Indexing into the Ditch — Financial Crisis Root Causes — Part I

June 17, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Liberals, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Technology | Comments Off

-By Scott Cleland

Despite the widely held view that indexing is the safest way to invest, indexing helped recklessly drive our financial system and economy into the ditch last fall.

While there’s consensus the financial crisis warrants “new rules of the road” and better policing to protect against systemic risk, all the rules and oversight in the world can’t keep us out of the ditch in the future if index vehicles continue to drive the wrong way against oncoming traffic.

And “stress testing” whether bank vehicles can survive head-on crashes, completely misses the point that indexers should not be driving the wrong way on the freeway.

Flight 93 Update

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Flight 93, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | Comments Off

False AP report: Obama did NOT say that Iran must respect voters’ choice

Obama’s comments were mushy, yes, but at least he said the most important thing, according to AP:

He said it’s up to Iran to determine its own leaders but that the country must respect voters’ choice.

Why then have reputable people continued to pass harsh judgment? And why would AP paraphrase what would have been Obama’s key statement?

Turns out Obama said no such thing. What he actually said is that the VOICES of the Iranian people should be heard and respected, not their votes:
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Traditional Marriage Rallies Ignored by Media

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Family, Gay Marriage, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Religion, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On June 9 a rally that saw thousands of participants in support of traditional marriage assembled at Albany, New York, the state capitol. One month earlier, a similar rally was held in Midtown Manhattan that also saw thousands in attendance. And in neither case was there much by the way of media coverage.

A Google search of the words marriage rally in New York June 9 turns up many hits on the story. But almost all of them are from blogs as opposed to traditional media sources, though the Village Voice covered the May rally in Manhattan.

Tough Times Doesn’t Stop Union Chief’s Salary Double Dipping?

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Liberals, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last month the Las Vegas Sun had an interesting extended interview with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern in which he claimed that the Culinary union is “going through some tough economic times.” Not surprising in this economy, but tough times or not, it doesn’t seem that these economic conditions are stopping one of Culinary’s union bosses from double dipping his salary.

David Denholm, President of the Public Service Research Foundation did a little research on one of Culinary’s top officers and found some interesting revelations.

Healthcare Reform Flim-Flam

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Communism, Congress, Dan Scott, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, Unions | 5 Comments

-By Dan Scott

President Barack Obama is seeking to help pay for his healthcare plan by sharply reducing the government’s medical spending, mainly by trimming payments to prescription drug makers, hospitals and other care providers and then hiking taxes.

…In his weekly Internet and radio address Saturday, Obama proposed cutting $313 billion from the programs over 10 years. That’s in addition to the $635 billion “down payment” in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system that he announced earlier…

…He would cut $106 billion from payments that help hospitals treat uninsured people because his plan would cover nearly every American.

Source

Of course we could suspend our disbelief of Obama’s claim that he can insure 47 million people by cutting Medicare and raising taxes. Now I want someone to explain to me how you can cut Medicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals and keep the same level of service when in fact the reimbursements are at or below cost to the medical providers? This is outright flim-flam to make such claims.
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Schumer, Gutierrez and Waters Honored for Governing the “ACORN Way” at Anniversary Celebration

June 15, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Government, Corruption | Comments Off

-By Anita MonCrief
If there are any lingering doubts that ACORN has been an organization that was squarely in the tank for Democrats, ACORN (which has never been coy about its thuggery and aspirations of political power) has offered proof in their own words. ACORN’s 39th Anniversary celebration takes place on June 17th, 2009 and it promises to be filled with a who’s who of Democrats.

Sadly for new puppies everywhere, this announcement is also another nail in the coffin of the Main Stream Media, as the RSVP at the bottom is that of The Advance Group, a major firm specializing in public relations. The Advance Group has many contacts in the MSM, but this event has been surprisingly kept under wraps. How is it possible that ACORN, who is in the middle of a ground war with bloggers and right leaning newspapers across the country (MSM reports only when they have to), has managed to plan a major event in DC with little media scrutiny. The email accompanying the attachment is also very telling, the full text appears below. The ACORN ties of each honoree or member would require another 10 to 15 posts.
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More Stupid Feminazi Tricks

June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Education, Feminism, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Media Bias, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago, I wrote of how the English language is being destroyed by the stupidity of feminism. Well, today I’ve found another perfect example of how feminism is making our language trite and silly.

The example turns up in a report on new prehistoric discoveries near Stonehenge, in Hampshire, England. Apparently, a pair of Neolithic tombs was discovered in the English countryside and researchers are all excited. I can’t say I blame them for this is very interesting news.

It isn’t the discovery that served as a vehicle for a stupid feminazi trick, though, but the coverage. Tucked into the story about the discovery is this line (my bold):

Dem. Shill as ‘Attendee’ in Obama’s Healthcare Townhall Audience

June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, Health, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in 2005, the Old Media was all atwitter over a supposed “plant reporter” at a Bush press conference. The Old Media made a big deal out of this guy and used it to try and cast the Bush White House as employing some sort of underhanded control of information. Flash forward to today, President Obama held his Healthcare townhall in Green Bay, Wisconsin and it turns out that Obama’s first “spontaneous question” from the audience sure seems like a “plant” in the same way as the previously mentioned situation in 2005. Will the media take notice?

Naturally, President Obama wants people to think his “townhall meetings” are legitimately open to just any American to attend to ask him the tough questions. The June 11 meeting on Healthcare, of course, was supposed to feature spontaneous questions for the president from the audience about a takeover of nearly 20% of the nation’s economy with his healthcare plans. But a closer look at this townhall in Green Bay, Wisconsin might disabuse anyone of the notion that spontaneous questions really were taken from the audience. Granted many feel that these sorts of events are wholly manufactured, anyway. But that isn’t how Obama has been sold. He’s the “serious” one, the one that doesn’t mess around, right?

Unions Team With California’s State Controller to Stop Cost-Cutting Measures

June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Socialism, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Democratic Controller of the State of California is joining with unions to prevent the ability of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to get a handle on the state budget by refusing to obey the governor’s furlough plan and pay cuts. And state officers, including the Republican Insurance Commissioner, are backing the Controller showing that unions have co-opted all of them.

State governments have spent themselves into oblivion, we all know. Unfunded mandates, programs that cannot be paid for and for which no provisions for funding were ever arranged, have been the modus operandi of governments across the country. Strange, indeed, is the government program that is properly and affordably funded.

The National Broadband Plan “Fork-in-the-Road”

June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Google, Government, Corruption, Inernet, Scott Cleland, Society/Culture, Technology | Comments Off

-By Scott Cleland

A scan of the major comments just delivered to the FCC on the National Broadband Plan (which is due to Congress February 2010), spotlighted the big broadband policy “fork-in-the-road” decision that the FCC now has before it.

One road of the fork-in-the-road continues down the road of: Promoting facilities-based competition;Encouraging private investment in a wide diversity of technologies; and Facilitating a cooperative public-private partnership to address unserved broadband areas and lagging adoption of widely available broadband.
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Incentives, Quotas and Lies: ACORN’s Voter Registration Program Revealed

June 14, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Vote Fraud | 1 Comment

-By Anita MonCrief
An article released today by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review provides direct acknowledgment in ACORN’s own words of a quota system in ACORN’s voter registration drives. ACORN and senior staff were indicted early last month in Nevada amid charges of fostering an environment that led to voter registration fraud (among other things).

“Despite repeated denials of a quota system, a 2004 manual utilized by the activist community organization ACORN advises managers that workers who do not produce a set number of voter registrations per day should be fired.’If a person performs at less than standard have them come to another training, send them out with a team leader. If they still perform poorly then re-train once more, then fire,’ the 2004 management document states.

Is Healthcare a ‘Right’?

June 14, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Rights, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

As we all know, the Senate is gearing up to begin the debate on Obamacare. As we move forward one of the first scheduled stops will be in the Senate on June 16 as the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee moves to begin its mark-up of the Health Care Reform Bill. But what are the basic assumptions that underlie this bill? Let’s take a look at one of them.

In a statement issued by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the HELP Committee, we see at least one assumption that is popular on the left, but one that should give pause to any liberty loving American. (See pdf file)

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

June 14, 2009 | Filed Under Book Reviews, Economy/Finances, Education, Media Bias, Nancy Salvato, Society/Culture, Technology | Comments Off

-By Nancy Salvato

General Motors recently filed for bankruptcy. Mark Steyn writes in National Review, “GM has about 95,000 workers but provides health benefits to a million people: It’s not a business enterprise, but a vast welfare plan with a tiny loss-making commercial sector. As GM goes, so goes America?” Fortunately, maybe this is not the case. Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced with a $24 million budget deficit, has “terminated” textbooks and is embracing digital booksProject Gutenberg. I’m just finishing “John Marshall and the Constitution; a Chronicle of the Supreme Court by Corwin”, an excellent read. The nicest feature on the device is that it allows me to bookmark or highlight while I’m reading. I can send my research to my email and use it when I write my commentaries. I have been wondering when a version of the Kindle will be adapted in the schools.
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AP Alarmism:’Some Say’ an ‘Increase in Violence from Whites’ on the Way

June 13, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Liberals, Media Bias, Race, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier, Brent Baker reported that ABC’s Pierre Thomas went off the deep end with a story claiming that America’s white population was increasingly prone to a “wave of domestic terror.” Now the Associated Press also wades into the same murky waters with a June 11 piece claiming that the “potential for an increase in violence from whites who feel they are slipping from power is high.” Naturally, the AP employed the Old Media’s favorite source for the claims. It’s “some say,” and “others believe.”

Worse than the “some say” line of proof employed, this tale also relies on some experts that end up being expectedly biased sources. The AP asks a white supremacist what he thinks — as if there is any doubt that he would be for increased racism — and a university professor hawking a book on racism — as if there would be any doubt that she’d see racism everywhere. There is also all sorts of claims and worries by authorities, but no proof of any real “growing racist movement” is presented.

Obama’s Own ‘Firing’ Gate

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaign Finance, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember the hue and cry that went up when President Bush fired some U.S. attorneys in 2006? Oh, the left was beside itself about how eeeevil it was that Bush was to fire so many U.S. Attorneys… even though he had the authority to do so. Charges that the firings were made for “political reasons” were thrown about and Congressional Democrats clamored for new laws and the head of Bush’s Attorney General on a pike.

Well, last night, clearly for political reasons, Barack Obama tried to fire AmeriCorps inspector general, Gerald Walpin. Not only is it for strictly political reasons (Short take: “the AmeriCorps IG accuses prominent Obama supporter of misusing AmeriCorps grant money. Prominent Obama supporter has to pay back more than $400,000 of that grant money. Obama fires AmeriCorps IG.”) but Obama does not have the authority to summarily dismiss an IG as he tried to do last night.

Will the left ring the claxon clang of how illegitimate the president’s actions are this time? Should we hold our breath?

Reason Asks, Why is Killing Abortionists Wrong? Because it is Un-Christian, That’s Why!

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under Abortion, Anti-Americanism, Conservatives, Crime, Health, Liberals, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On a recent Reason Magazine blog called “Hit and Run,” Jacob Sullum asks the tough question of why it’s wrong to kill an abortion doctor if the killer truly believes that abortion is murder? Why would Christian groups, Sullum wonders, denounce the murder of abortionist, George Tiller?

Sullum asks what might appear to be logical questions, but it also seems that he didn’t do much to research the issue before posing them. My cursory look at Christian ethics and the Bible, for instance, shows that there is no way in keeping with a Christian worldview to justify the killing of an abortion doctor by a lone actor outside the duly constituted law.

Still, Sullum asks some salient questions and offers some pointed remarks and they deserve to be addressed.

Slippery Slope 2: A Water Slide With Govt’s Bid to Control America’s Waters

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Environment, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Rights, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago I wrote a piece on how the law often becomes a slippery slope when in the hands of judicial activists and radicals that look to the law in order to warp it to their agenda. Today I have a different example of that warping of law except this is one from the legislative side in Congress. This time Congress is attempting to take under its control all water in the United States, even that which sits on or under privately owned lands.

Senator Russ Feingold (D, Wis.) has introduced S. 787, legislation that is meant to help alleviate the confusion that has occurred for litigants since the 1972 passage of the Clean Water Act. Since ’72 a series of confounding decisions have put agencies and users in a quandary as to the implications of the act and its authority.

Unfortunately, Feingold’s revision of the bill makes matters worse. Oh, sure it solves the question of authority, alright. But it solves it by seeming to claim that the federal government controls all of America’s waters. From the puddle in your back yard, to the aquifer under your property, to the stream on your land, to every last rivulet, farm pond (even man-made ones), and navigable waterway, it’s all Uncle Sam’s if the over broad language in this bill is to be believed.

Gov’t Healthcare Advocates: No Bi-Partisanship Required

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Welfare | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is no mistaking that I stand against a single payer, government controlled healthcare system. The last thing I want is a person with the same attitude as a DMV worker in charge of my health! By now, everyone here has noticed what direction I lean, I’m sure. Nonetheless, I do like to check out what the other side says about what they want, too. This is a report on one of those voices, that of the folks at OpenLeft.com.

Suffice to say, they want socialized healthcare with no private aspect to the system at all. They want all hospitals run by government, all doctors working for government, all research facilities funded and controlled by government. And, if Mike Lux of OpenLeft can be believed, they also want the Republicans to butt out of the whole debate.

This disinterest in the American system of debate, compromise and governance is a typical aspect of the goals of the authoritarian left that is coming on like gangbusters in this healthcare debate. They want socialist healthcare and that is that. They are not interested in capitalism, not interested in freedom, not interested in debate or compromise, not interested in any sort of bi-partisanship… in essence they want a tyranny of the minority. They want the whole cake and they want to eat it, too.

Minding The Times: An Exposition On Postmodernism, Part 2

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, Religion, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Frederick Meekins

The human mind and spirit cannot endure for very long the chaotic vacillation of such lawlessness before the individual eventually cries out for answers to the extremes of licentiousness and total control. Throughout much of the Modern Era, the Christian apologist could appeal to a shared respect for historic and scientific fact common to both Christianity and commonsense realism. Today, the Christian must first reestablish why anyone ought to believe in anything at all and then assert how the Biblical approach provides the best possible explanation for the condition in which man actually finds himself and the facts as they are rather than how he might like them to be.

The apologist must begin this process by exposing the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Postmodernist system. James Sire writes in The Universe Next Door, “If we hold that all linguistic utterances are power plays, then that utterance itself is a power play and no more likely to be more proper than any other (187).”
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ACORN Worming It’s Way Into City Governments’ Dollars

June 12, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Government, Corruption, Nancy Armstrong | Comments Off

-By Nancy Armstrong

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Washington-based nonprofit Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) were the key sponsors for a discussion on foreclosures across the country. Mayor Michael Nutter’s Philadelphia Foreclosure Model won praise from mayors that included Manny Diaz of Miami and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles .

There were several other prominent people involved in the conference call, including Bertha Lewis, CEO and Chief Organizer for ACORN, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, Dan Lindheim, Oakland Finance and Management Agency (spokesman for Mayor Ron V. Dellums of Oakland) California, Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles .

Ms. Lewis spoke about the foreclosure problem across the country, including red lining communities, sub-prime loans and predatory loans. She thanked the mayors for their help with work to stop the predatory loans and sub-loans. She blamed federal regulators for the housing crisis without taking responsibility for their (ACORN?) part in the crisis. She chastised the Senate for not passing the bankruptcy bill which would make it easier to modify mortgage loans. Quoting Credit Suisse, she said there would be an additional 9 million foreclosures over the next four years.
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Michelle Obama: First Lady Of Fashion Victims

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Ann “Babe” Huggett

While U.S. President, Barack Obama, is back from apologizing to our enemies for America’s existence, First Lady, Michelle Obama, toured London’s Westminster Abbey on Tuesday in an outfit so outlandishly silly that it appeared she wanted to go that one step further and hold up America as an object of ridicule. The Drudge Report has a cropped picture of her in a childish and unflattering beribboned and 3-D flowered tunic nipped in at the waist with a black checked belt, topped with two sweaters and wearing what can only be described as a retro-nod to 80’s tapered pants. Under this picture of a fashion disaster on the hoof are such glaring headline links as London Shock Fashion and Michelle and the Orange Snake.

They mercifully go to less harsh articles at the UK news sites Mail Online and Times Online respectively but if you want to read what the Brits call a real load of codswallop, check out the breathless fashion reporting touting “Mrs. O” as, “…First Lady of Fashion.”, and “Wide stripes sound like a neurotic fashion no-no, but again the First Lady knows exactly what she is doing.”

Well, if the angry glare Michelle Obama gave to France’s chic First Lady and former fashion model, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, at the 65th anniversary D-Day ceremonies they both attended in Normandy on June 6th is anything to go by, the Brits got the neurotic part right.

Alright, all you conservative fashionistas out there; I know you are reading this because the title caught your attention. So, please raise your manicured hands if you are sick of First Lady, Michelle Obama, being held up as some sort of Fashion Icon because she runs around London looking like a bad Mary Englebreit illustration. That same slavish, sycophantic liberal media that finally elevated President Barack Obama to a living Marxist god king status last week has also been falling all over themselves since before the 2008 election to convince us that Michelle Obama is the ne plus ultra of fashion sense and style.
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No Guns For Negroes

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, Media Bias, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is sponsoring a sobering look at how the left is currently conspiring to disarm America’s black population “in order to control them.” Despots throughout time have first taken to disarming a people in order to later control them, of course. Are we seeing that propensity again in America?

In fact, are we seeing carried out on the nation’s larger black population in big cities across the country as an experiment on how to proceed for the rest of America? It sure looks like it to any casual observer. This is an informative and important little film that everyone should watch. It’s a worthwhile way to spend about 20 minutes.

Why Did Calif. Republican Poizner Donate To Gore/Lieberman Recount Fund?

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Campaign Finance, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Liberals, Media Bias, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

California’s gubernatorial race is widening on the Republican side with one famous name from the business world, ebay’s Meg Whitman, one former congressman, the 15th District’s Tom Campbell, and current State Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner all ready to hit the ground running. But as each candidate is vetted, some are wondering if Steve Poizner is a Ronnie(Reagan)-come-lately to the Republican Party as it has been discovered that Poizner donated money to the Gore/Leiberman Recount Committee in 2000.

IRS records* confirm that Mr. Poizner gave the hefty sum of $10,000 to the recount effort, a fund to which Jane Fonda is also listed as having donated $100,000. Records also show that Poizner donated $1,000 to Al Gore’s run for president as well as $2,000 to John Kerry’s.
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Kansas High School Teacher Fired for Being Conservative?

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Children, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Media Bias, Patriotism, President, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Early in May, Lawrence High School of Lawrence, Kansas fired government and history teacher Tim Latham. Latham charges that District 912 fired him because he is a conservative and many of his students have since rallied to his defense. Some 200 of them joined a FaceBook page in support and four appeared at a school board meeting on June 8 to advocate for their favorite teacher.

One reason given for the firing is that Mr. Latham did not show Obama’s inauguration live in his class and another is that staff members disparaged him for supporting Republicans during the late presidential race, most especially then vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin.

On June 8, an advocacy group, Kansas 9.12 Project also attended the school board meeting and spoke on Mr. Latham’s behalf.

Politico Reports Palin’s a Thud at NRSC Dinner, all Others Say She Was a Hit

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Liberals, Media Bias, Sarah Palin, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reports on Governor Sarah Palin’s appearance at the National Republican Senatorial Committee dinner in D.C. on Monday nearly all mention that she was quite the center of attention with dinner attendees. Well, all agree with that characterization but Politico’s Alex Isenstadt, that is. Isenstadt seems to have been the only one to report that her attendance was a dud. This spurred our friend Videmus Omnia to wonder if Isenstadt went to the same dinner as everyone else? After looking it over, I have to ask the same question.

For Politico, Isenstadt snorted that Palin’s appearance at the dinner “went little-noticed.” He also stated that, “If she hadn’t walked quickly across the stage the outset and if her presence hadn’t been mentioned briefly in the remarks of some of the evening’s speakers, it would have been hard to know that she had, in fact, shown up.” So there you have it. No one cared a whit that Governor Palin attended the dinner.

But wait. A perusal of other media accounts says just the opposite.

Dem Pols Make Out Like Bandits With EFCA

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill has news of a new report that will show that Democratic Politicians will make out like fatcats if they are successful in passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) this Congressional session.

It is being estimated that unions would gain an additional $320 million to spend on political campaigns and much of this money would go right in the campaign accounts of Democratic politicians in D.C. and elsewhere.

“EFCA’s passage into law could generate billions of additional dollars for unions to spend on political activity to advance their agenda,” a WFI memo says. “And for those union leaders whose pension funds have been mismanaged, EFCA’s passage would also amount to a massive government-engineered bailout of their financial mismanagement.”

The report cites a claim made by Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern who estimates that the EFCA could enlarge union membership by as many as 1.5 million members.

Sotomayor, Thomas, Twain, and the NY Times

June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, John Armor, Judges, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Race, Society/Culture, Supreme Court | 1 Comment

-By John Armor

One of Mark Twain’s well-known quotes is this: “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The humor works because it is based on truth. We all know there are those who play games with statistics to support a false conclusion. One of Twain’s own examples was that “the number of Methodists and murderers is rising at the same rate in the Nebraska Territory.” That “proved,” of course, that Methodists are murderers.

It is also possible, however, to present a lie by constructing a discussion with nothing but hard, provable facts. The New York Times demonstrated that fact today (Sunday) with a frontpage, above the fold article comparing Sonia Sotomayor, nominee to be a Justice on the Supreme Court, with Clarence Thomas, who has been a Justice since 1991. The title of that article is, “For Sotomayor and Thomas, Paths Fork at Race and Identity.”

I have read extensively on the backgrounds of Justice Thomas and Judge Sotomayor. I am satisfied that almost all of the facts about the childhoods, educations, writings and careers of these two judges in this article are accurate. It is true, as the article states, that both suffered great racial prejudice at all stages in their lives. It is true that they reacted somewhat differently to that prejudice.
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ACORN Foreclosure Counseling Funding Source

June 10, 2009 | Filed Under ACORN, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Media Bias, Nancy Armstrong, Society/Culture, Taxes, Uncategorized | Comments Off

-By Nancy Armstrong

ACORN has become directly involved in stopping foreclosures by doing foreclosure counseling with “housing experts.” Recently I spoke with the ACORN Delaware office purposely representing myself as a person who is in foreclosure in the State of Delaware to elicit details of the counseling. The polite and knowledgeable representative in the ACORN Delaware office answered my questions in full.

I told her that I needed to forestall a foreclosure. She informed me there were documents that I need to provide to the ACORN office to go “through the foreclosure counseling process.”

Here is a list of those items I needed to provide at “my appointment”:
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Shocking: Businessman Finds N.Y. Dems are Unfriendly

June 10, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Water is wet. The sky is blue. And Democrats aren’t friendly to taxpayers. These should be natural assumptions, of course, and in the age of Obama the later is more true than ever. But color powerful New York businessman Tom Golisano surprised that, even after he gave tons of cash to New York Democrats, he was treated like an annoyance when he asked them not to raise taxes in the Empire state.

Golisano says that he was ignored and shunted aside after his big money donations to New York’s Democratic power players in Albany and so he worked with Republicans to engineer the stunning upset that put the New York State Senate back in the hands of the GOP early this week.

I only have to ask: why did Golisano ever imagine that mere campaign donations would keep these Democrat leopards from changing their big taxing spots?

AP Picks Up Huff-Po Blogger’s Lame Smear Alleging Palin Plagiarism

June 10, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Liberals, Media Bias, Sarah Palin, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you would like a great example of how the Old Media takes a story that has no legitimacy at all and uses it as the basis for a smear job, the Associated Press offered a wonderful sampling of the tactic for you on June 8. From a headline that makes the issue seem more weighty than it is, to the lack of competent reporting from both sides of the matter, AP employed this favorite Old Media tactic by taking another swipe at Governor Sarah Palin with little by way of substantive evidence. It’s another “seriousness of the charge” story despite the complete lack of evidence as well as a lack of any gravitas on the part of the original source of the charge.

At issue is the false charge leveled by a Huffington Post blogger that Governor Palin “plagiarized” a section of her speech as she introduced talk show host Michael Reagan in Anchorage, Alaska on Wednesday, June 3. The HuffPo blogger charged that Palin lifted several sections of Newt Gingrinch’s work without attribution, and AP gleefully repeats the blogger’s claims despite that the truth turns out to be a far different case.

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Tags: Publius+Forum, Warner+Todd+Huston, Media+Bias, AP, Associated+Press, Sarah+Palin