"...The purpose of the headcount is to apportion the number of seats in the House of Representatives and derived from that, along with two senators from each state, the number of electors to the Electoral College...Unless a census taker can show me a constitutional requirement, the only information I plan to give are the number and names of the people in my household. The census taker might say, 'It's the law.' Thomas Jefferson said, 'Whensoever the General Government (Washington) assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.'" It's coming. What are you going to do? 3/9/10
"...After 34 speeches, three sharp electoral rebukes (Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts), and a seven-hour seminar, the president announced Wednesday his determination to make one last push to pass his health-care reform...Obama was reduced to suggesting that his health-care reform was indeed popular because when you ask people about individual items (for example, eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions or capping individual out-of-pocket payments, they are in favor...Yet mystifyingly they oppose the whole package. How can that be?..." Read the rest of the article to find out why.
"...Our mission faces three major challenges. First, while our troops excel at clearing Taliban forces from population centers, our old strategy did not call for them to hold these positions. Once our troops moved on to the next objective, Taliban forces would simply trickle back in. Another problem facing the mission is Afghanistan’s poppy crop: in addition to providing Taliban insurgents and al-Qaeda terrorists with financial resources from trafficking illegal drugs, poppy farming gives the Taliban a way to force Afghan citizens into cooperation. And finally, perhaps most disturbing, the notoriously corrupt Karzai Government has so far been unable to convince many Afghans that it is the legitimate governing entity of Afghanistan...Compounding these issues is the fact that much of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is largely ungoverned...The anticipated Taliban spring and summer offensives will test the viability of the Administration’s new strategy. If our troop and civilian surges prove sufficient to withstand these offensives, it seems the worst will have passed. We can then build on those successes to achieve the desired end state: an independent Afghanistan whose government is capable of providing its own security and denying safe haven to terrorists..." 3/1/10 [To receive Ryan's updates.]
Love good synopses: "...In 1776, by an act of the Second Continental Congress, the original 13 Colonies adopted a Declaration of Independence, dissolving their relations with England. America would be a confederation of independent countries ("states"). In 1777, the Articles of Confederation (our first constitution and governing document) was written and adopted by the Second Continental Congress, though it was not ratified until 1781. The Federalists soon recognized the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation, so they called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. By the end of their four-month convention, the United States Constitution was adopted, though it was not ratified completely until 1790. It has been amended 27 times since. (The first 10 amendments constitute the Bill of Rights.)
The Framers set out a path for us, and we've strayed from it. And the first thing any rational man does when he's lost his way is to look at a map. If you think, as I do, that America has taken a wrong turn, studying America's Revolutionary history is the first step to helping us find our way back -- just as millions of Tea Party patriots have done already..." Click here or title for full text. (Interesting history summaries.)
Welfare Queen\ Activist
A 2007 timeless insight into current welfare philosophy and community organizing. Click on the link for:
"For the second time in five months, the Obama White House is being accused -- by Democrats -- of offering high ranking government jobs in return for political favors. What no one is reporting is that this is a violation of federal law that can lead to prison time, a fine or both, according to Title 18, Chapter 11, Section 211 of the United States Code." HT BadgerBlogger
An Arab and Oil Fest
War for Islamic Sharia Law by D.L. Adams: "We now fight a war around the world and at home against Islamic brutality against us (our so-called "war on terror") motivated entirely by the doctrine of Islam, yet we fight two wars to create and prop up two new Islamic countries bound to the same doctrine -- folly."
Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling (in Brazil): "You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil." This was back in August, Soros is supposed to be at head of
A Terror Trial Debacle Happening Right Now | Michelle Malkin describes a "civilian trial" going/gone awry. [Aside: Military detainment options for terrorists were set up in 2002 with Gitmo as key component.]
Thomas Sowell always has great analogies: "...Nature’s discrimination completely dwarfs man’s discrimination. Geography alone makes equal chances virtually impossible. The geographic advantages of Western Europe over Eastern Europe — in climate and navigable waterways, among other things — have led to centuries of differences in income levels that were greater than income differences between blacks and whites in America today...Just the fact that the lay of the land is different in different parts of Europe meant that it was easier for the Roman legions to invade Western Europe...Was it the Slavs’ fault that the Romans did not want to climb over so many mountains to get to them?...To those living in Western Europe in the days of the Roman Empire, the idea of being conquered, and having many slaughtered, by the Romans probably had no great appeal. But their descendants would benefit from their bad luck. And that doesn’t seem fair either."
In Rawls and Fairness, Sowell says, "...Trying to change whole cultures and subcultures in which different individuals are raised would be a staggering task. But the ideology of multiculturalism, which pronounces all cultures to be equally valid, puts that task off limits. This paints people into whatever corner the accident of birth has put them..." He does a great job turning current assumptions on their head.
George Will summarizes Rep. Ryan's current Roadmap to America, which covers everything from taxes to universal and affordable health care, to Social Security and Medicare, to reforming the budget and beyond...
“'I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company,' Justice Thomas said. 'These are corporations.'...
He added that the history of Congressional regulation of corporate involvement in politics had a dark side, pointing to the Tillman Act, which banned corporate contributions to federal candidates in 1907...'Go back and read why Tillman introduced that legislation,' Justice Thomas said, referring to Senator Benjamin Tillman. 'Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them....'" Click the title for the article. Click on Justice Thomas' picture to listen to his talk. He's incredibly compelling and personable.
"...A big part of the latest GDP gain comes from a statistical adjustment for changes in inventory levels that don’t reflect real growth. Over the past year, businesses cut deeply into those inventories — not wanting to get stuck with unsold goods. Now that they’ve cut them to the bone, the rate of inventory-cutting has slowed. The way the GDP is calculated, that slowdown adds to “growth” — even though it doesn’t reflect increased production or sales. If you back out that inventory adjustment, GDP grew only 2.2 percent..." And that's not the only overstatement...Author Schoen talks about, but doesn't really make crystal clear, the now huge component of the GDP number made up of government spending and government-induced sales...
Obama thinks we're losing faith in America? "...That could be it. Alternatively, people may be dismayed to find that they elected a left-wing ideologue who wasted most of his first year pushing health-care reform when something like 17 percent of the nation is unemployed or underemployed; who reads terrorists their Miranda rights and gives them lawyers; who apologizes to the world for America’s manifold sins; who increases the national debt by $1.6 trillion in his first year; who elects to try Khalid Sheik Mohammad in Manhattan; who promises transparency and then presides over shameless backroom deals; who clings to cap-and-trade even in the midst of economic misery; who extends more conciliation to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than to Republicans; who has nearly the entire press in his back pocket but nonetheless attempts to punish Fox News; who disdains all Republican proposals as “the failed ideas of the past”; and whose vanity (a presidential podium and teleprompter in a sixth-grade classroom?) is verging on the pathetic."
Half the fall during Bush years (6 yrs Rep--2 yrs Dem); 2nd 1/2 of BO's 1st yr not included. Click image.
Click the image and then Play to see the change from 2007 (Dems control Congress) to 2009.
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of previously occupied homes took the largest monthly drop in more than 40 years last month, sinking more dramatically than expected after lawmakers gave buyers additional time to use a tax credit." Foreclosed inventory still in storage - when will banks start adding the rest of them to the current inventory? And have you see the For Lease signs going up at commercial places?
Click on the title above and then scroll down a few pages to come to the real bullet points. Stay vigilant for free-market, limited government, property right-protecting talk...
As Vicki McKenna says "Sheriff Clarke channels Sheriff Joe. (Is jail supposed to be therapy or is it supposed to be JAIL? )" The timing is right to get back to basics with something that sounds like it comes from a foundation of common sense without adding cost! "Although Clarke hasn't divulged details of his discipline program, critics said they feared it would be a boot camp-military style plan." Hmmmm, the military is known for its high rate of turning out men and women who love freedom and value the responsible roles entrusted to them. (1/22/10)
Andrew McCarthy touts our national security as one of the keys to the Scott Brown victory, whose campaign spokesperson said "...from our own internal polling, the more potent issue here in Massachusetts was terrorism and the treatment of enemy combatants.” Mr. McCarthy agrees, "There is a powerful lesson here for Republicans, and here’s hoping they learn it." The opposing position [to Bush's strong stance], "espoused most prominently by Sen. John McCain, was counterfactual and incoherent. Senator McCain pronounced both that enhanced interrogation (which he called “torture”) never works (which is patently untrue) and that an interrogator might at most use it in a ticking-bomb situation (the last situation in which you’d want to use it if, in fact, it never works)...And our reputation in the international community? Reputation with whom? Sharia states where they stone adulterers, brutalize homosexuals, and kill their own daughters in the name of honor? Rogue regimes where exhibitions of American weakness are taken as license to mutilate? Euro-nannies who rely on us for protection because they’re without the will and the resources to do the job themselves" Click on the title for the whole argument.
Mark Skousen reports "...Three years ago [2007] I was in the audience at a luncheon sponsored by the American Economic Association (AEA), the annual gathering of professional economists. Bernanke gave a speech called “Central Banking and Bank Supervision in the United States ... As he talked, I noticed that he used the words “panic,” “crisis,” and “stress” over and over again ["at least 36 times"] ... “Anyone reading between the lines could understand that Bernanke is worried about a financial storm ahead…Indeed, the evidence is clear now that only the United States (and to some extent the UK) lowered underwriting standards in the real estate market, allowing unqualified housing buyers and “no doc” loans. Countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand refused to permit such lax banking and mortgage business, and did not suffer a financial collapse."
Wisconsin's Washington County is rightly proud of this young man, currently serving as its Young Republican Chairman.Our country always, now more than ever, needs people of character (no matter the age) to preserve and protect what our Founding Fathers found "self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Josiah's thoughts are poetic and on point. Read also, "Mr. Obama, not even you can ruin my Christmas." Click on Josiah's photo to get to his blog.
Worth the read. "Here are just a few of the Reid bill’s details: • 2,409 pages (by comparison, the legislation that created Social Security was just 82 pages long) • $518 billion in tax increases (Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office) • $466 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid (CBO) • Many costs of the legislation won’t begin until 2014, but taxes will be imposed immediately (CBO) • Federal outlays for health care would increase by about $200 billion between 2010-2019 (CBO) • $26 billion of unfunded mandates to states over the next 10 years that will likely result in higher taxes (CBO) • Would increase non-group premiums by $300 per individual and $2,100 per family (CBO) • Up to 10 million people will lose their current health insurance coverage under the bill (CBO) • Adds a 10% tax on indoor tanning services (Section 10907)"
Debt US to Pay Increases
per Bloomberg: U.S. Treasuries Post Worst Performance Among Sovereign Markets The interest rate that we have to pay to finance what OUR government officials are borrowing to fund their pet projects+: "The yield on the benchmark10-year note climbed to 3.84 percent from 2.21 percent at the end of 2008, according to BGCantor Market Data...The 10-year yield will rise to 4.01 percent at the end of 2010, according to the median of 60 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The two-year note yield will climb to 1.96 percent, according to the median response in a separate Bloomberg survey." Translating that into dollars is mind-boggling. Also, don't forget two-year notes get rolled over at the end of a two years when interest rates are likely to be very high!
per WSJ: Fed Chief Edges Closer to User Rates to Pop Bubbles Threatening and regulating banks into providing mortgages to people in areas and under circumstances that a bank would not prudently do so created billions in risky loans that were destined to default. "Instead, [of blaming that, Bernanke] said, the problem was lax regulation, which permitted banks to issue a slew of exotic mortgages that households later had trouble paying." A part-truth. But it was and is government, not business, practices that march everyone down the path to serfdom.
Know the numbers. Gov't can ONLY redistribute & waste what it takes from US.
Ann Coulter sums things up point blank: "...Milbank was employing the MSNBC motto, "In Other Words," which provides the formula for 90 percent of the political commentary on that network. The MSNBC host quotes a Republican, then says "in other words," translates the statement into something that would be stupid to say, and spends the next 10 minutes ridiculing the translated version. Which no one said. Except the host..." Also love, "Medicare is like a $500 hamburger: I assume it's good -- it had better be -- but no one would say, 'THAT'S A FANTASTIC SUCCESS!'" The rest of the article is definitely worth reading.
"...For every encroachment into the market by the federal government--under the guise of "reform"--there exist pro-market alternatives that Republicans must articulate and passionately defend. University of Chicago's Luigi Zingales, who has written extensively on the issue of crony capitalism, reminds policymakers that the path forward requires “adopting a pro-market, rather than pro-business, approach.” We must champion an aggressive reform agenda to tackle our outdated financial regulatory structure, the convoluted and anti-competitive tax code, and the looming entitlement crisis, and to fix what's broken in health care, energy, and more. We should focus on removing the hurdles the government has erected, rather than further centralizing power in Washington. The legislative reform must focus on empowering individuals instead of bureaucrats. ... We cannot lose our commitment to individual liberty--a commitment we've shed blood to defend in generations past....
From Riehl World view: "...I've observed Gingrich use Twitter to tweet what a grand time he's having over dinner with James Carville, much to the chagrin of the Republican base. Meanwhile, nearly every Palin tweet or Facebook post is targeted to speak to the very people reading there, giving them precisely what they want to read, or hear, in promotional or political terms. ...The smartest people in the room tend to be early adapters..."
"At the heart of the fight over whether U.S. emission constraints should come from the EPA or Congress is a high-stakes issue: which industries will have to foot the bill for a climate cleanup. A similar theme will play out in Copenhagen as rich countries wrangle over how much they should have to pay to help the developing world shift to cleaner technologies....'There is no agreement without money,' says Rosário Bento Pais, a top climate negotiator for the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm. 'That is clear....'" Obviously, impending doom is only dire if money (and lots of it) changes hands. Related stories: How Offshore Oil and Gas Production Benefits the Economy and the Environment Energy and Environment - a chapter from Heritage.org's candidate briefing book. The Fiction of Climate Science - Thatcher funded scientists to counter global-cooling alarmists way back when. $$ alters many paths.
This rocker has been working his whole life..."Our government cannot punish the producers and expect them to continue to produce and hire Americans. ... You have to wonder if anyone in the Obama administration understands these most basic of economic truisms. I doubt it. Very few fans of Marx, Lennon or Mao get it. Ivy League economic theory is one thing. Experience is quite another. As far as I can tell, no one in the Obama cabinet has ever owned and operated a small business. They have no practical business sense. They are not producers. They are the other thing. ... Broad-based economic growth begins and ends with tax relief and drastically limiting government spending, two ideas that are anathema to this administration’s agenda. ..."
Great advice to our party. After ousting the liberal elite still embedded in our leadership, "...use the occasion [of disappointment in Obama] for a much more pointed message. Instead of "I told you so," we must say - 'It's not your fault you voted for Obama - it's the media's fault, they misled you.'...it's easier and more useful to convince American people that they have mistakenly chosen the rookie marxist as their president because they were misleaded by the media - instead of telling the people that they were stupid and uninformed."
Hmmm...charge more than cost for a public function and then distribute the "profits" to a select few. Imagine this type of entitled quid pro quo at every level of every governmental-type entity you can imagine. A "little bit here and there" ends up adding up to billions. HT MBelling
"...The other day, for example, he [Barack] told Fox News that 'if we keep on adding to the debt ... people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession.' ... That's a great line – but not from a guy who plans to 'keep on adding to the debt' as a conscious strategy. This is the president who made 'trillion' the new default unit of federal budgeting, and whose irresponsibility is prompting key players around the world to consider seriously whether it's time to ditch the dollar's role as global reserve currency... [Then he] decided to put him [KSM] on trial in a New York courthouse. Why? To show 'the world' – i.e., European op-ed pages and faculty lounges – that America would fight terror in a way 'consistent with our values,' ...So it's like a fair trial consistent with 'our values,' except for the one about presumption of innocence? If the head of state declaring you guilty and demanding the death penalty doesn't taint the jury pool, it's hard to see what would. ... About himself, the president speaks loudly. For America, he carries a small twig."
And the author's not referring to ACORN! "...there are others who are a heartbeat away from being the next national scandal. One such organization is the Gamaliel Foundation. You may have come across the organization thanks to the YouTube video of them supposedly praying to President Obama...My former mentors, Greg Galluzzo and his wife Mary Gonzalez, took over the Gamaliel Foundation after breaking with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), the organization founded by Saul Alinsky...In fact, Galluzzo used to give a cultish advanced training seminar titled "Walking the Edge of Immorality" where he repeatedly stated "the ends justifies the means" and nonchalantly told us that to have an impact on society we had to be willing to "lie, cheat, and steal for the greater good...The final straw for me was when Galluzzo sent out a weekly report with a reflection that we organizers needed to promote a noble myth to our churches that our work was about justice, God, and peace even though we really knew it was about power..."
Read the HillBuzz's touching change of heart: "...Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.
We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.
Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush. We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11. He would have not gone there with a bullhorn and struck that right tone...The world needed George W. Bush, his bullhorn, and his indominable spirit that day…and we will forever be grateful to this man for that..." HT JT Harris
PoliticalMath writes, "Now, if you look at recovery.gov, you’ll see that the stimulus has “saved or created” 640,000 jobs. That is only 16% of the promised jobs, but it’s still a pretty big number. I was curious how they got it, so I downloaded the raw data and started sifting through it. This is what I found..." [Click the title above for his insight into the numbers.]
"...The Minority Thought Pattern is the total disdain and hatred of what God has accomplished through the white male throughout history. Coming from an African-American, I know this will shock you... The Minority Thought Pattern is aimed at destroying America, at rending the very fabric that makes America great. The Minority Thought Pattern denies the greatness, honor, bravery, courage, humility, and sacrifice that has brought us the power to be the greatest nation that has ever existed. The Minority Thought Pattern has a mission to undermine and redefine every characteristic of America, maintaining that it is a nation based on greed, cowardice, selfishness, and a lack of genuine humility. The Minority Thought Pattern is the reason for all the apologies to the rest of the world for how bad American is, coming even from our top leader."
Pay attention class ... "Citizens of America, sacrifice your elders and forget your selfish aspirations of prosperity for yourself and your family! Sign onto Service.gov and serve your government!"
JT Harris has a powerful presentation of how and why abortion is of concern for everybody; especially for those who were the target of Margaret Sangor's (i.e., Planned Parenthood's) reason for being. He links to the article, "Abortion Kills More Black Americans Than the Seven Leading Causes of Death Combined, Says CDC Data."
And the song Happy Birthday (video provided on his page) is an amazing testimony. See if you aren't moved by it. It's definitely worth the listen.
"...Of course, the problem is that he's not simply exposing his throat, he's exposing America's collective throat...Within the confines of a social unit, beta-male behavior can help to defuse aggression and maintain domestic peace. But in a world where other nations' alpha-male leaders are constantly probing for even the smallest signs of weakness, having a beta male president has thrown into stark relief the dangers to which this president's unfortunate character trait is exposing his country..."
"...Their strategy could not possibly succeed. In their academic arrogance, they thought they could sell a product they clearly do not believe in (the United States) and moreover, they could do so by stressing the benefits to the seller (Chicago) and not the buyer (the IOC). And to top it off, they committed the faux pas of talking too much about the sales force (themselves) and not about the product or the buyer..."
"...President Obama's nearly trillion-dollar Stimulus law designates $128 billion for education, so it's no surprise that tight strings are attached...Buried in the fine print is an ominousrequirement to build a national electronic database of all children. Any state that receives federal education funds must 'establish a longitudinal data system that includes the elements described in . . . the America COMPETES Act'...This electronic database will contain 'yearly test records of individual students [through college and into the workforce],' 'a teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students,' 'student-level transcript information, including information on courses completed and grades earned,' and 'student-level college readiness test scores'...Creation of a database of this magnitude is the sort of thing that totalitarian governments do but should not be allowed by those who value freedom."
Sheesh...how loud do we have to yell Uncle before the bully gets off our back?! And aren't garage sales as American as apple pie? I guess personal clutter just has to go to the dumpster instead - sellers and collectors of forbidden goods forget it ... and better throw away the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra: "Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions."
Obama had "...to assure people that a Beltway Bureaucrat won’t come between a patient and a doctor to ration care. This much he said during the presser [press conference], which leads me to my first few questions: Why, then, the rhetoric railing against 'unnecessary procedures?'...One of the greatest contributors to the rising cost of medical services are malpractice suits...Most trial attorneys operate on contingency fees, so...they get a cut of the settlement...I may have my figures wrong here, but physicians pay upwards of $250k annually for malpractice insurance premiums...This leads to my next series of questions: Why are the trial lawyers not being asked to sacrifice anything? Why not cap malpractice suits? Why not compel trial lawyers to bill their clients instead of taking contingency fees in malpractice cases?..."
Listening to a Liar (Lessons on Critical Thinking)
Thomas Sowell Listening to a Liar Part 1: "... What Barack Obama says Wednesday night is not nearly as important as what he has been doing-- and how he has been doing it..."
Thomas Sowell Listening to a Liar Part 2: "No message has been more welcomed by the gullible, in countries around the world, than the promise of something for nothing..."
"President Obama tells us that he will impose various mandates on insurance companies but will not interfere with our free choice between being insured by these companies or by the government. ... Mandates by politicians are what have driven up the cost of insurance already. Politicians love to play Santa Claus and leave it to others to raise prices to cover the inevitable costs... Politicians have driven privately owned municipal transit systems out of business in many cities, by simply imposing costs and restricting the fare increases needed to cover those costs. The federal government can drive out private insurance the same way that local politicians have driven out private municipal transit and replaced it with government-run transit systems."
According to the annual Cost of Government Day report, "Americans this year had to toil until August 12 to pay for federal, state, and local governments"... In 2009, government will consume a whopping 61.34 percent of national income." We live "to serve"... in servitude.
"In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I [Svetlana Kunin] was taught to believe individual pursuits are selfish and sacrificing for the collective good is noble.. Those who left Russia found a different set of values in America: freedom of religion, speech, individual pursuits, the right to private property and free enterprise...These opportunities let the average immigrant live a better life than many elites in the Soviet Communist Party. The freedom to pursue personal self-interest led to prosperity. Prosperity generated charity, benefiting the collective good....Critics say that greed is the driving force of capitalism. My answer is that envy is the driving force of socialism.." And as V.Lenin is oft quoted, "Give us the child for 8 years, and it will be a Bolshevik [communist] forever." (Fortunately, not all the seeds thus fertilized grow up as intended.)
Catchy title...'The Post-American World.'
From Diversity to Globalization...Read Amazon reviewers about The Post-American World: "The central thesis of the book is that the pax Romana (Roman peace) model of American foreign policy needs to be replaced by a community organizer foreign policy model. America's considerable military power must be used with great restraint as power and economic status shifts from west to east. The detailed discussion of some common misconceptions about educational differences between the US and other countries reveals the author's ability to carefully reinterpret misleading statistics." "The Post-American World points to the need for America to adopt new ways of doing business with the world, one that is based on 'consultation, cooperation, and even compromise' as opposed to go-it-alone unilateralism. American success in the 21st century will depend on how these newly ascendant powers will be integrated into existing institutions such as the G8, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO."
"...During the earliest days of the Islamic Revolution, the nation’s leaders closed universities and tried to sanitize curriculums to fit their Islamic revolutionary ideology. The efforts ultimately failed under the weight of more pragmatic forces eager to engage with Western economies, and a student population hungry for contemporary ideas and contact with the West...the confession of a prominent [jailed] reformer, Saeed Hajjarian...was read in court and broadcast on national television. The confession, dismissed by reform leaders as a reflection of the views of Mr. Hajjarian’s jailers, provided a lengthy criticism of human sciences, especially sociology and political science. It lamented the negative influence of theories like “post-structuralism, post-Marxism and feminism.”...The confession also addressed Mr. Hajjarian’s application of certain political theories to his own work, saying, “For these unworthy interpretations which became the cause of many immoral acts, I ask forgiveness of the Iranian people.” Wife of another "confessor" emphasizes it's forced. HT @YaleFreePress
"...the Obama Administration...announced late Friday that the amount of money they don't have, but are nonetheless planning on spending over the next ten years isn't the astonishing $7 trillion they estimated in May, but is instead an astounding $9 trillion." "...last week, cash-for-clunkers ended in a bureaucratic morass of red tape, false promises and unanticipated costs." "...home health care after hospitalization ...saves Medicare billions of dollars...so naturally bureaucrats... cut $34 billion from this compassion, efficient program...if the House health care reform bill becomes law, an additional $56.8 billion will be cut from the program." "Facta, non verba...deeds, not words."
Mark Lloyd, the new Federal Communications Commission's Diversity Officer, knows many ways to force "fair" airwaves. Sen. Grassley responds to this appointment.
"...Waxman and Stupak also sought documents relating to premiums paid by policy holders, claims payments, sales expenses, administrative expenses and profits, broken down by categories such as employer-provided coverage; individual coverage, Medicare and Medicaid."
"My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to President Obama and the brother of the President’s chief of staff. Dr. Emanuel has written that some medical services should not be guaranteed to those “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens....An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.” [10] Dr. Emanuel has also advocated basing medical decisions on a system which “produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.” [11]"
"Now, if the first thought you parried, dear reader, while reading this account, was why on earth some guy in the ‘hood didn't see the rotted step, get himself a hammer, some nails, a new step board, and fix the darned step himself before one of his own children was injured, then you are an American through and through."
To recap: Stock market "better"--everything else worse. "...if you take the July number of unemployed, 14.5 million, and add that 796,000 of discouraged workers [taken out by the Budget of Labor and Statistics (BLS)] you get a total of 15,296,000...In a work force of July's number of 154,504,000, that's an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent." See Campaign Spots 8/7/09 entry.
There's no limit to the free market pie, but there is a limit to credit; either gov't gets it or the private sector does. Small business step aside!
People are staying on unemployment longer than ever.
Commentary (8/3/09) about our supposed economic recovery: "Our entire economy was [is] phony; ... the bulk of it, was built on this financial pyramid." No time? Start 6 minutes in. In the meantime, watch for weakness in the dollar. Keynes vs. allocation of resources.
"...Going further into his research, Holmes uncovered a quote from the Chairman of one of the largest banks in American in a New York Times story with the headline '...Bank Head Sees Credit Restoration and Recovery Nearing'...Intrigued by this missive exploring the light at the end of the tunnel, Holmes stopped reading and reached for his ever present smoking pipe when he realized that it was a quote from Albert H. Wiggin, retiring chief of the Chase National Bank in an interview published on January 9th, 1933. Not only was this a historical precedent for a bank executive calling a bottom way too early, but it turns out that Wiggin was a scoundrel. The Pecora Commission investigation into the Wall Street crash uncovered that Wiggin had been shorting his own company's stock even as his firm and others were supporting the market via investment pools..." Michael A. J. Farrell of Annaly Capital Management, Inc. writes a riveting tale. HT ZeroHedge (emphasis ours)
State Governments in Peril. (Annaly Capital Mgt. Inc.)
"Democrats Walter Mondale and John Brademas wrote to constituents in 1970. “A day care program that ministers to a child from six months to six years of age has over 8,000 hours to teach him values, fears, beliefs, and behaviors.” Link to "Summer School..." mentioned in Herzog's article.
Americorps "was tainted from the get-go. In its early years, members were routinely used as backdrops for photo opportunities when President Clinton arrived on tarmacs around the nation. And AmeriCorps “volunteers” were repeatedly involved in political advocacy and petitioning. The program gave over $1 million to ACORN....AmeriCorps claims that its members “mobilize” 1.7 million other Americans to volunteer each year. At best, this is the Tom Sawyer model of virtue—some people getting paid to sway other people to work for free...The GIVE Act views military-style regimentation as a model for the nation. Its National Civil Community Corps would seek to “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service.” This reminds some critics of Obama’s declaration last July: “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded as the military.”
"... In order to accomplish this [income redistribution and 'social justice,' leftwing media are marginalizing people like Palin who oppose the strategy. Under the guise of hard news reporting, the media are pushing rank propaganda on the citizenry. Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, successfully developed this tactic in the 1930s...Americans need to wake up and smell the corruption. If crazy ideologues have infiltrated the news business, we need to know about it. And now you do."
"Identity politics involves a sense of grievance against the majority, a feeling that racism permeates American society and its institutions, and the belief that members of one's own group are victims in a perpetual power struggle with the majority... In her senior thesis, she refused to identify the U.S. Congress by its proper name, instead referring to it as the 'North American Congress' or the 'Mainland Congress.'" Linda Chavez says more, too.
The Market Ticker provides a good overview of what's happening with the California IOUs. "...If you deposit one of these things it is a recourse deposit - that is, not only is it subject to holds, but in addition if the state defaults on it the bank will come back at you for the full face value..." Perhaps, these should be called no-recourse scams.
Read about Marxist belief in "class struggle," business owners' exploitation of workers and overcharging for "surplus value." Bunk.
Banksters Love Cap and Trade [companies learn they gain by focusing on political self-interest, rather than competing in the free market]
"In this case, the rush to pass this new bill was an attempt to stop any scrutiny of a plan that is going to utterlytransform the American economy, further centralize control of citizens' lives in the hands of unaccountable federal bureaucrats and complete the transfer of the American economy from Main Street to Wall Street. And all of this in the name of fighting a threat which itself is a demonstrable fraud. ... For an historical precedent of what is being proposed under this cap-and-trade scam one can look to Enron, which immediately found ways to plunder billions of dollars from new energy market legislation passed by the Clinton Administration in 2000." Here's a link to the Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi mentioned: "The Great American Bubble Machine -- How Goldman Sachs has manipulated every major market manipulation since the Great Depression." Follow the links. EPA suppresses evidence (video).
Ashley Herzog asks the question, "...How could the left possibly defend cultures like these? Because they hate their own culture. They hate Western civilization and believe Western countries, especially the U.S., are racist, sexist colonialist oppressors. (Or as leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky calls America, “a leading terrorist state.”) They desperately want to believe woman-hating Third World cultures are morally superior to our own..." Atlas Shrugs provides a graphic representation of power in Iran.
"...Keynesian economists believe government spending on "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects -- schools, roads, bridges -- is the best way to stimulate our staggering economy. Supply-side economists make an equally persuasive case that tax cuts are the surest and quickest way to create permanent jobs and cause an economy to rebound. That happened under JFK, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush..."
Kevin Jackson (Black Sphere) writes..."What was Anita MonCrief’s crime? She exposed how ACORN is using blacks to do the bidding of wealthy whites, only to get fed pig feet, while ACORN’s elite enjoy pork tenderloin. She exposed the inner workings of the highly partisan Democrat (actually communist) organization and its ties to His Lowness, one Barack “Insane” Obama. And for her actions, the racist Democrat machine released the hounds of hell on her. ACORN will not have other blacks trying to escape the prison that is the plantation..." Read Acorn's Preamble: "...Corporations shall have their role; producing jobs, providing products, paying taxes. No more, no less. They shall obey our wishes, respond to our needs, serve our communities..."
Peter Theron, candidate for WI 2nd Congressional district, responds to recent Cap and Tax act passed by WI. "If signed into law, Cap and Tax, based on politically-correct science, will increase the price of fuel, increase the price of electricity, and increase unemployment. It will not “promote the general welfare” and so should be scrapped as quickly as possible." Read it all.
Find out who voted how. Hint: 8 RINOs voted YES (Bono Mack, Castle, Kirk, Lance, LoBiondo, Reichert, Smith, McHug) Thanks to WFRW & WI Sen. Grothman's office for keeping us up to speed.
"Fiscal Policy: The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on an anti-stimulus package that in the name of saving the earth will destroy the American economy..." by blogger JT Harris
Click here for larger image. See Hotlines page for contact info.
The fiscal stimulus is puny compared with the actions the Fed has been taking behind closed doors. By Timothy Lavin
Click for info/larger image. Recession unemployment and recovery (no sign for us yet).
"...It seems every time a Republican is given a microphone they act like they're taking the higher ground or being noble by pointing out something they think the Bush Administration did wrong. Please advise on what page that is to be found in Rules for Radicals." Remember "...the George W. Bush presidency lasted eight years, and that during the first six years the economy of the U. S. was a dynamic engine of prosperity, in spite of paying for two wars. The economy only faltered during the last two Bush years, spinning into real difficulty during the latter months of the last year. What changed? The Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress in 2006. As a direct result, it became increasingly apparent to most Americans through 2007 and 2008 that the Bush tax cuts would not be made permanent, and would instead expire at the end of their legislated ten-year life span. Included in the provisions set to expire was, and is, favorable treatment of the capital gain resulting from the sale of a residence. That was the triggering mechanism for the explosion." More great stuff. EZ to read and important, too.
I want to follow this story. How about a massive T.E.A. party sending them back? Check out the 2009 census: Nosy busy-bodies gather bait for a fishing trip.
"...But the president isn't saying that. In his remarks to the American Medical Association, he told the nation's doctors, "The public option is not your enemy; it is your friend." ... Sort of like, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you. Thoreau had it right when he wrote, 'If I knew for a certainty that a man were coming to my door with the conscious purpose of doing me good, I would run for my life.'" Read more.
"...It was always a ruse. Mousavi is as establishment as they come. He was Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989, and editor in chief of the official newspaper of the Islamic Republic party. Further, he's cut from the same Nazi cloth as Ahmadinejad: he was one of the founders of Hezb'allah, and also helped construct Iran's murderous intelligence services. Mousavi was a favorite of the Ayatollah Khomeini. He said he was running for President because he could 'no longer stand to see... [Iran] moving toward dictatorship.' Nothing about ending Iran's jihad against Israel, or against America...The mullahs are going to show the world what Obama really is...The President is naked at the feast, baby." Pam Gellar of Atlas Shrugs keeps us grounded...Patrick Buchanan does as well. As hard as it may seem...saying somethingn is debatable. See her pop-up of the Hierarchy of Power in Iran: One Man Above All Others.
*** GOVERNMENT SPENDING Voters get what they wanted 6/14/2009 I can't help commenting on many recent Journal Sentinel editorials and letters to the editor. With regard to the state budget, many say that, while it is painful, we must increase taxes and fees, especially on higher-income individuals who are presumably able and willing to pay because Wisconsin is such a wonderful place to live.
With regard to health care reform, many are enthusiastic about universal coverage with a public plan option, presumably at a lower cost with the quality of care and access to care for all remaining as it is now.
My personal observation of even moderately well-to-do individuals is that at retirement, nearly all leave Wisconsin to become residents of more tax-friendly states. They may maintain a summer residence in Wisconsin, but their taxable dollars go elsewhere. This is a process that leads to Wisconsin gradually becoming a poorer state. Add to this the Doyle administration's public policy that is anti-business and pro-trial attorney, and one can see clearly the future of Wisconsin.
If one wants to see the end result of public health care financing, just look to Canada. No one disputes that the quality of care there is high. It is excellent, but it is unavailable to anyone not willing to wait in a lengthy queue. That is how costs are controlled for the masses. Of course, politicians always have immediate access to care, so what do they care?
The delusion of the masses is that policies can be changed with no unintended consequences. President Barack Obama and Gov. Jim Doyle were elected with significant majorities in Wisconsin, and the people likely will get what they think they want.
"...the right wing is getting its act together. It has suddenly discovered that economics matters. You can cheer on the hot wars, fight the culture wars, and crack down on political dissidents all you want. But in the end, what makes for the good society is a sound economy. Without it, all the rest falls apart..."
Victor Hanson describes why we need to keep the calls going in to our legislators. It seems overwhelming, but there is reason to resist this change and redirect it!!
Getting older? Watch out! "...Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt."
“...last week, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer came to Washington to announce what Microsoft would do if Obama’s multinational tax policy is enacted. 'It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said, 'We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S.' If Microsoft, perhaps our most competitive company, has to abandon the U.S. in order to continue to thrive, who exactly is going to stay?...At issue is Obama’s policy to end the deferral of multinational taxation."
It's really all about having freedom as an individual -- the smallest minority. On an individual level, we all know how difficult it can be to pursue our dreams when we worry too much about what others might think. At least that's just a mind game! When government officials pass laws and regulations to control our behavior, our freedom to choose truly does goes away. Short-term link.
"...We certainly don’t want to have to tell you this, but the way things are shaping up it doesn’t look good. As we write this the dollar is breaking 80 on the USDX. Interest rates are climbing, and have broken out to the upside. Gold and silver are poised to break into new high territory and the stock market is preparing to retest 6,600 on the Dow. You have been warned, act accordingly..." Interesting perspective. What do you think? Do you act, or do you wait and see?
Are you kidding? No one's planning on stopping the increases and additions and...
"As for today's [5/29/09] market close, with a literally parabolic jump in the last minute of trading, if anyone still thinks this market trades based on anything resembling normal behavior..., I have some BBB+ rated CMBS to sell to you at par...So as essentially no institutional or retail clients are trading any more, it is just a few desperate computers trying to front run each other...Is there ever going to be any transparency in this market again?"
"First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics..." Stanislav Mishin does a good job summarizing our situation on his blog and as printed in the Russian Pravda.
WI's own MacIver Institute for Public Policy posts "the 65-plus page secretly-negotiated new new budget deal...70 percent of the entire GPR budget in one, sweeping, secretly negotiated omnibus motion, on which no public hearing was held." New, higher everything!
"It has begun. Today equities fell significantly and the "safe haven" bid was not large enough to overcome a deluge of selling. Yields rose. Again. This is not likely to be an isolated incident..." Many more observations about the current economic and market situation.
Kevin Jackson (of The Black Sphere) responds to someone accusing him that "though I am completely black, I have no experience growing up black in America."
dshort and Heritage chart it for us...
Follow the Bears (markets, that is)...click for larger image.
Spending increases are WAY larger than inflation. Click for larger image.
I say Cap and Tax. You say Clean Energy and Security Act. Call the whole thing off!!
Star Parker reminds us that President George Washington respected term limits. "He knew that America fought to throw off the yoke of kings and the capricious use of power."
$100,000,000+ of "...waste in every area - inefficient payroll processing, overqualified maintenance teams, even pencil sharpeners that cost more than $100. The report also found more than five dozen [60+] central office jobs with six-figure salaries [$100,000+]."
"...Reminds me of when Mayor Daley decreed to the National Guard and law enforcement "shoot to kill" all looters caught out after curfew during the 1968 Chicago riots. No one shot and no one killed and no one dared be on the streets of the Windy City, because everyone knew old Dick meant it..."
"Socialists believe in government ownership of the means of production. Fascists believed in government control of privately owned businesses, which is much more the style of this government. That way, politicians can intervene whenever they feel like it and then, when their interventions turn out badly, summon executives from the private sector before Congress and denounce them on nationwide television."
"While 57.8 percent of professors want to encourage students to be “agents of social change,” only 34.7 percent said teaching the classics is very important, notes Chronicle of Higher Education"..."The classics are works about social change, in one way or another. That’s true of Greek tragedy, of Chaucer, of Shakespeare, of Milton, of Defoe, of enlightenment philosophers, of romantic poets, of Victorian novelists, of modernist writers. Some register upheaval in their form, some in their content, some do both. Some try to provoke change, some try to register and reflect on it, some try to resist it. But great literature is always hooked into the great tensions of its time — even as it is also hooked into a longer tradition." Thanks to Joanne Jacobs for highlighting this for us on March 6.
"President Obama's staff has created a group, headquartered in the offices of the Democratic National Committee, called "Organizing for America." Its mission is to "redirect the campaign machinery into the service of broad changes in health care, environmental and fiscal policy. They envision an army of supporters talking, sending e-mail messages and texting to friends and neighbors as they try to mold public opinion." Three days after Obama was sworn in as President, an announcement video was sent to 13 million people." article