The Democrats who Cried "Terrorist"

Doorbell: A Viral Video

Here’s a video everyone should watch.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/07/doorbell.php


Florida Poll: Obama and Romney tied

President Barack Obama is losing support among Florida voters, especially among independents, a poll released Thursday shows.

Fifty percent of voters surveyed randomly by landline telephone between July 27-Aug. 2 by Quinnipiac (Conn.) University said Obama would not deserve a second term in the election were held today. However, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the only announced Republican candidate with enough support in the poll to give the president a strong challenge. Both men were favored by 44 percent of those questioned.

In a matchup against Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is expected to get into the race for the GOP presidential nomination, Obama was favored 44 percent to 39 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-debt-ceiling-fight-hurts-obama-florida-100410204.html

Obama has big problems. That 44% was all he got against Romney, but it also was all he could garner against Rick Perry who so far is not in the race.

Hypocrisy on the left

…I must say that after watching the recent debt ceiling debate, it is clear that THE LIBERAL LEFT HAS BECOME THE GOLD STANDARD FOR VIRTUOUS DIALOGUE.

How else can you characterize the eloquent description Bloomberg's left-wing writer MARGARET CARLSON GAVE OF CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS, WHOM SHE GROWLED HAD, "STRAPPED EXPLOSIVES TO THE CAPITOL?" Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer challenged her by asking, "I thought that post-Tucson we weren't supposed to accuse our political opponents of being terrorists?" Carlson seemed bewildered by his query. After all, she had merely used the imagery of terrorism to describe her opponents...not actually called them terrorists.
Not that there would be anything wrong with that, of course. JUST ASK MSNBC'S CHRIS MATTHEWS, who publicly declared his belief that, "THE GOP HAS BECOME THE WAHHABIS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT." And moments after that astoundingly civil indictment of his political opposition, Matthews listened as his equally well-mannered liberal guest, JOAN WALSH OF SALON, ACCUSED TEA PARTIERS OF "HOSTAGE-TAKING" in the debt talks.

Now, you might think that Matthews, a man who once trashed conservatives for "ugly sounding talk" that demeans their opponents as "not just disagreeable, but evil," would chastise his guest for committing the same offense. Not quite. Instead he responded by affirming, "I agree. It's terrorism." And let's not forget, this would be the same Chris Matthews who soured the universally triumphant and unifying return of Congresswoman Giffords to the floor of the House JUST DAYS AGO WITH A PARTISAN CONDEMNATION OF THE "VIOLENT LEVEL OF THE RIGHT-WING." Physician, heal thyself!

But it's not just Matthews, Walsh and Carlson who have seemingly mastered the left-wing art of tolerantly tempestuous talk. Newsweek editor-in-chief TINA BROWN PUBLICLY STATED HER BELIEF THAT CONGRESSIONAL CONSERVATIVES ARE, "THE SUICIDE BOMBERS IN ALL OF THIS." And the liberal pen of distinguished New York Times columnist TOM FRIEDMAN REFERRED TO CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS AS THE, "HEZBOLLAH FACTION" OF THE PARTY, HELL BENT ON A "SUICIDE MISSION."

But perhaps the most telling examples of just how seriously committed the Democrat left is to sweetening the state of our political discourse come from their elected leaders. While Democrat Senator BOB MENENDEZ deserves congratulation for his delicate and respectful denunciation of the "TEA PARTY TYRANTS," the real prize for diplomatic dialogue goes to Democrat Representative MIKE DOYLE. According to Politico, this liberal healer complained in a two hour meeting with Vice President Joe Biden that, "WE HAVE NEGOTIATED WITH TERRORISTS. THIS SMALL GROUP OF TERRORISTS HAVE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO SPEND ANY MONEY."…

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/the_civil_way_to_call_someone_a_terrorist.html

What's truly unbelieveable is that the left is so tone deaf, so out of touch with reality that they feel calling the TEA Party names will resonate with anyone other than extreme leftists. 

The One-Termer We've Been Waiting For

In February of 2009, President Obama went on the Today Show to discuss a variety of issues, including his plan to turn the economy around. When asked about the consequences of failure for his presidency, he replied with unusual frankness: "I WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.… IF I DON'T HAVE THIS DONE IN THREE YEARS, THEN THERE'S GOING TO BE A ONE-TERM PROPOSITION." The January 2009 unemployment rate had just been released a few days before that interview was broadcast, and it stood at 7.6 percent. Now, more than two and a half years later, the rate stands at 9.2 percent. Moreover, unemployment has only dipped below 9 percent in two of the past 26 months. This is the longest run of such rates since the Great Depression. In other words, Obama's three years are nearly up and he most emphatically doesn't "have this done."

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/08/04/the-one-termer-weve-been-waiti

I believe Obama was more prophetic than he imagined at the time. One and done.

When Obama Hands You Lemons…

…the state enforcers won’t let you make lemonade.

Iain Murray wrote yesterday about THE SPATE OF LEMONADE-STAND CRACKDOWNS BY THIS ONCE GREAT REPUBLIC’S DEPRAVED REGULATORY CLASS. This is not a small thing. A LAND IN WHICH A CHILD REQUIRES HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS OF PERMITS TO SELL HOMEMADE LEMONADE IN HIS FRONT YARD IS, IN A PROFOUND SENSE, NO LONGER FREE: It is exactly the kind of micro-regulatory tyranny of which Tocqueville warned two centuries ago.

Guest-hosting for Rush a week or two back, I suggested en passant that we needed a children’s version of the Tea Party – a Lemonade Party. I see now that a concerned citizen is organizing a Lemonade Freedom Day for August 20th.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/273642/when-obama-hands-you-lemons-mark-steyn


Yesterday I ran a story about how the Democrats are failing because people don’t trust government. It’s things like this that makes people shake their heads in disgust. It’s things like this that makes people laugh when liberals talk about a single payer system. It’s things like this that helps to give rise to the TEA Party.

Democrat Distances Himself from Obama

THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE SEEKING TO FILL THE CONGRESSIONAL SEAT VACATED BY RANDY EX-REP ANTHONY WEINER DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA TODAY — by refusing to say whether he backed the president’s re-election.
“I’m running myself right now. On Sept. 14, I’ll be happy to address the president’s election,” State Assemblyman David Weprin said following a press conference at Queens Borough Hall, where he was endorsed by a bevy of female elected leaders.

The special election to replace Weiner — who resigned in disgrace following a sexting scandal — will be held on Sept. 13.

“DON’T READ ANYTHING INTO IT,” Weprin insisted of his refusal to give fellow Democrat Obama a thumbs up.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/weprin_distances_himself_from_obama_rguWfvuDY9YYSCCDyQrr0M#ixzz1U9LwFIvQ

Of course we shouldn’t read anything into it. It pretty much tells you all you need to know.

Wisconsin schools buck union to cut health costs

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker performs a ceremonial bill signing of the new budget law outside his office at the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 11, 2011 in Madison. THE NEW LAW HELPED THE HARTLAND-LAKESIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT SAVE MONEY ON HEALTH CARE COSTS BY SWITCHING PROVIDERS.

The Hartland-Lakeside School District, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee in tiny Hartland, Wis., had a problem in its collective bargaining contract with the local teachers union.

The contract required the school district to purchase health insurance from a company called WEA Trust. THE CREATION OF WISCONSIN'S LARGEST TEACHERS UNION -- "WEA" STANDS FOR WISCONSIN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION -- WEA Trust made money when union officials used collective bargaining agreements to steer profitable business its way.

The problem for Hartland-Lakeside was that WEA TRUST WAS CHARGING SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER RATES THAN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT COULD FIND ON THE OPEN MARKET. School officials knew that because they got a better deal from United HealthCare for coverage of nonunion employees. On more than one occasion, Superintendent Glenn Schilling asked WEA Trust why the rates were so high. "I could never get a definitive answer on that," says Schilling…

… That's where Wisconsin's new budget law came in. The law, bitterly opposed by organized labor in the state and across the nation, limits the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. And it just happens that the Hartland-Lakeside teachers' collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30. So now, FREED FROM THE EXPENSIVE WEA TRUST DEAL, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS CHANGED INSURERS.

"IT'S GOING TO SAVE US ABOUT $690,000 IN 2011-2012," says Schilling. Insurance costs that had been about $2.5 million a year will now be around $1.8 million. What union leaders said would be a catastrophe will in fact be a boon to teachers and students….
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/07/wisconsin-schools-buck-union-cut-health-costs#ixzz1U5qb4yMH

Let’s see. This money wasn’t going to the teachers or the students. It sound like crony featherbedding to me.


Global Warming and the Skeptical Public

The debate over global warming has intensified in recent weeks after a new NASA study was interpreted by skeptics to reveal that global warming is not man-made. While a majority of Americans nationwide continue to acknowledge significant disagreement about global warming in the scientific community, MOST GO EVEN FURTHER TO SAY SOME SCIENTISTS FALSIFY DATA TO SUPPORT THEIR OWN BELIEFS.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone SURVEY OF AMERICAN ADULTS SHOWS THAT 69% SAY IT’S AT LEAST SOMEWHAT LIKELY THAT SOME SCIENTISTS HAVE FALSIFIED RESEARCH data in order to support their own theories and beliefs, including 40% WHO SAY THIS IS VERY LIKELY. TWENTY-TWO PERCENT (22%) DON’T THINK IT’S LIKELY SOME SCIENTISTS HAVE FALSIFIED GLOBAL WARMING DATA, INCLUDING JUST SIX PERCENT (6%) SAY IT’S NOT AT ALL LIKELY. Another 10% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here .)
The number of adults who say it’s likely scientists have falsified data is up 10 points from December 2009 .

FIFTY-SEVEN PERCENT (57%) BELIEVE THERE IS SIGNIFICANT DISAGREEMENT WITHIN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY ON GLOBAL WARMING, UP FIVE POINTS FROM LATE 2009. One in four (25%) believes scientists agree on global warming. Another 18% aren’t sure.

Republicans and adults not affiliated with either major political party feel stronger than Democrats THAT SOME SCIENTISTS HAVE FALSIFIED DATA TO SUPPORT THEIR GLOBAL WARMING THEORIES, BUT 51% OF DEMOCRATS ALSO AGREE….

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/environment_energy/69_say_it_s_likely_scientists_have_falsified_global_warming_research


It appears while Al Gore and other warmists keep telling us the science is settled and the consensus is there, a real consensus has been found in the general public. They don’t trust what the scientists are telling us and feel they fudge their numbers.

Thursday: Obama predictions and solutions

Politics
Wisconsin’s new law takes effect

THE WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CLEARED THE WAY TUESDAY FOR THE STATE'S CONTENTIOUS COLLECTIVE-BARGAINING LAW TO TAKE EFFECT, RULING 4-3 THAT A LOWER-COURT JUDGE WHO PUT THE MEASURE ON HOLD IMPROPERLY INTERFERED WITH THE LEGISLATURE.

The decision limits Wisconsin's public employees to bargaining over their wages. Raises will be limited to the inflation rate unless voters approve larger increases. The law also requires public employees to contribute 5.8% of their salaries to their pensions and pay at least 12.6% of their health-care premiums….

….Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, sued to block the law from taking effect, arguing the state open-meetings law was violated when the Republican leaders moved the bill through committee without giving a 24-hour public notice. A circuit-court judge sided with Mr. Ozanne, issuing a permanent injunction May 27 barring the law from taking effect.
Tuesday's opinion, signed by three of the Supreme Court's seven justices, said the CIRCUIT-COURT JUDGE, MARYANN SUMI, EXCEEDED HER AUTHORITY. The justices wrote, "One of the courts that we are charged with supervising has usurped the legislative power which the Wisconsin Constitution grants exclusively to the legislature."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303848104576386122936205978.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The battle will now move to the recall effort by the Democrats. 

ATMs And Automation

BARACK OBAMA SAYS THAT THE BAD ECONOMY ISN’T HIS FAULT BECAUSE OF THINGS LIKE ATM MACHINES:

“There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don’t go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you’re using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate.”

Now I don’t think his idea is without merit. The technological revolutions of the last few decades and the challenges of globalization have changed the nature of our economy in significant ways. But I’m not sure how you can possibly blame ATMs. Aside from the myriad ways in which ATMS BOOST EFFICIENCY, LIQUIDITY, CONSUMER SPENDING (AND DON’T FORGET ALL OF THE JOBS CREATED FOR TECHNICIANS AND MANUFACTURERS OF ATM MACHINES), I’m not sure you can even blame a drop in bank teller jobs on bank machines. This is just a quick take, but just think about it for two seconds. The number of bank branches has soared in recent years….

… At the dawn of the self-service banking age in 1985, for example, the United States had 60,000 automated teller machines and 485,000 bank tellers. In 2002, the United States had 352,000 ATMs – and 527,000 bank tellers.

Guess who was president in 2002.

MEANWHILE, OBAMA DOES WANT TO MAKE SOME STRUCTURAL CHANGES TO THE ECONOMY THAT WILL DESTROY VERY GOOD PAYING JOBS IN THE ENERGY SECTOR. If his clean energy-win-the-future-regulate-carbon proposals were implemented, it would throw vast numbers of people out of work in the coal, oil and gas industries.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269632/atms-and-automation-jonah-goldberg

At one time, telephone operators would make all calls for people even local calls. It has been estimated that with the call volume made today, everyone in the United States would have to be a telephone operator to handle the traffic.

Obama’s solution to Unemployment

THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OBAMA’S ECONOMIC PROGRAM TO UNDERSTAND WHY JOBLESSNESS REMAINS SO PERSISTENT:

The number one recommendation that the White House economic team and his jobs council – a council made up of the two top executives at GE and American Express- can come up with to jump start our economy IS SPENDING $2 BILLION ON REMEDIAL TRAINING FOR OUR HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES.

It’s true. This is even worse than the energy plan that Obama proposed that had no new ideas.
The training is necessary, they say, SO THOSE GRADUATES CAN FILL THE MILLIONS OF JOBS AVAILABLE TODAY IN MANUFACTURING. Manufacturing what? Burgers and fries?
For the last week President Obama and his COUNCIL ON JOBS AND COMPETITIVENESS- a council that’s supposed to be jump starting hiring- have been going around the country CLAIMING THAT THERE ARE 2 MILLION MANUFACTURING JOBS AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW THAT ARE GOING UNFILLED BECAUSE THE U.S. DOESN’T HAVE THE SKILLED WORKFORCE TO FILL THOSE JOBS.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2011/06/16/the_obama_job_lies_pile_up/page/full/

Sometimes I’m convinced that liberal are delusional.


Liberal compassion?

….Start with my home state of Indiana, whose Republican legislature and governor enacted a LAW TO PROHIBIT TAXPAYER DOLLARS FROM FLOWING INTO THE HANDS OF ANY HEALTH CLINIC THAT PERFORMS ABORTIONS. Through entirely predictable demagoguery, the bleeding hearts of the left pounced on this action as an irresponsible assault on legitimate health services like cancer screenings and mammograms. WHERE ELSE WILL POOR FAMILIES TURN FOR THEIR HEALTHCARE, they asked, as they painted the picture of the impoverished dying in the streets due to an unprovoked conservative attack on choice.

Of course, beyond the reckless sensationalism, the fact remains that those tax dollars are still funding responsible family clinics that provide those essential services. They are only being denied to the ones who use the family planning cloak to shroud the evil butchery of abortion that appears at the top of their menu.

Nevertheless, with the stage set, BARACK OBAMA WADED INTO THE FRAY WITH THE TRADEMARK POLITICAL THUGGERY HE ONCE USED TO BROW-BEAT ARIZONANS OVER THEIR IMMIGRATION POLICY. This time, showing the extent to which he is beholden to the abortion lobby, OBAMA HAS THREATENED TO DENY INDIANA ITS FEDERAL MEDICAID DOLLARS IF HOOSIERS DON'T CAPITULATE TO HIS DEMANDS AND RESTORE PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S BLOOD MONEY.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/the_sorry_state_of_liberal_compassion.html

So let me see if I have this correct. Republicans pass a law withholding funds from Planned Parenthood. Liberals see this as depriving some poor people of healthcare. So their solution is to withhold healthcare from all poor people in that state. And how does this make any sense at all????

Why Weiner will resign: he has become a punch line

Thought you might enjoy this, a list of the funniest Weiner headlines. 
http://superbooyah.com/index.php/Home/Galleries/Funny/The-50-Funniest-Anthony-Weiner-Scandal-Headlines...-So-Far.html


Flashback, Obama 2009: I'll Be a One-Term President If I Don't Fix This Economy In Three Years

Much like the Constitution, Obama's accounting of himself is a living, breathing document, subject to the influence of changing political realities and social mores, and, of course, European law.

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/317629.php

The money part comes at 4:20 in the clip. I think this may be one time he’ll be proven correct.

Tuesday: From energy to vegans

Politics

South Texas: Energy and jobs

….The economic transformation is the result of a new drilling method, hydraulic fracturing, combined with horizontal drilling, that allows companies to extract oil and gas from impermeable layers of shale. Major industry players have joined the Eagle Ford project, including Anadarko, Range Resources and Shell. Chesapeake Energy of Oklahoma City signed a multi-billion dollar deal with the Chinese state-owned oil company to raise cash to drill in the shale.

No solid estimate of likely production has been made, but THE AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE SAID THE FIELD SHOULD YIELD BILLIONS OF BARRELS OF OIL. THE PROJECT ALREADY SUPPORTS 12,600 FULLTIME JOBS, AND BY 2020 COULD ACCOUNT FOR $11.6 BILLION AND NEARLY 68,000 JOBS IN A 24-COUNTY AREA, according to study in February by the University of Texas' Center for Community and Business Research….

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110612/ap_on_re_us/us_gas_drilling_boom_towns

Wealth comes to the have-nots. If the left had their way, these people would still be struggling.

Energy and the Economy

Texas has always been known for its oil, but the black stuff has been overshadowed recently by the ‘game-changing’ shale gas boom in the state and across the rest of the country. The Barnett, Woodford, Haynesville, and Eagle Ford shales all contain significant and commercially viable deposits of gas, which has attracted a number of drillers to these formations, looking for a piece of the action. All this attention has, however, also turned up a surprising amount of oil in a place that has been drilling steadily for over one hundred years. ANALYSTS NOW BELIEVE THESE NEW DISCOVERIES IN TEXAS AND OTHER STATES COULD SIGNAL THE BEGINNINGS OF ANOTHER OIL BOOM IN THE UNITED STATES, AND IMPORTANTLY, HELP WEAN THE ECONOMY OFF OF IMPORTED FOREIGN OIL.

http://resourceinvestingnews.com/17554-shale-oil-to-set-off-us-oil-boom.html

The biggest problem standing in our way is not technology but politics. The left has been warning us about peak oil and the need for renewable energy (where there are all kind of technological problems). This doesn’t fit their world view.


Meanwhile “Unexpectedly” nothing seems to be working out

….I also believe that journalists and members of the Obama Administration are not the only people who are surprised. LOTS OF “OBAMA FAITHFUL,” WHO WERE QUICK TO EMBRACE HIS ECONOMIC RHETORIC AS THE 2008 CRISIS UNFOLDED, ARE NOW GENUINELY SHOCKED THAT THINGS HAVEN’T WORKED OUT.

President Obama, of course, ran a successful campaign by portraying himself as the “un-George W. Bush” candidate. While painting his actual opponent John McCain as a “carbon copy” of Bush back in 2008, Mr. Obama was able to rhetorically juxtapose his policies on just about everything – economic matters included – with President Bush’s policies, and A MAJORITY OF VOTERS WENT WITH THE GUY WHO WAS OFFERING “CHANGE.”

THE FLAWED ASSUMPTION that many of our fellow Americans made – an assumption that many are still making today – is that PRESIDENT OBAMA’S POLICIES MUST BE GOOD, BECAUSE THEY’RE DIFFERENT FROM THOSE OF HIS PREDECESSOR. This assumption not only entails a lack of knowledge of both Presidents, but it also entails some horribly wrong-headed assumptions about economics, itself.

Stop and ask some of the Obama die-hard’s. You’ll find many of them still juxtaposing Bush with Obama, and their conclusion is simple: “Obama good, Bush bad.” And from this they often try to derive thoughts on economic policy, which frequently end up looking something like “government good, business bad.”

THINK ABOUT IT. IT’S A FAIRLY COMMON BELIEF THAT “UNDER BUSH THE ECONOMY WAS UN-REGULATED, AND THAT’S HOW OUT-OF-CONTROL BUSINESS PEOPLE DROVE US OVER THE CLIFF. But now that it’s regulated, things can only get better.” President Obama still reiterates this theme, in a variety of different ways.

OF COURSE, THE IDEA THAT OUR ECONOMY IS, OR WAS “UN-REGULATED,” IS UTTER NONSENSE….

http://townhall.com/columnists/austinhill/2011/06/12/the_government_is_always_good_economy/page/full/

This piece is a good one to dissect the left’s rhetoric about the problem being the lack of regulations. In fact, the only area where a lack of regulations was a prime cause of the economic disaster was Fannie and Freddie.

Russ Feingold: "This game's not over until we win."

He was trying to stir up the crowd in Walkerville today.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/russ-feingold-games-not-over-until-i.html

Isn’t this the definition of a political gaff, that is, a politician says something that is true?


Everyone just might have underestimated Mitt Romney.

Serious competitors for the Republican presidential nomination have dropped out of the running. ROMNEY HAS FLEXED HIS FINANCIAL MUSCLE WITH A $10 MILLION-PLUS ONE-DAY FUNDRAISING HAUL. Most of all, his narrow, economy-focused message appears to be resonating amid growing alarm about the unemployment rate – which rose above 9 percent the day after Romney declared his campaign.

And in one poll, an ABC News/Washington Post survey released last week, Romney actually led President Barack Obama by 3 percentage points. That’s the best general election showing any Republican has had in a long time.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56793.html#ixzz1PA4SOwqc

As Ann Coulter said when asked if she would support Romney if he got the Republican nomination, “I would vote for Charlie Sheen against Barack Obama.” Stand by… we are in for a lot of “unexpected” polls, news, etc. where Obama will be way behind the Republican.

Weiner politics shows the Weiner isn’t a winner for Democrats

"Anthony Weiner needs to resign so that he can focus on his family, focus on his own well-being," Wasserman-Schultz said on Sunday’s "Meet the Press."

AT A BASIC LEVEL, THE DRIVE TO PUSH WEINER OUT IS SMART POLITICS FOR DEMOCRATS. After all, before his troubles began to come to light Memorial Day weekend, they were on something of a roll. Opposition to the Medicare plan championed by Republicans had unified their caucus, provided a winning issue in a special election in upstate New York, and was looking more and more like a ticket to gains in next year’s House elections. BUT NO IS TALKING MUCH ABOUT PAUL RYAN AND MEDICARE NOW. IF WEINER WOULD JUST GO AWAY, MAYBE THEY COULD GET BACK TO THEIR "ALL MEDICARE, ALL THE TIME" STRATEGY.

But the outrage being expressed is also highly selective. This becomes clear when you compare Weiner’s problems to those that his New York colleague, Charlie Rangel, recently faced….

http://www.salon.com/news/anthony_weiner_dny/index.html?
story=/politics/war_room/2011/06/13/weiner_selective_outrage
Salon seems to think this is odd that politicians would be political.


Paul Krugman: The Prophet of Socialism

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR’S EYES DARTED BACK AND FORTH IN FEAR, AND HER MOUTH TWISTED IN DISGUST, BECAUSE SHE COULD SEE WHERE THIS WAS GOING. A guest on her Sunday-morning political talk show, ABC’s This Week, was getting dangerously overexcited, and something very regrettable was about to happen….

…..Cut to Amanpour’s horrified face. Cut back to the guest. Then it happened.
The guest said, “SOME YEARS DOWN THE PIKE, WE’RE GOING TO GET THE REAL SOLUTION, WHICH IS GOING TO BE A COMBINATION OF DEATH PANELS AND SALES TAXES.”

It was all the more horrifying because the guest was not a conservative, not an opponent of Obamacare. This guest was an avid liberal, A PARTISAN DEMOCRAT, AND AN ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORTER OF GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE. HE WAS ENDORSING DEATH PANELS, NOT WARNING ABOUT THEM. He was saying death panels are a good thing. And it was even more horrifying because of who this guest was. This was no fringe lefty wearing a tinfoil hat, churning out underground newspapers in his parents’ basement. This was an economics professor at Princeton, one of the country’s most prestigious universities. This was the winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, the highest honor the profession can bestow. This was a columnist for the New York Times, the most influential newspaper in the world. THIS WAS PAUL KRUGMAN, LIVE, ON NATIONAL TELEVISION, ENDORSING GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER LIFE AND DEATH. AND WHILE WE’RE AT IT, LET’S RAISE TAXES ON THOSE WHO ARE PERMITTED TO LIVE.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/269428/paul-krugman-prophet-socialism-donald-luskin

Sarah Palin had it right. Paul Revere did warn the British about the colonials and Paul Krugman warned us that Sarah Palin was correct about “Death Panels.”

Over the Weekend on Talk Shows

Miss the political talk shows because the weather was so nice. You can read what happened here.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/best-political-quotes-of-the-weekend-13/



Climate


Where’s the Heat?

GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS HAVE RISEN EVEN FASTER DURING THE PAST DECADE THAN PREDICTED BY THE UNITED NATIONS INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES. According to alarmist groups, THIS PROVES GLOBAL WARMING IS MUCH WORSE THAN PREVIOUSLY FEARED. The increase in emissions “should shock even the most jaded negotiators” at international climate talks currently taking place in Bonn, Germany, the UK Guardian reports. But there’s only one problem with this storyline; GLOBAL TEMPERATURES HAVE NOT INCREASED AT ALL DURING THE PAST DECADE.

The evidence is powerful, straightforward, and damning. NASA satellite instruments precisely measuring global temperatures SHOW ABSOLUTELY NO WARMING DURING THE PAST THE PAST 10 YEARS. This is the case for the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, including the United States. This is the case for the Arctic, where the signs of human-caused global warming are supposed to be first and most powerfully felt. This is the case for global sea surface temperatures, which alarmists claim should be sucking up much of the predicted human-induced warming. THIS IS THE CASE FOR THE PLANET AS A WHOLE.

IF ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS ARE THE SOLE OR PRIMARY DRIVER OF GLOBAL TEMPERATURES, THEN WHERE IS ALL THE GLOBAL WARMING? We’re talking 10 years of higher-than-expected increases in greenhouse gases, yet 10 years of absolutely no warming. That’s 10 years of nada, nunca, nein, zero, and zilch.

http://blogs.forbes.com/jamestaylor/2011/06/08/ten-years-and-counting-wheres-the-global-warming/

This is a big problem for the alarmists. Global Warming was their ticket to control, but in the end they couldn’t control what nature did.

Health

I started eating meat again...

YES, THIS FROM THE GUY WHO ONCE SAID THAT MEAT EATERS ARE BAD PEOPLE.

I guess that must make me a bad person.

Well, unlike many other carnivores, I'm at least cognizant of the fact that I'm exploiting animals for my own well-being. While I have made the move to a diet that contains meat, I am not completely at peace with it. I am fully aware and respectful of the fact that the meat on my plate comes at at price, that being the life of another animal.

But I have my reasons. MY DECISION TO EAT MEAT AGAIN WAS DRIVEN BY HEALTH CONCERNS. I was a vegetarian for over ten years and I did so primarily for ethical reasons. It was in the last several years of being a vegetarian, however, that I grew increasingly concerned about my health. An increasing number of studies started to point at the importance of meat protein and animal fat—not to mention the perils of soy (which was a staple for me). Moreover, MY PERFORMANCE AT THE GYM WAS STALLING. MY ENERGY LEVELS WERE CONSISTENTLY LOW AND I WAS MAKING VERY LITTLE GAINS. This was an indication to me that something wasn't right.

So, after a decade of avoiding meat, I was curious to see if a reintroduction to animal protein could change the situation. I SWITCHED TO THE PALEO DIET AND WITHIN THREE MONTHS MY BMI WENT DOWN FROM 17% TO 12% AND I GAINED NEARLY TEN POUNDS OF MUSCLE MASS. I was astounded. And add to that an improved sense of well-being, mental clarity and energy— I was sold. My experiment with eating meat exceeded even my own expectations…

http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2011/06/so-i-started-eating-meat-again.html

Sunday: Scandals and Scarcity

Scandals
Scandal: Politico makes up Palin Quote

NEWS SITE POLITICO.COM ADMITTED FRIDAY THAT IT MADE AN "ERROR" IN ATTRIBUTING A NASTY QUOTE ABOUT REP. MICHELE BACHMANN TO FORMER ALASKA GOV. SARAH PALIN.

THE QUOTE CAME IN AN OPINION PIECE THURSDAY BY FORMER VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHIEF PAUL GOLDMAN and George Mason University professor Mark J. Rozell. The piece speculated on whether Bachmann's possible presidential run might compel Palin to get in the race, and argued that her recent bus tour sent a message to Bachmann, R-Minn. -- a message they attributed directly to Palin.

The article said: "Palin's bus tour had some of the hallmarks of a primal scream: 'I built this constituency, not Bachmann, not anyone else,' she said. Looking at it through her eyes, she has a point."

However, PALIN NEVER SAID THAT. HER POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE PROMPTLY ISSUED A STATEMENT URGING THE MEDIA TO "QUIT MAKING STUFF UP."

"An absurd opinion piece in Politico includes a quote attributed to Governor Palin that is a total fabrication and yet is deliberately written to appear as if it is a legitimate direct quote. By any standard this is unacceptable even for an opinion piece," the statement said.

By Friday, Politico had stripped the quote marks and the attribution, and issued a formal correction

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/10/politico-admits-error-in-attributing-bachmann-criticism-to-palin/#ixzz1Oy8uKZmr

Liberals quoting a democrat and attributing it to Sarah Palin? Of course that couldn’t happen.  But the real scandal here is that it never seems to happen in the opposite direction, that is, they never seem to misquote a Democrat.

Racial Quota Scandal at Obama Justice Department

….Here’s how messed up the situation has gotten at the Obama DOJ when it comes to racial discrimination. As you may recall, the DOJ ABANDONED ITS OWN LAWSUIT AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE RADICAL NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY WHO THREATENED AND INTIMIDATED WHITE VOTERS ON ELECTION DAY 2008. (The leftist NAACP appears to have helped call the shots on the case dismissal.)

And now these new documents detail A SCHEME BY DOJ OFFICIALS TO BULLY THE CITY OF DAYTON, OHIO, INTO LOWERING TESTING STANDARDS FOR FIREFIGHTER AND POLICE RECRUITS BECAUSE MINORITY CANDIDATES DID NOT PERFORM WELL ENOUGH ON THE WRITTEN EXAM. (One of the most shocking claims by the DOJ is that it’s not all that important for firefighters to be able to read and write!)

This “racial quota” scheme, while clearly shameless in its intent, also SEEMS TO VIOLATE LAWS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AND SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT.

On June 29, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that city officials in New Haven, Connecticut, violated the rights of white firefighters when they discarded the results of a promotions test because minority firefighters performed poorly on the test. “The city rejected the test results solely because the higher scoring candidates were white,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. (Ricci et al. v. DeStefano et al. (No. 07–1428)).

But that didn’t stop the Obama DOJ….

http://biggovernment.com/tfitton/2011/06/10/racial-quota-scandal-at-obama-justice-department/

Racial quota’s ? Of course not, this is the DOJ.

Latest on the Weiner Scandal

ANTHONY WEINER HAS DRAMATICALLY ANNOUNCED HE IS SEEKING PROFESSIONAL HELP AND HAS ASKED FOR TEMPORARY LEAVE FROM HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS - but he is still defying calls from his own party to step down.

The beleaguered congressman is believed to have flown out of New York yesterday TO SEEK PROFESSIONAL TREATMENT AND FOCUS ON, IN THE WORDS OF A SPOKESMAN, 'BECOMING A BETTER HUSBAND AND HEALTHIER PERSON'.

But despite what appeared to be coordinated calls from top female Democrats for him to step down, Weiner remained defiant - with at least one source telling the New York Daily News he will not make that decision until his wife Huma Abedin returns from an overseas trip with Hillary Clinton next week.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002583/Anthony-Weiner-asks-temporary-leave-absence-Congress-following-scandal.html#ixzz1P3jL5xAw

The real scandal here is the absolutely predictable event here of someone rich and or powerful seeking Professional help (if you’re poor and in prison you normally find Jesus). Remember how Bill Clinton had Jesse Jackson counsel him?

And just as predictably

Actress defends Weiner, says 'everyone lies about sex'

A LIBERAL ACTRESS AND COMEDIAN IS STRONGLY DEFENDING EMBATTLED REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D-N.Y.), SAYING "EVERYONE LIES ABOUT SEX" AND EXPRESSING HOPE HE BECOMES THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY.

During an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Janeane Garofalo said, "Anthony Weiner deserves to be supported and hopefully he will be mayor of New York one day. I'm serious. HE IS A DEMOCRAT [WHO] ACTUALLY FIGHTS FOR THE THINGS LIBERALS AND PROGRESSIVE AND RATIONAL PEOPLE CARE ABOUT.

"I don't know why he's being thrown under the bus. HE HASN'T DONE ANY -- HE HASN'T BROKE ANY LAWS," SHE SAID.

The Saturday Night Live alum, who has appeared in the television shows "24," "The West Wing" and "The Larry Sanders Show," added, "Everyone lies about sex. [Weiner's controversy] has not impacted anyone's life negatively."

SHE BLAMED THE MEDIA FOR BEING "OVERLY OBSESSED" WITH THE WEINER STORY
.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/165883-actress-defends-weiner-says-everyone-lies-about-sex

Talk about a standard liberal script. First she equates fighting for the things liberals and progressives care about as “rational.” Then she almost says “He hasn’t done anything wrong,” catching herself and changing it to illegal. And finally she blames the media which has gone easy on Weiner until they couldn’t ignore it any more.  The scandal here is that lefties don't think it's being hypocritical to be for sexual freedom and then lying about it when you are caught.  You don't pretend it isn't hypocritical by saying "everyone lies about sex." 

Politics

Fear of Scarcity

PART OF SOCIALIST ANGST MAY BE DUE TO CLASS ENVY, BUT I BELIEVE MOST OF IT IS BASED ON THE PHOBIA OF SCARCITY.

If you are a socialist, chances are you believe that there is only a limited amount of wealth in the world. PEOPLE ARE IMPOVERISHED ONLY BECAUSE RICH CAPITALISTS ARE HOARDING IT.

You probably also believe that global natural resources are scarce, the world's water supply is drying up, and irreplaceable species are becoming extinct.

This irrational fear of scarcity is what drives the socialist advocacy for abortion of the unborn and euthanasia of the aged and infirm….

…. IF YOU ARE A CONSERVATIVE AND AN ADVOCATE OF THE FREE MARKET, IT IS LIKELY YOU BELIEVE IN ABUNDANCE. YOU BELIEVE WEALTH IS NOT LIMITED, BUT RATHER CAN BE CREATED AND MULTIPLIED. You don't need to grab your piece of the pie from someone who has more than you. You know that everyone can have more as the pie grows bigger.

You believe that NATURAL RESOURCES EXIST FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUPPORTING AND ADVANCING MANKIND, not to be in competition with humans for the Earth.

Water is not disappearing from the planet. There is the same amount now as there was billions of years ago. It exists as a solid, a liquid, and a gas, and it recycles, refreshes and renews itself.

Species come and go. New ones are created as fast as old species die out. In fact, Darwin's theory of natural selection demands that weaker species disappear in order to make the ecosystem stronger. Ultimately, many of the extraordinary measures taken in the cause of protecting the environment may in fact be endangering it….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/the_socialist_phobia_of_scarcity.html

A very well done article pointing out the differences in the world view between left and right. It also may explain why we never seem to be able to “come together.”

Freedom in the 50 States

Here’s an article that rates the freedom in each of the 50 states. Living in Colorado, I’m pleased to see Colorado rates 7th. What is kind of interesting is the bottom 5 which include:

46. Massachusetts
47. Hawaii
48. California
49. New Jersey
50. New York

All of these are liberal bastions.

http://mercatus.org/freedom-50-states-2011

Saturday: Nothing but stupid

Stupidity in the News
The Sarah Palin E-Mail Treasure Hunt

THE STATE OF ALASKA IS PLANNING TO RELEASE MORE THAN 24,000 E-MAILS SENT BY SARAH PALIN DURING HER BRIEF GOVERNORSHIP TODAY. The move was the result of public records requests first made after her being picked as the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008. The obvious intent was to hamstring the then governor as part of a Democratic Party strategy to make her life miserable by burdening her with investigations. It was this pattern of harassment and the burden of legal bills that ensued, as much as anything else (including the financial benefits of life as a one-woman media conglomerate and television celebrity), that led to her resignation in 2009.

Almost three years later, IT’S NOT CLEAR WHAT THE POINT OF THE E-MAIL DUMP IS TODAY. BUT THAT HAS NOT STOPPED THE MEDIA FROM RUSHING TO THE PALIN E-MAILS as if it were another gold rush in the Klondike. For example, liberal-leaning MSNBC has teamed with the more openly leftist journalists from ProPublica and Mother Jones to hire a research company to compile a database of the documents. But the mighty NEW YORK TIMES HAS ITS OWN SOLUTION: ENLIST ITS READERS AS PART OF AN ARMY OF E-MAIL SNOOPS SIFTING THROUGH THE E-MAILS. THE WASHINGTON POST IS ASKING THEIR READERS TO DO THE SAME THING.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/06/10/the-sarah-palin-e-mail-treasure-hunt/

Ah, the fair and balanced MSM, stupidly showing their bias. 

The Problem Was the Wife

Aides to Newt Gingrich have resigned from his presidential campaign in protest of what they felt was A TAKEOVER BY CALLISTA GINGRICH, THE CANDIDATE’S WIFE SINCE 2000.

The euphemism offered by departing staffers was they disagreed with Gingrich’s “strategy” for the campaign. Indeed, they did disagree. But it was a strategy – A PART-TIME CAMPAIGN, IN EFFECT – THAT GINGRICH’S WIFE FAVORED.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/problem-was-wife_574027.html

Stupidity is not partial to one side or the other.


Diplomats: Iran not breaking int'l law

DESPITE WORLD POWERS' CONCERNS THAT TEHRAN IS EXPANDING ATOMIC CAPABILITY, DIPLOMATS SAY THERE IS NO EVIDENCE IT'S BUILDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Six former European diplomats claimed Thursday that despite the West's concerns over Iran's seemingly growing nuclear capabilities, there is no tangible proof that the Islamic Republic is pursuing nuclear weapons.

This somewhat puzzling statement was the conclusion of an article in the British Guardian, co-authored by Richard Dalton and five other former ambassadors to Iran: Germany's Paul von Maltzahn, Sweden's Steen Hohwü-Christensen, Guillaume Metten (Belgium), François Nicoullaud (France) and Italy's Roberto Toscano.

In an article, the six say THAT IRAN IS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND THAT IT IS THE WEST'S STRATEGY THAT HAS HELPED CREATE THE CONFLICT WITH TEHRAN.

The international debate regarding Iran's continued failure to heed UN decisions, is ongoing "and a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency rightly draws attention to the questions Iran has not answered about experiments it has made on nuclear bomb technology," the article said

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4080248,00.html

And stupidity doesn’t skip people simply because they are highly educated. In fact it may be worse.

New Yorkers still support Weiner

IF POLLSTERS AND PUNDITS ARE CORRECT, THE 46-YEAR-OLD POLITICIAN'S POPULARITY WITH VOTERS COULD ENABLE HIM TO WEATHER A SCANDAL THAT ERUPTED MONDAY  with his confession that he had engaged in sexually charged online antics with several women. They included sending women racy messages and pictures of his crotch and bare chest, even after his marriage in July to Hillary Rodham Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who is reportedly pregnant.

That was enough to convince Helkha Hylton that he should go. "I'm married. I have twins. Whatever else he does, he should step down," Hylton said as she walked along Queens Boulevard. "He's in the public eye. He should be ashamed of himself."

But her view was not widely echoed along the traffic-choked thoroughfare.

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-weiner-20110610,0,692706.story

Coming from a large liberal bastion actually makes it more likely you are stupid and less likely that you would be aware of it.


Alec Baldwin, an Erasmus for Our Time

Just as I hope Anthony Weiner stays in Congress as a poster boy for the Democratic party, I hope Alec Baldwin continues commenting on politics for the Puffington Host with gems like this:

My thought on Weiner is that he is a very busy man. Like most, although not all, politicians, he probably spends a great deal of time going to meetings, raising campaign funds and seizing upon every opportunity to remind people of how great he is as a public servant and a human being. It’s exhausting. HE EXISTS UNDER A CONSTANT PRESSURE COOKER OF SELF-ANALYSIS AND PUBLIC APPRAISAL. LIKE OTHER POLITICIANS, HE NEEDS SOMETHING TO TAKE THE EDGE OFF. For some people, regardless of occupation, that could mean booze, drugs, gambling, food or shopping. For high functioning men like Weiner and other officials who have lived through such scandals, who are constantly on the go, that leaves one tried and true source of a reliable high. THE AFFIRMATION THAT COMES WHEN SOMEONE LETS YOU KNOW THEY WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU. OR EVEN CYBER-SLEEP WITH YOU.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269311/alec-baldwin-erasmus-our-time-steven-f-hayward

And even more stupidity comes forth when liberal actors try to excuse liberal congressmen.


Napolitano: No "Logic" In Profiling Muslim Men Under The Age Of 35

"You're not using good logic there. You've got to use actual intelligence that you received. And, so, you might -- all you've given me is a kind of status. YOU HAVE NOT GIVEN ME A TECHNIQUE FOR TACTIC OR BEHAVIOR. SOMETHING THAT WOULD SUGGEST SOMEBODY IS NOT MUSLIM, BUT ISLAMIC, THAT HAS ACTUALLY MOVED INTO THE CATEGORY OF VIOLENT EXTREMISTS," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a forum on U.S. security and preventing terrorist attacks.

"We have ways to make some of those cuts. And they involve the intel that comes in, the analysis that goes on. For example, we often times, for travelers entering the United States, we won't not do what is called a secondary inspection just because they are a 35-year- old male who appears to be Muslim, whatever that means. BUT WE KNOW FROM INTELLIGENCE THAT IF THEY HAVE A CERTAIN TRAVEL PATTERN OVER A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME, THAT SHOULD CAUSE US TO ASK SOME MORE SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS THAN IF WE DON'T."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/06/09/napolitano_no_logic_in_profiling_muslim_men_under_the_age_of_35.html

Stupidity is saying something like this while endorsing body searches 6 year olds and 65 year old grandmas.

Utility giant AEP says it will close five coal plants to comply with EPA regs

UTILITY GIANT AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER SAID THURSDAY THAT IT WILL SHUT DOWN FIVE COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS AND SPEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO COMPLY WITH A SERIES OF PENDING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGULATIONS.

The company’s dramatic plan to comply with the regulations could give Republicans and moderate Democrats ammunition in their ongoing fight against EPA's efforts to impose new regulations aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants including mercury and arsenic.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) immediately pounced on AEP's announcement.

“THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE EPA IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE DEVASTATING IMPACT THEY MAY HAVE ON LOCAL ECONOMIES AND JOBS,” Capito said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/165651-aep-epa-regs-will-cost-billions-and-result-in-five-closed-plants

Hmmm, and you wonder what they will replace it with? More stupidity.

Morally-Schizoid Liberal Women and Their Weiner Husbands

The saddest thing about the whole sordid, societally humiliating Weiner affair, is that it HIGHLIGHTS ONCE AGAIN THE MORALLY-SCHIZOID NATURE OF THE MODERN LIBERAL WOMAN. I've known many of these women -- a great many -- and it never ceases to confound me how smart women can be such ridiculous fools when it comes to choosing men.
On the one hand, liberal women believe wholeheartedly in the idiotic social construct they call, "sexual liberation." THEY PRIDE THEMSELVES ON LOSING THEIR VIRGINITY, AS THOUGH THAT "ACCOMPLISHMENT" HAD EVER BEEN ABOVE THE CHALLENGE-SCALE OF AN ALLEY CAT IN HEAT.

These liberal women I've known, having given away their female V-card over and over and over again, all the while scour their host of intimate "trial runs" searching for that mythical, Hollywood-construct, Mr. Right. THIS MR. RIGHT GUY, FOR WHOM THEY ARE SEARCHING, IS KNOWN TO THEM UP FRONT AS EVEN MORE SEXUALLY-LIBERATED THAN THEY, BUT THIS LITTLE FACTOID SEEMS NOT TO REGISTER IN THEIR LIBERATED LITTLE HEADS AS THEY FRANTICALLY SEARCH FOR THE EQUALLY MYTHICAL FAMILY HOME WITH THE WHITE PICKET FENCE, which somehow never gets hit by any of life's roving tornadoes. One can almost hear them say in unison, "And they all lived happily ever after."

As their relentless biological clocks tick towards fertility's Armageddon, these sexually "liberated" women suddenly become obsessed with their medical checkups, running to the OBGYN with neurotic frequency, to make sure their alley-cat lifestyle has not resulted in any of the dreaded, fertility-destroying sexually transmitted diseases. I've seen some of these women nearly go completely insane as they receive one of those now-common, "SO SORRY I MAY HAVE INFECTED YOU" LOVE NOTES FROM A FORMER "LOVER." IT'S ENOUGH TO MAKE WISE WOMEN CRY FOR THEM. Yes, we pity them and wonder over and over HOW OUR SISTERS, SO SMART IN SO MANY WAYS, COULD BE SO UTTERLY MIDDLE-SCHOOL-LEVEL STUPID.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/morally-schizoid_liberal_women_and_their_weiner_husbands.html

Stupidity is looking for this kind of guy and then expecting him not to be this kind of a guy.

Thursday: It's the economy Stupid!

Politics
Jonah Goldberg: It's Obama's economy, stupid

No president 'runs' the U.S. economy, but President Obama talks like he does more than any in recent memory — yet none of his economic promises or job predictions have panned out.

"Now, my administration has a job to do as well, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet," President Obama declared on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Mich. "THAT'S MY JOB, AND IT'S A JOB I GLADLY ACCEPT. I LOVE THESE FOLKS WHO HELPED GET US IN THIS MESS AND THEN SUDDENLY SAY, WELL, THIS IS OBAMA'S ECONOMY. THAT'S FINE. GIVE IT TO ME."

The unemployment rate then was 9.5%. It's now 9.1%, well above the 8% cap that the administration advisors projected under the stimulus bill. But that's not the amazing part. ACCORDING TO A WHITE HOUSE REPORT WRITTEN BY ECONOMIC ADVISORS JARED BERNSTEIN AND CHRISTINA ROMER IN JANUARY 2009 IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL, IF WE HAD PASSED NO STIMULUS PACKAGE AT ALL, THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE WOULD HAVE TOPPED OUT AT AROUND 8.8% IN THE LAST QUARTER OF 2010.

If only.

Instead, we got Obama's vital "investments." Since his speech in Warren, WE'VE SPENT ANOTHER $2.8 TRILLION IN BORROWED MONEY.

Presumably, we could have cut the unemployment rate by four-tenths of a percentage point more cheaply than that?

Meanwhile, WE'VE ACCRUED A TOTAL OF $3.7 TRILLION IN DEBT ON OBAMA'S WATCH, WHILE LOSING 2.8 MILLION JOBS. That doesn't sound ideal either….

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-economy-20110607,0,1192445.column

I don’t think you’ll hear the Democrats or Obama own up to accepting the economy. Is this his mission accomplished moment?

And in the meantime, Obama goes into denial and blaming Bush.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/07/its-not-the-economy-its-you-says-obama/



Morning in America or Later than you think

….Now the numbers are so bad — and November 2012 so close — that the Obama campaign has decided it must, as Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown and Glenn Thrush put it, “TEMPER SOME OF THE MORNING-IN-AMERICA OPTIMISM HE’D HOPED TO RUN ON.”

This is truly shocking. Not that the president’s team realizes its “Morning-in-America” parade is getting rained on, but that marching under that banner was ever considered in the first place. Even if the jobs numbers had come in as expected, at 150,000 — or even if they’d come in higher than expected at, say, 200,000, and stayed there for several months, we’re nowhere near Morning in America. UNFORTUNATELY, TOO MUCH OF THE COUNTRY APPEARS TO BE CLOSER TO A PERMANENT MIDNIGHT.

As our Business Editor Peter Goodman puts it, the conditions underlying these numbers are “already familiar beyond the realm of professional economists and policymakers.” This is what most Americans, Goodman writes, “know in their bones, not from government reports and the abstract musings of economists, but from the everyday fears that accompany glancing at their checkbooks and their latest credit card bills: THERE IS NO RELIEF IN SIGHT.”…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/something-we-can-say-with_b_872912.html

Another nail in the Obama reelection coffin.

One law for us, another for you

The California state Senate voted 28-8 Wednesday to EXEMPT ITSELF FROM THE POINTLESS GUN-CONTROL LAWS THAT APPLY TO THE REST OF THE POPULACE. Legislators apparently think they alone are worthy to pack heat on the streets for personal protection, and the masses ought to wait until the police arrive.

This is just one of many bills Golden State politicians used this legislative session to set themselves apart from the little people, the ones who pay their inflated salaries. Annual compensation for legislators averages about $140,000, not counting luxurious perks such as taxpayer-funded cars and free gasoline. By comparison, the average Californian earns $50,000 a year, and the unemployment rate is 11.9 percent - far above the national average. EXACT SALARIES FOR STATE ASSEMBLYMEN AND SENATORS ARE OBSCURED BY THE USE OF A “PER DIEM” PAYMENT SCHEME THAT SHELTERS A SIGNIFICANT CHUNK OF INCOME FROM TAXATION....

....The arrogance of the political class is certainly not limited to California. FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS PRIVATE COMPANIES FROM PESTERING THE PUBLIC WITH UNWANTED TELEMARKETING CALLS FROM BUSINESSES, BUT CONGRESS EXEMPTED “POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS” - I.E., THEMSELVES - FROM ITS PROVISIONS. In Sacramento, an attempt failed to establish a special Do Not Call list for people who don’t want to listen to automated calls from California pols....

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/6/one-law-for-us-another-for-you/

While people on the left see private industry as ruled by greed, they seem to forget that government workers are still human.

Ed Schultz to Moonbat Guests: 'You People are in Denial!'

When Ed Schultz is the sanest member of a panel, you know the left is in trouble.

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2011/06/ed-schultz-to-moonbat-guests-you-people.html


Weinergate reminds us not to give these clowns more power

Ah, Weinergate, you are the gift that keeps on giving, the crotch-shot that launched a thousand puns. Yet, sadly, SOME PEOPLE FANCY THEMSELVES FAR TOO SERIOUS TO EMBRACE THE HILARITY.

"JUST PATHETIC," AN EXAMPLE OF "AMERICAN PURITANISM," JOURNALISM PROFESSOR JEFF JARVIS PRONOUNCED THE MEDIA FOCUS ON REP. ANTHONY WEINER'S, D-N.Y., alleged boxer-brief malfunction.

Spare me. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a good old-fashioned political sex scandal. THEY'RE ENTERTAINING, AND THEY MAY EVEN BE EDIFYING -- REMINDING US THAT SELF-STYLED "PUBLIC SERVANTS" ARE OFTEN LESS RESPONSIBLE, MORE VENAL, AND JUST PLAIN DUMBER THAN THOSE THEY SEEK TO RULE....

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/06/lets-not-give-these-clowns-more-power#ixzz1Ogi4mBoh

It is good to remember that anointed politicos are simply humans too with human greed, passion and stupidity. Just another reason not to give them too much power.


Just another disgraced, delusional creep on the Hill

When weepy Anthony D. Weiner stood in front of a New York hotel ballroom and exposed himself, he also laid bare the U.S. Congress for the childish, seedy and dishonest behavior for which it has become known.

With his infantile, self-loving worldview, sleazy treatment of voters and effortless dishonesty, MR. WEINER BECOMES THE LATEST POSTER CHILD FOR WHAT MOST GOOD AMERICANS SADLY THINK OF WASHINGTON AND PARTICULARLY CONGRESS.

IT IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN SAY 13 TIMES IN ONE ORATION THAT YOU TAKE “FULL RESPONSIBILITY” FOR LEWD, LASCIVIOUS AND PREDATORY BEHAVIOR - YET PAY NO PRICE.

Is it any wonder that these are the same people who, when they get into a fiscal jam, just print more money? Or steal more from grandchildren they will never know and certainly don’t care about to pay for their self-aggrandizing boondoggles?

One of Mr. Weiner’s victims, a 26-year-old single mother who served in the U.S. Army, made the mistake of commenting approvingly on a strong position Mr. Weiner had taken on an issue she cared about. For Mr. Weiner, that was a pants-off green light.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/7/hurt-just-another-disgraced-delusional-creep-on-th/

About the only thing you can say in his defense, is that he really didn’t think he would get caught. Of course that is also something you can say in his condemnation. How stupid is this guy?


Book Review

Fannie, Freddie, Barney and the economic collapse

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND ESPECIALLY ITS TEA PARTY WING HAVE JUST ACQUIRED A NEW WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION — and it has nothing to do with any of Congressman Wiener’s rogue body parts. If they deploy this weapon effectively in the next election cycle — a big if — then THEY HAVE THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE THE COUNTRY RIGHTWARD SINCE RONALD REAGAN TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE BACK IN 1981.

The Tea Party WMD stockpile is currently stored in book form: Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon. By Gretchen Morgenson, one of America’s best business journalists who is currently at The New York Times, and noted financial analyst Joshua Rosner, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT GIVES THE BEST AVAILABLE ACCOUNT OF HOW THE GROWING CHAOS IN THE MORTGAGE AND PERSONAL FINANCE MARKETS AND THE RAMPANT BUNDLING OF DUBIOUS LOANS INTO EXOTICALLY TOXIC SECURITIES PLUNGED THE WORLD, AND MILLIONS OF AMERICAN FAMILIES, INTO THE GRAVEST FINANCIAL CRISIS SINCE WORLD WAR TWO. It is gripping reading as well, and its explanations are clear enough that readers without any background in finance will have no trouble following the plot. The villains? AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN WALL STREET, THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING GROUPS LIKE ACORN AND LA RAZA, AND POLITICIANS LIKE BARNEY FRANK, NANCY PELOSI AND HENRY CISNEROS. (Frank got a cushy job for a lover, Pelosi got a job and layoff protection for a son, Cisneros apparently got a license to mint money bilking Mexican-Americans of their life savings in cheesy housing developments.) . . . If the GOP can make this narrative mainstream, and put this picture into the heads of voters nationwide, the Democrats are toast. The party will have to reinvent itself (or as often happens in American politics, be rescued by equally stupid Republican missteps) before it can flourish...

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/06/07/fanniegate-gamechanger-for-the-gop/

The truth is not a friend to the Democrats. They can only hope they can continual to bamboozle the public about the cause of the economic crises in 2008.

Ecology

Forests getting denser

For years exponents of climate change theories have used images of deforestation to support their cause.

However, THE DENSITY OF FORESTS AND WOODLAND ACROSS MUCH OF THE WORLD IS ACTUALLY INCREASING, according to a respected scientific study.

The change, which is being dubbed the ‘Great Reversal’, could

In countries from Finland to Malaysia, the thickening has taken place so quickly that it has reversed the carbon losses caused by deforestation between 1990 and 2010.

IN BRITAIN, FOREST DENSITY HAS INCREASED BY 10.8 PER CENT FROM 2000 TO 2010 AND BY 6.6 PER CENT ACROSS THE WHOLE OF EUROPE.

Even South America and Africa, which have suffered deforestation because of logging and farming, have recorded increases in forest density of 0.8 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.
Dubbed the planet's lungs, forests act as huge carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1394692/Forget-deforestation-The-worlds-woodland-getting-denser-change-help-combat-climate-change.html#ixzz1OhGdZz3i

There are certain things that happen that the climate alarmist don’t want to recognize. More carbon in the atmosphere will result in more foliage on the planet. It’s not magic, it’s science.

Obamacare

The Logical Extension of Obamacare

….Reading through the proposal submitted by the Center for American Progress this morning (which starts on page 40 of this document), I ran across an EXTRAORDINARILY BOLD AND SHAMELESS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF WHAT SOME OF US ON THE RIGHT HAVE THOUGHT MUST BE THE LEFT’S NATURAL NEXT STEP AFTER OBAMACARE. We have assumed that, having created a powerful price-control and rationing board for Medicare (the IPAB) and a system of federally designed state exchanges for selling insurance to younger Americans (into which, as this recent McKinsey study shows, tens of millions of those who now have employer-based coverage will flow), THEY WOULD THEN USE THESE NEW MECHANISMS TO GIVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THE AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE PRICE CONTROLS AND RATIONING DIRECTLY ON PRIVATE INSURERS, simply putting the whole sector under government control without formally bothering to outlaw it. Well, the CAP proposal states:

In our plan, aggressive implementation of PPACA, along with some enhancements to its existing cost-control mechanisms, will result in dramatically lower health expenditures, both for the federal government and overall. But predicting the exact effect of the myriad test programs and reforms in the new health law is fraught with uncertainty. Thus WE ALSO INCLUDE A FAILSAFE MECHANISM THAT WOULD ENSURE SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS. Our failsafe would be triggered if, starting in 2020, total economywide health care expenditures grow at a rate faster than the economy. Should that happen, WE WOULD EMPOWER THE IPAB TO EXTEND SUCCESSFUL REFORMS IN MEDICARE AND OTHER PUBLIC PROGRAMS TO INSURANCE PLANS OFFERED IN THE HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES AND THEN POTENTIALLY TO ALL HEALTH CARE PLANS, SUCH THAT THE TARGET IS MET. This will ensure that costs are constrained across the health care sector, preventing cost-shifting and maintaining access for all….

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269138/logical-extension-obamacare-yuval-levin

It’s worse than we thought. They aren’t just planning on destroying Medicare as we know it, but our entire healthcare system.

Wednesday: Romney leading Obama, All things Weiner, Medicare and SSS

Politics 

It’s the Economy, Stupid

In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, MITT ROMNEY LEADS PRESIDENT OBAMA among registered voters, 49 percent to 46 percent…

Matthews: Maybe the wife was partly responsible

MSNBC's CHRIS MATTHEWS BELIEVES REP. ANTHONY WEINER'S WIFE MAY BE "PARTLY RESPONSIBLE" FOR HIS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT BECAUSE THE CONGRESSMAN SAID SHE WAS AWARE OF HIS BEHAVIOR BEFORE THEY WERE MARRIED. Transcript below:

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: "Yeah, but he says his wife knew. He laid it out on her."

JOHN FEEHERY, Republican strategist: "Which is a terrible, terrible mistake."

MATTHEWS: "WELL, MAYBE SHE'S PARTLY RESPONSIBLE if she knew about it?"

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/06/06/chris_matthews_on_weiners_wife_maybe_shes_partly_responsible.html

Isn’t this the equivalent of telling a woman who has been raped, not to dress so provocatively? I used to like Chris Matthews a long time ago when he was tough on everyone and hadn’t become a liberal stooge.

Weiner’s fall and what it represents

NEMESIS IS ALWAYS HOT ON THE TRAIL OF HUBRIS, across time and space, and the goddess has been particularly busy in destroying the carefully crafted images of Bono, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Al Gore, Eliot Spitzer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Anthony Weiner, and a host of others. What do their tax hypocrisies, sexual indulgences, and aristocratic socialist lifestyles all have in common?

Collectively, they represent A SELF-APPOINTED OR ELECTED GLOBAL ELITE THAT OVERSEES, LECTURES ABOUT — IN SANCTIMONIOUS FASHION — THE ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE REDISTRIBUTIVE STATE.

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-collapse-of-a-rotten-edifice-2/

In other words, we have the “do as I say, not as I do” crowd is telling us they should be in charge of telling us what to do.

Weiner lies shamelessly to ABC about what happened

....How creepy? CREEPY ENOUGH THAT ABC POSTED THIS FOOTAGE (which was recorded a few days ago, of course) just within the past hour and then sent around the link via e-mail. I didn’t go hunting through their archives for it, in other words; they’re pushing it on people tonight themselves because, understandably, THEY (A) WANT TO ATONE FOR HAVING AIRED THIS GUY’S LIES AS NEWS LAST WEEK AND (B) PRESUMABLY WANT THE WORLD TO SEE WHAT AN ALMOST PATHOLOGICALLY FLUID LIAR HE WAS WHEN CORNERED. The last 80 seconds of it will have you squirming in your seat — not only the way he claims to be the innocent target of a hoax but HIS INSISTENCE ON LECTURING THE INTERVIEWER FOR ASSUMING THE WORST, TAKING CARE TO MAINTAIN ACCUSATORY EYE CONTACT THE WHOLE WAY. It’s genuinely disturbing

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/06/creepy-must-see-flashback-weiner-lies-shamelessly-to-abc-about-what-happened/

I do believe it was this ability that made him a perfect spokesperson for the hard left in congress. He can lie not just without remorse, but with conviction!

Democratic leaders struggle with Weiner situation

So far, House Democratic leaders haven't publicly demanded Rep. Anthony Weiner resign after admitting he sent suggestive photos of himself in his underwear via Twitter and then lied about it to everyone within earshot.

BUT THEY'VE MADE IT CLEAR THEY'D APPRECIATE IT IF HE'D GO AWAY. AND SOON.

In statements within an hour of Weiner's stunning admission on Monday, NOT A SINGLE DEMOCRAT VOLUNTEERED SUPPORT FOR THE MAN LONG MENTIONED AS A POSSIBLE FUTURE MAYOR OF NEW YORK. And notably, none chose to comment on his defiant vow: "I am not resigning."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the party leader, said she was "disappointed and saddened." She and other Democrats called for an ethics committee investigation to determine whether Weiner had broken any House …

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_weiner_analysis

Somehow I’m hearing Nancy and Harry singing “How do you solve a problem name Anthony? “

'Pig' pol is spanked by the voters

ANTHONY WEINER'S FUTURE IN THE 9TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IS ABOUT AS SHAKY AS HIS NEW MARRIAGE.

The district he carried without breaking a sweat in November was ready to give him a swift kick to his Jockey boxer-briefs yesterday -- furious over everything from the seven-term congressman's crude online come-ons to younger women to the disrespect he showed his lovely new wife.

Weiner's teary mea culpa left many of his constituents in open-mouthed amazement -- stunned at the turn of events that saw the seemingly settled-down playboy suddenly embroiled in a tawdry sex scandal less than a year after his high-profile marriage to one of the Beltway's brainiest and most beautiful.

"HE'S A PIG," SAID DANIELLE CIONE, 35, A TEACHER WHO SUCCINCTLY SUMMED UP THE FEELINGS OF MANY OF WEINER'S FORMER SUPPORTERS.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/pig_pol_is_spanked_by_the_voters_AL9QMHPqhH23pK2FhMV48H#ixzz1ObyYaMLY

Weiner is unlikely to stay in office much longer.
Carville: 2012 could be very tough on Obama

Who ever thought the saying, “It’s the economy stupid,” from James Carville in 1992 would become a staple in presidential elections 20 years later?

That expression made its way into the campaign in 2008, and according to Carville, it could be the theme of the 2012 campaign as well as President Barack Obama seeks reelection. In an appearance on Monday’s “Imus in the Morning” on the Fox Business Network, the former Clinton adviser said that, based on the May jobs number, IF THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE DOESN’T IMPROVE, 2012 COULD BE ROUGH FOR THE PRESIDENT.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/06/carville-2012-could-be-very-rough-for-obama-says-civil-unrest-imminently-possible/#ixzz1OaMI3Uvx

This is not really news, but with the left declaring Obama won reelection with the death of UBL, it’s good to remember what the real issues will be.

Pawlenty: ‘Let’s Grow the Economy by 5 percent’

Tim Pawlenty wants the U.S. to aim for an accelerated economic growth rate. In a speech to be delivered at the University of Chicago this morning, Pawlenty will outline the policies that he thinks can reinvigorate the country’s sputtering economy.

“LET’S START WITH A BIG, POSITIVE GOAL,” Pawlenty will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by Team Pawlenty this morning. “LET’S GROW THE ECONOMY BY FIVE PERCENT, INSTEAD OF THE ANEMIC TWO PERCENT ENVISIONED CURRENTLY.”
Among the proposals Pawlenty will push for are cutting the business tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent and ELIMINATING “SPECIAL INTEREST HANDOUTS, CARVE-OUTS,SUBSIDIES, AND LOOPHOLES” in the tax code. He is calling to change the individual tax rate to two rates: 10 percent for those making $50,000 or less (those who do not currently pay income taxes would still be exempt) and couples at $100,000 or less, and a 25 percent rate for all income above those levels. “A one-third cut in the bottom rate to allow younger, middle, and lower-income families to save and build wealth. And a 28 percent cut in the top rate to spur investment and job creation,” Pawlenty will say.
Pawlenty will also call for the elimination of the capital gains tax, interest income tax, dividends tax, and the death tax.

On spending, after touting his own record in Minnesota, Pawlenty will turn his attention to what he has dubbed “THE GOOGLE TEST,” WHICH PROPOSES THAT “IF YOU CAN FIND A GOOD OR SERVICE ON THE INTERNET, THEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PROBABLY DOESN’T NEED TO BE DOING IT.” Programs that don’t pass the Google threshold in Pawlenty’s mind include the “the post office, the government printing office, Amtrak, Fannie and Freddie.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269005/pawlenty-let-s-grow-economy-5-percent-katrina-trinko

At first blush, I like this.

WPost Fact-Checker shreds Obama auto recovery claims

President Obama's claims to have saved the U.S. auto industry with government bailouts, takeovers and buyouts in 2009 don't quite square with the facts.

Actually, according to The WASHINGTON POST'S FACT CHECKER BY GLENN KESSLER, OBAMA'S CLAIMS ARE "ONE OF THE MOST MISLEADING COLLECTIONS OF ASSERTIONS WE HAVE SEEN IN A SHORT PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry NEEDS AN ASTERISK, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan."

Obama routinely claims these days that U.S. taxpayers have received back more than the $8.5 billion loaned to Chrysler by the current occupant of the Oval Office. But, as Fact Checker points out, that doesn't include $4 billion from the government under President Bush....

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/06/wpost-fact-checker-shreds-obama-auto-recovery-claims#ixzz1ObbvHXXO

Honesty and the Democratic Party don’t seem to be close personal friends.


Obamacare

Kids are more important than seniors

The administration's regulatory czar tries to disavow his statement that A PROGRAM THAT SAVES YOUNG PEOPLE IS BETTER THAN ONE THAT SAVES THEIR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS. IT'S CALLED RATIONING, AND ITS NAME IS OBAMACARE.

A commercial showing granny being pushed over a cliff by a person resembling Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was recently put out by the Agenda Project, implying that the Ryan budget will kill old people by changing Medicare.

For the sake of accuracy, granny should have been dispatched by a character resembling Cass Sunstein, President Obama's head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The Ryan budget attempts to curb the explosive growth of entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security so they are there for granny without burdening the grandchildren with unconscionable debt. SUNSTEIN, AS WAS POINTED OUT DURING CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY LAST FRIDAY, LITERALLY BELIEVES GRANNY SHOULD BE SACRIFICED IN FAVOR OF THE KIDS.

Rather than ensuring that everyone get the best care possible, Sunstein wrote that government should rely instead on THE "VALUE OF A STATISTICAL LIFE YEAR" (VSLY), which would likely result in significantly lower benefit calculations for elderly people and significantly higher benefits for children.

GOVERNMENT WOULD ASSIGN A DOLLAR VALUE TO YOUR LIFE IN TERMS OF WHAT IT'S WORTH, AND IF YOU EXCEEDED THAT LIMIT, WELL, TOO BAD. Britain's National Health Service has a similar measure of cost-effectiveness called the "quality adjusted life year" to see if your life is worth saving….

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/574539/201106061903/Valuing-Seniors-Lives.htm

It appears Palin wasn’t just correct about Paul Revere, but she was correct about death panels as well and the Democrats are in the process of rationalizing pulling the plug on grandma. 

The Ohio Farmer: The Lost Art of Legislation

To the Members of the 112th Congress:

One of the head-scratching moments of the congressional debate leading up to the passage last year of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as “Obamacare”) was then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s response when asked about the contents of the 2,000-page draft law [see Ohio Farmer Letter, "Reconstitutionalizing America"]. You recall that Speaker Pelosi said, “WE HAVE TO PASS THE BILL SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT’S IN IT.” She was not alone with this thought. Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that had key jurisdiction over the health care bill, said something similar: “I DON’T THINK YOU WANT ME TO WASTE MY TIME TO READ EVERY PAGE OF THE HEALTH CARE BILL. YOU KNOW WHY? IT’S STATUTORY LANGUAGE. WE HIRE EXPERTS.”

Both comments generated considerable ridicule, especially from people who opposed the legislation. But both comments bring to light a fundamental fact of modern American government: CONGRESS NO LONGER “LEGISLATES” (that is, passes binding universal laws) in the way the Founders intended when they wrote the Constitution. Instead, CONGRESS PASSES GENERAL STATUTES CONTAINING POLICY GOALS, BUT DELEGATES THE POWER TO WRITE THE ACTUAL OPERATING LAWS TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH ADMINISTRATORS AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES. In practical terms, this means that the executive branch and independent administrative agencies, rather than Congress, actually determine the details—the real law as it will operate on citizens. This might be acceptable except that the process of administrative government is increasingly arbitrary, and arbitrary government is the very definition of lawlessness.

Some short sections of the health care law will require hundreds of pages of detailed regulations, which administrative experts are going to spend the next several years working out. Sen. Baucus is right: the statutory language does not tell you how the law will operate in practice. THE 2,000 PAGE STATUTE WILL GROW TO PERHAPS 30,000 PAGES BY THE TIME THE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES FINISH FILLING IN THE BLANKS. Here is another wrinkle: the health care law shows that CONGRESS IS NOW PASSING “LAWS” THAT CANNOT TAKE EFFECT AS WRITTEN, BECAUSE THEY ARE SO WOEFULLY INCOMPLETE….

http://www.ohiofarmer.org/2011/06/the-lost-art-of-legislation.html

Here is something you do want to read and think about. This is very disturbing.

Social Security and Medicare

Reality and Social Security

Policy experts have focused on alternative ways of eliminating Social Security's 75-year financing gap, but lost in the debate is the fact that even under current law Social Security will provide less retirement income relative to previous earnings than it does today. Combine the already legislated reductions with potential cuts to close the financing gap, and Social Security may no longer be the mainstay of the retirement system for many people….

http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/112844/3-ways-social-security-payments-being-cut-smartmoney?mod=fidelity-livingretirement&cat=fidelity_2010_living_in_retirement

Less for everyone in the future.

Medicare: The Ryan Plan

According to analysis of the ObamaCare legislation, if the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determines that Medicare expenditures will exceed the target rate of growth specified in the law, THE IPAB MUST DEVELOP PROPOSALS TO REDUCE THOSE EXPENDITURES. While legislation states IPAB proposals cannot specifically ration medical care, IPAB can issue recommendations pertaining to Medicare payments to providers and suppliers which could not help but have the same effect. To make matters worse, CONGRESS SPECIFICALLY INSERTED WORDING ALLOWING IPAB RECOMMENDATIONS TO TAKE EFFECT WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL -- THUS EXEMPTING ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES FROM MAKING THE TOUGH CHOICES NEEDED. …

Ryan seeks to reverse this impending cost disaster by instituting a new program beginning no earlier than January 2021 affecting only those aged 55 and younger. The plan has the following major elements:

• PART A AND PART B TRUST FUNDS ARE COMBINED TO CREATE ONE UNIFIED TRUST FUND. …
• BY JANUARY 2021, INSURANCE COMPANIES MUST ESTABLISH COMPETING HEALTHCARE COVERAGE PLANS WITH SPECIFIED BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS….
• EACH PATIENT WOULD SELECT FROM THE APPROVED LIST A PLAN BEST MATCHING HIS OR HER EXPECTED HEALTHCARE NEEDS FOR THE COMING YEAR….
• Ryan currently estimates the reimbursement amount at an average $11,000 -- with further adjustment determined by income level. HIGHER-INCOME PATIENTS WOULD RECEIVE LESS PREMIUM ASSISTANCE. BENEFICIARIES WITH ANNUAL INCOMES BELOW $80,000 ($160,000 FOR COUPLES) WOULD RECEIVE FULL STANDARD PAYMENT AMOUNTS…

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/ok_just_what_is_the_ryan_medicare_plan.html

A good summary of what's in the Ryan Plan

Science

The edge of the solar system

THE EDGE OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS FILLED WITH A TURBULENT SEA OF MAGNETIC BUBBLES, according to new NASA research.

Scientists made the discovery by using a new computer model, which is based on data from NASA's twin Voyager probes. The unmanned Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which launched in 1977, ARE PLYING THE OUTER REACHES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM, A REGION KNOWN AS THE HELIOSHEATH.

The new discovery suggests that researchers will need to revise their views about the solar system's edge, NASA officials said. A more detailed picture of this region is key to our understanding of how fast-moving particles known as cosmic rays are spawned, and how they reach near-Earth space....

http://www.space.com/11884-nasa-bubbles-solar-system-edge.html