It Didn’t Work

April 26, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Frank Hyland, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Stimulus, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Hyland

A number of times, you’ve entered an antique store or another type of store that carries items that need to be handled tenderly if at all. The sign says, “You break it, you bought it.” In the neighborhood in which I was raised, the operative saying was, “There are talkers and there are doers.” In another neighborhood, you’d hear, “You can’t just talk the talk; you’ve got to walk the walk.” In Texas, the saying is, referring to a loud-mouthed Cattleman-wanna-be, “He’s all hat and no cattle.” We’ve been cautioned for centuries that, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” These sayings are all variations on the Words-Deeds dichotomy. This week, which the White House and the DNC are referring to as “This weak,” saw an attempt to throw a major stone at the Romney camp, followed by a series of denials, U-Turns, and “Oops-ies.”

In the context of “You break it, you bought it,” and living in a glass house, the last thing that the Obamanation should have done is take on Ann Romney by name by accusing her of never having worked a day in her life. First of all, Ann Romney is not – I repeat, NOT – running for office. Secondly, if you’ve decided that it is time for your life to end, head over to the nearest preschool or playground where exhausted Moms take their youngsters to expend a bit of energy while they chat with their counterparts. Once there, begin shouting at the Moms that they don’t “work.” That should do the trick – Rest in peace. Typically, the Lame Stream Media has devoted a good deal of time and space to the misstep. And typically, the coverage has been hardly worth your time reading/watching/listening, which explains why you are now tuned in here. That the initial DNC attack is a sign of desperation – with less than six months left until the election – is not being discussed. In addition, that the attack is a symptom of organizational ineptitude and sheer stupidity has received even less coverage. The attacker, DNC staffer Hilary Rosen, is a self-described “pundit.” Among other definitions of the word, pundits are described as being a “learned person” and an “expert.” Leaving aside for a moment how incorrect it is to say that mothers don’t work, there obviously is either no editorial review process at the DNC or the Editors’ seats are filled with others as brain-dead as Hilary Rosen.
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Michael Mukasey’s Excellent Argument Against Obamacare

April 25, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, George W. Bush, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Nanny State, Obamacare, President, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On April 20, Michael Mukasey appeared before the Republican Lawyers Association’s National Policy Conference and C-SPAN cameras were there to record his discussion of the conference theme: Restoring a Government of Laws: The Obama Administration v. The Constitution.

Mukasey, the former Bush Administration Attorney General, headlined a half hour discussion — which included a Q&A session — and offered one of the more cogent explanations I’ve seen of why Obamacare is so wildly unconstitutional.

The whole presentation is worth watching but one of his answers during the Q&A segment was particularly important.

One of the attendees asked if Mukasey regale tell them with his hypothetical argument in support of Obamacare. Mukasey joked that his supporting argument would be “an extraordinarily short opinion,” but his more detailed answer actually presented a concise argument to the opposite; why Obamacare is simply unconstitutional. (At about 25 minutes into the segment)
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Bankrupting America Launches Online Advocacy Campaign Urging Senate to Vote on a Budget

April 25, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, Liberals, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

From Bankrupting America…

ARLINGTON, VA – Bankrupting America, a project of Public Notice, today announced a multipronged online educational advocacy campaign leading up to the three-year anniversary since the last time Congress passed a budget. The campaign includes a web video, online advertising, a Twitter hashtag campaign and a grassroots call to action urging the Senate to pass a budget.

Congress last passed a budget on April 29, 2009, almost three years ago. Since then, Members of Congress from both parties have failed to work together to perform one of the federal government’s most basic functions.

Gretchen Hamel, executive director of Public Notice, issued the following statement announcing the campaign:
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Obama Loves America… When It Agrees With Him

April 24, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Taxes, The New York Times, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama is an autocrat. Were we a South American nation he’d be our Hugo Chavez. He is not interested in democracy, our republican form of government, or listening to other’s opinions. And he most certainly is not interested in allowing the American people to see their will reflected in their duly elected officials. It’s his way or the highway. Period.

All this is the subject of a recent New York Times piece that, even as it notes Obama’s wild grabs for personal power, tries its best to give cover to a president that has decided that he has no need to work with Congress and intends to bypass both the courts and our elected representatives to put his radical agenda into place.

With its typical, hypocritical partisanship on full display, the Times, the same paper that repeatedly called George W. Bush an imperial president, is now bending over backwards to excuse even more egregious behavior from its Obammessiah.

In fact, the first paragraphs of the two stories liked above are telling in how the Times regards the two presidents and in how the actual issue of executive overreach is a but a device in stories meant to sell readers on a picture of the man, not the issue.

Let’s take the first paragraph of the 2006 piece on Bush (my bold):
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Wealthy Michigan Teacher Upset She Can’t Retire at 47

April 20, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michigan, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s just unfair, isn’t it? I mean, if an $80,000-per-year, union protected, unfireable, teacher can’t retire at the extremely young age of 47 while the rest of us have to work into our 70s, well, what kind of world are we living in? That’s how teachers in Michigan feel, anyway.

Just ask the haughty Terri List, a Michigan public school teacher from Saginaw Township. She’s entirely disgusted with all those ignorant taxpayers — who vote in evil Republicans — that won’t let her retire at 70% of her salary at a sprightly 47-years-of-age. She’s so upset that she’s telling anyone that will listen that being a teacher isn’t worth the effort.

On the government union site run by the Michigan Education Association, Mz List is seen carping that waiting to retire at 60 is a travesty for the teaching profession. In what rotten world do people have to wait until they are 60 to retire, anyway!?

… only the rest of us, Mz List, only the rest of us. You know the “us” I’m speaking of Mz List? Yeah, the “us” that are with our taxes forced to pay your exorbitant salary, your overly generous benefits, and your retirement in your middle age.
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Genocidal Green Quotes

April 20, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Climate Change, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Socialism, Taxes | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

As Earth Day 2012 occurs on Sunday, April 22, I offer a selection of quotes from leading figures in the environmental movement that are worth reading so that you can draw your own conclusions.

In 1970, the first Earth Day generated the following quotes:

“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” – George Wald, Harvard Biologist

“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” – Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist

“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” – New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day
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Media Misleads on California Prop 29

April 19, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, California, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Californians are being asked once again to fund a government boondoggle with a ballot initiative which will levy more taxes on an already over taxed state. This time it is Proposition 29, intended to fund the California Cancer Research Act, a measure that appeals nicely to emotions but will likely be just another black hole for tax dollars when all is said and done — just like many other successful California ballot measures have been.

Naturally, many members of the media are in love with yet another new tax not to mention its chimerical promise of “cancer research.” Take Dan Morain of the Sacramento Bee, for instance, who recently pumped out the false dichotomy of having to choose between the wonderfulness of “cancer research” and those evil, rotten cigarette companies.

Here is how Morain characterizes the debate:
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Eco-Communism Celebrated Annually on Earth Day

April 19, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Business, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

I came of age in the 1950s during a period when Joe McCarthy was raising hell about communists in the federal government. He was spectacularly inept, often made intemperate and inaccurate charges, but for the most part he was right. He managed to alienate his fellow Republicans and earn a slap-down from then President Eisenhower. By around 1953 his fifteen minutes of fame were up. His bombastic personality undermined the seriousness of the issue.

McCarthy was all bluster, but the publication of “The Venona Papers: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors” in 2001 revealed that his charges of widespread infiltration of the State Department and even the White House during the Roosevelt and Truman years were true. Venona was the U.S. code name given secret Soviet spy communications that had been recorded during and after World War II. In 1995, the National Security Agency began releasing the documents.

In 2000 Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media wrote about a conference, “Rethinking McCarthy” devoted to the myths surrounding McCarthy that were disputed by journalist M. Stanton Evans, a director of the National Journalism Center. Chief among them was that McCarthy never named any names of suspected communists in government, but Evans revealed a file of material showing that he had. The other myth was that those named had been cleared by congressional committees or were just mildly leftist. They were not.
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Perverts Prevail in Public Schools

April 19, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | No Comments

-By Larry Sand

With teacher union enabling, child abuse goes on unabated.

A male business owner joking about life for homosexuals in prison, forced a junior accountant to bend over a desk, lined up behind him to simulate a sex act, then quipped, “I’ll show you what’s gay.”

An insurance company middle manager who had been warned about touching secretaries brushed his lower body against a new employee, coming so close that she told company investigators she could feel his genitals through his pants.

A corporate vice-president sent text messages to and called one of his female underlings nearly 50 times in a four-week period and, over the winter holidays, parked himself near her home.
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ANWR: It’s Been ’10 Years,’ We Could Have Been Reaping Rewards Now

April 18, 2012 | Filed Under Alaska, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Electric, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Oil, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ten years ago this month the Democrats defeated the bill that would have allowed us to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve (ANWR). So it’s happy anniversary to the loss of our energy independence once again.

It turns out that the tenth anniversary is known as the “tin” anniversary in that wonderful list of gifts one gives to celebrate such things. Tin is the perfect alloy when one notes the “tin ear” represented by the constant refrain the left always trumpets whenever we talk about drilling for oil, namely that it is pointless to do because we won’t realize any benefits for up to 10 years.

To that point, Democrat Representative Maria Cantwell disgorged that very talking point during that 2002 debate:

I believe there is no way to justify drilling in ANWR in the name of national security. Oil extracted from the wildlife refuge would not reach refineries for 7 to 10 years and would never satisfy more than 2 percent of our Nation’s oil demands at any one time.

Well, it’s ten years, folks, and because the Democrats continually defeat new efforts to drill or explore for oil on American soil we are once again out of luck for exploiting our own sources of energy. Thanks to Obama and his party we stay dependent on foreign sources of energy.
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Overthrowing Environmentalism

April 17, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Environment, Global Warming, Taxes | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

In 1517 Martin Luther set off the Protestant revolution against the Catholic Church that led to the spread of the then-new movement as a response to the corruption of the Church. It took time for it to establish itself as an alternative and was greatly aided by the invention of printing and spread of literacy, but mostly because ordinary people had grown weary of the Church’s extravagance, poor governance, and resistance to change.

The selling of worthless “indulgences” as a means to wipe one’s sins clean was the final straw.

Environmentalism has become a modern religion and its “cap and trade” scheme to sell worthless permission slips for the emission of so-called “greenhouse gases”—based on United Nations Kyoto Protocol calling for a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere—is being rejected by many nations .

As it has become common knowledge that CO2 is vital to all life on Earth and plays no role in affecting the climate, ordinary people have concluded that global warming in particular and environmentalism in general is a giant fraud.
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From ‘Hope’ to Hypocrisy: Obama’s Excuses, Excuses, and More Excuses

April 16, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Excuses won’t pay our mortgages, Mr. President.

No, Left-Wingers, the ‘Founders’ Did NOT Approve of Mandates or Obamacare

April 16, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Founders, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, History, House of Representatives, John Adams, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Nanny State, Obamacare, President, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every few weeks leftist supporters of Obamacare will float the “fact” that our founders passed the first “national healthcare law” claiming that this supports Obamacare. The truth is, though, the history they claim supports them doesn’t in any way prove that the founders would approve of mandates in general or Obamacare in particular.

This failed historical analogy is once again seen this month in the prattling of one Einer Elhauge, a fellow who claims himself the title of a professor at Harvard Law School. If his recent article in The New Republic is any indication of the level of history he teaches students, we have yet another example of our failed state of higher education.

Elhauge makes two failed analogies to history in his support of Obamacare. One is the 1792 law that required men to own a firearm. This law passed by many members of our founding generation — with only four opposing the mandate — proves, Elhauge claims, that mandates were not something the founders would oppose.

Elhauge’s claim is facile, of course. After all, we had no standing army at the time (in fact the founders were vehemently against a standing army) and the whole of the people in the form of the militia were the army.

So, requiring people to own firearms was, at the time, observing the Constitutional mandate to protect the nation. Helthacre is not something in the Constitution and cannot be construed as such, so Elhauge’s extrapolating military matters to Obamacare is absurd o its face.

Then there is the sailor relief act that lefties have been harping on for several years now claiming that it supports Obamacare. This, too, is a facile comparison cynically and illicitly used to explain away Obamacare.
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How (and Why) Obama has Impeded Recovery

April 16, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Taxes | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

During and after his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama was hailed as the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt. History records that Roosevelt presided over the Great Depression, begun in the previous administration of Herbert Hoover who got most of the blame. Roosevelt’s policies extended it well beyond the normal recovery from a recession.

In his book, “Dupes”, historian Paul Kengor, wrote “Roosevelt won in a landslide in November 1932. To liberals and traditional Democrats everywhere, he was more than just a new face at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He was a kind of political savior at the most desperate time in their lives.”

Roosevelt was immediately assailed by the Communist Party USA as he launched his New Deal stew of programs intended to reverse the effects of the economic crisis. As Kengor notes, “No president had ever moved so far to the left, and so quickly, but it was not enough for the comrades.” They portrayed Roosevelt “as a warmonger bent on wreaking havoc on the poor USSR (Soviet Russia)” because they feared the U.S. might go to war against it.
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Arrogant Democrats Think They Have Role to ‘Protect’ Titanic Wreck Site

April 15, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Nanny State, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Titanic sunk 100 years ago this year. The great ship went down in international waters as a vessel of British registry. When it went down the United States was barely a presence on the international stage. Yet now, 100 years later, American Democrats imagine they have the duty and power to control what will happen at the final resting place of over 1,500 passengers.

In their arrogance and led by the haughty and self-referential Senator John Kerry (D, Mass.), American Democrats are pushing Congress to pass legislation to make the wreck site of the Titanic off limits to further exploration.

Supporters of the Kerry arrogance claim that the Titanic’s final resting place should be afforded the same legal standing as a cemetery and James P. Delgado, director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that he believes “there are people inside” the unexplored sections of the ship.

Few experts agree with this assessment, though. The Times notes that Hollywoodite James Cameron, who has been through the wreckage more than just about anyone, says he’s never once seen any evidence of bones or human remains.
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Healthcare Death Panels Are Inevitable

April 12, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Britain, Budget, Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Obamacare, President, Regulation, Socialism, Taxes, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Much was made of Governor Sarah Palin’s use of the term “government death panels” to lambaste Obamacare. Left-wingers and Democrats everywhere scoffed at the term and accused Palin of demagogy and even lying. But the fact is, government death panels of all sorts are inevitable once government takes over healthcare. In fact, once government takes over healthcare, all sorts of unscientific, non-health related nonsense creeps into your healthcare whether you like it or not and none of these decisions are made with your doctor’s advice or consent.

To understand this we have but to look to countries that already have government provided healthcare to see many incidents of the foolishness that is government control of medicine. Arbitrary decisions are made, people are told they are too old to bother with and treatments are too late to save the patient because of long wait times.

Worse, are the cases where government lackeys use non-medical criteria to replace medical considerations such as a recent case in Britain where a woman was told she can no longer get her healthcare because her travel distance makes her “carbon footprint” too big.
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Who Pays?

April 11, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Frank Hyland, Government, Liberals, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Hyland

Effective the 1st of April, your nation achieved Number One status, but in a category that won’t make you pleased or proud: The U.S. now has the highest corporate income tax rate in the entire world as of that date. You’ve been hearing in the news recently a number of different views on this development. As I’ve watched the news, though, I first became more and more curious and then angrier and angrier. I may have missed it, but nowhere in the media, across the full political spectrum of Left to Right, have I heard or seen an explanation of the tax. The government has steered clear of an explanation. Some of them may believe that everyone already knows the details. Others, I really believe, hope that you don’t know the truth and never figure it out.

The key question, neither asked nor answered that I know of, is, “Who pays the corporate income tax?” Under U.S. law, a corporation is a “person.” Corporations realize income, have expenses, and pay taxes just as individual people do. But wait a second — although GE, Exxon-Mobil, Apple, and Safeway food stores take in the income and have expenses — who actually pays the taxes? Do you think the corporations do? While some, including the administration, probably hope you think that Exxon-Mobil pays the tax every time you fill up at the gas pump, give it just a moment’s thought and pardon my methodical approach – The gas pump, itself, doesn’t pay taxes; the gas station owner pays individual income taxes just like you do; the Exxon-Mobil Corporation forwards money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as corporate income taxes. Where do they get those funds? They get them from you and from me, to put it simply. On many gas pumps nowadays, you’ll see a listing of the portions that make up the per-gallon price of gasoline. That listing came about in response to complaints about the amount of money in each gallon that goes to which recipient, including counties, states, and the federal government. That information is useful to you, too, but it’s a different issue. Nowhere on the pump does it tell you who actually pays the corporate income tax; nor does it tell you that you, in fact, pay them.
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Petulant, Occupy Chicago Protesters Want Everything ‘Free’

April 10, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Liberals, Occupy Wall Street, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the sort of thing that makes these idiotic Occupy whatevers… well, idiots.

Via Marathon Pundit, a cadre of comrades in the Occupy Chicago “movement” decided it would be a cool idea to have a “fare strike” and crash Chicago’s mass transit system in order to ride for free.

When Ruberry asked the gaudily masked nut what a fare strike was, he said that it means we pay “zero” to ride the bus and/or the train.

“It’s when a lot of people show up and say this is what we’re willing to pay for this public service,” he explained. “Today it was exactly zero.”

So, here’s a random question… how, exactly, do these morons think we can even have a mass transit system if no one even pays any fare to use them?
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Are You In?

April 10, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Frank Hyland, Government, Liberals, President, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Hyland

Seemingly everywhere I go on the web these days, I encounter a political ad for the President’s reelection, asking me, “Are you in?” I don’t know if you feel as upset as I do. I can just imagine the responses that are coming in as disillusioned Americans click on the web banner and then go on:

Yeah, I’m in….I’m in debt up to my eyeballs!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in foreclosure thanks to you and Barney Frank!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in trouble with my bank for non-payment!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in default on my Student Loan!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in over my head on credit card payments!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in the Pawn Shop for the third time this week!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in my parents’ basement at the age of 31!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in envy of the menus at your White House parties!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in hock for more than I make in a month!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in awe at the number of trips on Air Force One!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in search of a job for over a year!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in contact with a debt collector over the phone!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in fear that my classmates will find out I’m broke!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in tears over my finances since you took office!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in my car, where I’ve lived since being evicted!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in shock every time I pull into a gas station!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in envy of the number of vacations you all take!
Yeah, I’m in…..I’m in a state of confusion as to whose side you’re on!

Please feel free to add to the list any and all of your own entries. And, like I will, take this list with you into the voting booth on November 6th.
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Bankrupting America: Party in the GSA!

April 7, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

The General Services Administration has been in the news for some fairly questionable spending recently. Bankrupting America has uncovered some revealing footage surrounding the infamous conference in Las Vegas and the planning that went into it. Check out the fact sheet here.

It’s the Lies About Beef that are the Slime

April 6, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Animals, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Health, Liberals | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

I am subject to various enthusiasms and, in 2008, I wrote a series about beef and the vast network of phony consumer advocates, vegetarian types, animal rights groups and headline chasing media folks who love a good scare campaign, all trying to convince Americans that beef was bad for them.

Today, it is a smear campaign about a type of meat promoted in the media as “pink slime.” Typically, it is a pack of lies and it’s going to cost some folks their jobs and drive up the cost of beef if allowed to go unchallenged.

What is being demonized in this 21st century reincarnation of the 1989 Alar apple scare is finely textured, 95% lean beef. It is composed of small parts of beef that are still available for use after the cuts with which we are more accustomed, like sirloin, brisket, top round, flank, porterhouse, and some forty other selections, are taken.
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Outrage Outage: Why Solyndra Fails to Spark Anger

April 5, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Daniel Clark, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Liberals, President, Solar | No Comments

-By Daniel Clark

After all the anger, rational and otherwise, that was directed at Enron after it went bankrupt several years ago, one might have expected Americans to be incensed by the failures of Solyndra and other federally-subsidized “renewable energy” companies. So why aren’t we?

For conservatives, the answer is fairly simple. To us, the Solyndra fallout has been the proverbial spilled milk. It’s not as if we thought these “green energy” ventures would actually pay off. The real offense was the taxpayer-financed investments that Obama made in these companies through his gargantuan stimulus package, at which we really were angry, and still are.

Since liberals championed the stimulus package, it stands to reason that they are undisturbed by Solyndra, assuming that they didn’t expect it to pan out, either. If the subsidies were meant primarily as a symbolic expression of liberal ecological sensitivity, then they have already served their purpose, regardless of whether or not they yield any real-world results.
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Outing the Progressives & Liberal Democrats on the Ryan Budget

April 1, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Frank Salvato, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Paul Ryan, President, Republicans, Social Security, Taxes | 1 Comment

-By Frank Salvato

“We have a choice of two futures. We know the path we’re on right now. That’s the path the President is proposing: a debt crisis; no health or retirement security; a diminished future; a stagnant country; less jobs; less prosperity. That is not the America we know. We can choose this other path, but we have to make that choice. We can lift the crushing burden of debt off our children and grandchildren. And we can get this economy growing today. It is up to our generation to pick this path. The question is: will we do it or not.” – US Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Path to Prosperity (Episode 1).

This will be the question that the 2012 Presidential Election decides. Will we choose to remain a fiscally solvent and financially independent Republic of sovereign citizens? Or will be choose to complete the fundamental transformation of the United States of America from Constitutional Republic to nanny-state, Socialist Democracy? To me – and to most thinking Americans – the choice is clear: we would all like to remain as free and independent as possible. But there are factions in our country that would like to transform our country into something that it was never intended to be. And there are other factions that are so targeted on the retention of power that they would destroy our nation in that pursuit.

The 2012 House Republican Budget Proposal, put forth by US Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), arguably the most fiscally responsible person inside the beltway, is a solid, common sense piece of legislation that some on the Right – and on the Left – are calling moderate in its goals. It simplifies the tax code, collapsing the current system of six tax brackets for individuals into two marginal rates of 25 percent and 10 percent, and ends deductions that benefit a relatively small class of mostly higher-income individuals. It also lowers the top corporate tax rate to 25 percent – competitive with the world average, while eliminating carve-outs and loopholes that have allowed some narcissistic corporations to avoid paying taxes altogether. It would also scrap the Alternative Minimum Tax that captures more and more of the Middle Class each and every year.
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Good Teachers: Beware The Ides of March

March 31, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, California, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Government, Corruption, Larry Sand, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions | 2 Comments

-By Larry Sand

Julius Caesar came to a bad end on March 15th, the same date many good teachers were warned that they may be unemployed in June.

“Nearly 20,000 Teacher Pink Slips Statewide Show Drastic Need for More Education Funding” screamed the headline on the California Teachers Association website.

First, let’s straighten out the union spin. Typically when a person receives a “pink slip,” it means that they are fired. What some teachers actually received is a Reduction in Force (RIF) notice, which according to state law, must be sent to teachers by March 15th if there is the slightest chance that they will be laid off in June. School districts really don’t know in March what their budget will be for the next school year so they plan for the worst case scenario. It’s unheard of for all teachers who get the notices to actually be laid off, but some will, and they must be notified if there is any chance they will lose their jobs.

As a young teacher in New York City in 1975, I lost my 6th grade teaching because the city was in the midst of a fiscal swoon. A few thousand of us were laid off because we were the newest hires, not because we were the worst teachers. The union contract did not make any provision for getting rid of the poorest performers, just the newly employed. Fast forward 37 years and we are still doing the same stupid thing.
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Good News for Union Members

March 29, 2012 | Filed Under AFL-CIO, Anti-Americanism, Capitalism, Communism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Frank Hyland, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Richard Trumka, Taxes, Teamsters, Unions | Comments Off

-By Frank Hyland

While this message applies to virtually all labor union members, it is especially applicable to the younger members, those whose futures – and whose families’ futures — are being stolen by the older members of the unions, especially the leadership.

Thinking back to when you have voted in union-led, union-conducted elections, it didn’t take long for you to figure out that what was being called an “election” was, in fact, a sham. The results already had been decided by the union’s leaders long before the “voting” even began. What you’ve been going through is called “Majority Sign-Up” or “Card Check.” At least under the present White House, there won’t be any change in the way that your union elections are conducted. Your local leadership will continue to sit in front of you and watch as you fill out your ballot. Union leaders like Richard Trumka will continue to visit the White House, travel in first-class style, and receive their handsome salaries ($283,340 in 2010) plus expenses, of course.

You can be thankful, though, that not all elections are like those conducted by your union. I’m speaking of the upcoming general election on November 6th. You’ll be treated as a grownup with a mind of your own, not a tool for the union leadership to maintain their hold on you and your dues. As I hope you’ve done in the past, you’ll again walk into a private area/booth and mark your ballot in secrecy, not in front of watchful union leaders. You won’t even need to glance at the piece of paper that union leaders, in a blatant insult to their members, give to members as instructions on candidates and ballot issues for which to vote. Union leaders aren’t even allowed to remain in the polling place, much less sit at the table and watch how their members vote like they do during Card Check.
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Comparison: Politico Lauds ‘Forceful’ Gov’t Obamacare Argument, Fox Notes it was Laughed At

March 27, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Health, Judges, Law, Liberals, Obamacare, President, Supreme Court, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The first arguments by the government in support of the already wildly over budget Obamacare law were heard at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday and there is an interesting lesson in media bias that can be seen in the reporting of the day’s presentation. The difference between how the government’s opening arguments was reported by Politico and Fox News is an instructive case of media bias.

First let’s look at how Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Carrie Budoff Brown reported how the government’s arguments were received by the court.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., representing the government, opened his argument Monday with a forceful and solemn plea to the court to grapple with the key questions in the case.

Well, “forceful,” and “solemn,” eh? That sure sounds like the government presented a serious and well-received argument, doesn’t it?

Now let’s see what Fox News had to say about those opening arguments.
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No April Fool’s Joke: America Highest Corporate Tax IN THE WORLD!

March 27, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

In exactly one week before the United States has the highest corporate tax rate globally, the RATE Coalition has released a new video calling for a reduction in the corporate tax rate before the April 1 deadline when the United States will have the highest corporate tax rate at 35 percent.

Even in Washington’s polarized environment, a reduction in the corporate tax rate has bipartisan support from President Obama and the House GOP budget, both calling for significant reduction in the rate.

On April 1, the joke is on us. Having the highest corporate tax rate in the world is not a joke, and Congress and the Administration must agree on a solution to lower the rate in order to restore American competitiveness and allow U.S. business to compete in the global market and create American jobs.

Video courtesy of RATE: Reforming America’s Tax Equitably.

With the Individual Mandate it’s Obama v. Obama

March 26, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Obamacare, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Obama was right on the individual mandate…before he was wrong.

Americans agree that the mandate is unconstitutional. A recent Gallup poll found that “Americans overwhelmingly believe the ‘individual mandate,’ as it is often called, is unconstitutional, by a margin of 72% to 20%.” And even a majority of Democrats in the poll agrees with this position.

President Barack Obama’s Complete List of Historic Firsts

March 25, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

Doug Ross has a great list (with links for further reading) of the destructive “firsts” that Obama has perpetrated in his first term. It’s well worth taking a look.

Yes, he’s historic, alright.

First President to Preside Over a Cut to the Credit Rating of the United States Government
First President to Violate the War Powers Act
First President to Orchestrate the Sale of Murder Weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels
First President to issue an unlawful “recess-appointment” while the U.S. Senate remained in session (against the advice of his own Justice Department).
First President to be Held in Contempt of Court for Illegally Obstructing Oil Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
First President to Defy a Federal Judge’s Court Order to Cease Implementing the ‘Health Care Reform’ Law

There are dozens more at Ross’ page, so go check it out at http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/06/president-barack-obamas-complete-list.html.

OWS Scummery in a Rockin’ Tune: I Don’t (AKA The Occupier)

March 25, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Jobs, Liberals, Music, Occupy Wall Street, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

I Don’t, a new song by Glen Shulfer, is a sharp critique of the scummery that IS the Occupy Wall Street “movement.”

Lyrics

Well, I don’t have to pay for my food and rent
cause I get everything from the government.
No I don’t. Honey, I don’t. Don’t you know, no, no, no I don’t.
All I want is to get my share from every stingy millionaire. Cause baby I don’t.
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