Additional Popular Conservatives and Republicans Join Right Nation 2010

August 25, 2010 | Filed Under Illinois, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Update on Right Nation 2010

Right Nation 2010, the largest political event in the Midwest, has announced a number of additions to its participant lineup.

Tim Phillips – President of Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Prosperity Foundation
Pete Hoekstra – US Congress, 2nd Congressional District of Michigan
Phil Kerpen – Vice President for Policy for Americans for Prosperity, Fox News contributor and Chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition
Dana Loesch – Host of The Dana Show: The Conservative Alternative on KFTK 97.1 FM out of St Louis
Jim Hoft – Proprietor of Gateway Pundit, one of the top American political blogs
Teri Christoph – Co-founder and Vice President of Smart Girl Politics, host of Smart Girl Nation and Behind the Ballot podcasts
Sandy Rios – President of Culture Campaign, former President of Concerned Women for America
Teri O’Brien – Conservative radio talk show host

These participants join a growing and impressive lineup of national speakers, including conservative icon Glenn Beck, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, economic experts Stephen Moore and John Fund, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, Congressman Aaron Schock, and Tea Party leader Herman Cain. Also featured are candidates and elected officials from throughout the Midwest.

To learn more about this unprecedented event go to www.RightNation2010.com.

About Right Nation 2010: Right Nation 2010 is a joint venture of Republican, conservative, libertarian, free market, and Tea Party independent organizations and individuals, facilitated by the 75 year-old United Republican Fund.

(5th District) David Ratowitz marks the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

August 25, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, David Ratowitz, Elections, GOP, Government, Illinois, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Ratowitz for Congress campaign (5th District)…

U.S. Congressional Candidate, David Ratowitz (IL-5) marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a series of articles based on his experience during the storm and the long recovery.

Chicago, IL, June 24, 2010– Long time transparency and pro-liberty advocate Candidate for U.S. Congress from Illinois’ 5th Congressional District, David Ratowitz marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a series of articles based on his personal experience with the disaster and recovery process.

By All Means, Ms. Pelosi, Let’s Examine the Funding Sources

August 25, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Frank Salvato, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Nancy Pelosi, Religion, Terrorism, War on Terror | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Progressive-Leftist from San Francisco, said when asked for her opinion on the construction of an Islamic Center and mosque just 500 feet from the footprint of the World Trade Center – Ground Zero – that the controversy had been “ginned up” for political purposes and that she would support an examination of the funding behind the “opposition movement.”

Said the Speaker :

“There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some…And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque (is) being funded.”

We, here in the United States, don’t persecute people for their religious beliefs, although the Progressives do seem to be on an ongoing crusade to expunge all religion from the public square sans Islam. This is due to the undeniable fact that the Framers and Founders knew full well that there would be a time when a tyrant like Ms. Pelosi would be ascended to power by an uninformed and disengaged electorate. It is for this reason that the rights to Free Speech and Freedom of Religion were enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
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Congress Secretly Behind Massive Egg Recall

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Humor, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The news is everywhere of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recall of millions of eggs from several Midwestern farms allegedly due to fears of a salmonella outbreak but the real story is undergoing a massive coverup.

The truth is that Congressional Democrats are behind this recall. In a secret document discovered by famed blogger Dabney Schoosel, a joint order by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Democrat Senate Majority leader Harry Reid was issued to the USDA to initiate the recall for “political reasons.”

The order directs the USDA to begin a massive egg recall that will eventually recall all eggs in the country. The reason for this recall is to prevent eggs being thrown at Democrats who have returned home across the country to begin holding townhall meetings just ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

However, in a late development, it has been discovered that this order has been rescinded after the USDA made its early recalls. The Democrat majority has since changed its political policy on returning Democrat’s townhall plans. Democrats have just canceled them all instead.

Check out this secret video of a Democratic Congressmen’s planning meeting…

John Kerry: Obama Preparing to Negotiate With Afghan Terrorists?

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Countries, Government, Government, Corruption, Islam, Liberals, Military, President, Taliban, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

If one can believe a word Senator John Kerry (D, Mass) says, the United States is launching efforts to negotiate with Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan.

“I can report without being specific that there are efforts under way. They are serious and I completely agree with that fundamental premise — and so does General [David] Petraeus and so does President Obama — there is no military solution,” Kerry told NPR. “And there are very active efforts now to seek an appropriate kind of political settlement.”

So that means that Obama is willing to negotiate with terrorists that kill little girls for wanting to go to school, kill people for listening to music, destroy world art treasures like the Bamyan Buddhas, stone women and gays just because they can, and murder innocent aid workers and doctors.

What a great idea, Obama!
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Obama Scrubs White House Website of Climate Change Promises, Media Mum

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Earmarks, Energy, Environment, Free Trade, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Science, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite that President Obama made Cap and Trade and other green policy plans a focal point of his early days in office — not to mention his campaign for president — the White House has quietly scrubbed from its official website many of Obama’s promises and green initiatives. I guess the era of Obama really is “change you can believe in”?

Especially interesting it the sudden disappearance of Obama’s plan to commit $150 billion on clean energy research and development.

In 2008 as Obama was preparing to take office he featured on his “Office of the President Elect” website a pledge to spend $150 billion on energy R & D. As of today, that pledge is still there.
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Religious Freedom, Property Rights vs. Government Control

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Christianity, Constitution, Government, Corruption, Islam, Liberals, Property Rights, Religion, Vermont, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

As the left falls all over itself to claim that building the Ground Zero Mega-Mosque is the perfect chance to “showcase” our “Constitutional freedoms” and our religious tolerance, there is another state where religious tolerance is not as noticeably on display as it is for New York’s Muslims. Naturally, in Vermont, it is the religious freedom of Christians being denied. To be sure, the Old Media is not nearly as interested in this story.

Richard and Joan Downing own a hilltop property in Lyndonville, Vermont and on that property they’ve built a family chapel where they host weekly Catholic services for all. Next to the chapel they have also erected a 24-foot-tall cross called the Cross of Dozulé, a cross that the State of Vermont is insisting that they remove. (Visit The Chapel of the Holy Family website)

How does the State of Vermont justify its demands that the family pull down the cross? Vermont officials are citing environmental regulations that give it the power to determine what sort of construction violates the “aesthetics” of Vermont’s scenery.
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Quinn Loses Another Campaign Staffer, This Time His Chief of Staff

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Did Quinn Fire Ethics Investigator to Help Chief of Staff?

Illinois Governor, Pat “the Accidental Governor” Quinn, has had a steady stream of campaign staffers quitting his campaign of late but this one is a bit different. Quinn’s chief of staff resigned Monday under a cloud of possible ethics violations.

Jerry Stermer, 67, is under an ethics probe for using his government sponsored email account to send campaign solicitations. Government officials are not allowed to use their government offices and other facilities for elections campaigns.

Stermer leaves a $150,000-a-year job and was Quinn’s highest paid staffer.
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Roskam Seeks Increased Transparency in the House‏

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Nancy Pelosi, Peter Roskam, Regulation, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Congressman Peter Roskam (R, ILL)…

As you may know, House Republicans recently rolled out a series of innovative tools for Americans to interact with their government and provide feedback on the issues facing our country today. These efforts, AmericaSpeakingOut.com and YouCut, are examples of the type of transparent and responsive leadership House Republicans will provide if we take back the majority in November.

I’ve had the privilege of serving on the forefront of this effort as the Vice Chairman and Job Creation Policy Director for AmericaSpeakingOut.com. Recently, House Republican Leader John Boehner, Rep. Aaron Schock, and I met with several organizations representing a range of businesses nationwide, organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers and National Federation of Independent Businesses. The purpose of this meeting was to hear suggestions directly from businesses responsible for creating jobs, generating growth, and restoring our economy to prosperity.
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(17th District) Bobby Schilling: Rep. Hare and I Have Very Different Versions of Winning

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

” The big win, from my perspective, is health care.”
-Rep. Phil Hare, August 17, on his major accomplishments in Congress this year.

Thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act………………..

Our national deficit will continue to grow. Just a month after the bill passed the Congressional Budget Office announced it would actually cost $115 billion more than previously thought, bringing the total cost to more than $1 trillion.

Higher taxes will be imposed on small businesses. While politicians like Rep. Hare claim to be fighting for small business, the real business owners, like those represented by the non-partisan National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), were not so easily fooled. “The fundamental mission of our organization is to promote and protect the rights of small businesses and the self-employed to own, operate and grow their business and this health care law directly undermines this core value,” wrote the NFIB president in a statement following the vote. The NFIB joined the 20 other states in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the bill.

More people will lose jobs. In a study published several months before the vote, the non-partisan Illinois Policy Institute predicted the bill would cost Illinois 169,000 jobs. Newly added provisions in the bill are expected to significantly increase this number. Major employers in the17th district like Caterpillar and John Deere will see their costs rise by $100 million and $150 million respectively, in the first year alone. Why would any company hire workers when their costs are increasing by hundreds of millions of dollars? They won’t.

Our quality of care will decrease. Rep. Hare assured the 8 in 10 Americans happy with their health care they would be able to keep their current plans. However, according to the Associated Press, the Obama Administration itself, “estimates that many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law. In just three years, a majority of workers-51 percent-will be in plans subject to new federal requirements.” In addition, the Obama Administration has acknowledged that “health insurance plans that are now offered by small businesses probably will not survive the transition to a regulated marketplace.”

Our cost of care will increase. Obamacare imposes billions of dollars in annual fees and taxes on drug manufacturers, prescription drug importers, and health insurance plans. Moreover, the bill establishes new taxes on certain retail sales by manufacturers and importers of medical devices. According to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) these fees and taxes, “would generally be passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and device prices and higher insurance premiums.

Seniors will see major cuts in Medicare. The most drastic cuts ($132 billion), will be made to the popular Medicare Advantage program. Additionally, Medicare payments for home health care will be reduced by $40 billion and payments to certain hospitals will be cut by $22 billion.

www.bobby2010.com

Real Men‏

August 24, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Liberals, Media, Nancy Morgan, Rush Limbaugh, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Nancy Morgan

Rush Limbaugh stated emphatically last week that “Real men aren’t liberal. And real men, real men, don’t vote for liberals.” Rush, once again, hits the nail on the head. And here’s why.

Real men have an innate sense of self that is not dependent on group approval. They have not succumbed to the sanitized, homogenized, and feminized version of manhood that the academic, media, and political elite have adopted. Instead, they have the courage to form their own opinions, relying on independent thinking instead of political correctness.

Liberal males, on the other hand, have taken the much easier path of allowing a group identity to define who they are. They have willingly adopted the leftists’ focus on feelings and emotions when confronted with immutable facts, thus allowing them the ability to retain the all-important moral high ground when those facts prove inconvenient.
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Video: Where’s My Congressman?

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Health, Heritage Foundation, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Why are Democrat Congressmen avoiding Summer townhalls? Here is a little explanation of that…

Featuring Clint Howard, little brother of the very liberal Hollywood director Ron Howard, this film does a great job skewering the Democrats. Brought to you by Heritage Action for America.

Philly Wants Bloggers to Pay $300 Tax

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Are you a blogger in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Do you have Google Adsense or some other sort of low-return ads on your blog? If so expect a letter soon from your friendly city treasurer demanding that you pay a $300 tax on your “money making business.”

For most people that maintain an active blog it is just a hobby. Some people blog daily but most only do so a few times a month. Many bloggers also participate in Google’s advertising program called Adsense but few make much more than $20 or $30 a year from the effort.

But according to the City of Philadelphia, you have a lucrative business one that you need to register with the city and either pay $50 a year tax or a “lifetime” fee of $300 to be allowed to operate.

Naturally the Philly bloggers that have gotten this letter are flabbergasted. None of them were even aware they have a taxable business with their blog. Ah, but the city disagrees.
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Roger Ebert: Calls Sarah Palin Hitler, Says America Is At Fault for GZ Mosque Troubles

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Adolph Hitler, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Sarah Palin, Warner Todd Huston | 8 Comments

- By Warner Todd Huston

Roger Ebert is nothing if he isn’t a knee-jerk leftist, absolutely without a single original political or cultural thought in his head and his latest meandering post on the Sun-Times hosted Roger Ebert’s Journal is a perfect example.

His piece is titled “Ten things I know about the mosque” but it doesn’t seem like there really are ten things nor are they all about the mosque. After reading his wandering post one is tempted to believe that the only reason he posted the thing was to find an excuse to attack Sarah Palin, someone that has nothing to do with the Ground Zero Mosque.

Let’s deal with Ebert’s off topic attack on Palin first. For a piece that is supposed to be about the Ground Zero Mosque (and by the way he never once calls it the Ground Zero Mosque, even as the Imam that was planning the thing has called it that) Palin’s appearance at point 6 on his list makes no sense. Not only that but Ebert goes off on a tangent of a tangent by discussing Palin’s interaction with Dr. Laura and her “N” word controversy. Hello, Rog… mosque? What does Palin and Dr. Laura have to do with the mosque?

Even more absurdly, Ebert’s first few points are filled with his ruminations on the First Amendment. Then he attacks Palin for employing her own freedom of speech? It’s a whiplash-inducing tangent, for sure.
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Blago Again Says Feds Were Really After Obama

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, President, Rod Blagojevich, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Disgraced Democrat Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is at it again. In an interview with ABC News, Blago tried to, and clumsily at that, allude to the fact that federal prosecutors were pressuring him to out President Obama as a part of the gov’s Senate seat for Payola scam.

Blago told ABC News, “when they had me in custody they were very clear about how they wanted me to cooperate and talk about people in higher places.” He went on to say that there aren’t “a lot of positions higher than governor” naturally leading to the assumption that he meant the president was under scrutiny. But when pressed if he meant the president, Blago wouldn’t go that far.

But this would be a new found reticence because back in 2009 Blago was more than happy to tell anyone that would listen that the Feds wanted him to rat on Obama.

On a video made at a book signing party at Columbia College, Blago was heard seen saying the following:

(Caution, language warning)

“…part of what they wanted was sh*t on Obama. They lock you up. They do this shock and awe bullsh*t. They arrest everybody ok, and then they sit you down and say ‘you are a nice guy. We want to work with you. What can you tell us about Obama.’”

Once again we see the mental gymnastics of the troubled Rod Blagojevich. Clearly in his mind he is an innocent pawn in a conspiracy to topple a president. I’m sure he sees himself as the hero that saved Obama’s presidency.

Blao’s conviction on one count of lying to the feds was a close call. Only two jurors refused to agree with the rest on one of the more damaging counts, that of racketeering — and they even agreed that he was guilty on that charge until the last day of deliberations after which they abruptly changed their minds.

Blago will likely serve time on the one conviction but this isn’t the end of the court’s efforts because judge Zagel has said he still plans to schedule a retrial on the other counts.

Maybe this interview is Blago’s thinly disguised warning to President Obama that he could still spill the beans if Obama allows the Justice Department to retry him? Is Blago trying to blackmail Obama here?
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In 2004 Illegal Alien Votes Illegally, in 2010 Feds Making Him A Citizen

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Immigration/Immigrants, Liberals, Tennessee, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In Cookeville, Tennessee we see a perfect example of all that is wrong in both our immigration and electoral systems.

In 2004, an illegal immigrant voted illegally in Tennessee’s Putnam County. He showed false identification and a stolen Soc. Sec. number. But in 2010 the federal government is asking Tennessee officials to help smooth this illegal’s way to citizenship by ignoring past crimes.

Putnam County administrator of elections Debbie Steidl seems pretty annoyed by the whole situation. This illegal immigrant even went to her and signed an affidavit admitting that he voted illegally but he also presented the election official with a letter from the Department of Homeland Security demanding that she purge his name from the 2004 voting records.

You see, unless his name is purged he cannot seek legal citizenship because he has this illegal act on his record.

The frustrated County official said this illegal immigrant, “is being enabled. And that’s what bothered me more than anything!”
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Ill. Dem Senate Candidate Took Credit For ‘Job Creation,’ Now Illinois is 3rd Worst in Job Loss

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like his president and his party, the Democrat Senate candidate for Illinois, Alexi “the Mob Banker” Giannoulias, is quick to claim that they have “created jobs” with the various and sundry, and continuing “stimulus” bills. But now that Illinois has been reported as having lost the third most amount of jobs nationwide, will Giannoulias take credit for that too?

Back in July, Giannoulias appeared on Fox Chicago TV and told us all that he was proud to have helped “create jobs” in Illinois.

I’m also proud, not only have we helped create jobs here in Illinois, but I’m the only candidate who has actually fought for jobs. When they were going to close Hartmarx, a company that’s been around for over 100 years, 600 good-paying jobs, as State Treasurer I stood up to them, we fought to save those jobs.”

But even Obama’s own Washington establishment is reporting that Illinois lost the third most amount of jobs in July, the very month that Giannoulias was claiming that HE had created jobs in Illinois.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the largest over-the-month employment decreases in non-farm payroll were in North Carolina, New Jersey, and Illinois

So, since good ol’ Alexi is so willing to take credit for “creating” jobs — jobs that don’t seem to have been created at all — is he equally as willing to own up to the job loss in Illinois? If not, why not?
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Restoring Honor: A New American Awakening?

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Elections, Founders, Fox News, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Jeff Lukens, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Patriotism, President, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

If anything good can be said about the progressive left controlling our government, it’s that their astonishingly brazen and heavy-handed tactics may have aroused the American people into a new spiritual awakening. With basic liberties under assault, we are seeing a revival of values that have been dormant for a long time.

Every great moment in this country, when real progress is made, there was a spiritual awakening. The Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D.C. on August 28 may be the one of those moments. The rally’s organizer is radio and television personality Glenn Beck. Beck says that our country’s troubles cannot be solved by the same methods that got us into this mess. Like an old time revivalist, he says “We must call upon God, and He will see us through.”
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Join me on Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Conservatism! Tonight, 8PM Central

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Ann "Babe" Huggett, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Conservatism, Podcasting, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Once again we take to the BlogTalkRadio airwaves for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Conservatism tonight at 8PM Central time.

Tonight Todd and I will road test the saying that, “Dying is easy; Comedy is hard” with author and writer Dan “Hope E. Changey” Fendel, author of the most politically INcorrect book of the year, if not for all time the way the thin-skinned Obamunists react every time someone notices how frequently their leftist god-king screws up, Ho! Ho! O! The Unofficial Tea Partiers’ Barack Obama Joke Book.

Join me, Warner Todd Huston, and my co-host, Ann “Babe” Huggett, tonight. And if you miss the show, you can always download it for FREE!!

Reminder: Obama’s Played More Golf in 2 Yrs. Than Bush Did Both Terms

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Sports, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Between 2000 and 2008 one of the left’s most cherished ways to ridicule President Bush was to point out how often he went golfing. Bush’s golfing was a clear sign that he was ignoring the work he had to do in Washington and that he just didn’t care they claimed. He was a playboy, a goof off, a time waster. But now that Barack Obama has come to office all of a sudden the left has found that golf isn’t worth noting, even as Obama has played the game more in just under two years than Bush did during his entire eight-year term.

The word hypocrisy comes to mind.

In 2003 President Bush decided to give up golfing because he did not want families of wounded and KIA soldiers to see him playing a game while they served and died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being seen on the golf course in wartime hasn’t seemed to deter President Obama, however.
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A Guide to Political Blog Comments Posters

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Blogging, Humor, Inernet, Technology, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I want everyone to know that I love the comments posters on political blogs. OK, truth be known I love the ones that agree with me. The others, not so much. But I really can see the logic to those that say comments are the worst part of the Internet Tubes. 99% of the time the comments section add nothing but vitriol and pointless blather…. not to mention a dearth of grammar and spelling. While there’s the occasional really detailed and good comment that does add to the thread, the good ones are far and few between.

Heck, there’ve been many months when I’ve just shut down the comments section on my own blog due to spamming. Only recently have I turned it back on.

But whatever the propriety of a blog comments section, the sad fact is they are all the same on nearly every political blog. It’s probably just a reflection of human nature, but these comments sections are all so eerily similar as to cause one to wonder if comments sections everywhere are all written by the same few post-happy people.

This may be the same on all blogs, but it is at least true on political clogs. You tell me. Go to a political blog comments section and I’ll bet you’ll find these commenters:

The I Luv U Man

No matter what is posted as the main post, this commenter loves it and thinks it was written by the smartest person in the world. This commenter is SURE that this post is the smartest thing a human has ever written, that is until the next post comes up and then THAT post is just as brilliant.
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Here is Why Philosophy is Often Filled With Pinheads

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Books, Education, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, you read that headline and assume I’m some anti-intellectual, backwoods rube, right? Don’t jump to conclusions yet. I am not saying that all philosophy is foolish, pointless, or idiotic. But often times people that study philosophy end up more interested in absurd postulations mounting on an always increasing scale until they are simply babbling nonsensically — but using big words to do it.

Take the so-called Sorites Paradox, for instance. Here is the claptrap that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy lays on us to define the idea.

The sorites paradox is the name given to a class of paradoxical arguments, also known as little-by-little arguments, which arise as a result of the indeterminacy surrounding limits of application of the predicates involved. For example, the concept of a heap appears to lack sharp boundaries and, as a consequence of the subsequent indeterminacy surrounding the extension of the predicate ‘is a heap’, no one grain of wheat can be identified as making the difference between being a heap and not being a heap. Given then that one grain of wheat does not make a heap, it would seem to follow that two do not, thus three do not, and so on. In the end it would appear that no amount of wheat can make a heap. We are faced with paradox since from apparently true premises by seemingly uncontroversial reasoning we arrive at an apparently false conclusion.

This phenomenon at the heart of the paradox is now recognised as the phenomenon of vagueness (see the entry on vagueness). Once identified, vagueness can be seen to be a feature of syntactic categories other than predicates, nonetheless one speaks primarily of the vagueness of predicates. Names, adjectives, adverbs and so on are only susceptible to paradoxical sorites reasoning in a derivative sense.

This is an idiotically longwinded way to say that the Sorites Paradox tries to address this interesting question: at what point does a “heap” stop being a heap as things are removed from it?

Naturally the original question is not from our modern times. It is taken from the paradoxes associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Eubulides of Miletus, a contemporary of Aristotle.
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Gov. Quinn Fires His PR Firm

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Liberals, Pat Quinn, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

As a sign that all is not well in Pat Quinn’s race for his first full term as governor, news arrives that Quinn has fired his PR firm. Seventy some days before an election and “Accidental” Governor Quinn fires his public relations firm? Apparently so.

AKPD Media (the firm started by Obama advisor David Axerod) put out a press release on the parting of ways. “We and the Quinn campaign agreed that our divergent approaches to disciplined, professional communications are incompatible. We wish Pat well,” the firm said.

AKPD is certainly a powerful agency in Illinois and knows the state well. Still, it seems that Quinn has been battling the firm internally for the last few months.

Quinn has hired another firm to carry on with the rest of the campaign. Joe Slade White, a D.C.-based outfit, will be handling the rest of Quinn’s campaign… barring another falling out, of course.

This once again shows that Pat Quinn is not a very disciplined candidate. Alreaday he’s lost the services of three spokesmen and media folks. Bob Reed, Elizabeth Austin and Marlena Jentz all quit Quinn’s employ this year.
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State Senator Noland Misleads With Untrue Campaign Mailings

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, DuPage County, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, Kane County, Liberals, Senate, Steve Rauschenberger, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The 22nd State Senate District is being badly served by its incumbent Democrat Mike Noland. Several of the campaign fliers that Noland has sent out to his constituents are filled with half truths and untruths and one of his emailed campaign solicitations was listed as being sent from his taxpayer-funded offices in Springfield and Elgin, a violation of campaign finance laws.

In one flier, Noland claimed he “affected change” in three major areas – creating jobs, achieving ethics reform and fighting for tax relief.

Noland claimed he created jobs by being the chief sponsor of a microloan program for small businesses. But that fact is the bill he sponsored, while it did pass, had all the microloan language stripped from it before passage. As it happens Noland didn’t create a single opportunity as he claimed. His bill was materially altered making his flier claim an outright lie.

The same flier also claims that Noland got “$40 million and 500 jobs for Harper College.” But this is a half truth. While the state did include the $40 million in its future projects, the fact is no $40 has been allocated and the “future projects” plans are not assured to ever be funded. This project may never be funded at all so Noland’s claims are premature at the very least.
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The End of My Cancer

August 22, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, John Armor, Liberals, President | Comments Off

-By John Armor

(Eds note: This is the last column written by Mr. Armor. He had thought his cancer was gone, but it was not. He passed away due to its ravages on Friday, August 20, 2010)

On 23 April I had a routine colonoscopy, and found out that I had cancer. I knew then I’d have to write this column once I knew the outcome. I had 25 days of chemotherapy, simultaneous with radiation therapy, followed by surgery on 11 August.

The pathology reports came back yesterday. They were, as my surgeon said, ‘the best possible, given the circumstances.” They were clean margins and clean lymph nodes. The margins are the areas all around the site of the surgery. The lymph nodes are where cancer usually spreads first, from its original site.

In laymen’s terms, I am cancer-free. Going into my purpose for this column was, and still is, to save some lives. Three of the most common cancers in America today are colon and prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women. All three have a common characteristic. They can be often and easily cured if they are detected early.

Let me repeat that, and pardon me for shouting, but THESE CANCERS CAN BE EASILY CURED IF THEY ARE DETECTED EARLY.
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Unions Destroy Calif. Pension Reform Bill

August 21, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Lobbyists, Pensions, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like most bills, the legislation meant to reform California’s failing public pension system started out stronger than it ended up. But unlike most bills the final bill has been so gutted, so defanged, that it leaves the pension system in a worse mess than it was when the bill was introduced. Not surprisingly unions are the culprits.

One of the things that the bill was supposed to stop was the practice of “pension spiking.” This is the practice of government workers getting a sudden raise in position, salary and benefits just as they are about to retire. This sudden raise, often instituted only weeks or months before retirement, allows the employee to retire at a higher pension rate than they would have with their last, normal salary.
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Now Democrats Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension

August 21, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Pensions, President, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

When will Obama’s gifts to unions (at the expense of the taxpayers) ever end? On the heels of a $26.1 billion teacher union bailout, now Democrats are attempting to get Congress to give $34 billion of the taxpayer’s money to the Teamsters because that union has mishandled its pension funds.

Senators Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are now pushing the bill that will bailout the Teamsters pension fund by altering the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. which currently charges insurance rates to the funds it helps to solvency. Under new rules the help the PBGC offers troubled pension funds will now just end up coming out of federal funds.

As Kevin D. Williamson of National Review informs us, as the PBGC law stands now the obligations that PBGC takes on to help “orphan pensions” are not obligations of the U.S. government. “Casey-Pomeroy would reverse that,” Williamson tells us, “mandating that “‘obligations of the corporation that are financed by the [fifth fund] shall be obligations of the United States.’” Yep, another gigantic bailout.
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Dan Proft: Adam Antics Won’t Change Blago’s Fate

August 21, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Dan Proft, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Judges, Law, Rod Blagojevich, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Dan Prof

You know how I know I’ve been in Illinois politics too long?

The comedy troupe of Sam Adam Sr. and Jr. was starting to make some sense to me.

For example, during his post-verdict floor show, Sam Adam Sr. said that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald thinks Illinois is a banana republic.

Isn’t it?

A banana republic is marked by a politically unstable government ruled by a small and corrupt elite who use the power of the state to collude with favored monopolies in order to line their pockets.

If the fruit fits…
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Hultgren for Congress (14th District): We’ve Expanded Our Lead In The Polls!‏

August 21, 2010 | Filed Under DuPage County, Elections, GOP, Government, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Kane County, Randy Hultgren, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the Hultgren for Congress campaign (14th District)…

We Ask America released results that showed we’ve expanded our lead in the polls among registered voters!

Furthermore, we’re now leading by double digits among the crucial voting bloc of independents, who have rapidly recognized that Congressman Bill Foster has been nothing more than a rubber stamp for policies that grow jobs nowhere else but Washington.

With only 74 days to go before election day, we’re well on our way to restoring accountability in Congress.
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Meet Adam Baumgartner, GOP Candidate for the State Senate (40th District)

August 21, 2010 | Filed Under GOP, Government, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Republicans, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

A note from the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee of Illinois…

During the past year, Illinois’ debt and bill backlogs have continued to climb, even as state spending continues virtually unchecked. The state’s Democrat leaders response is to push for tax increases and increased borrowing as a way to solve Illinois’ fiscal problems. As a small business owner, Adam Baumgartner knows that increasing taxes and revenue gimmicks are not the way for Illinois to rebuild its economy.

The owner of six businesses employing more than 50 people, Springfield needs Adam’s job-creating skills and commonsense approach to management. As Director of the Peotone Chamber of Commerce, he understands the impact burdensome taxes and fees have on the state’s business community—and, as a result, the state’s economy.
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