Here’s the unvarnished pitch House Speaker John Boehner would love to make to his conservative critics if he could just let it fly: “YOU ARE WINNING, AND WINNING DECISIVELY. SO STOP YOUR WHINING.”
And here’s the unvarnished truth about that pitch: Boehner would be spot on.
The winners and losers of this weekend’s 11th-hour budget deal may be in dispute. But the broader trajectory of politics, stretching back to the spring of 2009, is not. THE REPUBLICAN — AND, YES, THE TEA PARTY — AGENDA IS NOT ONLY ASCENDANT, IT’S DRIVING THE DEBATE OVER RESHAPING GOVERNMENT AT EVERY LEVEL.
Jubilant top Republicans told POLITICO in interviews that they plan to use the momentum from the budget fight to take a hard line with President Barack Obama in the fiscal fights of the months ahead. And the GOP leaders said they believe their new advantage in the national debate will lift the party’s presidential candidates — none of whom right now looks capable of beating Obama.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52870.html#ixzz1JDGzOH7K
Expect to hear a lot about this in the coming year.
Obama’s fiscal feint
Well, that didn't take long: Less than two days after President Obama reluctantly agreed to accept a less-than-whopping $38.5 billion in cuts from this year's spending, the White House announced that Obama will take to the airwaves Wednesday to announce his new plan to deal with the deficit.
Paul Ryan, take a bow. With the release last week of his dramatic "Path to Prosperity" proposal to trim $6 trillion from the bloated federal budget over the next 10 years, A MERE CONGRESSMAN FROM WISCONSIN HAS FINALLY OBLIGED THE PRESIDENT TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT SPENDING. OR AT LEAST DO A SOMEWHAT BETTER JOB OF PRETENDING TO.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bam_fiscal_feint_5URbEBWpinEwDnKOdI3y6N#ixzz1JDKLD8t2
Does anyone really think Obama is serious about addressing the debt? Any bets on how much ends up as cuts and how much ends up as increased taxes?
Wisconsin: The Madison Factor
This was Gov. Walker’s take on last Tuesday’s election, in which he wasn’t on the ballot but loomed over the campaign:
“YOU HAVE TWO VERY DIFFERENT WORLDS IN THIS STATE. YOU’VE GOT A WORLD DRIVEN BY MADISON, AND A WORLD DRIVEN BY EVERYBODY ELSE ... What that tells me is just as you’ve seen in past elections, for president, for governor, for other offices, Wisconsin is not a red state. It’s not a blue state. In many ways, it’s a purple state. And it’s divided on these issues.”
The governor’s argument, echoed by many Republicans, is that: The election did not reflect negatively on Walker, it merely confirmed the state’s underlying 50/50 political makeup; and if there was any backlash against the governor and his policies, it was mainly a Madison phenomenon.
How convincing are those arguments?
The Madison factor. Dane County played an extraordinary role in the election. IT HAD THE HIGHEST TURNOUT IN THE STATE – 48% OF VOTING-AGE ADULTS. It had a higher turnout for a spring judicial election than 49 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties did in last fall’s midterm election for governor, Congress and state Legislature. IT VOTED 73% TO 27% FOR JOANNE KLOPPENBURG against incumbent Justice David Prosser, giving her such a massive margin (almost 85,000 votes) that Prosser had to win the rest of the state by almost seven percentage points to overcome it.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/119576304.html
An interesting battle which shows deep divides in Wisconsin. While Dane Country (Madison) is heavily Democratic, Milwaukee is highly Republican. In fact around most of the Country you will find big Democrat Majorities in state capitals (where government workers live).
Wisconsin: Copious Quantities of Casuistry
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Thursday filed a filed a Petition for Supervisory Writ [PDF] directly to the state Supreme Court over a circuit court judge’s temporary blocking of the Budget Repair Bill. THE PETITION IS ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING TO JUDGE SUMI’S ACTIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE BILL.http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/copious-quantities-of-casuistry/
The Wisconsin Constitution clearly does not allow such actions by the judicial branch. Moreover A COURT MAY NOT ENJOIN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS IN ORDER TO PREVENT A LEGISLATIVE ACT FROM BECOMING LAW. When a court takes such actions it violates fundamental principles of of separation of powers and does serious and irreparable harm to our constitutional system of government. [Emphasis in the original.]
Among the back letter law and clearly enunciated jurisprudence ignored by Judge Sumi in issuing three TROs which purport to invalidate the Budget Repair Bill and enjoin it from becoming law are the following:
It's amazing how a rogue judge can stop democracy in action.
Abortionist Cover up?
ABORTIONISTS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE ACTIVELY BURYING RISK RESEARCH JUST AS TOBACCO COMPANIES DID MANY DECADES AGO. There are now literally piles of genuine medical research which show what most would deem DIRE ELEVATED RISKS FROM ABORTION -- not just to the baby killed in the procedure -- but to the woman and also to the future siblings of the aborted baby.
Just as tobacco companies once deep-sixed any negative research on the smoker's health and well-being, abortionists and their extensive lobbying web of far-left, social-engineering "feminists" NOW SCAMPER TO SQUELCH EVERY NEW RESEARCH STUDY WHICH DEMONSTRATES ELEVATED RISK ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR KILLING-FIELD BUSINESS MODEL. In this diabolical scheme, abortionists are far, far worse than tobacco companies could ever have been, if only for the single reason that abortion is controlled not by known capitalistic corporations, but by the very people whom the public trusts for its healthcare….
…..IF THESE EARLY STUDIES WERE ON THE MARK, THEN ONE WOULD EXPECT TO SEE A DRAMATIC RISE IN BREAST CANCER RATES AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN DUE TO ABORTION gaining such a distinguished imprimatur from both the medical and the legal communities of professionals. And sure enough, this dramatic rise has taken place right here in America. In 1975, less than one woman out of every 12 was likely to ever get breast cancer, almost always late in life. However, SINCE 1975 THOSE ODDS HAVE INCREASED TO AT LEAST ONE IN EVERY 8 AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE AGE OF ONSET HAS MARKEDLY COME EARLIER….
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/the_coverup_of_abortions_real_1.html
The Democrats like to say they are the party of science and the Republicans suppress science when it conflicts with their ideology. In truth, the opposite is the case. In 2006, during Bush's second term, a UCS survey found that 10 per cent of its scientists they had been asked to inappropriately exclude or alter information in the previous year; the 2010 figure was 16 per cent. And this story gives you information on abortions that six medical societies have come out with warnings about.
Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating in Virginia Now 34%
I’ll admit, I figured that most polling, examining a potential Virginia Senate race matchup between the GOP’s former governor and Sen. George Allen and Democrats’ former Gov. Tim Kaine would show a close race.
But at least one poll says otherwise, at least at this point:
In a very early look at the possible battle for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Webb, REGISTERED VOTERS IN THE COMMONWEALTH PREFERRED FORMER GOV. AND U.S. SEN. GEORGE ALLEN, A REPUBLICAN, OVER FORMER GOV. TIM KAINE, A DEMOCRAT, BY 45 PERCENT TO 32 PERCENT WITH 23 PERCENT UNDECIDED.
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/264246/poll-obamas-approval-rating-virginia-now-34
It’s early yet, but this poll most likely reflects Obama’s problems in the coming election. He won Virginia in 2008, but his popularity in VA is now 34% (notice Kaine’s numbers). This bodes ill for the Democrats chances in both the Senate and the Presidential elections.
Gabby Giffords’ recovery may be overstated
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS’S RECOVERY FROM A JANUARY GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD MIGHT NOT BE QUITE AS SPEEDY OR AS MIRACULOUS AS MANY REPORTS HAVE INDICATED, and the congresswoman still faces a long road toward some approximation of a “new normal,” which may not include a return to Capitol Hill.
While public pronouncements from Giffords’s astronaut husband Mark Kelly, her doctors, her friends and her staffers have boosted the spirits of observers, INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED WITH MANY OF THOSE SAME PEOPLE FOR A NEWSWEEK STORY PUBLISHED MONDAY SUGGEST THAT HER PROGRESS HAS BEEN OVERSTATED.
Gabrielle Giffords’s recovery from a January gunshot wound to the head might not be quite as speedy or as miraculous as many reports have indicated, and the congresswoman still faces a long road toward some approximation of a “new normal,” which may not include a return to Capitol Hill.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52908.html#ixzz1JEYwRlcn
Only time will tell how fast and how far Congresswoman Giffords will come in her fight to recover from her wounds.
A New Idea for a Catholic Grade School
It’s 1 p.m. and time for Amy Clayton’s fifth grade to show off their memorization skills.
Decked out in blue long-sleeved shirts and dark pants for boys and bright yellow blouses and plaid jumpers for girls, the students begin with the words of Patrick Henry’s immortal “Give me liberty or give me death” speech first delivered on March 23, 1775, in Richmond. That recitation merges into verses from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride.” That morphs into a few phrases from the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution and finally to fragments of speeches by Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
“Beautifully done,” Clayton says at the conclusion. “WE JUST ENCAPSULATED 80 YEARS OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN OUR RECITATION.” She is engaged, dramatic, and students are nearly jumping out of their seats trying to answer her questions about the beginnings of the Civil War. To her right is a banner containing a quote from Aesop: “No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” Near that hangs a crucifix.
THIS IS ST. JEROME CLASSICAL SCHOOL, THE NEW NAME FOR WHAT ONCE WAS A TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL IN HYATTSVILLE. Starting last spring, St. Jerome’s began transforming itself from a debt-ridden, pre-K-8 institution into a showcase for one of the more intriguing trends in modern education. IT IS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF ARCHDIOCESAN ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY TO HAVE A CLASSICAL CURRICULUM….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/embracing-a-classical-education/2011/03/09/AFj6amwC_story.html
This is an interesting idea for a school. Perhaps public schools should be looking at some Charter Schools to emulate this idea.
