Newt, the Real Story

What’s new today

Our # 1 tells the story of the coming default of Greece.  It appears it will need to leave the Euro zone.  #2 tells of the charade that is going on with the so called Super Committee.  #3 relates at least one aspect of the OWS crowd.  Some of them are just there for the free food.  #4 shows how the former governor of New Jersey lead his company into bankruptcy.  #5 is a hit piece on Debbie Wasserman Shultz.  #6 is about Herman Cain but it isn’t about the sexual harassment question.  Rather it is about why the left seems so intent on discrediting him.  #7 counters the stories you’ve heard about Newt Gingrich leaving his wife when she was sick in the hospital.  #8 looks at the future and the “Arab Spring” may not end up being good for the world.

1.   Goodbye, Greece

How does one say “Goodnight, Irene” in Greek? Or “Show Me the Way to Go Home”? Or, if neither of those classic festivity-enders does the trick, “Hit the Road, Jack”? In any case, the message needs to be sent: THE PARTY IS OVER, AND IT IS TIME FOR GREECE TO BE SHOWN THE DOOR, IF THE GREEKS CANNOT FIND IT THEMSELVES, AND EXIT THE EUROZONE.

A Greek default appears to be imminent. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER IT IS TO BE AN ORDERLY DEFAULT OR A CHAOTIC ONE. At the moment, the odds are about even between those two possibilities.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has called a parliamentary vote of confidence and a national referendum on the European bailout conditions to be imposed on Greece. Those conditions include bondholders’ taking a 50 percent haircut on Greek liabilities while the Greek government promises to enforce austerity measures to reduce spending and return the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to a more manageable level (though getting Greek debt down to the level legally required by the Treaty of Maastricht is not in the works, a fact that should put the European project in perspective). ATHENS HAS MADE SUCH PROMISES BEFORE. GREEK UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINS HIGH, ITS ECONOMY A SHAMBLES. The recent recession has made things worse than they otherwise would have been.

The European Union being the European Union, it had been assumed that these conditions simply would be imposed by Brussels, without the Greek people’s having a say. THE VOTE THREATENS TO THROW A MONKEY WRENCH INTO EUROPEAN DESIGNS, AND MARKETS TANKED ON THE NEWS….

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/281926/goodbye-greece-editors

The EU is basically a fascist regime.  It is a big government, top down command structure with leftist views. 

2.   Who do you Trust?

Economic Policy: The MAINSTREAM MEDIA'S CARICATURE OF THE BIPARTISAN BUDGET "SUPERCOMMITTEE" IS THAT ITS DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS HAVE GONE OVERBOARD WITH CONCESSIONS. In fact, Republicans can smell the snake oil.

Whenever Washington sets up a "blue ribbon commission," hold on to your wallet. This time, however, the game may not work, because Republicans in Washington know what happens when they betray their anti-tax principles.

SUPERCOMMITTEE DEMOCRATS RECENTLY OFFERED TO TRIM UP TO $3 TRILLION OVER A DECADE FROM ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS LIKE MEDICARE IF THEIR GOP COUNTERPARTS WOULD AGREE TO $1.3 TRILLION IN TAX HIKES. That includes a rumored capital gains tax rate increase on some investors.

To enact major tax increases — especially on the capital that fuels private jobs — is near insanity at a time of 9%-plus unemployment and global financial distress.

THIS IS JUST ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY, MEDIA-DRIVEN GAME OF THREE-CARD-MONTE. Back in the 1980s, President Reagan agreed to over $9 billion in tax increases in exchange for the one ironclad budget-cutting mechanism ever enacted: the Gramm-Rudman "sequester."

BY 1990, WHEN IT BECAME CLEAR THAT THE AUTOMATIC BUDGET CUTS WOULD KICK IN, THE DEMOCRATIC MAJORITIES IN BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS SCRAPPED IT. So much for deals….

http://news.investors.com/Article/590190/201111011900/Say-No-To-Supertaxes.htm

This is the pattern with the Democrats.  You make a deal with tax increases immediately and spending cuts sometime in the future.  When the future finally shows up, you scrap the spending cuts.  Like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football, the Republicans have fallen for that over and over again.  However, this time they aren’t.    

3.      A Day in Zuccotti Park

AS REVOLUTIONS GO, THE REPUBLIC SEEMS FAIRLY SAFE.

Last week I found myself in lower Manhattan. With a bit of time to kill, I decided to satisfy my curiosity about the Occupy Wall Street protests (I hesitate to describe what I saw as a movement). So, I wandered over to Zuccotti Park and waded in. First, as an historian with a passion for medieval history, I have often wondered what odors would assail the senses if one was among a large group of individuals who had only a passing acquaintance with concepts of hygiene….

… I was not alone in my disappointment. Spotting a milling crowd in the center of the encampment I wandered closer. A MAN ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE MINI-MOB WAS YELLING AT THE CROWD. I ASSUMED HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO STIR THEM FROM THEIR LETHARGY, possibly preparing them to march on some millionaire’s house. Given the buzz of activity around him I was sure I had found the epicenter of the revolution. It turned out, however, to be the feeding station, where free eggs and what I think was bacon were being given away. Milling around waiting for the free food was the most motley collection of vagrants I have ever witnessed. And the man haranguing them from the sidelines was in actuality condemning them for their lack of commitment. Over and over he shouted, “YOU’RE ONLY HERE FOR THE FREE FOOD — NOT THE REVOLUTION,” ALTERNATING WITH, “THE REVOLUTION IS NOT ABOUT FREE FOOD.” I stood to one side for a while, and it was soon apparent to me that for the majority of those at Zuccotti Park, their revolutionary fervor was very much related to getting a free meal….

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/281881/day-zuccotti-park-jim-lacey

It must be disappointing when you are leading a revolution only to find your “army” camped out for the McNuggets. 

4.  Corzine goes down in flames

IN THE END, JON CORZINE WAS LITTLE MORE THAN AN UNSUPERVISED ROGUE TRADER.

HIS DISPROPORTIONATELY RECKLESS $6.3 BILLION BET ON THE CREDIT QUALITY OF A FEW EUROPEAN NATIONS BANKRUPTED MF GLOBAL HOLDINGS LTD. OVER THE COURSE OF THREE DRAMATIC DAYS after the short-term credit markets quickly lost confidence in him and his firm. His gamble will cost MF’s shareholders and creditors billions of dollars and, virtually overnight, put the careers of MF’s almost 3,000 employees in jeopardy.

MF GLOBAL NOW HAS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING ONE OF THE LARGEST BANKRUPTCIES IN AMERICAN CORPORATE HISTORY, with almost $40 billion in liabilities. There is also the matter of the hundreds of millions of dollars of customers’ money that regulators have reported to be missing from the firm’s coffers.

In any case, it’s incredible how little Corzine and his associates learned from the collapses of Bear Stearns Cos., Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and American International Group Inc. three years ago. And IT NOW SEEMS VERY HARD TO BELIEVE THAT JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO CORZINE WAS CONSIDERED THE FRONT-RUNNER TO BE THE NEXT U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY. …

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/others-pay-price-for-corzine-s-risky-revenge-william-d-cohan.html

Actually, bankrupting MF Global Holdings seems to fit right in with the Obama Administration’s “spend it even if you don’t have it” philosophy.  And he was betting that the EU would bail out the economies of the EU nations in trouble. 

5.  Here’s A Hit Piece on Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/11/dnc-chair-debbie-wasserman-schultz.html

This is a bit stronger than I would go, but I do find Ms.Schultz to be basically the equivalent of a bumper sticker when it comes to complexity.  She gets a lot more attention than she should for her vacuous speeches and op ed pieces.  Of course that is pretty much what the Democratic party has become. 

6.  Herman Cain and the Left

Just as Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain predicted, he has become the most recent victim of the race-baiting left's high-tech lynching of prominent, conservative black men. Days before the Cain sexual harassment smear emerged from the sewers of liberal trash journalism, MSNBC'S MARTIN BASHIR HOSTED CONTRIBUTOR KAREN FINNEY WHO PROCLAIMED THAT CONSERVATIVES ONLY LIKED CAIN BECAUSE, "THEY THINK HE'S A BLACK MAN WHO KNOWS HIS PLACE." As Bashir actually thanked her on-air for making such an offensive and ignorant remark (far from being a submissive position, conservatives are supporting Cain in his effort to ascend to the highest office in the land), FINNEY GRANTED, "I KNOW THAT'S HARSH, BUT THAT'S HOW IT SURE SEEMS TO ME."

That's an interesting moment of candor since it now sure seems to any American paying attention that FINNEY AND HER FELLOW LIBERALS DISLIKE CAIN BECAUSE THEY THINK HE'S A BLACK MAN WHO DOESN'T KNOW HIS PLACE. Diversity of thought amongst minorities -- particularly blacks -- is forbidden in the church of liberalism. Having constructed their entire political kingdom on the back of the dollars-for-votes dependency model, SELF-MADE BLACK MEN WHO STRAY FROM THE LIBERAL PLANTATION AND THREATEN TO CARRY THE EMPOWERING MESSAGE OF PERSONAL (NOT GOVERNMENT) RELIANCE TO THRONGS OF MINORITIES CURRENTLY UNDER THE LEFT'S SPELL OF ENTITLEMENT, MUST BE DEALT WITH SEVERELY. Destroying them professionally and personally is a small price to pay to keep the plantation thriving.


http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/four_lily_white_liberals_smear_a_black_man.html#ixzz1cXnMrz33

I think the author here has captured the essence of what is going on.  It appears the left it ready to destroy any black person who doesn’t know their place and what is frightening is how much they seem to enjoy doing it.  Real racism has always been a fundamental part of the Democratic Party. 

7.   Jackie Gingrich Cushman Sets the Record Straight

… So, to correct the record, here is what happened: MY MOTHER, JACKIE BATTLEY GINGRICH, IS VERY MUCH ALIVE, AND OFTEN SPENDS TIME WITH MY FAMILY. I am lucky to have such a "Miracle Mom," as I titled her in a column this week.

AS FOR MY PARENTS' DIVORCE, I CAN REMEMBER I WAS 13 YEARS OLD, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. MY PARENTS TOLD MY SISTER AND ME THAT THEY WERE GETTING A DIVORCE AS OUR FAMILY OF FOUR SAT AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE OF OUR RANCH HOME.

Soon afterward, my mom, sister and I got into our light-blue Chevrolet Impala and drove back to Carrollton.

LATER THAT SUMMER, MOM WENT TO EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN ATLANTA FOR SURGERY TO REMOVE A TUMOR. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her.

It is THIS VISIT THAT HAS TURNED INTO THE INFAMOUS HOSPITAL VISIT ABOUT WHICH MANY UNTRUTHS HAVE BEEN TOLD. I won't repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths. But here's what happened:

MY MOTHER AND FATHER WERE ALREADY IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING A DIVORCE, which she requested.

Dad took my sister and me to the hospital to see our mother.

She had undergone surgery the day before to remove a tumor.

THE TUMOR WAS BENIGN.

As with many divorces, it was hard and painful for all involved, but life continued…

http://www.creators.com/conservative/jackie-gingrich-cushman/setting-the-record-straight.html

This is significant.  The fact that it is coming out now, makes me think Newt sees the hope of getting the nomination.  Just another story that has been politicized to try to discredit an political opponent.

8.  Will the Arab Spring Allow Democracy to Flourish?

…The Magna Carta served as inspiration for other instruments of personal liberty, such as habeas corpus and bills of rights, and five centuries later served as inspiration for the U.S. Constitution. THE IDEAS OF LIBERTY AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT WERE CULTIVATED BY GREAT BRITISH PHILOSOPHERS — SUCH AS FRANCIS BACON, JOHN LOCKE, THOMAS HOBBES AND DAVID HUME — AND ON THE CONTINENT BY THE LIKES OF BARON DE MONTESQUIEU, VOLTAIRE AND JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU. Through the works of Western philosophers and the politicians influenced by them, including the founders of our nation, THE IDEA EMERGED THAT POLITICAL LEADERS COULDN’T RUN ROUGHSHOD OVER THE COMMON MAN.

The key point to recognize is that Western transition from barbarism to civility didn’t take place overnight; IT TOOK CENTURIES. More importantly, for the most part Western civility and its institutions were not transplanted; they emerged from within Western civilization. Where they were successfully transplanted, it was done through Western colonialism, such as in the cases of the U.S., Canada and Australia.

In Libya and most other countries IN THE ARAB WORLD, WHAT WE KNOW AS PERSONAL LIBERTY IS NONEXISTENT. According to Freedom House’s 2011 “Freedom in the World” survey, as well as Amnesty International’s annual report for 2011, most North African and Middle Eastern countries are ranked either “repressive” or “not free.” Moreover, I believe that there’s little prospect for Arabs ever being free and that WESTERN ENCOURAGEMENT AND HOPES FOR DEMOCRACY ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE AND DISAPPOINTMENT. Most nations in the Middle East do not share the philosophical foundations of the West. It’s not likely liberty-oriented values will ever emerge in cultures that have disdain for the rule of law and private property rights and that sanction barbaric practices such as the stoning of women for adultery, the severing of hands or beheading as a form of punishment, and imprisonment for criticizing or speaking ill of the government…

http://rightwingnews.com/column-2/democracy-is-impossible/

What has happened in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya is not hopeful.  Most likely we will see a regression for women rights and status and renewed hostility toward Israel.  Conceivably the Arab Spring could end in a Nuclear Winter. 

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.