What's your fair share?

What is your fair share?

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

Here are some other data points that I find interesting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Obama's Likability Gap

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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



Blame Game

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

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

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

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


Troubles to left and troubles to the right

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

BUT THE PRESIDENT MENTIONED NO ACTUAL MISTAKES.

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

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



Stripped of Dignity

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

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

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

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


The tolerant left: an oxymoron?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Obama the Hun

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

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

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

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

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


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



Wisconsin: The Unions paid the Democrats to flee the state

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

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

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

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


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



Charlie Sheen or Charlie Manson: You make the call

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

All things Obama

Obama seeks to dump GM

…A sale within the next several months would almost certainly mean U.S. TAXPAYERS WILL TAKE A LOSS ON THEIR $50 BILLION RESCUE OF THE DETROIT AUTO MAKER IN 2009.

To break even, the U.S. Treasury would need to sell its remaining stake—about 500 million shares—at $53 apiece. GM closed off 27 cents a share at $29.97 in 4 p.m. trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, HITTING A NEW LOW SINCE ITS $33-A-SHARE NOVEMBER INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING….


….Shares have been hurt by rising fuel prices, industry production disruptions and management turnover. At Monday's price, and taking into account shares sold during the IPO, TAXPAYERS WOULD LOSE MORE THAN $11 BILLION ON THE RESCUE IF THE GOVERNMENT DUMPED THE REST OF ITS STAKE NOW.

Government officials are willing to take the loss because the Obama administration would like to sever its last ties to the auto maker, the people familiar with the matter said. A summer sale makes it more likely Treasury could sell all of its stake in GM by year's end, AVOIDING A POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL SALE IN THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703916004576271382418887092.html?mod=e2tw#

See, raising a billion dollars for his campaign is nothing when he can get the taxpayers to pitch in 11 billion to remove just one embarrassment of his.



Obama and Medicare

Piously posturing as the savior of Medicare, President Obama lashed out at the House Republicans for embracing the budget proposed by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). But a comparison of the president’s own plans for Medicare with those in the Ryan budget shows that THE DEMOCRATIC CUTS ARE FAR MORE IMMEDIATE AND DRASTIC THAN ANYTHING IN THE GOP PROPOSAL.

WHILE THE REPUBLICAN MEDICARE CHANGES ONLY TAKE EFFECT IN 2021, OBAMA’S CUTS WILL BEGIN HURTING SENIORS RIGHT AWAY. The president’s healthcare legislation imposed a hard spending cap on Medicare 
— the first time it has ever had one — which he has just proposed lowering by another one-half of 1 percent of GDP (a further cut of about $70 billion a year).

Obama’s cuts, which will take effect immediately, are to be administered by his newly created Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) of 15 members appointed by the president. ITS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CUTS IN MEDICARE SERVICES OR FOR REDUCTIONS IN REIMBURSEMENT WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL BUT WILL TAKE EFFECT BY ADMINISTRATIVE FIAT. RIGHT NOW.

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/156879-obamas-medicare-hypocrisy

Sarah Palin was right. Remember this when the left talks about how the Republicans are destroying Medicare.



Why Obama is so far behind the times

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and others have noted that President Obama seems a few beats behind things; unable to anticipate things as they develop, and awkward when forced to catch up. WHEN HE RESPONDS, HIS ANSWERS SEEM LACKING.

Good politicians are in tune with their times, great ones foresee them, but OBAMA SEEMS OUT OF STEP WITH HIS TIMES, AND BEHIND THEM.

He is in the right job (he thinks), at the wrong moment, handed a crisis he never expected, and is doing his best to ignore. HE WAS TOLD, AND BELIEVED, HE WAS THE NEW FDR AT THE START OF A NEW AGE OF EXPANSION, AND IT WOULD BE HIS JOB TO REDEEM THE OLD LIBERAL VISION.

How could he know that a few months into his term the welfare state would implode both at home and in Europe, and that, INSTEAD OF RESTORING THE LIBERAL CREED TO DEPRESSION-AGE GLORY, HE WOULD PRESIDE OVER ITS FINAL DEMISE?

Two years ago, Time had him on its cover as FDR redux, and Newsweek was saying that we were all socialists now. Soon after that, the real socialists threw in the towel in Europe, admitting their system had not been successful, urging retrenchment and large cuts in government spending.

OBAMA'S RESPONSE WAS TO SPEND STILL MORE MONEY, TOUT SPEED RAIL AND WINDMILLS, AND TREAT WARNINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD OF A DEBT-FUELED DISASTER AS PART OF A PLOY BY THE RIGHT IN ITS DRIVE TO STARVE CHILDREN

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/04/why-obama-so-far-behind-times#ixzz1K3jesIe9

This is a sad commentary on Obama and the state of the Left in this country. They actually feel if you aren’t with them, you are un American.



Obama in and on Texas

Apparently Obama did not appreciate the tone of this reporter from Texas, who asked Obama some pointed questions and at one point corrected him on how badly he lost the Lone Star state in 2008. OBAMA TESTILY CONCLUDES "LET ME FINISH MY ANSWERS" AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW:

In case Obama needs a better refresher, the National Republican Senatorial Committee gleefully sent out the following email:

Good morning – as you continue to hear national DEMOCRAT CAMPAIGN STRATEGISTS PONTIFICATE ON HOW THEY INTEND TO TARGET TEXAS IN NEXT YEAR’S ELECTION, I wanted to point out that in an interview last night, WFAA-TV reporter Brad Watson had to remind even President Obama that HE ACTUALLY LOST TEXAS BY 11 POINTS IN 2008 – AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS POPULARITY -- AND NOT BY “A FEW PERCENTAGE POINTS” AS THE PRESIDENT INITIALLY CLAIMED.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/case-obama-has-forgotten-he-lost-texas-117-points_557578.html

Obama, the Democrats and the left in general are more and more out of touch with reality.



Obama: The Bully-in-Chief

…To grasp the magnitude of this spectacle, it is important to understand the context. At the start of the year, the President spoke directly to Republican House leaders at their annual retreat. There, he took on a tone reminiscent of his hope-n-change, post-partisan healer routine from the 2008 campaign trail, urging, "I DON'T THINK [THE AMERICAN PEOPLE] WANT MORE PARTISANSHIP... THEY DIDN'T SEND US TO WASHINGTON TO FIGHT EACH OTHER IN SOME SORT OF POLITICAL STEEL CAGE MATCH TO SEE WHO COMES OUT ALIVE... THEY SENT US TO WASHINGTON TO WORK TOGETHER, TO GET THINGS DONE."

In such an environment of cooperation and collaboration, PRESIDENT OBAMA INVITED CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN -- the architect of the recent Republican budget plan -- TO SIT IN THE FRONT ROW, JUST INCHES FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL LECTERN AT HIS RECENT BUDGET ADDRESS. It would be fair to assume that Ryan believed this to be a sign of goodwill. Though the President was sure to disagree with portions of his plan, Ryan probably felt he was in for a bipartisan pat on the back and an expression of appreciation for tackling this monumental challenge. Why else would the President save him such a seat of prominence?

How about so the Playground Bully-in-Chief could ambush Ryan and make an example of him in front of the country? FOR THE BETTER PART OF AN HOUR, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES LAMBASTED RYAN'S EFFORTS PUBLICLY AS LITTLE SHORT OF ABANDONING AUTISTIC KIDS TO THE SEWERS AND LOCKING GRANNY IN THE ATTIC.

Given this undignified blindside, Rep. Ryan would have been well within his rights to walk out of the hall in disgust. But apparently, decorum and respect are words that find meaning in the Ryan vocabulary -- more than can be said for our Chief Executive. After all, THIS RECENT MANIFESTATION OF HIS BRAZEN CHILDISHNESS IS BUT ONE THREAD IN A MUCH LARGER TAPESTRY OF IMMATURITY THAT HAS EMERGED

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

Like a bully, Obama likes to pick times his opponents can’t fight back. Ryan above and SCOTUS at last fiscal year’s SOTU.



Obama lies again

President Barack Obama claimed that coal could create "the kinds of air pollution" THAT IS "CREATING ASTHMA FOR KIDS," in speaking at a town hall event in Annandale, Va., on Tuesday. However, the NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH SAYS THAT “THE EXACT CAUSE OF ASTHMA ISN’T KNOWN” AND THAT “ASTHMA IS DIFFERENT FOR EACH PERSON.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-claims-air-pollution-coal-creating

I’m sure NBC/CBS/ and ABC will lead with the story that Obama was lying in his Annandale speech.



Even Arianna doesn’t trust BHO

….Perhaps it's because we feel like we've seen this movie before. CALL IT "ATTACK OF THE IMPASSIONED YET EMPTY RHETORIC." But this version was even more unsettling than the earlier versions, in which the president delivered great speeches then failed to back up his words with the promised action. IN THIS SEQUEL, HIS WORDS TURNED TO BROKEN PROMISES AS SOON AS THEY PASSED HIS LIPS.

IT'S ALMOST AS IF THE SPEECH WAS PREMISED ON THE HOPE THAT MOST OF HIS AUDIENCE HADN'T BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THE NEWS. "They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in health costs? That's not right. And it's not going to happen as long as I'm president," he said, drawing rhetorical lines in the sand. The problem is, he had already welcomed Republicans across these lines and enjoyed a few celebratory toasts with them on the other side.

We got used to the president making strong promises and then caving -- from closing Guantanamo to not extending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Now he's making strong promises he's already broken. HE'S LIKE A POLITICAL VERSION OF THE GUY PEARCE CHARACTER IN MEMENTO -- HE'S FIGURED OUT A WAY TO BREAK PROMISES OUTSIDE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF LINEAR TIME….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-economy-speech_b_851311.html


2012 is looking good if you are a Republican, not so much if you are a Democrat.



Obama: Sense and Nonsense

President Obama said sensible things in his speech about deficits. "Most Americans tend to dislike government spending in the abstract, but they like the stuff it buys," he noted. True. "NOBODY WANTS TO PAY HIGHER TAXES." TRUE. "AROUND TWO-THIRDS OF OUR BUDGET IS SPENT ON MEDICARE, MEDICAID, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND NATIONAL SECURITY." ALSO TRUE. Therefore, cuts to discretionary programs alone "won't solve the problem." True again.

Alas, THAT WAS ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE PRESIDENT'S TRUTHFULNESS. The rest of his speech WAS WASTED SETTING UP STRAW MEN AND KNOCKING THEM DOWN with bombastic nonsense about who wants Americans to be prosperous and happy (him) and who wants them to die cold and hungry (anyone who disagrees with him). As for specifics, he offered none.

THE ONLY WAY TO SHOW CARE FOR OTHERS, OBAMA SUGGESTED, WAS BY SPENDING ON GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. Blame for high deficits, he insisted, falls exclusively on inadequate taxation. Nowhere did he mention that FEDERAL SPENDING HAS SKYROCKETED IN THE PAST THREE YEARS, FROM $2.9 TRILLION IN 2008 TO $3.8 TRILLION TODAY.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/editorials/2011/apr/17/TDOPIN01-sense-nonsense-ar-975980/


Obama support falls with just about everyone

….According to this McClatchy-Marist Poll, 61% OF REGISTERED VOTERS NATIONALLY DISAPPROVE OF HOW THE PRESIDENT IS HANDLING THE FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT. 34% approve, and only 5% are unsure.
Republicans are the most dissatisfied with how Mr. Obama is tackling the deficit. Most GOP voters — 91% — disapprove of his approach while just 5% approve. AMONG INDEPENDENT VOTERS, MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS — 68% — ARE UNHAPPY WITH HOW THE PRESIDENT IS ADDRESSING THE ISSUE COMPARED WITH 28% WHO APPROVE. And, while 64% of the president’s own party approve of how Mr. Obama is dealing with the deficit, a significant 30% of Democrats would prefer he take on the issue in a different way.

President Obama laid out his plan to deal with the budget deficit last Wednesday. And, while there was a slight bounce in those who approve of how the president is handling the federal deficit after his speech, voters remain pessimistic. Prior to the president’s address at George Washington University, 31% approved of how he is dealing with the deficit compared with 38% who report the same after he outlined his plan.

When it comes to Mr. Obama’s overall job performance, voters remain tepid. Currently, 44% OF REGISTERED VOTERS APPROVE OF HOW THE PRESIDENT IS DOING IN OFFICE COMPARED WITH 49% WHO DISAPPROVE. Six percent are unsure.

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/419-high-dissatisfaction-with-washington/

What should concern the left is that these polls are among registered vs likely voters. Democrats traditionally do much better with all registered voters than they do in actual elections with actual voters.



Obama Has No Budget Plan

He has a campaign agenda.

Even by the very low standards of Washington politics, President Obama’s budget speech last week was a model of disingenuousness. In fact, to treat the president’s speech as a budget proposal is probably unfair. It wasn’t really a budget plan; it was a campaign speech — long on vitriol, platitudes, and promises, but short on detail. Even so, it’s worth pointing out some of the bigger inaccuracies….

Here’s a summary of Obama inaccuracies:

OBAMA JUST WANTS TO TAX “MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES.” His definition of a millionaire includes people making under a million dollars down as far as $200,000 per year.


OBAMACARE SAVES MONEY. Obamacare ginned the numbers and then spent the savings twice. He also doesn’t address the long term Medicare deficit of $45 trillion.

OBAMA WOULD CUT DOMESTIC SPENDING. This is probably the most dishonest part of the speech. Obama says he will cut $750 billion over 12 years. INCLUDED IN THESE SAVINGS ARE SAVINGS ON DEBT SERVICE AND “REDUCED SPENDING THROUGH THE TAX CODE.” IN OTHER WORDS, HE COUNTS TAX HIKES AS SPENDING CUTS (ie. Cutting out the homeowners tax deduction would raise revenue, but Obama counts that as a spending cut.

OBAMA’S PLAN BALANCES THE BUDGET. Actually none of the plans we are talking about balances the budget, but Ryan’s plan is 89% better toward that goal that Obama’s.

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265067/obama-has-no-budget-plan-michael-tanner


You would have to be a fool to believe this president.

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.

Why Obama will lose in 2012 part two

Saul and Barack

...Obama is an odd politician. Most politicians see the cloudy phraseology of their speeches as mere throwaway stuff, cotton candy for the simple-minded. Obama sees such gibberish as the soul of his agenda. IF WE WANT TO EXAMINE WHERE OBAMA TRULY STANDS, WE MUST DELVE INTO HIS SOARING RHETORIC.

And the soaring rhetoric is unvaryingly drawn directly from Saul Alinsky.

As Andrew Breitbart makes clear in his fantastic new book, RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION, the father of the contemporary left is Saul Alinsky. …As Breitbart writes, “Alinsky’s clever merging of fake founding philosophy with his own Marxism led him to internal contradictions that would have sunk a lesser ego. WHILE CHAMPIONING ‘FREEDOM,’ FOR EXAMPLE – HE HATED THE IDEA OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM THE FOUNDERS LOVED – HE [PUSHED FOR] ‘COMMUNAL FREEDOM,’ WHICH IS TO SAY TYRANNY LED BY THE GOVERNMENT….”

….Obama opened his speech by stating that Americans have historically “put our faith in free markets and free enterprise as the engine of America’s wealth and prosperity … we are rugged individualists, A SELF-RELIANT PEOPLE WITH A HEALTHY SKEPTICISM OF TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT.”

So far, so good. But Obama continues: “But there has always been another thread running throughout our history – A BELIEF THAT WE ARE ALL CONNECTED; AND THAT THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE CAN ONLY DO TOGETHER, AS A NATION.” This is un-American, and it is a lie. AMERICAN UNITY DOESN’T OCCUR IN OPPOSITION TO FREE MARKETS, BUT IN DEFENSE OF THEM.

This is typical Alinsky. By purposefully CONFUSING PRINCIPLED INDIVIDUALISM WITH PRINCIPLED COMMUNITARIANISM, SUGGESTING THAT AMERICANS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY BOTH, Obama begins the slow march to fascism. In this section of his speech, Obama essentially turned Americans into corporatists – free marketeers ready, willing, and able to turn over that free market to a well-organized state….

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/04/18/barack-obamas-arrogant-ignorant-marxist-rhetoric/

Well worth reading, the author nails Obama’s MO. Obama presents two opposites and then paints himself as the voice of moderation that brings the two together. Unfortunately, you can’t have an SUV that get’s 100 mpg or a healthcare system in which you add 30 million people to it, reduce costs while improving quality. Obama speaks with a forked tongue.



IPAB, Obama, and Socialism

They’re back. RATIONING, DEATH PANELS, SOCIALISM, all those nasty old words that helped bring Republicans victory in 2010, and that came to seem so impolite after November of that year. They’re back because of IPAB. Remember that acronym. It stand for THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD. IPAB IS THE REAL DEATH PANEL, THE TRUE SEAT OF RATIONING, and the royal road to health-care socialism. President Obama won’t admit to any of that, but his speech in response to Paul Ryan’s plan did push IPAB out of the shadows and into public view, however briefly. …

…. As IPAB caps Medicare payments for various services, THE ELDERLY WILL BE UNABLE TO OBTAIN MANY KINDS OF CARE, OR WILL EXPERIENCE DE FACTO RATIONING VIA LONG TREATMENT DELAYS AND SHARP DECLINES IN THE QUALITY OF CARE. And by the way, IPAB rationing will hit many current seniors, whereas Ryan’s reform of Medicare will never affect anyone now 55 or older.

…A month ago here at NRO, my EPPC colleague James Capretta described the real plan by which the president and his allies aim to close the fiscal gap. Their goal, says Capretta, is to work by stealth, so voters never fully realize that the government has adopted their strategy. THE FIRST PART OF THE PLAN INVOLVES TAXING “THE RICH” FOR MEDICARE AND HEALTH INSURANCE, BUT WITHOUT REAGAN-STYLE INDEXING OF TAXES TO INFLATION. That way, inflation-driven “BRACKET CREEP” will raise health-care taxes on the middle class without congressional Democrats ever having to vote for new taxes. (See Ross Douthat on this today.)

The second part of the plan involves IPAB-imposed price controls and the large-scale rationing of health care that implies. But to work, IPAB’s authority has got to extend beyond Medicare. The idea, says Capretta, is TO WAIT UNTIL THE MASSIVE FINANCIAL STRAINS BROUGHT ON BY OBAMACARE BRING CALLS FOR COST CONTROL. THAT’S WHEN THE DEMOCRATS WILL PUSH FOR IPAB’S AUTHORITY TO BE EXTENDED BEYOND MEDICARE TO ALL OF OBAMACARE, at which point we’ll be very close to a single-payer health-care system with Canadian-style rationing.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264988/ipab-obama-and-socialism-stanley-kurtz

A frightening look at what the future under Obamacare and the Democrats can end up being. And everything said here makes sense.



Baracknaphobia

…As 2012 nears I have a recurring fear that is so powerful that it finds me praying for soiled pants via a cliff dive or an enclosed coffin teeming with spiders. The dominant fear is such that I have found need to name it; to give it a label: Baracknaphobia. EACH TIME THE MAN WHO LEADS WHAT USED TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD GOES ON TELEVISION, MY STOMACH TURNS. When he speaks, I convulse at the sound of his conceited, self motivated, lies. When he travels abroad, I cower in embarrassment. When his arrogant, condescending tone reverberates in the halls where true leaders like Reagan stood, I cringe.


BARACKNAPHOBIA IS THE INESCAPABLE FEAR THAT THIS COUNTRY WILL BE SUBJECTED TO ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF IDEOLOGICAL, RADICAL, IN-YOUR-FACE NARCISSISTIC CONTROL. Baracknaphobia is also the reluctance to call the man out for his lies, because of the color of his skin. Baracknaphobia is fear of the demon that could destroy America.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/04/baracknaphobia.html

I don’t suffer from this, but I know many people who do. I do however find the name of the fear to be quite clever.


Not Tax Cuts, Not Wars, and Not Bailouts

WHAT IS REALLY DRIVING AMERICA INTO INSOLVENCY?

Your average poorly informed lefty (but I repeat myself) will reliably tell you that our current fiscal straits are the result of three things: 1. Bush’s wars; 2. Bush’s tax cuts for the rich; 3. Bush’s bank bailouts.

THAT IS NOT TRUE, OF COURSE: The main BANK BAILOUTS (ODIOUS AS THEY WERE) HAVE BEEN PAID BACK, OFTEN AT A PROFIT. The money-losing parts (and the likely money-losing parts) are the ones insisted upon by Barack Obama and his Democratic colleagues: the foreclosure-prevention programs, the endless maintenance of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, etc….

…Our deficit is running around $1.6 trillion. IF WE TOOK ALL MILITARY SPENDING — NOT JUST THE IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WARS, BUT THE WHOLE SHEBANG — AND CUT IT TO $0.00, WE’D SAVE ABOUT $664 BILLION A YEAR. Iraq and Afghanistan will cost about $170 billion combined in FY2011. ENDING THE BUSH TAX CUTS FOR “THE RICH” — FOR THE $250,000-AND-UP CROWD, IN OBAMA’S FORMULATION — WOULD PUT ON AVERAGE ABOUT ANOTHER $80 BILLION A YEAR INTO TREASURY COFFERS. (CBO estimates the ten-year cost of those tax cuts at $800 billion.) The spending on the wars and the forgone revenue from the Bush tax cuts do not add up to much of that $1.6 trillion deficit: a little less than 16 percent….

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/264917/not-tax-cuts-not-wars-and-not-bailouts-kevin-d-williamson

A very good article if you are interested in what the cost and savings are that the Democrats pin their hopes on. Eliminating the DOD is $664 billion. Tax cut for the rich gives you another $80 billion. And bail outs aren’t really a cost to add in. Therefore, the Democrats have a $1.65 trillion dollar deficit that they would solve with $250 billion in defense cuts and tax increases (make that $746 billion if you eliminated the DOD completely). Obama and the democrats are either not serious about reducing the deficit or they aren’t telling what they really plan on doing. I’m betting that the tax increase side of this is a lot bigger.


But what if we taxed rich people at 100%?

….However, recently released statistics from the Internal Revenue Service indicate that TAXING AWAY 100 PERCENT OF THE INCOME OF EVERY AMERICAN WHO EARNED $500,000 OR MORE IN 2009 WOULD STILL HAVE LEFT THE UNITED STATES WITH A MASSIVE ANNUAL DEFICIT.

In fact, in tax year 2009 (the last year for which IRS has published statistics), the combined gross income of all Americans earning $500,000 per year or more was about $1.03 trillion ($1,029,256,075,000.00) of which these Americans paid $256.7 billion ($256,699,499,000.00) in federal income taxes.

That left this group of Americans about $773 billion ($772,556,576,000.00) in income that the federal government had not taken away in income taxes.

Also during tax year 2009, according to the Bureau of the Public Debt, the national debt increased by $1.61 trillion ($1,611,544,812,899.90).

If the federal government had increased the income-tax rate on Americans earning more than $500,000 to 100 percent in 2009--and seized the remaining $773 billion in income it had not initially taken away from these Americans--THAT WOULD HAVE CLOSED THE FEDERAL DEFICIT FOR THE YEAR TO $839 BILLION ($838,988,236,899.90).

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/100-percent-tax-those-earning-500k-or-mo

It’s a cherished belief of liberals that it is the fault of the rich that we don’t have enough money and have a deficit. It simply isn’t true. Put the this article together with the previous one, if we took all the money from those earning over $500,000 and shut down the Pentagon, we would still have a $175 billion deficit. We have a spending problem.


The Incredible Shrinking Obama

….OBAMA’S ARGUMENT IS BUILT ON SAND. A tax increase on the wealthy would fall far short of the revenues needed to reverse our fiscal trajectory. Our budget problems are significantly worse today than they were in the 1990s. THERE ARE NOT NEARLY ENOUGH WEALTHY PEOPLE IN THE NATION TO TAX IN ORDER TO TAME OUR DEBT. If the president wants higher taxes to improve our fiscal imbalance, HE WILL NEED TO EMBRACE A MASSIVE MIDDLE-CLASS TAX INCREASE AND/OR A VALUE ADDED TAX (VAT). But Obama hasn’t shown the slightest preference for that option. It’s pure fiction to pretend that higher taxes on those making more than $200,000 will make much of a dent in our debt, given the size of our long-term spending problem. OBAMA’S ARGUMENT ISN’T WITH REPUBLICANS. IT’S WITH BASIC ARITHMETIC


Republicans need to UNMASK THE PHILOSOPHY GUIDING MODERN LIBERALISM when it comes to taxes. What LIBERALS ARE INTERESTED IN ISN’T GROWTH SO MUCH AS EGALITARIANISM and redistribution for its own sake. For many on the left, increasing taxes isn’t about economics as much as morality. THEY BELIEVE TAXING THE WEALTHY IS A VIRTUE, to the point that they would penalize “the rich” even if that has harmful economic consequences. Recall that during a campaign debate, when asked by Charles Gibson about his support for raising capital gains taxes even if that caused a net revenue loss to the Treasury, Obama sided with tax increases “for purposes of fairness.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/incredible-shrinking-obama_557490.html

Is Obama lying about his motivations for wanting a tax increase? Is he a politician?


5 issues that doom Obama to a one term presidency

… UNEMPLOYMENT

As I just mentioned, PAYROLLS JUST CAN’T GROW FAST ENOUGH TO ERODE THE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. Consider that in March, about 216,000 nonfarm jobs were added – and that didn’t even move the needle from an 8.8% jobless rate. If THE ECONOMY NEEDS TO ADD A MILLION JOBS A MONTH TO SIGNIFICANTLY DRAW DOWN THAT GLARING PERCENTAGE that so easily fits into headlines and news teasers, Obama is in big trouble…

http://www.investorplace.com/36925/obama-one-term-economic-issues-election/

The other issues are the Federal Reserve, Family finances, US Debt and Gas Prices. I’m only highlighting Unemployment because I think that’s the biggest one that the Democrats will fall on and it’s almost impossible for it to get better before the election.



Wind farms and other business boondoggles

PRESIDENT OBAMA SAID LAST WEEK HE WANTS TO TRIM "SPENDING IN THE TAX CODE," but he has firmly defended the provision that best fits that odd phrase: a renewable energy "tax credit" doled out in the form of grants from the U.S. Treasury.

The grant program - created by the stimulus bill and extended through 2011 by last year's tax-extender bill - is A CORPORATE WELFARE BOONDOGGLE WHOSE BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES INCLUDE HUGE FOREIGN COMPANIES.

Section 1603 of the 2009 stimulus bill instructs the Treasury secretary to issue grants to companies that develop renewable energy installations. TO DATE, THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT HAS GIVEN OUT $6.9 BILLION IN THESE GRANTS (which cover 30 percent of all cost), with more than 80 percent of that money going to wind farms…..

… Take the Meadow Lake Wind Farm in Indiana, which received the single largest 1603 grant, $276 million. Meadow Lake is owned and operated by Horizon Wind Energy, A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF EDP RENOVAVEIS, A PORTUGUESE COMPANY. CHOMA REPORTED THAT THE TURBINES AT MEADOW LAKE ARE MANUFACTURED BY VESTAS, AND THUS "LIKELY MADE IN DENMARK, WHERE VESTAS IS FROM." THE TURBINES SIT ATOP 350-FOOT TOWERS IMPORTED FROM VIETNAM.

So U.S. taxpayers cut a $276 million check to a Portuguese company in order to create jobs in Denmark and Vietnam…..

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/04/boondoggle-tax-code-subsidies-green-energy#ixzz1JsE1XNkU

This is business as usual for the Democrats. They rail about tax cuts for the wealthy while they hand out subsidies to their favored businesses.



Beggars with a bad attitude

Remember all that talk about the civility by the left after the shootings in Arizona? Here’s some very nasty libs lifting the curtain on what real incivility looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7l-pEBYeLI&feature=youtu.be


AARP under scrutiny

Three Republican congressmen ARE ASKING THE IRS TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER AARP, THE POWERFUL SENIOR LOBBY AND HEALTH CARE REFORM SUPPORTER, SHOULD BE STRIPPED OF ITS TAX-EXEMPT STATUS.

At issue is whether there's a conflict of interest between the group's mission to advocate for seniors and the money it makes from endorsing insurance products.

As a result of provisions in the health care reform law, AARP STANDS TO MAKE AN ADDITIONAL $1 BILLION THROUGH ROYALTIES ON INSURANCE PRODUCTS BRANDED WITH THE ORGANIZATION'S NAME OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS, according to a 29-page report released March 30 by Republican members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/04/11/did-aarp-sell-seniors/

Something we all can agree on. Drop your membership in AARP.

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.

Why Obama will lose in 2012

Obama approval at all time low

The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average shows 41% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. THAT TIES HIS LOW AS PRESIDENT, which he registered three times previously -- twice in August 2010 and once in October 2010.

THE CURRENT 41% APPROVAL RATING FROM APRIL 12-14 POLLING INCLUDES INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BEFORE AND AFTER OBAMA ANNOUNCED HIS PLAN FOR DEFICIT REDUCTION ON WEDNESDAY. It also comes in the same week Congress is voting on the 2011 budget deal reached last Friday

http://www.gallup.com/poll/147140/Obama-Job-Approval-Tying-Low.aspx

He may soon break into the 30s.



Be Afraid, Very Afraid

Turns out President Obama would like a phone upgrade.

The president, in an unscripted moment with donors in Chicago, was talking about the need to innovate in technology.

"THE OVAL OFFICE, I ALWAYS THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE REALLY COOL PHONES AND STUFF," he said during a small fundraising event at a Chicago restaurant. "I'm like, c'mon guys, I'M THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. WHERE'S THE FANCY BUTTONS AND STUFF AND THE BIG SCREEN COMES UP? IT DOESN'T HAPPEN."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/15/obama-disappointed-lack-cool-phone-oval-office/


Does this sound like the leader of the free world or the leader of a college fraternity house? Bluto made it to the White House.



Why Obama will lose in 2012

REAL EARNINGS HAVE FALLEN FOR FIVE STRAIGHT MONTHS, and are down 1% since the end of last year.

• CONSUMER PRICE INFLATION IS GROWING AT A 6.1% ANNUAL RATE OVER THE LAST THREE MONTHS, while producer prices are rising an even-faster 13%. According to John Williams of the Shadow Government Statistics website, if we measure consumer prices the way we did before 1992, inflation is now running at 10% a year.

• THE U.S. HAS ADDED $6 TRILLION TO ITS DEBT UNDER OBAMA, a sure sign of being on the road to Third World status. Three years ago, the U.S. had $7.9 trillion in debt. Today, we have $14 trillion. Bankrupt, hyperinflated Zimbabwe couldn't do any better.

• THE U.S. DOLLAR HAS FALLEN SO MUCH AND FOREIGN NATIONS HAVE SO LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN OUR ABILITY TO RUN OUR FISCAL AFFAIRS THAT THE "BRIC" NATIONS — the mostly fast-growing former Third World nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China — are talking about replacing the U.S. dollar in foreign trade with the Chinese yuan.

• JUST 45.4% OF AMERICANS HAD JOBS LAST YEAR, THE LOWEST SINCE 1983, according to census data crunched by USA Today. Among men, just 66.8% had work last year, the lowest ever

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/569371/201104151858/From-1st-World-To-3rd-World-.htm

Obama and the Dems are in big, big trouble. I do believe his campaign slogan for 2012 will be “Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes.”



Racism in America

Your garden-variety bigot is apt to argue that the differences between the races are not superficial but quite profound. He is apt to tell you EACH RACE POSSESSES ITS OWN ESSENTIAL NATURE, ITS OWN CULTURE AND MORES, AND THAT FOR THIS REASON IT IS BEST IF EACH STICKS TO ITS OWN KIND.

Some would call that backward. Others would call it progressive. Put a happy-face on the same sentiments and you have something like SOMERVILLE PLACE, A BLACKS-ONLY RESIDENTIAL FLOOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Says USC, “THE GOALS OF SOMERVILLE PLACE AIM TO FOSTER AN UNDERSTANDING OF AND RESPECT FOR BLACK CULTURE.” Ahh, that. The bigot and USC might differ on whether black culture should be respected, but they agree it exists. Interesting.

Somerville is not unique. VOLUNTARY RACIAL BALKANIZATION HAS GREATLY ADVANCED IN RECENT YEARS, and rare is the major institution without a diversity office premised on the idea that people of different races bring with them different traits. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor famously put it, “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Some might say this is far different from the racialism of the Jim Crow South—that Sotomayor spoke of experiences people live as a result of their ethnicity, not traits they are born with. And there is something to this. But it also would imply that, at some point in a happier future, the need for racial head-counting would disappear as people cease to experience disparate treatment. To the contrary: DIVERSITY PROGRAMS WILL ALWAYS BE NEEDED, ONE GATHERS, EVEN WHEN DISCRIMINATION NO LONGER EXISTS. ALSO INTERESTING.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/04/15/the-roots-of-racism

The contradictions of liberalism keep raising their ugly heads.

This and that and even some good news

Good News in Medicine

Scientists have developed A NEW TEST THAT IDENTIFIES PATIENTS WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM THE CHEAP TREATMENT.

They found that the people whose CANCER CELLS “FED” OFF HIGH-ENERGY COMPOUNDS were more likely to see their tumours spread or to die.

This meant THEY COULD BE HELPED BY BEING GIVEN THE DIABETES DRUG, METFORMIN, which stops the “fuel supply” for aggressive cancer cells.

Professor Michael Lisanti, from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at the University of Manchester, said: “We’ve shown that the saying, ‘you are what you eat’ holds true for cancer. The food cancer cells consume is crucial to how well a patient does and what treatment they need.

“If cancer cells are consuming high-energy food, this makes a tumour more aggressive and harder to treat. HOWEVER, PATIENTS COULD BENEFIT FROM METFORMIN, WHICH CUTS OFF THIS FUEL SUPPLY. There is more work to do but this test could be an important new way of tailoring treatments to a patient’s needs, across a range of cancers.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8450489/10p-diabetes-drug-could-treat-breast-cancer-patients.html

Wonderful news from the world of medicine.



Self Parody?

PETA ASKS THE MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO: RENAME THE TENDERLOIN “THE ‘TEMPEH DISTRICT.’”

San Francisco is now renowned for some of the best vegan cuisine in the world, and the city deserves a neighborhood named after a delicious cruelty-free food instead of the flesh of an abused animal. IF TEMPEH DOESN’T EXCITE YOU, HOW ABOUT GRANOLA FLATS OR SEITAN’S LAIR?

Unintentional self-parody, or deliberate? You be the judge

.

http://volokh.com/2011/04/15/self-parody/



Obama likely to lose in 2012

Suppose everything we think we know about the president’s political position is wrong? That’s what I think became clear this week.

You know the conventional wisdom. It is that unemployment ticking down, plus the economy inching back, plus the power of the presidency to affect events, equal a likely Obama victory in 2012. Smart people, especially Republicans, believe this. But how about this for a thought: It’s not true. It’s all wrong. Barack Obama can be taken, and his adversaries haven’t even noticed. IN FACT, HE WILL LIKELY LOSE IN 2012. Only one thing can save him. More on that further down.

Let’s start with the immediate and go to the overarching. The president is immersed in another stressed and unsuccessful spring after a series of losing seasons. Internationally, he’s involved in a confused effort that involves bombing Libyan government troops and sometimes their rebel opponents, leaving the latter scattered and scurrying. Responsibility to protect is looking like tendency to deflect. DOMESTICALLY, THE PRESIDENT’S OPPONENTS SEIZED THE HIGH GROUND ON THE GREAT ISSUE OF THE DAY, SPENDING AND DEBT, AND HELD IT AFTER THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH THIS WEEK. In last week’s budget duel, the president was outgunned by Republicans in the House and outclassed by Paul Ryan, who offered seriousness and substance as a unique approach to solving our fiscal problems.

In this week’s polls: AN IPSOS SURVEY SAYS 69% OF AMERICANS BELIEVE THE COUNTRY IS ON THE WRONG TRACK, UP FIVE POINTS SINCE MARCH. ZOGBY HAS ONLY 38% OF NATIONAL RESPONDENTS SAYING MR. OBAMA DESERVES RE-ELECTION, with 55% wanting someone new. Mr. Obama carried Pennsylvania in 2008 by double digits; a poll there this week shows only 42% approving his leadership, with 52% disapproving. GALLUP HAD THE PRESIDENT’S SUPPORT SLIPPING AMONG BLACKS AND HISPANICS, with the latter’s numbers dramatic: 73% supported him when he was inaugurated, 54% do now. SUPPORT AMONG WHITES ON INAUGURATION DAY WAS 60%. NOW IT IS 39%.

http://peggynoonan.com/

I very much believe this. The election is not for Obama to lose, it will take the Republicans to lose it.



Margaret Sanger: The USSR shows us the way

“[W]E COULD WELL TAKE EXAMPLE FROM RUSSIA,” advised Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, “where birth control instruction is part of the regular welfare service of the government.”

Sanger, racial-eugenicist who spoke to a 1926 KKK rally, whose work included a “Negro Project,” who wished to rid America of “human weeds” and “morons” and “imbeciles,” and who wanted birth control for “race improvement,” had just returned from a pilgrimage to Stalin’s Russia. Like many progressives (click here for John Dewey’s experiences), she went there to soak in the alleged triumphs of the communist motherland, MARVELING AT LENIN’S AND STALIN’S ADVANCEMENTS FOR WOMEN.

And so, in the June 1935 edition of her publication, Birth Control Review, in an article titled, “Birth Control in Russia,” Sanger concluded:

Theoretically, there are no obstacles to birth control in Russia. It is accepted … on the grounds of health and human right…. [W]e could well take example from Russia, where there are no legal restrictions, no religious condemnation, and where birth control instruction is part of the regular welfare service of the government.

I could quote more, including this jaw-dropping prediction: “All the officials with whom I discussed the matter stated that as soon as the economic and social plans of Soviet Russia are realized, NEITHER ABORTIONS NOR CONTRACEPTION WILL BE NECESSARY OR DESIRED. A FUNCTIONING COMMUNISTIC SOCIETY WILL ASSURE THE HAPPINESS OF EVERY CHILD, AND WILL ASSUME THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS WELFARE AND EDUCATION….”

http://townhall.com/columnists/paulkengor/2011/04/15/on_margaret_sanger,_the_soviets,_and_democrats/page/full/

There you have it. The progressive naiveté on display. Is it really so different from what we hear today from the Democrat Party?



Obama's $5 Billion Weatherizing Program Wastes Stimulus Funds

The most dramatic example can be found in Delaware, where "GROSS MISMANAGEMENT AND POTENTIAL FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY" THAT FEDERAL AUDITORS FOUND LAST YEAR COULD AFFECT HUNDREDS OF HOMES, a senior administration official told FoxNews.com. The subsequent repairs and inspections reportedly will cost the state a significant chunk of the $7.5 million remaining from $13.7 million of stimulus it received in 2009.

Delaware is the only state where the weatherization program has been suspended, but PROBLEMS HAVE SURFACED IN OTHER STATES, INCLUDING FLORIDA, ILLINOIS, NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, TEXAS, TENNESSEE AND VIRGINIA.

"It's a complete cesspool of waste," Leslie Paige, vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste, told FoxNews.com. "When it's over, we will never know how much went down the tube. They cannot track the money. By the time they get to it, a lot of the money will be gone….."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/14/obamas-5-billion-weatherizing-program-wastes-stimulus-funds-auditors/

The Energy Department defends their oversight but recognize it’s difficult when you try to spend so much money so quickly. Right now approximately ½ of the $5 billion has been spent.