LIBERAL WITH SANITY, and there are so few of them left.



The Liberal Agenda Backfires

America’s debate about government’s proper size and purposes has proceeded against the backdrop of European disorders, such as rioting by French young people. Some of them, although they have not yet entered the labor market (unemployment is 25 percent among those under 25), are indignant that when they do, they will have to remain in it for two extra years because the retirement age has been raised to 62.

Such demonstrations of government-induced decadence—a.k.a. THE ENTITLEMENT MENTALITY—have provided counterpoints to the Great Unraveling. THAT HAS BEEN THE FATE OF AMERICAN LIBERALS’ AGENDA IN THE 24 MONTHS SINCE BARACK OBAMA’S INAUGURATION. That event was supposed to launch a long liberal epoch, something unknown since the one that ended in 1938, when the nation recoiled against Franklin Roosevelt’s overreaching, which included his attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court by enlarging it. Because the episode that ended in 1938 had lasted only six years, counting it as an “epoch” amounts to defining “epoch” down. Today, the long list of liberal disappointments is still growing:

ORGANIZED LABOR’S TOP PRIORITY—“CARD CHECK” legislation to make unionization of workplaces easier by abolishing workers’ rights to secret ballots—is dead….

The near invisibility and complete futility of last month’s Cancún conference ON CLIMATE CHANGE marked the exhaustion of a U.N. delusion…


Things that liberals thought would be gone by now include: GUANTÁNAMO, THE PATRIOT ACT, AND THE BUSH TAX RATES…

 

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/15/defining-epoch-down.html



26 States Join Suit Against Obama Health Law

SIX MORE STATES JOINED A LAWSUIT IN FLORIDA AGAINST PRESIDENT OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL on Tuesday, meaning more than half of the country is challenging the law

The announcement was made as House members in Washington, led by Republicans, debated whether to repeal the law.

The six additional states, all with Republican attorneys general, joined Florida and 19 others in the legal action, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

"IT SENDS A STRONG MESSAGE THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THE STATES CONSIDER THE HEALTH CARE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ARE WILLING TO FIGHT IT IN COURT," she said in a statement.

The states claim the health care law is unconstitutional and violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.

Joining the coalition in the Florida case were: IOWA, KANSAS, MAINE, OHIO, WISCONSIN AND WYOMING.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/18/states-join-obama-health-care-lawsuit-fla/


Elections do have consequences.