This page offers timely articles that clearly explain current issues.
Think Big - Republicans Should Embrace Paul Ryan's Roadmap
Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard writes: "...There are three reasons Republicans should ignore their jitters about the Road Map. The first is that the nation’s disenchantment with Obama and Democrats will take Republicans only so far. There’s a residue of bad feelings toward Republicans from the years the party ruled Congress, spent too much, and produced scandals.
Voters have memories. To overcome their qualms, Republicans need to provide more than a litany of Democratic faults. Voters are frightened about the future of the country. They’re looking for a serious solution to the mess we’re in. The Road Map offers exactly that...The full plan—“A Road Map for America’s Future”—is outlined in a formidable, 87-page document. It would give everyone a refundable tax credit to buy health insurance, allow individual investment accounts to be carved out of Social Security, reduce the six income tax rates to two (10 and 25 percent), and replace the corporate tax (35 percent) with a business consumption tax (8.5 percent). And that’s not the half of it..."
Voters have memories. To overcome their qualms, Republicans need to provide more than a litany of Democratic faults. Voters are frightened about the future of the country. They’re looking for a serious solution to the mess we’re in. The Road Map offers exactly that...The full plan—“A Road Map for America’s Future”—is outlined in a formidable, 87-page document. It would give everyone a refundable tax credit to buy health insurance, allow individual investment accounts to be carved out of Social Security, reduce the six income tax rates to two (10 and 25 percent), and replace the corporate tax (35 percent) with a business consumption tax (8.5 percent). And that’s not the half of it..."
Too Fast, Too Furious
Six months to go until the biggest tax hikes in history.
NJ Gov Christie wants to privatize MANY services. You go, Guv!
ResistNet has a book and movie club forum -- click on the link you prefer and check out the recommendations.
Check out Sharron Angle's latest ad in her campaign against Reid in Nev. (video)
John Stossel and Guns [really do] Saves Lives.
Thomas Sowell and Gun Control Laws ("It is ultimately an empirical question whether allowing ordinary citizens to have firearms will increase or decrease the amount of violence...")
Historians Locate King Arthur's Round Table (allowing for 1,000 Knights).
NJ Gov Christie wants to privatize MANY services. You go, Guv!
ResistNet has a book and movie club forum -- click on the link you prefer and check out the recommendations.
Check out Sharron Angle's latest ad in her campaign against Reid in Nev. (video)
John Stossel and Guns [really do] Saves Lives.
Thomas Sowell and Gun Control Laws ("It is ultimately an empirical question whether allowing ordinary citizens to have firearms will increase or decrease the amount of violence...")
Historians Locate King Arthur's Round Table (allowing for 1,000 Knights).
Where Americans Are Moving
Forbes provides an interactive map that allows you to see the inflow/outflow of a county's population. This map shows those coming in and out of Milwaukee County. Red lines are the outflow of at least 10 people as tracked by the IRS. The dark red lines are of 200+ people! Black lines indicate people moving into the county -- not many of those! HT GOP3.com
Teacher Bailout Is Unnecessary (esp. in WI)
"...The current health plan costs taxpayers $26,844 per family, compared to the typical $14,500 cost for a private employer family plan. The plan does not require teachers to pay any premiums toward the cost of the health plan—a situation that is all but extinct in private employment. In the spring, the school board offered a new health plan that would reduce costs to $17,172 per family. The plan would have saved money by requiring co-pays....According to a budget analysis the MacIver Institute obtained from the Milwaukee public school system, shifting teachers to the plan offered by the school board could have saved $47.2 million. This would have prevented, according to the report, the lay offs of "approximately 480 teachers"—more than the number that ultimately lost their jobs. But when union officials were presented the option, they chose to allow their members to be dismissed...Full WSJ article by Stephen Moore: "A Case Study in Teacher Bailouts Milwaukee shows that unions will keep resisting concessions if Washington rides to the rescue"
Feingold faces unexpectedly tough race in WI (AP 7/6/10)
The Daily Caller highlights a totally biased analysis in an AP article updated from earlier version. Love the ending though!! "In conservative fashion, he [Ron Johnson] calls for reducing spending by reducing the size of government and opposes “blanket amnesty” for illegal immigrants as well as cap-and-trade legislation to address climate change: “I do not believe man-made global warming is proven.” ... He advocates repealing the health care overhaul, calling it “the greatest assault on our freedom in my lifetime.” ... Johnson has suggested that the Second Amendment right to bear arms was intended “so we could keep government in check.” He’s called shutting down the IRS “a wonderful thing,” though questioned the practicality of it. And he has wondered how “Social Security is different from a giant Ponzi scheme.” ... Democrats say those remarks illustrate that Johnson is outside the mainstream." Out of the mainstream?! Let them think that way.
Another Anti-Free Speech Act aka the DISCLOSE Act (HR5175)
Democrats’ DISCLOSE Act: What you Need To Know, Why You Need To Care [Call your Senator!]
"...Democrats want to decide for us who can be trusted and who can not. Of course, anyone paying close enough attention will quickly realize that organizations such as CodePink, MoveOn, the now-defunct ACORN, and the SEIU (read “big” labor) have been in the back pockets of Democrats for a generation…so the real issue here is not THAT a lot of money is at stake when Politicians run for office…it’s which stack of cash is clean and which is dirty…and who DECIDES. This bill will allow big organizations to continue donating big dollars to Politicians, so long as their membership is over 500,000 strong, they have at least one member residing in every state, and they meet certain tax-exempt criteria. It also prevents large dollars from being donated by individuals and small groups and… in my opinion worst of all…it extends to 90 days prior to an election all the limitations to free speech we were guaranteed in the Constitution would never be abridged… and just barely “got back” when the Supreme Court struck down parts of the ill-conceived McCain-Feingold bill when it rendered its Citizens United decision...This is outrageous. But it is instructive as well. We can no longer engage in discussions about candidates and their campaigns and their policy positions during the period 90 days prior to their primary/caucus/conventions and running all the way through the November election. In the case of President and Vice President it’s 120 days. Not only are we not allowed to speak…we’re not allowed to speak during the WHOLE of the campaign and election cycle when people are actually paying attention enough to consider whether they’ll even bother going to the polls!..." Sensenbrenner says/votes NO!
"...Democrats want to decide for us who can be trusted and who can not. Of course, anyone paying close enough attention will quickly realize that organizations such as CodePink, MoveOn, the now-defunct ACORN, and the SEIU (read “big” labor) have been in the back pockets of Democrats for a generation…so the real issue here is not THAT a lot of money is at stake when Politicians run for office…it’s which stack of cash is clean and which is dirty…and who DECIDES. This bill will allow big organizations to continue donating big dollars to Politicians, so long as their membership is over 500,000 strong, they have at least one member residing in every state, and they meet certain tax-exempt criteria. It also prevents large dollars from being donated by individuals and small groups and… in my opinion worst of all…it extends to 90 days prior to an election all the limitations to free speech we were guaranteed in the Constitution would never be abridged… and just barely “got back” when the Supreme Court struck down parts of the ill-conceived McCain-Feingold bill when it rendered its Citizens United decision...This is outrageous. But it is instructive as well. We can no longer engage in discussions about candidates and their campaigns and their policy positions during the period 90 days prior to their primary/caucus/conventions and running all the way through the November election. In the case of President and Vice President it’s 120 days. Not only are we not allowed to speak…we’re not allowed to speak during the WHOLE of the campaign and election cycle when people are actually paying attention enough to consider whether they’ll even bother going to the polls!..." Sensenbrenner says/votes NO!
U.S. trying to deport "Son of Hamas": A Christian convert who spied for Israel 5/27/10
Update: Cal Thomas writes about the potential deportation: "...In San Diego tomorrow (Wednesday 6/30/10) before an immigration judge, the government will charge that because of Yousef's "terrorist associations," he should be deported. Yousef tells me, "I acted like a terrorist in order to fool terrorists," but again emphasizes he never committed a terrorist act..."
Original: "...Since publicly declaring his faith in August 2008, he has been condemned by an al-Qaida-affiliated group and disowned by his family...His chief Shin Bet handler, "Captain Loai," has confirmed his account and praised him in media interviews for disrupting dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts by Hamas, saving hundreds of lives...Yousef said he's not so much worried about himself as he is "outraged" about "a security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans..."If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference between a terrorist and a man who spent his life fighting terrorism, how can they protect their own people?" he asked in his blog post...He recalled that when he arrived in America Jan. 2, 2007, he "walked into the airport like anyone else on a tourist visa. When he went to the Homeland Security office seven months later, he said, he knocked on the door and told them, "Hey, guys, I am the son of Sheik Hassan Yousef, my father is involved in a terrorist organization, and I would like political asylum in your country." He said the officials were shocked. "I wanted them to see that they have huge gaps in their security and their understanding of terrorism and make changes before it's too late," Yousef explained..." See the "Son of Hamas" being interviewed.
Original: "...Since publicly declaring his faith in August 2008, he has been condemned by an al-Qaida-affiliated group and disowned by his family...His chief Shin Bet handler, "Captain Loai," has confirmed his account and praised him in media interviews for disrupting dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts by Hamas, saving hundreds of lives...Yousef said he's not so much worried about himself as he is "outraged" about "a security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans..."If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference between a terrorist and a man who spent his life fighting terrorism, how can they protect their own people?" he asked in his blog post...He recalled that when he arrived in America Jan. 2, 2007, he "walked into the airport like anyone else on a tourist visa. When he went to the Homeland Security office seven months later, he said, he knocked on the door and told them, "Hey, guys, I am the son of Sheik Hassan Yousef, my father is involved in a terrorist organization, and I would like political asylum in your country." He said the officials were shocked. "I wanted them to see that they have huge gaps in their security and their understanding of terrorism and make changes before it's too late," Yousef explained..." See the "Son of Hamas" being interviewed.
The Road to Jobs | Economic Freedom Act (HR5029)
"...Fortunately, there is a bill before Congress based directly on that Kennedy-Reagan tradition. It is the Economic Freedom Act (HR5029), sponsored by Congressmen Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). The centerpiece of this bill is five bold tax cuts modeled after the tax cuts in the American Solutions Jobs First Plan.
These bold changes to our tax system would provide small businesses with immediate liquidity and change the underlying tax structure of America to set the stage for long term economic growth. They include:
These bold changes to our tax system would provide small businesses with immediate liquidity and change the underlying tax structure of America to set the stage for long term economic growth. They include:
- Reducing the payroll tax by half for 2010 to provide immediate liquidity for companies and employees;
- Eliminating the capital gains tax to encourage investment in new companies;
- Reducing the corporate tax rate to 12.5% to make us competitive globally;
- Permanently eliminating the death tax so small businesses and family farms can continue creating jobs for future generations;
- Providing immediate business expensing so American workers have the best equipment and are the most productive.
Walker offers up a plan to save $176 million
"...Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said Thursday if elected governor he would save $176 million per year by requiring state employees to contribute toward their pensions. Walker said in a conference call with reporters he would voluntarily pay his share toward his own pension as soon as he took office...'If the overwhelming majority of people in the private sector pick up their share of the employee contribution for their retirement, to me it's only fair that state workers do the same, and that starts with me,' Walker said...State paychecks include pension contributions that are allocated to both employees and the state, but the state picks up both payments in nearly all cases. Walker said he would use any means he could to change that policy, including negotiating with unions or changing state law..."
Why BP will not survive
"...Taking all of this into account, BP is an irresistible cookie jar into which politicians will reach their hands over and over. Again, the dynamic is not "how much do you owe?" but rather "how much can you pay?". The answer is that you keep paying until you're broke. They will also need to demonize BP on a continual basis as a prod to pass cap-and-trade or cap-and-tax and as a club to beat Republicans who stand in their way. Just look at what happened to Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) today to get an idea of how this will pay out...Don't think the law can stop this. The law will accelerate it. BP's negligence will turn out to be criminal, not civil and the criminal penalties are exponentially greater than the civil fines and normal tort claims. Obama will use the threat of criminal prosecution to get more and then use an actual criminal prosecution to get the residual."
Jim Rickard's Interview 6/14/10
Discussing the recent and other financially economic relative topics. E.g., "...the great Depression lasted until ...pick your date '41 [industrial production returned to the 1929 level], '46 [the private economy really turned around], or '54 [when commercial and stock market values got back to 1929 levels]...we're in something like that today...[after meetings in DC with Treasury & FDIC where they expect that the economy will be bouncing back in 2011] ... I personally don't believe that...green shoots will get stomped on immediately...the irony is that the economy in Washington is in fact doing extremely well -- there is so much government spending [including lobbyists]...they're rockin' and rollin'...2008 was the year of the collapse, 2009 was the pause [due to printing $1Trillion]...[looking ahead] you see asset values declining...the mortgage was the one thing you were always going to pay due to the positive equity in the home [not anymore]...it's a grassroots revolt against the banks...just getting started...[those whose home mortgage is greater than value of home are "modifying" their loan on their own]..."
The KingWorldNews interview podcasts are worth downloading and listening while you exercise or commute!
The KingWorldNews interview podcasts are worth downloading and listening while you exercise or commute!
Response's to Obama's Oval Office Speech
RNC Women's Jan Larimer: Obama Out of Touch -- "...There is no comparison that can be drawn between the deliberate, pre-meditated attacks of 9/11 and the accidental explosion that caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...We knew from his failed stimulus bill that the president was out of touch on the jobs issue. And we knew following the ObamaCare debate that he was out of touch on health reform. Now we know he is actually out of touch with reality..."
Peggy Noonan: A Snakebit President -- Although Peggy doesn't acknowledge that Pres. Clinton's "luck" was a direct result of tax-cutting, de-regulating, welfare-reduction policies Reagan and the Rep Congress put through, she writes "...but the lack of adequate federal government response appropriately redounds on him...The first weekend in May, when water was rough, contractors hired by BP to lay boom "mostly stayed ashore," according to a local official. "Shrimpers took matters into their own hands, laying 18,000 feet of boom," compared to about 4,000 feet by BP's contractors [an example of a crony capitalist working within a system of gov't-mandated restrictions and gov't-created bribezilla regulators]...There is a growing meme that Mr. Obama is too impressed by credentialism, by the meritocracy, by those who hold forth in the faculty lounge, and too strongly identifies with them...and the president never sounds weaker than when he suggests his predicament is all his predecessor's fault..."
Peggy Noonan: A Snakebit President -- Although Peggy doesn't acknowledge that Pres. Clinton's "luck" was a direct result of tax-cutting, de-regulating, welfare-reduction policies Reagan and the Rep Congress put through, she writes "...but the lack of adequate federal government response appropriately redounds on him...The first weekend in May, when water was rough, contractors hired by BP to lay boom "mostly stayed ashore," according to a local official. "Shrimpers took matters into their own hands, laying 18,000 feet of boom," compared to about 4,000 feet by BP's contractors [an example of a crony capitalist working within a system of gov't-mandated restrictions and gov't-created bribezilla regulators]...There is a growing meme that Mr. Obama is too impressed by credentialism, by the meritocracy, by those who hold forth in the faculty lounge, and too strongly identifies with them...and the president never sounds weaker than when he suggests his predicament is all his predecessor's fault..."
Overwhelm the System (Obama's Economic Plan)
Hmmmm... How can we increase government dependency and our control of it?.... Universal Health Care | Cap and tax | Making Puerto Rico a state | Legalizing illegal immigrants | Card check | Stimulus and Bailouts | Raising taxes.
That Stench of Rotting Bull Is Just Obama's Oval Office Speech
[Watching the speech...]
BigGovernment.com analyzes the Cap and Tax speech 6/15/10: "...A little truth Mr. President? Only after Bobby Jindal said he was going to build the barrier islands whether they were approved or not, was the barrier island plan approved....The President might have come clean and told us why the United States refused to accept skimmers from the Dutch, or help from any other country. Maybe he could have explained why miles of oil boom remain in a Maine warehouse despite the fact that the administration was informed of the supply the third week of May...Not allowing BP to spend those dollars on growing its business is limiting the company’s ability to generate the profits necessary to pay its obligation to the victims of the disaster...the six month moratorium will result in job losses of over 120,000 by 2014...the amount of recoverable oil in the U.S. to be 167 billion barrels of oil, not the 21 billion figure pushed by the Democrats. If exploited that 167 billion barrels could replace America’s imports from OPEC countries for more than 75 years....[The POTUS] has not allowed the approval [nuclear energy development] process to be streamlined...The bill passed by the House represents the largest tax increase in American history. It also uses government regulation essentially take over every industry that uses fossil fuel (wait, every industry uses fossil fuel)...."
Religion of Peace News...
Parody
New | Taliban can keep their guns (How about the private citizens?)
New | I am a Muslim (says our POTUS to the Egyptian Pres)
New | Of Mosques and Men: Reflections on the Ground Zero Mosque (video)
Muslims attack Jews this April on UWM campus to deny celebrating the founding of Israel (4/10).
Muslim Murders Vatican Cleric in Turkey -- Turkey turns back in time to religious "prosecution."
Barack Obama in Kenya 2006 and 2007 supporting genocide-flamer, Presidential wannabe relative Odinga on US taxpayer funds. (video)
(Link to the pact between Odinga and Nat'l Muslim Leaders Forum - calling for Sharia law, persecution of Christians, etc.)
Geert Wilders (from Holland) on Islam: "...In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims..."
Hannity on Homegrown Jihad: training camps in the U.S. (video)
Wafa Sultan speaks out about how she came to repudiate her religion (of peace) beliefs.(video) (She's writing The Escaped Prisoner.)
We Con the World (video)
A Mosque (or two) on/near Ground Zero (upwards of 8,000 protest).
Dennis Prager: If Israel Is Not Evil, the Work Is in Big Trouble -- "If Israel is the decent party in its war with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas -- and nearly all the world's countries, nearly all the world's media and the United Nations are morally wrong [as reflected in their condemnation of Israelis and sympathy for Palestinians] -- what hope is there for humanity? If the world's moral compass is that broken, are we not sailing into a dark age?"
New | I am a Muslim (says our POTUS to the Egyptian Pres)
New | Of Mosques and Men: Reflections on the Ground Zero Mosque (video)
Muslims attack Jews this April on UWM campus to deny celebrating the founding of Israel (4/10).
Muslim Murders Vatican Cleric in Turkey -- Turkey turns back in time to religious "prosecution."
Barack Obama in Kenya 2006 and 2007 supporting genocide-flamer, Presidential wannabe relative Odinga on US taxpayer funds. (video)
(Link to the pact between Odinga and Nat'l Muslim Leaders Forum - calling for Sharia law, persecution of Christians, etc.)
Geert Wilders (from Holland) on Islam: "...In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims..."
Hannity on Homegrown Jihad: training camps in the U.S. (video)
Wafa Sultan speaks out about how she came to repudiate her religion (of peace) beliefs.(video) (She's writing The Escaped Prisoner.)
We Con the World (video)
A Mosque (or two) on/near Ground Zero (upwards of 8,000 protest).
Dennis Prager: If Israel Is Not Evil, the Work Is in Big Trouble -- "If Israel is the decent party in its war with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas -- and nearly all the world's countries, nearly all the world's media and the United Nations are morally wrong [as reflected in their condemnation of Israelis and sympathy for Palestinians] -- what hope is there for humanity? If the world's moral compass is that broken, are we not sailing into a dark age?"
Barry's personal terrorist friends helped coordinate/incite the Israeli flotilla
"...It turns out that Barack Obama’s friends Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, along with Code Pink founder and Taliban supporter Jodie Evans, helped to organize the so called “aid flotilla” that sparked the latest incidents in Israel..."
Read more at BadgerBlogger.
Related: Mark Steyn also writes a good column about Israel, Turkey, and the End of Stability.
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Read more at BadgerBlogger.
Related: Mark Steyn also writes a good column about Israel, Turkey, and the End of Stability.
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Click the image above to walk through the facts. See how Spending is the Problem and more.
Looking for a fake 700,000 May non-farm payroll number
"...due to the [Bureau of Labor and Statistics] BLS' voodoo math and double counting, it is distinctly possible that the Census alone will add up to 507,779 workers (organic hirings of 417k and the plug for the prior period of 90k). Also, recall that the Birth-Death adjustment in April "added" another 188,000 workers. Retaining the same level of statistical adjustment, and the May NFP number will be at 700,000 before even one real full-time person has been added to the economy in the month of May!
Instead of shrugging, Ron Johnson is running for office | George Will 5/26/10
"...Asked how much of his wealth he will spend, if necessary, his answer is as simple as it is swift: 'All of it.' The theme of his campaign, the genesis of which was an invitation to address a Tea Party rally, is: 'First of all, freedom.' Then? 'Then you've got to put meat on the bones.' He gets much of his meat from the Wall Street Journal's opinion pages. And from a Wisconsin congressman, Paul Ryan, whose 'road map' for entitlement reform Johnson praises. Health care? 'Mitch Daniels has the solution.' Indiana's Republican governor has offered state employees the choice of consumer-controlled health savings accounts, and 70 percent now choose them.
'The most basic right,' Johnson says, 'is the right to keep your property.'...What Samuel Johnson said of Milton's "Paradise Lost" -- "None ever wished it longer than it is" -- some readers have said of "Atlas Shrugged." Not Johnson, who thinks it is 'too short' at 1,088 pages...."
Update: Listen to and watch Johnson's convention video with segments from Charlie Sykes' show below. Rasmusson Poll Wisconsin Senate: Feingold 46%, Johnson 44%; polled Tuesday, May 25, 2010 before Wall withdrew.
'The most basic right,' Johnson says, 'is the right to keep your property.'...What Samuel Johnson said of Milton's "Paradise Lost" -- "None ever wished it longer than it is" -- some readers have said of "Atlas Shrugged." Not Johnson, who thinks it is 'too short' at 1,088 pages...."
Update: Listen to and watch Johnson's convention video with segments from Charlie Sykes' show below. Rasmusson Poll Wisconsin Senate: Feingold 46%, Johnson 44%; polled Tuesday, May 25, 2010 before Wall withdrew.
Saga of Paul Rand - Democratic Party Racial Politics in Action
"...Democrats even stoop to condemning as racist anyone who dares to engage in philosophical discussions about the constitutional limitations on federal powers - just ask Rand Paul who dared to voice the fact that a few aspects of the 1964 Civil Rights Act lacked constitutional authority...In his new book, "Whites Blacks & Racist Democrats", Wayne Perryman provides startling details about racism in the Democratic Party from 1792 to 2009. Perryman describes how the Democratic Party became known as the "Party of White Supremacy" that fought to preserve slavery and enacted discriminatory laws to deny civil rights to blacks...[and] how the Republican Party that was founded in 1854 as the anti-slavery party became the party of freedom and equality for blacks. Republicans fought to end slavery; amended the U.S. Constitution to grant blacks freedom, citizenship and the right to vote; and pushed to enact every piece of civil rights legislation from the 1860's to the 1960's over the objection of the Democrats.
Perryman brought to light the 1875 Civil Rights Act, the first law that dealt with accommodations and equality and was passed by a Republican-dominated Congress. To their eternal shame, Democrats in 1883 convinced the United States Supreme Court to declare the 1875 Civil Rights Act as "unconstitutional." Eleven years later in 1894, Democrats passed the 1894 Repeal Act to overturn the previous civil rights legislation passed during Reconstruction by Republicans...[all that and more] Ignored by the media today, as they attempt to paint all Republicans as racist, is the fact that Jim Crow laws were enacted by Democrats to force private businesses to refuse services to blacks..."
Perryman brought to light the 1875 Civil Rights Act, the first law that dealt with accommodations and equality and was passed by a Republican-dominated Congress. To their eternal shame, Democrats in 1883 convinced the United States Supreme Court to declare the 1875 Civil Rights Act as "unconstitutional." Eleven years later in 1894, Democrats passed the 1894 Repeal Act to overturn the previous civil rights legislation passed during Reconstruction by Republicans...[all that and more] Ignored by the media today, as they attempt to paint all Republicans as racist, is the fact that Jim Crow laws were enacted by Democrats to force private businesses to refuse services to blacks..."
Candidate in Race to Unseat Feingold MKE J/S 5/15/10 [& gets WISGOP endorsement 5/23]
"...On Saturday, after a speech to a suburban Republican women's club [actually, THE SRWC] in Glendale north of Milwaukee, Johnson seemed reluctant to take direct swipes at Feingold or the other Republicans in the primary. He pledged to take the high road and make the campaign about warning citizens of the dangers ahead if the government does not shrink and taxes continue to rise...A supporter of term limits, Johnson said: "I'm just respectfully saying it's time for Russ to retire."...His most specific criticism was aimed at the $787 billion economic stimulus package approved in February 2009, supported by Feingold and 59 other senators. He believes it actually slowed the recovery...."We would have been far better off not spending any of the money and let the recovery happen as it was going to happen," Johnson said."
Of Crony Capitalism and European Austerity | George Will 5/12/10
"...A television commercial featuring CEO Ed Whitacre demonstrates the institutional murkiness and intellectual dishonesty that result when the line between public and private sectors disappears...In the commercial, Whitacre says GM has "repaid our government loan in full." Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., noted that GM used government funds to pay back the government: It "simply transferred $6.7 billion from one taxpayer-funded TARP account to another."..."
Scott Walker, Candidate for WI Gov, on Drudge :)
"...Wisconsin Republicans have yet to nominate a candidate for governor. Indeed, the state's primary is not until Sept. 14. But two national GOP heavyweights -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- are bullish on the prospects of Scott Walker, the self-described, brown-bag-packing county executive of Milwaukee...Making political hay out of the lunch that he packs for himself, Walker has branded his events around the state as part of a "Brown Bag Movement" that has three tenets: (1) "don't spend more than you have"; (2) "smaller government is better government"; and (3) "people create jobs, not government..."
A Real Housewife of Wisconsin (interview with Rachel Campos Duffy) 5/7/10
LOPEZ: You write, “I know that I am in the presence of a real girlfriend when I feel energized and uplifted after being with her. If I feel drained or anxious, I know that it is not a relationship I should expend energy on.” There’s something necessarily liberating about that, isn’t there? And there’s nothing mean or unchristian either, is there? It’s necessary and healthy detachment, isn’t it? And not just for moms?
CAMPOS-DUFFY (in photo): Yes, there’s a difference between an emotionally draining person and a person who is genuinely in need. A person in need is not necessarily a drain. In fact, when I serve others through volunteer work or some charitable gesture, I don’t feel drained. I feel great! Not so with an emotionally draining person. Let go of relationships that leave you feeling down, anxious, or even depressed. Stop beating your head against the wall wondering if it’s you. Let it go. You may actually be doing you both a favor by freeing up your lives to find other, more edifying friendships and experiences....Motherhood isn’t just something we do for our kids and family. It’s also something we do for ourselves...." "I think our generation seeks balance between professional and family life. Thankfully, taking time off to be with your young kids no longer always means the end of your career. However, it will most likely involve redefining what success means."
CAMPOS-DUFFY (in photo): Yes, there’s a difference between an emotionally draining person and a person who is genuinely in need. A person in need is not necessarily a drain. In fact, when I serve others through volunteer work or some charitable gesture, I don’t feel drained. I feel great! Not so with an emotionally draining person. Let go of relationships that leave you feeling down, anxious, or even depressed. Stop beating your head against the wall wondering if it’s you. Let it go. You may actually be doing you both a favor by freeing up your lives to find other, more edifying friendships and experiences....Motherhood isn’t just something we do for our kids and family. It’s also something we do for ourselves...." "I think our generation seeks balance between professional and family life. Thankfully, taking time off to be with your young kids no longer always means the end of your career. However, it will most likely involve redefining what success means."
Athens or Washington, It's the Size of Government 5/7/10
"That "anti-government mob [in Greece]," it must be understood, consisted of civil servants, tens of thousands of whom took to the streets to protest austerity measures....Public sector unions are growing in the U.S. More than 50 percent of all union members are now public employees who have negotiated sweet deals with local, state, and federal governments. As economic historian John Steele Gordon points out, 'Federal workers now earn, in wages and benefits, about twice what their private-sector equivalents get paid. State workers often have Cadillac health plans and retirement benefits far above the private sector average: 80 percent of public-sector workers have pension benefits, only 50 percent in the private sector. Many can retire at age 50.' While private employers were shedding jobs during the recession, state and local governments hired 110,000 new workers...Greece is in flames, but if you look around, you can smell the smoke here as well."
Fast and Furious 4/10
30 second sound bite a la Joe the Plumber: Obama says there is a point at which you've earned enough money.
6 minute video - only a bit of which is needed to get the difference between a grassroots Tea Party and an astroturfed Coffee party.
Filtering History: "...slaves and enslavers alike have been of every race, religion and nationality...If the history of slavery ought to teach us anything, it is that human beings cannot be trusted with unbridled power over other human beings." T Sowell
Sensenbrenner says Let Us Pray - "Wisconsin made national headlines recently when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin’s Western District ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of church and state...[However] Holding a Day of Prayer does not “establish” any religion, nor does it require anyone to take part in the National Day of Prayer...[or] to pray to a specific god or pray a specific message – it merely presents an opportunity to do so if they so choose in the way that they choose."
State Rep Kevin Petersen answers the question: Is the National Day of Prayer Constitutional?
"According to the Fed research, 'states with greater economic freedom – defined as the protection of private property and private markets operating with minimal government interference – experienced greater rates of employment growth.'... It is not a coincidence that among the states identified as least free in the Fed study are New York, Hawaii and Alaska, the three most heavily unionized workforces in the country."
Paul Ryan describes the tipping point today: Per the Tax Foundation, "20% of Americans get 75% of their income from the Federal Government; so they're dependent upon the Government already. Another 20% get 45% of their income from the Federal Government; so they're reliant upon the Federal Government. A full 60% of Americans...get more benefits in dollar value from the Government than they pay back in taxes...Once this budget is fully put into the place, 3 out of 10 families in America are either supplying or supplementing the incomes of 7 other families in this country." Adding regulations and regulatory agencies, when they didn't catch the problem in the first place, is not the path to take."
Under crony capitalism the government picks the winners and losers (creating a permanent, business-essential industry to try to make sure you are one of the winners).
The Big Alienation - Uncontrolled borders and Washington's lack of control: Peggy Noonan explains that "Once existing laws are enforced and the border made peaceful, everyone in the country will be able to breathe easier and consider, without an air of clamor and crisis, what should be done next."
6 minute video - only a bit of which is needed to get the difference between a grassroots Tea Party and an astroturfed Coffee party.
Filtering History: "...slaves and enslavers alike have been of every race, religion and nationality...If the history of slavery ought to teach us anything, it is that human beings cannot be trusted with unbridled power over other human beings." T Sowell
Sensenbrenner says Let Us Pray - "Wisconsin made national headlines recently when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin’s Western District ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of church and state...[However] Holding a Day of Prayer does not “establish” any religion, nor does it require anyone to take part in the National Day of Prayer...[or] to pray to a specific god or pray a specific message – it merely presents an opportunity to do so if they so choose in the way that they choose."
State Rep Kevin Petersen answers the question: Is the National Day of Prayer Constitutional?
"According to the Fed research, 'states with greater economic freedom – defined as the protection of private property and private markets operating with minimal government interference – experienced greater rates of employment growth.'... It is not a coincidence that among the states identified as least free in the Fed study are New York, Hawaii and Alaska, the three most heavily unionized workforces in the country."
Paul Ryan describes the tipping point today: Per the Tax Foundation, "20% of Americans get 75% of their income from the Federal Government; so they're dependent upon the Government already. Another 20% get 45% of their income from the Federal Government; so they're reliant upon the Federal Government. A full 60% of Americans...get more benefits in dollar value from the Government than they pay back in taxes...Once this budget is fully put into the place, 3 out of 10 families in America are either supplying or supplementing the incomes of 7 other families in this country." Adding regulations and regulatory agencies, when they didn't catch the problem in the first place, is not the path to take."
Under crony capitalism the government picks the winners and losers (creating a permanent, business-essential industry to try to make sure you are one of the winners).
The Big Alienation - Uncontrolled borders and Washington's lack of control: Peggy Noonan explains that "Once existing laws are enforced and the border made peaceful, everyone in the country will be able to breathe easier and consider, without an air of clamor and crisis, what should be done next."
WI Legislation Recap
Updates on how the end of the 2009-2010 WI Legislative session -- E.g., "High speed rail – the Joint Finance Committee approved spending $810 million of federal stimulus money for high speed rail between Milwaukee and the Madison airport. The state will need an additional 7.6 million in operating expenses each year to cover the cost of the project (AB-282 for the creation of Regional Transit Authorities – no final action taken, legislation is now dead)"
Tomorrow Belongs to MO
Mark Steyn's "mother grew up not far from Antwerp. If you had said to her in 1960 that within 50 years 40 per cent of the city's elementary school children would be Muslim, she and most other Belgians would have thought you were nuts....it's now estimated that by 2012 a majority of grade-schoolers will be Muslim. Which means that in ten years' time Antwerp may not yet technically be majority Muslim, buts its energy, its character, its culture, its cusine increasingly will be.
Here's my [Steyn's] question for the left - for women, gays, "progressives" generally: Which currently Muslim city would you wish to live in? I don't just mean visit, or pass through for a couple of years. I love Amman and Cairo, but that's in part because I know I have a return ticket to New Hampshire. So in which Muslim city would you like to live permanently? Make your life, build a career, raise your kids. And, if you're having trouble answering, why do you think Brussels and Antwerp - and many other European cities - will turn out any different?"
Not Too ‘Hip’ and ‘Edgy’ for Censorship | Mark's follow-up (4/24/10)
"Don’t worry about Iran’s nuclear program, but if you meet a tea partier waving some placard about the national debt, try not to catch his eye....On Earth Day, lame politicians dig a hole and stick a tree in it. But aggrieved Muslims dig a hole and stick a couple of comedy writers in it. Celebrate diversity!"
Here's my [Steyn's] question for the left - for women, gays, "progressives" generally: Which currently Muslim city would you wish to live in? I don't just mean visit, or pass through for a couple of years. I love Amman and Cairo, but that's in part because I know I have a return ticket to New Hampshire. So in which Muslim city would you like to live permanently? Make your life, build a career, raise your kids. And, if you're having trouble answering, why do you think Brussels and Antwerp - and many other European cities - will turn out any different?"
Not Too ‘Hip’ and ‘Edgy’ for Censorship | Mark's follow-up (4/24/10)
"Don’t worry about Iran’s nuclear program, but if you meet a tea partier waving some placard about the national debt, try not to catch his eye....On Earth Day, lame politicians dig a hole and stick a tree in it. But aggrieved Muslims dig a hole and stick a couple of comedy writers in it. Celebrate diversity!"
Financial Reform: Blocking Innovations, not Meltdowns
Consider the financial reform bill "racing through the Senate (it cleared its committee in 22 minutes, less time than it would have taken to actually read the bill)...Under a CFPA [Consumer Financial Protection Protection], a cell phone company that wants to offer an even more convenient payment mechanism would have to submit to a massive set of regulations. Even if the CFPA didn’t just say “no,” the prospect of a lengthy and expensive approval process, and restrictions on marketing, might be enough to discourage companies from even considering new services. Who would benefit from such regulation? Big banks: they would be protected against competition and be given an excuse for failing to offer new products. That’s no way to help consumer or to avert the next financial crisis."
Overtaxed Homeowners Fight Back and Limited Trust in Gov't
With home prices plummeting, tax appraisers (whose client is the local government, not the local people) are reluctant to lower market values to reflect post-bubble prices. I've personally been told by a tax assessor that it matters not whether homes sit on the market for months or years or even if someone paid less than valued -- somehow they know better and have other variables that count. Well, homeowners are starting to take on the -- what should be unnecessary -- burden of fighting city hall to lower their property taxes. Granted, the overall tax levy should go down if rates/$1,000 remain the same, but tightening belts should also be part of the taxing regimen. In a related article (really!), 78% don't trust big government.
Heritage puts $$$ in perspective. Check out its 2010 Budget Chart Book.
After the Crash, a Crashing Bore 4/9/10 by Peggy Noonan
"..."Let's be real. This is what happened the past 10 years. You, for political reasons, both Republicans and Democrats, finagled the mortgage system so that people who make, like, zero dollars a year were given mortgages for $600,000 houses. You got to run around and crow about how under your watch everyone became a homeowner. You shook down the taxpayer and hoped for the best...Democrats did it because they thought it would make everyone Democrats: 'Look what I give you!' Republicans did it because they thought it would make everyone Republicans: 'I'm a homeowner, I've got a stake, don't raise my property taxes, get off my lawn!' And Wall Street? We went to town, baby. We bundled the mortgages and sold them to fools, or we held them, called them assets, and made believe everyone would pay their mortgage. As if we cared. We invented financial instruments so complicated no one, even the people who sold them, understood what they were..."You're finaglers and we're finaglers. I play for dollars, you play for votes. In our own ways we're all thieves..." Peaked your interest?! Read Noonan's summary of congressional hearings. HT ThadMcCotter
On Stocks and the Costanza Paradox 4/10/10 by globalpersectives
"...In a classic episode of Seinfeld called The Opposite, perma-loser George Costanza comes to the realization that if he would just act completely contrarily to his own instincts, things would begin to go his way...Think about how rewarding it's been for traders who have completely violated any sense of prudence or market savvy:
*AIG ($AIG) barely avoids liquidation - buy it and enjoy percentage gains in the thousands!
*Unemployment remains at around 10%, inital jobless claims are still climbing - so buy some specialty or even luxury retailers!
*Mortgage rates are inching higher and housing has not truly bottomed - so snag some Hovnanian ($HOV), some lumber names and why not a little Home Depot ($HD).
*Oil breaks out above $85 - and the airlines go wild!
*Congress passes a de facto takeover of Healthcare - OMG! Healthcare stocks are rallying on the news of their newly subjugated status!
*Commercial RE is a time bomb - REITs! I gotta have more REITs!" (Do you feel like everyone else must be taking crazy pills?)
*AIG ($AIG) barely avoids liquidation - buy it and enjoy percentage gains in the thousands!
*Unemployment remains at around 10%, inital jobless claims are still climbing - so buy some specialty or even luxury retailers!
*Mortgage rates are inching higher and housing has not truly bottomed - so snag some Hovnanian ($HOV), some lumber names and why not a little Home Depot ($HD).
*Oil breaks out above $85 - and the airlines go wild!
*Congress passes a de facto takeover of Healthcare - OMG! Healthcare stocks are rallying on the news of their newly subjugated status!
*Commercial RE is a time bomb - REITs! I gotta have more REITs!" (Do you feel like everyone else must be taking crazy pills?)
Increasing Number of Parents Opt to School-Home
The Onion spoofs this growing phenomenon. "..."It's really a matter of who has more experience in dealing with my child," Cincinnati- resident Kevin Dufrense said of his decision to have his 10-year-old son Jake, who suffers from ADHD and dyslexia, school-homed. "These teachers are dealing with upwards of 40 students in their classrooms at a time, so obviously they know a lot more about children than someone like me, who only has one son and doesn't know where he is half the time anyway."..."Simply put, it's not the job of parents to raise these kids," Dufrense added." HT JoanneJacobs
Liberal = Control the People
Progressives/liberals candidly reveal their philosophy when we listen. Remember these Obama lines: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." "[1:50] My individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country, unfortunately...that recognition requires that we make sacrifices and this country has not always been willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to bring about a new day and a new age." How do you spread the wealth around and get Americans to make the sacrifices you want them to make? Legislation. Congressman Dingell summarizes: "It takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.”
Demonizing everday Americans
"...Agents of big government and their boosters in the mainstream media seem determined to throw cold water on this growing grassroots movement that is a reaction to the Obama administration’s power grab of the growth and expansion of this country’s central government...There’s a great deal of diversity among Tea Party people...But they all have two things in common: They all want smaller government, and oppose the trampling of the Constitution embodied in these efforts to radically expand the size and scope of government. And as part of that desire, they want this utterly ludicrous spending binge to end before it bankrupts all of us...This freedom to assemble was considered so essential to a free nation that our Founders put it in the First Amendment, right alongside the freedom of speech and freedom of religion..."
Universities encourage students to enroll in food stamp programs
"...'A few of our other friends who were in the room also said if they were able to, they would get food stamps … They think that if they’re eligible it’s the government’s fault, so they might as well' ... 'I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” one young man said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.'...”
HT Joanne Jacobs who has a terrific summary and the comments are on point!
HT Joanne Jacobs who has a terrific summary and the comments are on point!
Fast and Furious 3/10
When things come too "fast and furious" to keep up. Check out these links when you need something to do while waiting in the car, "watching" practices, commuting, whenever -- they all cover something interesting!
All the latest on WI Legislative and church-related pushes are at The Truth USA.
The Tea-Party Express is coming to Milwaukee Wednesday, April 7th at 9:30 am at State Fair Park!
JT Harris describes the Democrat Stockholm Syndrome. You've heard of the Stockholm Syndrome (where the prey identifies with the predator)? The comments are thoughtful. Join in the conversation!
WI Motor-Voter Registration - Senate Bill 640 Get your views distributed at the hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 31, 2010---10:00 a.m. State Capitol (attend if you can).
Our Education page has 3 new additions to it re: African-American studies, not making the classroom a political platform, and how reading provides role models.
4-Day School Weeks Might Be Coming to Illinois -- with the backwards logic to "save" money (substituting current 5 day week with 4 longer days or a longer year -- so the amount of time in the classroom remains the same).
Chuck Norris warns of the Riders on the Storm. You are aware of the building storm about to descend on D.C., right?
Mark Steyn warns us of Tattered Liberty "...what will ensure it [America's decline] is if the American people accept decline as a price worth paying for European social democracy..."
James Thunder covers Black History Month and Lincoln. A great chronological history of Lincoln's anti-slavery efforts.
Brit Niles Gardiner recognizes that the Congress Health Care Vote: [is] A Dark Day for Freedom in America.
Red Skelton explains the Pledge of Allegiance.
All the latest on WI Legislative and church-related pushes are at The Truth USA.
The Tea-Party Express is coming to Milwaukee Wednesday, April 7th at 9:30 am at State Fair Park!
JT Harris describes the Democrat Stockholm Syndrome. You've heard of the Stockholm Syndrome (where the prey identifies with the predator)? The comments are thoughtful. Join in the conversation!
WI Motor-Voter Registration - Senate Bill 640 Get your views distributed at the hearing scheduled for Wednesday, March 31, 2010---10:00 a.m. State Capitol (attend if you can).
Our Education page has 3 new additions to it re: African-American studies, not making the classroom a political platform, and how reading provides role models.
4-Day School Weeks Might Be Coming to Illinois -- with the backwards logic to "save" money (substituting current 5 day week with 4 longer days or a longer year -- so the amount of time in the classroom remains the same).
Chuck Norris warns of the Riders on the Storm. You are aware of the building storm about to descend on D.C., right?
Mark Steyn warns us of Tattered Liberty "...what will ensure it [America's decline] is if the American people accept decline as a price worth paying for European social democracy..."
James Thunder covers Black History Month and Lincoln. A great chronological history of Lincoln's anti-slavery efforts.
Brit Niles Gardiner recognizes that the Congress Health Care Vote: [is] A Dark Day for Freedom in America.
Red Skelton explains the Pledge of Allegiance.
Netanyahu humiliated after Obama "dumps him for dinner"
"For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of....Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip seen in Jerusalem tonight as a disastrous humiliation.
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman who spoke to the Prime Minister said today.
“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea..." HT GlobalPerspectives
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman who spoke to the Prime Minister said today.
“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea..." HT GlobalPerspectives
New Home Sales 2003-2010 (in red) via CalculatedRisk
The Census and the Constitution
"...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
Onward, He Said, Regardless
"...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.
Same Stats? Different message.
No More Earmarxists
"...Earmarks erode the ability to say no to more government, and they corrupt often-good politicians with the enjoyment and the power of directing other people’s money to those who come to them and ask. And at times, earmarks directly enable increased government when they are used to buy lawmakers off... Did the Founders really envision the federal government paying for developing curriculum in the Tulsa public schools for students at risk of dropping out ($195,000) or a river ferry boat program in Oklahoma City ($1.7 million) or an “engineering incubator” in Norman ($137,200)? What clause of the Constitution do those fall under exactly... It is time to purge the earmarxists from the conservative movement." HT JGramins
Lessons from Afghanistan
"...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.]
Happy 1st Birthday, TEA Party Movement!
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.)
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:
White House Bribes Are Federal Crimes
"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.]
<-- Don't forget to watch the video...
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.]
<-- Don't forget to watch the video...
The Fallacy of Fairness
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.
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.
How to Get the Country to Solvency on Entitlements
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...
Justice Thomas Defends Ruling on Campaign Finance
Click here to listen!
“'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.
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.
GDP Data Overstates Economy's Health | per MSNBC!
from Limbaugh Letter...
"...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...
Carteresque by Mona Charen
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.
Home Sales Worst Plunge in 40 Years
"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?
GOP No Cost Jobs Letter/Plan to Obama
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...
Clarke plans new inmate-reform program
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)
It's the Enemy, Stupid
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.
Bernanke Knew Financial Crisis Was Coming
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."
A Country Boy and His Dreams
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.
Reid's Corrupt Christmas Present 1/6/10
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)"
• 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 benchmark 10-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.
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 benchmark 10-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.
In Other Words
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.
Down with Big Business
"...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....
BO's Safe School Czar
WARNING: Offensive words and conjured images. All you really need to know is that BO's "Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was the founder, and for many years, Executive Director of an organization called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)." HT Frugal Cafe Blog Zone for putting together a comprehensive compilation. Related "educational" credentials. Investigating further, workshop facilitators help kids learn how to "satisfy" themselves and others in dangerous ways, also distribute kits for that purpose. Moral: "Experience and higher education" can be misleading, especially without common sense and Judeo-Christian values attached to them.
Is "Rube" Sarah Palin Redefining E-Campaigning?
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..."
Business Fumes over Carbon Dioxide Rule
"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.
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.
Uncle Ted's American Job Summit
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. ..."
Hyphenated American: Republican Talking Point #1
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."
All about Movies
Interesting articles you might enjoy:
Modern Cinema Hasn't a Clue about Eroticism by Alicia Cohan
"The Blind Side" Should Trouble as well as Inspire by Star Parker (and about the real Michael Oher)
Modern Cinema Hasn't a Clue about Eroticism by Alicia Cohan
"The Blind Side" Should Trouble as well as Inspire by Star Parker (and about the real Michael Oher)
Homecoming Scholarships on the Sly
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
Mark Steyn: Turning KSM into OJ
"...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."
Community Organization "Walking the Edge of Immorality"
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..."
Thank you former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush
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
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
Dirty Stimulus Jobs Data Exaggerates Stimulus Impact
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 Vilification of Rush (analysis by The Hutch!)
"...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."
Historic Echo: Service.gov and Its Soviet Similarities
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!"
Abortion Kills -- leading cause of death for Blacks
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.
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.
BO in Perspective: Fall of the Republic
This series is about 10 minutes a video. Draw your own conclusions. It is very compelling.
Are you ready for 'peace'? How about second place?
Did We Elect a Beta Male as President?
"...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..."
Sales 101: Obama's Violated First 3 Rules of Selling
"...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..."
Database Our Children [Training Kids to Be Obama's Servants]
"...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 ominous requirement 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."
Dead End Kids: Unemployment of 16-24 year olds is 52%+
Topic: Youth unemployment exploding and mandated increases in minimum wage rates...discuss amongst yourselves. Consequences?
Mo' money doesn't = better results.
Milwaukee T.E.A Party by the Lake
Taxed Enough Already! Thousands of like-minded Americans turned out 9/19/09 express themselves and let others know that what they heard is how they feel, too. JT Harris has a great description of his time there. Other links to photos and speeches:
* BadgerBlogger posts speeches by Scott Walker, Michelle Malkin Sherriff Clarke, an astrophysicist, JT Harris, and more!
* Michelle Malkin follows up with Obama's unbelievable response to ACORN getting funding. Her new book is Culture of Corruption.
* a link to photos of signs will be coming as soon as I can get to it.
* BadgerBlogger posts speeches by Scott Walker, Michelle Malkin Sherriff Clarke, an astrophysicist, JT Harris, and more!
* Michelle Malkin follows up with Obama's unbelievable response to ACORN getting funding. Her new book is Culture of Corruption.
* a link to photos of signs will be coming as soon as I can get to it.
From World Regulations to National Garage Sales Standards?!
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."
Cognitive Dissonance in Obama's Case for Healthcare
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."
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."
Revolt of the Masses
Daniel Henninger puts it into perspective: "As measured by the by the OECD, the growth in the gross debt as a percentage of GDP sincethe dawn of the new century is stunning [i.e., since 2000]. The data isn't exactly comparable across individual countries, but the trend line is unmistakable...In the U.S., debt as a percentage of GDP rose to 87% in 2009 from 55% in 2000. In the U.K., to 75% from 45%; Germany, to 78% from 60%; France, 86% from 66%. There are exceptions to this trend, such as Canada, New Zealand and notably Australia, whose debt has fallen to 16% of GDP from 25%. [WOW. It can be done!] But for all the countries in the OECD's basket the claim of indebtedness on GDP grew to 92% from 69% the past nine years."
Tax-Relief Day on August 12 This Year
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.
What Are You Doing for the Collective Good?
"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."
Purge of Iranian Universities Is Feared
"...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
Obama's Summer of Discontent; the Politics of Charisma Is So Third World...
Fouad Ajami says Americans were never going to buy into it for too long. Read about the disparate groups Obama's voters belong to...
Will States Kill Recovery?
Brian Riedl, Senior Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation provides a clear answer.
Thomas Paine, Warts and All
WSJ and the National Portrait Gallery honor Thomas Paine's 200th birthyear -- for more Common Sense information, click here.
Calls to Tax Junk Food Gain Ground
The LA Times reports on this subjective money and control grab. HT @YaleFreePress
Steelworker's Union Part of Global Union Effort
A new global union tries to gain power and influence policy..."challenging growing exploitation of global capital." Not exactly free market advocates!
Three Reasons Why Government Can't Run Health Care
"...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."
Fiscal Conservative and Soul of the GOP
The Wall Street Journal talks with Texas Governor Rick Perry about Arnold, Sarah, ObamaCare, and the future of the GOP.
If only there were money (not IOUs) in the SS trust fund.
Forget the Fairness Doctrine; We have (other) ways...
Mark Lloyd, the new Federal Communications Commission's Diversity Officer, knows many ways to force "fair" airwaves. Sen. Grassley responds to this appointment.
Dems Demand Records from Health Insurance Companies
"...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."
Sarah Palin Responds to Pres. re. Death Panel
"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]"
The Alinsky Way versus the American Way
"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."
What's in the July Unemployment number? Part Two
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.
What's in the July Unemployment number? Part One
@PoliticalMath explains with an update adjusting the current number for the season. Nonetheless, the stock market goes up, while the real unemployment rate is 16%+, planned layoffs increase, commercial real estate's future is murky, our freedoms are diminishing, banks continue to fail (and the FDIC is likely bankrupt), consumer spending is down, taxes at every level are rising and headed higher, and (NEW) Timmy G wants Congress to raise our debt limit above $12.1 Trillion. What's wrong with this picture?
See immigration statistics. Interesting graphic.
Overlay of Great Depression versus today.
Econ 101. Peter Schiff "leads" good discussion at OntheBorderline
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.
Great Updated and Revised Health Care Bill Overview
Liberty Council provides us with an excellent list of What Americans Need to Know about the Healthcare Takeover. Health Care Facts
Sherlock Holmes & the Mystery of the Green Shoots
"...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.)
The Democrats Want Your Kids HT Schlafly
"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.
National Disservice: Pres. Obama's Feel Good Draft
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.”
The Terrible Truth about Walter Cronkite
Lack of competition, a personable and authoritative presence ... thank goodness for free market expansion of outlets since those days.
Interesting 6'x6' poster of gov't spending. Interactive on web.
Obama's team overshoots their predictions. Where are we headed?
Health Care Articles Worth the Read
All the great videos and articles written by various people discussing health care are now on our Health Care Facts page. See what's new!
The Barackracy Booms
Czars, government workers, media adoration and manipulation, threats....
Muslim w/ Radical Ties Appointed to Dept. Homeland Security
Read more about this Obama appointee at Atlas Shrugs. The Am-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) describes the other appointee.
Walgreen's Already Has a Health Care Alternative
Yes. The private sector leads the way (watch gov't step all over it). Fast Company reports on this near-house/in-company clinic approach.
Marginalizing Sarah Palin [destructive propaganda]
"... 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."
Clear Reasons NOT to Confirm Sotomayor
"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.
House Dems' health care 'plan.'
See article New York Post | News | 7/16/09
California's IOUs: The Shape of Things to Come
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.
None Dare Call It Marxism
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).
United in Hate, Part II
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.
A Real Bi-Partisan Economic Stimulus Plan
"...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..."
Acorn Chasing Runaway Slave
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..."
Behold What Madison Hath Wrought
The MacIver Institute tells us how WI is sticking it to us (both the Fed & State pile on the redundancy! Double-taxation takes on new meaning.)
Smoot Hawley Lysenko Cocktail.
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.
Cap & Tax Passes House 219 Yes 212 No
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.
House Passes Climate Change Bill
1200 pages total...300 added at 3 am. Do ya' think they know what they are signing on our behalf?
Cap and Tax, A Man-Made Disaster
"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).
Great Texan RNC advice: Stop whining about the Bush admin!
"...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.
Questions to ask about the Health Care proposals
Prominent conservatives and free market supporters offer pertinent questions that Obama and his administration should answer.
Rep. Bachmann: Sign petition to stop funding Acorn
Rep. Bachmann refuses to complete census
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.
For the Nation's Medicine, A HICA Moment
"...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's Always Been about the Mullahs
"...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.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Letter to the Editor--Please write one, too!
*** 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.
James E. Greenlee, M.D. Fox Point ***
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.
James E. Greenlee, M.D. Fox Point ***
The Party of "Know,"...not "No"
Ted Nugent rocks on what we know.
Sarah Palin, the 21st Century "It" Girl
Jay Valentine cheers us up with a description of common sense charisma at the American Thinker. HT JTHarris
Beating Back Obamanomics
"...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..."
Just Make Stuff Up
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!!
Ruin Your Health [and pocketbook] with Obama Stimulus Plan
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."
Obama tells American Businesses to Drop Dead
“...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."
Obama's Speech in Cairo, Egypt (AP's version)
Charles Krauthammer sums up his reaction to the speech.
Freedom to Choose
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.
International Forecaster Explains Doomsday Scenario
"...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...
Zero Hedge blogs about the market's movements
"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?"
American capitalism gone with a whimper
"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.
MacIver Institute Reveals Wisconsin's Secretly Cut Budget Deal
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!
Who Wrote Dreams and Why It Matters
Jack Cashill at the American Thinker shares his "literary detective work" comparing Ayers' Fugitive Days w/ "Obama's" Dreams of My Father.
It Has Begun. Stocks Drop and Interest Rates Rise Anyway
"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.
Understanding the Black Experience?
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!!
Read MyronEbell’s April 22, 2009, testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Or read why Schlafly says not to fall for Cap and Tax. Or read Herman Cain's comprehensive overview.
Institute For WI's Future calls for taxing 100% of Capital Gains
Read the ugly truth of what's being touted. Doyle will increase the amount from 40% to 60%--Oh, yes, there's more....
Republicans need Washingtons, not Specters
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."
On Wall Street: Beware of the Sucker's Rally
"The granddaddy of all bear markets, 1929 –1932, had six false alarms with an average gain of 47 per cent..."
Heritage.org provides perspective on budget numbers
Atheist, Pro-Abortion, Anti-Marriage Libertarians Want Control of Repubican Party
North Carolina warns of non-conservatives wresting control of Republican party. Considering conservatism works every time it's tried...
Dept. of Homeland Security Report
Click title to read entire text. For summarizing commentary: Michelle Malkin, Diane West, Jonah Goldberg
Glenn Beck Reports that "You're an Extremist!"
The Department of Homeland Security describes terrorists that sound a lot like us! Really!?!
Study Finds Millions in Waste at Milwaukee Public Schools
$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+]."
Rockin' Ted Nugent's Great Read on Gun Control and Mexico
"...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..."
Thomas Sowell's Random Thoughts
"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."
Ryan Explains Republican's Alternative Budget
There sure is a better way!
Our Problem is Immorality
"Do you believe that it is moral and just for one person to be forcibly used to serve the purposes of another?" Answer that and read on!!
Sell the Roads!
Are you ready to trust the free market? Take a moment to think about what that really means and the benefits behind this leap of faith
Lost in an Energy Wilderness (when there's Abundance all around us!)
Created in 1977, our own Department of Energy purposely leads us farther and farther away from energy abundance.
How to Cure Your Daughter's STD Syndrome
Mike Adams, Townhall columnist and UNC professor, offers a cure to the rampant Socialist Teaching Disorder (STD) on our colleges today.
The Bad, The Ugly, and the Good
Victor Davis Hanson writes a thought-provoking three-part series about what he sees happening in the USA. Read more here.
Headed toward extinction?
Haven't we already "discussed" this topic? Read how world DE-population is the more likely trend these days.
On the Wrong Side of History
Investor's Business Daily sounds yet another warning signal.
Change vs. Classics in Education
"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.
Sweden's Government Health System
Walter Williams outlines why we do NOT want more government in our health system. See related video on the Canadian system, too.
Community Organizing Goes to D.C.
"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
