The left gets desperate

Look and see where the money is

Why taxing the rich won’t solve the debt problem

The problem with rich people (or, more properly high income earners) is that there aren't enough of them. Upper-income taxpayers are already paying around double their fair (pro rata) share of federal income taxes on the average, and there simply aren't enough dollars at the high end to pay for the Democrats' spending spree, even if the Dems try to steal them all. THE ONLY WAY TO BALANCE THE BUDGET THROUGH TAX INCREASES IS BY GOING WHERE MOST OF THE MONEY IS--THE $50,000 TO $500,000 ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME RANGE.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/04/028846.php


Of course Obama and the Democrats know this, but won’t admit it when it comes to telling the American people what they are really planning to do.



More Politicalization at the Holder DOJ

….Last Thursday I reported on an interview I conducted with a top DOJ official who said that THE PENDING INDICTMENTS OF SEVERAL PROMINENT LEADERS OF ISLAMIC ORGANIZATIONS CLOSE TO THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, including one of the co-founders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Omar Ahmad, on charges of material support for the terrorist group Hamas WERE SCUTTLED TO AVOID EMBARRASSING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND TO AVOID INFLAMING THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY. My source cited a March 31, 2010, internal DOJ memo from Assistant Attorney General David Kris to Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler effectively dropping the prosecution of Ahmad.

When I contacted the Department of Justice National Security Division, public affairs representative Dean Boyd refused to provide me a copy of the memo and declined to comment on the matter. Boyd directed me to submit a FOIA for the information.

But now House Homeland Security Committee chairman REP. PETER KING (R-NY) HAS SENT A LETTER TO ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER INQUIRING ABOUT THE DETAILS OF OUR REPORT. In the letter dated Friday, April 15, King asks for Holder’s reasons for dropping these terror finance prosecutions.

In his letter, he goes beyond my own reporting and states that THE DOJ DECISION WAS MADE:

…OVER THE VEHEMENT AND STATED OBJECTIONS OF SPECIAL AGENTS AND SUPERVISORS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, AS WELL AS THE PROSECUTORS AT THE U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE IN DALLAS, who had investigated and successfully prosecuted the Holy Land Foundation case….

….That’s right. The excuse they are currently floating to their friends in the establishment media to explain the decision not to prosecute CAIR officials and the other Islamic leaders implicated in the Holy Land Foundation case (all of whom had been named unindicted co-conspirators) is that THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CHOSE NOT TO PROSECUTE THEM IN 2004 AND THEY WERE JUST REAFFIRMING WHAT JOHN ASHCROFT HAD DECIDED WAY BACK WHEN.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-empire-strikes-back/

So once again, “It’s Bush’s fault.” For all the things Bush did wrong that the Democrats ran against during the last presidential election cycle, this administration seems to have kept most of them.



Where’s the service in public service?

Instead of government employees serving the public, it’s clear now their belief is that the public exists to serve them. And IF THE PUBLIC DOESN’T STEP UP, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.

Why else would a government union president threaten to “weaponize” the jobs of his members? At the latest union protest in Lansing, Michigan, AFSCME president HERB SANDERS EXPLAINED TO THE LANSING STATE JOURNAL:

“IF NECESSARY, WE WILL USE THE VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICE JOBS THAT WE PERFORM AS A WEAPON AND SHUT THIS STATE DOWN.”

http://biggovernment.com/kolson/2011/04/18/afscme-union-threatens-to-weaponize-government-jobs/

Before they try this they might want to talk to some of the former Air Traffic Controllers who were fired in the 1980s.



Obama’s birth certificate: Is he hiding something?

With Donald Trump's headline-grabbing call for our President to release his birth certificate, more and more people are discussing the circumstances of Obama's birth. ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT OBAMA IS HIDING SOMETHING -- THE DATE OF BIRTH, THE PLACE, THE FATHER -- IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY THAT HE IS CONCEALING A KENYAN NATIVITY.

The President's mother, Ann Dunham and father, Barack Obama, Sr., supposedly met in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii. The time was late September, 1960. For the official birth date of August 4, 1961 to work, and assuming that Ann carried her baby for a full term, she would have to have been impregnated sometime in mid November, 1960….

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/why_obama_was_not_born_in_keny.html

There’s not much chance that Obama was born in Kenya. I agree with that. However I also agree with the author when he said, “it seems likely that Obama is hiding something…”


TEA Party books

TODAY HARPERCOLLINS’S CONSERVATIVE IMPRINT, BROADSIDE BOOKS, LAUNCHES A SERIES OF E-BOOKS WRITTEN BY AND IN THE SPIRIT OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT. “VOICES OF THE TEA PARTY” includes First Do No Harm: The President’s Cousin Explains Why His Hippocratic Oath Requires Him to Oppose ObamaCare, by Milton Wolf; Community Organizing for Conservatives: A Manifesto for Localism in the Tea Party Movement, by Lorie Medina; and The Battle for Virginia’s 5th District: How the Ancestral Spirit of Patrick Henry Inspired Me to Join the Tea Party, by Mark Kevin Lloyd, all pamphlet-length. The series also has an interactive website and invitation to Tea Party activists: Submit your 5,000-7,000-word essay and yours, too, may be published by HarperCollins.

There will be more “Voices” in six weeks, and another series, “Voices of the Hollywood Right,” too, to come.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/265081/tea-party-takes-publishing-harpercollins-gets-broadsided-kathryn-jean-lopez

As the left tries to castigate the TEA Party, their influence can be seen in the discussion about the debt. They were demonstrating about it two years ago.



A Little Bit More on the Ryan Plan

In his anti-Paul Ryan speech last week, President Obama accused the congressman of seeking to make “kids with disabilities. . . . fend for themselves.” WHAT’S THE THEORY HERE? THAT PEOPLE ARE SO SYMPATHETIC TO DISABLED KIDS THAT USING THEM TO ATTACK THE PLAN WILL CHANGE PUBLIC OPINION, BUT SO UNSYMPATHETIC THAT THEY’LL BE THE FIRST ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK when state governments make Medicaid-budgeting decisions?

….As Michael Crowley notes, liberals have rational grounds to reject the Ryan plan. Of course they prefer an alternative with more taxes and more spending. But WE’RE STILL, MOSTLY, IN THE CHEAP-SHOT AND WEAK-LOGIC STAGE OF THIS DEBATE.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/265071/little-bit-more-ryan-plan-ramesh-ponnuru

Despite the cheap-shot and weak logic stage of the debate, at least we are having the debate in no small part due to the TEA Party



Can we believe anything Obama says for the next 19 months?

Barack Obama in Annandale VA. “REMEMBER WHEN THAT BRIDGE IN MINNESOTA COLLAPSED WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE ON IT? And there was a big hue and cry, “How can this happen in America?” Well, the National Society of Engineers — they looked around and THEY GIVE US A D WHEN IT COMES TO INFRASTRUCTURE.”


THE BRIDGE COLLAPSE OCCURRED BECAUSE OF A DESIGN DEFECT, A CONCLUSION REACHED BY THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD. The bridge was designed and built in an era when engineers thought that redundant systems were both unnecessary and inefficient. Gusset plates installed at the time of the bridge’s building were too thin, and without any redundancy to account for a major failure on a single point, IT WAS A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN FROM DAY 1. It had nothing to do with any lack of maintenance, AND IN FACT COLLAPSED BECAUSE OF SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE TO THE DECK THAT INADVERTENTLY DESTABILIZED IT TO THE POINT OF COLLAPSE.

It’s dishonest in the extreme to use this tragedy as an argument that we neglected our infrastructure, and ghoulish to use the dead for a false political point. OBAMA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF

.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/19/video-obama-says-the-rich-will-keep-businesses-in-us-if-we-hike-taxes/

It’s the silly season.



The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal

That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, THE WAR AGAINST THE LIBYAN DICTATOR STILL NEEDS TO BE VOTED ON BY CONGRESS, just as President Jefferson asked Congress for permission regarding the First Barbary War.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/18/the-libyan-intervention-is-not-wholly-legal/

The left moans that Bush lied to get congress to go along with his Iraq War, yet this administration doesn’t seem to even take the time or trouble to get congress to go along as the Constitution requires.


CNN Poll: Support for increased offshore oil drilling on rise

One year after the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, SUPPORT FOR OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING HAS REBOUNDED DESPITE CONCERNS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CANNOT PREVENT ANOTHER MASSIVE OIL SPILL, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 69 PERCENT OF AMERICANS FAVOR INCREASED OFFSHORE DRILLING, WITH JUST OVER THREE IN TEN OPPOSED. That 69 percent is up 20 points from last June, while the oil spill was still in progress, and is back to the level of support seen in the summer of 2008.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/19/cnn-poll-support-for-increased-offshore-oil-drilling-on-rise/

Since we aren’t drilling, we must be suffering from the tyranny of the minority.



Disclosure Delayed Is Justice Denied

The judge who threw out Prop 8 should have been disqualified.

Two weeks ago, former federal district judge VAUGHN WALKER, WHO RULED LAST SUMMER IN PERRY V. SCHWARZENEGGER THAT CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 8 IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, PUBLICLY DISCLOSED FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT HE HAS BEEN IN A SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIP FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS. A straightforward application of the judicial ethics rules compels the conclusion that Walker should have recused himself from taking part in the Perry case. Further, under well-established Supreme Court precedent, the remedy of vacating Walker’s judgment is timely and necessary.

Let’s begin with the relevant facts that bear on the recusal question….

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265066/disclosure-delayed-justice-denied-ed-whelan?page=1



Obama’s approval among Hispanic at all time low

In the week of April 11-17, Gallup reported, ONLY 47 PERCENT OF HISPANICS SAID THEY APPROVED OF THE JOB OBAMA WAS DOING AS PRESIDENT.

This was only the third week during Obama’s presidency that his job approval among his Hispanics has been lower than 50 percent. The previous two occasions were Sept. 20-26, 2010, when Obama’s approval dropped to 49 percent among Hispanics, and the week of July 26-Aug.1, 2010, when it dropped to 48 percent.

OBAMA’S APPROVAL AMONG HISPANICS PEAKED AT 85 PERCENT--a level it attained in the week of April 20-26, 2009 and again in the week of May 11-17, 2009.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-obama-s-approval-among-hispanics

Obama can’t afford to lose the Hispanic vote. He’ll need them big time in 2012.



Glass-Like Solar Cells Set Stage for Power-Producing Windows

…Add this to the growing list of promising innovations in solar energy: PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS THAT CAPTURE ENERGY FROM SUNLIGHT BUT WITHOUT CHANGING THE WAY SUNLIGHT APPEARS TO THE NAKED HUMAN EYE. The kicker: you can paint these virtually invisible cells on everyday window panes used in everyday homes and everyday buildings..

Coated onto a pane of standard window glass, a potentially revolutionary photovoltaic technology DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHERS AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY uses organic molecules to capture the energy of infrared light without blocking the flow of light. The technology may one day turn everyday wind panes into a source of electric power. More importantly, IT MAY BE CHEAP ENOUGH FOR PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY USE THESE POWER-PRODUCING WINDOWS.

http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/04/16/glass-like-solar-cells-set-stage-for-power-producing-windows/

I’m a big fan of research and development on solar. This looks very interesting.

In interesting Sunday

Obama: Is his administration in trouble?

…Most important, IT REQUIRES THE GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE TO CONDUCT AN AUDIT OF THE WAIVERS FROM THE DEMOCRATS' HEALTH CARE BILL that are being issued in large numbers by the secretary of Health and Human Services Department.

This will raise an uncomfortable question. IF OBAMACARE IS SO GREAT, WHY ARE SO MANY TRYING TO GET OUT FROM UNDER IT? AND, MORE SPECIFICALLY, WHY ARE SO MANY DEMOCRATIC GROUPS TRYING TO GET OUT FROM UNDER IT?

The fact is that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius HAS GRANTED MORE THAN 1,000 WAIVERS from Obamacare. Many have been granted to labor unions. Some have been granted to giant corporations like McDonald's. One was granted to the entire state of Maine.

BY WHAT CRITERIA IS THIS RELIEF BEING GRANTED? That's unclear, and the GAO audit should produce some answers. But what it looks like to an outsider is that waivers are being granted to constituencies that have coughed up money (or in the case of Maine, four electoral votes) to the Democrats.

If so, what we're looking at is another example of gangster government in this administration. THE LAW IN ITS MAJESTY APPLIES TO EVERYONE EXCEPT THOSE WHO GET SPECIAL FAVORS…..

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/04/president-whatever-finds-things-not-going-his-way#ixzz1JnYqehCz

Here's a little known agreement from the CR for the 2011 budget.  It could be a real problem for the Obama Administration and the Democrats. 
White House: When Obama said Paul Ryan is 'not on the level,' he meant Ryan is 'absolutely sincere'

In his caught-by-an-open-microphone remarks to a private fundraiser in Chicago Thursday night, PRESIDENT OBAMA QUESTIONED THE SINCERITY OF HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Paul Ryan's effort to reduce the federal deficit. RYAN'S APPROACH, OBAMA TOLD DEMOCRATIC DONORS, IS "NOT ON THE LEVEL….."

….Given those comments, one might assume that Obama does not believe Ryan is being entirely sincere in his proposals to cut spending and reform entitlements. Not at all. During a question-and-answer session with press secretary Jay Carney on board Air Force One returning from Chicago to Washington Friday, a reporter noted that Obama's remarks "impl[ied] that Ryan was not serious about the deficit, he voted for two wars, that kind of thing." The reporter asked: "DOES THE PRESIDENT BELIEVE PAUL RYAN IS A SINCERE PERSON?"

ABSOLUTELY, CARNEY ANSWERED. "HE DOES BELIEVE THAT CHAIRMAN RYAN IS ABSOLUTELY SINCERE and that he believes that this is the right -- that that's the right path, the one he put forward is the right path for America."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/white-house-when-obama-said-paul-ryan-not-level-he-meant-ryan-abs#ixzz1JpMHMcgq

This president is completely inconsistent. I’m not sure if it is a measure of his integrity or of his intelligence. You make the call on that.



IRS Allowed $500m of First-Time Homeowner Credits to Ineligible Taxpayers (Including 128 IRS Employees)

HOMEBUYERS WHO PURCHASED A HOME IN 2008, 2009, OR 2010 WERE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER CREDIT. The Homebuyer Credit allowed eligible taxpayers to claim up to an $8,000 refundable credit on their tax return. Fraudulent and erroneous Homebuyer Credits totaling millions of dollars in refunds were issued, revealing a need for not only stronger controls over claims for the Homebuyer Credit, but also for strengthening controls over all refundable credits. ...

Control weaknesses identified in the two prior reports, as well as those identified in this report, ALLOWED POTENTIALLY ERRONEOUS REFUNDS OF MORE THAN $513 MILLION TO BE RECEIVED BY TAXPAYERS WHO MOST LIKELY DID NOT QUALIFY FOR THE HOMEBUYER CREDIT. Furthermore, during this final phase of the audit, TIGTA identified additional IRS employees who made questionable claims for the Credit.

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/04/irs-allowed.html

When the government gets involved, a lot things can and do go wrong.



Unions boo when 14 year old Tea Party speaker says “God bless America”

Then, we can hear that a young woman is speaking from the stage to the Tea Party crowd as the protesters do what they can to drown her out. She finishes — "God bless America" — and the tea partiers cheer but the protesters overwhelm them with boos. The emcee comes to the mike and we hear that the speaker was only 14 years old.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/04/14-year-old-girl-speaks-at-tea-party.html


Ask George III if Demonizing the Tea Party Works

Future historians will describe the DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S DEMONIZATION OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT AS A MAJOR POLITICAL BLUNDER THAT PUT THEM SQUARELY ON THE WRONG SIDE OF AMERICA'S 21st CENTURY FINANCIAL CRISIS.

When Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on a conference call that he'd been instructed by "the caucus" to use the word "extreme" when referring to the Tea Party, he carelessly revealed the previously obvious but unacknowledged truth. DEMOCRATS HAVE A COORDINATED PLAN TO DEMONIZE THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT (TPM) VIA THEIR OFT-REPEATED MEME THAT IMPLICITLY CHARACTERIZES LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS AS TERRORISTS -- as with fundamentalist Islam or domestic militias, contemporary lone gunman or historical mass murderers (recall Nancy Pelosi's comment about Nazis in conjunction with TPM gatherings).

USING "EXTREME" IS AN EXTREME TACTIC ON THE PART OF DEMOCRATS. And a dumb one, guaranteed to galvanize the TPM into a stronger and more determined effort. One might ask: How could Democrats be so brazenly stupid as to think the tactic will be widely successful, particularly with independents? Even with the support of the legacy liberal media?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/ask_george_iii_if_demonizing_t.html

Ah, yes, this has been a fiasco from day one for the Democrats. I remember when Sarah Palin told everyone to party like it is 1773. You had a host of liberal bloggers calling her “stupid” since the American revolution didn’t begin until 1776. Too bad for them their history was so bad since the original Tea Party happened on December 16, 1773. And from here they gone downhill.



Video of Sarah Palin’s speech in Wisconsin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5cZWRx_AMs


New frontier as Nasa posts thousands of incredible space images on the internet


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1377762/Nasa-posts-thousands-amazing-space-images-internet.html#ixzz1JpJYgO6c

There are a number of companion stories. Great pictures and interesting read.

Solar Farm’s future in doubt

A BILL GIVING WASHINGTON UTILITIES EXTRA CREDIT FOR BUYING POWER FROM A PROPOSED SOLAR FARM NEAR CLE ELUM HAS FAILED TO ADVANCE.

Backers of the Teanaway Solar Reserve had told lawmakers that the project to put 400,000 photovoltaic panels over 900 acres WOULD DIE WITHOUT THE LEGISLATION

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Solar-farm-future-in-doubt-after-bill-s-demise-1341048.php#ixzz1JpRB76UR

Here’s the problem: solar and wind are not viable without massive credits from the government. We need to keep these renewal sources funded in the R&D stage, but that’s all.

The UN ‘disappears’ 50 million climate refugees, then botches the cover-up

Oh boy, government idiocy at its finest. Not only is the original claim bogus, the attempts to disappear it are hilariously inept. Apparently, they’ve never heard of Google Cache at the UN. Rather than simply saying “we were wrong,” they’ve now brought even more distrust onto the UN…..

…. Update: The UN now says that there will be 50 million climate change refugees by 2020

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/16/the-un-disappears-50-million-climate-refugees-then-botches-the-cover-up/#ixzz1JpLKSSWx

I’ve given you the first paragraph and the last which is an update. It appears we have a clumsy attempted cover up. AGW as a legitimate scientific hypothesis is dead and all the cover ups in the world will not save it.